By Sarah Hamaker As writers, we work with tension all the time—without tension, our stories would sag and our heroes and heroines would have very boring relationships. But this blog is about the tension we experience between what we want to work on and what we have to work on. For many of us, writing is not our fulltime job. …
Writers and People Who Write
By JPC Allen There is a difference between writers and people who write. One of my favorite writers, Patrick F. McManus, brought this home to me in his humorous essay, “People Who Hunt”, from the book Kerplunk! Mr. McManus writes that hunters and people who hunt are two different species. People who hunt love the sport, but they have other …
What’s Your Season?
By Kathy Parish My birthday is May 29th. I’ll not mention the year of my birth, but be assured that for all of those Facebook posts about “Share if you remember this” or “Do you know what this is?” I can answer affirmatively. (I don’t share, though. After all, who needs to know that I remember days pre-microwave and DVD …
Defining
By Christine Sunderland Writing a novel of ideas is not for the faint of heart. In the writing of my novel-in-progress, Angel Mountain, I find that I have too many stories to tell. The files containing what I don’t use are far fatter than the wee little file containing what I end up using. How does a writer abandon some …
Have You Ever Fallen in Love with One of Your Characters?
by Glynn Young Something strange happened to me as I was writing my third novel, Dancing King. I fell in love with one of the characters. Perhaps “fell in love” is too strong. “Became fascinated with” might be more apt. It was a character who came seemingly out of nowhere, a minor character, in fact, one whose presence wasn’t crucial …
Genealogy of Faith
by Marianne Evans The genealogy of my faith life begins, like most people, at the feet of my mom and dad. They raised me to embrace my faith, but make it an individual, personal matter. They didn’t spoon-feed me doctrine or theology. Instead, they led by example, showing me integrity, heart, service and love in all that they do. Nothing …
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 book Room on the Porch Swing, which releases …
Were You Called to Write?
by Kathy Harris How can I really know if I’m called to write? Haven’t we all wondered from time to time? Your answers to the following questions may help you decide. Do you write because you can’t not write? Do you love to play with words—to spin stories? Do characters and plots and scenes fill your head, sometimes to the …
Stuck
By Darlene L. Turner It’s every writer’s worst nightmare. That dreaded blinking cursor on a white screen. The thoughts and storyline just won’t come. We’ve tried hard in preparing our stories, but then when the rubber meets the road . . . the words become stagnant. At least this is how I’ve been feeling over the past while. I have …
How to Write a Novel
By Henry McLaughlin When I’m introduced as a writer to a group of non-writers I get a wide range of reactions. Some look at me as if I’m from another planet. Others back away as if they might catch a strange disease. In my early days, one person asserted I couldn’t be a writer because I wasn’t published yet. Made …