And back. Themes of art and creativity are woven together with stories from Patsy’s own life. And special features include quotes, suggested scripture readings, sample prayers, and recommended music.With candor tempered by wind-whipped wisdom, Patsy provides a new lens through which to view our lives. Stained Glass Hearts is a perspective that gives us the chance to see our potential for color, sparkle, and great purpose through the grace of God.

    Uninspired and lifeless, we wonder what happened. Was the author in a hurry? Did she have a bad year? Has he lost interest altogether?Something similar is true of a great many unpublished manuscripts. They are okay stories that never take flight. They don't grip the imagination, let alone the heart. They merit only a shrug and a polite dismissal by agents and editors.It doesn't have to be that way. In The Fire in Fiction, successful literary agent and author Donald Maass shows you not only how to infuse your story with deep conviction and fiery passion, but how to do it over and over again. The book features:Techniques for capturing a special time and place, creating characters whose lives matter, nailing multiple-impact plot turns, making the supernatural real, infusing issues into fiction, and more.Story-enriching exercises at the end of every chapter to show you how to apply the practical tools just covered to your own work.Rich examples drawn from contemporary novels as diverse as The Lake House, Water for Elephants, and Jennifer Government to illustrate how various techniques work in actual stories.Plus, Maass introduces an original technique that any novelist can use any time, in any scene, in any novel, even on the most uninspired day...to take the most powerful experiences from your personal life and turn those experiences directly into powerful fiction.Tap into The Fire in Fiction, and supercharge your story with originality and spark!

     There’s a better way. In How to Write Fast, Platt and Silver show you how to shift your approach to writing to dramatically increase your natural speed, while tapping into your inner storyteller and unleashing more of the stories you were born to tell. You will discover: * How to immediately improve your writing speed. * Why writing fast will result in better writing. * How to redesign your writing strategy to promote going faster. * The five simple hacks Platt, Silver and the entire story studio have used to repeatedly best themselves and move many of them to producing more than a million words a year. * Mental tricks to bypass your inner editor (and why using them will retrain your brain to write faster, while also creating the cleanest copy you’ve ever created). Isn't it time you did more than just write fast? Now you can. Start writing better words faster today!

    But what if the stories you love to write aren’t the kind that are selling like ice water in July? How do you create a career in writing that you both love and hits the financial success you need to justify the hours spent at the keyboard? For Love or Money talks about writing for love (and how to sell that) as well as writing for money (and how to love it). It contains serious strategies about making money with your books, living the freedom of indie publishing, and stretching yourself creatively in your career. For authors willing to take a hard look at themselves and the market, this book will lay out the necessary steps to create your dream writing career. For Love or Money is meant to be used in tandem with The Indie Author Survival Guide (Second Edition), the first book in the Crafting a Self-Publishing Career series. Together, these two books will set you on a path of turning your love for storytelling into a career. **JOIN THE FOR LOVE OR MONEY FACEBOOK GROUP** Connect with your fellow self-published authors and share information about writing and publishing. Susan hosts monthly consultation giveaways and shares updates on the constantly evolving publishing landscape. JOIN HERE: http://smarturl.it/LoveOrMoneyGroup **Table of Contents** Author's Note Crafting Your Dream Writer Life 1.1 Choosing Your Mountain 1.2 Park Your Biases At The Curb 1.3 Embrace Your Freedom 1.4 My Journey 1.5 Decide For Yourself 1.6 Bite-Sized Summary Writing For Love 2.1 Writing Challenges Me 2.2 Forget About Readers 2.3 Joyful Writing 2.4 Take Your Craft Up A Level 2.5 It Will Always Be Hard 2.6 Bite-Sized Summary Turning Love Into Money 3.1 Don't Give Up Too Soon 3.2 All The Marketing Tricks 3.3 Making What You Love More Commercial 3.4 My Biggest Failure/Learning Experience 3.5 Why Isn't My Book Selling 3.6 Build Your Backlist 3.7 Bite-Sized Summary Writing For Money 4.1 Writing What Sells 4.2 What's In Your Wheelhouse 4.3 Don't Try This At Home 4.4 Bite-Sized Summary Balancing Writing And Life 5.1 Staying Sane in a Crazy (Indie Publishing) World Managing Your Career Appendix: Your Self-Publishing Toolkit

