The Quiet Quill

Mar 2
2 min

Life Lessons from a Rubber Band

Life threw me for a loop this week, y'all. One minute I'm rolling along, feeling reasonably in-control of my routine, and the next I'm buying a car, job-hunting, preparing for my driver's test, and frantically trying to ready my latest manuscript for this year's #PitMad event—just to name a few of the surprises that, of course, had to fall within the same seven days out of 365. Naturally. At various points in this week, I felt absolutely out of control. Even now, I'm not too

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Writer Probs: Doing the Next Right Thing

nikiflorica

Feb 16
3 min

Writer Probs: Doing the Next Right Thing

One thing I've been awful at since day one—discerning God's will when I don't know how to move forward. Especially in the publishing world, there are so many avenues an aspiring author can take, each with its own pros and cons. There are gazillions of advice websites, how-to-publish books, and social media accounts to get totally lost in. There are horrible, horrible odds of success when it comes to traditional publishing, specifically. And there are stakes, too—high ones, in

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The "Hammering Process:" Too Hard, Too Soft, or Just Right?

nikiflorica

Jan 26
3 min

The "Hammering Process:" Too Hard, Too Soft, or Just Right?

The 39 books of the Old Testament paint a picture of what C.S. Lewis calls the "hammering process—" centuries of God's hard-line training program to show Israel just what kind of God had chosen them and what He expected of them. "Hammering" seems like the right word. I mean, I'd be the first to admit that the Old Testament account, while bound together with the theme of God's tireless mercy and lovingkindness toward sinners, can also seem pretty, well . . . harsh. Those of us

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nikiflorica

Jan 12
3 min

When Caring Is Inconvenient

It's remarkably easy to give someone the impression that we care about them. We all know the proper protocol: paint our faces in the right shade of empathy with just a stroke of melancholy, give hugs when the moment demands it, promise prayers, leave our friend with that oh-so-vague offer of, "If you ever need anything . . ." before going about our lives and promptly forgetting. I know, it sounds callous when worded that way. Maybe it is. Or maybe it's true. This phenomenon h

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nikiflorica

Dec 15, 2020
3 min

Ahikam's Lead

Jeremiah—what a book. I mean, really, what a story. Like so many of God's prophets, he was thrown into a role he felt ill-equipped for, only withstanding the hostility and depravity of his people by God's supernatural provision. I can't imagine being given a job knowing that 90% of it will feel like a waste of time. To be tasked with proclaiming a message daily that no one (almost literally) will listen to. Jeremiah was known as the Weeping Prophet. Considering the emotional

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nikiflorica

Nov 17, 2020
2 min

Problems, Prophets, and Progress

We think of progress as something linear—an arrow from present to future, improving all the time, always a step ahead of where we were before. We think of progress as the "new" and regress as the "old." And in the world's eyes, that paints a bad picture for the Word of God. I mean, how many times have we heard Christianity pegged as something "old-fashioned?" Something that worked for the pioneers, maybe—but society has moved past that now. We've grown. We've improved. We don

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nikiflorica

Nov 10, 2020
2 min

Constellations

Since making the spontaneous decision to start a brand new project for National Novel Writing Month, I've been thinking a lot about constellations. And relationships. And family. And how they all connect. It's a project I've been mentally preparing for months, but didn't think I was anywhere close to actually drafting. See, I'm the type of gal who likes to have her ducks in a row before the cursor hits the Google Doc—and I mean all in a row. I usually wait for months before I

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nikiflorica

Nov 3, 2020
3 min

NaNoWriMo and Me

It's National Novel Writing Month, and I'm a roiling blend of nerves and excitement and dreams of a finished product by the end of one month. And "dreams" is probably the right word—the chances of me actually writing a 50 000-word manuscript in 30 days are slim, but all the same, it's an exciting time of year, and my first time doing a November NaNoWriMo project. Over the past few months, writing has been difficult for me. My WIP series has hit some roadblocks I didn't antici

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nikiflorica

Sep 22, 2020
2 min

Floating

Sometimes we prefer our messages minced—into soft little bite-sized pieces that go down without much thought or pain or conviction. Painless. Isn't that just the human way? To crave the sense of virtue that comes from hearing the Word preached, but shy from any obligation to be changed by it? To be convicted? This world and Satan have a grip on us, even if we're free of their condemning chains. This world and Satan nurture a love of the wrong things in us, an aversion to the

