Writing Fun Archives - Tracy Joy Jones

2nd Reads by the Sea: The Blue Sword by Tracy Joy Jones

Second Reads by the Sea —The Blue Sword

For your reading pleasure. 🙂 Introducing “Second Reads by the Sea: The Blue Sword” — a short story by Tracy Joy Jones. *** The bell above the bright blue door jangled merrily. Moshi’s head bobbed from the depths of his book to offer a greeting. “Welcome to 2nd Reads by the Sea.” The stranger waved her acknowledgment, spared him a small smile, and immediately began her search. Moshi wondered that she could see anything through the sunglasses she’d neglected to remove. Perhaps they had prescription lenses, and she needed them to read. Or perhaps she was so used to neglecting …

109 Lbs of Rejection – A Writing Update

When I started writing my first book six years ago, I had one of those “Aha” moments Oprah used to talk about. Every single thing in my experience, life, education, faith, personality seemed to come together in one overwhelming passion. I’d been blogging for years, but writing a novel was something else entirely. I wrote my first full-length novel in five weeks, and it was the happiest five weeks I’d ever spent. I love to re-read books, but I’d never lived in a story for that long. I fell in love with the characters and the adventure of it and …

All God’s Creatures

If you haven’t yet started a yearly devotional, and you’re in the mood for something lighthearted and sweetly moving, you’ll love “All God’s Creatures.” I had such fun contributing devotions towards this beautiful compilation, and I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll also be part of the 2022 version of “All God’s Creatures.” You can get the 2021 version on Guideposts website or on Amazon. Find out more

All God’s Creatures

Fun writing news ahead!!! First of all, one thing you might not know about me is that I believe God is always speaking to us, we just don’t always have ears to hear. For me, He has always spoken so loudly through His creation. Whether through a beautiful sunset, the roar of the ocean, or the journey of baby sea turtles, I see both His hands and His goodness in so many ways. Anyway, a couple of months ago, I applied to be a Guideposts writer, and I’m so excited to announce that I’ve been accepted as a contributor to …

The Horse of My Dreams

The cover is here, and it’s so very lovely! It makes me want to get to know those beautiful horses and hope against hope they’d like me too. My horse story in this beautiful compilation book is a comedic warning against pretending to know more than you do entitled, “Kendall & the Magician.” It’s the story of the time I rode a thoroughbred racehorse at a barrel racing track. As you can imagine, it did not go well. However, one of my other horse stories bears remembering as well. If you aren’t laughing by the end, then perhaps you had …

An Excerpt from “Must Love Pumpkins”

I love this little story I wrote last fall, and I hope you will too. It’s releasing on Amazon in July. But if you’re longing for pumpkins and fall and hot chocolate a little early, enjoy! Kayla Mayberry had always been sensitive about her hair. She should have been over both the compliments and the comments by now, but she wasn’t. It didn’t help that she had two older sisters with dark, russet-red hair or that her younger siblings all tended towards strawberry-blonde rather than red. In contrast, Kayla’s hair was “full of copper” — her mother’s gentle way of …

Off to the Races

A few months ago, I got a random email in my inbox — Does anyone have a horse story where you learned a lesson from a horse? Horses? In all honesty, I’ve probably ridden ten horses in my life, maybe fifteen. The point is, I am anything but an expert. Although, I have ridden in some spectacular locations. I rode a horse in Montana across the flat, flat earth where all I could see was the horizon. I’ve ridden on long skinny roads in the middle of farmland (see picture – That’s not me on the horse, but it’s the …

A Free Christmas Novella

I had a little thought for a Christmas story a month ago. For me, ideas tend to start like seeds and grow inside my mind like Whorton hearing a Who. I can hear my characters speaking to me and I laugh at all their jokes. My family just rolls their eyes when I burst out laughing for no apparent reason or when I’m practicing body positions for the scene I’m writing in my mind. Like Whorton, it all looks a bit crazy, until you find out the real story. In my imagination live so many worlds, some the size of …