Mary Hamilton
Tasked with writing our organization’s monthly newsletter, I submitted my first month’s draft for my supervisor’s approval. She took out her red pen and proceeded to slash and burn my draft—crossing out, circling, drawing arrows, writing in… I left her office fighting tears and thinking, "Why doesn’t she just write it herself?"
The Stuff We Keep Shortly after our parents passed away and we went through the process of disposing of their belongings, my husband and I watched many of our friends go through the experience. We’re at That Age. It’s never easy to sift through someone else’s lifetime collection of Stuff and decide what’s worth keeping, …
My husband’s great-grandfather and uncle served in the Union Army during the Civil War. The uncle wrote 250 letters home to his wife detailing where he was and what he was doing. Last summer, my husband and I joined his cousin and wife on a trip to several of the battlefields where they fought. This …
I don’t write historical novels, but I find history fascinating. Unfortunately, I’m generally not a detailed person, and if I wrote historicals, I’d always be afraid of missing some important fact. But last summer, my husband and I started a historical journey that has led us down an interesting path. Each month, I’ll share a …
Do you have a love/hate relationship with your job? Some days you love it. Other days you hate it. That pretty much describes how I feel about writing. I love it when the scene presents itself like a movie in my mind and I can’t get the words on the paper fast enough. I love …
Three weeks ago, I attended the annual conference for the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). More than 450 published and unpublished writers came together in Dallas for 2-3 days of learning, talking, and eating, sleeping (maybe) and breathing writing. Rubbing shoulders with Christian superstar authors like Bill Myers and Francine Rivers. The conference is exhilarating, …
Last week, I listed seven lessons I’d learned as a new author. Most of them were things I plan to do differently from this point forward. But there was one I learned, particularly from my most recent book, that I intend to apply not only in writing but in other areas of my life as well. …
It’s been a while since I last wrote. One year ago, I was eagerly anticipating the release of my first novel, Hear No Evil. It’s hard to believe I now have two books published and a third one on the way! So if you’ve wondered what happened to my blog (I hope you’ve missed me!), …
Several weeks ago, I was invited to join this blog tour by my good friend, Peggy Wirgau. Peggy and I met through ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) and I can’t begin to say how much her encouragement and critiquing has helped me. She is currently looking for a publisher for her debut novel, The Stars …
This week, I’m welcoming friend and fellow author, Marji Laine. Marji is a homeschooling mom of 4 with the oldest working in the mission field in Africa. She spends her days transporting to and from volleyball, teaching writing classes at a local coop, and directing the children’s music program at her church. With decades of …
I thought the dream was dead. It died a slow death, giving me time to look around for a new one. At last, I felt ready to put the old one to rest and move on. Move forward. And then… Boom! I met an editor at a writers’ conference who expressed a strong interest in …
I thought the dream was dead. It died a slow death, giving me time to look around for a new one. At last, I felt ready to put the old one to rest and move on. Move forward. And then… Boom! I met an editor at a writers’ conference who expressed a strong interest in …
Would you continue to meet regularly with a group of people who criticized your work and pointed out flaws in your thinking, then told you how to improve? Welcome to a writer’s critique group. Few, if any, writers make it into print without submitting to this refining process. When I first visited a local critique …
