The Art & Craft of Writing Toward Publication Archives - Page 2 of 2

Outlines: What Every Writer Ought to Know

Outlines are like road maps. You can get to your destination without one, but you run the risk of chasing rabbit trails, or even worse, getting lost. It’s the same with writing a book. If we don’t know the end, how can we write the middle? Outlines solve that problem for us. Think of a book as a vacation destination. When my family goes on a trip, we Decide ahead of time where we want to go How long to stay What to do while we’re there. Your book has a final destination. You have imagined what you want your book to accomplish. You know what you want for your readers. What you want your readers to walk away with after reading your book is the thesis or goal. Every step, every chapter along the way ought to draw your reader closer to your imagined outcome for the book. Therefore, thinking this through ahead of time will make your writing time more efficient, enjoyable, and in the end, produce a high-quality product for your readers. What every writer ought to know about outlines Outlines make writing more efficient Planning and writing use different parts of the brain. Switching gears from planning to writing and back to planning isn't an inefficient use of our brain power. Since planning and creating use two different parts of the brain, we will save time if we spend time planning the logical progression of our book before creating the text. Creating is more fun this [...]

By Ali Dent|2018-04-09T00:07:49+00:00April 28th, 2017|The Art & Craft of Writing Toward Publication|Comments Off

3 Ways to Avoid Writing RoadBlocks

No one ever said the writing life would be easy. Navigating my way around the roadblocks that get in my way is hard work! Self-discipline, determination, and confidence get me past the obstacles that bog down my progress. "The trick is not in becoming a writer; it is in staying a writer. Day after week after month after year, staying in there for the long haul.” — The Art of War For Writers, James Scott Bell, p. 12 Most writers know what it feels like to suffer from writer’s block, and we’ll talk about that another day. Today I want to take a look at the writer's roadblock and how it prevents aspiring writers from realizing their dreams. On some level, the idea of becoming a writer seems like it ought to be an easy career. We’re drawn to writing because it makes us feel happy when we do it. I feel at home when I put words on paper. Writing is simple; the words come effortlessly, and nothing stops me when I'm writing because the mood has struck me to write. However, a career as a writer can’t rest on whims. If you’re a newspaper reporter, your editor expects copy from you for the next addition. She has deadlines to meet. Therefore, you have deadlines to meet or get fired! Entrepreneurial writers, like authors, bloggers, and contracted writers need self-imposed goals. The hitch is that we must set our personal deadlines and treat them as seriously as an editor for a newspaper sets time limits for her [...]

By Ali Dent|2018-04-09T00:07:49+00:00April 21st, 2017|The Art & Craft of Writing Toward Publication|Comments Off

Never Give Up
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Never Give Up

How to Publish Your Work, The Art & Craft of Writing Toward Publication

Never Give Up

Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow." When my children were school age and were in the throes of writing and reading, we drove a couple of hours away so they could take part in a writing workshop, given by authors who had written children's and youth literature—and who had been fairly successful. During one of the sessions about publishing (these were the days before self-publishing), the teacher commented that sometimes it takes awhile to get books published, but to never give up hope. He then mentioned a book we all knew very well; for ten years the author sent it to publisher after publisher, until one publishing house finally decided to take a chance. If he had not persevered, we might have never had Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness. Mr. Peretti may not have known at the time that his book would be a best-selling novel, but he did believe in the words he'd written—enough to have the courage to keep trying. Never give up. Greatness might be just around the corner. I have a friend who once wrote a curriculum for a class she was teaching. She asked several friends to read it so she could get feedback, because she was considering putting it into book format, hoping to sell it to a wider audience. The content wasn't something I would have ever considered reading for pleasure or even education. But one [...]

By Lee Desmond|2018-04-09T14:11:52+00:00April 18th, 2017|How to Publish Your Work, The Art & Craft of Writing Toward Publication|Comments Off

5 Steps for Writing a Mission Statement for Authors

Have you ever thought about your writing as a small business? Do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? I’ve been writing, ummm… pretty much since I could hold a crayon. On the playground I corralled my closest friends together with a story we could act out during recess. In middle school when our English teacher gave group assignments, I usually found a way to make a story out of it, whether it was a group writing project or some way we could write a script to bring the project alive. I remember the day when I realized that a wonderful way to organize my non-fiction books was to apply the main stages of a fiction story. See, I can’t do much of anything without thinking about story. If you’re a writer, you know what I’m talking about. It comes naturally to us. However, sorting out the business side does not come so easily to some of us. For me, I would much rather spend the afternoon with my characters than balancing accounts and working in a spreadsheet. Whether you’re published with a traditional or hybrid publisher—or if you are an indie writer—you and I can’t escape the business side of writing. Recently, I joined the National Association of Christian Women Entrepreneurs [NACWE]. I needed help with the business side of things and decided this organization, with its many classrooms full of lessons about building a strong business, was a good fit for me. This week on a members only video call, the speaker, [...]

