By DiAnn Mills I’ve been publishing since 1998, and one thing I’ve learned is to embrace change in the publishing world. The logic is all around us: new ideas are a fact of life. We either stubbornly refuse to learn and grow from what’s happening in the world of writing, or we stand up and open our arms to study, …
We Never Stop Learning
By Martha Rogers I have just returned from my 15th ACFW conference. It was one of the best I’ve attended. The best thing was seeing friends only known through the loop or Facebook or Twitter, but feeling like I’d known them forever. I offer my congratulations to all the Genesis and Carol Award winners. Keep turning out those great books. …
Weaving a Story Web
by Ann H. Gabhart I’m guessing some of you may have walked into a spider web at some time in your life. You probably weren’t that happy to be wrapped in those silken threads while swatting at your hair to make sure the spider didn’t hide out there to later crawl down your shirt. But have you ever taken the …
3 Steps to Publication…Guaranteed!
by Lillian Duncan Let’s get right to the 3 steps to publication…guaranteed! As I’m sure you know all stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. So the perfect formula for writing a great book, meaning publishable is… best beginning + marvelous middle + explosive ending = GREAT STORY! (and a book contract). Succeed with those three easy steps, …
Mere Point of View
By Christine Sunderland We are told to write from close third person point of view. This is the POV of choice for today’s audience and publishers. And yet I notice from time to time a yearning for omniscient POV, among readers as well as writers, perhaps a nostalgic yearning for a time when the storyteller knew everything, saw everything from …
The Road to Publication
By Katherine Reay A reader recently reached out to ask how she could know if she was ready to pursue publication. Did I have any advice? Wow! Tough question. Here’s what my advice boiled down to… 1. Give your work to beta readers – They can be family or friends, but they need to be honest. My first reader is …
Five Ways to Tell You’re Not Mrs. Muir
By Cathleen Armstrong Have you seen The Ghost and Mrs. Muir? That 1948 movie about a widow who lives by the sea and writes a book with the help of a ghostly sea captain? From the time I first saw the old film, it was my fantasy to be Mrs. Muir. But the more I wrote, the more it became …
What Does the Author Need?
By Cindy Woodsmall As writers, we are attentive to the settings, plots, characters, and all things that make for great storytelling and honed writing. We capitalize on our characters’ thoughts and feelings, and there is nothing quite like exploring the reasoning and nuances of their weaknesses while finding the frailty of their strengths. But do we put as much time …
Words, Camera…and Action!
By Bonnie S. Calhoun What comes mind when I say those words? Typically someone would think of a movie set in the oldun’ days. Someone had a tripod camera and a megaphone and a snappy board with numbers on it. I want you to try this when you’re writing an action scene. The idea is to get you to look …
Writers’ Plans
By Carrie Fancett Pagels Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. When the New Year came around in the Pagels household, we made a resolution of “no surgeries” for 2015. The previous year, I had Achilles heel surgery (that wasn’t successful), my father-in-law had a triple bypass, and our …