I started with these:

(Made available via Creative Commons license for modification by some wonderful folks on Flickr.)

And ended up with this:

“No Condemnation…” from Romans 8:1-2. This has always been one of my favorite scriptures. Some days I need it more than others.

Use it when you’re feeling plagued by doubts or condemnation, or just whenever you want to celebrate your freedom and be reminded that God’s mercy is new EVERY DAY!

Download it for Your Desktop

Download a variety of sizes and resolutions at my Computer Christian Wallpaper site.

Let me know what you think!

For a while, backup plugins would appear and I’d try them, and they were unreliable or difficult or buggy. I would read reviews, and people were saying that they’d had trouble using these plugins (which shall remain nameless).

Finally, I started to see some names come up in a positive light. Backup Buddy was one. It seemed simple, straightforward. I considered trying it out.

And then Backup Creator came along.

One file to download. Easy settings to choose from. Seamless integration with the Amazon S3 cloud. AND they talked about the ease of cloning sites, which definitely spoke to me, as the creator of dozens of niche WordPress websites.

So I took the plunge and bought Backup Creator. Everything seems to be working smoothly. Then there was just one more test to go: Restoring from a backup. And (deep breath!) guess what? It went without a hitch!

I’m impressed. I recommend Backup Creator.

Anybody else have experience with this plugin? Or with another backup plugin they’d recommend?

You might be wondering: “Why do I need a backup plugin?”

I’m always one to look on the bright side. For a long time, I thought that most WordPress websites were relatively safe from hacking. I even went so far as to do “automatic updates” in my Dashboard without backing up my website and database first.

Ouch. Learned that lesson.

You could be sailing along, not a care in the world, your website beautiful and full of amazing blog posts or product info, and one day you decide to update WordPress. BAM! Something goes wrong. No warning. No reason why. It just didn’t work and now your site is a blank, white screen. Or a mysterious database error message. ACK!

Or, as several of my clients have experienced, one day you wake up and in your emailbox a friend is telling you that they noticed your website displays a warning about being full of malicious software. ACK! When did that happen? How long as it looked like that? You get an email from your hosting provider telling you that your account is suspended until you deal with this once-beloved website that has been turned by evil hackers into a churning spewer of spam.

Listen. You need a backup solution for your WordPress site. I don’t care which one you pick, but get it in place sooner than later. Because there won’t be much I can do to help if you come to me AFTER the problem happens and BEFORE you ever made a backup.

And while you’re at it, look into a security monitoring provider like Sucuri.net — that way it’s not your mom who finally emails you to say, “Honey, that gorgeous business website you made is all blank. Did you pay your hosting bill? Sweetie, tell me the truth: are you having money troubles?”

Because your potential customers sure won’t tell you — they’ll just go elsewhere.

Roz Morris

Came across this article and felt an immediate kinship with this author. As my writer peeps know, I’ve been planning to release my story(s) in serialized form, as “episodes”. Here’s the story of someone who did just that:

Tips for Dividing Your Novel for Serialisation
by Roz Morris

Although she sounds like much more of a planner than I am (writing-wise), she seems to have had a great experience with releasing her novel in four pieces. Very encouraging!

She also has a great article on her website about quality control in indie publishing. Good stuff.

Stay inspired and keep writing, peeps!

Could you use a little rest today?

Click to download higher-res versions.

Everybody knows that they should have an author page. And a website for each book or series.

But have you considered that perhaps your main character might have a blog of his/her own? Or that your readers might want to play a mobile phone app related to your story world?

Here are a few websites to spark your creative thinking. Get your readers more involved with your story through supporting sites or products. The more they interact with you and your story world, the more engaged and loyal your readers become!

• The blog of Dr. John H. Watson (of BBC’s Sherlock Holmes series)
• The Science of Deduction (Sherlock Homes’ fictional website, same BBC series)
• Master Yoda’s Blog (Somewhat hard to read, it is. But funny!)
• Iluminare.me (Ginny Yttrup’s character Jenna Bouvier’s blog)
• Interview with Ivy Thorn (a fictional character from The Fairy Tale Trap by Emily Casey)
• Burn Notice Interactive Graphic Novel (check out the Burn Notice website for games, quizzes and other interactive apps)

You may not have the resources for the full gamut of games and such offered by big TV networks, but you can certainly create buzz and fun for your readers if you find a good angle on a character blog.

The blog doesn’t even have to be written by your main character — in fact, it might be far more interesting from the perspective of your main character’s mother, or his cat, or a minor character with a unique way of looking at the story.

If you know of any other cool supporting websites for fiction stories, post them in the comments!

Looking forward to seeing my publishing peeps at the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference.

When we’re in these last couple of days before the conference, sometimes it’s tempting to stress out. Stay up late, trying to get a bunch of last minute items done. Agonize over manuscripts and proposals and queries not finished. Lament over elevator pitches that still sound like lame pickup lines.

