• Why Your Target Audience Matters

    You’ve done it! You’ve written your book and have committed to publishing it. You’re probably excited to share the final product with the whole world. Well, maybe not the entire world, but your target audience is definitely all Christian readers, right? Think again. Believe it or not, many authors enter the publishing process with their target audience focused on Christian readers of all ages. In other words, people ranging from elementary school to the nursing home. This wide range of potential readers doesn’t help when crafting the book’s content and marketing efforts to the right readers. Limitation is actually a good thing. One important step is defining the target…

  • The Art of Fast-Drafting Your Novel

    Writers tend to fall into two camps regarding how much time it takes to finish drafting a book. There are those who can take upwards of 10 years to write their manuscripts. Then, there are those who fast-draft their manuscripts in as little as 14 days. While no clear-cut rules exist for fast-drafting a manuscript, writers who use the technique know what it takes to get as many words on paper in as little time as possible. What is the secret sauce to churning out a fast-drafted manuscript in less than one month? Aside from proactive preparation and a well-planned…

  • The Do’s and Don’ts of Dialogue

    From an early age, we’re taught that good description is the key to excellent writing. I’d argue that well-written dialogue is the true key to writing. A description will never move your story forward in the same way dialogue can. It’s not as hard to write dialogue as you might think. Plus, once you’ve mastered it, the rest of your book will fall into place. The pacing will increase and you’ll find yourself clicking away on your keyboard to keep up with your characters’ conversations. The Do’s and Don’ts Do use quotation marks at the beginning and end of a…

  • How to Create a Writer’s Notebook

    I am always on the lookout for the next it thing when it comes to writing trends. I want to find the magic routine that solves all my writing woes. At the very least, a routine I enjoy enough to turn back to on a daily basis. My desire to find a process that works for me as an individual led me to the writer’s notebook. I told myself that my writer’s notebook would be completely different from a daily journal. In reality, however, my writer’s notebook is in fact just a glorified journal. There is one big difference between…