Please welcome this weeks guest Yvonne Anderson for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? The Reluctant Writer My mom had a lifelong desire to write. So much so, in fact, that when I, her third born, came into the world, she inserted announcements in that year’s Christmas cards informing family and friends of “the publication of our third edition.” On his part, my dad was an avid reader, and I’ve loved books ever since I can remember. … [Read more...]
Day 88: From the Desk of God
This one is interesting. When we write we are writing out what is playing in our heads. Read this section from the book: "Writing a novel is like living in a parallel universe. A universe that, unlike reality, you can more or less control. Every day, you find your characters sitting around like polite house-guests waiting to see what you have planned for them. It can be exhilarating on good days, and on other days so difficult and frustrating you think your head might explode. But if you keep … [Read more...]
The Journey with Kelly Irvin
Please welcome this weeks guest Kelly Irvin for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? God has the wheel My writing journey began when I was a child, but it has managed to meander all over the place for most of my life. It’s taken me many years to discover God’s plan for me and to discover I was never in charge at all. I'm from a working class family and I always knew I wanted to write novels, but I also I wanted to be able to support … [Read more...]
The Journey with Emilie Hendryx
Please welcome this weeks guest Emilie Hendryx for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? In the Midst of the Journey I’ve always loved reading and writing. Ever since I was a little girl, I can remember dreaming up ideas, creating imaginary places, and compiling all of the elements of a good story into a play session with my stuffed animals. At that time, I didn’t know much about the fundamentals of writing or story telling, I just knew … [Read more...]
Day 65: Why You Don’t Show Your Work to Your Spouse
I have to tell you that as of right now I sit here sitting in my comfy, cozy rocking recliner getting ready to go read today's phrase, I had to laugh as I can only imagine what will be said. I guess we'll find out in a second. Here I go... Well, here it is. I thought it best to quote what she said: "Why You Don’t Show Your Work to Your Spouse. When Norris Church Mailer showed her husband, Norman Mailer, the first one hundred pages of a novel she was working on, he said, 'It’s not as bad as … [Read more...]
Day 64: Writing Is Not Pretty
Are you a little confused by today's title? To be honest, so was I. So I got to thinking. When we're writing a book, or a play, or a blog post, or whatever type of writing that needs to be done, our first drafts are anything but pretty. There are grammar mistakes galore (even though in our head it was perfect :( ). We have all the spelling errors that either our auto-correct didn't change our word automatically or we really messed up the spelling (gotta love spell check, a writer's best friend). … [Read more...]
Day 46: Frou-Frou in Your Head
I love this quote from the book. "Remember this: there is nothing until there’s something on the page." We can all have a million and one thoughts and dreams rolling around in our head, but until they are written down they are all frou-frou in your head. If you have thoughts or ideas, no matter how silly or strange you may think they are, write them down. Nothing may ever come from them. But what if something does? What if one of those ideas happens to become the next great American novel. … [Read more...]
Day 40: Inspiration
I think inspiration can come from anywhere at anytime. It just hits us. I still remember being up in my bedroom when the story idea came to me and that very night I started my first attempt at writing fiction. To take a simple idea and then turn that into a 100,000 word book is mind-boggling. Not many people have the patience or stamina to do it. You really have to want to be a writer to do it. The amazing part about all of this is when you type out that first novel you'll find out what so … [Read more...]
The Journey with Janet Chester Bly
Please welcome this weeks guest Janet Chester Bly for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? CALLED TOGETHER, FORCED APART When my husband found God's ministry for him, after seminary and pastoring his first church, I wanted to find mine. What were my spiritual gifts to help the church fellowship and other believers? After a prayer journey and searching for several years, I attended my first writing conference. And got excited. So, in … [Read more...]
Day 25: Failing Better
"Fail. Fail again. Fail better." This is a quote by Samuel Beckett. And here is another one by Thomas Edison: “I didn’t fail one thousand times. The lightbulb was an invention with one thousand steps.” I think we hear many times throughout our lifetime how it doesn't matter how many times we fail as long as we keep on trying. If we stop at the 999,999th time, it might have been that millionth time that could've been the one to work. For me, I've been constantly learning about writing both … [Read more...]
