Close the Book on 2013

As the Member Care Coach at MBT, I have the privilege of ministering to you during times of need. I know many of you have faced adversity during 2013. And, I’m sure there are untold others of you who have suffered through your tragedy in silence.

I know of deaths, illnesses, disappointments, financial hardships, emotional pain and life that has gone south. We’ve prayed for so many this year, I dare say more than any other year since the MBT prayer ministry began.

The good news is that this year is rapidly growing to a close. In just a few short hours you can put the period at the end of the year and start a brand new year with a blank sheet of paper in the typewriter of life.

No matter what has happened to you in 2013, you can declare it over and start again on Wednesday. Regardless of how disappointing the events of the year turned out to be, it is now history and you can begin again with a brand new year.

I believe that 2014 will be a year of:

Rachel Hauck

The Cost Of Writing

(Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! You Are Reading A Throwback blog from 2011) We spend a lot of time here at My Book Therapy and in the writing industry talking …

What Happens When You Receive A Critique You Don’t Like?

Merry Christmas!

I don’t know if you’ve had time to work on your bestseller during this busy season, but I’m back with my two favorite editors with tips on navigating the sometime murky waters of critique/craft partners.

(AAT) What do you do when you receive a critique and it’s not what you want to see, read or hear?

(EM) Well, as far as you putting your feelings aside and your no longer sensitive? Twenty-three years into this and that has not happened yet. I’m still sensitive when it comes to my writing, no matter how hard I try. Anytime I receive suggestions, it has a sharp edge to it. Even though it’s not true, in my own mind, it feels like I’ve failed. One thing I‘ve learned for me, is I need to process. I’ve learned to tell my critique partners, I accept that, I think that’s a valuable comment. I’m going to have to go home and play with it and see how I feel about it. I can’t just immediately jump up and down and say “Oh goodie, you’ve made it better.” I have to say “thank you for the work you’ve done” and I have to go home and process. That’s the way it works for me personally because it always feels like I’ve failed.

(AAT) Beth, what about you?

The Greatest Storyteller Ever Sold

Long, long ago in a land far away, a child was born. No ordinary baby, the Christ child had come to save the world from sin.

The prophecies had been fulfilled. What hadn’t been mentioned in those prophecies was what a great storyteller Jesus would be. The Bible is full of the amazing stories He told. And all were spoken in a natural, easy-to-understand format.

Jesus came that we might have life. No doubt about it, but for writers, He also came that we might have stories… lots of them and a marvelous template of how we should reach the masses with our prose.

Rachel Hauck

Finding God In Our Work

We’re more than authors. More than Christians.

We’re children of God. Co-heirs with Christ.

We are the BRIDE of Christ.

So when we sit down to write our novels, we are not just putting words to page, or crafting something of make believe for entertainment.

We are also revealing God.

Come on, Rachel, how can that be?

Romans 1:20 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.