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Who--Me? Write Fiction? Best Books for the Aspiring Novelist
I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember. But up until recently, it’s been solely nonfiction. So when I first got the bug to try writing a novel, the first thing I did was write to my fiction-writing friends and call my agent. “Am I crazy?” I asked. “Can I possibly make the switch from nonfiction to fiction? Because if you tell me it will never work, I’ll put the idea out of my head right now and just stick with what I know.” I meant it. But they all said the same thing. “If you want to write fiction, write fiction. If you can write, you can write fiction. You already know how to...
The Real People Who Inspired Wedded to War
When people ask me where I get ideas for my novels, I tell them it’s pretty easy—history is already full of fascinating characters and dramatic events. Margaret Culkin Banning said it well:
“Fiction is not a dream, nor is it guesswork. It is imagining based on facts, and the facts must be accurate or the work of imagining will not stand up.”
Historical fiction is...
We Have a Winner! Book Cover Finalized for Wedded to War
My hat is off to the wonderful team at Moody Publishers for all their hard work on the cover my upcoming novel, Wedded to War. For a sneak peek into the process, take a look at these five cover options they first sent me: wedded to war2 (2) cover comps I posted these at faithdeployed.com and got LOTS of great feedback. We picked a favorite, made several suggestions for improvement, (i.e. her hair needs to be up, she needs an apron, take off the ring, change the number of stars in the U....
Behind the Scenes: Novel in Progress!
I realize this blog has been pretty quiet lately--and for good reason. I've been writing my first novel, and my goodness, is it all-consuming. But recently, Brittany Biggs, editorial assistant and author relations extraordinaire at Moody Publishers was in town, and she wrote a blog post about our visit. It originally appeared at River North Fiction, but I'd like to share it with you here too: Hello Fiction Friends, I had the pleasure of meeting one of our great authors this weekend. When I first started working here at...
News from the International Christian Retail Show 2011
ATLANTA--This year I took the plunge and attended my first International Christian Retail Show (ICRS), which took place in Atlanta right after the annual conference for the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association. If you're not famliar with ICRS, this is where publishers exhibit their new releases, and booksellers come to buy them for their stores. It was an exciting time, and I was privileged to do two book signings and three interviews for the new release of ...
Faith Deployed...Again is here!
If you haven’t already noticed the buzz on Facebook and Twitter, I am thrilled to announce that the highly-anticipated sequel to...
Civil War historical fiction series contracted!
I admit I have been a little quiet on the blog lately--now I can finally tell you why. I have just signed a four-book deal with Moody Publishers for a historical fiction series set in the Civil War! Each of these four books are inspired by women who actually lived, who I discovered while doing research for Stories of Faith and Courage from the Home Front. The first book, Narrow Passages, focuses on the work of female nurses (during a time when that was revolutionary) aboard the hospital transport ships in Virginia during the summer of 1862. I’ll share more with you later...
Two new books contracted!
Last night I experienced a first. A day of very unsuccessful potty-training with my two-year-old son was made a whole lot sweeter when I brought the mail in and found not one but TWO book contracts for new books! Moody Publishers will be releasing Faith Deployed . . . Again in August 2011, and AMG...
Trip to D.C.-Gettysburg-Pittsburgh a success
Books win two more medals
I just learned this afternoon that my book have both placed in the inspirational category of the 2010 Branson Stars and Flags Book Awards! Battlefields & Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan won second...
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