Hello Bree, wonderful to be here, thank you! We had a prolonged time of celebration, after Christmas and New Year, we had a few birthdays in the family too! All lovely, but I am ready to get back to routine now.

I really am- I love sparkly brand new years, so many possibilities!

As a freelance writer I have new projects popping up all the time. I am excited about starting another session for my “Writing Your Personal Story” series for seniors starting Jan 10th. It is a six week course I love my pupils, they each have such amazing and wonderful stories to tell.

Our class is an interactive class in the sense that I function as the facilitator in a way. I want my students to participate as much as possible, to learn from each other, and to overcome the fear that comes with putting themselves out there to share their personal life stories. By the end of our six weeks we have laughed and cried and shared together. It is really very special.

Our writers’ group was formed in 2012, it consists of the five authors of As The Ink Flows. At our first meeting we listed our goals for organizing a writers’ group, and by the next meeting we had picked our mission statement: To prayerfully support, encourage, and inspire one another in our writing goals, to the glory of our God. We also thought that a devotional for writers would be useful for ourselves and others.

It was Glenda who suggested we begin the project, and I jumped on board quickly. When we finished, we knew that As the Ink Flows: Devotions to Inspire Christian Writers & Speakers would offer readers a unique approach to meditating on God’s Word and responding in writing. This book has been a source of inspiration to us as writers and we have heard how it has been a blessing to other creative people.

Yes, and I love it when I do. On Jan 1st a reader sent me a message to say that she really loved my devotions in As the Ink Flows, she said, “They feed me! ” and then she went on to say how much she enjoyed, appreciated and was grateful for the book. She said the devotions we just what she needed to read. I find this really encouraging and an affirmation that God is using the book for His glory.

One of the great things about the devotional is that each one is short and we categorized the book into sections for easy reference. They are: The Craft (of writing); Inspiration, Know Yourself, Well-Being, Personalities and Faithfulness. So you can pick up the book and find something you need with ease.

My favorite part of being a writer is telling people’s stories. Truth really is stranger than fiction sometimes. I love digging deeper and finding out what makes people do what they do, what inspires them to do great things. I get to do that in my job as a writer. I suppose my curiosity about people has a place in this industry.

Jen Turano, her novella is just out and I am going to be reading that for sure, it is called, At Your Request.

The last book I read in 2016 was Wrapped in Red by Meghan Gorecki

My goals for the new year, in a practical sense are de-cluttering the home and office. But in a more general sense, I want to be more disciplined in my day to day schedule. My aim is to cut out unnecessary time wasters and distractions. I want to write one non-fiction book and one fiction book by Dec 31st 2017. We’ll see next year this time if I am any closer to that.

I am first and foremost a mom, so it can be a challenge to fit it all in.

Thank you so much Bree for having me. I would encourage anyone who has a dream to write, to really prayerfully seek God, and trust in that God-given dream and go for it. One step at a time, pursue your dream and don’t let fear cripple you. And most important, don’t go it alone, find a community of writers, prayer partners and friends who will stand with you. You will be amazed at the power of community. And I wish you all many blessings and much success in 2017.