    When showing our characters’ feelings, we often use the first idea that comes to mind, and they end up smiling, nodding, and frowning too much.If you need inspiration for creating characters’ emotional responses that are personalized and evocative, this ultimate show-don’t-tell guide for emotion can help. It includes: Body language cues, thoughts, and visceral responses for 130 emotions that cover a range of intensity from mild to severe, providing innumerable options for individualizing a character’s reactions A breakdown of the biggest emotion-related writing problems and how to overcome them Advice on what should be done beforedrafting to make sure your characters’ emotions will be realistic and consistent Instruction for how to show hidden feelings and emotional subtext through dialogue and nonverbal cues And much more! The Emotion Thesaurus, in its easy-to-navigate list format, will inspire you to create stronger, fresher character expressions and engage readers from your first page to your last.

    She shows how you, too, can get terrific ideas for stories, invent great beginnings and endings, write sparkling dialogue, develop memorable characters—and much, much more. She advises you about what to do when you feel stuck—and how to use helpful criticism. Best of all, she offers writing exercises that will set your imagination on fire.With humor, honesty, and wisdom, Gail Carson Levine shows you that you, too, can make magic with your writing.

    Miller delivers!" - Jeffrey Long, MD Reports of near-death experiences (NDEs) are flooding the media with books, articles and interviews. People describe hovering over their bodies, details of their surgeries, talking with deceased relatives, and reviewing their lives in vivid detail, often while their brains should be incapable of producing rational thought or memories. While the accounts are no doubt interesting, do they provide any solid evidence for the afterlife and the existence of God? Miller argues, in nontechnical and engaging prose, that it does indeed. He began his study doubting that NDEs provided such evidence, but found himself convinced by the weight of the evidence. In this multiple award-winning book, the reader will explore: The common naturalistic explanations for NDEs. Evidence that NDEs point to God and heaven. The results of 35 years of research into NDEs by doctors and other professionals, fully documented for those who want to study further. A comparison of NDEs with Christian teachings. Recommendations of key books, researchers, and publications for further study. "Can we survive death? Is there a God or a heaven? Miller provides the discerning reader with ample reason to think that the answer to these all-important questions is 'yes'." - Dr. Peter Schaefer, Senior Research Psychologist, Department of Defense

    Hughes, author of the Word Writers Bible study series, has been there, yet she's found a peace that runs deeper than her circumstances. In Deeper Waters, she invites you to...learn to hear God's voice through the pages of His Worddiscover a joy you never thought possible when reading the Biblemake connections in Scripture that transform your way of thinking and livingYou don't have to be in seminary to be a serious student of the Bible. God's Word is for everyone. Dive in and experience the joy that awaits in deeper waters.

    Worshiping God may feel foreign or like a ritual, and adding to that frustration, we worry that God is not pleased with our worship. Does He even like us?This book will show you how to worship God and feel loved by Him. He is waiting to connect with you, if you will only begin to worship him. God wants you to be a prayer warrior and will help you.Author Dan Lancaster was struck by the power of the persecuted believers' worship during his time as an international missionary in Southeast Asia. Their heart for God and love for people brought glory to God and helped advance His Kingdom on Earth. THAT kind of worship is what we need in the world, and that is the direction this book will guide you.Worship was never intended to be complicated. The truth is that Jesus showed His disciples how to worship and He wants to show you how to worship too.The author brings 40 years of his personal experience to the pages of this book, but most importantly, he looks to the Word to unearth what Jesus taught about how to love God. With beautiful simplicity, Dr. Lancaster offers tangible methods to reshape your worship life beginning today.By opening your heart to these actionable techniques, you will begin to experience the true power of worship in your relationship with God, in your community, and in ways you could never have imagined.Select "Buy Now" above to take your worship life to a new level.

