by Melissa Tagg Anybody who knows me knows I love Coldplay. Like, soooo much. I’m convinced there’s a Coldplay song fitting for every occasion in life. And one of my great dreams is for someone to someday sing Coldplay’s “Green Eyes” to me. Except I actually have blue eyes, so it’d be kind of weird. But still. I love Coldplay. …
Fact or Fiction: The Christian Faith
by Bruce Hennigan “The Da Vinci Code” has old over 30 million copies since it debuted in 2003. It has been translated into over 40 languages. Not too bad for a work of fiction that in its author’s own words are based completely on “facts”: “FACT: All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” …
Writing and Time Management
by Jennie Atkins So you want to write, but you have to hold down your dreaded day job, be super mom, or just get through your never-ending to-do list. There are days you finally drag yourself to your computer and barely squeak out a paragraph or two at best. Or you get sidetracked with e-mails, phone calls, or a hundred …
A Dash of Steampunk
by Kathleen Y’Barbo When I mention that my historical romantic suspense series, THE SECRET LIVES OF WILL TUCKER, includes a dash of steampunk, I usually get one of two responses: a wide grin or a confused expression. For those of you who best identify with the confused expression crowd, let’s talk about what steampunk is. Wikipedia calls steampunk “…a subgenre …
Commanded to Rest
by Sarah Sundin Feeling overwhelmed? While the life of a writer sounds idyllic-spinning stories and signing books-the reality is a whirlwind. When my fourth novel released last September, I worked nonstop-writing, emails, Facebook, interviews, Twitter, newsletters, articles, speaking engagements. By November I was a wreck. I haven’t been a big fan of “God’s One Word of the Year for You.” …
A Room of One’s Own
by Deborah Raney “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” –Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own I started writing to help put our kids through college. But it’s a good thing I hadn’t read the above quote by Virginia Woolf before I wrote my first ten novels. Because, you …
Writing Preparation
by Carolyne Aarsen My husband had to replace a window in my office awhile back. He drove to his brother’s place, a twenty minute drive one way, borrowed a set of scaffolds, came back and set them up to install the window. Then he got his tools and brought them to the scaffold. All tallied, this took him all morning. …
What, No Adverbs?
by Donna L. Rich So many “how to” books tell me to weed out weak adverbs, and as I look at my own work, I’m paranoid. However, I’m not paranoid enough. In writing this post, I referred to my current edit in process. I wanted to see how many times I used an ly word when a stronger verb would …
Why Fiction?
by DiAnn Mills Christian writers are often posed the questions: “Why fiction when you could be writing nonfiction?” “If you feel writing is a ministry, a calling from God, then why are you putting your time and effort into story?” “A real Christian would be writing something with real sustenance, not fiction.” I used to swallow my displeasure with those …
Have You Considered a Launch Team?
by Ian Acheson Over the last two years there has been an increase in authors establishing teams of readers, or a Launch Team, to assist in the launch process. I’ve been a member of a few such teams for authors in both the fiction and non-fiction worlds. Some teams have ended with the launch and others have continued on to …