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 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…

by Rachael Colby  @RachaelColby7  Natural diamonds take years to form. Carbon encapsulated deep within the mantle of the earth is subjected to intense pressure, heat, and cold, to create something of greater value than its original state. It takes much time and process to form excellent character too. Likewise, a…

By Maureen Miller You love them too much.  That’s what was written in red at the top of my 11th grade advanced literature assignment, with a circle and an arrow indicating the object of Mr. Fisher’s remark. Commas—the punctuation used to separate words in a series, join independent clauses –were,…