Karen

A Blessed Christmas to You All

By Karen Ballon December 25, 2013

Cat and Dog devouring Santa's cookies and milk

As you may have noticed, my day to blog here on the agency blog is Wednesday. I was utterly delighted when I realized that my blog fell on Christmas! If there is any one day of the year that is my absolute favorite, it’s Christmas. I have so many wonderful memories of Christmas…not just the day, but the whole season. My mom was the absolute queen of celebrations, and she knew how to do Christmas right. How to share the joy and wonder of the season, how to let Christ’s light and love shine through her smile and her tender touch. And my dad filled our holidays with the most wondrous advent devotions, music, and laughter. So yes, I love Christmas. My prayer for each of you this year is that you feel Christmas as never before. That the purest blessing of what we’re celebrating—the advent of our Savior!—will overflow every moment of today for you and your family.

A Merry, merry Christmas to you, my friends.

And here’s a video for you to share. May it delight and move you as it did me.

The Many Faces of Discouragement

By Karen Ballon December 4, 2013

I know I promised you the final blog on accountability partners, but as I’ve talked with publishing folks and friends the last few weeks I’ve noticed a theme: Discouragement.

It’s a well-documented fact that people struggle with depression and discouragement more during the holidays than any other time of the year. I wonder sometimes if writers are among the most discouraged. Part of it, I’m …

Category: Career, Encouragement, Get Published, KarenTag: Discouragement, Encouragement

Happy Thanksgiving!

By Karen Ballon November 27, 2013

One more day and many of us will be seated around a table, mouths watering as we watch Dad or Grampa or Hubby carve a steaming, golden turkey. As I thought about the many Thanksgiving celebrations we’ve shared in my family--days of fellowship and laughter, gratitude and blessing--I remembered singing that wonderful old hymn, “We Gather Together.”

So join me, you lovers of words, you craftsman …

Category: Karen, PersonalTag: thanksgiving

Your Writing Team: Make Accountability Partners Work for You! (Part Two)

By Karen Ballon November 20, 2013

Thanks for your feedback on having accountability partners (or, as I’ll call them from this point on, APs). As I researched this issue, I realized there are a couple of things to consider:
What you need to have/do for this to work
What your AP(s) need to have/do for this to work
And I also realized there is a LOT involved in those two things, so we’ll tackled them over the next few weeks. So …

Category: Career, Communication, Creativity, KarenTag: Career

Your Writing Team: Freelance Editors

By Karen Ballon November 6, 2013

You’ve heard the old saying, “Can’t see the forest for the trees”? In other words, you can see each tree, take note of the beautiful leaves and strong branches, but because you’re focused on them you don’t see the whole forest. The big picture. And that, my friends, is where it helps to have freelance editors on your team.

Yes, for some, the editor role is filled by an in-house editor. But if …

Category: Career, Communication, Craft, Creativity, Editing, Karen, Writing CraftTag: Career, Writing Craft

Your Writing Team: Creating an Advisory Board

By Karen Ballon October 30, 2013

As I write this, we’re smack-dab in the middle of football season. The town I grew up in was—and still is—a football town. I LOVE football. I was in the band, so marched at all our school games from junior high through college. My friends and I played football. I even, a few times, ran the chain for JV games in highschool. It was great fun. But more than that, I saw the importance of having a team …

Category: Career, Communication, KarenTag: advisors, Career, critique group

Your Writing Team

By Karen Ballon October 23, 2013

You've heard it before: “Writing is a solitary endeavor.” Yes, that’s true. The responsibility for getting the words on the page rests on the writer’s shoulders. And yet, we don’t have to be Lone Rangers. In fact, if you think about it, the Lone Ranger wasn't alone! He had Tonto. And a whole network of sheriffs and people that he’d helped, all of whom supported and were rooting for him.

Anyone …

Category: Career, Communication, Craft, Creativity, Karen, Writing CraftTag: Career

The Oddest Profession

By Karen Ballon October 16, 2013

Guest blog by Stephanie Grace Whitson

Writing is the oddest profession in the universe. Why? Because whether or not I get to keep doing it (in the traditional, royalty-paying part of the world I inhabit) has nothing to do with whether or not I’m good at it. Why? Because the one thing that reigns over my career is sales numbers, and I can’t affect sales enough to impress publishers (i.e., by …

Category: Book Business, Career, Guest Post, KarenTag: Book Business, Career, Stephanie Grace Whitson

Embrace Abandon

By Karen Ballon October 9, 2013

As many of you know, I've recently returned home from a series of writers’ conferences. As I met with writers and read their proposals or sample chapters, one thing struck me over and over…

More and more writers are spending time writing what they think agents and editors want to see.

Is that bad? Well, yes and no.

No, because you need to understand what editors and agents are looking …

Category: Career, Craft, Karen, Trends, Writing CraftTag: Career, Craft, Writing Craft

Let the LIGHT In!

By Karen Ballon October 2, 2013

People being gunned down.

Government shutdowns.

Families in financial crisis.

Politicians calling each other names.

Increasing assaults on religious freedoms.

All of this and more overflow us. On the news. Over the Internet. In our conversations. It would be so easy to think these ugly things are all there is of life nowadays. To feel sad and angry and hopeless...

Which is why …

Category: Christian, Faith, Karen, Writing CraftTag: Christian, Faith, Writing Craft