Kristy Moody's Blog, page 13

S Club Shares HD Versions of Biggest Hits

Check out a couple of their remastered videos!

Jamie Grace Teases Her Upcoming Album With Video Preview

Recently, Jamie Grace shared clips of several songs from her new album. Enjoy the sweet, inspiring tunes through the video above.

Jamie Grace’s “Dreamers” is scheduled to be released on September 22nd.

Q&A: Cindy and Erin Woodsmall Talk New Novel “Until Then”

Tyndale: Cindy, what inspired you to write Until Then?

Authors: I had a strong heart’s desire to explore how we as humans often have unmet longings and dreams to develop gifts or talents that might be outside what our family or community believe we should pursue.

How did you decide to combine Amish fiction with time-slip fiction?

In many ways the Amish live in a different time, but to send an Amish person back to the 1800s added a new dimension of deliciousness. Would an Amish person adjust easier because of their way of living? In our time, the Amish are known for being separate from the world, but they were in the thick of social justice and political battles in the 1800s. A time-slip setting for this story allowed me to dive deep into the history of 1822 and write about the bravery and diligence of the Amish and Quakers when it came to fighting against slavery. Because the Amish and Quakers would never bear arms, their history is very different, and that difference had an impressive impact on quiet, unseen lives.

How do you expect the novel to resonate with your audience?

I have strong hopes that women will be impacted by the love story between Celeste and Vin, who are separated when Vin slips through time. Vin has no understanding of how to get back home. Celeste has no idea where he is or why. She isn’t a widow who can remarry, although she meets a very kind, handsome single man. She’s thrust into being a single mom of two in a community that believes she’s the reason her husband is missing. She faces being passively ostracized while trying to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table, and she feels the sting of being neither a successful breadwinner nor the kind of mom she dreamed of being. She’s so very lost and betrayed by her husband’s disappearance. I feel all women have witnessed or felt some of those stings on some level.

What are you most excited for your readers to experience by reading this story?

I’m most excited that as the story unfolds, we see both Vin and Celeste learn to trust in God differently than ever before, to accept what is and make good use of the time they are living in as opposed to fulfilling the dreams they shared.

You are a mother and daughter-in-law writing team. Can you describe your writing process?

Our usual tag-team writing method was tossed out the window for this book. Typically, we each choose a main character or two, and through hours of brainstorming and outlining, we develop our character(s). But because of this particular story and the new difficulties of two storylines in two different times and the amount of research needed, I wrote, and Erin edited. We talked on the phone a lot to clear my head and help me to stay true to myself, my readers, and my genre. See, Louis L’Amour kept trying to take over! Decades ago, I read his works voraciously, and as I wrote this book, each time I slipped back in time to the 1800s, Mr. L’Amour showed up, trying to write the story from a male point of view with superheroic efforts. I got that out of my system and was able to hear just my voice. Finally, months later, I sent Erin the last five chapters of the book. At the time I had Covid and was quarantined in Canada, unable to return to the States. Erin read the chapters and called me, apologizing as she told me that those chapters didn’t work. The problem: I was coming from a place of being weary and irritable, and she pointed out that the characters were in love and needed to show a level of gratefulness and trust in order to be true to who they were. So, L’Amour hadn’t shown up, but Grumpy Author had arrived on the page. I told Erin if she could call her sick mother-in-law stuck in a tiny hotel room with no food service while trying to meet a deadline and gently speak the truth, she could do anything in life! I love being a team with her! 

What role does faith play in this story?

In many ways, Celeste and Vin both see their faith burned to the ground in all they thought they knew and understood, and from those ashes, they each slowly find a new faith that carries them in very different ways.

— What lessons or truths do you hope people take away from Until Then?

Vin and Celeste are trapped in lives they can barely survive, either physically or emotionally. While Vin prays unceasingly for God to show him how to return home, and he promises to be a better man, a better husband, a better dad, as time passes, he often ends his prayers with the words “Until then, may I use my time as You desire.” So, he uses the “trappedness” to do the one thing each of us can do—take on an “until then” thinking and sacrifice our desires to make others’ lives better. Isn’t that always a part of what life and love are?

You talk about the idea of an “until then” perspective in this novel. Can you explain what you mean by that?

All of us are trapped in some ways: trapped with personal illness or the illness of loved ones,  trapped with difficult bosses or a low-paying job, trapped with bills and taxes we can’t get free  of, trapped in a difficult relationship, or trapped in silence as we watch loved ones suffer. When  we can’t get to where we’d like to be, we can be free to do our best by praying, ‘Until then, may  I use my time as You desire.’

Can you give us a sneak peek into the main characters in the novel, Celeste and Vin Lantz?

