I've been waiting quite awhile to announce this, and that's been hard since it's such big news. Why did I wait to announce it?  Because until this last Tuesday, I didn't know if I was even going.  And that uncertainty was after I had registered, paid t… more »

I've decided to pick up Merlin's Shadow once more, which currently stands at 156 solidly written pages. This is book 2 in The Merlin Spiral, and I would love to start writing again. Alas!  I want to delay writing fresh material for two reasons:I ju… more »

Yesterday, a strange series of events happened ... all in the perfect order to cause my daughter, Ness , to have quite a fright. First off, I was mowing the lawn, and promptly got the mower stuck in a muddy section near some woods. So I'm trolling the… more »

At least for me ... as I didn't make it to the quarterfinals. But I did get some free reviews of my novel, and for that you would think I'd be glad. The problem is that there's nothing helpful in the reviews ... no real action points that I can run wit… more »

What? you say... you're back to editing? Yes, it's true, and all for the better. Three weeks ago Scott Appleton and his wife stayed with us while he was on his road-trip signing and selling books, and I had him review a few sections of Merlin's Bla… more »

I found a great interview with Frank Peretti over at CBN, done by Craig von Buseck. Among other things, Peretti talks about making characters come alive and the prospects of future movies based on his books. Frank's thrilling style has inspired my wr… more »

We've all heard of "reading between the lines"... well how do you "write between the lines" to evoke emotional responses from readers on the sly? Well, I just read some of the most fantastic writing advice in Randy Ingermanson's monthly e-zine that ex… more »

Today I am working on the 1st chapter of my first book ... yet again. Why would I do this when I am almost 30% done writing the second book? The reason is because I have been uneasy, nay unhappy with that chapter ever since I did my major restructuri… more »

Yours truly has now joined the social networking scene. You can find me at: http://facebook.com/treskillard where I am busy making connections with other people interested in reading, writing, editing, promoting, and marketing Christian Fantasy.… more »

To most of you, it would seem obvious that once I finished Book 1 (Merlin's Blade), I would begin writing Book 2 (Merlin's Shadow). To me, however, it was not obvious. Unless I can sell book 1, book 2 is useless in the sense that neither agent nor pu… more »