By Tamara D. Fickas Writing a book has been my dream for years. I’ve prayed for opportunities and submitted my work to the Lord. When an opportunity finally happened, I managed to forget one of the most important aspects of writing. After years of taking writing classes and plugging away, I am participating in my first book project. The book …
Casting Notes For Character Auditions
A Novel Writing Exercise by Janet Chester Bly My husband, Steve, dictated these sketchy notes to me in the hospital on May 21st, 2011, concerning his novel, “Stuart Brannon’s Final Shot”. He passed away a few weeks later . . . Willamette Valley orphan farm Lair Apishamore, a character in Hawthorne Miller dime novel Romal Vug, a character in Hawthorne …
Beat Your Own Drum
By Deborah K. Anderson (Original version published in CFOM, December 2011) If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. ~Henry David Thoreau I’ve always marched to the beat of my own drum, at least I …
To Market, to Market to Buy a Fat Pig…
by Crystal Laine Miller “…Home again, home again, jiggedty-jig!” How many times did we sing that song as kids? And we caught many product commercials on our three-channel TV that we noticed from singing the interesting jingles. Well, guess what? Authors have to market their product too, in interesting ways. Here are a few tips from a well-read reader-me. First, …
The Write Stuff
by Michelle Arch As an MFA student, a short fiction writer, an aspiring novelist, and a literary blogger, I reflect frequently on the issues of universality and marketability in relation to art. Whether composing a chapter of my novel, a short story, or even a mere blog post, questions of significance dog me: What is writeaboutable? What merits the deconstruction …
Lessons for Writers from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
by Suzanne Woods Fisher www.suzannewoodsfisher.com Not long ago, I attended a benefit for an adult literacy program that featured Annie Barrows, co-author of the best selling book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Annie’s aunt, Mary Ann Schaffer, was the one who wrote the book. “Mary Ann was witty,” Annie said. She’s a petite woman who had to stand …
Get moving!
by Myra Johnson January is speeding swiftly away, and (if I were to hazard a guess) so are many of our New Year’s resolutions. So to help us get back on track, I’d like to talk about . . . well, actually I would rather NOT talk about . . . the dreaded E word. Not E-mail. Not Edits. Not …
Too Much of a Good Thing?
by Sherri Stone As a relatively new and pre-published writer I have spent my first year in ACFW trying to soak up and follow every last drop of writing advice I’ve received from my fellow members this year. Frankly, I’ve found it tremendously overwhelming. My problem has been that of many beginners: 1) I didn’t know enough to ask intelligent …
Critique Partner Matchmaking
by Melissa Tagg This past year has been one of dreams-come-true for me. Only dream that hasn’t come true? A proposal from Tim Tebow. Um, I guess he was too busy playing football. (Playing being a relative term, in this case. Yeah, I might need to work on my grudge against the Jets!) But one of the coolest things that …
Days of Silence
by Dr. Richard Mabry God made a promise to an old and childless Abraham that someday he would be the father of many nations. Fourteen years after that, Isaac was born to Abraham and his wife, Sarah. Did you ever wonder what happened during the prolonged period of waiting the patriarch endured? Did Abraham worry because he was getting older …