By Judy Christie As a writer, I am drawn to creative people-smart, funny, interesting, innovative, imaginative. I am blessed to interact with fiction writers who explore and imagine and adapt to a dizzying rate of change, a combination that clogs schedules faster than a plateful of spaghetti can clog a drain (don’t ask how I know this). Sometimes we writers …
To Quote the Queen, “That Doesn’t Match!”
by Dr. Patrick Johnston I have a problem. No sooner do I step out of the bathroom on Sunday morning does my wife take one look at me and pronounce with the authority of the Queen of England, “That doesn’t match!” Though I really don’t see it, most of the time I just blame the curse of Adam and take …
ACFW Rewind: Stop, Drop & Roll – Adding the Crisis Scene
(Editor’s Note: Today, ACFW re-runs a worthwhile blog from the past, in this case from May 2012. This is what we call ACFW Rewind: highlighting previous posts that deserve a second look.) by Janice Thompson You’re at the 3/4 point in your novel and facing that all-important crisis scene. The Supreme Ordeal. The Black Moment. The Big Gloom. You know …
Pass It On
by Susan Lyttek Writing can be a lonely business. With exceptions of co-authored materials or group brainstorming, most writing and editing is done solo. That is the nature of it and that is a good thing. God designed the process with the authors and researchers of the Holy Scripture. The quiet aloneness takes us out of the immediacy of the …
The Fragrance of Fiction
By Carol Lerner I’ve been reading all kinds of fiction lately. This is a good thing, as for years I’ve had difficulty finding fiction that kept my interest. I’ve finally figured out what makes me stick with a story-it’s the overall aura, the “feeling” the words evoke, or, as I like to say, the fragrance. It’s that which moves something …
Three Magic Phrases for a Writer
by Richard Mabry Early in my road to writing, author and teacher Alton Gansky taught me to ask a magic question: “What if?” One of his books began when he noted the presence of a military installation in a deserted location and asked himself, “What if that base suddenly disappeared?” The result was an excellent book. And it began with …
5 things to do to prepare for the ACFW Conference
by Susan May Warren The ACFW conference is less than two months away and I can’t wait! Even now, I’m gearing up to hang out with my favorite peeps, fellow authors and the My Book Therapy community (The Voices.) And, just like you, I’m training for the day when I see editors and agents and pitch them my newest idea. …
Demystifying Contest Scores
By Lisa Godfrees We’re writers. At some point in our careers, we entered a writing contest. Some of us found encouragement there. Maybe we received kind remarks from a judge that gave us courage to continue. Maybe we semi-finaled, finaled, or won. Maybe an agent contacted us because they were impressed with our entry. Some of us came away discouraged. …
Making Research Fun
By Donna Schlachter I’ve seen the way some authors’ eyes nearly roll up into their heads at the word, “research”. After all, that’s just dry, boring stuff. We’re always told to ‘write what we know’. If we have to research a topic, we aren’t writing what we know. I used to write what I knew. My first yet-unpublished novel was …
Are You Living Your Happily Ever After?
by Courtney Hilbert “We always believe our first love is our last, and our last love is our first.” Unknown As a writer, the palette of love provides innumerable shades of color with which to paint a story. Despite the rainbow of choices there is a preset pattern that all romance novels follow: Boy Meets Girl. Boy Falls for Girl. …