I attended my first writer’s conference in ’97. Since I’d traveled a lot in my corporate career, arriving alone at Wheaton College didn’t overwhelm me. I got along with my roommate and soon made friends with the newly contracted DiAnn Mills. I attended Davis Bunn’s continuing sesson and soaked up every thing he taught us. But when I went to the first ACFW conference in 2002, I hated it. Rather, I hated myself in the midst of it. I felt like a goof, out of place, like I wanted to follow the “popular kids.” Oddly enough, I wasn’t without connection. I was on the conference committee. I was friends with the president. Conferences stir a lot of emotions. Many of them negative. It’s like high school all over again only […]
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About Rachel Hauck
Author Archive | Rachel Hauck
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
I loved this book. It took a little push to get into it because the opening is “soft” meaning the authors started at the “beginning.” The story is also written in letter form, so the characters are telling the story in first person. Common tools authors use to show physical reaction like “her heart raced” are not employed. This is literary fiction. It follows no genre rules nor could careless that there’s a backlash in the publishing world against first person. Thank you chick lit. (I love first person, btw.) The story doesn’t open with an explosive or even enticing hook. It’s simply an author writing to her publisher and friends about her life in London in the early days of ’46. But then she gets a letter from a […]
Read the RestWhat we learn from The Proposal
I loved the movie The Proposal. It has so many good story elements. And who doesn’t like to look at Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds? Yes, there were a few cliche’s in the movie. But the director made them work, added a twist or something to make the cliche not so much the cliche. Susie didn’t like the movie as much as me. So, I sent her an email on why and how the movie worked. See my exhaustive (and brilliant 😉 list below. Spoiler Ahead! Be warned. *** 1. Great casting with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Despite their age difference, they had chemistry on screen. I believed in the relationship and I wanted to stay with them through the end. 2. Sandra (Margaret) created, at least for me, […]
Read the RestNote from Susie: So….here’s the deal. I’m so excited to say that I’m writing a brand new book – a “vintage” story, an epic romantic suspense set in the roaring twenties through World War 2. However…didn’t know I’d be writing this when I set out to do Blog-A-Book. Unfortunately, there is only so much room in my brain for stories…and right now dapper dans, flappers, bootlegging and the European theater are taking up all the space. Rachel and I talked, and agreed to put B-A-B on hold for bit as I work on this new venture. But not to fear – expert book therapist and pal Rachel is taking over blogging for a season and she’ll be walking us through some craft and publishing industry elements you won’t want to […]
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