Faithful Finisher | Character Development, Christian Podcast, Live Your Dreams, Goal Setting

Hey friends!

Chapter 26 of The Dragon Collector is coming your way today.

In this chapter, I utilized the storytelling necessity of foreshadowing to plant some seeds for future books.  Pay special attention to the weather event that Astor describes to Javan as that will come into play in The Dragon Hunter, and the second seed makes Javan’s mission to win the throne even more vital.

Listen now to The Old Man’s Warning to, well, be warned!

Snag one or all of the Dragon Stalker books on Amazon.

Want to get a book written but feel you don’t have enough time between school and sports and family obligations?

Or maybe you’ve already done the school thing and now have a job that doesn’t leave you with much time for passion projects like book writing.

Or maybe you listened to episode 40 and have scheduled yourself some writing practices, but you aren’t sure where to start and how to go about finishing a book.

Then, my friend, this novella writing series is for you.  I’m bringing on guest host Bonnie Jean Schaefer to walk through her novella writing process as she writes through it herself one week at a time for 18 weeks.

Tune in for the 7 step plan and your specific action steps for week one.

Prefer to read the 7 steps? Visit the blog here.

Hey, friend!

It’s fantasy fiction Friday, so I have another chapter of The Dragon Collector coming your way.

Now one of the great things about writing fantasy is that you get to make up what the places look and feel like as well as strange characters or creatures that live in your world.  And no one can tell you that it’s not “realistic” because according to the rules of your world, that’s how things are.

Listen in to find out what I had to research for this chapter, then let yourself escape to the Land of Zandador as I read chapter 25 of The Dragon Collector.

Get Your Free DK Drake Starter Library here.

Snag one or all of the Dragon Stalker books here.

Want to know what sets writers apart from ordinary people?

Sneezes.

Ordinary people sneeze, accept a kind “bless you,” and move on.

A writer sneezes, has a crazy “what if?” thought, then turns the answer to that question into a book.

That’s exactly what happened to today’s guest. I don’t want to spoil the fun of her book’s origin story, but I do encourage you to listen in to hear it directly from Sheryl Bass, author of Baby Dragon’s Big Sneeze.

In this interview, we talk about her amazing children’s picture book, the struggles of the traditional publishing route and the artistic freedom that comes from self-publishing.

Sheryl also shares some fantastic tips, encouragement and advice for young authors.

Click here to buy Baby Dragon’s Big Sneeze on Amazon.

Hey, friend!

Do you struggle to find time to write because you're busy doing all the things that come with being a responsible, well-balanced teen or young adult?

I struggle to find time to write as an adult.  In order to maintain my sanity and stay healthy, I also need to make time to study my Bible, workout, hang with the fam, and have fun.  Oh, and record these episodes for you so you can learn how to be an awesome author.

In other words, I need a time management or author productivity strategy so I can do all the things and still sleep.

I’m thus am working on a theory that if I treated writing like a competitive sport, I’d be a more productive author.  I introduced this concept in episode 38, and today I want to focus on the idea of what it means to break the year into writing seasons.

What is a writing season, you ask?  Great question!  Listen in to find out.

Get Your Free DK Drake Starter Library here: https://authordkdrake.com/

Snag one or all of the Dragon Stalker books here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FK5V1HJ

Hey, Friend!  It’s Friday.  And that means it’s time for another Fantasy Fiction Friday episode.  

I know.  I know.  I’ve missed the past few weeks.  

First we went to Disney World.  Woohoo!  That was fun.  Then with the dawn of the new year and some new ideas for which direction to take this show, I got caught up in a project to revamp my website to get clarity on that new direction.  The website is still a work in progress, and I hope to have it up and running in all of its glory by the end of January.  Stay tuned for the big reveal.

But I’ve missed reading my story, especially since we left off with Javan knocked out.  It’s time to revive him here in chapter 24 of the Dragon Collector.

This is one of my favorite chapters.  In it, Javan makes a decision to stick to his strengths rather than do what others think he should do.

And that’s the crux of this whole story.  The premise, if you will.  It’s kinda a life motto I abide by and a truth I am building my business on.  That truth is this: you always find a way to do what you dream when you stick to your strengths.

Do you wanna be an author?  Explore genres.  Experiment writing different types of stories.  Pay attention to what comes easily and what causes you to want to pull your hair out.  Then do more to build those natural skills and less around those things that you struggle with.

