Where to Begin the Story

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Hello from Crystal Bowman! This blog post is for those who want to write fiction for children, and even for those who don’t because the more you know, the more you grow. Most of my books are for the children’s devotional or Bible storybook market. However, I have written several fiction picture books as well as few dozen I Can Read! books, so I want to share something I learned many years ago in my novice years of writing. The mistake many writers make (and I used to be one of them) is to write an explanatory introduction to “set…

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Tips from the Pros: Ellen E. Kennedy

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Greetings from Sarah Sundin in California! Today I have the privilege of interviewing cozy mystery author Ellen E. Kennedy—who often goes by her very appropriate initials—EEK! All of us grammar lovers will enjoy her clever titles. Ellen, how many books do you have published? What are a few of your latest titles? Four, plus “The Applesauce War,” a Christian romance novella in the Barbour Books anthology, The Farmer’s Bride. My latest titles are Murder in the Past Tense (2014) and Incomplete Sentence (2016) in the Miss Prentice Cozy Mystery series.

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USING UNUSUAL HOLIDAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS

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Hi everyone! This is Darlene Franklin (http://darlenefranklinwrites.com/) in my first ever Marketing post for CAN. Do you ever wonder how to inspire interest in an older title? One that I’ve used with some success is finding unusual holidays. Of course we can use major, federal or Hallmark holidays, but for almost every book you can find a matching holiday. Consider the holidays between now and Christmas: MacIntosh Apple Day (Oct 3): Perfect for An Apple for Christmas, since the hero owns an apple orchard and is named “Mac”Intosh Cortland German American Day (Oct 6): Works for my three books featuring German…

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NEW RELEASE: THE CAREGIVING SEASON BY JANE DALY

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The Caregiving Season: Finding Grace to Care for Your Aging Parent by Jane Daly Focus on the Family / Tyndale House Publishers, September 1, 2016 ISBN: 978-1-58997-869-0 Book description: Caring for elderly parents is challenging. It’s a season of life requiring strength that comes only from God. In The Caregiving Season, Jane Daly openly shares her stories from the front lines of battling built, negotiating new boundaries, and dealing with exhaustion. Her message of grace and hope will help you honor your aging parents well and deepen your personal relationship with Christ along the way.

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God’s Smile

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Quilting Encouragement with Mary Tatem Lifting her feet high in order to run through the loose sand, the five-year-old girl’s face broadcast her delight in seeing me. She threw her arms around my legs. I bent to plant a welcoming kiss on her blonde curls, my heart awash with love for this precious child. Our faces beamed with smiles, and both of us laughed out loud at the joy of being together. In a moment she was back playing with her beach toys, but the bond between us was reinforced by that enthusiastic greeting. Her zeal wasn’t always so exuberant,…

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NEW RELEASE: Christmas is Coming: Waiting is Hard by Karen Whiting

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  Christmas is Coming: Waiting is Hard by Karen Whiting Abingdon Press, September 20, 2016 ISBN: 978-1501824722 Focus on Jesus at Christmas! Daily devotions around the nativity scriptures and prophecies accompany simple activities to do. Every devotional includes a prayer and Christmas song to add joy to the season. Plus, each day explore scriptural connections to familiar Christmas symbols. Discover more about the history of the crimson, Jesse tree, and advent wreath. Enjoy celebrating while decking the halls with angels, stockings, crowns, candy canes, and other festive decorations. Above all, gather together daily to focus on Jesus and the reason for…

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Save Your Darlings

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by Judith Couchman Might we in our rush to kill all our darlings risk beheading our only valuable bits of expression or insight?—John Crowley You write like crazy. Brilliant ideas spill from nowhere. Original word combinations flow. Then your editor says, “This passage doesn’t fit. We need to cut it.” The editor deletes paragraphs of your stellar work. You feel like you witnessed a murder. Traditionally, writers call these cherished but unusable passages and pages their “darlings.” Authors around the world, from Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch to Stephen King, have advised writers to kill those darlings: the gorgeous words, sentences, and…

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Tips From The Pros: Michelle S. Lazurek

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Greetings from the Sunny, Sweltering, Why-Do-I-Still-Live-Here? South! In my humble opinion, summer is definitely overrated. I’m ready for Winter. “But,” you say, “what about fall? Don’t you like fall?” I do. It’s my favorite time of year. Unfortunately, we don’t get fall in Florida. We barely get winter. But enough about all that. Let’s grab an iced tea, have a sit on the front porch, and welcome our next author for our series, Tips From the Pros. Please welcome, Michelle S. Lazurek! Michelle, we’re so glad you’re here. Hope it’s not too hot for you. I’ve got the ceiling fan on…

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