I was standing in a bookshop last week. Two books in my hands. One had everything going for it—strong reviews, a compelling blurb, the kind of reputation that whispers this is worth your time. It’s even been adapted into a film. And yet… I turned to the first page. I read a paragraph. Then another. …
Continue reading “Writers Life | Books in the Age of Distraction”
Young Christian Writers as Pauls: The Power of Retaining One’s Voice. When I first started to write, I had a number of authors I aspired to be like. I loved their books so I subconsciously strove to sound like them. I even wanted to write in similar genres as they did. But I soon realised, …
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Remember the fun Hillsong we used to sing in the mid-2000s? Or, if you’re old enough, the ’70s Jesus Movement hand signal and the big floppy Bible that went with it? Spanning the time between those tropes came a definite mindset of teaching. ‘This is the way, walk ye in it’ (Isaiah 30:21 KJV) gets …
Publishing is not for the faint-hearted. There are significant up-front costs. Below, I will list the ones I spent, but also give suggestions for how to avoid various costs. First, let’s differentiate between self-publishing/independent publishing and pay-to-play publishing (known as vanity publishing and now calling itself ‘hybrid’ publishing). Self-publishing is more like project-managing. You will …
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In today’s blog, Dienece would like to share her experience with launching a second book. Launching your second book might not go like the first one did. It might do better, or it might be worse. I ended up making more money off my second book, but I didn’t sell as many books. The lack …
(and five contests for unpublished fiction writers, plus a short story contest for Australian writers) There are any number of writing contests around for both published and unpublished writers. It’s easy to see why a published author would enter a writing contest: to get recognition for their writing, in the same way as actors enter …
Anyone else remember when audiobooks were called books on tape? My first audiobook was Winnie-the-Pooh, narrated by Lionel Jeffries, on cassette. I wore that tape out. Literally. At some point it stretched and degraded so badly it stopped playing properly, and I remember opening the cassette to splice the tape and coax it back into …
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“Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.” Jeremiah 17:7 It was a sunny Saturday afternoon at the end of October, and the garden was calling my name. I grabbed my gardening gloves, pulled on a hat and plastered on sunscreen. It was time to set to work mulching …
Continue reading “Devotional | Where does Jesus sit in your car?”
I started blogging in 2011, which means I will hit my 15-year anniversary this year. (How did that happen? It’s scary how maths works!) It also means I’ve been observing the trends in Christian fiction for a long time as an author, blogger, and reader. That means I can testify to the truth of Ecclesiastes …
Young Christian Writers as Marys: The Power of Believing Last year, in my local church assembly, I and some other people were given the responsibility of organising a Christmas stage play. So, amidst planning the end-of-year party, I wore my writer’s hat and got to fine-tuning the drama script. Doing this helped me pay more …
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