Are you a writer? If you answered yes, do you believe, deep down inside, that you are indeed a writer? Too many times, we say we’re writers but our actions say another thing. For example, you meet someone for the first time and are asked what you do. Do you… Say you’re a writer? Say […]
The Actions of Writing Read More »
I’ve been thinking a lot about prayers and writing these past few years. I’ve always loved that ACFW has a prayer room staffed with volunteers during the conference, and I’ve taken advantage of both praying and volunteering. Prayer is also top of mind because CCWF recently published an anthology of prayers for writers, which we
By Sarah Hamaker, CCWF President Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about my ideal reader. Who is she? What does she like to do? What does she read? Where does she live? What is her family life like? What draws her to pick up a book? What does she like to feel after reading a
By Sarah Hamaker, CCWF President Why should writers, aspiring or established, attend a conference for writers? I’ve attended small writers conferences and large ones, local ones and ones across the country, and each time, I’ve left glad I came. Here are my top 5 reasons for why writers should attend a conference for writers. 1.
5 Reasons to Attend a Writer’s Conference Read More »
By Sarah Hamaker. CCWF president As writers, we work with tension all the time—without tension, our stories would sag and our heroes and heroines would have very boring relationships. But this blog is about the tension we experience between what we want to work on and what we have to work on. For many of
By Sarah Hamaker, CCWF president Have you heard the news about the death of words? Every few weeks or so, a story pops up in my Facebook feed about how people aren’t reading like they used to, how texting is obliterating writing, and how the Generation Z will kill off books. But I don’t believe
Writing: Still Alive and Well in the Next Generation Read More »
By Sarah Hamaker, CCWF president I’ve been thinking a lot about hope lately in relation to writing, and how we can forget to cultivate hope in our quest for publication, sales, and reaching readers. When our hope buckets are empty or nearly so, we find ourselves fighting discouragement, resentment, envy, and jealousy. We lose our
Hope—A Four Letter Word That Keeps Us Writing Read More »
The idea comes to you in a flash of brilliance. The plot, the setting, the characters all jumble together like a kaleidoscope of words just waiting to be brought into focus by you. You eagerly sit down in front of the computer, fingers poised over the keyboard and a fresh, blank document open on the
Love the WIP You’re With Read More »
By Sarah Hamaker, CCWF president Who wants to be ordinary? If I asked that question at a writers conference, I doubt anyone would raise their hand. For some reason, ordinary has become associated with dull, listless, uninteresting and uninspiring. As writers, we may be content to live ordinary lives, but we want our writing to
An Ordinary Writer Writing Ordinary Books Read More »
By Sarah Hamaker, CCWF president I’m a details person, which translated well into my chosen profession of writer and editor. I notice things like misplaced commas, wrong usage of apostrophes (don’t get me started on how years can’t be possessive!) and subject/verb disagreement. It used to drive me crazy when I encountered grammatical or word
Tackling the Small Stuff Read More »