     You will learn the ancient secrets of human psychology: the nine fundamental fears that motivate human behavior the nine core character types the nine stages of character change and so much more Complete beginners and seasoned veterans will benefit greatly from this material. You don’t even have to be a writer. The only requirement is that you come open-minded and ready to learn. About story. About character. And about yourself. Scroll up and get your copy now. What readers are saying… "Highly recommended to the writer wanting an effective tool to help develop believable characters." ~ Amazon Andy "Full of useful ideas." ~ Untamed Pen "Great book—must have for creating characters and developing plot around them!" ~ Susan Mi "Great jumping off point for characters and arcs." ~ Gail Clifford "I heartily recommend this book as a great tool for all writers." ~ Harry Rankin "A wonderful book." ~ Candace Segar "Gave me that AHA! moment of epiphany. I would recommend this book." ~ Dcortez "A great piece for new and veteran writers suffering from character block." ~ Cullen "They don't get better than this. It will fix your story and possibly your life." ~Amazon Customer Scroll up and grab your copy today. Scroll up and get your copy now.

    The Contemplative Writer helps Christians writers tap into their rich contemplative prayer tradition that includes meditation on scripture, spirituality practices, centering prayer, and fixed hour prayer (such as morning prayer and evening prayer). These practices offer a deeper connection with God’s love and a peaceful foundation for their creative callings. Those who minister through writing will thrive with the guidance provided by Christian spirituality and reflective Bible reading. The Contemplative Writer offers 10 simple practices every writer of faith can learn for daily prayer that cover the basics of Christian spirituality, such as how to pray, how to pray more often, and how to find peace with God. Chapters include topics such as: - Praying the Hours - Centering Prayer - Imaginative Bible Study - Finding God in Silence - Self-Reflection with the Examen This book builds on Ed Cyzewski’s previous books Pray, Write, Grow: Cultivating Prayer and Writing Together and Write without Crushing Your Soul by providing direction and application for contemplative prayer that any follower of Jesus can put into practice.

    Your readers are curious and want you to take them beyond ""The Fields We Know,"" to help them explore the infinite boundaries of the worlds you create.Here, science fiction great Orson Scott Card shares his expertise in these genres. You'll learn:- What is and isn't science fiction and fantasy, and by whose standards -- and where your work fits in.- How to build, populate, and dramatize a credible, inviting world your readers will want to explore.- How to use the MICE quotient -- milieu, idea, character, event -- to structure a successful story.- Where the markets are and how to reach them to get published.The knowledge and skills you gain through this book will help you effectively lead your readers into the strangeness you create -- one tantalizing step at a time.

    And those who love the Lord will be driven to fulfill His will. So consider dedicating yourself to a life of total surrender –without which you’ll never fully understand or live out the will of God.In this book you'll learn how to determine God's will for your life. Never again will His will be difficult to understand, but always without fail you'll know what He requires of you. And you will discover a deeper more fulfilling relationship with Him as you learn how to more effectively communicate with Him.

    This interactive devotional journal immerses believers into a world where God's power infuses them with wisdom.

    What happens after you die? What happens if you die with Christ or without Christ? What happens when Jesus returns if you have or haven’t accepted Christ? What exactly comes next?Randy Frazee, popular pastor of Oak Hills Church and general editor of the wildly successful Believe and The Story programs, answers these questions and more. Born out of a deeply personal search for truth after the death of his mother, What Happens After You Die is a straightforward exploration of what the Bible says about life after death. From heaven and hell to the Lake of Fire and the actual presence of God, Frazee uncovers what is simply cultural tradition and what is truly biblical. He shows readers not only the death Jesus came to save us from but the life he came to save us for.Based on a teaching series that has had more online views than any other series Frazee has done to date, What Happens After You Die is a guide to the perennial questions about life and death, what comes next, and how we should live until then.