Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

Blog

Sometimes Even a Good Book Isn’t a Good Fit

I've been looking forward to this review for weeks. I love when authors tackle difficult subjects and don't pretend that people wearing the name of Christ always remember that and act like it. However, as I started reading this book, I instantly became uncomfortable. Still, sometimes we have to Continue Reading

Excited to Share This Great New Service

I don't always recall how I met certain authors or publicity folks, but I remember when I met her. An author I didn't really know well reached out and invited me to be in a collection with her and a few others. We had a great run for a few months and by then I'd made a few new friends. Among those Continue Reading

3 Brilliant and Fascinating Things in Journey to Twilight

Her Instagram post showed a book I’d never seen before, but being the world’s worst mother, I just “hearted” the thing and moved along. Didn’t read. That mother-of-the-year award gets more elusive every year. However, by the third or fourth picture over the next few days, I realized these were Continue Reading

Deadlines Might Just Be the Death of Me

It happens every year. February looms. With it, comes the deadline for the next Madeline book. I write in a panic. Will I make it in time? Will the book actually be finished, edited, proofread, and uploaded by the release date? I never know. Maybe I should know. Actually, no maybe about it. I Continue Reading

My 3 Favorite Things about Hope for New Beginnings

“Why are you chopping up that book?” Okay, is it just me, or does this blog post open like Charlotte’s Web?  I keep expecting Fern to look up at me with those big eyes, flip a braid over one shoulder, and demand that I not destroy a perfectly good book! I digress. My answer probably made Continue Reading

What Makes a Story Too Short to Be Great?

It's cold outside.  Snow on the ground and more expected on Saturday. Upstairs, four women sleep. In "my" room, my friend sleeps on the upper half of our daybed/trundle combination.  Our "house elves" (who insist they are FREE elves) sleep on the couches. Me, I check my email, see that I have a Continue Reading

My Crazy Wedding Day Idea and How It Worked for Me

I think everyone should be married before their wedding day. Weird thing to say? Probably. Still, there’s something incredibly freeing about knowing that everything doesn’t hinge on stuff going well on a wedding day. How do I know? I got married on November 25, 1988. Our wedding wasn’t Continue Reading

Have You Ever Been Drunk on a Good Book?

I understood the man in the book—Ed. I understood everything about him. And, in fact, I really thought I’d write all about him alone, but then I started thinking about Jett. It occurred to me that I really understood him, too. How could I relate so well to two so very different people. Then there Continue Reading

Why I Think This “Creepy” Book Is Awesome

She pulled out a picture book--one without any words, no less--and handed it over.  I flipped through the pages of Carl's Christmas, and almost missed the beauty and wonder of that book. Books needed words, and I wasn't prepared to handle one without them. By the time she showed me a book about a Continue Reading

3 Reasons to Love & Fear the Outback

The world sat spellbound as men in tights and spiked shoes wearing shoulder pads that put the eighties to shame chased an oblique across the grass. Me?  I sat with my eyes riveted as well—to a book page. Look, I’ve been looking forward to reading A Girl’s Guide to the Outback for months. And Continue Reading

Can You Sing Favorite Hymns & Psalms at the Same Time?

Back in “my day” (I suddenly feel 90), we called them “devotional songs.”  I suppose today they’d be considered “praise and worship” songs.  While they weren’t sung often—at youth groups and rallies, sometimes one here or there on a Sunday night--they inspired me.  Many were mini creeds, which is Continue Reading