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Unlike C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, George MacDonald seems lesser known. I’ve mentioned him in a previous post—as I’ve mentioned Lewis and Tolkien. He was also an author who was deeply devoted to Christ, but whose works are respected and consumed in both secular and sacred contexts. In fact, MacDonald’s book Phantastes: A Faerie Romance is part of what led C.S. Lewis to Christ. But his legacy,…

Today’s review is of the book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott. This book was really fun to read. There were several nights where me and my husband were reading together and I patted him excitedly, barely able to speak through my laughter, saying, “Babe, babe. Stop, listen. You have to hear this.” Or, “Oh my gosh, this is exactly what this feels like,” and…

We were just going for a walk as a family. “Mommy!” I turned to see Rhoda racing toward me with a notebook gripped in both hands. “I’m writing a book right now, and I’ve called it God’s Good Creation, and I want to bring my notebook on this walk so I can write down and draw all the good things I see.” I hesitated. I want to be the mom who’s immediately jumping for joy over the pursuit of…

I recently posted a pocket-sized version of the writing legacy of C.S. Lewis. Today, I’m posting something similar, but this time it’s about J.R.R. Tolkien. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is another author I’ve cited as being deeply spiritual and devoted, but whose works and words were respected and consumed in both secular and sacred contexts. I’ll never be able to match Tolkien’s skill in writing,…

I have really enjoyed the last couple of months of writing. There have been many days when I was just putting words down on paper to check the block. But there have also been many days when I wanted to write. This is always exciting to me; it means that I’m writing often enough to create motivational habits for my brain to fall back on. It’s the best. This also means that the future is full of…

I was in line with my friend Edward and a group of his friends, waiting to get inside Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, NYC. I don’t remember the names of the people I was with, but I do remember the conversation. Stranger: “Oh, you’re studying writing. What kind of writing?” Me: “Oh, I’m thinking of writing books for Christian women, maybe even Bible studies.” Stranger: “So,…

There’s a quote I bring up a lot in my blog posts, and that is of Presbyterian minister and Olympic runner Eric Liddell. He says, “God made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure.” Another version being, “When I run, I feel God’s pleasure.” This quote reminds me that my writing and writing practices matter to the Lord. This quote rings within the echo chamber of my mind, reminding me that…

Hey guys! It’s once again time for an update on my current writing project(s). To be honest, this transition between homes has thrown me for a loop with writing, but writing and reading have happened nonetheless. So, here we go! First Period: Totes Unmotivated It’s ironic that my biggest issue over the last couple of months has been overcoming blocks to writing…which is one of the blog posts I…

Hello! This is my first post this time around focused on book reviews. And not just any books, but books about writing. My hope is to post a review like this once every three to four months. These books will either be explicitly about writing, or they might be useful to writing. Today’s review is about a book written by Joseph Campbell, titled The Hero with a Thousand Faces. It is not overtly…

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about some of the things that keep writers like me from writing. As me and my family continue to travel during the month of February, I’m here to talk about some things that help writers write. This post and the last post are shorter than usual because of the context of my life right now. Side note: thank you for your passive accountability! I often feel…

While me and my family are traveling all over the universe this February, I wanted to post about some blocks to writing. I’ve been thinking about this a lot as I evaluate my own writing habits and what makes writing more challenging. As we’ve been staying in hotels and enduring long van rides, the opportunities to write have actually been many! They’ve just required a little flexibility. But all…

So, for the first couple of weeks of 2026, I’ve been working on a project. It’s a novel of the fictional realism genre. If you don’t know, it means “real life but made up.” It means, “This could happen, but didn’t happen to these specific people.” It means, “These people don’t actually exist, but this did happen.” You get the idea. This is project I keep coming back to as I try to write 3-4…

Happy New Year! In my last post, I shared some of my writing reflections from 2025. As is appropriate, this post is about my writing hopes and goals for 2026. But first, an intro. I hate setting goals for writing, mostly because I never achieve them. One year, I wanted to finish the first draft of a fantasy novel. I didn’t finish it. One year, I created a writing calendar and committed to…

I initially planned to make this post about how I did with writing over the year. What was my word count? What projects did I complete? What writing books did I read and what were my reviews? Writing in this way would give me a lot of superficial joy. I love geeking out about these things! But as I do a “writing reflection” of 2025, something very different comes to mind. “Retreat!” In March…

I often look back on when Jake and I first married. We had both agreed that it would be best for me to not work, but instead keep house and get to know the ladies in our church community. While there were a lot of days spent doing these things, there were also days with few chores and no meetups. I regret not spending more time writing or reading during those days. Now I’m carving out 15-20…

I read the book Saving Leonardo by Nancy Pearcey during my first year at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. My future mother-in-law sent it to me to give me a vision and guidance as I maneuvered the new environment I was in. In this book Pearcey traces moral evolution throughout history through art. She points out the changes that happened as American culture sifted out the evidence of a Creator…

When Jake and I arrived at Fort Bragg for the second time in 2022, I was reading through 1 Corinthians. These verses in particular stood out to me: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”  1 Corinthians 12:7 “But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose.” 1 Corinthians 12:18 “So with yourselves, since you are eager for…