By Kathleen Y’Barbo Reaching THE END and Pressing SEND at the 2013 ACFW Conference In less than two weeks, conferees will descend on Indianapolis for the 2013 ACFW Conference. Most hope to leave with some measure of success, be it a manuscript requested, an agent interested, or perhaps new friends made. Others hope to learn how to do what they …
Who is That Person Anyway?
by Diana Wallis Taylor My recent book, Claudia, Wife of Pontius Pilate, came out to good reviews and that of course is encouraging. It also posed some questions, mostly, “How can you take a person who appears in one paragraph in one Gospel and write a whole book about her?” For those of us that write historical fiction, or Biblical …
Overcoming Writing Fears
By Loretta Eidson Pressing the send button for that first submission can be the most nerve-racking, push-of-the-button feat ever tackled. Why? Writing thrusts the writer’s reputation into the world. It shouts from the inner corridors of the heart, “I have something to write about, but will the editor think it is worthwhile?” It unveils a hidden desire to communicate with …
Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
By Mary Connealy Fired Up, Book #2 of the Trouble in Texas Series releases in September and I want to talk about how I got the idea for this seris. I have a character in my Kincaid Brides Series, the youngest brother Seth, the hero of Over the Edge, who spent time in Andersonville Prison during the Civil War. So …
Encouragement for the Discouraged
by Lindsay Harrel As most of us know, this writing journey can be filled with a lot of valleys. Experiencing writer’s block. Being stuck at home when everyone else is attending the big conference. Feeling like you’re on the outside of publishing circles. Receiving rejections. Trust me, I’ve been there! But I also was blessed enough to receive some great …
A Sense of Style
by Michelle Arch Anyone who has been engaged in the craft of writing for any length of time has developed a uniquely personal style. During the last several years in Chapman University’s dual Master of Arts in English and MFA in Creative Writing program, my own narrative manner has been described in workshops as meticulous, high, ornamental, tedious, lovely, distracting, …
Lesson Learned
by Lynn Hobbs Humbled to have my work accepted in a writer’s anthology, I dove into the edits they required for my three short stories. No problem with edits. With the third book in my series scheduled for publication later this year, I appreciate and value constructive criticism. I am a firm believer in attending workshops, conferences, and local writer’s …
In God’s Waiting Room
by Sarah Sundin “Wait.” We don’t like that word, do we? But a writer’s life is filled with waiting. Most famously, we wait for that first book contract. But the waiting doesn’t end. We wait for our editor’s approval. We wait for reviews. We wait for readers’ reactions. We wait for sales figures. And many published authors go through another …
Bugged by the Ladies
by Dana Mentink Consider the humble ladybug, fellow readers and writers. She’s less than a quarter of an inch long, silent and stoic and more than likely unnoticed in your yard. Truth be told, she’s a powerhouse, a dynamic dame that can teach us a lot about the wild and wacky world of writing. Let’s take a moment to look …
Those Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer
By Donna Schlachter I keep promising myself that one of these years, I’m going to enjoy summer. Instead of spending the months of June, July, and August cooped up indoors writing and revising and researching, I’m going to spend the time in a mountain retreat, on the front verandah, surrounded by trees and a babbling brook. Writing and revising and …