By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills We often hear the best way to communicate is to be transparent. Yet many people hesitate to use ihe ability for fear of being labeled needy. What is the difference between transparent and needy, and how do we apply transparency to our lives? Transparent in written or oral communication means that we are allowing others to …
Living the Seasons of Life
By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills The varied seasons of our lives are an intricate part of growth and change. Young and old experience new challenges and victories from the moment we are born. Some of us learn to crawl sooner than others. Some of us walk later than others. Our first teeth arrive at different times. Our first words are never …
March—A Lion or a Lamb?
By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills We’ve all heard March is “In like a lion; out like a lamb.” Where did the saying come from, and what does it mean? Curiosity got the best of me, and I put on my Google hat for a research expedition that explores the month of March. The Farmers’ Almanac states if March comes in like …
Leap Year Fun
By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Every four years Leap Year jumps onto the calendar with an extra day to—experience. The Internet is packed with fun activities to commemorate the day, so I ceated my own list of potential ways to celebrate. To leap means to jump or rush into something new. With that mindset, let’s brainstorm a few new and unique …
How Publishing a Book is Like a Wedding
By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills While reading a wedding invitation, my thoughts took a journey of comparing the writer’s road to releasing a new book like planning a wedding. The project brought a few giggles and a few sobering analogies. Read the following 7 likenesses of publishing a book to a wedding. Note the #7 is the number of completion. The …
The Case of the Missing Laptop
By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills After boarding a night flight from Houston to South Carolina, I removed my laptop from its sleeve and went to work, immediately losing track of everything around me except the story unfolding in my mind and on the screen. The time came for me to stow my laptop. I slipped it into its sleeve and placed …
God is Not Decaffeinated
By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills How do you view God in your life? Decaffeinated means to have most or all the caffeine removed, usually from coffee or tea. For some, that says the power, punch, and purpose of coffee no longer exists. When I consider caffeine as a stimulant of the central nervous system, I think about how God stimulates the …
Appreciating Ghost Ranch, New Mexico with Release of UNDER A DESERT SKY
By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Release day is HERE!!! A race from danger . . . straight into the arms of love. Delve into the secrets of UNDER A DESERT SKY. In 1935, Eva Fortier’s escape from danger leads her to the high desert of Ghost Ranch, NM. Meet Tahoma Benally, a Navajo doctor, bound by a promise and drawn to …
January 23, National Handwriting Day
By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills In the sixth grade, my teacher set aside part of my recess time to work on my handwriting. Do you have a clue to the difficulty others found and still find in deciphering my pitiful penmanship? This grade-A student always received a U for unsatisfactory until I finished grade school. By then, the teachers gave up. …
Writing to Provide Answers
DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Guest Post: Leilani Squires “I think I want to be a writer,” teenager me said to one of my heroes. “Do you have any advice?” Jill Briscoe paused between bites of brunch. “Learn as many styles of writing as you can,” she said, looking me in the eyes. “Then, no matter what kind of genre is of …