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Kristen’s Christmas Letter 2018
Hello, dear friends! I’m an old-fashioned girl at heart who loves sending and receiving Christmas cards in the mail. But since I’m preparing the largest bulk mailing of my life (i.e. wedding invitations), I thought maybe an electronic letter this year might be more prudent and achievable. That said, I hope you enjoy my Christmas letter and year-in-review. Please comments with your own favorite 2018 memories! January: Ski Trip Adventure Last January was my first time skiing, and no, this Florida girl is not a natural with anything having to do with snow. You may remember my first-time-skier takeaways post. However, I loved getting to see a winter wonderland, learn…
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Making the Manger Personal
Last September, I had the opportunity to travel to Italy with a colleague, work remotely, and research my next novel. During one of our day-tripping adventures, we visited a place called Civita di Bagnoregio, a place sometimes called “the dying town.” This city rests atop a hill that is slowly eroding, and the place itself is breathtaking. As my friend Maria and I explored the city, I suddenly stopped short. There, to my right, were the remains of a manger. A manger. The scene seemed taken right out of a nativity story set in Bethlehem, and yet here we were in Italy. As I soaked in the moment, a few…
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Choose Life’s Travel Companions Wisely
The last few months have redefined epic adventure in my dictionary. From travel hacking Italy with a colleague to a surprise engagement trip in the mountains of North Carolina, I’ve been overwhelmed with God’s blessings and the people He’s placed in my life. However, there’s a difference between amazing people and iron-sharpening people. I’m grateful mine qualify as both, but as we’re choosing friends to do life with, we should consider some important questions. Do they point you to Christ? There are plenty of people in this world who model ingenuity, bravery, kindness, and adventure. From the world’s standpoint, they personify the ideal. These charismatic people attract a crowd, and although they…
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Say Yes to New Adventures (Engagement Story)
Dear friends, please celebrate with us! I’m so excited to share that my wonderful boyfriend James asked me to marry him, and I said yes. Here’s the story for all you romantics. Let’s take a road trip, he said. James has been going to Beech Mountain, North Carolina for years, and last winter, I went for the first time as part of our church group’s ski trip. You may remember my takeaways as a first-time skier. Since Florida doesn’t see foliage, James suggested getting a group of friends together to take a long weekend and hike around Beech Mountain. So along with my best friend Devon, we road tripped to…
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Italy in 10 Snapshots
Hello, friends! Thanks for joining me on my Italian adventure. Over the next several months, I’ll unpack more of this trip and its correlation to my upcoming novel, but for now, I’m limiting myself to 10 top moments, one for each day I was in Italy. Day 1: The Streets of Orvieto After an eventful rental car experience in Rome and finally finding our Air B&B in Orvieto, my colleague and I enjoyed a few moments roaming the cobbled streets before settling into our adorable apartment. After all, this was a working trip as well as an adventure. Day 2: The Duomo in Orvieto This breathtaking cathedral is a centerpiece…
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Italy Adventures: Choose Joy and Enjoy the Journey
Ciao from Italy! I’m so thankful to be here, visiting some settings in my next novel, exploring this beautiful country with my colleague, and working remotely. However, lest you think the writer’s life and remote work life are purely magical (and oftentimes, they are), keep reading. Here’s what this trip has taught me so far. #1: You can’t plan for everything. Perhaps you’re wondering, Wasn’t Kristen going to blog while she’s traveling abroad? The answer is that yes, I was. However, when I turned on my laptop in Orvieto, I discovered that it would not charge. My colleague and I tried everything from reinstalling battery drivers and various other online…
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Come Adventure with Me! Italy in Real Life and Fiction
Starting next week, I’m traveling to Italy with my friend and colleague. Among other mouth-watering destinations, we’ll be exploring some of the settings for the final book in The Rogues trilogy, which include Orvieto and the Port of Civitavecchia. I can’t wait to share these places in real life with you and then take you into my heroine’s fictional story where she experiences them in her dystopian world. Can you believe we’ve been on this trilogy adventure together since 2016 when I first signed my contract with Write Integrity Press? The cover reveal for The Reactionary will be coming soon, but for now, you can preview Portia’s climactic adventure. Maybe you…
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Dreaming Isn’t Dangerous. Doubt Is.
If you told me a few weeks ago that I’d be planning a spontaneous trip to Italy in a month, I wouldn’t have believed you. I’d probably have laughed and then sighed, Wouldn’t that be nice? Truth. I really am planning a spontaneous trip to Italy next month. Let me back up the story. A few weeks ago, I was chatting with a colleague and landed on the topic of travel. I told her how much I admired her working from Italy last spring, and that in my dreams, I’d do the same thing some day. I shared how my next novel takes my heroine to Italy and that seeing those…
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Lies the Kill Zone Tells You
Learning to surf at thirty-something requires a willingness to sputter like a toddler in swimmies and a healthy dose of humiliation. It also demands mental toughness to defeat the wave’s wallopings. Now doesn’t this sound vaguely like life? I thought I was reasonably ready for my first surf lesson. Yoga has improved my balance, and I did burpies to help prepare for changing stance from lying on the board to going vertical. Points for a good pupil, right? But like so much in life, preparation can’t top hands-on experience. With great anticipation, I plunged into St. Augustine’s waves. That’s when the words kill zone took on a whole new meaning.…
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3 Ways to Shred Fear on Life’s Slopes
Recently, this Florida girl left her state behind to experience snow and skis for the first time. And. I. Loved. It. All. Yes, I’m not too proud to say the white stuff stole my breath and claimed a space in my heart. That said, I wasn’t an instant star on the slopes. I wiped out hard and often, but by the end of the trip, I truly enjoyed skiing, despite my ungraceful moments. I learned so much on the slopes and realized that some of those same principles apply to our Christian lives. We can’t let fear keep us from growing; instead, we can intelligently channel that emotion to discover…
