by Melissa Tagg Recently I’ve been in the throes of deadline life. And it’s been…interesting. I’ve had deadlines before. As a former reporter, they’re really not anything new to me. But I’ve never faced one quite this tight. Or this, um, challenging to my daily living and common sense abilities. Examples of things I’ve done in the past few weeks …
Christian Novels and Things that Go Bump in the Night
By D.L. Koontz “Christian authors should never touch this topic!” “Thank goodness – something fresh that isn’t afraid to push the edge.” “Clearly this author doesn’t know her Bible.” “I love how she wove spiritual truths throughout the story.” You probably guessed by now that these disparate comments were written about the same book – my novel, Crossing into the …
The Writer’s Journey: When Free Climbing is a Team Sport
by Dani Pettrey In my latest novel, Silenced, my lead character Kayden McKenna has a passion for solo free-climbing. If you’re like me, when you first hear the term “free-climbing”, you picture a lone climber with zero fear (and very little sanity), hanging by their fingernails from a 90 degree angle on a cliff face, with no anchors or ropes. …
Boost Your Productivity with Four Top Tech Tools
by Laura McClellan As a not-yet-published newbie novelist, I don’t feel qualified to advise on writing techniques. But I am a diehard tech geek, always looking for tools that will help me be more productive. I thought I’d share four digital tools that have been indispensable to me as a writer. In no particular order, here are my current top …
Finding Satisfaction In Him
by Becky Wade “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” – John Piper My pastor shared the above quote with the congregation recently. How it struck me! So often, I seek to find satisfaction in things that are fleeting, things that are of this world. I’m continually tempted to look for satisfaction in the …
Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About
by Cynthia Ruchti Like many authors, I wrote several novels before writing the first one that would be picked up by a publishing house. When working on what would become my debut novel, I didn’t-couldn’t-envision the path ahead. Celebrating this month’s release of my third full-length novel, fifth fiction work, eighth book in the past four years, I think back …
The Pushmi-Pullyu of Publishing
by Beth K. Vogt I had a perfect publishing analogy for today’s blog, using the pushmi-pullyu from The Story of Dr. Doolittle. Imagine my distress when the analogy didn’t work … well, at least not in the way I had planned. The fictional pushmi-pullyu created by author Hugh Lofting has no tail, but with a head at each end, no …
Using the Keys
by Shirley Gould Don’t you love receiving something you know much thought and care had been given when it was chosen for you? My daughter gave me that kind of present. It was a bracelet made out of vintage typewriter keys, a perfect gift for a writer. It brands me as it inspires me to continue pounding the keyboard toward …
Right Writing
by Martha Rogers I love a good story, but recently I have read two good stories by a multi-published author that left me shaking my head. If the story hadn’t been good, I would have tossed the book aside. Things like head-hopping or changing point of view within a scene with no warning and beginning sentences with words that end …
Writing is a Calling
Good morning all of you fellow writers-some published, some working toward being published. God blessed you when He called you to write. Some write fiction, some non-fiction, but all members of ACFW fill their pages, their stories, with the love of God. He loved us so much, He sent His Son to die and live again so that we could …