Culturally Different

In the last couple of weeks, I read Bringing Up Bébé by Pamela Druckerman. For those of you not in the know, this is a memoir of sorts that Ms. Druckerman wrote about her experiences as an American mother raising children in France. I found myself laughing and learning frequently in this book. I rarely …

Structuring Your Novel: A Review

As a "pantser" writer, me and structure/outlining don't necessarily go together naturally. Oil and water, we are.However, every writer should continue to learn about her craft, and that's where K.M. Weiland's new book, Structuring Your Novel, comes into play. I was absolutely delighted, I must say, when K.M. asked me to be an early reader, …

Deliver Me From Evil

Recently, I "met" on Facebook with an author who was releasing a book that ran parallel in theme to one of my current projects. While my project is set in the year 2117 and mostly in space, and hers is set in present-day San Diego, they share the same topic: human trafficking for sexual slavery.That …

Paranormalcy (a book review)

I must admit right off the bat that I never read YA novels. Nor do I usually indulge in urban fantasy. (I have read a few books in that genre, but I won't mention them now.)However, earlier this year, I was perusing the tweets of an agent I'm researching, and found she had a debut …

The Women in Jesus’ Life

I was honored recently to receive a request to review a new Bible study: The Women in Jesus' Life by Mindy Ferguson. Mindy was gracious enough to agree to an interview in tandem with my review.Liberty Speidel: Why did you decide to write “The Women in Jesus’ Life”?Mindy Ferguson: I taught an evening women’s Bible …

GIVEAWAY: A Tidbit Romance

When Erin Coss contacted me and asked me to be an advance reader for A Tidbit Romance, I was a bit mystified, but thrilled to be asked. I usually don't do reviews for devotionals, and quite honestly, I don't read them very often. However, when the ARC came in the mail, I nearly jumped up …

Dissect Some Books!

Happy Monday, my lovely readers!I know this post is in an off week, but I have an idea I want to run by you.How would you like to see a mystery dissection session on this blog?My thoughts are to have one book a month that I, your humble blogger, would read, then dissect why or …

‘The Fire in Fiction’

Hello, my dear readers!Today, I'd like to share with you my thoughts on Donald Maass' book, The Fire in Fiction: Passion, Purpose, and Techniques to Make Your Novel Great.First, I'd like to thank the ladies over at AuthorCulture, since it was they who I received the book from back in August (see this blog entry, …

Seven Steps on the Writer’s Path

For my debut book review, I thought I'd go off the beaten path and review a book by a fellow Kansan. The book is: 'Seven Steps on the Writer's Path' by Nancy Pickard (as well as Lynn Lott).I first met Nancy Pickard (and she graciously autographed this book for me at that time) October 11, …