One of my joys in life is to share the many things that have helped me along my journey. I hope you’ll find them encouraging. I pray that what you find here will help you pursue your own God given talent and “fire” to write.

One of my joys in life is to share the many things that have helped me along my journey. I hope you’ll find them encouraging. I pray that what you find here will help you pursue your own God given talent and “fire” to write.

Most writers find it startling when they learn I’ve sold everything I’ve ever submitted for publication. But it really isn’t as mysterious and unbelievable as it sounds. You see, I didn’t just write articles, poems, and books and then try submitting them. I had a very specific approach. And it worked!

I started by getting an education. I bought reference books on the subject of writing and studied them. Below is a list of some great books that you will want to own as you continue your writing journey.

After learning enough to begin my novel, I set up specific writing time. Since I had a fulltime job as a real estate broker, that meant from 4 a.m. to 11 a.m., and then again at night with whatever time was left at the end of the day. Writing a salable novel takes this kind of discipline and dedication. Even if you are only able to set aside one hour before work and one hour after, at the end of the week you will be fourteen hours closer to your goal.

When I had a completed first draft of 50,000 words, I hired a professional story structure editor to teach me how to bring my novel to the next level. A book that would be salable. I worked on my rewrites for ten months.

When these revisions were completed I signed with an agent and had two multiple book offers within a few weeks. I accepted the contract that resulted in the Regalo Grande series.

Your journey to publication won’t happen by accident. It will be the result of God calling you to write and then providing the opportunities to answer that call. If you have been called to write, embrace God’s gift and commit to doing your part. God will prosper what He ordains.

As a result of my own journey, I have formed a company, Writing With Fire, and now teach commercial story structure to serious authors who are writing to publish. For more information on these services click on the WRITING TO PUBLISH? tab above.

GREAT BOOKS FOR A HOME REFERENCE LIBRARY

(Click here for suggestions)

The path to publication can be a long and winding one. I was extremely lucky on my journey to meet many wonderful authors who were willing to help. Some became my mentors, most all became my friends. I created this page in hopes of helping other emerging writers along the way. I hope you find encouragement and some practical advice too.

You might consider visiting the following blogs:

Advanced Fiction Writing – Randy Ingermanson

Novel Journey – One of Writer’s Digest 101 Most Valuable Websites for Writers – 2010

The Writing Career Coach – Tiffany Colter

Guide to Literary Agents Editor’s Blog – Chuck Sambuchino

Craftie Ladies of Suspense – Fifteen LIS, Love Inspired Suspense, authors contribute

CRAFTIE Ladies of Romance – Christian Romance Authors of Faith-based Tales of Inspiring Everafters

The Character Therapist – Jeannie Campbell, LMFT

A Christian Writer’s World – Lena Nelson Dooley

Writing Notes and Quotes – Bonnie Doran

Books For Boys Blog – Max Elliot Anderson

Teen Inklings – Christian Miles

WORDS OF WISDOM

Many writers work in isolation. Have you ever wished you could ask an established writer what they wished they had known when they started writing? Well, here’s what they would tell you.

Brandilyn Collins	Deb Raney	Liz Curtis Higgs
Angela Hunt	Nikki Arana	Sharon Dunn

Brandilyn Collins

• I wish I’d known that each book becomes harder to write. The more you know about fiction, the less you realize you know.
• I wish I’d known that the most glorious time I’ve spent writing occurred before I was published. Then I could write because I wanted to. When things got tough, I could kick a cabinet and quit. (And I quit many times.) But when you’re heavily contracted, you HAVE to create. Regardless of your health or your personal life or you totally lack an idea, or whatever. Writing truly becomes a job, and therefore no option.
• Despite point 2, I wish I’d known how wonderful it is to be used by God, writing for God. When I first began writing fiction, it was all for me. God had to knock me down, drag me around a little. I’m so glad He did.
• I wish I’d known that agents are NOT created equal. It’s wonderful to have a wonderful agent. It’s merely okay to have a mediocre agent. It can be career killing to have a bad agent.
• I wish I’d known that family has to come first. And the more contracts you have, the harder this becomes. Only God can give you wisdom for a good balance.

Angela Hunt:

• Integrity counts. You should insist on it from yourself and also from your publishers. Among other things, that translates into this: if you write a book, your name should be on the cover. Period.
• Find your voice and your vision and write your books. Never try to write in someone else’s style, with their quirks, or on “their” topics. If you ask, the Lord will lead you to unique story ideas that are yours for the telling. This is where your passion will lie. Write those stories.
• Craft counts. Never put second best to paper and trust that your editor will “fix it.” Trust me, there are enough things for the editor to fix without your deliberately leaving in less-than-perfect prose or punctuation. Study your craft and apply it.
• Story counts most. You can have the most beautifully crafted book in the world, but if the story lacks passion, no one but your mother will want to read it. Does it make you cry and/or rejoice? If not, work at the story until it does.
• Don’t write what you know–write what you NEED to know! Don’t offer up Sunday school lessons you learned ages ago. Write about your struggles, the things the Spirit is teaching you NOW . . . because you will learn through your characters and your reader will learn with you. To do this, of course, you’ll have to wait for the Spirit’s teaching, and you’ll have to do the painful part of learning. But the end result will be worth it.

Deb Raney:

• How much I didn’t know about writing.
• How to gracefully “just say no” when an editor tries to talk me into writing something that I know isn’t me.
• That it wouldn’t always be the high that writing the first book was, but that the hard work is all worthwhile when a reader says “your book healed my marriage, changed my life, brought me closer to the Lord.”
• The publisher/author relationship is not a marriage. Don’t take it personally when a publisher “breaks up” with you.
• I wish I’d known that my writing would eventually “buy” me a Schwan man, a cleaning lady, and a husband who now does laundry. Sweet rewards.

Liz Curtis Higgs:

• The first novel is the easiest, and each one after it gets harder. As your skills inch up, so do your standards.
• It is a solitary life. Unless you’re careful, you will find yourself choosing time with your fictional characters over time with family and friends.
• Your writing improves as your reading improves. Read your peers to encourage them; read literary classics, old and new, to encourage you.
• Reader and reviewer comments are a double-edged sword, lifting your spirits one moment, then dashing them the next. Listen for God’s “well done, good and faithful servant” above all else.
• Never write in a genre you would not read and do not love. Write from the deepest places of your heart. Write as if it will be your last book.

Nikki Arana:

• I wished I’d known that my writing journey was really a faith journey.
• That the right agent is truly a gift.
• That above all, I must write my passion and God’s truth
• That if you will trust God, just the person you need as a resource will appear just when you need them.
• That there is line which editors should not cross and writers have the right to say “no.” But always keeping in mind that most editors are trying to help you reach your goals.

Sharon Dunn:

• It ain’t about you, honey. Writing cannot be about me trying to cure my insecurities with publication it has to be about meeting the reader’s needs.
• Just cause you got a book published doesn’t mean you get out of cleaning the toilet and scrubbing the floor.My identity cannot come from my next failure or success as a writer because that fluctuates by the minute.
• My identity comes from knowing I am loved by the creator of the world and the savior of the universe–that should be enough.
• The things that I value most is being alone in a room creating walking, talking people on paper.
• Only other writers will really understand you. I have had friends (kind friends) say off handed things about my books, not because they were cruel but because they don’t understand the hundreds of painful hours that went into creating the book. I have found only encouragement from other writers because they too had to open veins and bleed on paper. Just like no one understands an alcoholic like another alcoholic, no one understands a writer like another writer

I’d love to stay in touch with you.

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