By Ali Dent|2018-08-08T21:20:27+00:00April 14th, 2017|The Art & Craft of Writing Toward Publication|Comments Off

What Keeps You From Writing?

I used to think writing a book would be just like writing a college essay or a creative writing assignment until I wrote my first book that was published in 2013. Granted, many aspects of the professional writing process were an uphill climb for me. However, setting limits on my time spent elsewhere to make room for writing was the most difficult step. Back then, I was homeschooling my two high school age sons, teaching a classical literature class, and managing my home. My days were filled with grading English papers or driving the boys to their math co-op on one side of a large city and to their lab science co-op class on the opposite side. We had an open door policy in our home—which meant people were in and out all the time. You may think, as I did dozens of times, "Why don’t you just set your writing aside and catch up when life slows down?" Guilt, exhaustion, thinking I needed time alone for me, or a phone call inviting me to coffee all interrupted my writing time on and off—until one day I made up my mind that the book was a priority. How do we mesh writing into our other responsibilities? When, if ever, should we say no to writing for the sake of another responsibility? In other words, how can I write my book without shirking my other obligations? These are the questions I had to answer for myself before writing my book could [...]

By Ali Dent|2018-04-09T00:07:51+00:00April 7th, 2017|The Art & Craft of Writing Toward Publication|Comments Off

Writing Creatively – From Failure to Success
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Writing Creatively – From Failure to Success

The Art & Craft of Writing Toward Publication

Writing Creatively – From Failure to Success

Writing Creatively - from failure to success. “An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” --Dr. Edwin Land - Failure is an essential part of success, as well as a fundamental aspect of creativity. Writing Creatively—From Failure to Success “AN ESSENTIAL ASPECT OF CREATIVITY IS NOT BEING AFRAID TO FAIL.” DR. EDWIN LAND It may be odd to consider failure as an essential part of success as indicated in the quote above by Land. But this is a Biblical truth, as well as a fundamental aspect of creativity. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, ESV Writing Creatively—Failure to Success—I will fail. If you have ever undertaken a creative endeavor and failed, you know it feels like a calamity. For that matter, it may even look like one. During the creative failure, there are many thoughts which come. Among them, at least for me, is the thought that ‘I am a failure’, ‘I'm not creative,’ and most of all, ‘I can’t do this.’ We live in a busy and self-sufficient society: "Get it done." "Do it quickly." "Do it yourself, if you want it done right." [...]

By Karen Bourg|2018-08-08T21:17:19+00:00April 3rd, 2017|The Art & Craft of Writing Toward Publication|Comments Off

Words = Power
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Words = Power

The Art & Craft of Writing Toward Publication

Words = Power

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. Proverbs 16:24 I love words—reading them, writing them, teaching them, saying them. Words have power, and with them we bless or we curse. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire... James 3:5b I teach writing to junior high and high school students, and one thing I stress to them is just how powerful words can be—that we should always measure what we say to others, whether in person, in a letter or email, when using social media, or whatever the situation. We should always use our to encourage and build up—never to bully or tear down—because we can't take them back. Like Thumper and our mothers taught us, "If we can't say something nice, it's better to say nothing at all." God's words Scripture tells us that God spoke the universe and all that is in it into existence! God's words created us! God's words are powerful! He also has given some of that creative power to us; and as writers, we have a great responsibility to speak/write into people's lives messages of grace and truth. But I'd take it a step further; we also have that responsibility as readers. Words are so powerful—what we write affects others and what we read affects us. How many times have you read something that stirred up emotion, made you angry or brought tears? The written word [...]

By Lee Desmond|2018-04-09T13:58:29+00:00December 26th, 2016|The Art & Craft of Writing Toward Publication|Comments Off