Oh, man, are they in love! But Vin has secrets, and when Celeste learns of them, they argue like two people who’ve forgotten they love each other. Each one is a strong and vulnerable character in their own ways, and those strengths and vulnerabilities work for and against them. My favorite character to develop was Vin. He felt the power of being a competent and successful Amish man, but when he wakes in darkness, at the foot of an unknown mountain with no sign of civilization in sight, he quickly learns how little power he has. Within a few days, he’s close to death. If two escaped slaves didn’t cross his path when they did, he would’ve died. After helping Vin survive some critical hours, those men have to move on without him, so he’s left in a predicament where he could still die before finding civilization.

As an author, what did you particularly enjoy about writing this story?

I’ve never written anything with a historical thread in it, so I loved diving deep into the history of that time, including 1822-1823 Lancaster, Pennsylvania. What was hard about writing it? Researching all the roads during that time, mapping out how Vin and a few others would cross from central Ohio to eastern Pennsylvania in great specificity. My husband brought home a lot of plats with historical road maps. With all that information in hand, I began writing the story, but as events unfolded, I eventually discovered that the characters couldn’t use ANY of those roads since they went through slave states occupied by patrollers.

You’ve said that Until Then addresses underlying themes of fear and judgment. Why was it important to address these topics within the pages of this book?

We miss so much of the positive direction our lives could go in through fear and judgment, and when we step into a story, whether writing it or reading it, we begin to see ourselves more clearly. Those truths can set us free to embrace courage and uncritical tolerance for ourselves and others.

How is the romance thread in this story different than other romance novels?

The romantic couple is separated by time, and Celeste, believing Vin has died, is vulnerable to a new love interest.

What is one thing you learned about yourselves through writing this book?

I realized the power of critical thinking about God’s Word. Vin crosses paths with many people who argue, ‘But the Word talks about slavery and tells slaves how to think and feel toward their masters,’ and Vin, coming from the late 1900s, is able to use God’s Word to change minds and hearts.

What will fans of your writing find surprising about this story?

If I tell, they won’t find it surprising! But I think they’ll be surprised how different faith is for the characters in different historical times, and yet it still works.

“Until Then” releases on September 5th, 2023.

A Special Thanks to Tyndale House Publishers and Cindy and Erin Woodsmall for the exclusive interview and images.

Joy Williams Is Pregnant

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Congratulations to Joy Williams and her family!

National Geographic Features Jerusalem’s “The Dome Of the Rock” As A Cover Story

September 2023
cover of National Geographic

Author Andrew Lawler and Photographer Ziyah Gafic were given access to Jerusalem’s famed The Dome Of the Rock (aka Temple Mount), and they featured the landmark in the September 2023 issue of National Geographic, according to an official press release from Docsology Films.

The eye-catching The Dome Of The Rock has sparked controversy among religious groups and surrounding residents. Readers of National Geographic can learn more about its rich history and the faith significance.

At the heart of the Dome of the Rock is a limestone outcrop revered by Muslims as the place from which Muhammad ascended on his mystical journey into heaven. One of the world’s largest collections of Islamic mosaics covers some 13,000 square feet of the shrine’s interior. (Photo by Ziyah Gafic)

Andrew Lawler: “The Dome of the Rock sits in the middle of the most complicated geopolitical knot in the world. It took more than a year of negotiations with Jordanian government officials in Amman and Washington, and Muslim clerics in Jerusalem, before National Geographic could even set foot within the premises. Then we received once-in-a-lifetime access to the site, from the cave beneath to the dome above. This article gives a rare glimpse into one of the most contested buildings in history. We hope the story helps readers better understand its unique mix of beauty and spiritual as well as political complexity.”

The sacred rock beneath the dome is a rough, pitted slab of limestone smaller than a volleyball court. Yet its spiritual significance vastly exceeds its size. (Photo by Ziyah Gafic)

Crowning Jerusalem’s sacred mount, the Dome of the Rock is a place of both prayer and protest. Extensive restoration and archaeological research are uncovering fresh clues to the shrine’s origins. (Photo by Ziyah Gafic)

Click Here to read the full press release on BTSCelebs’ Facebook.

For more on this story, visit Natgeo.com

A Special Thanks to Docsology Films, National Geographic and The Walt Disney Company for the info and images.

Jason Ray Covers More Beloved K-Pop Tunes

Over the past two weeks, musician covered songs from the K-Pop group Treasure flawlessly. He shared English versions of the well known singles “B.o.m.b.” and “Bona Bona.”

Check out his unique versions through the videos above and below.

[Guest Blogger] Writing a Thriller: Where to Start and What to Avoid

Photo by Emily Mitchell, Copyright © 2023. All Rights Reserved

Ryan Steck: It’s not easy to write a thriller, but when you’re in the zone and the words are flowing, it’s as much fun as reading a great book. So, where do you start? Let me try my best to answer that question . . .

Not everyone will agree with this, but in my opinion, if you want to be a thriller novelist, it’s imperative that you’re first a fan of the genre. Reading other books, especially ones from authors who have been successful, is an essential step because it will help you to understand how a book—including character introduction, structure, and so on—should look from the inside out. Many underestimate the value of reading other authors’ work, in terms of learning how to set up plotlines and develop the story and characters. But if you’re already a fan of the genre—and maybe that’s why you want to be a writer yourself—then the best place to start is with a character or a story that you want to explore.

