My writing journey began when I realized how much I like to make up stories and live in a fantasy world where I could create the perfect family, especially after my parents’ divorce. I made up stories for my paper dolls and my dolls using them as the characters. I wrote short stories as a teenager and my first novel …
After All, It is my Blog, Right?
One of the first things any writer needs to do is to establish a web presence. Following are a couple of tips to help you do it the right way. * Buy your own domain name. The friend that will develop your website or your blog may be your best friend — or your sister — or your brother — …
Learning to be Flexible
The first year I worked as a school principal I led my faculty in a year-long study of personality types. By understanding basic personality differences in individuals, we learned how to work with both children and other staff members whose personalities were different than ours. We started out by identifying the strengths and weaknesses in each personality type and deciding …
Using Real Life Experience in Fiction
People are always telling us to write what we know. The best way to do this is to write our real life experiences into our make believe world through the layered fabrics of our characters’ lives. This doesn’t mean that we can’t set a story in France if we’ve never stepped foot in France. It means we need to know …
Down in the Valley, Valley so Low
For those of you unable to attend the recent ACFW conference, there’s an understandable tendency to be down because you’d like to have been there. But right about now those who did attend may also be feeling a bit low. And that’s understandable, as well. One of my first writer’s conferences (before I was ever a member of ACFW) got …
God’s Plan for our Writing
Regency romance writing called me. Not the calm drawing room conversations and country walks of a Jane Austen, but the swashbuckling romance such as Sylvester or The Wicked Uncle by Georgette Heyer, or even better, the “Sanguinet” series by Patricia Veryan. I wanted spies and dead bodies amidst the glitter of the haut-ton. Who needed to find God’s Grace more …
Expect an Adventure
Writing is a tough profession. The competition in today’s publishing world makes the strongest writers think twice about their commitment to excellence. Those of us who are lured by the magnificence of story are committed to creating a world where our readers slip into the shoes of our characters and are whisked away to an amazing thrill filled with uncertainty. …
Start Making Your List
By Kathy Harris We unpublished writers are always looking for ways to discern how far we are in our writing journey. One of the best guides can be found at Randy Ingermanson’s website, www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/freshman.php. By answering only five questions you can determine, by Randy’s estimation, whether you are a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior, with publication becoming likely in the …
Don’t Imitate Others — Follow God’s Directions
By Lena Nelson Dooley In 2005, so many people were starting blogs. I had no idea what a blog was, and I didn’t know if I was supposed to do one. I asked some other writers I was connected with what they blogged about. Someone told me to blog about my journey to publication. That was something I could do, …
Do What You Are: by Tina Radcliffe
Life is a balancing act, and the words of Alex Cross, in James Patterson’s, Along Came a Spider, “Do what you are,” are a challenge when applied to our daily lives. If you were to list those things that fill your life in order of importance from least to most, how much time would you admit they occupy in your …