by Peter Leavell, @PeterLeavell

Day 1: Fingertips brush against the keys and heartthrobs as every thought sends shivers through the future. Imaginings thunder as story beckons the muses of old. Chocolate never tasted so good.

Day 2: Someone hacked the computer and turned poetry into gibberish. A toddler, indeed, yes. Tomorrow, purhaps it can be salvaged.

Day 3: Salvaged, but after second glances, the toddler’s ideas weren’t so bad. Maybe it’ll be published someday.

Day 7: Three thousand words! Done? Blah. Books are around 75,000 words. Consumed first pound of chocolate. Semisweet, Semiconscious.

Day 18: Took day off writing and feel like *********. Won’t take a day off again. What a total waste of a day.

Day 49: Decided to start writing again after taking a month off. Felt good to write.

Day 50: Yay, writing! Publishable.

Day 51: Boo, writing! Trash.

Day 52: Meh. Kept going. Is that blood on my keyb…no, melted chocolate.

Day 72: Enjoyable pastime, maybe? Scanned through today and saw lots of words, but are they good?

Day 99: They tried to draw blood, and they filled the vial with fragmented metaphors. Hadn’t written yet today.

Day 162: Drama. Inside the little grey cells. Writers die alone. Indoors. No tan—discovered by their critique group after the missed meetings. Wouldn’t trade critique group for chocol…well, one can do without critique groups if needed. But both chocolate and friends and writing…ah, the life of creation.

Day 210: Started second draft. Not sure who wrote the first, but they ate all the chocolate in the house. They should be found and forced to stop writing.

Day 222: Friends who don’t write all want to write books now. Get your own hobby.

Day 271: There’s only creation or death, and lines between the two blur. The grind isn’t a career choice. There’s no discipline. Just finish lines to the finish lines.

Day 312: Not many can say they’ve wrecked a novel. This one’s been wrecked, oh cherished possession. Chained the manuscript. Tight. To the flagpole. Out front. In case Debbie Macomber walks by. And sees it. And reads it. And likes it. And likes me.

Day 366: Determined to do better. Scrap #1 and write story #2. Chocolate, don’t fail now.

Day 411: Agent liked first story. Fine. They can keep it. Wait till they see what’s brewing next.

Day 598: Official payment for first book. Combined with work paycheck, will take critique group of three for coffee.

Day 746: Realization—have written over two years now. Can see how the dedication has changed others. They are more dedicated to their dreams.

Day 842: Gave talk about writing. Went okay. Where did all this knowledge spouted from these lips come from?

Day 999: Writer Don DeLillo was right. There was no trick of writing. No mastery of self or words. No one’s born a novelist. No. There’s just writing. And growing older. And then, one day, I realized I was a novelist.

I had to grow into novelhood.

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Dino Hunters: Discovery in the Desert

Siblings Josh and Abby Hunter don’t believe their parents’ death was an accident. After taking pictures of the most incredible find of the 1920’s—proof humans and dinosaurs lived together in the same time and place—desperate outlaws armed with tommy guns are on their tail! Only Josh and Abby know where the proof is hidden—in the canyons of Arizona’s desert. When an intruder searches Josh and Abby’s bags inside their new home, the two convince their uncle Dr. David Hunter to return to the canyon and find the pictures they’d hidden. But the outlaws are just as eager to find the proof before Josh and Abby. Can Josh use his super-smart brain to outfox the villains in time? Will Abby’s incredible physical abilities stop full-grown men? And will their uncle believe them?
Dino Hunters is an apologetics-adventure series aimed at the middle reader to help them trust the Bible from the very first verse.