The Hardest Part of the Writing Journey
Most writers classify themselves as one of two things: a plotter or a pantser. A plotter painstakingly outlines, researches, and THEN begins to craft their story. A pantser takes to the keyboard with a nebulous idea and lets the character they’ve created have free reign while they take dictation. Plotters can’t understand how pantsers can…
Cultivating Reader/Writer Relationships Online
The best book recommendations come from readers. Thanks to social media, it is easier than ever to reach out to those with similar interests and ask for suggestions concerning new authors, titles, and genres. Overall, my experience online is positive, primarily because I cultivate it to my tastes. When I first heard the term “doom…
Underrated: 10 Christian Authors You Should Add to Your TBR Today
There’s an argument about the purpose of reviews. Some adamantly believe that reviews are primarily for the benefit of authors. They make the book more visible and help writers find new audiences. Others claim that reviews are reader-centric and used to encourage others to read a book or warn them away. Reviews ARE essential, but…
The Faith of Women
Writing novels about spiritual abuse means I dedicate a great deal of time to research. I listen to podcasts, read articles, and dive deep into books. Before I started writing fiction, my research focused more on Scripture. I heard things from the pulpit that didn’t align with what I was reading in my Bible. I…
Writing My Own Heroine
Writers learn from their characters. We only give them their looks and a general trajectory, but their lives are their own. Sometimes, their stories take us to places we never planned to write about, and sometimes they clarify our own situations. That happened to me when I wrote Twists, Turns, and Curves. I started the…
Women’s Words
I love reading fiction, but I usually have a non-fiction book in my reading pile as well. This week, I’ve finished several books written by women who exposed systems that not only create victims of spiritual abuse but also engage in criminal coverups. What draws me to these types of books? Research. I write contemporary…
Women’s History through Contemporary Fiction
Contemporary fiction is the genre I write in, and it’s one of my all-time favorite genres to read. I know that some people like to define that term as “books written recently,” but that’s a little vague. I prefer pinning it down to meaning that the setting of the stories takes place when the author…
What’s in a Name?
The problem of choosing character names is a big one in the writing community. Writers talk about it, joke about it, and even make memes about it. We have developed some interesting techniques to create names that fit our characters. A historical novelist like Carol Ashby may have multiple folders on her computer with lists…
News From A Pantser
I’m a pantser. In writer-speak, it just means that I write by the “seat of my pants” rather than by following an outline. Outline followers are called “plotters.” Writers tend to live and let live regarding how we work. As long as we produce dynamic characters and develop plots, the process doesn’t matter. But as…
Starting to Listen
This week, the internet was in uproar over an article where a now-adult woman accused a church leader of grooming and molestation when she was only 14 years old. She shared her experience after reading the testimony of one of his other victims and realized that their stories were eerily similar. That’s one thing about…
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Marbeth Skwarczynski, Author 