Before I was a published author myself, I covered authors and their books as a literary critic for The Real Book Spy. I’ve long had a deep love of thrillers—primarily of the action, spy, and political variety—and that certainly is a big reason why I took the leap and started writing. That’s, of course, the first step, but what you start writing should come down to what interests you. That could be a topic or a character, or even a location. For me, I loved characters like Jason Bourne but realized that we never see those operator types out west. So I picked Montana and knew I wanted to set my series there. I did a lot of research and knew I had the setting. I also had come up with a character—a former Marine Raider named Matthew Redd—that I wanted to develop and get to know. And from there, once I started wondering what kind of trouble a guy like Redd might run into out west, the story fell into place.

So, when talking to aspiring writers, I recommend writing what you want to read, not the typical “write what you know” advice that seems to float around. You can learn anything, especially in today’s world where information is readily accessible at the tips of our fingers. Once you find that topic, setting, or character that interests you, something you’re really passionate about, you’ll be off and running.

But then what?

A lot of aspiring writers get hung up on things that have nothing to do with creating their story, characters, and the universe they’ll occupy. I’ve talked to a lot of writers who wasted considerable time trying to think of a lights-out title. Others started hiring graphic designers to mock up cover art examples for their story idea. The truth is, though, that a killer title or a striking cover design means nothing without a really good story. So don’t worry about stuff that should come later. Focus on writing, developing your story concepts and characters, and save your energy for those other things down the road.

Also, don’t burn yourself out trying to write the whole book too quickly. Likewise, don’t be too hard on yourself if you’re struggling to put down good words. Pages can always be edited and made better. Nobody writes a perfect first draft. First you have to get the story down from beginning to end, and then you can make it better. Most authors, on average, aim to write somewhere between 1,000-2,500 words a day, which is about a chapter. You can do more, or you can do less. The number isn’t so important, other than to illustrate that nobody writes a first draft in a week. Take plenty of time and allow yourself to explore. And remember, have fun! If you’re having fun writing your books, then people will likely have fun reading them.

Good luck, and happy writing!

His new book releases on August 8th, 2023. 

Learn more about Ryan Steck by visiting his official website: therealbookspy.com

A Special Thanks to Ryan Steck and Tyndale House Publishers for the exclusive article and images.

Nathan Walters Releases New EP

Last week, the former plus ONE member and music master shared a new project with the world. Nathan Walters announced his “Covers” EP release on social media, and it features him covering hit songs from Ed Sheeran, Miley Cyrus, Christina Perri and more. Watch his cover of Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” through the video above.

Congratulations to Nathan Walters on his new EP!

Fantasy Casting: “The Facts of Life”

Classic television is the best material for reboots! In recent years, anything made in the last century is up for a reset. “The Facts Of Life” is one of the shows that has already been teased for a reboot with the ABC live performance in 2021, but what if the series was brought back for a full series run? Today, BTSCelebs is creating an all new cast for this century.

Mrs. Garrett (Tamera Mowry)

Being a longtime fan of Tamera’s work on “Sister, Sister,” I know she is a veteran star capable of leading a new group of girls in the entertainment industry. Also, Tamera has branched out even more in family entertainment through Hallmark Channel programming. It would be interesting to see this real life mom and actress take on the role of the girls’ mentor.

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Blair (Cozi Zuehlsdorff)

“Freaky Friday 2018” star and former child actress continues to expand her career in entertainment through music. Her indie tunes can be heard anywhere music is streamed. What better person to play Blair than a real life Jill of all trades? Cozi is hard worker in reality, but it’ll be entertaining to see her play a rich girl. Someone who initially isn’t use to working for a living. A pretend American princess!

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Natalie (Kat Conner Sterling)

The iconic Natalie role could be perfected by actress Kat Conner Sterling. Her role of Presley in Netflix’s “One Week Way” was very memorable. She was one of the campers and a best friend to Bailee Madison’s character. Portraying Presley more than prepared her to be Tootie’s best friend and one of TFOL girls!

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Tootie (Dara Renee)

I loved Dara as villain Savannah  in “Freaky Friday (2018),” and she has seamlessly taken on the role of everyone’s BFF Kourtney in “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.” Tootie is such a beloved character…. only the most talented and versatile star should accept the role. I would like to see Dara try this one.

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Jo (Olivia Rodrigo)

From playing good girls in Disney’s “Bizaardvark” and “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” shows, Olivia has only given us glimpses of a dark side through her music. What better way to play the bad (or tough) girl than portraying Jo? She can have a blast in a role drastically different than anything she has taken on before!

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A post shared by Olivia Rodrigo (@oliviarodrigo)

If Hollywood does “The Facts Of Life” once again, I hope they consider these stars for the main cast!

Riley Clemmons Releases Details About New Album

credit: Maximum Artist Management

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zi062NNb5A

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