• row of books with ebook reader on top; writing the beginning of a book

    The Best First Lines of Fiction

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    By your side is a ratty notebook, bruised black and blue with the smeared ink of furiously scribbled ideas that came to you at midnight, dotted with translucence from the epiphany you had about your villain, while still wet from a shower.  You’ve finally decided to write the story that has been stirring around in your heart and mind—now what do you start typing on that blank page facing you? How do you introduce readers to the crazy, beautiful world in your head?  Starting a novel is tricky, but those first few lines are vital to your book. The characters, setting,…

  • arch of flowers and vines with a path to walk; how to live a more creative life

    How to Live a More Creative Life

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    Creativity isn’t just for people who study or work in creative fields. In fact, we all can enhance our personal and professional lives by adding more creativity throughout our day. If you’re interested in living a more creative life, start by incorporating different types of creativity and being more intentional about making creativity a priority. Embrace Your Inner Child Again If you loved putting together puzzles or coloring as a child, try your hand at these favorite pastimes again. As adults, soothing activities like these can help reduce stress, which in turn creates more room for fun and play—or creativity. If…

  • view of white porch swing with purple and pink flowers in the foreground and a lake in the background; overcoming writer's block

    5 Strategies for Overcoming Writer’s Block

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    You’ve come so far in your writer’s journey. You’ve taken on the challenge of writing a book, carved out time in your schedule to make your dream a reality, and begun giving your thoughts life. Now, you hear a faint knocking on the page where you’ve left off, and sure enough, an unwanted visitor has made an appearance. Overcoming writer’s block is one of the biggest annoyances in the business, so we’re bringing you five strategies to get you to put pen to paper again. 1. Slow Down in Silence As a writer, it’s understandable when your book has taken…

  • "The First Corridor" by Andrew Huck, book cover

    “The First Corridor” by Andrew Huck Voted March Book of the Month

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    This is such an exciting Book of the Month because the Xulon Press team voted The First Corridor, an adventurous, Christian Fantasy novel by Andrew Huck, as our March selection. To learn more about The First Corridor and its author, we interviewed Andrew Huck for all the details on our latest Book of the Month. What inspired you to write The First Corridor? Several years ago, I was reading Phantastes by George MacDonald, and it was such a good story, I just really wanted to write my own faerie story in that vein. I started writing about a young man who…