The ACFW Conference is coming up in a month and it’s time to start getting ready. No, don’t pack your suitcase yet, but start thinking about what you’ll need before you hit the conference road. Whether you’re a planner or not, it’s always good to jot a few notes in preparation for any trip, especially a fast paced conference. Here’s a few things I do: Print out my flight plan. Always good to know when my flight is taking off. Hubby loves the early morning flights when he has to drive me to the airport at 5:00 a.m. Get business cards or any other “hand out” material ready. I’ve taken off more times than I care to confess without my business cards and I regret it every time. So get […]
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Interview with a Hero
I was working on the hero of my next book and found I couldn’t get anything real out of him. He was a bit two-dimensional. Flat. Too single purposed. I went through my standard exercises – dark wound, lie, fear, secret desire, true destiny… You can see that here: Dark Moment: Being yanked from his school, his family, his home to go to another boarding school. Lie: Don’t get close. Don’t open your heart too wide. Fear: Love involves pain. He’s even assigned that to God. Look what He did to His own son. But Tanner knows God is real and true, and he must seek Him. But is standoffish Secret desire/true identity: ?? What can he do in the end he can’t do in the beginning? Be honest about […]
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Unlock the Secret to Powerful Stories
This secret will change the way you craft stories. I’m not kidding. What I’m about to tell you will impact your writing all the way to the core and maybe even get you published. I’ve been judging a contest. I feel like I could cut and paste the same comments in each one. What does the hero/heroine want? What is the story question? What journey are they going on? Author’s inciting incident has nothing to do with the opening scene. What is his/her fears? Desire? Give a hint of these in the opening. What is the dark moment from her past? Show some sort of competence. Meaning, a superpower (what he/she does well.) Good at his/her job. Show confidence in the midst of failings and weaknesses. What is the black […]
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Christy Award Keynote Recap
I was honored to be a guest blogger for the 13th Annual Christy Awards in Orlando this past Monday night. It was a great evening. About 180 guests and nearly all of the nominated authors were there. You can click here to read the blog in it’s entirety along with pictures. But here are some excerpts from Allen Arnold, former VP of Publishing, Fiction Division at Thomas Nelson. He changed jobs this year to be on staff at Ransom Heart, John Eldredge’s ministry. Here’s what Allen had to say: “We must gather to offer our stories as the bread and wine that sustains us.” Arnold urges us to “walk with God well.” Trends are never the secret to success. “In the end, God isn’t a God of stats, but each […]
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