By Kariss Lynch I’m always cooking up a new story. The problem? I can’t write them as fast as I can concoct them. And somehow the thoughts don’t always make the batter very creamy. (Can you tell I’ve been baking and watching too many episodes of Cake Wars in quarantine?) Sometimes I have to a look at a new way …
Writing Tips from Paul and Joshua
By Lana Christian From conception to conclusion, every step of writing takes us out of our comfort zone. As faith-based writers, we also strive for excellence that pleases God. Collectively, that takes strength and courage. Scriptures for both abound. While they certainly can help us weather our challenges, they also contain writing tips. STRENGTH: Paul on word order and word …
A Blurred Starting Line
By Shirley E. Gould According to the calendar, today is the first day of winter. With the variety of weather conditions across America you could have three feet of snow on the ground or be basking in the warm sunshine along the coast. We, in middle Tennessee, had an endless summer with a serious drought, basically two weeks of fall …
The Joy and Surprise of Writing With
By Chandra Lynn Smith A couple of years ago at the ACFW conference I was privileged to take Allen Arnold’s continuing session. It was a most amazing blessing! (That’s my exclamation point use for the day.) During our opening session he had a stack of spiral-bound notebooks. He walked around the room and gave a notebook to each of us. …
The Legacy We Leave
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 …
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, …
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 …
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 …
Going For It
by JPC Allen I couldn’t have heard that right. Last December I was talking to author and editor Michelle L. Levigne at the Faith and Fellowship Book Festival in Etna, Ohio. Michelle is also the co-founder of Mt. Zion Ridge Press. That afternoon, she said the deadline for submitting short stories for the press’s Christmas anthology was December 15. I’d …
Imagine the Impact
By K.W. Bounds Why do I even bother writing? Threatening to torpedo my work in progress, this thought surfaced leaving a wake in its path, as I scrambled to stay afloat in a sea of self-doubt and frustration. The compulsion to write God-honoring words never left, but my confidence in producing such waned. You’ve been there. It’s a universal struggle …