By Tamara D. Fickas There’s a picture floating around Facebook of a guy eagerly digging a tunnel in search of diamonds. He’s been at it a long time and finally gives up. We can see the whole picture and know that just a few more plunges of his pickaxe will unleash the diamonds. He doesn’t know that. He’s tired and …
A Good Reading Chair
By Cynthia Ruchti How many of us live quiet lives in quiet homes with a comfortable reading chair we use strictly for our quiet post-dinner hour reading sessions? A few of us. Most read on planes, in waiting rooms, before falling asleep at night, during kids’ soccer or gymnastics practices, while watching television or waiting for the potatoes to boil. …
God, 10 Miles
by Nancy Ellen Hird Have you ever traveled a barren stretch of highway? Have you traveled such a road, your mouth growing drier by the nanosecond and your stomach growling like an angry bear? Your eyes dart to the side of the road. They search the highway ahead. You are watching for an exit sign that promises a restaurant. Ah, …
Story Glimmers
by Ann H. Gabhart A writer needs time to gather a story, to let the glimmers spark out of that mysterious dark center of the imagination where stories are born. At times the glimmers may sparkle but still be as elusive as a sunbeam. You see it but you can’t quite grab it. I’ve been at the glimmer stage for …
Overcoming the Failure Inside
By Elizabeth Ludwig Scarlett O’Hara. Katniss Everdeen. Michael Hosea. Jane Eyre. Do you recognize any of these names? Obviously, they are all characters from books. And yes, they are all heroes. But before they were heroic, they were flawed and fallible. These frail, imperfect, unlikely paragons struggled with weaknesses in their character-like serious flaws-vanity, envy, fear, jealousy, and pride, just …
Who’s your Ultimate Audience?
By Ian Acheson “It’s in the struggle that the story is written.” Yes, yes, I said as I read those words from a fellow author just before I sat down to draft this post. Golly gosh, I’ve struggled writing the sequel to Angelguard. The basic story of Angelguard fell out of me. I was a complete novice (well, I still …
The Luby’s Listener
The Luby’s Listener Or Where Do Writers Get Their Ideas? By Kathleen Y’Barbo This year I am celebrating fifteen years as a published author and ten years with my fabulous agent, Wendy Lawton. In April of 2016, I will celebrate twenty years since I purchased that Cannon StarWriter and decided I might be able to write a book. Just one. …
When God Winks
by Elizabeth Musser I love it when God gives me a wink. I don’t mean that to sound disrespectful. But perhaps you’re like me, finding that, in the ordinariness of a day, the Lord just gives a ‘wink’-He shows up in a way that is small and insignificant perhaps on a large scale of world problems but which is oh, …
Writing Something Different
By Victoria Buck “Write something different, but keep it the same.” This was one of those perplexing statements made by a teacher addressing a group of novice novelists at a conference. I don’t remember what the class was called or who did the teaching. It was over a decade ago. I only know I latched on to the “different.” I …
One True Fan
By Sara Ella Target audience. That’s a phrase we hear a lot in this biz, isn’t it? We’re supposed to find our target readers. Gain them as followers. Get their emails so we can add them to the list. Check, check, and check. As if writing a novel wasn’t work enough. I’ve spent hours building platform, ready to pull my …