It’s time to check in with the international members of American Christian Fiction Writers and find out what they’ve achieved over the last few months.
Question Time
We are currently in the season of Lent with Easter rapidly approaching, so some of our members have shared what they have given up (or committed to) during Lent.
Terrie Todd says:
I gave up Social Media for Lent, a risky thing for an author to do. I even quit posting the daily scripture memes I created and scheduled each Sunday. I found the first two mornings difficult as I missed my habitual scrolling, reading, commenting, and checking Facebook memories.
On the afternoon of Day 2, however, I learned that a space had opened for my mother to move into a care home, something we’d been waiting fifteen months for. My sister and I had a whirlwind three days of sorting, packing, and moving Mom in. The day after we moved her in, which also happened to be my birthday, my husband had a mild heart attack. I spent most of the day in the ER with him. The following four days, I rotated between the hospital, Mom’s new home, and her old apartment.
I began to realize that the break from social media was a gift to myself I hadn’t known I would need.
Terrie has also written one story and ten devotionals for Guideposts Books in the last three months … all completed before life turned topsy-turvey!
Isis Berns says:
I just finished the book “How Happiness Happens” by Max Lucado, so I’m challenging myself to consciously try to make people around me happy for the next 40 days. “Giving happiness is the secret to happiness.” 🙂
Daniel Lewczuk says:
For Lent, I gave up all social media except for educational and church stuff on Youtube (only during chores). I am intentionally spending more time in prayer each morning.
With time freed up, I am reading more, learning Old English and memorized Caedmon’s Hymn.
Daniel has also written a new novella, a prequel to his new (re-written) novel, and says he has never been so excited about writing!
Darlene Turner says:
I haven’t given up anything for Lent, but I am reading and recommending the marvelous Draw Close to Jesus (40 Encounters with the Savior for the Sacred Season of Lent) by Heidi Chiavaroli.
Sara Davison says:
I didn’t give up anything for Lent this year, but I am making sure to carve out time every morning to listen to a Lenten reading and prayer that is really helping to focus me for the day.
Dienece Darling says:
Lent wasn’t really celebrated where I grew up in Georgia, USA or even in Hervey Bay, Australia, but I did enjoy learning about Lent while studying Regency England. I always pictured the Regency sociality as never letting anything get in the way of a good party, so learning how seriously they took Lent came as quite the surprise, especially since I didn’t grow up with it.
Suzie Pybus says:
In the lead-up to Easter, I am ignoring all the chocolate. Yes, I really am. The prices are shocking and the quality isn’t great either. I might have a hot cross bun or two though. We will all gather as a family on Easter Sunday for our own traditional Easter celebration which involves copious amounts of food.
Contest and Writer News
Sarah Davison is a four-time finalist in the Selah Awards:
- Novellas in two anthologies: BirdSong and Heard the Bells
- This Little Nowhere, Nothing Town is an anthology finalist
- One Nine is a romantic suspense finalist
The Letter by Edwina Kiernan is a finalist in the Audiobook category of the Selah Awards.
Dienece Darling has joined the “Our House” multi-author series.
This year we’re headed to South Africa! I’ve had a lot of fun researching South Africa in the 1790s and writing the origin story of the town in The Enemy’s Sister.
Kate Mackereth has completed another manuscript.
Suzie Pybus is working on a cozy mystery.
I’ve started writing the first book in a cosy mystery series which is a completely different genre to what I usually write. I’m really loving it, especially creating all the quirky characters. I think this small town would be a lovely place to live. Well, except for the murders…
Vera Hardiman has exciting news to share:
I am an ’emerging writer’ from Australia who was privileged to take part in a UNESCO project, part of its ‘Cities of Literature’ program.
Ten writers were chosen, five from my hometown of Melbourne and five from Slemani, a Kurdish city in Iraq, where many poets and other writers are honoured. Many have streets or monuments named in their honour.
This is how the project worked: each writer had to create a contemporary character who lived in their own city and then they each presented their character to the whole group.
Each writer would choose a character from the other city from among those who had been presented. The writers then included their chosen character in a short work of fiction that they created over about four weeks in late 2025. Those works of fiction were distributed electronically last month.
