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 …
Looking Beyond the Ribbons
By Beth K. Vogt There’s a basic ACFW Conference To Do list that starts months before the actual event: 1. Confront the whole “do I attend or do I not attend” decision 2. Register online, selecting your classes and appointment preferences 3. Make your travel arrangements 4. Count the days until … … the conference starts – which it does, …
Conference Time
by Colleen Coble My beloved ACFW conference is right around the corner. You might be planning to attend or you may be gearing up for another kind of conference this fall so I thought I’d give you a few tips about writers conferences as you’re packing to fly to Dallas. 🙂 1. The main benefit of a writers conference is …
Finding Confidence
By Emilie Hendryx The first year I attended the ACFW Conference I was scared stiff. Absolutely filled with nervousness and anxiety wondering what it would be like, how I would manage to form a coherent sentence before an agent, or whether I would make a complete fool out of myself. Fast-forward to my second year at the conference and I …
Five Ways to Tell You’re Not Mrs. Muir
By Cathleen Armstrong Have you seen The Ghost and Mrs. Muir? That 1948 movie about a widow who lives by the sea and writes a book with the help of a ghostly sea captain? From the time I first saw the old film, it was my fantasy to be Mrs. Muir. But the more I wrote, the more it became …
Different Strokes, Different Folks, Different Paths, Different Maths
By C. Kevin Thompson To say the writing life is a “one size fits all, write the same, market the same, sell the same” society is naïveté at its finest. Take Tom Clancy, for example. Ex-military. High-ranking Naval officer. Decides to write a story. Has it published via the Naval Academy’s press…a press which strictly published non-fiction, military-type books on …
What Does the Author Need?
By Cindy Woodsmall As writers, we are attentive to the settings, plots, characters, and all things that make for great storytelling and honed writing. We capitalize on our characters’ thoughts and feelings, and there is nothing quite like exploring the reasoning and nuances of their weaknesses while finding the frailty of their strengths. But do we put as much time …
Words, Camera…and Action!
By Bonnie S. Calhoun What comes mind when I say those words? Typically someone would think of a movie set in the oldun’ days. Someone had a tripod camera and a megaphone and a snappy board with numbers on it. I want you to try this when you’re writing an action scene. The idea is to get you to look …
Writing in times of CHAOS
By Susan A.J. Lyttek This past summer events occurred and piled up that often had me stressed or panicked or both. Some of these included getting my eldest ready to move out on his own, my youngest preparing to start college classes (locally, thankfully!) and my re-entering the workforce after eighteen years as a homeschool mom and freelancer. Add in …
Writers’ Plans
By Carrie Fancett Pagels Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. When the New Year came around in the Pagels household, we made a resolution of “no surgeries” for 2015. The previous year, I had Achilles heel surgery (that wasn’t successful), my father-in-law had a triple bypass, and our …