by Colleen Coble My beloved ACFW conference is right around the corner. You might be planning to attend or you may be gearing up for another kind of conference this fall so I thought I’d give you a few tips about writers conferences as you’re packing to fly to Dallas. 🙂 1. The main benefit of a writers conference is …
Five Ways to Tell You’re Not Mrs. Muir
By Cathleen Armstrong Have you seen The Ghost and Mrs. Muir? That 1948 movie about a widow who lives by the sea and writes a book with the help of a ghostly sea captain? From the time I first saw the old film, it was my fantasy to be Mrs. Muir. But the more I wrote, the more it became …
What Does the Author Need?
By Cindy Woodsmall As writers, we are attentive to the settings, plots, characters, and all things that make for great storytelling and honed writing. We capitalize on our characters’ thoughts and feelings, and there is nothing quite like exploring the reasoning and nuances of their weaknesses while finding the frailty of their strengths. But do we put as much time …
Writing in times of CHAOS
By Susan A.J. Lyttek This past summer events occurred and piled up that often had me stressed or panicked or both. Some of these included getting my eldest ready to move out on his own, my youngest preparing to start college classes (locally, thankfully!) and my re-entering the workforce after eighteen years as a homeschool mom and freelancer. Add in …
Writers’ Plans
By Carrie Fancett Pagels Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. When the New Year came around in the Pagels household, we made a resolution of “no surgeries” for 2015. The previous year, I had Achilles heel surgery (that wasn’t successful), my father-in-law had a triple bypass, and our …
Roller Coaster Life of Writing
By Darlene L. Turner “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1 NIV) Picture this . . . you’re sandwiched between friends, holding onto the safety bar with a vice grip. The car moves up and up. Your jaw is clenched. You reach the top and- Do you remember the thrill of a good …
The Lost Art of Hand Writing
By Kim Gilliland Stone, clay, copper, silver, parchment and papyrus were all used to write upon during biblical times. I can’t even begin to imagine the tedium in writing just a quick note to a friend. If I had to produce the clay or cut down the reeds to make the papyrus, I would probably forgo any written communication. I’ve …
Stand Therefore
By Ian Acheson One aspect of the writing vocation that I wasn’t really prepared for was the frequency with which negative emotions surfaced. Whether it’s the number of rejections one receives, the often daily struggle of putting words on a page, the discouragement when questioning the quality of one’s story, to those disappointing sales figures and reviews, to name just …
Waiting
By Dawn Crandall People who don’t know me might not realize that I signed my three book contract with Whitaker House when I was (finally) six months pregnant with my first child. What they also wouldn’t know is that I’d waited twice as long to have a baby than to get published, and that they both, unfortunately, happened to come …
Bum Glue
By Janice Cantore What do you do when you’re stuck at a spot in your manuscript? As you sit in front of the computer you seem to be hitting delete more than anything else, or worse, you’re staring at a blank page. Does that make you get up and find something else to do? When I get the urge to …