By Alycia Morales @AlyciaMorales As I faced the aisles filled with school supplies last month, I sighed at the prospect of no longer getting to buy all the composition notebooks, pink erasers, and pencils. Until I remembered that I still get to use them as a writer. Composition notebooks are…

By Sara Beth Williams @WilliamsSaraB What makes a great story? A well-developed plot. What helps drive the plot forward, besides a character’s strong, identifiable goal? Misunderstandings. Misunderstandings come in many forms. They can be accidental. A simple misunderstanding can throw a wrench in the character’s plans and hamper their goal.…

By Leilani Squires It’s always entertaining for me while speaking at writers conferences to notice at which points or stories the attendees most get excited, take notes, or even pull out their phones to take a photo of my PowerPoint slide. During this class, what caused the majority of attendees…

by Rhonda Rhea @RhondaRhea I feel you should know that if you hand me a tennis racket, it’s already a pretend guitar. And though I’m not a hard-rocker, my pretend guitar only plays imaginary hard rock. No matter how incongruent that looks on me, I will play it. With eyes-closed and…

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills We’ve all read posts about how to improve our writing skills in hopes something will trigger our creativity into a position on the bestseller’s list. Admit it, we want that coveted spot. I can’t promise you my tips will be extraordinary or career-changing, but I can…

by Diane Holmes Within you, I’m sure you have a good story to tell. You’ve probably heard this dozens of times. I know I have heard it often. But you wonder – where do I start. Just look around you, and I’m sure a story comes to mind. This story…