Ever had a nagging voice over your shoulder as you write? You know the one. The one that comes up with all the unflattering reasons why you should just give up. ‘You’re unoriginal. You’re reinventing the wheel, and not well. It’s Been Done. You’re mediocre. This isn’t coming together. You don’t have what it takes.’ …
Category Archives: Writers Life
Writers Life | Book Clubs
For most authors, it would be a dream to have one of our books read by a book club. I have had this happen five times that I am aware of. Three times for my non-fiction book, Sword Fighting: Applying God’s word to the battle for our mind, and twice for my Grace series. I …
Why do readers love small-town romance?
A few weeks ago in church, we were shown a video instead of receiving a sermon. The video was Godspeed, and it’s the story of Matt Canlis, an American pastor whose desire to change the world grinds to a halt in a Scottish parish. The tagline is “the pace of being known”. The video talks …
Beyond the Page, Book Bonuses
Once upon a time, my family and I would pile into our van, drive to the bookstore, and spend way too much time and money there before cramming ourselves and our book hauls back into the van to go home. Then I’d lose myself in the books, being introduced to characters through their story, envisioning …
Wednesday Writing Wins from Beyond the Borders
It’s time for another getting-to-know-you question from members of the international members of American Christian Fiction Writers … but first, some conference news! 2025 ACFW Virtual Conference One thing it’s often hard to do as international members of American Christian Fiction Writers is attend the annual conference. This year, the conference is also being offered …
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Another Marketing Scam …
There are a lot of people trying to scam money out of authors. Writer Beware has recently written about a new AI-assisted scam. In this one, scammers use artificial intelligence (AI) to read your reviews or book, then customise an email sales pitch designed to get authors to part with their hard-earned dollars. Yes, just one …
Writers Life | Young Christian Writers as Ruths
Young Christian Writers as Ruths: The Power of Consistency While preparing this article, I struggled to give it a name. I wanted writers to talk about their best Bible books and why they love it. Well, let’s still do that. Share your thoughts in the comment section. While you type, let me share one book …
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Writers Life | Come Away With Me
Life gets noisy with deadlines and distractions. In the busyness, the words dry up, and creativity fades to the background. That’s when I hear the gentle invitation whisper again: Come away with me. It’s an invitation I’ve learned to say yes to. One of the best ways I’ve experienced it is by retreating with other …
Devotional | Home, Home on the Range
Recent political events have left us shaking our heads over the country where that beautiful song was born. But it’s the same old, old story the whole world and the timeline over—of grudges as priorities, of personal interest superseding moral fibre. And my first (rather ungodly) instinct is to crow, ‘It would never happen here.’ …
Diminishing returns on marketing
Last time I wrote an article about the necessity of needing patience when marketing books. If you’re writing a series (which I strongly recommend), then often sales don’t begin to pick up until you reach Book 4. It can be very hard to wait until then. The effectiveness of marketing also diminishes over time as …