By Laurel Blount A few weeks ago, I noticed a book by Sue Hubbell discounted on BookBub. I’d enjoyed one of her other books, so I purchased A Country Year: Living the Questions and settled down to read. The writing was every bit as good as I remembered, but as I savored the words, my mind kept flicking to a …
Writing with Integrity: Remaining True to Yourself and Others
by Kathy Harris For most of us, life is moving too quickly right now. We have what seems like a thousand things on our to-do list and little time to do them. Each moment of every day is about last minute detours, do-overs, and deadlines. And that’s without even thinking about writing. And it’s not just during the holidays that life is …
Encouragement for Older Writers
By Laurel Blount A long, long time ago when I was in my twenties—back in the dark ages when there was no internet, no cell phones, and no social media—I submitted a book proposal to a well-known publisher. I was overjoyed when I received a request for the full manuscript, but ultimately, I got a kind rejection letter. Deeply disappointed, …
Who Told You That?
by Henry McLaughlin Remember the old cliché? from childhood: sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me? Not true. Words and names can actually do much more lasting damage. Cuts and bruises heal. Words and names create self-images that linger and poison for years. They can become prophecies we fulfill whether we want to or …
And Your Readers Are?
By Lynn Hobbs Years ago I was taught to write to a certain group selected to be your target market. Various writing workshops and writing conferences included this type of training. Age and gender or ages and genders were to be strictly adhered to for whatever you were writing. Consistency was of utmost importance. The argument was believable, and presented …
From Disaster to Discovery
By Kathryn Haueisen Until I retired, most of my writing was work-related non-fiction. Critique groups, beta readers, and launch teams were all new concepts to me. I wrote my first novel without a critique group; didn’t yet know what a beta reader was; and didn’t get help with a book launch until the book was at the printer. I had …
Dealing with Depression
by Elizabeth Musser I just launched my new novel, When I Close My Eyes, last week at the Atlanta History Center, a novel about mental illness and God’s grace. The novel opens with a hitman failing in his attempt to assassinate a middle-aged novelist. No one has ever tried to assassinate me, but I share a lot in common with …
Tis the Season To Remember
by Gail Gaymer Martin As autumn passes, we remember our gratefulness as we celebrate Thanksgiving. Soon everyone’s mind turns to the next holiday, Christmas, as we again give thanks for the gift of the babe born in Bethlehem, our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. Yet sadly our focus often shifts to the traditions of Christmas—gift buying and wrapping them, Christmas …
Skydiving – Shifting Our Writer Expectations
by Deborah Clack My stomach dropped, but my feet were still on the ground. Staring at a man who was four inches shorter than my five feet nine, all I could think to myself was, “This is not who I thought I would be jumping out of an airplane with.” When I initially decided to do the insane and go …
Is it Faith or Is it Trust?
By Davalynn Spencer I am not the first person to realize that ninety-nine percent of the things I’ve worried about never happened. Nor am I the first to discover that God is never late. Oh, He’s really good at working close to deadline, at least from my time-constrained viewpoint. But He never fails to show up. So why do I …