Please welcome this week's guest Julie Arduini for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? God, Surrender and Chocolate I was never a stand-out student in English. I wasn’t in Honors classes and I wasn’t educated in grammar. Yet, there was a “burn in my belly” every time I had an opportunity to write. The first time I realized writing might have a place in my life was in middle school. A teacher asked me to pen something for the student … [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 125: Approval #acfw
That one little word, approval, can mean so much to someone. To know that someone approves of something you have said or done. It gives you the confidence you might not have had otherwise. I think back on the time when Mari was in the hospital. When she had made it to her fourth and final hospital, I was told by one of the nurses about CarePages. She told me it was a way to keep family and friends updated on Mari and how she was doing. I couldn’t wait to get started. We had so many people … [Read more...]
Day 122: Fiction vs. Nonfiction #acfw
I think back to the day Mari was in the hospital and I told someone whether Mari made it or if she passed I was thinking about writing a book about her life. I’m not exactly sure why I would've thought to do something like this as I definitely didn’t believe I was a writer. After she passed and a little time went by, I decided to write a book about her life. The only drawback is I had no idea what I was doing. My husband tried to help me with editing it the best he could. His main comment was … [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...]
Day 116: Why Writers Get Scared #acfw
As writers we have to be willing to pour ourselves into our writing. It’s what makes a good story. I think the reason why my daughter’s hospital story has touched so many is because the words written came directly from my heart. I didn’t hold anything back. At the time I only thought of them as updates for friends and family. But over time they have become so much more. Some of the comments I’ve received have been such a blessing for me. (To read the comments others have left, click the … [Read more...]
Day 114: The idea That Won’t Go Away #acfw
Have you ever had one of those moment when you're writing where your characters just won’t shut up. They continue to talk and talk and talk. They won’t quit until you write what they're telling you to write down. This has happened to me a few times with the fiction novel I’ve been writing to the point I have a major rewrite in the works that'll need to be completed by the time I go to my first writer's conference in September. If you aren’t a writer you may think that we have something … [Read more...]
Featured Book: Wounded Hearts #acfw #featuredbook
Wounded Hearts is written by Allyson Carter. Back Cover Blurb: After a bitter divorce, Shelby Johnson is looking to rebuild a life for her and her daughter, Hannah, while avoiding the thing she mistrusts most: men. Her resolve is tested, however, when her brother’s best friend, Mark, moves in across the street and her long-buried feelings for him return. Can she possibly open up her heart again? Is she willing to let herself love? When someone threatens her life she quickly realizes that her … [Read more...]
The Journey with Melody Balthaser #acfw
Please welcome this weeks guest Melody Blathaser for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? A special thank you to you, Kristena, for allowing me to share my writing journey. It is a privilege! As a teenager, I stumbled upon romance novels and the rest is history. School nights spent under covers with a flashlight, entrenched in an imaginary world of spirited southern belles and handsome drifters. A time or two, I read all night! This … [Read more...]
Day 106: Odd Notes #acfw
In life we all have our times where we will either jot down a quick note or store something away in the corners of our minds for later use. As writers I think it's even more important to write down those sudden thoughts that come to us. It's in those thoughts that the true magic of our writing comes out. Our hidden story ideas that get written on the page. I still remember the day about three months after Mari died where I had all these thoughts floating around in my head needing to be … [Read more...]
