I can remember from the time I was little dreaming of the job I’d want to do when I grew up. My dream to be a nurse started before I was 5 years old. I can remember sitting for an artist who drew one of those silly characters to where you have a little itty bitty body and your head is HUGE. He drew me like this as a nurse. I just knew this is what I wanted to be all through elementary school, junior high, and high school. I applied to colleges based on whether they had a nursing program or … [Read more...]
The Journey with Martha Rogers #acfw
Please welcome this week's guest Martha Rogers for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? Journey with God Although writing and telling stories have been a passion since I was a child, publication never seemed to be an option. I had no idea how to even begin the process. Teachers in high school English and college professors told me that I had gift for putting words on paper, but I still had a bit of a problem with mechanics. That problem led … [Read more...]
The Journey with Angie Brashear #acfw
Please welcome this week's guest Angie Brashear for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? Venturing to Other Worlds The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, a childhood dream, and a journal. What do they have in common? Take a short venture with me to find out… My path to salvation began with a classic fantasy, told to me in the midst of my secular world, for when I was in the fifth grade, my teacher read aloud The Lion, the … [Read more...]
L is for Literary Agents
How many of us dream of being a published author someday? I have a feeling many of us do, especially if we know we're writers and have been working on a book of any kind. Writing is relatively new for me. I only found writing after the loss of my daughter. I actually started writing while she was in the hospital those sixteen days fighting for her life from what the E. coli did to her little body. But in the end it had wreaked too much havoc on her little body and she went home to be with … [Read more...]
I is for ISBN (International Standard Book Number)
As I sat here thinking toward the end of March what I'd do for each letter of the alphabet over the month of April, one of those letters that's hard to find a word for is the letter 'I'. I wanted to keep my theme going with either literary terms or something writing related and the only thing I could come up with was ISBN. When you're a writer and one day your book gets published, that little number is huge. It's almost like a fingerprint in that an ISBN is unique to each book published. It … [Read more...]
The Journey with Elizabeth Kitchens
Please welcome this weeks guest Elizabeth Kitchens for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? As a writer of fairy tales, it’s fitting that I am under a curse. Not a curse to prick my finger on a spinning wheel’s spindle or to be a beast, but to write. But if writing is a curse, then I’ll happily live with it. Actually, what my father was referring to when he called writing “the family curse” was the frustration that happens when you’re a … [Read more...]
Day 83: Retyping the Best
This is an interesting concept. Have you ever thought about taking one of your very favorite books and retyping it out? That's right, the entire thing. Nope? Well, I hadn't either until I read about today's phrase. Here is a small excerpt from the book: "When Donald Ray Pollock turned forty-five, he decided he wanted to do something different with his life; he was going to learn how to write. He began by retyping stories by writers he liked —John Cheever, Richard Yates, and Ernest … [Read more...]
Day 76: Writers Gnashing Teeth
Well, today's topic is interesting. I don't think I've ever ground my teeth. Maybe other writers have. I'm guessing they might do it when they are putting down to paper that next important scene. Or maybe that next blog post. When I think of gnashing teeth I think about what the Bible says of those who are unbelievers once they die and they go to hell. It says there will be gnashing of teeth due to the severity of how bad it will be to go down there. All I can say about myself is that I'm … [Read more...]
Day 62: Feast or Famine: Part 1
This is a two-day posting. For today's topic it's about the "feast" in writing. Have you ever sat down to write something and story after story is sitting there ready to write. In fact, you have so many of them you're overwhelmed with were to start. This is like the feast. As writers we have to discern what we need to write about. A great place to start would be to pray asking for God's help in knowing what should be written about first. So discernment is the key. We need to listen closely … [Read more...]
Day 57: Juggling
In life, the perfect day would be 100% smooth. If we're doing something we don't get interrupted. We blissfully move from one activity to another. The dream life. Well, that's just it. It's a dream. Whether at home or at a job, you will always inevitably be interrupted by someone or something. That's just life. Sometimes those interruptions are either wanted or good. Other times you wish you could disappear. Ultimately, we have to juggle everything we do in just the right combination so we … [Read more...]
