Resources
April 2024: From the Publisher’s Desk
I’ve rewritten this letter more times than I care to admit. Perhaps you’ve caught wind of the recent national news coverage regarding two missing women from Kansas. For me, it wasn’t just a story hitting close to home; it hit home. It all began when my husband...
Ovid: The Poet of Transformation
Some writers tell stories; others shape the way we see the world. Publius Ovidius Naso—known simply as Ovid—was one of those rare poets who did both. Born in 43 BC in the twilight of the Roman Republic, Ovid was a master of words, a literary weaver who spun myths and...
Ovid’s Metamorphoses: A Tale of Many Tales
Today, in the spirit of tales told through the ages, I’m highlighting a work of nearly endless variety that tells of events from Creation all the way to the reign of Caesar Augustus. It’s a book you know even if you’ve never read it—because it has served as the...
The Breath That Gives Life
From the first moments of creation, Scripture speaks of the breath (ruach, רוּחַ) of God moving over the waters (Gen. 1:2). This breath is not merely air in motion—it is His Spirit, the animating force of life itself. In Genesis 2:7, God forms man from the dust of the...
From Seed to Story: Remembering Your Core
There was a spark inside of you to write your story, whether nonfiction or fiction. It feels mysterious and numinous, like it dropped down from heaven, and now it burns within you. It may be an image, a what-if scenario, an event, or a mashup of ideas from your...
Covenant Friendship in Faith and Fiction
Stories shape how we understand love, sacrifice, and devotion. Some of the most compelling narratives in both scripture and fiction explore the power of friendship—particularly the kind that endures suffering and carries another’s burden. The friendship between Frodo...
Worship: A Call to Alignment and Transformation
Worship aligns us with God—His purpose, His power, and His provision. More than an act of reverence, worship is a force that draws us into His presence, where transformation takes place. It is the believer’s strategy against the enemy, and to understand its power, we...
Recovering Hope
Last summer, a hurricane-force storm swept through my Midwestern city. My husband started putting steaks on the grill while black billowing clouds moved ominously over our neighborhood. He carried on, appearing rather unbothered, while the winds picked up. As robust...
The Space Between Words: How Geography Shapes Nonfiction Narrative
I was required to take a creative nonfiction workshop in college—an elective I anticipated with dread, only to discover that my expectations were quite misplaced. My understanding of nonfiction had been confined to cold, sterilized texts: encyclopedias,...
Author Spotlight: Fantasy, Faith and Fortitude
Sara Puissegur’s debut fantasy novel, the first installment in a gripping trilogy, releases August 19. Sara, a longtime college friend of mine, reached out to me last August as she finished drafting her manuscript. Shortly after I reviewed it and offered some high...
August 2024: From the Publisher’s Desk
It was the summer of 2012, and I was serving as an international missionary intern through the North American Mission Board in Mobile, Alabama, ministering to the Gulf Coast community in various ways. That summer was transformative. The boldness of the Holy Spirit...
There’s No Roadmap for This
This month, Verse & Vine is honored to feature Jeb Odom for our Author Spotlight. I found myself within the lines of his raw and moving essay, and I'm certain you will as well. Happy reading! --- I prayed and asked God to kill me if I couldn’t stop sinning and...
All Faerie Is Apocalypse
There is only a small sliver of the spectrum of light that we can see. If we could extend the ability of our eyes just a little further into infrared, we would see one another walking around as glowing wells of heat like gods. Extend it further up the spectrum and we...
Author Spotlight: Writing as an Act of Obedience
In a matter of months, Hannah Fowler's realization that God was calling her to write a book turned into a rough draft. From there, Hannah partnered with Verse & Vine for help writing revisions, editing, book design, and publishing. Three months after forging such...
Author Spotlight: A World Reimagined Through God’s Creativity
This month, Verse & Vine had the honor of chatting with Tara Villarreal, author of two adult devotional books and the newly released children’s book, And It Was Good, available on Amazon. Join us as we learn more about the art of engaging young readers and how God...
