By Danica Favorite You might recognize the title concept from Susan May Warren’s teaching. The things holding our characters back are often the same things that hold us back as writers and as people. I remember thinking about a few issues in my own life, and the lightbulb kicked on. I believe lies. So much of my personal writing success …
What’s One Piece of Advice You’d Give a Struggling Writer
By Patricia Bradley If you know me, you know I won’t stop at one. ? But first, I want to tell you a little story. (I know, no backstory for the first 50 pages, but I’m going to break the rules just this once.) The year I turned 35, I had a lot of trouble sleeping. One night as I …
Pulled In
by Christa Kinde Good stories tell the truth. When the hero of a story invites us to share their adventure, we respond in real ways. Their predicament knots our stomach. We cringe at their embarrassment. Pangs of grief have us grabbing for tissues. And we cheer over their triumphs, big or small. Because we understand. Because we can relate. Because …
Four Tips for Marketing While Writing
By Melissa Tagg Soooo who’s ever been up against a deadline while facing release month for your latest novel? Raise of jittery-from-caffeine-overconsumption hands, please. Actually, even if your next book deadline and your current book release don’t happen to land on the same month, doing any kind of marketing while in the midst of writing a book can be difficult. …
Foolproof Ways to Embrace Change
By DiAnn Mills I’ve been publishing since 1998, and one thing I’ve learned is to embrace change in the publishing world. The logic is all around us: new ideas are a fact of life. We either stubbornly refuse to learn and grow from what’s happening in the world of writing, or we stand up and open our arms to study, …
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. …
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, …
Mere Point of View
By Christine Sunderland We are told to write from close third person point of view. This is the POV of choice for today’s audience and publishers. And yet I notice from time to time a yearning for omniscient POV, among readers as well as writers, perhaps a nostalgic yearning for a time when the storyteller knew everything, saw everything from …
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 …