"Write to the Power of Three"

Please visit the Hoosier Ink blog to read my article. While you're there, I hope you'll take time to read some of the other entries by Indiana ACFW writers. Thank you.

"Where Clean Teen Fiction Abounds"

I learned about Novel Teen at the American Christian Fiction Writers conference, held this weekend in Indianapolis, and thought it might be helpful for those who want to recommend good reading to the teens in their lives. While I don't necessarily recommend every book featured on the site, it's a good starting place. Don't neglect the classics, though. They're called classics for a reason; they cross over the generational lines to address issues common to mankind through the centuries. They're never dated. Novel Teen is sponsored by Word Press.

What books--classic or contemporary--would you recommend? Why?

Decrescendo

The trees play a symphony of color,
With the maples and the sweetgums
Filling the brass section,
The willows, the graceful, high-pitched strings,
The oaks, leather-headed drums.
It is September, that unsubtle month
That must be heard beating out the summer,
Heralding the fall,
Warning of winter to come.
"These crisp mornings put the sweetness
In the apples," Mama used to say.
And the symphony plays on,
Sometimes in the raucous sunlight that seems
Brighter because it is rarer than in July,
Sometimes under billowing clouds,
Sometimes softly muted in the early morning mists.
The song is as sweet as a golden delicious,
But with overtones of melancholy,
Foreshadowing a key change.

Copyright 1996 by Sharon Kirk Clifton