Author

Endings Are Beginnings Too

February 20, 2021jlburrowsUncategorizedAuthor, christian, christian fiction, fiction, free story, paranormal, paranormal fiction, short story2 Comments

“God take me home,” I breathed. “Take me quickly.” The words traveled no farther than my lips, but my heavenly Father heard me.

Everything in life promised my death would be slow, arduous, and painful especially since I was horrible at change. It took me forever to adjust to teaching after my last job as a musician. However, despite the slow growth in the field, I was at least successful. Then there was the battle with cancer. Yup, I fought the new normal after remission like an MMA champ. It took eight years before I began to trust the ground would hold me up and the invisible wouldn’t knock me back down. Even still, I had hope in my dying breath that the Father might wrap his hands around me and sweep me out of the painful mire I now languished in.

My New Writing Office

February 20, 2021jlburrowsUncategorizedAuthor, Book, books, publishing, Writer, Writing

So, it’s been forever since I’ve updated, and well, my only excuse is this pandemic. We moved in December, and here’s the first stage of me setting up my NEW office. I still have boxes to go through, and I’m going to hang something on the walls, but for now, I’m super happy to have

Writers Can Feel Accomplished – Even if their book isn’t published.

January 31, 2020jlburrowsUncategorizedaccomplishment, attitude, Author, authors, authorslife, feeling accomplished, Writing, writing journey, writing process, writing tips2 Comments

When does a writer experience a sense of accomplishment? Is it after the book is finished? How about after it’s revised? Certainly not while it’s in the querying stages, those frightful trenches that threaten to bury us. Surely, we can count on feeling accomplished when a publisher agrees to publish it, but that opens a

For Serenity – Final Version

November 30, 2019jlburrowsUncategorizedadult fiction, Author, christian, christianauthor, dystopian, fiction, flash fiction, science fiction, short stories, short story1 Comment

Writer-In-Motion Week 4 – Final Version The fourth week of Writer-In-Motion is about tightening, editing, and sculpting until the word count is within the parameters set forth at the beginning of WIM. This is not my favorite round. It is awful to work so hard to put the words on the page, only to turn

For Serenity

November 21, 2019jlburrowsUncategorizedAuthor, dystopia, science fiction, short story, Writer, Writing, writing process

Writer-In-Motion Week 3 – Critique Partner Round This is the third week of Writer-In-Motion, where authors implement the feedback their critique partners have provided. I love working with critique partners because there is literally no way to read your own work without understanding it. There’s no way to become disengaged from the emotional connection to

For Serenity

November 16, 2019jlburrowsUncategorizedadult fiction, Author, dystopian, revision, science fiction, short story, Writing1 Comment

This is a short story written for the Writer-In-Motion event designed to share the process of writing. This is my first revision. For Serenity Joyce snapped. For years, she’d watched the government assignments dictate the future. Children two-years-old forced down pathways established by the all-seeing eye of their government. Two. Algorithms chose their future. Not

5 Ways to Give a Positive Critique.

November 11, 2019jlburrowsUncategorizedAuthor, authors, Blog, manuscript, positive critique, positive feedback, query, synopsis, writers, Writing1 Comment

The very nature of a critique is to be critical, yet you should consider it more like the critical eye that sees everything, and not the critical teacher that only points out errors with a red pen. This industry is subjective in every aspect. It is essential that we remember our opinion on any other

Building an Author’s Platform

September 18, 2019jlburrowsUncategorizedAuthor, authors, authors platform, beginning authors, engagement, twitter, writers, Writing, writing community2 Comments

Mastering the Twitterverse – Part Three Recently, I’ve noticed a fall in engagement. People aren’t following me as often. I studied my tweets and campaign and realized a few things I wasn’t maximizing on. First, TIME MATTERS! Don’t just send tweets out there and think it will pay dividends. You need to know when people

Book Review: Life After Series by Julie Hall

August 3, 2019jlburrowsUncategorizedAuthor, Book, book review, Julie Hall, Life After Series, Read, Reading, review

Life After: The Complete Series by Julie Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars I fell head over heels for this story! I’m honestly disappointed that she’s only written three books up until now. I need at least seven more. Every page I turned the story got better, every twist escalated the stakes and made

Book Review: Mission Hollywood by Michelle Keener

August 3, 2019jlburrowsUncategorizedAuthor, Book, Michelle Keener, Mission Hollywood, Read, Reading, review, Reviews

Mission Hollywood by Michelle Keener My rating: 5 of 5 stars I received Mission Hollywood as an arc for an open and honest review. It drew me in right away. It held me captive until the last page. This deeply touching story is perfect in so many ways! It is a book about love, but