By Cindy Sproles @CindyDevoted As a conference director, I receive a lot of requests to serve as faculty at our conference. Selecting teachers is always a tough job, one I dread passionately. Throughout the year, I meet hundreds of writers who have fabulous “presence” but don’t have an excellent command…

by: Shannon Redmon @shannon_redmon As an author, I’m always striving to give depth to my story’s heroine. The last thing a writer wants is to create a flat, boring character. I learned this lesson after an editor commented about the shallowness of my protagonist. Ouch. The truth hurts sometimes. So,…

by Ane Mulligan  @AneMulligan I can’t juggle. Oranges, lemons, or apples—it doesn’t matter. They all fall to the floor. I tried grapes, erroneously thinking since they are smaller, I could catch them easier. Wrong. Believe me, I’ve practiced, until the dog started chasing after the grapes. Those are bad for…

by Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes, Ed.D. @khutch0767 Whether established authors or aspiring ones, we understand that creating our masterpieces requires a team. Without editors, graphic artists, and technological support, we'd never produce quality books. However, we may need a new type of expert to hire who’ll help us develop excellent manuscripts—a sensitivity reader.…

By A.C. Williams by @acw_author Who is the wisest person you know? It was probably a mentor or a teacher or a parent or grandparent. I’d be willing to bet that if you went to that person and thanked them for their wisdom, they would be embarrassed. The wisest people…

By Theresa Parker Pierce @rowanhistory One of my favorite historical fiction novels is Blue by Joyce Moyer Hostetter. Joyce once shared with me how an editor who was teaching a class gave an assignment to research a story that "happened in my backyard". So, Joyce called the local history museum…