By Barbara Latta @DiAnnMills This week’s guest blogger is Barbara Latta  @BarbaraLatta Observing Memorial Day is not a contemporary ideal. Remembering those who’ve given their lives for others has given us reason to value the sacrifices of courageous men and women. Twenty-two-year-old Marine Corporal Jason Dunham and some of his military buddies sat around their barracks in Iraq swapping stories.

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills We’ve all wondered if we’re cut out to write a novel. We experience an unusual or exciting event and ask ourselves, “Could I write a story about this?” Sometimes we dwell on it for days, weeks, months, and even years, still asking ourselves the same question. Why not take a novelist writing quiz to see if

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Thousands of stories are released each year. So many wonderful and amazing books, and we’ll never be able to read them all. But we try. What’s the fascination for story? Why do we crave the next novel and the next? Here are 7 reasons we love story. Entertainment is the number one reason we love story.

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills April 30th is National Honesty Day. The value of honesty seems like an easy decision for most of us. It’s a virtue we want to incorporate in our lives, and we want our list of virtues to include trustworthy, reliable, upright, honorable, righteous, kind, and the list goes on. “Honesty is the first chapter in the

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Readers come in all shapes, sizes, and ages. Some prefer short nonfiction pieces while other readers reach for book length. Fiction readers select type and genre of stories according to their taste and whim. Avid readers devour one book after another while many prefer to linger on each word. Word lovers highlight and underline passages that

By Darlene L. Turner @DiAnnMills This week’s guest blogger is Darlene L. Turner @DarleneLTurner Did you know every strand of hair on our heads is dead? So, where does it get its strength? It starts in the papilla (hair bulb), which feeds from cells in our blood vessels deep under the surface. One of my favorite Bible stories is Samson

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills April 2 is National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. I confess, I have a love affair with peanut butter. And who can resist jelly to go with it? Grape, apple, strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, apricot, and any other flavor works for me. As a child and teen, I was a picky eater, and my parents worried

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills C. S. Lewis is one of my heroes of the Christian faith, and he may be one of yours too. C. S. Lewis is an inspiration to all who have read his books. As children, many of us were introduced to his Chronicles of Narnia series. As adults, we read and reread his insightful works about

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Who doesn’t enjoy a good belly laugh? We’re told it’s great medicine and usually done best with others. That’s a party! When I learned March 19 is Let’s Laugh Day, I was on board for the celebration. But before I planned my day of chuckles and giggles, I had a few questions: Is laughter beneficial? Why

By Sherry Carter @DiAnnMills Our guest blogger this week is Sherry Carter. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 I have a confession to make. When God calls me to do something, I immediately say, “I can’t! Even if it’s something I’ve done