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I’m working on my next book, titled, Carry Me Through (90 devotions for Times When You Can’t Go On). While I love writing devotions, yesterday I found myself writing a couple that don’t land. Nothing wrong with them. But they don’t hit deep in the feels. Writing Tip for Today: Here are some tips for […]
When you write for publication, it’s important to be confident of what you have to say to readers. Writing Tip for Today: As writers we need to discover the essence of what we have to say. Here are some tips: Write What You Know? The adage says to write what you know. What you know […]
The best writing reflects a deep commitment as well as the willingness to become vulnerable. How much is your writing costing you? Writing Tip for Today: What are some ways to write honest emotions? Refine Your Purpose Writing is meant for your readers. Even autobiographical material isn’t really about you. It’s about how your experiences […]
Writing about big events in your life—whether traumatic or just amazing can be powerful—if you allow enough time to pass first. Writing Tip for Today: Here are some tips for writing about consequential life events: Five Year Rule A famous writer once told me not to write about significant life events—especially traumatic ones—for five years. […]
These guys can tell a whopper! Almost every writer’s first novel is at least partly autobiographical. Mine is. It sits in a drawer where it belongs. But aren’t you supposed to write what you know?Writing Tip for Today: What’s wrong with using your own life as you write a novel? Here are some strengths and […]
This Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I can’t help thinking about the recent flap over whether Mark Twain’s work ought to be sanitized for sensitive young readers. The debate is about the “n” word. Most everyone including me, cringes these days at the sound of this racial epithet, but in literature, should we alter art […]
Memoir Writing is a class I only offer once a year. Tonight I look forward to meeting a new class of memoir writers. A few fundamental questions come up regularly, so I thought I’d give the short answer about some of them.Writing Tip for Today: Student writers want to know exactly what a memoir is […]
I have an editorial ghosting assignment. I’ve known the client for years. She has a great story, but English isn’t her first language. I’m trying to take her thoughts and rewrite them so they’re not only readable but compelling. So why am I procrastinating?Writing Tip for Today: Every writer procrastinates at one time or another. […]
Many beginning novelists don’t know what their story is about–or else it’s about “a lot of things.” They start with their character and situation, but then allow that character to roam all over the situation’s landscape. It’s just like real life, you say.What’s the matter with that?The problem is that fiction isn’t life. Life meanders, […]
I have a new crop of old students, but there are a few really-new (as in they haven’t taken a class from me before) students too. Whenever I give this blog as a resource, I’m forced to explain. “My blog, GodSongGrace, has a goofy name,” I say. “It was supposed to help me market a […]