By Rondi Bauer Olson I had so much fun with my first baby. I dressed him up in the cutest outfits, played with his baby toys while he drooled on them, and took enough pictures to fill multiple scrapbooks. Then, when he was twenty-two months old, I had twins. Three boys under two years old. Playing mommie stopped being fun. …
Attacking Atychiphobia
By Andrea Boeshaar What’s Atychiphobia? In my book My Heart Belongs in The Shenandoah Valley: Lily’s Dilemma, I address atychiphobia or the fear of failure. One of my two main characters, Mac Albright, is terrified to fail. For him, it’s not an option. He intends to prove that he’s not the “ne’er-do-well” that Alexandria, Virginia’s elite have come to believe. …
The Cost of Choice
By Angela Beach Silverthorne Someone asked me why I loved to write. So many words ran through my mind, but one stood out. CHOICE. I feel a need to write about the cost of choice, to show readers strategies that lead to success or failure. Life choices are complicated and serious. I’m not talking about picking your favorite flavor of …
Tips for Using the 5 Senses
by Ane Mulligan Sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste create experiential fiction, a story so in-the-moment, the reader hears, smells, and tastes what the characters do. To do that, we want to show the action. Here are some tips for you. Remember to make the descriptions organic to your character. If you protagonist is a musician, her similes will be musical. …
Going Live (or on the Record) with Zoom
By Johnnie Alexander A few weeks ago, three friends and I—from four different states and three different time zones—got together on Zoom to brainstorm a story I’m working on. Thanks to Zoom’s gallery view format, we could see each other as we talked through our ideas. It was a fantastic way for us to connect with one another across such …
When You Don’t Final—Handling Feedback from Contests
By Rachel Dylan When I first started writing I entered numerous writing contests for unpublished authors. I was excited to enter and see what others thought about these crazy stories that had developed inside my head. These contests were a great way to get feedback and have someone who didn’t know me read my manuscript. I jumped in and started …
Questions from a Young Writer
by Ann H. Gabhart Recently I was interviewed by a young high school girl with dreams of writing the same as I had many years ago at her age. Selena hoped I might reveal some magic path to being a successful writer. I don’t think there is any magic. Instead blood, sweat and tears accompany the writing journey, but joy …
Hold the Dream Lightly
By Lorraine Beatty Dreams are funny things. They can sustain us, they can torment us or they can rip our hearts to shreds. But we can’t live without them. As writers we dream of that first contract or that perfect agent who will find us that top publisher. But sometimes dreams take a long time to materialize. Sometimes not at …
5 Reasons to Attend a Writers Conference
By Patricia Bradley Are you wondering if you should attend the upcoming ACFW conference, or any conference, for that matter? Let me give you five reasons why you should. Meeting people who “get” you. Have you ever tried talking to a non-writer about your story? Or an article you’re working on? Did their eyes glaze over or did they look …
Even the “Big Dogs” Struggle
By C. Kevin Thompson I picked up a copy of Lee Child’s debut novel, The Killing Floor. It was his first Jack Reacher novel. Originally published in 1997, this edition (the fifth edition in 2012) is a mass paperback and contains “a new introduction by the author.” It was this intro that inspired me to keep on keeping on. Child …