Dream Seeds & Vision

Do you have a dream inside of you that you want so badly that it hurts? A vision for your life that will not let up? Maybe you've tried letting it die after yet another disappointment, but all it takes is a piece of music or words falling into place, and the desire rises Phoenix-like - consuming you in its fresh flames.

I've tried to give up writing sometimes. The emotional rollercoaster - yay! they like me... despair! they hate me - seemed like too much to put up with. Ha! Might as well try to saw off my right hand with a butter knife - it can't be done.

I've come to realize that the dream inside of me has been planted there for a purpose and I've been carefully created to achieve that purpose.

Here's a thought:

Seeds are amazing little things. They are the product of intimacy and a re-mixing of genetic material.

So when God built us, He took a tiny part of His dream - carefully packaged it inside of each one of us, tucked away together with all the right giftings and talents to see that dream fulfilled.  God's dream inside of us is a remix of genetic material - part Him, part you. Only you can do that bit of what is on His heart. Be it writing, making movies, baking cookies, growing lillies...

The mind-blowing thing is that the dream seed inside you carries God's DNA too. His Life, His creative power, His freedom, His enabling - amazing stuff.

Talk to me. What are your dreams?

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters. She has just signed a three book contract for a YA series, Spirit Walker, with Pelican / Watershed.

Finding Mia is available from Amazon, Pelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Amazon& Smashwords.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.

When God Does the Schedule

As I wrote my last post in July for ICFW, the registrations for our Australasian Christian writers CALEB conference were open. I shared, “I believe the CALEB conference should be a MUST for Australia and New Zealand Christians who are writing - whether it be for the Christian market or general one.” And after this conference in October, do I still think so? Yes, even more so!



      Rochelle Manners with her Wombat
and Even Before Publishing authors



Ruth, Bonetti, Anne Hamilton and Jo Wanmer











Each year these conferences have kept on improving and it was great this time to have more publishers present to share with us. Those of you who have been privileged to share at such conferences know the delight of meeting author friends again and getting to know other authors, writers, editors and folk in the publishing industry.


CALEB Award dinner
Finalists waiting for the winner.



Writing exercise at master class

The sessions on both full days sought to cover topics for fiction and non-fiction writers both published and unpublished. The Friday included Master classes on writing Fantasy and Young Adult books and the Romance genre - which I presented. Other sessions included “Over the Ditch” - on writing in New Zealand, Spiritual obstacles in Writing and Devotional Writing - which Ray presented. Included on many and varied sessions on the Saturday were the panels I shared with other published authors about “Romancing the Story” and “Writing a Series”.

Then of course there was the CALEB Award dinner with some excited finalists waiting to hear the winner in various categories.

This year, instead of flying to Brisbane, my husband Ray and I decided we would put our car on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry to cross Bass Strait and spend several weeks on the Australian mainland before and after this great conference weekend. From Melbourne we would travel out west up to Queensland to attend the conference and then back down the east coast to Sydney on the way to Victoria to get on that ferry for home 6 weeks later. We planned to try and book as many speaking and book-signing appointments as we could. However, the months beforehand while we tried to organise our schedule ended up being a very busy time with commitments, especially trying to finish writing projects.

Of course, from the start the whole venture was much prayed about and we tried to leave it all in God’s hands to open and close doors for us. Now we can testify once more that God is the very best scheduler any writers can ever hope to enjoy the benefits of. That doesn’t mean there were no challenges or unscheduled events. Sounds just like “life” doesn’t it?

Click on the link below to see details of this beautiful shop. A real privilege to share there.
Cornerstone shop in Erina, Gosford area of New South Wales.

Book-signing at Cornerstone at Erina

This is one of the most beautiful Christian bookshops we've ever seen.
Also has a great café at back with an outdoor courtyard with tables

We were able to do book-signings in Christian bookshops at Orange and Erina in New South Wales, and at a general bookseller in Dalby on the Darling Downs west of Brisbane.

The plan was also to visit briefly other Christian bookshops in towns we drove through to at least introduce ourselves as published authors to the staff. We had a list of shops but were really saddened to discover quite a few had closed their doors, including in major country towns like Albury and Tamworth. With online and e-book sales becoming more prevalent, many shops are doing it very tough. Over the years I have worked as a volunteer in small independent shops and know the ministry these can have. It is sad for us as writers of course. It is even sadder to have these real opportunities disappearing to share with folk who may never enter a church door but will venture into a Christian shop and leave with material God can use to show His love in their need, to draw them to Himself.

Another challenge was a health one. During those hectic weeks before we left Tasmania, Ray had visited his doctor to have treatment for a sore on his face. A couple of weeks into our trip, in Dalby God provided a very experienced doctor in skin cancers who even sacrificed his afternoon off to correctly diagnose and cut out the skin cancer - fortunately a carcinoma, not melanoma but which still needs further treatment by a specialist now we are home.


So Ray had a dressing on his face all through our time in Brisbane. When we needed to find another doctor as we continued on our travels, God again had us with the right friends at the right place whose doctor was only around the corner and without delaying our journey was able to check the wound and remove the many sutures. Was it merely a coincidence that many weeks before we had arranged to stay with my brother near, Dalby, have appointments there, visit these friends ten days later? No way!

