By Dwight David Croy At my late stage in life, God gives permission to go on a writing mission. It is an extension of the great commission. The professional writing mission is new to me, but a welcome outlet for ministry. Books will not rival the living breathing Word of God, but they have a role to play in each …
Hello, ACFW!
THE ACFW VIRTUAL CONFERENCE: MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR FEBRUARY 24 – 25, 2024 Hello ACFW! I’m Kathleen Y’Barbo-Turner, a member of the ACFW Executive Board, and I’ve got great news for you! If you’ve been a member of ACFW for any length of time, you’ve no doubt attended or at least heard about our fabulous ACFW Annual Conference–the premier conference …
From the Tablet on your Heart
by Kathy Maresca @KathyMaresca Stories, willing to escape the confines of our hearts, burn inside writers. Oftentimes a memory spurs our desire to share our poetry and prose with the world. Sometimes details are sketchy. Other times they seem more real than the present day. When I wrote Porch Music, I wanted to include a few of my mother’s memories. …
Learning from Reading a Master Novelist
By Carol Buchanan, PhD The best thing fiction writers can do for ourselves is to read fiction. Read any novel you can get your eyeballs on. Read popular novels, novels you wouldn’t write on a bet, novels of all sorts and in as many genres as you can without saying “Yuck” and throwing the book away. (Because we want to …
How Many Hats Do You Wear a Day?
By Glynn Young The hats we writers wear can seem awfully heavy. The hat we wear every day is the writer’s hat. This is what we do. This is what we’re about. We’re here to tell a story, and that can be difficult enough. It looks like a baseball cap. We learn to write by listening, memorizing, and repetition. We …
Books that Empower Writers to Excel
By Frank DiBianca I have a recurring nightmare in which I walk onto the stage of a packed symphony hall. I hold a violin and bow in my hands. The conductor turns to me and smiles. Suddenly, I realize I have not memorized my part. Even worse, I don’t know how to play the violin! Sound familiar? That’s probably not …
Cooking Up a Story
By Tanara McCauley “Are these…scones?” My teen’s guess was generous, considering the cookies looked more like jagged blue biscuits coated in a suspicious glaze. She held one in her hand, eyes skeptical. I frowned at the cookie-biscuit-scone between her fingers and shook my head. It was a lemon blueberry cookie, or it was supposed to be. Only I’d had to …
Boredom as Writing Inspiration
By JPC Allen Little did I realize when I wrote this post in March how many of us would be battling boredom in the near future. Every month on my blog, I choose some aspect about the month—a holiday or the weather—and brainstorm ideas about how to use the month as writing inspiration. March is my least favorite month. I’m …
What to do with the new?
By Julie Kay Everyone has been the “new kid.” At school or work. In church. New kid at ACFW. It’s exciting, right? Maybe for some. For me, being the new kid morphs into a triplex of thrills, spills, and anxiety as I maneuver unfamiliar territory. Growing up in the same town and going to the same school with the same …
And Your Readers Are?
By Lynn Hobbs Years ago I was taught to write to a certain group selected to be your target market. Various writing workshops and writing conferences included this type of training. Age and gender or ages and genders were to be strictly adhered to for whatever you were writing. Consistency was of utmost importance. The argument was believable, and presented …
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