By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills The first Wednesday of February is World Read Aloud Day, and for writers, that means a day of remembrance when we first heard a story that excited us. The earliest form of storytelling was oral. Imagine sitting around a crackling fire and listening to tales of…

By Debb Hackett @debb_hackett Contests are a big deal. Aren’t they? I’ve crashed and burned, semi-finaled, finaled, and won in four different events. Truthfully, winning was way more fun than bombing. But was it more useful? Statistically, there is a tiny chance of entering a contest and winning, so why…

By A.C. Williams by @acw_author One of the scariest, most upsetting words in the English language is the word CHANGE. Nobody really likes it, no matter how much they claim they do. Change requires effort and energy, and, frankly, it’s usually just easier to keep doing things the same way.…

by Rhonda Rhea @RhondaRhea Ever get to that “I need to peel a roll of cookie dough and eat it like a banana” state of stressed? Cookie dough. So good, but so bad. But I’m talking about a shaky-hand kind of stress that goes beyond even the “I have to pour…

By Maureen Miller “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14—NIV, 1988…

by: Shannon Redmon @shannon_redmon That’s a question all authors must answer at some point in their careers. There are many different reasons—some toll away for days on end hoping for big payoffs, while others want the fame and fortune of bestsellers like Nicolas Sparks or James Patterson. Not all writers…