by Dani Pettrey If nothing else, writing for publication produces patience. It takes time to learn to craft a novel, time to write the novel, and then, when you finally feel you’re finished, you often face years trying to find a home for your babies. It takes time to find an agent, time to find an editor, time to get …
Don’t Carry the Burden Alone
By Tamara D. Fickas Writing a book has been my dream for years. I’ve prayed for opportunities and submitted my work to the Lord. When an opportunity finally happened, I managed to forget one of the most important aspects of writing. After years of taking writing classes and plugging away, I am participating in my first book project. The book …
Beat Your Own Drum
By Deborah K. Anderson (Original version published in CFOM, December 2011) If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. ~Henry David Thoreau I’ve always marched to the beat of my own drum, at least I …
To Market, to Market to Buy a Fat Pig…
by Crystal Laine Miller “…Home again, home again, jiggedty-jig!” How many times did we sing that song as kids? And we caught many product commercials on our three-channel TV that we noticed from singing the interesting jingles. Well, guess what? Authors have to market their product too, in interesting ways. Here are a few tips from a well-read reader-me. First, …
ACFW Rewind: Learning by Teaching
(Editor’s Note: Today, ACFW re-runs a worthwhile post from the past, in this case June 2012, in what we call the ACFW rewind, highlighting previous posts that deserve a second look. ) by Rachel Hauck At the ACFW conference in Houston ’03, I watched the bubbly and newly published Susan May Warren dash off to teach a writing workshop one …
The Write Stuff
by Michelle Arch As an MFA student, a short fiction writer, an aspiring novelist, and a literary blogger, I reflect frequently on the issues of universality and marketability in relation to art. Whether composing a chapter of my novel, a short story, or even a mere blog post, questions of significance dog me: What is writeaboutable? What merits the deconstruction …
ACFW REWIND: The Numbing Nature of Numbers
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This post originally published in May 2012 on ACFW’s blog. Allen Arnold was founding publisher of Thomas Nelson Fiction, and now serves as a member of ACFW’s Executive Board.) by Allen Arnold We live in an industry with instant access to data. Numbers sorted in endless graphs, grids and pivot tables to tell if a novel, an author, …
Lessons for Writers from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
by Suzanne Woods Fisher www.suzannewoodsfisher.com Not long ago, I attended a benefit for an adult literacy program that featured Annie Barrows, co-author of the best selling book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Annie’s aunt, Mary Ann Schaffer, was the one who wrote the book. “Mary Ann was witty,” Annie said. She’s a petite woman who had to stand …
Get moving!
by Myra Johnson January is speeding swiftly away, and (if I were to hazard a guess) so are many of our New Year’s resolutions. So to help us get back on track, I’d like to talk about . . . well, actually I would rather NOT talk about . . . the dreaded E word. Not E-mail. Not Edits. Not …
Too Much of a Good Thing?
by Sherri Stone As a relatively new and pre-published writer I have spent my first year in ACFW trying to soak up and follow every last drop of writing advice I’ve received from my fellow members this year. Frankly, I’ve found it tremendously overwhelming. My problem has been that of many beginners: 1) I didn’t know enough to ask intelligent …