I`ve been thinking about becoming a writer when I finish school, and I was wondering how you got started. I think a writer has to be two things from the get-go – a lover of stories, and someone who is committed to working hard. I was the kind of girl when I was young who would pedal her bike to the library and spend the entire day reading…I loved stories and getting lost inside another world. As I turned my sights toward writing, I looked at the kind of books I read, and tried to figure out why they worked, or didn’t work, and my favorite part about them. Then, I began to write. And this is the hard work part. I wrote and wrote – for myself, for […]
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The Writer Inside
Q: What made you become a writer? A: I think a true writer can’t stop writing. They love words, and stories, and the way they sing together. I have been a story teller since my early days (just as my mother!) and have always loved a great tale. But I have also loved to read, and not just novels, but poetry. I love to weave a passage together to evoke a mood in a narrative piece, to write songs and poems, and how language can make us laugh out loud, or even cry when used correctly. I have to write stories like a singer needs to sing, and a chef needs to cook. I can’t NOT write, and even if I’m not writing…I’m writing. Or at least working […]
Read the RestGetting Started in Publishing
Q: Was difficult to get your foot into publishing? A: The publishing world can be extremely difficult break in to – at can seem as times as if there might be an invisible wall…however, it’s not as difficult as one might think. It’s all about perspective. Early on, Dee Henderson, who is one of my favorite writers, told me that the best thing I could do to get published was to write all sorts of things, for anyone I could, for free, if I had to. So, that’s what I did – I started with my newsletter, (we were missionaries in Russia) and then I went on to a newsletter for my organization, then devotionals, then magazine articles, then novellas for contests…until finally, my writing had improved enough to catch the […]
Read the RestAfter NaNoWriMo
It’s December already, beginning to look a lot like Christmas and the effects of National November Writer’s Month are starting to settle in and down in our thoughts, and hearts. If you did well, you’re feeling pretty good about yourself right now. As you should! Congratulations. If you didn’t do well and, I’m just going to say it — failed — to accomplish your November writing goal, you’re feeling defeated. Maybe you’re beating yourself up and dredging all your past sins and failures to the surface. Stop. This falter does not define your whole existence. Take a look at what happened to cause you to miss your goal, and figure out how to make adjustments. As many of you know, I love college football. Half time is the famous “make […]
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