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 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…

By Darlene L. Turner @darlenelturner My Father examines every branch in Me and cuts away those who do not bear fruit. He leaves those bearing fruit and carefully prunes them so that they will bear more fruit. John 15:2 (VOICE) Spring has arrived and with it comes clean-up of debris left from…