As fast as I could without running, I walked down the hall to get my purse and keys from the kitchen. A few more seconds and I’d be in my car on the way to school. My purse was not on the counter where I left it. Dammit. I didn’t have time for this. My heart thundering in my chest, I scanned every flat surface in the kitchen for my red purse and silver key ring. I wasn’t sure whether I was rushing to my appointment or just desperate to escape Noah. Noah. How was Noah at Vance and Magnolia’s? He was in California. As far as I knew, he hadn’t been back to Georgia since three months before we’d broken up. Why was he here now? Vance was an artist, but he was also an angel tech investor on the side. He’d met Magnolia when he hired her as his assistant, and they’d gotten married a few months before. Vance and Maggie met with a lot of guys like Noah, but there were angel investors in California. Silicon Valley was filled with them. Why was he in Atlanta? Why was he here? Maybe after what had happened, no one…

My favorite books are inspirational romance, and I’ve been reading them for over twenty years. I began in publishing with novellas because I used to devour those four-in-one romance novella compilations. Since then, I’ve written full-length fiction, but the romantic elements are the same. Here are some of the key ingredients I look for as a reader, and hope I include as an author, in romance novels: A Noble Hero Sure, he has to be flawed. He must make mistakes. There has to be that one element he doesn’t have the internal or external strength to do at the beginning of the story that he’ll be able to do at the end. But he must also have at least one area of his heart, his life, where he is noble. Perhaps he’s caring for his elderly grandmother. Or perhaps he’s good to animals. The more noble, the better. A Strong Heroine This doesn’t mean she’s bench-pressing twice her weight, nor does it mean she won’t need help along the way. In my Friday Harbor story, my heroine—a strong and competent character—needs rescuing. That rescue feels believable, without making her look weak. And don’t we all need rescuing sometimes? (By the…

Happy Friday friends, Today I am chatting about bravery. We all exhibit some level of bravery every day. I’m not talking soldiers on the battlefield bravery, they are heroes and I respect them immensely. I’m talking about the bravery it takes to be our real, authentic selves day in and day out through trials, obstacles, and fears. Being who we were created to be and resting in that is one of the most freeing things you’ll ever experience and I pray with all my heart you do. But it also takes a whole heap of bravery not to try to fit in with your peers, colleagues, friends, or even your family. To not feel the need to conform or to hide the beauty of who God made you to be. The verse I chose for this week’s principle is from the song of Solomon. “You are altogether beautiful my love. There is no flaw in you.” Solomon 4:7. (ESV)  Some things to keep in mind this week as you go through your days: “God knit each of us uniquely together in our mother’s womb.”  Solomon 139:13-14 “God knew you before you were born.” Jeremiah 1:5 “God has called you by name and you were…

I didn’t set out to be an author. From childhood, my career goals were first an airline pilot, then a professional baseball player, and finally a physician. As I matured, I realized the first one was a fantasy, the second one highly unlikely (although I did play a bit of semi-pro baseball), while the third was what God had in mind for me. I didn’t realize God also planned for me to write, but events after the death of my first wife made that path clear to me. In none of these did I have an ultimate goal of fame and fortune—well, maybe the baseball thing, but nothing since then. But when I got my first writing contract, the dreams began. At my first writer’s conference, I was awestruck by the published writers there. These were people whose names were household words—maybe not in my household, but I was just getting started, so I could be excused for not knowing all of them. But surely they were celebrities in their hometowns. Most certainly they had to stop and give autographs in the grocery store or dry cleaners. And undoubtedly they lived in the lap of luxury. After all, they were…