WELCOME
Welcome to Jean Matthew Hall’s spot on the web.
Dear friends and supporters,
I will be shutting down my website Encouraging Words in a few days.
Over the past year I’ve come to realize some important things about my writing, and about my life. After a year of praying and asking God for guidance I have made the following decisions:
I can’t write sellable fiction picture books. After fifteen years of studying and practicing, writing and submitting for publication, I’ve decided to bring that part of my writing to an end. I have a few biography manuscripts that I will send to publishers over the next few months. Many factors are at play here–but God has shown me it is time to retire from this work.
I will continue to write devotions and to submit them to periodicals and books that publish devotionals. Like All God’s Creatures.
I will continue to write and submit stories for adult anthologies like Chicken Soup books..
Also, I believe God told me to create an online Christian literary magazine for children ages 5 – 10. It’s going to take a lot of hard work, and there won’t be any pay involved. But I am going to do it. I’m praying I can send the first issue out in December, 2022. But several things have to happen before I ever create that first issue.
I have to bathe each step in prayer.
I must learn two pieces of software that are totally new to me. One is for designing and creating the magazine. The other software is to compile the pages into an electronic flip-book. I want the magazine to feature pages that “turn” like a hard-copy magazine. I believe that will be more engaging for kids than scrolling down a screen.
I must make tons of decisions both small and great regarding the magazine.
The name of this little jewel is STARLIGHT MAGAZINE. The tag line is “Shining God’s Truth through Children’s Literature.”
I would appreciate your prayers for the remainder of this year as I seek to follow God’s leading in this adventure.I pray that you will be some of my first subscribers when StarLight is ready to go. I hope you’ll share it with your children and grandchildren, and with the children in your churches and Bible clubs.
I am shutting down my website http://www.jeanmatthewhall.com in a few days. I may move some of the content to the Write2Ignite website at www.write2ignite.com .
I ask one more thing: May I add you to my email list for news about StarLight? To do so, please email me at jeanmatthewhall@outlook.com with the word STARLIGHT in the subject line.
I pray God’s blessings on you and your work as you seek to honor Him with the works of your imaginations as writers and illustrators.
Jean
I plan to continue working with Write2Ignite. So, I hope I’ll see some of you at one of our Master Classes. The next one is September 17, 2022. The topic is Writing Nonfiction and Writing for the Educational Market. Follow us on Face Book, please.
