Anyone who doubts the subjective nature of art need look for persuasion no farther than Amazon’s review pages. For instance, Stephen R. Lawhead’s Hood received opinions varying from the effusive Lawhead at his best. and Rip-roaring good story. to the insistent No real plot, resolution, or drama. and Slow, uninspired and pointless. How could the […]
September 20, 2009 by 23 Comments Writing LifeShould Authors Be Writing for a Specific Audience?
Authors write to be read. We write not only for ourselves, but to share our thoughts, our words, our stories with others. Unless we happen to be Emily Dickinson (whose work was never published during her lifetime), we inevitably realize our words will be read by someone other than ourselves (even if it’s only our […]
August 31, 2009 by 8 Comments Writing LifeHere Are 5 Methods That Are Helping Writers Stay Healthy
Writing isn’t the kind of job you’d expect to be hazardous. When all you do all day long is sit in a comfy chair at your desk and poke some keys from time to time, you’d think your body would respond beautifully to all this pampering. But, as any desk jockey of longstanding knows, desk […]
July 26, 2009 by 30 Comments Writing LifeScrivener Too Expensive? Try the Free Writing Software yWriter (Video Tutorial)
Over the years, I’ve dabbled with various writing software and have always found them wanting. I’d pretty much given up on the hope of finding a program that would meet my needs as a writer… and then someone at the ChristianWriters forums introduced me to yWriter. yWriter was designed by author and programmer Simon Haynes, […]
May 28, 2009 by 37 Comments Writing Life15 Reasons Not to Become a Writer (Or “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Ernest Hemingway”)
Today, I’m guest posting over at the The Master’s Artist with the tongue-in-cheek tutorial on why being a writer may not be the best life decision: “15 Reasons Not to Become a Writer (Or ‘Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Ernest Hemingway’)”. Excerpt: I suppose it’s possible that a few starry-eyed folks out there […]
May 9, 2009 by 58 Comments Writing LifeDo Writers HAVE to Be Readers?
Do writers have to be readers? Reading is fast becoming a lost art. In our digital age of television and Internet, even the leisurely reading of the morning paper is going out of habit with most people. Sometimes, when I happen to be in a particularly cynical frame of mind, I can’t help thinking the […]
April 26, 2009 by 32 Comments Writing LifeThe Value of Stories That Fail
Good writers aren’t born. Okay, well, actually, they are born, since it would be physically impossible to write without being born… but they’re aren’t born good. At least, I’ve yet to meet a four-year-old wunderkind who’s running around writing Pulitzer Prize-winning epics. I know I sure wasn’t. Instead, good writers are made. Skill isn’t a […]
April 19, 2009 by 24 Comments Writing LifeLearn How to Project (and Find) Yourself in Your Writing
Have you ever found yourself looking up from the pages of a book and wondering how much the words you’re reading are a reflection of the author’s own personality and life? We’re all familiar with famous examples of autobiographical fiction (such as Dickens’s David Copperfield) in which it’s easy to draw parallels between the make-believe […]
February 4, 2009 by 42 Comments Writing LifeNot Sure Why You’re Writing Fiction? 4 Indisputable Reasons
Do you know why you’re writing fiction? It’s a bit of a mystery. And yet it’s no mystery at all. “I write because I must” is the easy answer—the cop-out. When someone asks me why I write, the answer that immediately pops onto my tongue is a simple “because I love it.” But that, of […]
December 13, 2008 by 31 Comments Writing LifeWriting Buddies: Why You Need Them, How to Find Them, What to Do With Them
Writing, by its very nature, is a solitary pursuit. Even those authors who work in tandem with others (co-writers, ghost writers, editors) must necessarily do their actual work by themselves. Fortunately, most of us who seek the writing life are not only mentally and emotionally equipped to handle the solitude, we may even crave it. […]
