Twenty five years ago I signed my first official publishing contract. I knew very little about publishing and even less about what to expect personally. I was in my early forties, a ministry leader in a large mega-church when contacted …
Writing Craft
Why Aren’t They Smiling?
A writer might ask, “Why aren’t they smiling? My speaking audience, my critique partners, my agent, my editor, my best friend–and half the humor was about her! Why is no one smiling except me?”
Writing humor into a talk or …
My 2023 Favorite Read
As has been my tradition for several years, I enjoy starting out the new year with reflections on my favorite read in the year before. The books (or book, as is the case this year) don’t have to be releases …
A Brutally Honest Blog
I’m thinking it’s time for some brutal truth, but don’t fear– there will be lots of encouraging ideas toward the end.
How many of us, when telling someone the story of a life-changing challenge, have been told, “You should write …
Writers’ love-hate relationship with punctuation
Periodically someone will post on Facebook their opinion of a certain punctuation mark. Comments in response unfurl like a long serpent below the post. Neutrality tends not to exist in those comments. In this way I’ve learned that writers, in …
If All the Writing I Do Today…
Creating Your Own Style Sheet
Nonfiction Book Structure: The Table of Contents
Avoid Character Labels
I read a fiction manuscript last week that described a character as a cripple. I winced when I read the word and stopped to think about why I had such an immediate revulsion. After all, it was historical fiction and …
Finding Your Book’s Structure
A strong structure for your book sustains a reader’s interest. So today we’ll consider how to find your book’s structure.
Recently I was looking over the table of contents for a project one of my clients was creating. It seemed …