by Jenny Powell MD Twelve men sat around a large, round table. I typed out the sentence, hunt-and-peck style, on my father’s manual typewriter. The paper was legal- size, the blank side of a form no longer used at my father’s office. He had brought stacks of it home, as suited a child of the Great Depression: never waste what …
Writing…for Such a Time as This
By Terry Overton @TerryOverton6 There is no question our world needs books by Christian authors. We are called through the Great Commission to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. Christian authors may teach the Gospel through stories of redemption. A review of books by Christian authors reveals redemption is incorporated into romance novels, …
The Practice of Perseverance
By Lisa Kelley @LisaKelleyWrite Waiting to be published can be daunting as well as disappointing. I closed out 2022 empty. I had semi-finaled in a writing contest but didn’t progress. One judge suggested I shouldn’t have made it to the semi-finals. I had a manuscript rejected, and I’d finished my fifth novel only to discover, after one of those hard …
Research Can Teach You a Hard (if Useful) Lesson
by Glynn Young I learned a very hard lesson while writing a historical novel. I learned how hard it can be, and it’s hard for both the research you do and for the research you have to ignore. I’m writing a novel that takes place in two historical periods – the Civil War and its immediate aftermath, and 50 years …
Martha and Martha: A Lesson in Learning and Writing
By Kathleen Y’Barbo @KathleenYBarbo We all know about Martha from the Bible. Biblical Martha was the Martha Stewart of her day, bustling around showing Jesus her devotion to Him with hospitality without any help from her sister Mary. From this story, we learn that sitting at the feet of Jesus—literally for these biblical sisters and figuratively for us in modern …
Fish-Belly Dreams: Encouragement for New Writers
by Ashley Worrell @byashleyworrell I’ll never forget the day I walked out of my HR career forever. With my dying anthurium plant in hand, I walked down the government building’s corridor, uncertain of my choice. I’d worked my whole adult life to achieve this ‘dream job’, making money I never thought I’d make, and having doors open to me I …
Getting Your Word Count… and Making Your Words Count
by Brandy Heineman @brandyhei Today I’m celebrating the release of my newest novel, Like Honey for the Bones. The title inspiration came from the Proverbs. Pleasant words are a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. -Proverbs 16:24 (NASB) This lovely verse gives us an important truth: words matter. Though they can be weapons, they can also …
The lesson of all those boxes…
by Allie Pleiter @alliepleiter “We have a lot of books,” I warned the man from the moving company. He smiled and waved a hand in the air in a no big deal gesture. “Oh, don’t worry, we’re used to that.” “No,” I insisted, “We have a LOT of books. Come with me.” He kept chatting in reassuring tones until I …
Tips on Writing a Counseling Scene
by Kathy Maresca @so_tweet Write what you know. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings took this advice from her agent to heart. She wrote a story set in rural Cross Creek, Florida, where she lived. Soon The Yearling was published, and it won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize. Rawlings’ success encouraged me; I grew up just a few miles from her home. A rehabilitation …
Seeing the Bright Side of Rejection
By Lori Domingo @loridomingo22 To say that I was beyond excited to be nearing the finish line of my MFA program would be an understatement. I had in my hands a completed, full-length novel – my first in my genre of choice, Christian fiction. Part of the requirements for one of my classes was to research a favorite author in …