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Advice, Authors, Book Writing, Books, literature, Recommendations, Websites, Writer's Digest, Writers, Writing
Top 101 Websites!
Brought to you by Writer’s Digest Winter 2012 Issue!
06 Monday Aug 2012
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inTags
Advice, Authors, Book Writing, Books, literature, Recommendations, Websites, Writer's Digest, Writers, Writing
Top 101 Websites!
Brought to you by Writer’s Digest Winter 2012 Issue!
02 Thursday Aug 2012
Posted Recommendations
inTags
Alex Malarkey, Books, Boy Who Went To Heaven, Christian Books, Christian Writing, Disabled, God, Heaven, Kevin Malarkey, Life, Little Boy Goes To heaven, Little Boy's Account Of Heaven, My Thoughts, Quadripelgic, The Bible, The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven, Trip To Heaven
I was surprised about The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, for starters, I thought it would be a copycat version of Heaven Is For Real. I only assumed that because Heaven Is For Real is the more popular of the two, and I had never heard of this one until a few months ago. Every time I heard the title I thought someone was referring to Heaven is For Real.
Boy, was I wrong! I can honestly say that The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven” is my personal favorite of the two novels. It draws comparison to Don Piper’s 90 Minutes in Heaven because it discusses a great deal of Alex’s recovery from his injuries.
A Quick Summary:
At the beginning of the novel, Kevin, the narrator and father of the injured boy Alex went into detail about the accident that left his son injured. He was talking on the phone with his wife, looking back at his son who asked him a question, all while driving. He didn’t see the vehicle approaching that would hit soon hit his car. At the scene of the accident, people and emergency staff came to help Kevin and Alex, Even when some thought that Alex was dead from the way his head hung, they still prayed for him.
Doctors at Columbus Children’s Hospital soon discovered that Alex had sustained a major neck injury. One expressed his doubt that Alex would survive due to the severity of his injuries. And that’s when it happened. The people came together and prayed for Alex faithful. People would come into the hospital just to pray for Alex in his hospital room. The prayers grew when Kevin launched prayforalex.com, where the family tracked his progress.
Throughout this time, the family suffered from other hardships like financial issues. God answered every worry that Kevin had. After 4 months of being in a coma, Alex finally woke up from his coma. The family came together to learn what they needed to take Alex home and care for him themselves. He ended up in the hospital a few times after that.
More importantly, Alex accomplished milestones that the doctors doubted would be possible because of the injury. He could talk. With every chapter it seemed like Alex continued to prove predictions wrong. The Malarkey family is convinced that if it’s in God’s will Alex will walk again whether it is here or in Heaven.
That’s pretty much the best quick summary I can give.
I had several emotional moments where I empathized with the Malarkeys. The most emotional was probably when their home suffered damages from a snow storm that left the family nearly homeless and in need of a new roof. I remember pausing during this part of the story and looking up the ceiling asking “Why God?”, but after reading Kevin’s father’s point of view, it changed my entire outlook on life and God’s blessings.
With every hurdle I felt compassion for the Malarkeys, but I also felt joy because every need was met through the good will of God’s people who they were blessed to be surrounded by. When they needed a van for Alex and all of his equipment, a church (that the family did not attend) donated money in order for them to purchase one; when they could not afford the $15000 bill to send Alex on a two week stay at the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury, the Eric Westacott Foundation raised $30,000 which allowed Alex to attend on two different occasions; Alex became the youngest person to receive the “Christopher Reeves” surgery, where a diaphragm pacing system is installed into his body in replace of him carrying around a 60-pound ventilator.
Throughout the novel, Kevin Malarkey really stressed the glory of God. God works in the most amazing ways. If there was ever a time that I truly believe a novel about God, it was this book. It was beyond touching and well-written. Alex is a quite admirable young boy. God bless his family!
31 Tuesday Jul 2012
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Author, Authors, Books, Christen Writers, Christian Authors, Christian Books, Christian Faith, Christian Writing, Christians, Guides, Writer, Writers, Writing, Writing Guides
26 Thursday Jul 2012
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Authors, Books, Lane Alton, literature, Magazine, The Writer, The Writer Magazine, The Writers Chronicles, Writers, Writing
A new buy, The Writer’s Chronicle. I also bought the new issue of The Writer too.
Posted by Lane Alton | Filed under Recommendations, Writing
22 Sunday Jul 2012
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Authors, Book Recommendations, Books, Christian Authors, Christian Books, Christian Faith, Christian Writers, Craig Groeshel, Dave Coleman, Erwin Lutzer, Frank Turek, God, I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Athiest, Inspirational, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Norman L. Geisler, One Minute After You Die, Recommendations, So You Don't Want To Go To Church Anymore, Spiritual, The Christian Atheist, Wayne Jacobsen, Writers
Here are a few of mine:
19 Thursday Jul 2012
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inTags
Aspirations, Celebrities, Celebrity Obession, Dreams, Life, People
The Celebrity Obsession by Shallow Deep.
16 Monday Apr 2012
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inReading Recommendation: Read Francis Chan’s Crazy Love and Forgotten God.”
15 Sunday Apr 2012
Posted Recommendations, Writing
in09 Monday Apr 2012
Posted Advice, Recommendations, Writing
inThere are a few routes to take.
The first option that you can explore is to enroll into free online writing courses, which are offered at colleges located all over the country, University of Utah offers a course Introduction to Creative Writing; Purdue University offers a course Proofreading Your Writing, and M.I.T offers two courses Writing and Reading Short Stories and Writing and Reading Poems.
You can also google other schools who offer free online courses, as well. You may not receive college credits for these courses but they offer a wealth of information that you can use to write, and if you are planning on returning to college, you can check to see if you can test out the course the CLEP, or the College Level Examination Program (More Information Here!) if the test is accepted by your prospective college.
Community colleges offer community education courses on campus (and sometimes off-campus), which range from basic writing to lessons on how to publish and market your book.The duration of these courses range from one session to several weeks. Again, I don’t think that you can use these courses to earn credits towards a degree but they’re moderately priced around 25 to 100 dollars.
Writing workshops may be offered through professional organizations and writing conferences as well. Writer’s Digest Magazine offers courses from Blogging 101 -Fundamentals of Fiction Writing- Advanced Novel Writing Workshop. These courses are offered through Writer’s Digest University and are more pricey (around $200-$800), but Writer’s Digest also offers free webinars and and writing tutorials.
Until we meet again!
08 Sunday Apr 2012
Posted Advice, Recommendations, Writing
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Advice, Book Proposals, Books, Literary Agents, Query, Query Letters., Tips, Writing