The dreaded query letter. No one wants to write this yet it is a very important part of the writing process. I wanted to get a specific definition for a query so I thought what better way to find it than by doing a Google search and here is what I found: "A query letter is a formal letter sent to magazine editors, literary agents and sometimes publishing houses or companies. Writers write query letters to propose writing ideas." A query is basically your first step in the door. That all … [Read more...]
P is for Pseudonym #atozchallenge
A pseudonym. How many writers out there today have them? I know several people within ACFW use them for different purposes. One writer that comes to mind that uses pseudonyms is Nora Roberts. She was actually born Eleanor Marie Robertson. She uses the Nora Roberts name for her romances. She uses J.D. Robb for her suspense stuff. She's also written under Jill March and in the UK she writes under Sarah Hardesty. A pseudonym can keep you private life separate from your writing life or … [Read more...]
The Journey with Bonnie Doran #acfw
Please welcome this weeks guest Bonnie Doran for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? I’ve seen God bring about a lot of “chance” meetings that led me from writing devotions and magazine articles to fiction novels. Here are a few high points: After I moved to Colorado, I learned somehow (God’s providence) about the Colorado Christian Writers Conference (CCWC). Through this conference and others, God developed my writing skills. I sold a … [Read more...]
O is for Outline
Or as I like to call it: Plotter. In writing a novel you have what we writers like to call either Pantsers or Plotters or somewhere in between. A pantser is someone who writes their novel, as they say, by the seat of their pants. In other words, there is absolutely no plotting of the novel whatsoever. They write their novel as it comes to them. However, with a plotter, it 180 degrees in the opposite direction where they outline everything before they write a single word for their … [Read more...]
N is for Novel
The novel. It's been around for not only years but centuries. It's a place where we can lose ourselves as we read what's been written on the page. We can go off on adventures or fall in love with a prince. We can go to a place only the imagination can make up or a place we've never been before. Novels can be both historical or contemporary. They can teach us things or simply be a nice escape from reality. They can be light and just a fun read or they can be go deep delving into emotions that … [Read more...]
M is for Mentor
In life we can find a mentor for so many things. Athletics. Business. Politics. Our Faith. In writing, finding a mentor to help you be the best writer you can be I feel is one of the most important things we can do. Sometimes you only have one, and if you are fortunate enough you may have more than one. These people take time out of their busy lives to help you as you grow. And they don't just help you in your writing but help you in your life when the time is needed. I feel like I have been … [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...]
The Journey with Peggy Wirgau
Please welcome this weeks guest Peggy Wirgau for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? Around the time I learned to read came my love for writing. If I had time to spare during a school day in first grade (and I usually did) I composed little rhymes and stories in my head, then wrote them on a large sheet of blue-lined paper from the stack near the window of my classroom. Writing was a joy; fun and freeing, and I couldn’t get enough of it. … [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...]
G is for Genre
When it comes to writing fiction, there is a plethora of things we could write about. One of the first things we need to narrow our choices down to is what genre do we wish to write in. Since I started to write fiction, I've heard time and time again that the genre you need to write in is the genre you read and usually you want to write in the one you read the most because you are most familiar with the format. For me that genre would be romance. I like all versions of it: contemporary, … [Read more...]
