If you're writing or revising a book, summarizing your scenes provides a road map. That is, you can see the big picture at a glance. My manuscript is over four hundred pages long, whereas my list of Scene Summaries is only seventeen pages. … [Read more...]
The Element of Surprise
Most of us who are readers like the element of surprise in stories because a surprise catches us off guard and produces drama. One of my writing books suggests that we should put several surprises in our books. According the dictionary, a … [Read more...]
The Writer of Jesus Loves Me
I chose to blog today about Anna Bartlett Warner, the writer of Jesus Loves Me, because I admire her and her older sister, Susan Bogert Warner, for their faith in God and commitment to writing. They wrote from deep loss and sacrifice. They worked … [Read more...]
The Poetic Life, by Carolyn Caines
Today I'm honored to have guest blogger Carolyn Caines share her insights on the Poetic Life. I met Carolyn back in college, lost track of her, and found her last summer at my husband's high school reunion in Kelso, Washington, where she … [Read more...]
Five Reasons to Save Handwritten Letters
Old handwritten letters are like a time capsule – when you open them, you’re transported to an earlier age and another place where people who may not be around anymore are pouring out their thoughts to you. While I don't save every handwritten … [Read more...]