By Karen H. Richardson It started with an email that thousands of other writers received. It was an invitation to participate in the ACFW First Impressions contest. Of the ten or eleven criteria for entry, the most distinctive was that you had to be an unpublished author. That’s me. I have a manuscript that is very rough. It is a …
A Mission-Field at the Tip of Your Pen
by Hannah Conway I never equated writing stories with mission work. I had big plans for my life. Writing was for fun-just stories and nothing more. I scripted a multitude of tales throughout my childhood surrounding these huge life plans. People seemed to rather enjoy hearing and reading my creations. Yes-sir-ee. Feeding babies in Africa. Educating and reading to children …
I Miss Writing
By Bruce Hennigan I miss writing. I miss that free flowing, wild abandon “banging out the story on a blank page” feeling – when all the creative juices are flowing and I am IN the story side by side with the characters. That kind of writing. This is what I live for as an author. However, published authors have to …
Finding the Ideas
By Katherine Reay I’m at the beginning of a new story. I handed in my latest manuscript last week and, while I wait for the first round of edits, “the little grey cells” are busy seeking new characters, new emotions and new questions. It’s a fun time, but it’s also a daunting time. A blank computer screen is intimidating. You …
Creative Outlines
by Donna K. Rice Several years ago, while browsing an airport bookshop, I spotted Idea Mapping by Jamie Nast. Intrigued, I picked it up and took it along on my journey. The book explores the process of taking ideas, speeches, business concepts, or whatever project you might think of and mapping it out on one page using bubbles, connecting arrows, …
What’s Your Excuse?
By Martha Rogers We make so many excuses for not submitting our writing. I don’t have enough time to finish a manuscript. I’m too young. I’m too old. I’ve got too many rejections. I don’t have an agent, or I’m not good enough. Any sound familiar? Time: We all have the same amount. We can find even fifteen minutes in …
One Purpose of Historical Fiction
by Mary Ellis Soon after I began researching my stories, I realized many historians take a dim view of fiction, and the idea of historical romance makes their left eyes twitch. When historians sit down to read about their favorite period, they choose scholarly works such as biographies or firsthand battlefield accounts complied from soldiers’ diaries and letters home. I …
Birthdays, always a time to reflect…
By Charlotte Snead Many folks my age are retired, traveling the world or content with their laurels. Some of my friends have died. I’ve reared five incredible children who are making contributions to society, and one foster daughter, who says she wouldn’t know Jesus if we hadn’t been her mama and papa. (She’s my best salesperson, as a beautician, she …
Three Questions Every Author Must Answer
By Suzanne Kuhn In one of our early coaching sessions, we ask our authors to answer three questions about themselves and their book(s); so what, who cares and why you? Many authors fail to take this self-evaluative journey. As we lead them towards answering these questions, they find their audience, purpose and direction in the marketing of their books. So …
A Season for Every Activity
By Jennifer Sienes Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us that there is a season for every activity under heaven. I believe season is the key word in this passage. As writers, we go through seasons – seasons of struggle to find just the right words to create story, carving out the necessary time to do so, and, God willing, those moments when …