Category: Uncategorized

Dear Pastor Anthony,

This post is in response to your article, your claim that some Christians are so scary they’d frighten Jesus, were it possible. You, for one, are frightened.

For the sake of understanding, I’m going to put your words in blue, since red is already taken. By Jesus. You’re peeved and grieved about two things: how the president is handling the transgender military issue, and how many conservative, evangelical Christians are celebrating. You then settle into a tour de force: Christians are a twisted, offensive, angry, and unmerciful bunch. Scary.

I too am grieved.

I’m grieved someone I love read this article and thought of me. I’m grieved at the possibility I am painted in these adjectives. But what most grieves me is something on which we agree: the tags Christian and conservative have become, for some segments of the population, interchangeable with expletives…

by Cynthia Hilston

There it was for probably the hundredth time on the sign outside my local library: writers group, meeting 8/18 2-4:00 PM.  Okay, maybe not the hundredth time, but how many times did I drive past the library, which is about two point five miles from my house, and see that group advertised and not do a darn thing?  The sign was one of those LED types that showed all the happenings at the library, from book discussion groups to story times for children.  And my library had a writers group.

Of course, every time I saw that sign, I wondered, What do they do at those meetings?  Do they just sit there and write?  Do writing exercises?  Or do they read each other’s work while there and comment on it?

by Samantha Fenton

It happens often enough: A writer taking a day or two break, which turns into a week of not writing, then two, and pretty soon your manuscript has been pushed off the table and into a drawer. Not good. Now you’ve lost all drive to work on the thing. You’re procrastinating, and have no desire to start on it again. Let me repeat: This is not good, and you know it.

It started off innocently enough. You did actually want to work on the book, but you had a lot going on. Or maybe you had hit a rut. Still, you had other things you needed to get done. You wanted to read that new book. You were to work on that hard scene tomorrow. You just took of one night because you were so tired, and you deserved one night off after all you’ve done.

by M.K. Williams

When you are juggling a day job and working on your next book, it can feel like there is never any free time to market the book that you currently have available for purchase. Who has the time to do everything that is recommended, all while finding time to craft captivating dialog and suspenseful plot twists? Here are a few methods that I have found that have helped me to market both of my books while I have been working on the third:

by Kelsie Engen

Writers can mostly agree that writing is a time consuming process. You write a first draft, step back, revise into a second draft, send out for feedback (beta readers or developmental editor), receive and revise, send for final edits, then finally submit and (possibly change) and then publish. Whew. I get tired just writing that list.

Then factor in this: Some authors spend a decade or more writing and perfecting their novels.

So…what can you possibly do in 15 minutes?

by Whitney Carter

“I hate writing, I love having written.” – Dorothy Parker

Do you know what the single most important characteristic of a writer is? Determination. Determination translates to the discipline that sees you to writing even when you don’t feel like it, into perseverance to keep submitting in the face of rejection and through the writer’s blocks and headaches and heartaches that are the process of stringing words together.

by Daniella Levy

It hurts to hear people say negative things about something you poured your heart and soul into. It hurts to recognize that you are not perfect at what you do and can always use improvement.

However, criticism–good criticism–is a very powerful raw material you can use to build yourself as an artist.

People generally react to criticism non-constructively in one of two ways: resistance (dismissing, arguing, or denying) or withering (collapsing in feelings of shame and inadequacy). Both of these reactions deny you the opportunity to learn and grow from the feedback.