By Tara Johnson “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” ~Thoreau Each year, I meet countless people who tell me they dream of writing, but only a fraction of them take the first step to begin. Why? Here are the most common excuses: Fear of failure Writers fail all …
Contemplation
By Henry McLaughlin I’ve been doing a lot of contemplating and pondering lately. About my writing. About life. About God. About making changes. Not really at a crossroads, but definitely a time of reassessment. Why? What’s the point? For me, it’s about getting priorities straight and getting myself right with God. I’m learning that too often I get private and …
Real Places: Do Them Right or Don’t Do Them
By Gordon Saunders I got kicked out of a novel the other day. Here’s how it happened. I was reading along okay, suspending disbelief and all, sort of getting into the head of the protagonist. She and her friends were ‘vansters,’ that is, they lived in vans and traveled all over the place, the place mostly being southeast England as …
Things I Would Tell My Younger Writer Self
By Darlene L. Turner Time travel stories have always fascinated me. Back to the Future, Star Trek’s The Voyage Home, and Kate & Leopold are a few movies that come to mind. There are lots more. I loved seeing how people reacted in times not their own. I realize these are scripted movies, but it makes me wonder how I …
How a Book Launch Team Works
By Frank DiBianca Knowing new authors have many questions about the publication process, I am relating my experience with Iron Stream Fiction, an imprint of Iron Stream Media. One of the questions on the forms my publisher asked me to fill out in preparation for the publication of my suspense novel, Laser Trap (LT), was “Do you want to work …
Treasuring People
By Barbara M. Britton Have you heard the word platform? Authors are told that they must have an electronic connection to readers in order to make their story a bestseller. Authors toil at increasing their newsletter followers, posting on several social media platforms, and are busy gathering these connections for reviews around launch day. There is reason behind this madness, …
Tips to Help You on Your Journey to Publication
By Amy Clipston People often ask me what the secret is to getting published. I don’t believe there is a secret to getting published, but I do have a list of activities that may help writers on their journey to publication. 1. Join a Writers’ Group I accidentally found the website for a local writers’ group while searching for a …
The Power of a Writing Partnership: Part I
By Frank A. DiBianca Whether one is a beginner, a recently contracted novelist (like yours truly), or a seasoned, book-a-year pro, it’s hard to overstate the importance of having a writing partnership. A look at my own writing partnership may be illustrative. Now, I’m not speaking about professional (i.e., paid) services, which are unquestionably valuable and indeed indispensable. I mean …
The Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and the Lion
By Julia Kay Being a women’s fiction writer, I’m a big fan of spiritual leaders who teach and champion other women. Specifically, Lisa Bevere is one of my favorites. I recently read a comment on social media from someone saying that her hand motions were annoying in one of her videos. As writers, we’ve been there, right? Rude comments. Random …
Inspiring Quotes for Wavering Writers (and Everybody Else)
By Frank DiBianca Writing a novel is not a piece of cake nor is publishing one. And the better we want it to be, the harder it is. But it is one of the most fulfilling and rewarding adventures we will ever embark on. Sometimes it helps to have a bit of encouragement, and our forerunners have provided much of …