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Getting Ready to Give Thanks

By Karen Ballon November 23, 2016

No doubt about it, it’s been a tough year. In publishing. In politics. In our nation. In our world. There are so many things to worry about, to be frustrated about, even to fear. And yet…

God is.

Whoever runs the country…God is.

Whatever personal or professional trials you face…God is.

However discouraging circumstances may be…God is.

Whatever is happening…

GOD.

IS.

As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, let’s take the time to stop and remember that we are not alone. We are the children of an almighty, all-loving God. And let’s lift our hearts and voices to thank Him for His love, for His Son, for the many blessings He has given us.

To help get you in the thanksgiving mood, I offer this music video from someone for whom I am immeasurably thankful, both for his influence in my life and for the fact that I know I will see him again in eternity—my dad, Fred Sapp.

Giving Thanks for Lessons Learned

By Dan Balowon November 22, 2016

Throughout my life in the church, from earliest Sunday school lessons to the current day, whenever I encounter Bible stories about people who have done less-than-good things, I have grown less judgmental of them than I might have in the past. The Israelites in the desert for forty years are actually a picture of just about every believer I know, including me. God does great things, but at the …

Category: Agents, Book Proposals, Career

Fun Fridays – November 18, 2016

By Steve Laubeon November 18, 2016

Last Sunday was National Tongue Twister Day. Your assignment, should you decide to accept it, is to have your family do a Tongue Twister Challenge. Here are a few to try, some are better for younger kids! (To win you have to say it three times really fast without error.) Red leather yellow leather. Can you can a can as a canner can can a can? She sells seashells by the seashore. Fuzzy Wuzzy was a …

Category: Fun Fridays

Should I Push Romance into my Story?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon November 17, 2016

Whenever I go to a conference, I am privileged to hear about a wide range of stories and ideas. I always want the writer to succeed in marketing work to editors, so often I’ll ask how much romance the story has. Sometimes it has quite a bit. Other times, not so much. One writer told me that a male character was “intrigued” by a female character, but that was the extent of that thread, and more …

Category: Romance, Writing CraftTag: Marketing, Romance, Writing Craft

Lessons from a Crab

By Karen Ballon November 16, 2016

No, the title isn’t talking about a grouchy person. It’s about a real, live crab. One that I encountered one day on the Oregon coast as I walked along the beach. It was early morning, with the rising sun streaming across the vast water, the glory of the sunrise reflected in the wet sand. I’d gotten a little to close to the surf as it came in, and since I hadn’t rolled up my pants legs, I had to …

Category: The Writing Life, TheologyTag: The Writing Life, Theology

Author Seven Deadly Sins

By Dan Balowon November 15, 2016

Every profession has its list of “sins” which can forever taint a person, group or organization guilty of committing one or more of them. Singers who are revealed to lip-sync to someone else’s vocalization are never taken seriously again. Athletes found to be taking performance-enhancing drugs are forever flagged with an asterisk next to their accomplishments. A political leader who violates the …

Category: Book Business, Career, Writing CraftTag: Career, Failure, plagiarism

When Your Book Doesn’t Sell

By Steve Laubeon November 14, 2016

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You have spent years writing your book and now it has been published by a traditional publisher. It took a while for the publisher to bring it to market. But it is finally out there. Dreams have been realized. You. Are. A. Published. Author. But then the sales reports begin to appear. Sales have floundered. There isn’t any buzz. No one is even commenting on your Facebook page. It’s a …

Category: Agents, Book Business, Book Sales, Career, Economics, Editing, PlatformTag: Book Marketing, Book Sales, Failure

Fun Fridays – Nov. 11, 2016

By Steve Laubeon November 11, 2016

What if headlines for Old Testament stories were written for the Internet? Original found at: https://wronghands1.com/2016/09/30/clickbait-old-testament/. Used under the provision of Creative Commons.

Category: Get Published

Amplified Emotions

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon November 10, 2016

We’ve all heard the expression, “You can’t make these things up.” For instance, you might get an eviction notice and be served divorce papers on the same day that your dog dies and you have an auto accident that puts you in the hospital with a broken back, which leads to your ex getting the kids full time and you being fired since you missed picking the kids up from school and you missed …

Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Writing Craft

How Do You See God?

By Karen Ballon November 9, 2016

I love going to the Oregon coast. love the power and beauty and sense of God’s creative genius that surrounds me when I’m there. Ever since I was little, I’ve looked on the ocean as a friend, even played tag with the water as it came in, daring it to wash over my bare feet, running when it got close, laughing when it caught me. (Yes, I still do this.) Recently, though, while at the coast, I was …

Category: The Writing Life, TheologyTag: Faith, The Writing Life, Theology