Andrea Renee Cox's Blog, page 14

Life’s Little Blessings

Hey, friends. Which of you remember this good ol’ hymn? It’s a childhood favorite of mine, and I’m bookmarking this particular YouTube video to rewatch a zillion times, because it gets my heart jumping for joy in our Lord Jesus.

“Count Your Blessings” by Family Reunion Music

This past week, I paid extra close attention to the little (and big) blessings God was pouring into my life. For example…

spending quality time with my dad while gallivanting all over DFW to track down items for h...

The Songs That Could Have Been by Amanda Wen

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book. These are my honest thoughts.

It shouldn’t have taken me nearly a month to get to page 114. Every time I picked up this book, I quickly lost interest. I couldn’t really figure out why at first. It took chatting it out with a friend to sort out why my attention was getting lost so much. That’s because I’m rarely bored by a book, so it takes me a bit to catch up with that ideal when it happens.

The cover of this book was absolu...

Writing Progress June 2022

The results of the poll last week are in: Writing Progress articles was the most popular option. This will be the first article in the series, but stay on the watch for additional ones.

100 for 100, hosted by Go Teen Writers

This challenge is going fairly well for me so far. I began with five projects, but by day 11, I had whittled that down to three that I was getting at least the minimum of 100 words written every day. So I’ve decided to focus on those three projects but add in some w...

Updates, Apologies, and an Invitation

If you’ve been around Writing to Inspire recently, you’ll likely have noticed there have been random lapses in new content. For that, I sincerely apologize. I’m working hard toward resuming consistency on posting articles, as I miss being good at this. I would appreciate prayers on this front, because it’s been a large challenge for me the last couple of years.

I’m hoping to bring back a couple of features (some newer, some older), and I have several guest articles I’m way behind on posting. ...

Shadows in the Mind’s Eye by Janyre Tromp

Theme Chatter

Post-traumatic stress disorder was a main theme in the early chapters of this book (it likely was through the whole book, but I only made it to twenty percent). While I have not been diagnosed with PTSD, I have experienced it. A tough thing, that. It has wild symptoms and is disruptive to thought processes and can be debilitating in other ways as well.

Yet, it does not have to hold us back from experiencing a full and joyous life. With God, all things are possible (see Philip...

The Master Craftsman by Kelli Stuart

Theme Chatter

I didn’t really connect with any themes in the first 101 pages of this book, and I stopped reading it at that point. So the chatter today is about DNFing a book.

Not every book is for every reader (though every book usually does find its readers), and since there are so many books to be read out there (personally, I’ve got hundreds of unreads in my stacks and stashes), I’ve decided that it’s sometimes better to DNF (did not finish) a book I’m not enjoying than to suffer ...

Counterfeit Love by Crystal Caudill

Theme Chatter

Trusting God even if the worst should happen was a strong theme in this book. It isn’t always an easy thing to do, but it’s worth every ounce of fight we have in us to surrender to His will. I’ve been on the brink of death several times in my lifetime, and every time, I surrendered to God’s will. Trust, in those instances, was easy. I can’t explain it well, but all I know is having my life in His hands was the safest place to put it. He brought me through all of those near-d...

Cover Reveal: Kees and Colliers Series by Kellyn Roth

One of my editing clients is giving a fresh look to one of her older series. As much as I adore the old covers (which you’ll get a look at in a sec), I’m excited that the Kees & Colliers series by Kellyn Roth is getting new and equally awesome covers for their next edition. I can hardly wait to catch up on this series and reread my favorite stories in the bunch. I’m sure they’ve gotten a few tweaks along the way, so it will be like a whole new discovery.

The Old Covers

Just tell me the...

Cozy Travels: Scotland + Happy News

Anyone who knows me knows I love a good road trip. While I haven’t been able to travel in quite a few years, that hasn’t stopped me from reading books that whisk me away to regions far and wide. Recently, I’ve been wanting to share some of my virtual traveling finds with you, friends, so I’m starting something new called Cozy Travels. This will be a book spotlight featuring at least one book for any specific location.

Grab a blanket and your favorite flavor of tea or cocoa, then settle in for...

The Lady of Galway Manor by Jennifer Deibel

Theme Chatter

One theme prevalent in The Lady of Galway Manor was that characters made assumptions about others, which led to misunderstandings and hurt feelings. I’ve found in my own life that it’s much better to ask questions in order to learn about a person rather than assume I know them, which requires little to no effort in the short term but causes mountains of heartache in the long. Taking the time to get to know people seems to be more engaging and personable as well as less off-putti...