By Shirley E. Gould As we strive to craft amazing manuscripts, our plots and genres are nothing without great characters. An interesting hero or heroine coupled with a riveting plot keeps us at our laptops creating word count. For our characters to be imprinted on our reader’s memory, we continue to search for unique people to put on the page. …
Unexpected Blessings
Unexpected blessings could be waiting for you in your writing life . . . My first winter in Florida, I visited churches to call “home” while there. My church in Ohio I love has a little over five hundred. I visited one church, and I walked into a room of thousands of people. Overwhelmed, I stayed. I loved the kind …
Editing as Writing, and Writing as Editing
By Glynn Young A friend and fellow writer asked me if I edited my writing as I wrote or after I finished a draft. My answer was yes. I do both. I edit as I write, over and over again, and I edit once the draft is “finished,” if that’s possible. The question provoked a deeper thought. Is it possible …
Where Does Your Validation Come From?
By Tammie Fickas Early Tuesday morning my phone vibrated with an incoming text from a friend congratulating me on being a finalist in a flash fiction contest. A whoop of surprise burst out before I could stop it. I quickly found the email that congratulated me on being chosen and relished the excitement. Later in the day, while I was …
Heading for Heaven
by Christine Sunderland In The Fire Trail (eLectio, 2016) I considered the border that runs between civilization and un-civilization, between the civilized world and the wilderness. Once Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, mankind has worked to tame the natural world and its wild-ness in order to survive. Man created communities, cities, safe shelters, protected from …
Vacations Can Stimulate Novel Writing
By Gail Gaymer Martin Anything we experience that’s new to us is something we can keep an eye on and tuck into our mind and memories. As a novelist, I tend to view my surroundings with creativity and story possibilities. It’s amazing what can come from visiting new places using all of one’s senses to capture the aura and experience …
Get Closer to Your Story With the Power of “Why?”
by Carol Alwood Space exists between us and our stories. As much as we can imagine these fictional dreams, we can’t transcribe unfolding events. There’s a rift between what we imagine and what we write. This gap, depending on how wide it becomes, can be the victory or downfall of our books. It may be why readers continue or stop …
Writing Dreams and Conference
Why are there so many posts about ACFW’s national conference? Because we love conference time. Because we believe in the dreams of our members. And we want to provide a place for face-to-face learning, meeting with editors and agents, and participating in worship and prayer time with friends and fellow writers who are also pursuing their dreams. Everything you need …
5 Ways an Author Website Can Help Grow Your Platform
By Elizabeth Ludwig I belong to several organizations for writers. In recent months, one topic of conversation crops up more than any other…author websites, and the questions being asked are almost always the same. Do I need an author website? What sort of content should I include? How often should I update? Obviously, answering even one of these questions could …
Can God Use Your Writing?
By Tammie Fickas Can God use you for His glory? Do you ever wonder about that? Writers are often their own worst critics, and the enemy loves to capitalize on that. He can get your thoughts all tied up in knots until you are certain that your life has nothing of value to offer in written word, and that God …