By Mary Lou Cheatham My family has always enjoyed cooking and eating cauliflower, a delicious and nutritious vegetable. It’s never been unavailable in the grocery store. Suddenly the cauliflower bin is empty. It is necessary to go from store to store to find it. This year’s popular diets—paleo and low-carb—contain copious amounts of cauliflower cooked in creative ways. One popular …
Learning the Truth About Forgiveness
by Marianne Evans One of the most daunting questions I’m asked as an author is: ‘What prompted you to write this book/approach this topic/dive into these characters?’ When it comes to my release, Forgiveness, I don’t want to offer what might seem to be a quick and easy answer like: ‘I wrote it to help readers discover the mercy and …
How to Write Synopses that Editors and Agents Want to Read
by Lara Helmling Synopsis. I imagine that some of you hear that word and decide you need to vacuum the living room. To reduce your beloved novel down to a 500-word summary is almost more than you can bear. I wish I could tell you that I have a magic pill to make synopsis writing less painful. I don’t. I …
What’s Your Name?
By Tamara D. Fickas William Shakespeare wrote the famous line, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet” in Romeo and Juliet. This seems to imply that names aren’t important. Truly though, would Pride and Prejudice be the same if it were Mr. Smith who swept Elizabeth off her of …
What Can a Virtual Assistant (VA) Do For You?
By Beth K. Vogt I’ve had a virtual assistant (VA) for almost four years now, and I have no intention of going back to the days when I fended for myself as a writer. I could easily answer the question “What can a virtual assistant do for you?” in five words: A VA keeps you sane. But that makes for …
Is the ACFW Conference Worth It?
by Lee Tobin McClain Why spend all that money going to an ACFW conference? Many reasons, but my main one is that it jump-started my writing career. Here’s how it played out: Five years ago, I attended ACFW in Indianapolis. I’d signed up for two agent appointments, a mentor critique, and a volunteer gig—basically everything possible. When I had car …
Speaking with an Attitude
By Elizabeth Musser How do we, as authors, handle the speaking opportunities given us? I was recently asked to speak at a women’s luncheon event at a country club. When the gal (I’ll call her Cindy) asked about my availability, I explained very clearly that I would be speaking about my newest novel, told her what my honorarium would be, …
Plotter or Pantster? Yes
By Suzanne Bratcher You’ve heard the debate: when you write, do you plan first or do you write from the seat of your pants? Until last week I was certain I was a plotter. Once I have the germ of an idea, I draw a story arc, divide the arc into three acts, divide each act into scenes, and list …
Take Me Out to the Ballpark
By Tamara D. Fickas I’m not a big sports fan. I don’t really follow any of the big sports teams, although I do sometimes root for a team based on being the underdog, or the favored team, or because I like a player. Despite not being into sports, I do love baseball. I managed the baseball team in high school …
ACFW New Releases: March 2018
March 2018 New Releases More in-depth descriptions of these books can be found on the ACFW Fiction Finder website. Contemporary Romance: Finally a Bride by Renee Andrews — Her dreams of love haven’t worked out, but veterinarian Haley Calhoun intends to grant an orphaned boy’s wish. She’ll heal Eli’s injured puppy—while resisting his charming counselor, Gavin Thomason, at the …