By Susan May Warren Are you home from the ACFW conference? Finally unpacked? I hope you came home filled with encouragement and new ideas on how to make your writing breathtaking. Now what? Conferences can be overwhelming, between the requests for proposals or full manuscripts, new story ideas, craft lessons, marketing epiphanies and loads of new friends. Where and how …
We Never Stop Learning
By Martha Rogers I have just returned from my 15th ACFW conference. It was one of the best I’ve attended. The best thing was seeing friends only known through the loop or Facebook or Twitter, but feeling like I’d known them forever. I offer my congratulations to all the Genesis and Carol Award winners. Keep turning out those great books. …
Bring These to Your First Book Sale & Signing
By Christen Civiletto Morris A friend talked me into sharing a vending booth at an outdoor fair so that we could sell copies of our books. (‘It’ll be fun! An inexpensive way to market! We might sell some books!’) I decided to give it a try. My environmentally themed suspense novel could potentially be of interest to the fair’s new-age …
Weaving a Story Web
by Ann H. Gabhart I’m guessing some of you may have walked into a spider web at some time in your life. You probably weren’t that happy to be wrapped in those silken threads while swatting at your hair to make sure the spider didn’t hide out there to later crawl down your shirt. But have you ever taken the …
3 Steps to Publication…Guaranteed!
by Lillian Duncan Let’s get right to the 3 steps to publication…guaranteed! As I’m sure you know all stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. So the perfect formula for writing a great book, meaning publishable is… best beginning + marvelous middle + explosive ending = GREAT STORY! (and a book contract). Succeed with those three easy steps, …
The Road to Publication
By Katherine Reay A reader recently reached out to ask how she could know if she was ready to pursue publication. Did I have any advice? Wow! Tough question. Here’s what my advice boiled down to… 1. Give your work to beta readers – They can be family or friends, but they need to be honest. My first reader is …
Looking Beyond the Ribbons
By Beth K. Vogt There’s a basic ACFW Conference To Do list that starts months before the actual event: 1. Confront the whole “do I attend or do I not attend” decision 2. Register online, selecting your classes and appointment preferences 3. Make your travel arrangements 4. Count the days until … … the conference starts – which it does, …
Conference Time
by Colleen Coble My beloved ACFW conference is right around the corner. You might be planning to attend or you may be gearing up for another kind of conference this fall so I thought I’d give you a few tips about writers conferences as you’re packing to fly to Dallas. 🙂 1. The main benefit of a writers conference is …
Five Ways to Tell You’re Not Mrs. Muir
By Cathleen Armstrong Have you seen The Ghost and Mrs. Muir? That 1948 movie about a widow who lives by the sea and writes a book with the help of a ghostly sea captain? From the time I first saw the old film, it was my fantasy to be Mrs. Muir. But the more I wrote, the more it became …
What Does the Author Need?
By Cindy Woodsmall As writers, we are attentive to the settings, plots, characters, and all things that make for great storytelling and honed writing. We capitalize on our characters’ thoughts and feelings, and there is nothing quite like exploring the reasoning and nuances of their weaknesses while finding the frailty of their strengths. But do we put as much time …