Playing it Safe By Katherine Reay Working on my third manuscript seems to be an exercise in conquering fear. Someone told me that my second would be the most difficult, but now that it’s behind me – and it will be to you in October – this third one has me in knots. Now it maybe because the process is …
Define Success
By Jennifer Sienes I am not a published author. Let me repeat that-I am not a published author. Okay, technically, I suppose that’s not true. I’ve had some short stories and an article published. But since the majority of my time is spent on novel writing, that’s truly where my heart is. And it’s taken me quite some time (six …
My Two Cents Worth
By Lillian Duncan I thought I’d give my two cents worth of advice to new and/or unpublished writers today. So here goes: Practice! The only way to get better at something is to practice! I just read that it takes 10,000 hours to become proficient in a skill-any skill! That’s a lot of practice. And that means you must be …
The Writer’s Life
by Henry McLaughlin The writing life is many things. It’s a calling, a mission, an opportunity to change people’s lives for the better. And it is all those things. But it’s something else as well: Writing is a JOB. Over the course of my life, I’ve worked several jobs. Many years were spent in state government trying to protect children. …
Building the Faith of a New Generation
by Cathy Gohlke My life has been changed through stories-especially the stories of Jesus, and writers who, Divinely inspired, penned on parchment the very breath of God. I never worry that the Bible, essential and timeless, will go out of print or vogue-it’s the bestselling, essential, Holy Book of all time. But, I’m concerned that new generations will lose or …
Getting in Touch with Your Inner-Psychopath
by C. Kevin Thompson At the Academy of Achievement,1 Sue Grafton spoke to a group of college-age attendees, encouraging right-brainers in the crowd to consider a life in the Arts. As I listened to this presentation, I was struck by how similar writer’s lives are in so many ways. No matter how fledgling or how established, it seems all writers …
Time Marches? No, it Sprints!
By Dana Mentink “We are not the father of time. We are the children of time.” – Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, 1977 Did you ever notice how the older we get the faster time goes? Seriously. Sometimes I think time is not marching but galloping! Now I know what you’re thinking. Nobody has enough time, Dana. Get …
Seasoning the Seasons
by Christine Sunderland We are told that we, as Christians, are to be the salt of the earth. We are, therefore, to season our world, add flavor by spicing it with the love of God. The root of season is the Anglo-French season, to bring to a desired state. The same “desired state” became our calendar season, with the root …
The Wait
by Ian Acheson We writers wait a lot. I expect for most of us the production process of drafting a manuscript is an active one, however, there will be times we will be waiting for feedback from others before we proceed to the next stage. When we’ve completed the manuscript we can expect to wait a lot. Critique groups, editors, …
Lean on Me: Why Fellow Writer Friends are Important
by Tamara Fickas Writing is solitary work. The idea of a hermit sitting at his computer/typewriter pounding out word after word has been around a long time. I sometimes think that’s what appeals to me about writing. As an introvert, I love the idea of writing in solitude. When I lived in Oregon, I used to drive through the Columbia …