By Elizabeth Ludwig My husband, were you to pass him in a dark alley, would probably make you want to cross the street. He’s big, he’s German, he can’t see very well so he squints a lot, he’s usually scruffy, and he rides a Harley. He also likes to dress the part. I’m talking leather jacket, skull face shield, and …
By Faith
By Loretta Eidson Hebrews 11:1 is called the faith chapter in the Bible. The New International Version (NIV) states that “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” The passages following that first verse go on to expound on people in the Bible who exercised their faith in God. By faith, …
Writing Through the Valleys: The Painful Truth
By Christa MacDonald Pain, the emotional sort, is a killer of creativity. It’s hard to get the words out when your heart is breaking. Grief, angst, fear, whatever it is, nothing shuts off the faucet of inspiration like suffering. It’s tough to get motivated to write a light-hearted romance when your heart is broken. It’s equally challenging to write about …
Backups and Miracles
By Rondi Olson My laptop made a grinding noise. I held it up to my co-worker, and asked if she could hear the sound, but before she could answer, the screen went blank. I wasn’t worried, at first. I restarted the computer, hoping that whatever was wrong would fix itself, but instead the grinding resumed, and an error message flashed …
The Writer in the Corner
by Chandra Lynn Smith I’ve been a professional dog trainer since 1988. A few years ago I trained a German Shepherd dangerous fear issues. I stood at the kennel, leash in hand and greeted her. She growled. For those of you who read my opening sentence and thought what a fun job, well, not always. I opened entered the kennel. …
Change Your Motive, Change the World …and the industry
by J.A. Marx If you’ve been around ACFW for any length of time, you’ve heard the one question every agent and editor asks: “Who’s your audience?” The tighter we narrow down the audience for our story, the happier we make the marketing department. But at what point in writing a new book do we start thinking about our readers? God …
What Hindered You?
By Shirley E. Gould As 2017 winds down and we approach 2018, we make resolutions, set goal and decide to make changes in our lives. But, many times those adjustments are short lived and we repeat our actions of the past and miss the mark—again. Being Christian Fiction Writers, we must evaluate our progress and take seriously the monumental task …
When a Writer Hits a Wall
By Joanna Davidson Politano “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” ~Ernest Hemmingway Writers often find we cannot escape the lure of creating stories, yet it’s both freeing and frustrating, isn’t it? It’s a voluntary invasion of privacy, a big emotional investment, and it’s never as easy as it seemed before …
When a Writer Hits a Wall
By Joanna Davidson Politano “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” ~Ernest Hemmingway Writers often find we cannot escape the lure of creating stories, yet it’s both freeing and frustrating, isn’t it? It’s a voluntary invasion of privacy, a big emotional investment, and it’s never as easy as it seemed before …
Work of Art
by Elizabeth Musser I had the joy and privilege of visiting The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. a few weeks ago. As I stepped into the museum on that surprisingly balmy October afternoon, I thought back to my first visit to National Gallery. In 1989, I flew from Columbia, South Carolina to D.C. to spend a few days …