My dear Hunter Valley romance writer
friends of many years.

 Ray and I had not only a rich time of fellowship at the conference and bookshops. Besides God’s doctor appointments, He also organised the three Sunday church services where Ray preached and the various other meetings we both were able to share something of the writing journey our faithful, loving God is still taking us on. There were wonderful moments right through those six weeks of unexpectedly meeting old friends and sharing with family members, some not seen for many years.

It was a real delight to see an aunt of mine from South Australia I have not seen for over fifteen years who just “happened” to be visiting my cousins in Brisbane while we were there. We travelled 5,124 kilometres with so many other “God incidents” during those six weeks that I am still awed by. I am often the “list maker”, the main “organiser” in our family. I like to know why, when, where, what and how. Once again God has reminded me that HE is in control, that when I hand over all that I am, all my ambitions, self and pride, HE will be able far more affectively to use me in His service where and when and how HE wants to.

Mary Hawkins's first book was published twenty years ago. Since then her books have been released in 19 titles and she is now trying to do final edits on her current manuscript before submitting it to a publisher.

She is delighted that her Heartong Presents historical and contemporary inspirational romance novels are now available again as e-books from Barbour Publishing through their Truly Yours Digital Editions.

Check out the video trailers for her current Baragula books and especially the new one for historicals, The Southland series, on YouTube.

DEVOTION: Telling God My Plans ~ Kathi Macias

A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps (Proverbs 16:9).

Have you ever heard the saying, “If you want to make God laugh, just tell him your plans”? I’m not sure if God laughs when we outline our plans to Him, but I do know He doesn’t change His plans to fit ours. And seriously, aren’t we glad of that?

When I look back on my life (and trust me, there’s a lot to look back on these days!) I find that my greatest regrets came about as a result of trying to pursue my own plans instead of God’s. Conversely, when I chose to walk in His ways—even if they didn’t make sense to me at the time—I always ended up in a place of blessing and peace.

So why do I still try to make my own plans and go my own way—and then, almost as an after-thought, ask God to bless the outcome? Okay, I know, I know. Even after nearly forty years of walking with Him, I’m still trapped in this imperfect physical existence and living on a broken planet. Hence, the call to serve self still echoes in my heart, despite the fact that I know better than to heed such a deceitful siren song.

You can relate, can’t you? You too are trapped in an imperfect physical existence and living on a broken planet. It won’t always be so, and that’s something to anticipate with joy. Until then, however, let’s continue to pray for one another and to commit our hearts to follow hard after Him, rejoicing that He is directing our steps, that His plans for us are good (see Jeremiah 29:11), and that He will never lead us down the wrong path.

Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored nearly 40 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences. She won the 2008 Member of the Year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) and was the 2011 Author of the Year from BooksandAuthors.net. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband.

Making Plans - Marcia Lee Laycock

Ah, summer time - time for planning the garden, planning the vacation, perhaps even planning a new direction in life.

I remember a summer when my husband and I had big plans. We had decided to attend a Bible College in Saskatchewan, and our first step was to sell our home. We thought that would be no problem. We had a prime piece of property. Dozens of people wanted our house. We prayed the right family would come along. When a young couple offered to buy it, I was pleased. They were the perfect match. Everything seemed to be falling into place. 

Then one day the couple told us they were not able to get the money to buy the property. All our plans were suddenly unsettled and I was angry with God. Everything had seemed so right - why had he suddenly pulled the rug out from under us? I stood at the living room window that day and shook my fist at Him. Later, I asked His forgiveness and put my plans in His hands again. The moment I did so I was filled with that incomprehensible peace. I continued packing. We had less than a month to sell the house. Then three weeks. Then two weeks.

Then Spence met a man who needed a place to rent. We thought that was the solution. I packed up our kitchen. The day Spence mailed off the last of our boxes, he went to give the keys to the fellow who had rented the house. The man apologized, but said he had rented a house in town. Spence was stunned. He drove around town and happened to meet a woman whose husband had once expressed interest in the house. She said, “I’m glad I bumped into you - Art had a dream last night & he thinks God wants him to buy your house!” In a daze, Spence arranged to meet him later that evening. When he told me what was happening, I responded - “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m still packing!”

That night there was a going-away party for us in town. Thinking it might turn into a staying-home party, I went alone while Spence stayed behind to wait for Art. They had agreed to meet at five thirty. Five thirty came and went, no Art. Six o’clock came, but no Art. At that point Spence got down on his knees and prayed – “Lord, I believe you want us to go to Bible College. But if you want us to stay here, we’ll stay. You are our God whether we stay or go.” As he stood to his feet, Art drove into the yard. Within fifteen minutes the house was sold. Two days later we left for Saskatchewan.

There is a proverb that says – “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21). Have you got plans? If they are in tune with the Lord’s purpose for your life, you can be sure they will be accomplished.

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Marcia's second novel, A Tumbled Stone has just been released. Visit her website