I know what you’re thinking. You plant the seeds. You water the seeds. You plant the seeds. You water the seeds and nothing is happening. Every day you go out and look, only to find row after row of, well, dirt. Hardly worth your time, right? Um, wrong. The fruit is there, right under the surface, just waiting for the right moment to burst through the soil. It’s all about the timing. Babies stay safely tucked inside the mother’s womb until they are ready to thrive in the world. Once he’s ready, you couldn’t stop him if you tried. He’s coming out that that’s all there is to it. You have those wonderful seeds of success inside your garden. I know they’re there because you planted them at the beginning […]
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Three Steps to Being a Voice, Not an Echo
Writing in the Christian market pushes us to go beyond the realm of this life to find meaning and purpose for our characters. While we are not writing sermons and devotionals set in fictional places with fictional characters, we are imitating life. For the Christian author, Jesus is very much a part of our every day life. We want to express Him in some way in our stories, through the lives of our characters. But often our stories sound hokey, canned, full of Christianese. How we talk in the foyer at church, or in Sunday school class does not translate into fiction. Remember, our goal is to write great stories about great characters. Our goal is not agenda fiction where we pound the pulpit so to speak about some error of […]
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Spring Into Action, Part Three: Weeds be Gone! How to Keep Your Emotional Garden Healthy
I have a friend who gardens. If you walked into her backyard, you’d think you entered botanical gardens. She spends evenings and weekends—literally every spare moment—tending her garden. Yet, despite all her efforts, weeds spring up right in the middle of her masterpiece. Weeds are a fact of garden life, and of living your dream. Despite your best efforts, weeds will sprout up in your dream garden. If left unattended, the weeds will flourish and choke out the seeds you planted in your horticulture or in your life’s dream. Success cannot be realized unless you tend the garden. Here are a few facts about weeds: Their sole purpose is to soak up all the nutrients to keep them going. They have a deep root system. Once they take hold, it’s […]
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One Thing Marketing … Write a Press Release as Compelling as Your Book!
Welcome to this week’s One Thing Marketing where we talk about that “One Thing” you can do this week to build your platform, connect with readers/reviewers and snag some attention for you and your latest book or WIP. Last week we talked about a writer’s mission statement. How did you do coming up with a Brand Promise, Tagline and Emotional Relevance? This week we’ll tackle the press release. A press release is an announcement of your new book. The trick is making the announcement as compelling as your book is, and that takes a slightly different touch. It’s a simple formula merely to put together a proper press release for your book. In the first paragraph, include the following: Title ISBN number Publisher Author Price Then in the body of […]
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