Janet Sketchley's Blog: Tenacity, page 92

Review: Other Side of the River, by Janice L. Dick

Other Side of the River, by Janice L. Dick (Helping Hands Press, 2014)

It’s been too long since we had new historical fiction from Janice L. Dick. Once again she immerses readers in the world of Russian Mennonites, a persecuted people wherever they try to settle in the Soviet regime of 1926.

Despite the growing turmoil in their village, Luise Letkemann is eager to marry her beloved Daniel Martens. Her family wants to move somewhere safer: to Canada, or at least farther east towards China. But w...

Catherine West, Author of Yesterday’s Tomorrow

Catherine West writes stories that connect with readers’ imaginations and with their hearts. Her novel, Yesterday’s Tomorrow, released in 2011 from OakTara Press, and she’s re-releasing it now as an independent author.

Because I loved the story, and because I’m also a newly independent author re-releasing a traditionally-published book, I asked Cathy if we could chat.

Janet: Welcome, Cathy, and thanks for taking time to join us. Congratulations on this second edition of Yesterday’s Tomorrow. Fa...

Remembering God’s Promises. Again.

The Lord will work out his plans for my life—

for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.

Psalm 138:8, NLT*

Don’t we forget this, sometimes?

Bad news piles up. Globally. Locally. Personally. Even if we’re physically untouched, the sheer weight of what goes on around us can be soul-crushing.

And let’s face it, even when life is really good, there are elements that we don’t like. That could be better.

If we’re not careful, fear, discouragement, discontent and others can pull our focus away from...

Review: Out of the Blue, by Jan Wong

Out of the Blue, by Jan Wong (Jan Wong, 2012)

This book’s subtitle says it all: “A memoir of workplace depression, recovery, redemption, and, yes, happiness.”

Jan Wong was an award-winning journalist and best-selling author, on staff at the Toronto Globe and Mail, one of Canada’s largest newspapers. She was tough, focused, and unstoppable. Until national backlash to one of her articles triggered death threats and caused the paper to withdraw its support (despite having approved the story in the...

So What’s the Fuss About Indie Authors?

What’s an indie author, anyway? Independent. Self-published, but also self-directed and self-marketed.

As has always been the case, many authors self-publish because they’re not offered a traditional contract. That mightmean their work isn’t high-quality, but it mightalso mean they have a great book for a small market. Publishers have to have high sales volume to cover their overhead. Or it could mean any number of other things. Maybethey defygenres. Or they just don’t fit in the marketing “bo...

Idols Aren’t Wooden Anymore

An idol is nothing but a tree chopped down,

then shaped by a woodsman’s ax.

Jeremiah 10:3b, MSG*

In 21st century North America, the idea of calling an inanimate object “god” sounds foolish. We’re so far advanced from that primitive idea. We know a statue has no power.

We’d never worship something like that. Not in the sense of offering sacrifices to it, or of praying for its help.

But what if an idol is anything that takes first place in our lives, anything that replaces or reduces our adoration o...

Review: The Taste of Many Mountains, by Bruce Wydick

The Taste of Many Mountains, by Bruce Wydick (Thomas Nelson, 2014)

A team of graduate students from California travel to Guatemala to trace coffee beans from site of origin to final destination, identifying the profit at each stage. Their questions: Does globalization make things better or worse? Does Fair Trade actually help the farmers? What about organic certification? And if the coffee industry is booming, why are the farmers living at subsistence level—or below it?

Their findings might sur...

A Proverbs Prayer

In the comments to my Continual Praise post, Jennifer Slattery encouraged me to find the verse(s) of Scripture that would make a personal, daily prayer. The ones I chose are sort of my life verses, and here they are:

If you’d like to print this for your own use, just right-click on it and “save image” to your computer.

It’s really easy to design images like this on Picmonkey. I used “frost” edging, added the text, thenlightened the photo exposure so the words would show up. Why not try it with...

Gratitude. And Hope.

I’ll make a list of God’s gracious dealings,

all the things God has done that need praising.

Isaiah 63:7a, MSG*

I confess I’ve lost track of counting God’s blessings. Even if I hadn’t, it would only touch a small sample of what He does and has done.

My gratitude journal has mostly entries of things that blessed me personally, like seeing a pheasant or a sparkly ceiling. Or bubbles. Small gifts from God to make me smile.

He gives so much more.

He gave His Son to save us. He gave us life and breath....

Review: In Time of Trouble, by N. J. Lindquist

In Time of Trouble, by N. J. Lindquist (That’s Life! Communications, revised edition, 2014)

Shane Donahue is 18 years old and he hates his life. And his super-perfect twin brother, Sandy. They’re identical twins, but they’ve turned into polar opposites. Sandy excels at everything, while Shane… well he’s ordinary at best.

He’s been dumped from the basketball team, fired from his job, he’s failing at school, and even in the party crowd he can’t rise to the top. Oh, and his dad took his car away a...