Important Questions for Seasoned Authors

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Important Questions for Seasoned Authors by Judith Couchman In the early stages of a writing life, every publishing opportunity thrills us. We accept almost anything we can authentically create, and hope for much more. We’re excited to exercise our writing gift, and sense we’re stepping in the impressions of God’s footsteps. Anything seems possible. A decade or so later, if we’re still writing, we can effuse these same joys. Or not. As circumstances morph, we do, too. When we explore and transform spiritually, we might uncover fresh ways of thinking and serving. Or we could lose enthusiasm for our publishing…

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There’s an App for That

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by Judith Couchman Recently I ate lunch with Heather, a former coaching client who became a friend. She talked about an app that helps her learn to write better, catching mistakes and suggesting ways to improve. I recognized Heather’s sincere desire to write well, and that impressed me. Many writers new to the craft want to skip over writing principles and dart straight to publishing and social networking. Heather felt so excited about this method for improving her manuscript, I couldn’t help but absorb her enthusiasm. Later at home, online I researched writing apps. After typing “Writing Apps” into my…

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A Fresh Look at Success

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On a Sunday afternoon, I moaned about my writing career to my best friend Nancy. While we washed dishes, I complained, “I’ve worked hard and published a lot, but I’m not well-known and am financially challenged. I love what I do, but sometimes I feel like a failure.”       Nancy turned to me, a dish in hand, and said, “That’s totally beside the point. You’re using your gifting. It’s not about the fame or money. It’s about doing the work.”       Nancy knows. She’s a lifetime pianist and her husband works as a composer. To keep afloat, they both teach…

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The Gift You Already Own

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This time of year we’re consumed with purchasing, wrapping, and giving gifts. We stretch our budgets, schedules, and sanity to position piles of colorful boxes and bags underneath glittery trees. And if we’re honest, we wonder about gifts we’ll receive. Will they be anything we want and like? As writers, in between we struggle to put words on paper and meet deadlines, wondering and worrying if we’ll finish everything on time. Why did we agree to write during Christmastime, anyway? Why push ourselves through this? Because we’ve been handed a remarkable gift. A gift from God. Midst the stress, we…

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What If Somebody Else Publishes Your Idea?

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Turns out, Shakespeare stole his play Othello from another author. I just read a blog that insists: “A little-known Italian novelist and poet named Giovanni Battista Geraldi, also known as Cinthio, wrote a short story in 1565 titled Un Capitano Moro, which historians have noticed shares certain elements with Shakespeare’s Othello. Which elements, you ask? Oh, nothing major; just the plot, characters, certain names, setting, and moral. Cinthio’s version of the story is so similar to Shakespeare’s acclaimed play that we’re surprised Shakespeare even bothered to change the title before ripping it [off].” In an era of no copyright laws,…

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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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Readers Wait for Your Words (Really!)

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On Christmas Eve, Iceland celebrates the national tradition of Jólabókaflóð, the “Christmas Book Flood. That evening, Icelanders anticipate and enjoy exchanging books. After they open and admire their books, family members retire to their individual beds and read themselves to sleep. This literary tradition traces back to World War II, when the government restricted currency and imported gifts. In contrast, Icelanders enjoyed a flux of money because of the war. Fortunately, restrictions on imported paper remained lenient and books burgeoned as the country’s most popular gift for Christmas. Fast forward to today and the holiday-reading tradition virtually supports the book-publishing industry.  According…

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The Call That Changed Me

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Hi everyone, it’s Judith Couchman, recovering from a snowstorm in Colorado! If ever I felt stupid initiating a phone call, this was it. As I listened to my cell phone ringing into cyberspace, each pulse mocked me with a repeated warning: You can’t do this. You can’t do this. You can’t do this. I readily agreed with each ring’s caution: it mimicked the fear pounding in my chest. But before I could hang up, Erica answered.

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