by Christa Kinde In our books, the main character rarely operates alone. Depending on the needs of the story, we provide them with friends and neighbors, romantic interests and rivals, critics and supporters. The first book in my new YA trilogy is steadily building an ensemble cast of mongrels and misfits. All of them are needed. The story couldn’t happen …
What Do You Do in the Calm After the Storm?
By Glynn Young It’s the calm after the storm. For months, it’s been days and weeks of intense writing, rewriting, editing, re-editing, adding to, and subtracting from. I thought novel #4 would be a relative slam dunk, since large chunks of it have existed for more than a decade. All I had to do was add a few thousand words …
Surviving the Sophomore Slump
By Laurel Blount When I sold my debut novel A Family for the Farmer to Love Inspired in August of 2015, I was over the moon. I had finally stepped through the golden door of publication, and I felt sure from now on I’d be dividing my time between signing books, signing contracts and signing royalty checks. But then my …
Words, Words, Words
by Shirley E. Gould When I was in elementary school, I learned a saying… Sticks and stones may break my bones, But words will never harm me. This childhood saying was meant to encourage kids to not allow what other classmates say to hurt their feelings. But words do hurt! They stay in our memory and mold what we think …
How to Get Your Work Published—Successfully
By Susan A.J. Lyttek I teach writing classes to homeschooled youth most every year. For the most dedicated writers among them, they always have one question. “How do I get published?” Twenty or thirty years ago I could have told them to do a, then b, then c and finally you’ll achieve the d of publication. The route is not …
Exercise Your Gray Cells
By K.A. Neely I exercise my gray cells by writing cozy mysteries. Ever since I picked up my first Nancy Drew book I have loved reading and watching mysteries. Having said that, writing one is completely different. I know every fictional tale requires careful consideration to detail. The specifics of the storyline must flow and have continuity, but a mystery …
Writing From Your Scars
by Tara Johnson I was recently asked to give an aspiring writer my best piece of writing advice. I could have told her to study the craft, told her the best blogs to follow, or given her a checklist of a thousand other steps to pursue her dream, but after much thought, I offered my best piece of advice: write …
Investing in Your Writing Career
By Carrie Stuart Parks When I embarked on this writing journey, one of the decisions I needed to make was how serious I was going to be. How much was I willing to invest and for what end result? I wasn’t one of those kids who was the editor of the school newspaper, nor one that found writing a necessity …
Questions from a Young Writer
by Ann H. Gabhart Some time ago, a young writer asked me to answer some questions for her high school writing class. A writer can be young in years or simply young in writing experience. Many of you may be both or neither, but if you’re like me, you enjoy hearing what other writers say about the writing journey. So …
Decluttering Your Writing Life
By Jan Drexler Writing a book is a difficult task with thousands of details to keep track of. Just as we find it nearly impossible to navigate in a cluttered room, it’s hard to bring a story out of a cluttered mind. If you have problems concentrating on your story or sticking to your task, you may need to down-size …