By Deb Haggerty As an author and an editor, I read—a lot! And I find I get impatient with certain contrivances authors tend to overdo. I realize part of what we do as writers is our voice, but I also realize part is trying to impress or to ensure our readers get what we’re trying to impart. And while our …
Perception, and Making It Real
By Lynn Hobbs Writing your story is just that; your story. If you are making a point using a situation as an example or attempting to show a lesson learned; readers will decide for themselves if it could be applied to their daily lives. As a Christian fiction author, writing about a fictional family, town, or one main character should …
I Have a Voice!
by Kathy Harris If you’re going to get heard, you can’t just raise your voice. You’ve got to set yourself apart, showing you have something special to say, and that you have a unique way of saying it. — Jeff Goins, author, blogger, speaker I could barely squeak out my words much less raise my voice over the holidays after …
What We Experience Affects What We Write
By Kimberley Woodhouse Write what you know. We’ve all heard it. But is that always the best advice? It worked for the character Anne in her vignettes of Avonlea, and it worked for Jo of Little Women, right? But what about all the adventurous and exciting stories they wrote and longed to write? Just like those fictional characters, our inquisitive, …
Those Important First Pages
by Jamie Chavez Sometimes you set out to do a thing for one reason only to find it was so much more than you ever imagined. More than you could have actually planned. In this case, I learned just how much value can be wrung out of focusing on the first chapter and how it relates to the rest of …
How to Win at Writers’ Conferences
By Deb Haggerty What is your goal when you go to a writers’ conference or convention? Is it to sell your latest book? Is it to learn more about your craft? Preparing yourself for the occasion is important. When teaching networking, my mantra was “Always keep in mind those to whom you can refer others.” You never know when someone …
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 …
Beyond Writer’s Block
by Preston Shires A lot of people talk about writer’s block. To be honest, and I say this whispering, I really don’t know what they’re talking about. However, I do know that in order to write, one must have the perfect atmosphere, and you must stay in place to take advantage of it. So, I think I’ll write about that. …
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 …
Six Reasons Why Authors Edit Their Manuscripts
By Glynn Young Editing has been much on mind lately, and I’m learning that editing requires more of my time and focus than drafting the original manuscript. I’m working on the fifth, and final, novel in a five-book series. This one has taken more time to write; I’m aiming for something more ambitious than its four predecessors. I’ve been through …