By Lanny Smith Merry Christmas! What a wonderful time of the year. It’s Christmastime – the reason and the season for family, food, gifts and – Christmas movies, right? I recently had the privilege of hanging out with many of the cast and crew of an upcoming film in production. I acted like a human sponge, soaking up the atmosphere …
It’s Not Always What You Think
by Stan Crader As a consequence of writing several novels and posting a regular bog, I get the chance to speak about, you guessed it, writing. After a few speaking engagements I’ve developed a sense on how best to adapt my talk on writing to specific audiences. I begin with a short introduction and jump immediately into answering follow up …
Murphy Lives Here
By Linda Robinson Lately, my writing journey has been derailed by Murphy. It’s bad enough when my muse takes a vacation. Eventually she returns, and it’s usually when I become self-disciplined and sit down in my computer chair to write-about ten o’clock at night. But I don’t always do that. For good reason. In August, we decided to update the …
Keepin’ It Fresh
By Karen H. Richardson Recently, I spent some time reviewing the 123 posts from KK’s Candor, www.kkscandor.com, my personal blog. In this review I noticed that several topics or themes were repeated. The change of seasons and holiday theme seemed to run with the calendar. These calendar-cycle themes come too easy. It takes little effort to find emotions or symbols …
An Extrovert’s Tips for Making Connections in ACFW
By Traci Tyne Hilton A funny thing happened at conference this year. I noticed that some of the name tags had little ribbons on them that said “author.” Now, it’s a fiction writers conference, so I figured we were all “authors,” but since only some folks had the author ribbon, I also figured the ribbon signified something more than just …
Writing Lessons from the Master Author
By Marilyn Turk The more I study the craft of writing, the more I read like a writer. I look at how the author tells the story – word choice, POV, structure, and how many “rules” are broken. I also consider ways the story could be better – what could be left out or added to make it stronger. So …
CREATIVE OR CRAZY? The Writer at Christmas
by Patti Jo Moore Like many people, the Christmas season is my very favorite time of year. I love the music, the lights, and most of all remembering the Reason for this holiday season. Even though my life isn’t quite as hectic as it was when my children were little, I still find myself getting caught up in the flurry …
Where Do I Fit?
By Ramona Richards A few weeks ago, I asked my Facebook followers a simple question: If you could ask an editor anything, what would be? The responses, for the most part, reminded me that editors don’t often communicate much about their side of the desk. For instance, this one from author Kellie Coates Gilbert: What is the single most critical …
Christmas Gifts for the Writerly Soul
By DiAnn Mills In a quandary of what to give your writer friends? We want them to know they are loved and appreciated with the perfect item that suits their personality, but what? Search no more! The following will help you wrap up the dilemma with a special gift sure to please the writerly soul. Take a look at the …
10 Lessons from My First Indie Book
By Judy Christie A year ago I didn’t know what a hybrid author was. Now I am one. This past week my first indie book, “Wreath, A Girl,” a new edition of a YA novel, joined my traditionally published books. The process has been exhilarating…and exhausting. While the lessons haven’t marinated long, I hope they will help if you’re considering …