My Favorite Book I've Written

Susan Books, On Writing, Scribbles

Asking what my favorite book I’ve written is like asking which child is my favorite. I love them all! Historical is definitely more difficult to write because of the research involved, but I love historicals because they bring me into a different world and I learn so much. But I’m a contemporary romance girl,

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10 Things I Love about Warren Christmas

Susan Good Stuff, Just for Fun

Christmas is less than two weeks away.

Whoa!

With Thanksgiving falling so late, I’m feeling a little as if I’m on a toboggan, whooshing down a hill, headed for a jump—and I’m still trying to get my feet in the sled.

I’ll be honest. I probably won’t get any Christmas cards written.

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How to Be Happy

Susan Book Excerpts, Books, Just for Fun, Scribbles, Thoughts on God

How to be happy, a little more, every day.

Being a mother of grown children took me by surprise. One minute, they were on my lap, giving me gooey kisses. The next, driving away, waving, smart, beautiful, capable adults.

I’ve already mentioned how I felt a little duped by the fact that if I grew them up to be responsible children .

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How to Find a Setting for Your Book

Susan Uncategorized

When I’m picking the setting for my book, I choose places I’d like to visit or something that holds a particular story element—like Alaska and being lost in the mountains, or Kellogg (PJ Sugar’s town), a cute hamlet outside of Minneapolis on the lake. I like to invest myself into setting,

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Learning to Say No

Susan Books, On Writing, Scribbles

Opportunities: I have a hard time letting go of opportunities—like a speaking event, or teaching a retreat, or even a getaway to see my children. I want to do it all! But I can’t, and that’s where I have to go back to my priorities and say, “No.” I need to write.

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Life in Russia

Susan Life in Russia, Scribbles

I always knew God had called me into a life of ministry—especially missions work. I just had a hard time saying yes! But when I did at age twenty-two, God put a handsome man into my life and defined the call to Russia. As a child, I loved to read stories of the martyrs in Russia,

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SOLD: Advice on Becoming an Author

Susan On Writing, Scribbles

Soak in the elements of a good book: The first priority of a writers is to be a reader. Find those books you enjoy and don’t be afraid to highlight favorite phrases, characters, or plot techniques. For years I kept a journal in which I dissected the books I liked and analyzed why they worked.

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I Have Come Upon a Terrible Truth

Susan Just for Fun, Scribbles

I have come upon a terrible truth.

A great parent trains their children to leave them.

I’m not sure why this didn’t click with me before. I mean, since birth—hello—my kids have been leaving me.

I tried—oh, I tried, to extract promises that they’d live with me forever. In fact,

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