by MaryAnn Diorio, PhD, MFA I have a friend who writes cozy mysteries. Her favorite quip when she gets annoyed with someone is to say, “Be careful. I may put you in my next novel.” My friend’s comment provokes some interesting philosophical questions: • If my friend were to put me in her novel, what kind of character would I …
What If?
by Sarah Hamaker What if I actually can’t write? What if the plot’s a mess? What ifI start and don’t know how to finish the book? What if no one else likes it? What if it’s published and no one buys it? In our writing life, we entertain many What If questions-usually negative in nature. Rarely do we ask the …
God’s Creative Call
By Loretta Eidson In The Creative Call by Janice Elsheimer, we are told that God can restore lost dreams. Further reading presents an inspiring, thought-provoking source for resurrecting dormant talent. It encourages us to think back into our childhood and remember the one talent that brought a sparkle to our young eyes. Whether it was playing the piano, becoming an …
Contests from a Judge’s Perspective
by Lisa Jordan Rejection, though undeniably painful, does not have to hold us back from accomplishing what God wants us to do. ~Jennifer Benson Shuldt After entering one of my first writing contests, I was determined never to enter another. After all, my low scores attested to judges’ inabilities to recognize talent, right? Uh huh… Actually my own inflated view …
Learning From Other Authors’ Strengths
by Lindsay Harrel Comparison. It’s the big no-no word in the writing world, isn’t it? We’re always being told – and probably telling others – that we shouldn’t compare our writing to that of anyone else. It makes sense. After all, we each have a unique voice, and I’m bound to tell a story differently than you would. But what …
Big Dreams
by Henry McLaughlin At one time or another, we’ve all had big dreams. When I was a kid, my dream was to play Major League Baseball. But I stopped growing and my bat never could figure out how to hit a curveball. As we grow up, our dreams change but they’re still big: the right job, the perfect spouse, the …
Writing Road Potholes
by Linda Robinson Recently, while waiting for my editor to finish the first pass of my third book-to-be, my doctor informed me I needed major surgery. Given only six days to prepare for six weeks of incapacitation, my mind went berserk. I had a book signing and other events scheduled and would miss our church’s Easter cantata and special Sunday …
That time I found maple syrup in my bed (aka Deadlines and the Beauty of the Undoable)
by Melissa Tagg Recently I’ve been in the throes of deadline life. And it’s been…interesting. I’ve had deadlines before. As a former reporter, they’re really not anything new to me. But I’ve never faced one quite this tight. Or this, um, challenging to my daily living and common sense abilities. Examples of things I’ve done in the past few weeks …
Christian Novels and Things that Go Bump in the Night
By D.L. Koontz “Christian authors should never touch this topic!” “Thank goodness – something fresh that isn’t afraid to push the edge.” “Clearly this author doesn’t know her Bible.” “I love how she wove spiritual truths throughout the story.” You probably guessed by now that these disparate comments were written about the same book – my novel, Crossing into the …
The Writer’s Journey: When Free Climbing is a Team Sport
by Dani Pettrey In my latest novel, Silenced, my lead character Kayden McKenna has a passion for solo free-climbing. If you’re like me, when you first hear the term “free-climbing”, you picture a lone climber with zero fear (and very little sanity), hanging by their fingernails from a 90 degree angle on a cliff face, with no anchors or ropes. …