When I last posted on this site, I'd made an announcement about no longer using this site due to having two sites and my plan was to use the one I've had the longest: my daughter's dedication website. However, since I posted my last post on here (November 25, 2015), I've come to realize, with a little nudge from God (I think) that while my daughter's site was important for me to write on those first several years after losing her, the purpose of the site itself is no longer needed. This … [Read more...]
The Journey with Max Elliot Anderson
Please welcome this week's guest Max Elliot Anderson for The Journey. He answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? A question I’m often asked is why I write for kids and not adults. Given my life of world travel and working on so many different kinds of film and video productions, why write for kids? Why not write about all those interesting countries and the people I’ve met? I could tell some wild stories. Like the film I shot in New Guinea. New Guinea … [Read more...]
Book Review: Ties that Bind, C.J. Darlington
Book Blurb: Newly released from prison, Brynn Taylor is determined to find her father; a man she’s never met. Her only clue to his whereabouts is the address she finds in a rare volume of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility which he inscribed to her years ago. Armed with a bus ticket, a backpack, and her grandfather’s gun, her search leads her to Elk Valley, Colorado where her plans and her life begin to unravel. Brynn, a young homeless woman, hits bottom when she losses … [Read more...]
Review by Jean Ann Williams for Katheryn Maddox Haddad’s Star Song: Soul Journey with Jesus (Volume 1)
Book Blurb: Mary is visited by an angel who announces she’s going to be the unwed mother of God’s Son. How long does it take him to convince her? Elizabeth goes into seclusion when she becomes pregnant in her old age. Will her shyness get in the way of raising a future prophet, especially with a husband who cannot talk? Joseph’s betrayal by Mary pierces his heart like nails. Can he make it through the night without cutting up every board in his workshop the way his dreams have been cut up? The … [Read more...]
Day 129: Imaginations Going Nuts #acfw #365days
I had to laugh. Not too long ago I was talking to a friend on the phone and telling her about my story. She said, “Well, I’m glad I’m not in that family.” I had to agree. My main character is goes through a tragedy that so few will ever go through, and thank goodness most people never will. However, I hope it will still resonate because everyone in life at some points has some type of tragedy that befalls them. Whether it’s as simple as being laid off or as tragic as losing a child, we all go … [Read more...]
Day 128: Learning to Swim #acfw #365days
I normally don’t like to quote from the book but I like what this had to say: “I learned to swim from a magazine article I read when I was eight years old. It told me to grab my knees, duck my head, form a tight little ball in the water, and then float. The next step was to stretch out and continue to float. I did exactly what the article said to do, and lo and behold, it worked. I got my arms going at some point, and I was a swimmer. It’s kind of like writing: get a paper and a pen, start with … [Read more...]
Day 127: One True Sentence #acfw #365days
In writing, there is both fiction and nonfiction. Obviously, nonfiction is going to be based on a true story or based on something that has happened in real life. However, fiction is all made up in the mind of the individual who writes it. However, even with fiction, there is a little bit of truth behind. I might be wrong, but from what I've experienced and other authors I’ve talked to, they always put a little bit of either themselves and/or people they know into their writing. Not that they … [Read more...]
Day 120: Writing the Event #acfw
There an old adage in writing about ‘show don’t tell.’ I’d never heard of this personally before I started to write my first fiction book. Even when I was writing the original book about my daughter I was being told to add fiction elements to her story. I’d never understood exactly what that meant until I made my first attempt. When I submitted it for comments, I was told that it was much better but I knew I needed to go deep to really convey what I was trying to say. One day I had an idea … [Read more...]
T is for Tagline (Dialogue Tags) #atozchallenge
Taglines, or better known as dialogue tags, have been used in writing clear back to the Bible. They help the reader to know exactly who is talking during a scene. However, today, many publishers are moving away from dialogue tags as this is more telling than showing. Adding an action beat for whoever is talking is a way to show that person is the one talking instead of saying so-in-such said. As a reader, to be honest, I never really noticed that kind of stuff and it never bothered me. But … [Read more...]
R is for Revisions #atozchallenge
When it comes to writing, no one should ever just take the first draft as the final draft because we need to be certain that it sounds okay, grammar and punctuation is correct, spelling errors, and things like that. We should know going in that whatever we write down (or type) that we will go back and read over what's been said to make sure it looks okay. Even if we are one of those lucky people who gets it right the first time through, most of us must do this. Editing can be a tedious thing … [Read more...]
