Luana Ehrlich's Blog, page 17

There Should Be A Better Word

I often play a word game on my iPad called Words With Friends. It’s very much like playing Scrabble, but, unlike Scrabble, you can try as many combinations of the letter tiles as you want until your word is accepted. Sometimes, you randomly arrange the tiles, and a word you never knewexisted is accepted. (Out of curiosity, I often look up the definitions of these words, thus justifying the “educational value” of playing this game.)

But, there are many other times when I arrange the tiles into...

“Look Inside” What’s That All About?

I recently read a blog post in which the writer said she never read reviews of the books she was interested in, nor did she read the book blurbs in the descriptions of the book. All she cared about was the free excerpt offered by the author or publication site.

Most books listed on Amazon have this feature. It’s called “Look Inside” and it provides any potential book purchaser the opportunity to read the prologue or first ten percent of a book at no charge. When book buyers are surveyed after...

Is It A Real Book If It Doesn’t Have Any Pictures?

The following question was posed by a young child to his grandmother when she allowed him to hold my recently released Christian fiction novel, One Night in Tehran. He quickly thumbed through the pages, handed it back to her with a note of disgust in his voice, and asked, “How can it be a real book if it doesn’t have any pictures?”

Good question.

My book is full of words. There are no pictures. Can it be a real book then?

Authors who write books for young children use more images than words in t...

An Author with an Itsy Bitsy Platform

One of the most important concepts in the publishing industry today is the notion of “The Platform.” You may not know what that is, but think for a moment about people who’ve recently released a book—people like Hillary Clinton, Bill O’Reilly, and John Grisham. These authors have a built-in platform. The mere suggestion they might write yet another book has readers signed up to buy a copy before one word has been penned.

That’s a platform.

Publishers and literary agents will ask a potential aut...

Do You Believe In Aliens?

Following an “in-depth” discussion about this question with my fourth-grade grandson, Ibegan considering the reason he gave for why there had to be aliens in outer space. He said he believed there had to be different kinds of creatures in other galaxies, because when they came to earth and found human beings, God would use them to teach us earthlings how to . . . well, at that point, the conversation advanced to a stage beyond my ability to comprehend.

His concepts of what mankind should be ab...

How Can I Find Happiness?

As I enjoyed an early morning quiet time on my patio recently, Ibecame captivated by the play of light and dark, shadow and sunlight,across the foliageof my backyard. I had just been reading a devotional about mankind’s universal search for happiness.In the article,C. S. Lewis’ classic, Mere Christianity, is referenced, particularlythis quote, “All that we call human history–money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery–is the long terrible story of man trying to find...

There’s Something About Saying Goodbye

There’s something about saying good-bye that can be both bitter and sweet, but, no matter what, it’s always hard. It’s hard to say goodbye to a pet, to a house, to a car, to a habit, but most of all, to another human being. I just spent four months with a group of people, and it was suddenly time to say farewell. Not surprisingly, it was hard.

When my mother found herself in a situation where she had to say goodbye to someone, she would inevitably quote Shakespeare, specifically, the line from...

Should This Verse Be In The Bible?

I had one of those “Well, duh,” moments this morning when I was reading my Bible. It came from 1 Samuel 12:21, where the prophet Samuel is issuing a warning to the people in a kind of farewell address. He says, “And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty.” I was tempted to skip over that verse and not spend anytime meditating on it because its meaning wasn’t difficult to understand—empty things are, well . . . empty.

However, the verse’s obvious...

Introducing My New Book

This will be a different kind of blog entry today. In many ways, it will be shamelessly self-serving because I’m announcing the publication of my new book, One Night in Tehran. However, despite that, I ask for your indulgence as I engage in some self-promotion.

Before I introduce you to One Night in Tehran, I feel it’s only fair to warn my regular blog readers that this book is a work of fiction and bears little resemblance—well, none actually—to any devotional writings Ioccasionally post on t...

God’s Waiting Room

Because of some recent health issues with my dad, I’ve had to spend several hours in doctors’ offices, imaging centers, and hospitals. Most of that time has been spent in a “waiting room.” Such places are appropriately named.

During one long day, I found myself thinking aboutall the times I’ve been placed in God’s Waiting Room. This is a place familiar to all praying believers. Those who petition the Father for answers, for relief, for deliverance, for guidance, and for comfort often find suc...