One of the greatest challenges writers face is keeping our story material straight and organized. This whacked me upside the head when I started working on my latest project. The book is the fourth book in my Riverbend Saga series. Why am I writing a fourth installment you might ask. I wondered that myself. The…
Online courses, YouTube videos, local writing groups, a college Creative Writing course, even an MFA are all worthy investments with great payoffs. But there is one investment that can’t be beat: A writer’s conference.
Like most writers, I spend a lot of time alone applying my craft to the stories calling to me. And, like many people, I can lose myself in my aloneness. This is a good thing when I’m creating. But there are times when it’s not a good thing. I tend to be a loner, private…
Stop writing like you’re directing a movie A common mistake I see is when a writer begins to direct his or her character. Rather than taking me deep into a POV, the writer has chosen to tell me about what the character is doing. Walking across the room. Opening a cabinet. Checking email. While…
God has a will, or a plan, for each of us. Psalm 1[39:16] (NLT) tells us, You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. Each of us is on this earth for a specific reason….
I first met Jeremiah several years ago when he was assigned to open and lock up the building we were using for a Write Well Sell Well conferences. Our whole faculty was impressed with Jeremiah’s sweet, ready-to-serve attitude that he brought every day and to every task. He politely asked if he could sit in…
Many of us have writing quotes to inspire or nag us. Or to nudge us to keep writing. A few of my favorites include: “If my family didn’t want me to write about them, they should’ve behaved better.” Anne Lamott “First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him!” Ray Bradbury “I love…
As writers, we always look for ways to improve our writing and writing business. We never want to rest on what we’ve always done. We want to continue to dream and grow and build as writers and as writing entrepreneurs. This became even clearer to me during a road trip a few years ago. In…
Being a freelance writer can have its perks and its pitfalls. I have the freedom to go to lunches and throw laundry on during the day, but every piece of freedom I grab takes away from the time and effort needed to finish a project. It can quickly become chaotic if you’re not careful, and…
One given in the writing world is we will get discouraged. An area where I’ve been discouraged is when a story doesn’t work. My fingers are like stones on the keyboard. What seemed like a great story idea flickers like a dying fire. The plot is what my Italian friends call a frittata. The characters…