By Susan May Warren Are you home from the ACFW conference? Finally unpacked? I hope you came home filled with encouragement and new ideas on how to make your writing breathtaking. Now what? Conferences can be overwhelming, between the requests for proposals or full manuscripts, new story ideas, craft lessons, marketing epiphanies and loads of new friends. Where and how …
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. …
Bring These to Your First Book Sale & Signing
By Christen Civiletto Morris A friend talked me into sharing a vending booth at an outdoor fair so that we could sell copies of our books. (‘It’ll be fun! An inexpensive way to market! We might sell some books!’) I decided to give it a try. My environmentally themed suspense novel could potentially be of interest to the fair’s new-age …
Write a Book Review That Helps, Not Hinders-Part 1
By Dianna Booher Sooner or later, either passion or generosity (or marketing savvy) will push you to review someone’s book. Passion: You either love or hate the book so much that you must tell the world. Generosity: You know the book’s message will help others. Or, you want to help the author sell books and understand that reviews help sell …
Post-Conference Planning
By Danica Favorite Whew! Some of you are home from the ACFW conference, and you’ve gotten back into the groove of life. Some of you didn’t get to go and are sad about that. Either way, it’s time to make a plan for moving forward. The problem with going to a great conference like ACFW is that you learn a …
8 Ways to Minimize the Effect of Post Conference Blues
by Edie Melson I’ve been attending large writing conferences for over fourteen years and they all have ONE thing in common-post conference blues. It’s only natural. A week-long conference is an exciting, grueling experience. Just physical exhaustion alone could get anyone down-add to that the mental and emotional effects and you have the perfect set-up for a huge let-down. For …
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, …
What’s In Your Corner?
By Chandra Lynn Smith We writers are a different sort. If you disagree with me, ask your family what they think. In our family of six, my oldest son, the actor, is often the one who ‘gets it.’ The rest of the family gives us the deer-in-the-headlights stare. Writers use a specific type of pen, notebook, size lead or ink. …
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 …