Craft

What a Fiction Editor Can (and Can’t) Do For You!

Can Do A good fiction editor can take a manuscript that has potential and help it reach that potential. This may include different types of editing and can often take as much as forty hours of work for a detailed, substantive edit of an average manuscript. When you get your manuscript back from a freelance…

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Saturday Morning Review: Diva NashVegas by Rachel Hauck

This week’s CFBA tour has two books. The first is Diva NashVegas. If you read the review I wrote (conveniently reposted here) you know I LOVED this book. Rachel has a knack for writing funny but very touching books. To read an interview I had with Rachel last month, click here. What do you do…

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The Snowball Effect

One thing I’ve learned in the last few years is that the work you put into your writing tends to snowball. It starts small and is easy to handle. As you keep working, it grows and grows, and suddenly . . . (if all goes well) suddenly it’s a monster. You’ve created something huge! This…

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Time Management 101: The Schedule!

Well…back to the grind! I’m getting myself back on track by thinking of what lays ahead for the year. Which of course found me staring at my calendar… I have to say the living by a schedule helps me to organize my time and keep on track … BUT it helps to remember that the…

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Quick Fiction Fixes – Show don’t tell emotions, part one

We’re all busy, whether working full-time or chasing/chauffeuring kids around all day. Yet we’re also writers, striving to get our words on paper and then polish it to a sparkle. This column gives quick fixes for fiction manuscripts specifically for busy writers. Pick and choose what works best for you! Show don’t tell: Writing emotions…

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Review: Splitting Harriet by Tamara Leigh

I love to read Chick Lit and Tamara Leigh has become a favorite, right up there with Kristin Billerbeck in her ability to create characters that impact me. Harriet Bisset is no exception. In fact, there are many points from this book that I am still pondering after the reading. Harriet Bisset is a reformed…

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Parenting Power in the Early Years by Brenda Nixon

Growing up, as the middle child, in Ohio, Brenda worked as a nanny and preschool teacher following college. She moved to Missouri where she married, had her first daughter, earned a Masters Degree in Religious Education, had her second daughter, worked as a hospital chaplain, parent educator, and then served as the parenting expert on…

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Review: Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture by Mary Demuth

This is one of the most challenging parenting books I have read. And I’ve read a few. From Dobson to Leman to Shepherding a Child’s Heart to Babywise to Tricia Goyer’s Generation NeXt Parenting to Stormie Omartian’s Power of a Praying Mom, I’ve read a ton. Each have valuable things to take away from them.…

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Quick Fiction Fixes – Emotion Memory

We’re all busy, whether working full-time or chasing/chauffeuring kids around all day. Yet we’re also writers, striving to get our words on paper and then polish it to a sparkle. This column gives quick fixes for fiction manuscripts specifically for busy writers. Pick and choose what works best for you! Emotion Memory: Brandilyn Collins talks…

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Time Management 101: Life

Life as I do it… 1. I shop BIG and make sure I have full cupboard to choose from when I cook. Some weeks I plan a menu … but most of the time I try to think a few days ahead. I schedule in to start making dinner at 5:00 p.m. 2. I daily…

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