But I say, “No! Stop it right there!”

Don’t let these last few days be full of worry, anxiety and stress. Take a deep breath, and let it out. Do it again.

And remember why we’re there.

Because we believe in God. Because we want to share what we feel in our hearts with our writing. Because we trust that He has a plan and that somehow we will learn something, meet someone and be inspired and encouraged and equipped to do what He has called us to do.

The time for doing all the hard work was in the past two months — not the two days before the conference. Right now, sit down and brainstorm what items MUST be done, and what CAN be done. Don’t wreck your health right before an intensive five day conference. Not a good plan.

Set aside the things you wanted to do but didn’t get to. If possible, bring some of them along to work on and print out at the conference (yes, you can do that!). Take time out to pray and lay all your concerns and dreams and desires before your Creator and the Source of your inspired writing. Ask Him what tracks and workshops to take. Relax and open your mind to the idea that just BEING at the conference will bring beautiful opportunities.

Prepare your heart to just be yourself. To share your dreams with an open hand — open to the possibility that someone else might also get excited about your ideas, but not demanding it. Keep the eyes and ears of your heart open. And be ready to soak it all in.

How to Arrive Refreshed

During the drive or flight to the conference, put on worship music or audiobooks that inspire you. Or share the drive with other writers and encourage each other and pray for each other.

Arrive full of love, and peace and grace and hope.

And you’ll have a wonderful time.

Works for me, anyway. *wink*

Go on over and check it out. Leave her a few comments to get her blog rolling!

A totally fun, fast read.

Described as the first zombie legal thriller, K. Bennett’s debut zombie novel did not disappoint me. Mallory Caine is an engaging heroine and the story was full of mystery, plot twists and moments that made me laugh. Although the writing styles are so different, this whole contemporary paranormal fantasy thing reminds me of the Mercy Thompson novels by Patrician Briggs. Good stuff.

The best part: the sequel is due out soon!

Relevant links:

• K. Bennett’s website
• Follow K. Bennett on Twitter
• Amazon.com link to buy “Pay Me In Flesh”

Just a little encouraging desktop background for my Christian peeps. Posted over at www.ChristianComputerWallpaper.com, one of my little web publishing ventures.

My dad took the photo on one of his trips to the Oregon coast! Thanks, Dad!

There are a ton of free WordPress themes out there, and many of them are excellent. If you can find a free one you like, go for it!

If, however, you don’t find a free one that suits you, turn your attention to the so-called “premium WordPress themes” — the ones you pay for.

Premium WordPress Theme Providers

Generally, you can expect to pay anywhere from $15-$120 for a good theme. Price is not necessarily an indicator of quality in this industry. Some $25 themes are just as good as the $100 themes a few clicks away. The really good deals are the ones where you can pay a little extra and get access to ALL their themes.

Sometimes you find a good theme by a designer who only created that one theme, but more often you find a collection of premium themes all in one place by one company or one designer. A few popular ones:

• Elegant Themes (my preferred provider at the moment)
• StudioPress (I have used a few of theirs)
• WooThemes (I have used one or two of theirs, and they have a magazine category)
• Templatic
• Mojo Themes (a marketplace where many designers can sell their themes)

How to Choose a Theme

When you’re looking at a theme demo (a sort of “preview” dummy website using the theme you’re considering purchasing), it can be tricky trying to imagine what your content will look like in that theme. It’s not always easy (or possible) to know what elements you’re looking at are “built in” and which are “content” that was added to flesh things out for the demo. One of these days I’ll do an article illustrating some basic guidelines for this, but for now all I can say it, “it’s hard to know for sure”.

That’s why it’s such a good deal when you can sign up with a theme provider that gives you access to ALL their themes for one price. If you find a provider whose overall design style you like, then you may have half a dozen of their themes that are potential matches for your project. WordPress allows you to “try out” a theme on your website so easily, and if you don’t like one of them, try another until you find one that works for you.

A $40 or $100 subscription to a theme club is still FAR less expensive than a $2,000-$4,000 custom-designed WordPress website.

Without Further Ado — The Themes

Click on any of the thumbnail screenshots to see a live demo of the theme. Some of the demo’s are even customizable (you can change colors and textures interactively).

Aggregate

Bold

Chameleon

Delicate News

eNews

Glow

TheSource

TheStyle

Who’s Who

Check out the rest of the Elegant Themes collection here:

Full Disclosure: While this may look like some sort of blatant promotion of my Elegant Themes affiliate link, it’s really something else. A friend was asking about magazine-style WordPress themes, and since I have a membership with a top-notch theme club, I looked around the Elegant Themes archives and found nine beautiful magazine themes.

I bought a membership with ET because they make good stuff. Their designs are beautiful to the eye, they’re easy to use, they’re fun to customize. I’m a fan. I’m a customer. And now I’m an affiliate. So if you click my link to them and sign up, I’ll get a commission. As always, I recommend them because they rock, not because they give me money.