Welcome back to part two of four on “writing with a day job,” or writing for busy people. Whether you’ve got a non-creative or creative fulltime gig, you’re a freelancer seeking to make a living while working on your novels, or a parent with a novelists’ dream, you’ve come to the right place. Two weeks …
Category: Christian Life
Easter 2022: A Truth of the Trinity
Not too long ago, I wrapped up a bible study by Tara-Leigh Cobble called He’s Where the Joy Is, which I participated in through her organization D-Group (both of which I highly recommend!). The study was on the Trinity, which both daunted and excited me. The Trinity—the theological doctrine that God exists as One God …
Rereading the Tolkien Canon (The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, & The Lord of the Rings)
It had been a while since I last read The Lord of the Rings—just about four and a half years, to be exact. Same with The Hobbit. And, to be honest, I couldn’t give a timeline on when I last read The Silmarillion; I just know it was sometime in high school. Since I’ve been …
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How Our Company of Fools Changed My Writing
Fueled by an explosion of inspiration and angst, I wrote Our Company of Fools at the beginning of January 2016. I’d never written a book of that length that quickly. I’d never written a more personally emotional book. I never wrestled so much with a story through the ebbs and flows of editing and revision. …
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Audience Expectations, Longing for Redemption, and Spider-Man: No Way Home
Careful! A web of major spiders–er, spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home lies ahead! Despite my neutral feelings about Spider-Man, Spider-Man: No Way Home managed to land in my Top 5 Favorite MCU Movies, sitting just behind Avengers: Infinity War & Endgame, Thor: Ragnarok, and Thor. Putting aside my nostalgic bias for Thor (the superhero …
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My Quest to Nashville: An Advent Reflection
If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that my appreciation of Andrew Peterson—a singer-songwriter and author—goes back many years. His music encouraged me through my gap year, I once described his book Adorning the Dark as a writing retreat in book form, and I’m a fan of his Wingfeather Saga, which I reread …
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The Thanksgiving Post 2021
The 20s are weird. No, I don’t mean the 2020s—though it certainly has been a strange decade so far. I mean the 20-somethings, the age every kid wants to reach, the stage of life that many people might say are the best years of your life… The age that is, well, underwhelming. And overwhelming. At …
The Worldview of Marvel’s Eternals
Spoilers for Marvel’s Eternals ahead. Consider yourself warned! Anyone who’s followed me for a while knows that I am a huge Marvel Cinematic Universe fan (particularly of the Thor movies). The way Marvel has built this massive, interconnected universe that still continues to captivate and excite is impressive to me, and much of my own …
The End of My Baylor Story: Thoughts After Second Graduation
I love scrapbooking. I think my enjoyment of this hobby of mine speaks to two truths about who I am. One, I love memories. Granted, I tend to cling to memories a little too tightly at times as a way to cope with the many moves and goodbyes of my young life. Which is why …
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What God is Teaching Me During Grad School
This is not an easy post for me to write. One, because what I’ve been reflecting on and growing in feels super complex to distill down, and two, because it is hard for me to be vulnerable these days. A lot of my growth over the past two years in graduate school relates back to …
By Madelynn Orion 