by Alycia W. Morales @AlyciaMorales In his book How to Grow a Novel: The Most Common Mistakes Writers Make and How to Overcome Them, Sol Stein says, “In our not-yet acknowledged secret garden lie the seeds of some of our best not-yet written stories.” When I recently read this quote, the…

by Katy Kauffman @KatyKauffman28 I wanted to be clever, not practical. My goal in crafting blog post titles was to think of the snazziest title I could, even if it wasn’t search engine friendly. It took a few gentle suggestions from a blog editor for me to embrace a different…

By Cherrilynn Bisbano @bisbanowrites “She loves my book but I need to build my platform.” A conferee said after she left the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference appointment room. “Tell me about yourself,” I said. After I asked my new friend a few questions I said, “Now you can…

by Rhonda Rhea @RhondaRhea The other night I was jolted out of bed by one of those monstrous thunder cracks. I think you can still see the fingernail marks on the ceiling over my bed. It was one of those rattle-the-windows, race-the-heart, vibrate-you-right-down-to-the-spirit kind of thunder explosions. I sensed people all…

by Blythe Daniel @ByltheDaniel One of the most challenging areas for writers is coming up with a unique book idea. I mean if Ecclesiastes 1:9 is true (and it is!) then there is nothing new under the sun but then where does that leave me for a book that there…

By Leilani Squires Freelance writers get asked to do a lot, from “Can you look at this short story real quick,” to “Can you edit this 25-page proposal by tomorrow?” to “Will you bring the main dish to the dinner? You’re home all day so you can cook, right?” We…