Kathy Ide's Blog, page 15

Winner Announcements 5th Annual “Promising Beginnings” Writing Contest

full scholarship to a conference. This year, for the 5th annual Promising Beginnings contest, I offered a choice between two options:  Full scholarship to the 2017 Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference, including meals and economy lodging or Full scholarship to the 2017 SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference, including meals and dorm lodging plus reimbursement of travel […]

More Hours In The New Year

With the holidays behind us, most Americans are now entering a different season. Not one of joy and cheer and peace and family fun—rather the opposite, actually. For the next three months or so, we’ll be going through our records for 2016, compiling everything we need to file our federal and state income taxes. I […]

Blessings Are Not All Alike

  Today it’s my pleasure to introduce Nanette Thorsen-Snipes, one of the contributing authors in 21 Days of Christmas. I hope you enjoy this holiday story of hers as much as I did. *** In December of 1976, I had been divorced for about six months, and my two young boys and I were living […]

Did You Get a “Word” for 2016?

A couple of years ago, I read an absolutely amazing book by my friend Robin Jones Gunn titled Victim of Grace. If you haven’t read it, get online right now and buy a copy. Buy multiple copies so you can give the extras as Christmas gifts. It truly is life-changing and perspective-changing! And a really […]

MH First-Timers Contest

If you’ve never attended the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference but always wanted to go, I have exciting news for you! Mount Hermon is running a First-Timers Contest for the 2017 conference. Ten winners will each receive a full scholarship, including economy lodging and conference meals. There is NO FEE to enter this contest. It is open […]

Best Christmas Gift for Writers and Editors

  Attending a writers’ or editors’ conference can do more to advance your writing or editing journey than just about anything else. You get to learn writing/editing techniques directly from industry professionals, meet them face-to-face, and discuss your work-in-progress or specific areas in which you’re struggling and could use a little help or encouragement. I’ve […]

A Miraculous Journey

This week it is my pleasure to introduce you to Jessica Snell. I met Jessica at a Christian writers’ conference last year. She’s a writer, editor, and fellow Southern Californian. Tell something about yourself. I’m a Christian, a wife, and a mom of four school-age kids, and I write and edit professionally. On the writing […]

Holiday Promotion

About sixteen years ago, God gave me the idea for a collection of short fiction stories with brief life applications, each written by a different author. After pitching the idea to numerous publishers, the Lord finally connected me with BroadStreet Publishing, who caught the vision … and offered me a four-book contract! 21 Days of […]

Guest Rooms

I do a lot of traveling, and I’ve stayed in a variety of accommodations, from fancy hotels (when I volunteered to take a later flight and the airline put me up) to cheap, old (“quaint”) motels. Many times I stay with locals—longtime friends or gracious hosts who soon become friends. With the holiday season coming […]

Never Give Up

Discouragement is a common problem in the world of writing for publication. You get a great idea for a book, but when you tell your family and friends about it, they’re not as enthusiastic as you’d hoped. You start working on it anyway, but you keep running into problems like distractions, writers’ block, a too-busy […]