by Lilka Raphael @Lilka_Raphael A successful writing career requires patience and persistence. It also requires that a writer maximize every opportunity that comes to call. The adage, “Opportunity only knocks once,” is not necessarily true. However, it may not knock as loudly when it returns. As writers, achieving our goals challenges us to anticipate opportunity and prepare for its arrival.  Preparation requires that we keep writing when we feel uninspired. It is incredibly easy to find reasons not to write. There are so many things that vie for our attention. Death by distraction p ..read more

by Linda Gilden @LindaGilden So, why are articles important to your writing career? I don’t know I’ve ever been asked that question before. However, there are many answers to that question. When I first began to write articles, I had a very practical reason. My three children were small and really didn’t like taking naps. I grabbed every spare minute I could to pursue my writing career. I wrote in my head while I did laundry, changed diapers, and played Candy Land. Then when the children finally got tired, I put them down for naps and used that fifteen minutes or so to transfer words fro ..read more

by Julie Lavender @JLavenderWrites Isn’t grandparenting the best? (And for those of you who haven’t experienced this treat from God, why not borrow a dear friends grandchild and experience some of the joy yourself?) My husband and I love every adventure with our only grandchild thus far, but we especially love when our professional lives collide with Benaiah‘s little world. On a recent visit to catch our five-year-old grandson’s baseball game, our son-in-love found out that Wednesday was insect day for letter I in his son‘s pre-K classroom. Before getting our hopes up, Adam texted the tea ..read more

by PeggySue Wells @PeggySueWells In the 2011 Winnie the Pooh film there is an insider snippet just for writers. It goes like this.  Pooh, Rabbit, Owl, Eeyore, Kanga, and Roo are stuck in a hole, while Piglet is outside of the hole. Rabbit to Piglet: Go look for something to get us out of here! Piglet: [Hiding under a teacup] B-b-b-b-b-b-but-okay. There m-m-m-might be something over by the pack. [Piglet leaves] Rabbit sighs: Thank goodness one of us is up there. I was worried we'd be stuck here forever. Piglet: I found something! [Returns with a flower] Here! Rabbit: What ..read more

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson We are well into the spring season of Writing Conferences. Writers everywhere are returning and/or making plans to attend writing conferences. But in the midst of your preparation, be sure not to miss out on valuable connections that can more than double what you get out of these events. Many writers have the mistaken idea that social networking is only beneficial online. Or that it only helps when you can’t be at an event. Not true. While it’s true that social networking can help you plug in when you’re not at a conference or event—many miss the benefits of ne ..read more

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. Psalm 118:23 Sometimes everything comes together—the colors, the lighting & the composition. You don’t have to have fancy equipment to capture a masterpiece. This was snapped in a parking lot with my iPhone 11 Pro Max. Capturing beauty isn’t about the equipment, it’s about the attitude. I see this in life as well. We (or at least I) work hard to orchestrate special times. I plan and prepare and sometimes those times turn out well. But most of the masterpiece moments in my memory aren’t built ..read more

by Tim Suddeth @TimSuddeth This week I read a novel that had all the necessary ingredients to keep me reading past my bedtime. (The ultimate compliment to a writer.) Instead, I had to force myself to finish. (Oops.) The intriguing characters were there. The setting invited you in. The plot was unique and engaging. It even had a dog. But the writing, not so much. And the problem boiled down to one thing: too much backstory. Backstory is what had happened to the characters before this story began. And backstory is important. Let’s face it, the more interesting a character’s life, the bette ..read more

by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author Genres are confusing, guys. Let’s just say it. It used to be so much easier when the categories of fiction were ones with magic and ones without magic. Or spacey stories versus scary stories. That being said, the explosion of genres really does help narrow down the types of stories that audiences want to read. Since there are so many books, it’s necessary to have more ways to categorize them. So today we’re going to talk about two genres that often get confused: Magical Realism and Contemporary Fantasy. It’s easy to mix these two up because they have many simi ..read more

by Lynn H. Blackburn @LynnHBlackburn Ideally, we would all hit send on our manuscripts and immediately retire to the locale of our choice. Perhaps a country estate, a mountain cabin, a beach house, or maybe even a yacht. In each of these environments, we would be served food and beverages, celebrated for our mammoth achievements, and encouraged to soak in the bliss of a job well done.  SCREEEECH.  That was the needle being scraped along the record of real life.  As I mentioned last month, the first seventy-two hours post-deadline are likely to occur in a haze of mental co ..read more

by Sarah Sally Hamer @SarahSallyHamer One of my favorite things to do, brainstorming is usually defined as a way to formulate new ideas from the creative side of our brain by allowing those ideas to flow.  Our brains are amazing, allowing us to coordinate thoughts and ideas based on our experiences. We get triggered, usually by an outside stimulus, and millions of brain cells start to vibrate. That stimulus finds cells which are all connected to a specific memory—an association and conglomeration of concepts about a specific thing—and causes a visceral response. In other words, the s ..read more