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nikiflorica

Sep 8, 2020
3 min

Applause for The Pilgrim's Progress

There are some stories we fancy we know so well that we don't bother to pick up the book—and for a long time, for me, that was The Pilgrim's Progress. It wasn't until a recent book thrifting excursion, when I found a stunning cloth-bound edition, that I finally set out to follow Christian on his pilgrimage to the Celestial City from beginning to end, once and for all! I'd been putting it off for years, and having experienced different versions of it (from storybook renditions

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nikiflorica

Sep 1, 2020
3 min

A Healthy Hiatus

If there's one message I've heard God whispering to my heart this summer, it has been to slow down, rest in Him, and wait—a difficult instruction in light of my perpetual compulsion to be perpetually productive. On vacation, I made the decision to take a break from writing, which meant going an entire week without plotstorming, character sketching, or story-weaving of any kind. I thought it would be painful, but I was amazed by how absolutely liberating it was. So much so tha

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nikiflorica

Aug 18, 2020
3 min

100% His—Reaching for the Next Level

God is so much bigger than I've always known, and He's beginning to show Himself to me in ways I hadn't imagined before. I and people in my life are seeing miracles, feeling true Spirit-filled convictions, hearing God's will with a clarity I'd only groped for before. God hasn't changed, so I know it must be me. My perception of God's power has grown, and the more I believe He can do, the more He does. Yesterday, I needed to make a choice—a choice between acting or waiting. I

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nikiflorica

Jul 28, 2020
2 min

Never Never Forget

I don't know where it came from—ask my family, and they won't know either—but growing up has always been a terrifying concept to me. Trading in childhood's imagination and freedom and wonder for responsibility, stress, and decision-making seems like a lousy deal. Peter Pan would agree. But that's what makes visiting with my little nieces and nephew so incredible: all of that wonder and freedom and imagination is right there in front of me, sparkly-new and beautiful as ever. I

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Realm Makers Writers Conference (and why it was awesome)

nikiflorica

Jul 7, 2020
2 min

Self-Hatred: That Dark Indulgence

To indulge, by definition, is to "allow oneself to enjoy the pleasure of" something. And it really can be anything. We tend to think of it in terms of chocolate or entertainment, but the rules are much broader than that. In fact, we can indulge in things that, on the surface, may seem completely unpleasant. Self-hatred is one of them. In a recent Sarah Young devotion on judging, I was struck hard with a warning against "indulg[ing] in self-hatred." It may seem counter-intuiti

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The Importance of Peace: Why Do We Need It?

nikiflorica

May 26, 2020
2 min

Wait for It, Wait for It . . .

"Waiting" carries so many connotations—tension, expectation, worry, time, patience, impatience, hope, fear—but if we're being completely honest with ourselves, it usually isn't a discipline that comes easily or enjoyably to us. It's true that waiting, at times, can make the final product sweeter: waiting for a wedding day, for example, or waiting for the ability to go to the grocery store and take as much time as you need to get whatever you need whenever you need. In that wa

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One Step, One Decision, One Challenge at a Time

nikiflorica

May 12, 2020
2 min

One Step, One Decision, One Challenge at a Time

When we travel, we tend to plan. That's just good old-fashioned thinking ahead. We may not know exactly what each leg of the journey will look like, but it's important to know that at Copperfield Street we'll take a left, then a right past Fred's Furniture, then another right and a left at the old apple tree outside the city limits, and so on. We're planners. It's a human trait, and a part of it resonates with all of us, even those of us who may not view ourselves that way. W

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Shout It, Sing It, Weep It If You Have To

nikiflorica

Apr 28, 2020
2 min

Shout It, Sing It, Weep It If You Have To

It's one thing to be convicted and motivated by a devotion. It's quite another to seize that conviction and follow through when the trials come. I write from experience: how many beautifully-articulated devotions have I read on the subject of trust, only to despair the moment I felt a tremour in the ground beneath my feet? Trust is tricky. It requires an understanding of our lack of control before it can be activated, but sometimes we might be fooled into thinking that trust

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NIKI FLORICA

Life Lessons from a Rubber Band

Writer Probs: Doing the Next Right Thing

The "Hammering Process:" Too Hard, Too Soft, or Just Right?

When Caring Is Inconvenient

Ahikam's Lead

Problems, Prophets, and Progress

Constellations

NaNoWriMo and Me

Floating

Applause for The Pilgrim's Progress

A Healthy Hiatus

100% His—Reaching for the Next Level

Never Never Forget

Realm Makers Writers Conference (and why it was awesome)

Self-Hatred: That Dark Indulgence

The Importance of Peace: Why Do We Need It?

A Tribute to Papa

Wait for It, Wait for It . . .

One Step, One Decision, One Challenge at a Time

Shout It, Sing It, Weep It If You Have To