By Eileen K Parsons “Look. Are you writing another novel or becoming an historian?” I looked across the table at my friend. “What do you mean? Of course I’m writing another novel.” “It just seems to me that this research has been going on for a long time. I mean, really, how much is necessary?” I wasn’t sure my friend …
Destroy to Create?
By Dennis Ricci “In the creative process, the whole idea is to destroy ninety percent of your work.” I heard those words eight weeks ago at the Robert McKee Story Seminar in Los Angeles. At first his principle struck me as a brute-force approach–produce one hundred pounds of ore from which you extract ten pounds of story gold. Then I …
Write What Delights
By JPC Allen When my family and I went on vacation last summer to the coast of North Carolina, we decided to look for sea shells on Shackleford Banks, an undeveloped barrier island claiming to be the best place along that stretch of the cost to find large, complete shells. At low tide, wearing masks, we floated near the shore, …
Your Words Have Power
by Kathy Harris Talk. Talk. Talk. There’s a talking head wherever you turn. On television… at school… at the office. Everyone has something to say. An opinion. A story. Even gossip. (Make that a lot of gossip.) Add in the cell phones, podcasts, and online radio that have become a routine part of our daily lives, and we’re constantly bombarded …
Recalculating
By Ane Mulligan I love GPS. When I grew up in Southern California, everything was laid out in a grid; streets ran north and south or east and west. There would be an odd diagonal street, too. If you missed your turn, you simply went around the block and came at it again. Not so when I moved to Georgia; …
God’s Road Signs
by Kathy Parish Often life seems to be a bit of a whirlwind, tossing me from one task to another like a leaf blown in the wind. Sometimes I even feel like I’m in a spin, like the windmill on the island in our pond when a brisk wind blows. Today’s culture prizes the skill of multi-tasking above many others. …
Why I’m Always Open to Submissions
By Tamela Hancock Murray I’m always open to submissions and new clients. Now, does this mean I’m open to reading entire unpublished books on every and any topic? Or that I hope to sign five new clients every week? No. I still need the submissions to be marketable to the publishers I work with, and for you to want to …
Getting Prepared
By Lorraine Beatty As long as I can remember, I’ve collected stuff. I’m not talking about collecting Depression glass, or snuff boxes or hand carved walking canes. I’m talking about collecting odd bits of information. Useless facts, tidbits of knowledge that no one else would keep in their brains for more than a nano second. Example: Did you know that …
Conference Season Is Upon Us
by Deb Haggerty ‘Tis Spring and the conference season is upon us. The advent of this time of the year brings both anticipation and dread to both attendees and faculty alike. Having been an attendee and having served on various faculties, I thought I’d give you some tips from “both sides of the aisle.” Attendees: 1. Be prepared. Know what …
Conference Takeaway
By Donna K. Rice Spring brings a busy conference season for both the writing and ministry arenas. In April, I attended Mount Hermon Writers Conference, came home and repacked, then headed for our ministerial fellowship’s women’s conference. The first weekend in May, I’m off again for another ministerial conference. Since many of us are prepping for ACFW’s conference in September, …