Leya Delray's Blog, page 2

(Part 1) Is it Biblical to Call Deborah Plan B?

“How do you know that?” I asked, reaching for my glass of sweet tea as I leaned back in the antique dining chair.

“Because the passage says so.”

I could feel my eyebrows going up as I lowered my cup. We were in the middle of a debate about what Christians can learn from the biblical story of Deborah, and I’d just been startled into full attention. “It doesn’t say anything like that.”

“Yes it does.” The young woman across from me radiated confidence, and her eyes sparkled with the love ...

Is it Biblical to Call Deborah Plan B?

“How do you know that?” I asked, reaching for my glass of sweet tea as I leaned back in the antique dining chair.

“Because the passage says so.”

I could feel my eyebrows going up as I lowered my cup. We were in the middle of a debate about what Christians can learn from the biblical story of Deborah, and I’d just been startled into full attention. “It doesn’t say anything like that.”

“Yes it does.” The young woman across from me radiated confidence, and her eyes sparkled with the love ...

Can a Mass Murderer Be Redeemed?

Is redemption possible for someone who commits truly heinous crimes? Someone like a Nazi, a child molester, or a perpetrator of genocide? More specifically, can a fictional character who commits such crimes be redeemed?

A recent controversy in the literary world brought these questions into sharp focus. And as so often happens, the answer depends a lot on definitions. (As a self-confessed word-nerd, I am not a bit surprised). So, if somebody asked me the above question, I would have to respo...

Can a Mass Murderer Redeemed?

Is redemption possible for someone who commits truly heinous crimes? Someone like a Nazi, a child molester, or a perpetrator of genocide? More specifically, can a fictional character who commits such crimes be redeemed?

A recent controversy in the literary world brought these questions into sharp focus. And as so often happens, the answer depends a lot on definitions. (As a self-confessed word-nerd, I am not a bit surprised). So, if somebody asked me the above question, I would have to respo...

Modest is NOT Hottest (and why that matters)

Last week, the internet was buzzing over the latest controversy.

(Shocker right?? When is the internet NOT buzzing over some controversy?)

And this time it happened to be Matthew West’s recent song “Modest is Hottest.”

Now I’m not here to take sides on whether the song was good, bad, or mediocre as far as messages go. I get the feeling it was mainly intended as humor/satire (he says as much in this article), but I don’t know the man personally and I don’t make any claims to read his mi...

Is it Biblical to Spank Your Kids?

A quick word before we get started:

This blog post is partly in response to the many conversations on this subject that I’ve had with personal friends and family. If you are one of those people, please take the time to read this whole post. I often don’t feel that I explain my position well in conversation, so I wanted to do so here, because I always explain myself best in writing.

Also, A DISCLAIMER:

This post is NOT intended to cover the vast subject of Christian parenting in gener...

All the Reasons I Love BookBub (vs. Goodreads)

If you’re a reader/author, you’ve probably heard of Goodreads. But have you ever heard of BookBub? (If not, you’re missing out!) If you want to finds out more about BookBub, or you’re just trying to decide which of the two platforms you should use, this is the post for you!

(For those of you who want the cliff notes version…I really love BookBub. And if I had to pick just one of the platforms, Bookbub would win hands down. But I actually use both. If you want to know how the two platforms com...

The Storyteller in the Graveyard – A Poem

Many of my poems are happy. This one is not.

It’s a lament for the countless stories that are lost, every day, as memories die with the people who lived them. I feel this lament when I walk through a graveyard, when I explore an old house crumbling with age, when I put my hand on a vine-covered old chimney standing all alone where once was a home full of life. The history is so close to me, and yet so far away. All the stories, all the details, are lost forever.

Lost because no one recor...

My Top Author Buys in 2020 (#3)

Welcome back to my 3-part blog series on my best author buys of 2020! (If you missed the first two posts, find them here and here.)

For this final post, I’m introducing you to the only actual physical product that made it onto my list. And although it has been a boon to my author life, you definitely don’t have to be an author, or business owner of any kind to love this thing. (My engineer husband borrows it regularly).

Here it is…

Best 2020 Author Buy #3: “reMarkable2” E-Ink Pape...

My Top Author Buys in 2020 (#2)

Welcome back to my 3-part blog series on my Top Author Buys of 2020! (If you missed last week, check it out here.)

This week I’m covering the one item on my list that is pretty much exclusively for authors. It is also the most expensive (at $849), but honestly, it is also probably the only one that will directly pay for itself many times over.

Here it is…

Best 2020 Author Buy #2: Mark Dawson’s Ads for Authors Course

After I recovered from almost losing the use of my website ...