Heart for Community, Eyes for the Broken Hearted

I used to dread the holidays. Sometimes I still do. I grew up in a NY Italian family that celebrated every holiday together. Then I got married and moved away and holidays weren’t something I looked forward to anymore. At first it was me and hubby. I tried doing the festive thing for Thanksgiving, Christmas,…

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Cara Putman: Homeschooling, Writing and Laweyering, Oh my!

Your family has grown since our last interview in 2008. Tell us a little how your newest addition has changed the dynamics of your family. Daniel joined us in December and is a delight. Of course, I’m still tired and praying he’ll start sleeping through the night, but really he’s added to our family with…

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A Dream Come True: My First Book Cover

It’s a little surreal seeing my name on the cover of a REAL book! I’ve been dreaming about my first sale for years, and while it didn’t happen the way I envisioned it (look for a post on that later) it happened! I’m still in that semi-conscious dream state where it doesn’t seem real. Sure,…

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Not Finaling in Genesis Doesn't Make You a Loser!

Earlier today, Katie Ganshert wrote that she never finaled in the Genesis contest, yet is contracted for two books with Waterbrook Multnomah for a book she entered twice. Her post made me think about my own contest journey and road to publication, and how there are many hurting nonfinalists out there today questioning their writing…

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My Journey to Balancing My Dreams

I’ve been thinking a lot about my personal goals, my children’s dreams, and what I want my family to look like. Unfortunately, all three are often in conflict with one another at different times. I knew from a young age that I wanted to write and I’ve never doubted the calling, though I’ve struggled often…

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Is Balancing Your Life Possible?

Reposted from 2009 I started blogging to try to find the balance between raising my family and working on my writing career. I interviewed close to a hundred moms and dads who seemed to have found that balance. Three years later I AM still searching for that balance. I’m starting to think balance is the…

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How to Edit a Full-Length Novel to a Novella

When I contracted my novella in January and had to cut 30,000 words off my full length novel, I knew it was going to be hard. In fact, I almost bailed on submitting the anthology to Barbour because I knew that would mean cutting more than half of my story. The pain of deleting my…

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When You Grow Weary in the Waiting

Even though I’m contracted for my first novella, there are moments of lulls in my writing life. Moments when I want to move forward, but I can’t for one reason or another. It’s a part of the writer’s life…waiting.  Right now I’m waiting on the Writer…Interrupted blog to launch so I can rebuild my platform.…

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50 Ways to Edit Your WIP

When I signed my first contract and agreed to chop 30,000 plus words off my 55,000 word WIP, I knew what I was getting into. Well, sort of. I knew it would be painful to cut that many words. I knew scenes I loved would have to go and be condensed. I knew it would…

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