It's "Black Friday" in the United States - officially the busiest and scariest day to be in the stores each year. If I can help it, I avoid all stores on this day. Traditionally, my family spends this day readding, playing games, and watching movies.
Here are a few of the great reads currently being enjoyed in my house:
In a world full of caring adults, how is it that we keep missing the cries of hurting kids?
“Today, when the bell rings, kids might leave their school campus, but they can never escape the other world, a world where mockers and intimidators thrive. Ironically, they carry a gateway to that world right in their pockets, because they see that world as an avenue of escape. . .but in reality, it’s putting them in bondage." --Jonathan McKee
With chapters including: Digital Hurt, The Escape Key, Why Didn’t You Say Anything?, Meet the Principal, Real-World Solutions, and More!
An expert on youth and youth culture, McKee shares his own heart-rending story and offers a sobering glimpse into the rapidly changing world of bullies, bystanders, and the bullied while providing helpful ways to connect with these kids, open doors of dialogue, and give them the encouragement they need and the validation they're searching for. . .too often in all the wrong places.
The Bullying Breakthrough promises real-world help for dealing with today’s bullying culture.
Girls are world-changers! And this deeply inspiring storybook proves it!
Just for the girls in your life, ages 8 and up, this collection of 100 extraordinary stories of women of faith--from the Bible, history, and today--will empower them to know and understand how women have made a difference in the world and how much smaller our faith (and the biblical record) would be without them.
Featuring full-page, colorful illustrations alongside the true stories of amazing women like Lydia, Naomi, Rahab, Rebekah, Jane Austen, Corrie ten Boom, Bethany Hamilton, Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa, and dozens more, the stories of these 100 women will encourage and inspire girls to become the world-changers God created them to be!
This fast-paced, high-energy collection of short works features today's most popular writers and illustrators writing about what it means to be a guy.
Contributors include Chris Crutcher, Stephen King, Matt Groening, Daniel Pinkwater, Neil Gaiman, and many more. Includes an all-new foreword by Jon Scieszka and an excerpt from Knucklehead.
How are you spending Black Friday? Do you recommend any particularly great books?
Over a year ago, I enjoyed Devoted: A Girl’s 31-Day Guide to Good Living with a Great God which was written by a then nineteen year-old. You can read my review of it here. I recently received a copy of her The Devoted Life: a creative devotional journal. This might very well be the BEST creative journal I have enjoyed in years. It's a combination of devotions, prayers, free thought and response sections, as well as creative coloring pages. While it's target audience is teen girls, I found it quite enjoyable and would gift it to almost anyone.
As a reviewer for Barbour Publishing, I've had the blessing of discovering some truly amazing authors. One I have fallen in love with has been Michelle Griep. I have reviewed several of her books over the past year and she only improves with each tale. As such, I couldn't wait to purchase my copy of this year's Once Upon a Dickens Christmas. This is a sequel to last year's first (you can read my review of it here.), but revolves around all new characters, and a third installment is already planned for next Christmas. 
The next post date for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group is January 2. The administrators will be announcing the winners of the 2018 IWSG Anthology Contest on that day!
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.
I will not be participating in NaNoWriMo this year.
It's Halloween and time to enjoy some thrills and chills! 
The Fall of Jericho
The Crucible
Yesterday was the 14th annual "Bridge to Publication" conference hosted by the Bayou Writers Group in Lake Charles, Louisiana. I truly enjoyed meeting several authors I've followed for a while as well as getting to know several more.
I've been following John M Floyd and Michael Bracken a bit from their joint ventures with https://www.sleuthsayers.org/ It turns out these men have known each other for years as their paths have crossed numerous times over the years. Both men are experts in the genre of short stories. I believe Floyd has published more than 900 stories while Bracken has had more than 1200 short stories published. I can only imagine how many more they have had rejected, sitting in a drawer somewhere, or currently out for submission. They also both happen to have a story featured in this years "Best American Mystery Stories".
This was my first time meeting Gina Ardito and I'm amazed that I'd never heard of, or at least I don't remember hearing of, her. She is a true writing force and a great presenter. I thoroughly enjoyed her informative two part boot camp for writers. She provided so much useful information in the span of just a couple of hours. I will definitely be following her from now on. If you'd like to join me, you can find her at https://ginaardito.com/
The other author I really enjoyed meeting is Jerica Guillory. I almost left the conference early because I was so very tired. However, I am so glad I did not. Guillory's energy, enthusiasm, and worldly wisdom in her "Key to Publication, Inspiration, & Motivation" presentation was the perfect way to wrap up the day. 
