It was Saturday night. I fell onto the couch exhausted. How can it be the end of the week already? Another week has gone by and nothing is written in my book. “Will I ever get this thing written?” I asked myself exasperated. Something had to change.

 The next day I brought the situation to prayer....

The vibrant yellow flower danced in the light breeze; its beauty a stark contrast to the dirt and grime of my windshield. I had just finished a half hour with Jesus in adoration, searching for encouragement and hope against the intruding voice of the enemy- the voice who was pulling at me with incre...

Psalm 56:3 NRSVCE 

When I am afraid,

   I put my trust in you.

A few weeks ago, I was watching Claire’s Office Hours in our Praise Writers’ Community and something she said struck a deep chord with me. She told us that our smallness and hiddenness in our writing is a gift given to us by God to be...

Here I go again.

I’ve been staring at the computer for some time now, frustration with myself building as I continue to *not * type * a * word*. Fears about my writing inadequacy are mounting. I know this is a head game; one that I have played and lost many times before. 

For at least a few years ...

Why Voice Dictation?

I participate regularly in a small writing group.  During one of our meetings, many of us discussed our preference for handwriting our stories, journal entries, and thoughts, preferring pen and paper to get our ideas down.  The struggle happens when we want to move them from th...

Writing invokes my shamefaced guilt: “I should be doing anything else but this solitary selfish activity.” And yet, the first thing I want to do when I awake is write.

In his book Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose, author Jay Shetty says: “Your passion is for you. Your purpos...

The year 2024 was coming to an end and I had not heard God “speak” to me. 

At the end of every year, I reflect and I pray about a “word-of -the-year” that will guide my New Year. This is either a word that the Holy Spirit shows me as an area of growth or something new that will manifest in my walk,...

Before we hit record during a recent PraiseWriters interview, Dr. Michel Therrien shared that one of his books, The Catholic Faith Explained, came about in an unconventional way. 

The content of the book was originally part of a different project, he said, one that was about to be abandoned by the ...

Allison Auth longs for the quiet writing life until reading about a cabin in the woods helps her see the gift of today.  

Over the Christmas break, I read two books on writing and found myself becoming envious as both authors described disappearing into their office or study to write for hours an...

My children have a wooden toy that is designed to help with concentration and coordination. Held in your hand, the challenge is to use fine adjustments in your grip to line up rotating magnetic disks in a straight tower–not an easy task, since the disks easily swing erratically in different directio...

As an author, your reputation is everything. It’s what sells your books and attracts new readers. However, bad editing can quickly ruin your reputation and turn readers away in the following ways:

A badly edited book is a poorly written book. Spelling and grammar errors, punctuation mistakes, and a...

In a recent group coaching session with our PraiseWriter members,  I explained some elements of a good writer/author bio. These elements came up again when some of our members contributed to a brand-new book, Cloud of Witnesses, which allowed them to include a brief bio at the end of their chapters....