Rachel Starr Thomson

Way back in … 2001? was it? writing of mine appeared in print for the first time. It was an article on child training entitled “Save the Children,” and it was published by the quarterly journal Home School Digest.

Since then, Wisdom’s Gate, publisher of HSD and other magazines, has published my articles on a regular basis. Many of the now-chapters in Letters to a Samuel Generation reached a wide audience through them, and they continue to feature articles from Peculiar in Home School Digest and An Encouraging Word.

Early this week I received an email from Israel Wayne, the marketing director at Wisdom’s Gate (and the son of the editor-in-chief … Wisdom’s Gate is a largely family-run ministry), about a bold new step they’re taking in their subscription policy. I’ve pasted it below. I encourage you to follow the links and check out what they have to offer!

Dear Rachel,

We have been very concerned about the strain that the poor economy is placing on our readers. Many families are struggling just to make ends meet and have virtually nothing left at the end of the month. We have also experienced the effects of these inflationary costs in the rising expense of printing and shipping of our magazines. However, after much prayer and seeking the Lord, we are taking a step of faith. We do NOT want a lack of funds to keep ANYONE from receiving the spiritual and practical encouragement of our magazines.

If you have been wanting to receive:

An Encouraging Word Magazine (for Christian Women of all ages)
Home School Digest Journal (Family Discipleship magazine)
Brush Arbor Quarterly Magazine (on Revival and Deeper Life)

but have been hindered because of finances, please do not let that stand in your way. We are making these three magazines available to you for literally WHATEVER YOU CAN AFFORD!

Please help us get the word out about this offer to your friends and family members who would benefit from our publications. Prayerfully consider forwarding this email to your email list, posting it on your blog, printing it out for your church bulletin board, or giving it out at your next small group or homeschool meeting.

To subscribe for WHATEVER YOU CAN AFFORD, please visit http://www.WisdomsGate.com or call 1-800-343-1943.

Please pray for us as we embrace this new act of obedience to God’s direction for our ministry.

Your servant,

Israel Wayne
Marketing Director
(for all of us here at Wisdom’s Gate)

www.HomeSchoolDigest.com
www.AnEncouragingWord.net
www.BrushArborQuarterly.net
www.WisdomsGate.org

Today, the WriteAtHome Spring Semester officially ends. With the exception of a few late papers, I finished marking, commenting, and scoring yesterday. I have said goodbye to my second batch of sixty students this school year. It’s been a good one!

Nearly four months of summer now stretch ahead of me. I know that if I’m not disciplined, I will crumple into a heap of lazy unproductivity. Thankfully (?), there’s too much to do to allow that. Sequels to revise, novels to market, ebooks to write, tours to tour, road trips to trip … I love my ridiculously busy life!

And the series continues. I would have been more on-the-date with these, but I just spent a weekend in Chattanooga, Tennessee, far from home and my handy wireless connection!

“Writing Without Inspiration” shares one of the great secrets of productive writers, who can’t exactly wait for the miraculous muse to hit before cranking out work on deadline: the practice of thinking through your fingers. I can attest that this works, because I do it all the time. (In fact, I’m doing it right now.) The author is Susie Shellenberger, the editor behind Brio, Focus on the Family’s magazine for teen girls. The article is also an interesting behind-the-scenes look at a magazine.

In “A Moment to Write,” Jenny Schroedel shares advice and anecdotes from professional writers who helped her reach her own dream of becoming a writer. Advice is given in four areas: Begin Where You Are, Set the Stage, Invest in Tools, and Find a Friend With Gentle Eyes. She closes with a lovely section on why we write, encouraging us to write in a “simpler, childlike way” through a story about Vincent Van Gogh.

P.S.

Chattanooga was warm, green, and beautiful, thank you; although I can’t believe it’s muggy down there and it’s only the first week of May!