By Kariss Lynch I found out I was pregnant with our first child two months before my fourth book baby was set to launch into the world. Needing mental energy to finish editing Heart’s Cry and having no physical energy in the first trimester was quite a doozy. However, the more I pushed through and the further we have traveled in this …
Finding My Purpose in Writing
By KD Holmberg Over a decade ago, my five children slowly began to drift into their own lives. I knew my time as a full-time mom was coming to an end, but the days passed quicker than expected. Before I knew it, I was helping my baby move into a college dorm. Honestly, I left her school feeling a bit …
Using Setting as a Spiritual Takeaway
By Sally Jo Pitts Last night while watching this sunset with my grandson and daughter-in-law, she commented, “God created amazing scenery for us to enjoy.” God’s first setting was the Garden of Eden—the environment intended for us … until the fall of man. But did you know there are places in the world in which people have low rates of …
Capturing Gems
I’m in my 75th year of life, so believe me when I say there’s been a lot. A lot of joy. Sorrow. Pain. Fear. Success and failure. Faith and doubt. You name it; I’ve probably experienced it. It hasn’t been hard to remember the gems—those events so laced with emotion that I can feel them now. But all these years …
Tips for Fighting the Dreaded Writer’s Block
By Amy Clipston Through the years I’ve found that my book projects fall into two categories—they either write themselves or writing them feels like having my teeth drilled. In other words, the characters either tell me the story or I push them through the story as if they were dead weight. My novella “Bundles of Blessings” included in the collection …
Using Secrets in our Stories
By Darlene L. Turner Have you ever kept a secret from your mom as a kid? I did one time… “Don’t tell Mom,” I said to my brother Murray. “She’ll kill me!” Once again, I didn’t listen to my mom and decided to take our friend’s 5-speed bike for a ride. We had pleaded with Mom, but she wasn’t ready …
Finding Purpose, Promise, and Blessing in Writing
By KD Holmberg As a woman of a ‘certain age,’ I embarked on a writing journey I didn’t plan, know what to expect, or even have a destination in mind. Like the patriarch Abraham in Genesis, God spoke to me as a friend, and on May 12th, 2006, He gave me a purpose, a promise, and a blessing. I attended …
How Many Hats Do You Wear a Day?
By Glynn Young The hats we writers wear can seem awfully heavy. The hat we wear every day is the writer’s hat. This is what we do. This is what we’re about. We’re here to tell a story, and that can be difficult enough. It looks like a baseball cap. We learn to write by listening, memorizing, and repetition. We …
Discouragement Is a Choice
By Henry McLaughlin One given in the writing world is we will get discouraged. An area where I’ve been discouraged is when a story doesn’t work. My fingers are like stones on the keyboard. What seemed like a great story idea flickers like a dying fire. The plot is what my Italian friends call a frittata. The characters are flat …
Formulaic vs Great Expectations
By Davalynn Spencer “I don’t want to write formulaic stories,” the workshop attendee said. “They’re predictable and boring.” I understood what the man was trying to say, but I didn’t agree which how he said it. And isn’t that what this writing gig is all about – how we say what we say? Readers who enjoy specific genres of commercial …