Janet Sketchley's Blog: Tenacity, page 96

The Sheep Who Attended a Writers’ Conference

It started as a joke.

One of my sons offered his stuffed sheep as a travelling companion when I packed for Write! Canada. I have a sheep of my own (named Acton) but he’s big enough to count as carry-on luggage.

Taking a break between flights in Montreal

Wilhelm, on the other hand, stands maybe 4 inches tall. And he’s cute as all get-out.

He came along. We had some fun on the way.

Then I decided to smuggle him into the first conference session, just so I could say he’d been there.

I listen at Write!...

A Quiet Moment with God

“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,

loving look at me, your High God,

above politics, above everything.”

Psalm 46:10, MSG*

Traffic noise: motors, horns, someone’s booming stereo. Dust. Exhaust fumes. Movement everywhere.

We get used to navigating life in the middle of it all. This verse caught my attention, invited me to take a time out.

Then I saw this tweet from Sheila Wray Gregoire:

Have you and your spouse talked about something other than logistics–kids, groceries, errands–today? If not, do...

Review: Harmful Intent, by Nike Chillemi

Harmful Intent, by Nike Chillemi (Crime Fictionista Press, 2014)

Brooklyn PI Veronica “Ronnie” Ingels is self-confident, determined, and she knows how to stand up for herself – at least when she’s on her home turf. When she discovers her husband’s infidelity, she flees to Texas to process the hurt before she has to face him, only to become a person of interest in his murder.

Local Deputy Dawson Hughes doesn’t think Ronnie had anything to do with her husband’s death, and they develop an uneasy w...

Writing Friends

It’s ironic that a solitary path like writing involves so many companions along the way. The act of stringing words into paragraphs (or poems) may involve only one brain and set of hands, but writers need–and acquire–friends along the way.

We have our regular friends, wonderful and supportive. And we develop friends in the industry: other writers, editors etc. Some of them are local, but many are scattered around the world.

We encourage one another. Share information. Critique, challenge and cr...

“Use This”

Give your burdens to the Lord,

and he will take care of you.

He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

Psalm 55:22, NLT*

Attitude. Heaviness of spirit. Frustration. Sadness. Some days I struggle with these things. They rise up, make it hard to live a life worthy of the gospel. Even minor situations amplify them, and I don’t want to have a meltdown or snap at (or cry on) the people around me.

Then there are the bigger situations—actual crises—health, obstacles, bad news. External things I can’...

Review: Peril, by Suzanne Hartmann

Peril, by Suzanne Hartmann (OakTara Publishers, 2011)

Danger, intrigue, faith and racing… what’s not to like? Lady Anne is a private bodyguard, medically enhanced to possess super-human strength and speed. Her security, and that of her family, comes from utter secrecy. If terrorists or foreign powers discovered her abilities and tracked her location, how far would they go to learn how to create an army just like her?

Lady Anne operates in the shadows until a high-profile assignment to guard a f...

5 Posts that have resonated with me lately

At Under the Cover of Prayer, Jen Cudmore shares a challenge to go deeper than surface prayers for people who may irritate us–to do battle for them in prayer. See the full post: You Want Me to Pray for Whom?

At Other Food: daily devos, Violet Nesdoly reminds us that even Christians, if we’re not careful, can find ourselves living according to the flesh instead of the Spirit if we’re “following sinful tendencies in ways that may not even appear overtly sinful… living as if God did not exist. Th...

When Life Piles Up Around Us

I cry out to God Most High,

to God who will fulfill his purpose for me.

Psalm 57:2, NLT*

In my life, this verse gives me hope. God hasn’t revealed a great purpose for me, like He did for David the shepherd boy to become king. Nonetheless, God has plans for my life—and for yours.

We’re each to live for His glory, and therefore it’s reasonable to pray that He be glorified through our lives and in (or despite) our circumstances.

I have a family. His purpose there? That I love, care for and support th...

Review: Ransom in the Rock, by Yvonne Anderson

Ransom in the Rock, by Yvonne Anderson (Yvonne Anderson, 2014)

Book 2 in the Gateway to Gannah series, Words in the Wind, ended with young Lileela critically injured. Her desperate father, Pik, sent her in the care of his father to his homeworld, Karkar. Ransom in the Rockis the story of Lileela’s return approximately ten years later, very much set in the Karkar ways and attitudes and viewing her native Gannah as barbaric and uncivilized.

Why didn’t her parents bring her home sooner? Why are th...

8 Days: Heaven’s Prey 99 cents for Kindle

If you didn’t snag your copy ofHeaven’s Prey during our three free Kindle days, here’s a sweetener: for the next 8 days the Kindle version is only 99¢ USD (or equivalent internationally).

Readers downloaded over 3,000 free copies in the past 3 days [edited: 5,622 free copies], and now a 99 cent sale? Why is my publisher doing this? Simply put, I’m an unknown author who needs exposure.

During our free days,Heaven’s Prey reached #48on the free Kindle charts in the US, and #26in Canada (as well as...