Welcome! Here’s the nitty-gritty, down and dirty info I’ve gathered from my years of writing. I’ll be adding new tips from time to time, so be sure to check back.

Whenever I meet someone new and they ask what I do for a living, I reply, “I’m a writer. I write novels - Inspirational Fiction.”

Almost always they look stunned. .then awed. “I’ve never met a real writer before.” What? Have they met pretend writers?

Non-writers, and probably wanna-bes as well, think writing is a glamorous profession.

I’ll clue you in as I sometimes do my friends. Writing is hard, competitive, and lonely work that pays very little for the hours spent. True, after years of writing and building up a following, or, for the blessed few that God chooses to become household names, writing offers riches. But for the rest of us, our driving force is not money. We write because we must.

If you do not have that burning desire to put the movies that play inside your head and the voices you hear down on paper, then seek a different career. There is no glamour in the actual process of writing. Sure, it’s fun to watch the players and construct the scenes that go into chapters. But then comes the polishing and rewriting. Then the dreaded Synopsis. Then the pitching to editors. Then the rejection. I’ll only mention in passing how writing a book takes some enjoyment from the reading you’ve always loved. Now, you not only read someone else’s novel, you can’t keep from critiquing and analyzing it. Getting lost in the story becomes more and more difficult.

So, from now on I’ll assume the glamour seekers and the someday- I’ll-write-a-bookers have clicked off my web site and you do have that urgent need to write. Remember, you’ve been warned.

There’s also the problem of all that sitting. It’s easy to pick out writers by the spreading seat of their pants. We need that chocolate and those snacks to provide energy to keep working, don’t we? No. Decide today to keep a bottle of fresh water and a pack of sugarless gum beside your computer.

Exercise keeps the brain spinning those tales. Make it a point to exercise at least one-half hour before and after your time at the computer. While you walk and lift weights, work out those problems on your scene. My Doctor tells me, as I’m trying to lose pounds that have slipped up on my blind side, that though a brisk half-hour walk a day will maintain weight, cardio, and brain cells, walks do not help lose weight. Beside restricted calories, one must lift weights, dance, garden, swim, play any variety of games, climb stairs, and all the wonderful activities that we seldom get around to when we’d rather be writing. So, when not at the computer, move that body.

One — Some stories land on the typed pages of the computer easier than others. Don’t stop writing a book just because it’s hard. Slug on through it. Sit at the computer and pound out five pages a day. Use will power and padding on the chair until that baby is born. Often the HARDEST book to write turns out to be the best. Two — When you rewrite, take out everything that is not story. Sounds simple. It isn’t. Three — Write every day except Sunday. Set a goal — maybe only one page, but cling to that goal. If you need it, have a Designated Accountability Goal partner. A DAG. I do make exceptions when I travel.

Relax–there are two types of writers. If you’re a Seat of the Pants Writer and can’t stand to use an outline, Don’t worry. Enjoy yourself, but keep good notes. I’ve tried using the many different methods of outlining and card indexing that other authors have found helpful, but they don’t work for me. I get hopelessly bogged down. I’ve got to discover the book as I write it. No doubt those of you who are gifted in the outline and synoptic method are faster, more efficient writers and I laud you for it. I suggest neither should try to change their style.

Areas I will discuss in the future: THEME
SYMBOLISM
BELIEVABLE CHARACTERS
EMOTION
THE SPIRITUAL MESSAGE
SETTING
EDITING (Continued)
SCENES
PITCHING YOUR STORY
SYNOPSIS
CRITIQUE GROUPS
GETTING AN AGENT
GENERATING IDEAS
PUBLICITY


Tune in again for the next airing from your friendly teaching writer.

COMING IN THE FUTURE —

Interviews of some of your favorite writers about their new releases.