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Change Can Work Wonders
Change the format you use for your writing, and watch it work wonders. During my writing journey for my first book, I initially struggled with the format. I began with my journal entries, and collaborated with my sister via Google Docs for long-distance editing. I could see her edits, and I made the necessary changes in my manuscript. We spent hours editing the raw material, and then creating the manuscript in the form of dated journal entries. One day, a divine revelation struck: Transform the manuscript into a story. My challenge was to figure out how, especially as my sister continued to edit journal pages. One day, I ran across…
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Diary of a Novelist
Day 1: Fingertips brush against the keys and heart throbs as every thought shivers through the future. Imaginings thunder as the story beckons the muses of old. Chocolate never tasted so good. Day 2: Someone hacked the computer and turned poetry into gibberish. A toddler, indeed, yes. Tomorrow, perhaps it can be salvaged. Day 3: Salvaged, but after a second glance, the toddler’s ideas weren’t so bad. Maybe it’ll be published someday. Day 7: Three thousand words! Done? Blah. Books are around 75,000 words. I’ve consumed the first pound of chocolate. Semisweet, Semiconscious. Day 18: Took the day off writing and feel like *********. Won’t take a day off again.…
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Clarity and New Years Resolutions
My New Year’s resolution is to write clearly. Emails, social media posts, and novels need clarity. After some research, I’ve pulled together the top ways to keep readers from second-guessing meaning and working too hard on deciphering content. Before you sit down to write: When you begin: When you are finished writing: After you hit send to the editor or your audience, you do your best editing. This is because you’re able to see your text through their eyes. Before hitting send, consider having one or two people review your Facebook posts, blogs, and novels. One last thought. Monitor reactions to your writing and file their responses to mull over…
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The Writer’s Christmas Spirit
Christmas is a time to reflect on the holiday spirit and what it means to be a writer. And no one can speak on the subject quite like Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol is a tale about a grumpy man named Ebenezer Scrooge who loves business and money, not in that particular order. He likes them so much he’s a detriment to society. To fix the problem, the Cosmic powers send three well-meaning ghosts who show him the true spirit of Christmas. They look at the lives of others in the past, present, and future. The intervention works. He changes to incorporate love and tenderness into his manner and business.…
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Wrestling With the Craft, Together
My friend and fellow ICW member Angela and I had a brief FB discussion today about how we visualize our writing. This season of her journey, she compares finding the right words to Jacob wrestling the angel for the blessing. It’s a great analogy. Whereas, I’m at a phase of novel revision in which crafting, molding, refiring and refining again—wordsmithing—is how I picture my work. This made me think of all the different writing phases where we ICW writers find ourselves this holiday season, as we walk this journey together. There are proven techniques for crafting a good book or novel, and also for successfully becoming a published author. But…
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Learn How to Write Good/Well
There’s no perfect approach when you decide to learn how to write a novel. When baseball and softball players train to bat, they ask for various pitches to expand their hitting ability. If all they prepared for was a fastball down the middle, the batter could only hit when pitches were strikes over the plate. The same is true when learning to write a book. You’ll fully develop your skillset if you learn how to write from various sources. I’ve included a few ways to learn your craft and stay relevant to your writing. Change how you educate yourself to fit your needs in response to your life circumstances. The…
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Writing Prep
‘Tis the season to get cozy and write your hearts out. Some fun lessons in writerly prep from best-selling author and ICW Member Heather Woodhaven. How to dress as a writer But this is only the beginning. See more here: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1075461993452970 and here: https://www.facebook.com/reel/353768417394219. Now, ready, set, write!
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The Bottom Line: What I’ve Learned in 40+ Years of Writing
The writing life is a great ride—if one can hang on. I’ve never liked roller coasters—and yet, that’s exactly what I’ve been riding for nearly half a century. How well I remember that glorious first book contract somewhere back in the mists of the 1970s. I thought I was set. I had a publisher, I had an editor, I could just spend the rest of my life writing the stories I was passionate to tell and—Voilà—they would be published. It didn’t take me long to figure out that editors change, publishers cancel series, agents retire—or even die. Life is unstable—and nothing more so than the writing life. Zondervan cancelled their…
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Writing Groups and The Writer
IdaHope Christian Writers has a writing group that comes together quite often to read, write, and fellowship. Why do established, mainstream authors suggest all writers join a writing group? Stay in a writing group, don’t give up, contribute, and you may be fortunate to find yourself like the man in the following joke: He pulled up to the charred ruins of his home. Smoke still drifted from the possessions they spent years accumulating. She stood out front, a pan of burned biscuits in her hand, a cell phone in the other. She sobbed. “I’m sorry. I put biscuits in the oven. The phone rang. It was your agent. And then…
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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…
