Janet Sketchley's Blog: Tenacity, page 93

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...

Robin Williams and Suicide: 3 links and a song

On Saturday I finished reading Jan Wong‘s bestselling memoir, Out of the Blue, subtitled “A memoir of workplace depression, recover, redemption, and, yes, happiness.”The author didn’t attempt to take her own life, but in exploring depression and its effects the book does talk about suicide.

Monday evening we heard the news of Robin Williams’ death. I’m sad. Not from a sense of personal loss, but sad for a life tragically cut short. That’s a cliche, but you know what? A cliche is something that...

The One Opinion of You that Matters

The fear of human opinion disables;

trusting in God protects you from that.

Proverbs 29:25, MSG*

“Disable” is a strong word. Even though many levels of disability don’t incapacitate a person, they do affect and interfere in some way with that person’s ability to function. And some disabilities increase over time.

We all know how fear of others’ opinions can cause us to self-censor, to put up walls or wear masks, to hide our true thoughts and feelings. In contrast, certain people make us feel safe...

Review: Secrets of Sloane House, by Shelley Gray

Secrets of Sloane House, by Shelley Gray (Zondervan, 2014)

The year 1893 finds Rosalind Perry in the bustling city of Chicago, far from her rural home, working as a maid. Yes, her family needs the money, but Rosalind is there to discover what happened to her sister, Miranda, who disappeared without a trace from the family’s employ. In a time when young women might willingly disappear, many more are going missing.

Rosalind has stepped far outside her comfort zone, and she develops a confidence a...

Praying Scripture

Do you pray Scripture over your family and loved ones? Passages that speak a blessing of some kind?

Do you turn other Bible verses into personal prayer over situations and circumstances that weigh heavily on your spirit?

Me, too. Another way I like to pray God’s Word back to Himis with one- and two-line verses—the kind that sink into our hearts once we’ve read them a few times.

They’re the ones that rise to my lips when the need is great. Here are some I’d like to share:

“Lord, I believe. Help my...