by Mary Ellis Every writer whether our contemporaries or long gone has wrestled for hours when they can’t string seven words together into a concise sentence. We doubt ourselves, our mentors, the process we thought we’d perfected, even the quality of beans that went into our cup of java. It happens to the best of us. And it will happen …
A Writer’s Good Friend: Kindle Notes & Highlights
by Robin Lee Hatcher Recently, a number of writer friends have switched from the use of Kindles to the Nook or stated they are thinking of doing so. They’ve had different reasons for buying a new Nook. Always wanting to stay informed, I decided to do a little research about features and pros and cons to the different devices. No …
Seven Days to Better Writing
by Janice Hanna Thompson What if I told you that your whole life could change in a week? You would sit up and take notice, right? The truth is, it can. If you’re a writer, all you need is one dedicated week to turn your career around. • DAY ONE: Spend a full day thinking about the topics that make …
The ROY G BIV Approach
by Cynthia Ruchti Do they still teach elementary school children the colors of refracted light, rainbow-style, via the ROY G BIV method? Memorizing seven colors in a specific order is tough…until you learn the odd but hard to forget name ROY G BIV: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Got it. Forever. Some common misspellings and punctuation glitches that …
Writing … Interrupted
by Beth K. Vogt I had another post written for today. The opening line? There’s always a reason – or two or three – not to write. I intended to blog about writing through the interruptions of life – and then the Waldo Canyon Fire erupted in the Foothills several miles from my neighborhood and my family evacuated our home. …
Woolworth or Tiffany’s?
by Janelle James Simplicity is beautiful. When I was a little girl, my mother and I walked by a Tiffany’s display window. We stopped and stared in appreciation. My mother placed her hand on my back and lowered her voice. “Janelle, think of a dime store display window that is so cluttered you can’t even take it all in. Now …
Learning By Teaching
by Rachel Hauck At the ACFW conference in Houston ’03, I watched the bubbly and newly published Susan May Warren dash off to teach a writing workshop one afternoon. I remember thinking, “How does she know what to teach? She’s only been published a year.” As a newly contracted author four months from my first print publication with an e-book …
The Secret to Effective Hooks: Write Like a Journalist
by Sandra Bishop MacGregor Literary More than any other element of a pitch, a solid hook offers more opportunity for you to grab – and possibly keep — an agent or editor’s attention. Yes, hooks are hard to nail, but not impossible. Try drawing from a couple simple techniques you learned in high school journalism: Start with the Five W’s …
One is a Lonely Number
by Aaron McCarver I have heard many authors refer to writing as a lonely career. Many speak of hours in chairs in front of computers plucking out scenes and characters with no others around. While this may be partially true for some of the actual work, a Christian writer should never think of writing as a career for a lonely …
Should a Christian Market Themselves?
by Jordyn Redwood Over the last six months or so, I’ve been reading a lot about marketing to help support the release of my debut medical thriller, Proof. Strangely, I came across an attitude among certain circles that it is unchristian like behavior to market your novel-essentially claiming that “pushing your product” is prideful and therefore sinful. This is how …