By Lauren H. Brandenburg We are the writers for the Marvelous Middles. At writers’ conferences, we don’t quite fit in with the crowd. True, we have characters that we love, worlds that we have delicately designed, and plots that will entertain and excite like everyone else, but we are different. Sessions on social media marketing don’t apply, as most of …
Where Are You Going?
By Lillian Duncan Hebrews 11:8 says, “By faith, Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive his inheritance obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” This verse should speak to every writer, every artist, every dreamer out there. God gives us dreams, but like Abraham we don’t know where those …
Confessions of an Auditory Learner
By Mary Lou Cheatham I am an auditory learner. Not just any auditory learner, but one with ADHD. I’m a compulsive multitasker with the need to have some concurring physical motion in order for my brain to work creatively. Perhaps some other writers share such a mindset. When I was forty, I returned to college and became an RN. It …
How to Handle Criticism
By Donna L.H. Smith I hope to bring a fresh perspective to a sensitive subject. As writers, we’re regularly critiqued, edited, and otherwise told to change our text. It can get downright discouraging if we don’t have the proper attitude toward it. If we have rejection issues (like I do), it can feel personal, when it’s really not. It’s about …
Recovering the WOW!
By Ian Acheson As December progressed I began to meditate upon a word for 2016. Last year, my word was ADORATION. I’ve loved taking a few moments at the beginning of a day reflecting on a characteristic of God.1 Over the past couple of years I’ve felt the Lord calling me to want more of Him. So much of my …
Unlocking the Doors
By Donna Schlachter Do you sometimes feel, in trying to get your book published, that you’re rattling at one locked door after another? Perhaps you’re struggling to find an agent, or maybe you’ve been submitting directly to publishers and gotten nothing except rejections. Or worse, silence. It’s okay. We’ve all been there. Some of us are still there. And we …
Writing Through Grief
By Darlene L. Turner “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help” (Psalm 121:1 KJV). I stare out the living room window, my vision blurring and tears forming. I shuffle into the kitchen and peer out the back window. Perhaps the view from there would be different and change my situation. It didn’t. My …
10 Things That Steal Our Writing Joy
By Edie Melson I’m a member of several writing groups, and I’m always amazed at the different reactions people have to similar situations. For instance, one writer might leave a critique session in tears, questioning whether or not the call to write was real. Another writer might have just as challenging a critique and leave energized because she now has …
When Writing Calls Your Name
By Ruth Douthitt Recently, I had the privilege of hearing agent and writer, Karen Ball, speak at a small writers conference in Phoenix. I didn’t really want to attend the conference. I haven’t written much these last few months and had no desire to write anything in the near future, but I felt the Lord leading me to attend…so I …
When the Earthquakes Hit
By Kariss Lynch It’s inevitable in writing, publishing, and life – there will be high highs and low lows and sweet moments in between. How we handle both extremes often demonstrates our character. A slap to my writing and to my dreams caused me to wrestle with this concept when I graduated from college. I began to wonder, “Is God …