I hope all my fellow Americans had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday!

I know we did! We had a very low-key week of vacation and a nice family meal yesterday. We’ve watched movies, played board games, and done some reading and writing and just general “chilling” this week, and it has been a sweet and well-needed rest.

Today, of course, is what many refer to as Black Friday, and I thought I might write up a little post to give you some helpful ideas for any Christmas shopping you might choose to do over the weekend! Check out these nifty sales!

Any links I’ve included are affiliate links, which don’t cost you anything extra, but if you choose to use them, I make a small commission that helps support my writing.

Jenelle SchmidtNovember 28, 2025 Comment

Wild Steps of Faith With God

Welcome back to another Evening in the Stormcave!

While you prepare for Thanksgiving, why not take a few minutes to listen in as we chat with Philip Wilder about taking wild steps of faith WITH God.

Grant and I were so excited to have Philip over to our podcast and youtube channel. Philip is a missionary, author, and adventurer. His most recent book, Jake Rogers’ Planet, was a Christy Award Finalist, and has quickly become one of my new favorite reads in the past couple of months.

PodcastJenelle SchmidtNovember 26, 2025 Comment

A Truly Fantastic Audible Deal

Hey friends who enjoy audiobooks!

Audible is running their 3-months for 99-cents-each-month deal again. I know for a fact that you can get this even if you are not a "new" customer, because I just grabbed it myself. It's a pretty great deal. If you want to take advantage of this deal AND help an indie author friend out, please consider using my affiliate link. It doesn't cost you any extra but I do make a small commission.

Jenelle SchmidtNovember 4, 2025 Comment

Know the Novel: October 2025

Another blog post?! Le gasp!

I know, I know, try not to faint. But I did say I wanted to be back in here talking about writing stuff more often.

And what better way to jump back into blogging than with one of my favorite annual tags?

Know the Novel is a 3-part tag for writers, one for each of these last three months of the year. Each part features ten questions you can answer on your own blog, in your newsletter, on your social media, or just for yourself! The questions focus on different parts of your novel and how the writing is progressing.

Jenelle SchmidtOctober 24, 2025 Comments

A few thoughts about time

I know I’ve been quiet and borderline absent here on the blog for… oh… a couple of years now.

And I do apologize for that. Working on The Turrim Archive has taken a lot out of me. Not in a bad way. I’m not here to complain or tell you things have been hard. It’s more just… time.

Time is a rare commodity. And that’s something I notice and am more and more keenly aware of as each year flies by. Oftentimes, things get cut. And I have to find something to say “no” to. As a chronic “yesser” to anything that sounds remotely fun, this has been a hard, but good lesson for me to learn these past couple of years.

Have I learned how to say “no” to things that sound good and fun?

PersonalJenelle SchmidtOctober 14, 2025 Comments