Even if you don’t want to be an author, the same principle applies.  Discover your God-given strengths, determine what you want that aligns with your strengths, then find a way to do what you dream by sticking to those strengths.

Okay, enough motivational chit chat for today.  Let’s get to the story!

Snag one or all of the Dragon Stalker books here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FK5V1HJ

Are you an athlete who also enjoys writing?  I am.  I played volleyball, basketball and softball in high school, softball in college, and now run races of varying distances to feed my competitive spirit.

During a recent writing workshop I was leading, it occurred to me that many of the writers I’ve worked with also play sports.  That’s when the “what if?” question got my creative brain churning.

What if writing was a competitive sport?  Would it make you a more productive author?

Let your creative brain play with the answer to those questions for a moment, then tune in to hear how the way I answered the question has challenged me to restructure the way I think about time and writing productivity and life in general.  

My 2023 plans are still taking shape because I am approaching the year in a way I never done before and in a way I’ve never seen done before.  In other words, this year is going to be one giant experiment.  It could be an explosive success or a “that was a bad idea, let’s trying something else” kind of failure.

Either way, I intend to use my bold goals to know and trust God more, improve my writing skills and productivity, and to connect with and teach you all I know about writing.  Let’s dive in.

Get Your Free DK Drake Starter Library here: https://authordkdrake.com/

Snag one or all of the Dragon Stalker books here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FK5V1HJ

Join the Competitive Writers League here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/authordkdrakeinsiders

Merry Christmas, friend!

In this special episode, I challenge you to consider the character of the characters in the Christmas story.  What was it about Elizabeth and Zacharias, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men that allowed God to show Himself strong through these people?

Tune in to find out.  

It’s Fantasy Fiction Friday!  

And this isn’t just any Friday.  It’s the eve of Christmas Eve and the Friday before Christmas.  If you’re looking for a last minute gift of entertaining adventure for the avid reader in your life, I recommend the Dragon Stalker Bloodlines Saga.  You can easily gift the ebooks to any Kindle via Amazon, and you can be sure the books will be delivered in time for Christmas.

While you’re shopping, you can enjoy listening to chapter 23 of The Dragon Collector.  In this chapter, Javan gets to test out some different weapons in an effort to find out which one will work best for him on his quest to collect dragons.

When I was trying to figure out what weapon would be best suited for Javan, I thought about letting him be great with a bow and arrow or a backsword.  I even thought about letting the jolt blast be his weapon of choice since that is a weapon I totally made up for this story.  But none of those weapons felt like the right choice for Javan.  

He needed something unusual.  Something no one else would think of using.  Something that would play to his strengths and allow him to find a way to win the dragon collecting game because he was playing to his strengths.  

You’ll have to wait until next week’s episode to find out what that weapon is.  For now, enjoy his journey through the weapons that don’t play to his strengths.  

You are now entering the Land of Zandador...

Get Your Free DK Drake Starter Library here: https://authordkdrake.com/

Snag one or all of the Dragon Stalker books here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FK5V1HJ

Engage with an Expert Thursday was so fun with Kara Walker last week that I split it up the interview into two shows and couldn’t wait until Thursday to share part II with you.  So here we are on the Tuesday before Christmas with another dose of Kara Walker, host of the Money and Mental Peace podcast.  Today she shares her story about how she graduated from college debt free with $10k in the bank…and how you can do the same.

I find this topic of debt-free college intriguing, especially since I went to a private college utilizing student loans.  That was the only way I knew how to go to the college I wanted to go to, and I didn’t even realize there was a way to NOT use student loans in order to get a good college education.  Had I known then what Kara teaches now, I sure would have saved myself a lot of financial headaches.  I thus hope you’ll tune in and listen to Kara’s fascinating story so you can graduate college debt-free and have money in the bank.  

Debt-free college starts with learning about managing money effectively, so if you want to learn the basics of budgeting while still in high school, check out episode 33.

Want more tips on debt-free college and guidance on finding God's direction for college?  Listen to Kara's Podcast.

Connect with Kara at www.MoneyandMentalPeace.com

Listen to Episode 33:

Get Your Free DK Drake Starter Library here: https://authordkdrake.com/

Snag one or all of the Dragon Stalker books here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FK5V1HJ