The Iraqis were Kurdish and quite open to spiritual matters. They displayed a particular love for the Jewish people and an openness to Christianity
I loved that I was able to gain some insight into the Iraqi spirit and culture. Apart from their interest in spiritual matters, they valued family very highly; they showed their parents enormous respect and lived in close community with one another.
New Releases
Trapped on the Alaskan Glacier by Megan Short
Released 27 January 2025
New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller!
When her cover is blown,
it’s a desperate race for survival.
Forced into hiding after witnessing a double murder by an organized-crime gang, Beth Ryder’s identity is suddenly leaked online and a kill order is placed on her head. Her survival is now in the hands of US Marshal Jake Cruz, who is determined to keep her alive. But when it becomes clear that more than one group is targeting Beth, the stakes are higher than ever. As they go on the run through dangerous Alaskan terrain with threats everywhere, Beth and Jake must outsmart their deadly enemies before they end up as collateral damage.
Logan’s Legacy by Susan Anne Mason
Released 2 December 2025
He ran from commitment for years – until he met the one woman who made him want to stay.
When Logan Belgrave becomes the sole guardian of a four-year-old son he never knew existed, he returns to his hometown of Jasper Ridge, Minnesota. Determined to give Ethan a stable childhood, Logan gives up his nomadic lifestyle and takes a job at his family’s lakeside resort. Dating is the last thing on his mind—especially when Logan’s mother enlists the resort’s pretty children’s coordinator to help with childcare.
Still healing from a devastating loss, Heather Cherrington isn’t sure she’ll ever return to her teaching career. Her summer job at the Bluewind Resort is supposed to help her test the waters. But caring for the boss’s grandson wasn’t part of the plan—nor was falling for the boy’s emotionally guarded father.
As Heather begins to connect with both Ethan and Logan, she’s torn between the possibility of a new beginning and the fear of having her heart shattered all over again. Logan, too, must decide whether he’s truly ready to put down roots—or if he’s still running from the scars of his past.
Will they be able to overcome their fears and create the family they both secretly crave?
Crown of Beauty and Anarchy by Aurora Belle
Released 25 November 2025
She is meant for beauty. He is meant for destiny.
The Queen is meant to be an Empress. But who will bear the crown of Whiteshire?
Princess Eira White has only ever wanted to know and feel the love of a mother and the protection of her father. Instead, she’s had to endure the harsh hand of her step-mother, Queen Amara, who seems bent on openly despising Eira and sheltering her away from the duties of one day becoming queen of Whiteshire.
Suddenly, Eira is thrust out of her kingdom by her father with only his signet ring and her book of prayers in hand. Left to experience the dangers of life outside the safety of her castle walls, Eira begins to hear rumours of her father’s death. Not sure if it’s true, Eira grieves both the possibility of her soon-to-be heirdom and the potential lose of her Papa.
When Eira’s life is actively threatened, she has to face the decision to fight as the only heir of her kingdom or flee everything she knows. The decision comes at a great cost as Eira is hiding a secret. One that could jeopardize the fate of her Kingdom if she chooses to fight. A secret she was told when she was young and can’t remember.
Will Princess Eira be able to remember the secret in time to stop the wicked queen from turning her kingdom into complete anarchy? Or, will she end up dividing her father’s kingdom further and failing her family’s legacy for good?
Trail of Mountain Secrets by Darlene L Turner
Released 11 November 2025
Another New York Times bestseller!
A case of mistaken identity.
A K-9 to the rescue.
Park archaeologist Violet Hoyt’s wilderness search for a missing family’s remains takes a deadly turn when a gunman mistakes her for someone else. The discovery of a grave of skulls reopens a cold case, and someone is determined to keep the truth hidden. With the help of K-9 handler Maverick Shaw and his human-remains-detector dog, Wolf, Violet must find the final family member—and evade the masked man who has targeted her. Soon Violet learns a shocking secret: She has a presumed dead twin sister who may still be alive, and now they’re both in danger. Can Violet and Maverick expose a conspiracy before this Christmas becomes their last?
So many cool things! Thanks for sharing. How interesting so many people have up social media for Lent, and I don’t know how Suzie gave up chocolate!!!
Congratulations on all the news and releases.
Thanks, Iola for pulling this together.
Thanks, Dienece. It’s great to see what everyone’s done, and I agree – giving up chocolate would be hard!