By Ashley Worrell Does your ignorance ever get the better of you? Mine gets me all the time. As a new writer I have made many decisions based on whether something sounds fun. This mentality has sometimes worked out well, sometimes not. This blog, for instance, sounded like a fun way to help me meet fellow writers, so I signed …
The Practice of Perseverance
By Lisa Kelley @LisaKelleyWrite Waiting to be published can be daunting as well as disappointing. I closed out 2022 empty. I had semi-finaled in a writing contest but didn’t progress. One judge suggested I shouldn’t have made it to the semi-finals. I had a manuscript rejected, and I’d finished my fifth novel only to discover, after one of those hard …
The Most Difficult Writing Assignment of My Life
by Jenny Powell MD Back in the Dark Ages when I was in high school, Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, required an essay for high school applicants. I was an aspiring journalism major at the time, and poured my heart into what I thought would be the most difficult writing assignment of my life. It must have been okay because …
Use Those Negative Reviews
By B.D. Lawrence @BDLawrence3 We’ve all received less than positive reviews. For me, when I published my first book, An Angel and a One-Armed Man, I started seeing four and five-star reviews with the occasional three-star review. But then it happened. I received a two-star review. It wasn’t the star count that gave me the pit in my stomach, it …
Writing During Hardship
By Cynthia Herron @C_Herronauthor If I’d known several years ago the hardships I’d face before and after publication, I’m almost certain I would have thrown up my hands in immediate defeat. There’s a reason why God doesn’t allow us to see the future. Giving up before starting negates possibility. Never facing adversity doesn’t develop our mettle. Merely existing on this …
Martha and Martha: A Lesson in Learning and Writing
By Kathleen Y’Barbo @KathleenYBarbo We all know about Martha from the Bible. Biblical Martha was the Martha Stewart of her day, bustling around showing Jesus her devotion to Him with hospitality without any help from her sister Mary. From this story, we learn that sitting at the feet of Jesus—literally for these biblical sisters and figuratively for us in modern …
Fish-Belly Dreams: Encouragement for New Writers
by Ashley Worrell @byashleyworrell I’ll never forget the day I walked out of my HR career forever. With my dying anthurium plant in hand, I walked down the government building’s corridor, uncertain of my choice. I’d worked my whole adult life to achieve this ‘dream job’, making money I never thought I’d make, and having doors open to me I …
Where Do I Fit In?
By Marilyn Turk @MarilynTurk In this vast, unpredictable world of writing, do you ever wonder where you fit in? I do. Although we try to avoid labeling people, the publishing business does this for us. Here are some examples: 1. Prepublished? Published? Multi-published? 2. Are you with a major publisher? Small press? Independent? Hybrid publisher? 3. Are you an A-listed …
To Contest or Not to Contest?
by Angela Hunt Every year, the contests come around, whether you are published or unpublished. Should you enter? There’s a definite cost involved—not only the financial fee, but the cost of your time to prepare the manuscript, arrange for the mailing of books or pages, and the cost of wear and tear on your nerves. Are contests worth it? Way …
Writing Celebration into Our Stories
by Susan Lyttek @SusanLyttek Only within the last month, we have celebrated my dad’s birthday, our 40th anniversary, our son’s birthday, Father’s Day, and Independence Day. A lot of rejoicing and honoring has been going on. And that’s a good thing. Our God is a God of the holiday and celebration. As such, we need to weave such days into …