by Lillian Duncan I am not a drama queen. In fact, I am the anti-drama queen. My life is calm-some might call it boring. And that’s okay with me. But all of sudden, it seemed as if my life was filled with drama-and not the good kind. Since my last release, DECEPTION (Harbourlight Books),came out in December, my husband had …
Talk it Out with SRS
By Mindy Starns Clark “I could hear the sound of Travis’s breathing.” That’s what I said, anyway, into the headset for my voice dictation program. As sometimes happens, it didn’t quite get that. Instead, it typed, “I could hear the sounds of Travis breeding.” Uh oh! Not in the CBA! Occasional gaffs aside, I’m a huge fan of writing by …
Trader 4:29
by D.M. Webb It worried me. This date looming before me. What was I going to write? Fine time for writer’s block to hit. But as in all things with God, He provides. Today my AFA Journal arrived, and I read an article about Building 429. Then to top it off I watch a YouTube link via K-LOVE on Facebook, …
How Do You Talk?
by Bonnie S. Calhoun In my novel Cooking the Books, I have several unique characters with a particular speech pattern for each person. Listen to the kids, and how they talk, listen to your teens with the text speech…IDK. Dialogue is nothing more than having a conversation. How hard can that be? “Yo G, it is, what it is!” Well …
3 Steps to Marketing your Book without Breaking into Hives
by Cara C. Putman This spring has been a whirlwind of book marketing. With novellas in January and May and a trade in April, it’s taken a lot of time. A friend recently called me a networking superstar, and I almost spewed my sweet tea across my computer monitor. When it’s time to call for help marketing a book, I …
What If One of Your Characters Is Not… um… Human?
by Rachel Hauck We spent a lot of time around the hallowed halls of ACFW teaching the craft of writing. As we should. It’s our goal and our mission. Character development is key to any good novel. Because after all, it’s people we care about. It’s people who tell stories. I have a saying: Tell the story between the quotes. …
Why A Magazine?
by Mike Ehret Editor – ACFW Journal Magazine I admit that was my response when first approached by ACFW President Margaret Daley about being involved with what became the ACFW Journal. In the digital age, it seemed like a backward step. But that’s the beauty of vision. What may seem illusory to others, or even Ludditian, becomes concrete and almost …
The Trouble with Comparison
by Keisha Gilchrist-Broomes I do not own a Kindle for one reason. I love books. I don’t merely love to read books, I love the books themselves. I love the smell of ink, paper, and binding. I like to feel the weight of the book in my hands. I want to glide my fingers over the edge of a paper …
To Have or Not to Have…Patience
by Becky Jacoby How often do I often shoot myself in the foot? When it comes to learning the craft of fiction writing…too often. I push myself hard. Suddenly, I think I am a Replicator, an Ancient or have special powers. That I ought to learn at light-speed just because I ache to. Why can’t my desire to learn faster …
Five Reasons Why Contests are Important
by Beverly Varnado Before I attended my first writer’s conference several years ago, I wrote several articles and devotions for an unpublished writer’s competition sponsored by the conference. I worked and reworked the pieces, making sure I’d made them the best I could. Then I sat on them. As the final deadline for submission approached, my nervousness grew. How could …