By Tamara D. Fickas There’s a picture floating around Facebook of a guy eagerly digging a tunnel in search of diamonds. He’s been at it a long time and finally gives up. We can see the whole picture and know that just a few more plunges of his pickaxe will unleash the diamonds. He doesn’t know that. He’s tired and …
Overcoming the Failure Inside
By Elizabeth Ludwig Scarlett O’Hara. Katniss Everdeen. Michael Hosea. Jane Eyre. Do you recognize any of these names? Obviously, they are all characters from books. And yes, they are all heroes. But before they were heroic, they were flawed and fallible. These frail, imperfect, unlikely paragons struggled with weaknesses in their character-like serious flaws-vanity, envy, fear, jealousy, and pride, just …
Who’s your Ultimate Audience?
By Ian Acheson “It’s in the struggle that the story is written.” Yes, yes, I said as I read those words from a fellow author just before I sat down to draft this post. Golly gosh, I’ve struggled writing the sequel to Angelguard. The basic story of Angelguard fell out of me. I was a complete novice (well, I still …
Was Today Really Necessary?
By Mary Manners My dad has always been my hugest inspiration. Long ago, when I was barely a teenager in the early days of my middle school journey, I came home following a particularly rough day to find him sitting on the front porch waiting for me so he could ask about my day. I joined him on the concrete …
When God Winks
by Elizabeth Musser I love it when God gives me a wink. I don’t mean that to sound disrespectful. But perhaps you’re like me, finding that, in the ordinariness of a day, the Lord just gives a ‘wink’-He shows up in a way that is small and insignificant perhaps on a large scale of world problems but which is oh, …
One True Fan
By Sara Ella Target audience. That’s a phrase we hear a lot in this biz, isn’t it? We’re supposed to find our target readers. Gain them as followers. Get their emails so we can add them to the list. Check, check, and check. As if writing a novel wasn’t work enough. I’ve spent hours building platform, ready to pull my …
Continue the Journey
By Henry McLaughlin Continue the Journey has been my tag line since I first became serious about writing and printed my first business cards. Obviously it stems from my debut novel, Journey to Riverbend. But there’s more to it than just a gimmick to remind people about the book. (Did I mention my first book is Journey to Riverbend? Did …
Rules of Writing Encourage or Discourage
By Linda Robinson After I joined a large critique group a few years ago, I was terrified to press Send for my first 2,000-word submission. How intimidating to put my work out there, knowing it was open for target practice. I wasn’t worried about grammar and punctuation, but about the story itself. Nail-biting nervous, I waited for the first critique …
Encouragement for the Weary and Disheartened
By Cheryl Wyatt Writing is hard. Seriously, those who don’t believe the publishing industry can be brutal either haven’t been in it long enough to experience the lows and blows, or they are way more optimistic than I. Yes, even in the Christian writing community, disillusionment and discouragement comes. Why? I think because words matter. They matter a lot. Yours. …
He Gave It a Year
By Christen Civiletto Morris Expectations can be tricky. The wrong word choice can raise or lower them. A skewed perception can twist them. Expectations are especially difficult when it comes to those we create in our family about our writing. I once bungled a conversation along those lines so badly that it would be funny if it weren’t so … …