By Chandra Smith One of my favorite things at a writer’s conference is the mealtime conversations with other writers about their stories and their characters. It is probably the only place writers can talk about the people in their heads and be understood. What inspires your story? Is it a conversation overheard in a crowded restaurant, or sunlight coming through …
The Broken Pencil
By Kathy Parish Early in my Christian walk, I came across a quote attributed to Mother Teresa: “I am like a little pencil in God’s hand. He does the writing. The pencil has nothing to do with it.” At that time I was more into my nursing career than seeking a career as a writer, although many of my duties …
When Mentoring Goes Wrong
By Ramona Richards You know, you do need mentors, but in the end, you really just need to believe in yourself. –Diana Ross Who knew such a simple piece of advice could make someone burst into tears. All I said was, “You might want to consider deleting this prologue.” I then stared as the writer in front of me started …
How to Know When It’s Time to Give Up
by Cathleen Armstrong I met her the second day of the ACFW Conference when I sat down next to her at the lunch table. “How’s your conference going?” I smiled at her as I opened my napkin. This is conference-speak for, “How are you?” The usual answer is, “Great! How about you?” Not this lady. “Not so good. In fact, …
The Marvelous Middles
By Lauren H. Brandenburg We are the writers for the Marvelous Middles. At writers’ conferences, we don’t quite fit in with the crowd. True, we have characters that we love, worlds that we have delicately designed, and plots that will entertain and excite like everyone else, but we are different. Sessions on social media marketing don’t apply, as most of …
Where Are You Going?
By Lillian Duncan Hebrews 11:8 says, “By faith, Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive his inheritance obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” This verse should speak to every writer, every artist, every dreamer out there. God gives us dreams, but like Abraham we don’t know where those …
Confessions of an Auditory Learner
By Mary Lou Cheatham I am an auditory learner. Not just any auditory learner, but one with ADHD. I’m a compulsive multitasker with the need to have some concurring physical motion in order for my brain to work creatively. Perhaps some other writers share such a mindset. When I was forty, I returned to college and became an RN. It …
How to Handle Criticism
By Donna L.H. Smith I hope to bring a fresh perspective to a sensitive subject. As writers, we’re regularly critiqued, edited, and otherwise told to change our text. It can get downright discouraging if we don’t have the proper attitude toward it. If we have rejection issues (like I do), it can feel personal, when it’s really not. It’s about …
Recovering the WOW!
By Ian Acheson As December progressed I began to meditate upon a word for 2016. Last year, my word was ADORATION. I’ve loved taking a few moments at the beginning of a day reflecting on a characteristic of God.1 Over the past couple of years I’ve felt the Lord calling me to want more of Him. So much of my …
Unlocking the Doors
By Donna Schlachter Do you sometimes feel, in trying to get your book published, that you’re rattling at one locked door after another? Perhaps you’re struggling to find an agent, or maybe you’ve been submitting directly to publishers and gotten nothing except rejections. Or worse, silence. It’s okay. We’ve all been there. Some of us are still there. And we …