Robin Lee Hatcher's Blog, page 12

41 Years, 87 Books

In March 1981, I took a yellow legal pad and wrote the opening line of what would become my first published novel. While I had toyed with writing both in high school and as a young adult, I hadn’t given serious thought to writing a novel until the fall of 1980. A number of things played into this growing desire inside of me, but the final straw was reading a book with an ending that didn’t satisfy me.

And so, putting my money where my mouth is (as the saying goes), I decided to write a novel ...

Robin’s Ratings for Reviews

As a reader, I love Goodreads. I especially love seeing the reviews by my friends because that often means I discover books I wouldn’t have read otherwise.

But I am also an author, and I have struggled with putting ratings on books. So for a long time, I only rated my 5 star reads. All other books, many of which I loved, got a review but no rating. The problem with that is, I don’t get an accurate picture of the books I’m reading. I love Goodreads’ “year in review” reports, and putting rating...

Words Matter

I am so excited. Words Matter: Prayers from a Writer’s Heart will release on Valentine’s Day 2022.

Here’s a little about it:

Robin Lee Hatcher shares her heart in this slim volume of prayers. The book got its start in 2009 when she was asked to post prayers in an authors’ email group. These are prayers for anyone who loves Jesus and wants to serve Him. They are prayers that Robin needed to say for herself as well as for others. Above all, they are prayers from her heart, and perhaps th...

Blog Anniversary: 20 years

Twenty years ago today, I wrote and published my first blog post. Over those twenty years, I’ve written well over 3,000 posts, some brief, some long, some silly, some serious.

When I moved from Diaryland to Typepad, I lost some of those early posts. When I changed my website to WordPress and imported from Typepad, I lost a couple of years worth of posts (no idea why they didn’t export or import). But even with those losses, the majority of my public thoughts are still here on this site. Over ...

What’s Next?

Those of you who follow me on Facebook may have already seen some of this information and the accompanying request, but I want to get as much feedback as possible so I’m doing a blog post as well.

I need to make some writing decisions, and I would love your help. My long-time readers know that I’ve written both contemporary and historical fiction as well as dual-time/split-time novels. Some of my novels are romances and some are women’s fiction with a strong romantic thread. I love to write t...

2021 Reflections and My Word for 2022

On December 31, 2020, I wanted the new year to bring an end to the pandemic and the social upheaval and the political unrest that was everywhere. But the start of a new year doesn’t change everything. It doesn’t even change a lot. In fact, the only thing that the new year is guaranteed to change is the calendar.

And here we are. About to turn the calendar from 2021 to 2022. And it’s time for me to do another “reflections” blog post. So here goes.

My word for 2021

This year’s word was RE...

Merry Christmas to one and all

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:11)

Christmas with the Chosen

On Sunday, I went to see Christmas with the Chosen: The Messengers in a local theater. Oh my. What can I say? If at all possible, see it in theaters on the big screen with surround sound. You will not be sorry. Its special theater run ends on the 10th.

The show is two hours long. Amazing music and brief inspirational vignettes from the musicians and a few of The Chosen actors fill more than an hour, all of it so worth hearing and seeing. The special Christmas episode is about 45 minutes long,...

Christmas Blessing Giveaway

12 Authors. 12 Books with 12 Christmas Gifts. 12 Winners.

I am participating in a Christmas Blessing giveaway. Twelve authors are each giving away a copy of one of their books plus a special Christmas gift.

And what do you have to do to enter in this giveaway? Nothing except promise to “pay it forward.” Just bless someone else during this Christmas season. How you do that is up to you.

To learn more, please visit this page on Tamera Alexander’s website, read the information you’ll find ...

Book Drunk

Do you know what it’s like to be “book drunk?” That feeling when you finish a book and all you want to do is crawl back into it and stay there awhile longer, even though the last page is read. The inability to move on, in real life or into another book. That’s what I mean when I say “Book drunk.”

And that was definitely my condition when I finished reading Patti Callihan’s Once Upon a Wardrobe. Here’s the blurb:

“Where did Narnia come from?”

The answer will change everything.

Megs Devons...