By Darlene Corbett @darlenemcorbett I love butterflies. I love writing. And I love conferences. What does one have to do with the other? To make it simple, I’m like a butterfly who flits to as many writing conferences as possible. My wings flutter as I immerse myself in the nectar of learning. On closer examination, complexity streams through the parallel …
Behind A Writer’s Books
By Dr. Dwight David Croy Life-changing events are priorities to be told. As a Christian writer, my first priority is to tell how I was saved by Jesus Christ. When invited as a guest speaker at a church, I often start with how I came to Christ because that is my authority for speaking. A book is like a platform …
Geeks Read Books!
By Bruce Hennigan @bhennigan55 I recently took a big risk. In my region of the South, there is a large convention called “GeekD Con” featuring anime, superheroes, fantasy, cosplaying, and more. Average attendance over the three-day weekend is in the tens of thousands. Last year, I attended GeekD Con because my adult daughter wanted to cosplay an anime character. At the …
I Wasn’t An Author, Until God Said, Write
by: Valerie Carr The story came onto my heart rather suddenly. It wasn’t something I had purposely prepared for or even considered writing. But I had a story in my head, and when I went looking for something like it in a book, I couldn’t find what I was searching for. If I came close, the story often contained content …
The Stories We Echo
By Georgia Curtis Ling @GeorgiaCLing I thought I was marrying a city boy from Columbus, Ohio. It turned out his roots ran just as deep in Appalachia as my own, maybe deeper. Hanging in our entryway is the proof: a sepia portrait of a family dressed in their Sunday best, posed on the front porch of a white clapboard two-story, …
I Can’t Write
by Cynthia Hickey My days have passed, my plans are shattered. Yet the desires of my heart 12 turn night into day; in the face of the darkness light is near. Job 17: 11-12 Writing is a tough business. Someone once told me you can learn the craft of writing, but to be a storyteller is a gift from God. …
Wons, Nones, and Dones: Know Your Audience
By Bruce Hennigan @bhennigan55 Do you know your potential audience? Jesus knew his audience well. In Matthew 22:15-22 (NIV), Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees about the question of should they pay their taxes. Jesus answered them: “But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying …
Headline News Meets Mountain Heart
by Georgia Curtis Ling @GeorgiaCLing Every morning, I climb out of one dream only to crawl into another—trading the velvet drip of sleep for the blue glow of my computer screen, where I spend my days dreaming up a story for my next novel. The surrounding bluegrass countryside is peaceful outside my window when I begin, coaxing storylines out of …
Silence
by Donald L. Reavis In mid-April, knowing I had an upcoming blog date, I sat down and hammered out what I thought was an acceptable blurb. Proud of myself for getting it out of my backpack early, I opened the email to submit my humor-filled micro-story, only to discover the publish date was Memorial Day. My shoulders dropped as the …
How Dreams Can Change
by Cynthia Hickey I’ve enjoyed mysteries from a young age, devouring every Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and Hardy Boys book I could find. There’s something irresistible about pitting your wits against a thief or killer that kept me turning pages long past bedtime. Now, mysteries have given me the joy of staying home and writing what I’ve always loved to …