Where do you get your ideas? Is this book based on your life? Those are two questions I get asked often. My answer: I should hope not since I write suspense and mystery novels. Let me assure you, I’ve never had to run for my life nor hunt down a killer. And I’m pretty sure if […]
Behind the Scenes: Quirky challenges from Author Jodie Bailey’s cousin
When I wrote my first book, my cousin posted this random thing on Facebook about radiative transfer. It stuck in my head apparently, because one of my characters brought it up later. Very random thing totally unrelated to the book. Out of that grew “the challenge.” Before I start a new book, I let my […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Christine Lindsay, birth mother, yearned for the daughter she gave up
I’ve written five successful Christian fiction novels, so it may come as a surprise to some that this true story is what started all of my writing and speaking. From the day I relinquished my baby girl in secret in 1979 through our heart-breaking reunion twenty years later, I have wanted to tell my true-life story. And as time […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Angela D. Meyer yearned for the perfect place
My husband and I lived in Kansas City, Missouri, for twelve years. In the spring I often enjoyed picking blueberries with my children at an area blueberry farm. Blueberries are amazing fresh off the bush and my kids often ate more than went in their buckets. The owners assured us they fully expected this. After […]
Behind the Scenes: Researching the Amish by Sci-Fi Author Kerry Nietz
Author Kerry Nietz gave himself the challenge of bringing to the printed page a jest about writing the ultimate cross-genre novel, to be titled Amish Vampires in Space. He did a great job; his book that has won some awards. Sci-fi he could handle. Vampires, same. But Amish romance? Find out how he researched it here: http://www.speculativefaith.com/amish-eye-for-the-sci-fi-guy-part-1/
You Are an Author
You’ve followed your creative urge, spend hour upon hour for months curled over your keyboard pecking out words, paragraphs, and chapters, and you’ve finally finished a novel. You’ve shared your accomplishment with friends and family, and now they’re starting to call you a writer–an author. Maybe you laugh and agree. Or possibly you glow with […]
Behind the Scenes: Do you think of redoing parts of your life?
Bill Garrison is a CPA by day. But by night, he’s a writer. And he likes to pose what-if questions. For example, what if you got the chance to re-live parts of your life? And what happens to yourself and others if you change key decisions you made? It’s a question we’ve all wrestled with–“I […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Ada Brownell exposes insane asylums of 100 years ago
In the early days of asylums, people who had seizures were thought to be lunatics or demon possessed. The public thought the same of those with Down’s Syndrome. Even paralyzed people were committed to asylums because the public believed paralysis was caused by humors in the brain. I once worked as a reporter for The […]
Three suggestions for what to say in your author newsletter
Marketing experts tell us the very best way to sell books is to gather a tribe on the Internet. You come up with a great short story that your ideal reader will love, and you use it as a carrot to get the right people to sign up for your newsletter. Next problem: what do […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Kat Heckenbach’s childhood reading tree
“The tree grew near the back fence at a thirty- degree angle. Angel had no idea what had knocked the oak over, but it stayed rooted at that odd slant. Someone had also chopped off the top of the tree, leaving one single branch that pointed straight up. Angel walked up the trunk of the […]