by Melinda Inman I didn’t want this gig. I didn’t want to write about how life is messy and complicated as we pursue our publishing dreams. Rather, I wanted to write about how the sun shone, the birds sang, the flowers bloomed, and all was right with the world. But life happened. Cancer, hospice, death, Epstein Barr, and now Chronic …
Courage for your Journey
by Cynthia Herron If you’ve been writing for any length of time, you’ve grown accustomed to hearing words like thick-skinned. Tough-as-nails. Not-for-the-fainthearted. Resilient. We may not like their connotation, but unless we approach our craft with a realistic mindset, those words can propel us forward or freeze us in our tracks. Writers on the publishing journey understand the road is …
Talk Your Way Out of a Jam!
By Bonnie S. Calhoun Have you heard novelists say their story was bogged down by inactivity, or that they felt lost in a long drawn out narrative? Well never fear! I have a totally sharp solution…conversation. Write out the narrative and then make it a conversation between two or more people. That’s write (right). Dialogue is considered to be an …
Beating the Post Conference BLUES
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 …
Publishing vs. Encouraging
By Ane Mulligan According to a song lyric by Linda Rondeau: Home, home in the industry Where the writers and publishers play Where seldom is heard An encouraging word And the skies are so cloudy all day Thanks, Linda for letting me borrow the lyric. Yes, I’ve experienced discouragement in my writing journey. Maybe it was a rejection, or comments …
Dreams Really Do Come True!
By Lillian Duncan I wrote another post with this same title after receiving my first contract from a traditional publisher. It took 15 years of writing before I received that contract. So you can well imagine I was a little bit excited. Now three years and seven contracts later, I still get excited. I just don’t cry quite as much! …
Are You Being Tossed About by Every Wind?
By Henry McLaughlin Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Ephesians 4:14 NLT In my small group recently, we were discussing critiques. One member had …
Every book deserves a party
By Judy Christie With the launch of my eighth novel, I’m in the mood for fried pies. Make that chocolate fried pies. That’s what the protagonist cooks–and what I’ll serve to say thanks at my upcoming book party at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in northwest Louisiana. As authors, we spend lots of time talking about the serious business of writing …
Three Tips for Conference Veterans
By Lindsay Harrel This year, I’ll be attending my third ACFW conference. I’m excited to see my friends, to pitch my latest project to editors, to let loose at the My Book Therapy pizza party, and to learn and have a good time overall. And you know what I have realized? The crazy sense of nerves I had upon attending …
Devotional for Deadliners
By Anne Baxter Campbell Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, Where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, Where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying; My throat is dry; My eyes fail while I wait for my God (Psalm 69:1-3, NKJV) …