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The Great Adverbectomy
When I first began writing, I wrote completely without guidance, operating my keyboard without training. After several manuscript rejections, I found much-needed help through a critique group. My first writing mentor addressed a problem. Since I had enough adverbs in my first paragraph to give an editor a heart attack, they were removed. Gasp. Wheeze. Whimper. I loved my adverbs. They were astonishingly, beguilingly, charmingly, alluringly wonderful.After recovering from the shock, I went home and held a small service in their honor. Lovingly, longingly, I took one final look at my Word document before starting my search. Weepingly, I sought for any word ending in the dreaded, tell-tale “ly” and…
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Writing Lessons from My Dogs
Sometimes, when I’m goofing with my two dogs, Baxter and Taffy, God will snap his fingers, hold his hand over my nose, and tell me to, “Sit. Stay. Listen.” And when I do, I learn valuable lessons. Almost every morning, I have the same breakfast—two slices of peanut butter toast. I love peanut butter. At one point in my (much younger) life, I was going to marry peanut butter. My siblings still make fun of me for this—I do not care. However, during the year I was working from home as a freelance editor, every morning Baxter and Taffy would come and sit attentively near the table, convinced I would…
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Write It Down
When you write it down to share with the Lord, he does not judge you or sever relationship. You do not need to fear his audience. It may surprise you to hear his voice gently expose what is false.
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A Modern-Day Parable
A certain man had two children, and the younger of the two said, “Father, give me my inheritance. And the man divided his property between the two children. Not many days later, the younger child gathered all she had and took a journey into a far country, where she squandered what she had on riotous living. And when she had spent everything, there arose in the land pestilence and rioting and looting in the streets. And she joined with them, turning her back on all she knew of the Father’s ways. Every day, her father watched at the door for her return. But in the back room, kneeling in supplication…
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The Novelist Entertainer
Jerry Jenkins once told me the number one rule of the novelist is never to bore the reader. As a novelist, you have one job—to entertain. “Yet,” someone may point out, “I’m a Christian novelist.” Indeed, you are. And to bring forward a good Christian moral is vital, to offer a moral of hope and redemption. However, you can’t bring forward a moral if no one will read your book. “I’m American,” some might add. “My Puritan background means seriousness is a Fruit of the Spirit. How does that jive with entertainment?” Ah, a dilemma. How do we make a morality tale entertaining? Look to the Bible. Literally. You can’t…
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Embrace the Not Yet
It is easy to wish you were already on the other side of something. This can happen in your writing life as well.
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The Huckleberry Patch
Aunt Dodie—Dorothy Mae Collins to those outside our extended family—was an original. God broke the mold after making her, and that’s for certain. For her entire adult life, Aunt Dodie had lived in the central Idaho mountains in a cabin overlooking Payette Lake. She never married, never had kids of her own. But there wasn’t a one of us—in any Collins generation—who didn’t know where to turn when we needed help or advice or a bit of loving concern. I suppose if she’d been born a Southerner, they’d have called Aunt Dodie a “steel magnolia,” for she was as strong as she was beautiful. However, we don’t have a comparable…
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Garlic Ice Cream and the Novelist
Niche means “a specialized market,” and your novel fills a niche. Let’s look at how best to understand your niche. I have a dream. A three-course meal should consist of an appetizer entirely of ice cream, followed by the main course—ice cream, followed by ice cream for dessert. To see if my dream is a viable dietary option, I checked online health sites. On day two or three of the ice cream diet, you’ll probably develop an intolerance to lactose. Day four or five, afib. And after a full week of ice cream, you’re on a straight road toward diabetes. And extreme dehydration and/or constipation. We’re going to need to…
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Face to Face
“I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.”
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The Writer / Advocator: Confidence Tips
Every successful novelist has had to do something very distasteful before they were published. They had to advocate for themselves. If you’re the typical writer, being assertive makes you scream inside. A few years ago, a writer told me he could quickly sell two hundred books at a sale. “Hand the person your book. Then he or she will HAVE to either buy it or hand it back to you.” He handed me his book and I read the back cover. “Looks good.” “And now…” He drew out the last word and crossed his arms. “It’s only fifteen dollars.” I tried to hand back his book, but there was a…
