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Close Your Eyes, Say a Prayer, and Kick It
I truly love how many life-changing lessons from God are brought home in the simplest of situations. Recently one such situation was related to me from my younger sister. Her son is playing soccer for the first time this year. Being a natural athlete, he took to this sport with his usual grace and ease.…
Quick Fiction Fixes – Using actions to show emotion
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! Character actions: (I already covered…
Simplifying Your Mealtime Routine (So You Can Write)
I’m sure your calendar this month is jam-packed. Even though I’ve tried to cull much of the clutter from our schedule, December still leaves me feeling like my head is barely above water. But I’ve at last found a way to get my mealtime routine under control, and I wanted to pass this tip along…
GROWING GRAMMAR:
“Help Stamp Out, Eliminate and Abolish Redundancy!” –Unknown, Unknown, Unknown My students are fond of writing, “I was thinking in my mind. . .” or “I was thinking in my head….” This concerns me as I wonder in what other parts of their bodies thinking may (or may not) be happening. These repeated or unnecessary…
What is “Christian” Fiction?
Here’s a question that’s been running through my mind the past several weeks: What exactly is Christian fiction? At first glance, it may seem like an easy question, but look again. How do we define what is “Christian” and what is secular? The question surfaced in my mind in response to a novel I read…
Showing Up
Sometime ago a friend called me. She was freaking out because a friend of hers was having a really rough time. He was at church cleaning, and he’d called her needing to talk. Apparently he was in very bad shape emotionally. She called. “What do I say to him? I’m afraid I’m going to say…
Quick Fiction Fixes – Using thoughts to show emotion
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! Character thoughts: Your characters are…
Remaining Humble Through The Journey
Have you ever been planning for something really big and then something bad, maybe just silly stupid, happened just before the big day? This happened to me when I was just getting ready to speak in front of some sales people for my book, Ruby Among Us. Read my story here: If Anything Can Go Wrong…
Carnival of Christian Writers #14 – November 2007
Carnival of Christian Writers #14 – November 2007 November is a month of bountiful blessings at the Carnival of Christian Writers. Authors and Agents talk turkey about the craft and call of writing and offer some seasonal insights! Carla Stewart discusses “To Plot or Not to Plot” at Carla’s Writing Cafe. Tiffany…
How Did We Get Here?
It’s the question we all dance around. The one we sometimes want to ask but don’t. The one we dread being asked. The one we know the person’s dying to ask us when we tell them why our spouse doesn’t share our faith. “Did you know he wasn’t a Christian when you married him?” (I…