by Christine Sunderland Yesterday the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels was celebrated, when we recall how angels transfigure Earth with Heaven. They live among us, inspiring and protecting. They are guardians, guides, and messengers. In my recently published novel, Angel Mountain (Wipf and Stock Publishers) the Archangel Michael appears to hermit Abram with a message. Michael is a …
How to Be a Real Writer in Four Easy Steps
By Kimberley Woodhouse Step One: Write. The best way to become a real writer is… you guessed it: to write. You might have one thousand amazing ideas but you’ve flitted from one to another and never finished one of them. My suggestion is to keep a journal of all of those fabulous ideas and then sit down and focus on …
Festina Lente
By Kay DiBianca I read a cute little mystery recently entitled “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore.” The book mentioned a term I had never encountered before: “Festina Lente.” This Latin term means “make haste slowly.” The Renaissance printer Aldus Manutius adopted the phrase and its symbol of a dolphin wrapped around an anchor for his publishing business. This symbol has been …
Ideas Are Everywhere…
By Janetta Fudge Messmer All writers have ideas floating around in their heads. And like everyone else, I write them down because I don’t want to forget them. Never know, I might want to use them for a book at a later date. In my case, our dog gave me the grand idea for a novel. She “told” my hubby …
Combating the Solitary Life of Writers
By Tema Banner Writing is a solitary activity – as writers we have heard this and known it from the beginning of our journey. Outside influences provide the niggling of an idea that can not be displaced, and from this will grow a story that we hope and pray touches other hearts and lives, for the Glory of God and …
Sit! Stay! Write!
By Melissa Bennett Greetings fellow Christian fiction writers! The last time we met, I encouraged those of you having difficulty writing in these unsettling times to have grace with yourselves. Well, times haven’t changed all that much in the last two months. We still need to be gentle with ourselves and others. But if you’ll allow me, I’d like to …
Of Woodpiles and Word Piles
By Davalynn Spencer I recently had a cord of firewood delivered to my home. A cord is roughly a stack that is four feet high, four feet deep, and eight feet long. The depth of the stack or length of the logs varies and, therefore, affects the price and identifying name: full cord, face cord, stove cord, etc. However, my wood …
Fiction Writing from A-Z
By DiAnn Mills Reminders about our craft burst our imaginations into creative mode. From A to Z, we find sources of inspiration to keep us writing. I’ve chosen the first word that entered my mind as a means to keep my imagination in full gear. A – Adventure Penning our stories is an exciting journey for the writer and the …
Fat Books, Tolkien, and Resurrection Power
By Michael Jack Webb Someone once said, “Inside every fat book is a thin book trying to get out . . .” I can’t help myself—I write “fat” books! I’ve tried to write books under one hundred thousand words, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to lose the weight. My very first novel started out at …
But, I neeeeed it . . .
By Renee Hodges But, I neeeeed it . . . I can’t think of four words that got under Daddy’s skin more. For a man who grew up, the youngest of five children with a widowed mom, working other people’s fields in the Arkansas delta, to hear one of his children say they needed anything more than air and water …