By Gina Detwiler When I was a kid, The Wizard of Oz played once a year on television, an event my family never missed. I could recite every line: “Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” “Are you a good witch or a bad witch?” “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!” “Lions and …
Change My Words, Change My Attitude
By Henry McLaughlin I’m a writer. Been at it for a while now. And I’m still amazed at the power of words. Words make us laugh and cry. They make us feel emotions we may not experience in our normal life. Words introduce us to new worlds and new people. They inspire us to seek more of who we are …
What It Takes to be An Author in The 21st Century
By Rachel Hauck On a plane ride from Kansas City to Atlanta, I watched a film called “Best Sellers,” a comedy-drama starring Aubrey Plaza and Michael Caine. The premise caught my eye. It was Old World, harkening to another age in book publishing. The time of the big-name author, book tours, peer and literary reviews, the literati, even where a …
Prioritizing the Important Things
By Donna Wichelman Authors know the business of writing takes hard work and consistency. Though we love wordsmithing, it still requires a commitment to the daily task—whether it’s ten minutes or ten hours—to achieve the word count or get out the next email or marketing material to our audience. Whether you are a traditionally published or an indie-published author, you …
How to Become an Overnight Success
By Ginny L. Yttrup When my debut novel, Words, won the Christy Award for Best First Novel, my agent joked that I’d become an “overnight success.” Before the award, few had read my writing. After the award, Words sold well, and the novel consistently sells well eleven years later. But an overnight success? Not exactly. The road that led to the publication of that first …
Whose Words
By Angela D. Shelton Well Done! I’ve heard it said many times. It’s even crossed my own lips. Perhaps these words have slipped off your tongue as well. If I can help only one person with my writing, it will be worth it. There it is—the ultimate selfless act. We struggle through the outline, the muddle in the middle, the …
Love Bomb
By Angela D. Shelton The past month has been disheartening. Multiple problems have snarled up my idyllic life. My first ever published books had anemic sales, even though I invested in advertisements. A drought is decimating the pastures on our ranch, forcing us to buy hay in the spring, a first for us. The trifecta is that my husband now …
Act On It
By Davalynn Spencer “I’m drawing a blank,” said the caption beneath the girl’s empty cartoon frame. She smiled up at me. “Funny, huh?” I had to admit it was funny, but a cop-out, too. “The assignment is to draw a cartoon: single frame with caption below, or four-frame strip with bubbled dialogue inside.” What a great class, I thought as …
Treasuring People
By Barbara M. Britton Have you heard the word platform? Authors are told that they must have an electronic connection to readers in order to make their story a bestseller. Authors toil at increasing their newsletter followers, posting on several social media platforms, and are busy gathering these connections for reviews around launch day. There is reason behind this madness, …
Tithing Our Writing
By Susan Lyttek In the spring of 2020, I felt a nudge. Post your margin poems. Share them and expect nothing. It is the tithe of the talent I gave you. Uh, what? Was pretty much my response. My margin poems were personal responses to my Bible reading. Years ago, someone had given me a coloring Bible. Once I had colored …