We CAN! promote our books

Medical Details In Fiction: Researching The Problem

Dr. Richard Mabry, back to talk a bit more about medical details in your fiction. You've decided that a medical scenario is right for your novel. You've picked the situation and begun to research it. How do you go about getting the information you need? Do you blindly set out to write what you want to happen, then look for someone to tell you if it's possible? I hope not. Instead, I trust that you'll put in the research necessary to see how things are going to unfold before you invest too much effort.

The Shy Blogger: Making Research Contacts

 Julie Carobini here from the California coast. I've never been a fan of the cold call.  Twenty years ago I worked as a sales manager for a resort hotel.  Periodically I had to travel to downtown Los Angeles or some equally scary place, walk into an office unannounced, and try to convince the management to consider my hotel for their next meeting or conference or day long seminar.

Bleh.  I get the willies just thinking about it...

Are You Craving Boring?

Happy Tuesday from CAN Secretary Jeanette Hanscome.

Do you ever catch yourself wishing that God would give you a little break from all the excitement? I’m not talking new contracts, speaking engagements, and writer’s conferences. I mean the “Is this my life or a made-for-T.V. movie” kind of excitement. You know—the events that you eventually use in books and speaking topics.

CAN Book Feature: Autumn Rains by Myra Johnson

Autumn Rains 

Barbour's Heartsong Presents line 

Inspirational romance 

ISBN: 1602606269
ISBN-13: 9781602606265

Healy Ferguson knows all about prisons, both the real and the emotional kind. Paying your dues to society doesn’t always mean you’ve paid your dues to yourself, and often the price you exact on yourself far exceeds the crime. Valerie Bishop is caught in the emotional prison of post-traumatic stress disorder, unable to venture more than a few feet out her back door. Shadowy moments from a night she can’t remember bombard her without warning, keeping her trapped between the painful past and a future seemingly without hope. But God promises to repay the years that have been lost; for those who trust in Him, He promises refreshing, life-giving rain. Will Val and Healy trust to see God’s perfect plan, or will they choose the chains that hold them back?

You Are Already Rich!

IDeborah Rather aka Arlene James

Writing for Pure Enjoyment

Jan here, writing to you today about writing craft, with a focus on keeping the fun in writing.

Recently I had a conversation with writer, Nancy Sanders, who encourages those she mentors to take time each week to set aside deadlines and write whatever they feel like. I see merit in that. Oftentimes we do enjoy what we are currently writing for publication, but it might do our writing some good if we took regular time to write something just because we want to.

This post is dedicated to writing for the fun of it.

Outlining #3 – Setting that makes a difference

Another Monday, and hello from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailmartin.com  I'm to share another topic on techniques in writing.  

I’ve been cover information I learned about screenwriting techniques from the Gideon Media and Film Festival. The third technique to enhance your novel is using setting to make a difference in characterization and mood.

3. Setting should be specific and used to deepen characterization and conflict, not just a place to plop characters. Setting influences the storyline because it influences the lifestyle of the characters, and it affects their needs and wants or their ability to reach these goals.

Blurb, blurb, blurp!

 Hi, y'all! Leanna Ellis here and we're talking high concept and how to word that short little blurb that is so important to gaining the attention of editors, agents and readers.

Another trick that can help your blurb is to carry

Tips from the Pros: Linda S. Clare

Greetings from Sarah Sundin. On this Veteran's Day, we hear from veteran writer Linda S. Clare. Her debut novel, The Fence My Father Built, released October 1, but it's Linda's fourth book. This is a book I want to read--if for no other reason than to discover why there is a fence of household appliances in that field!  

Linda, how did you get into writing?

I was hooked by sixth grade. My mom would mail my poems to children's magazines, and I spent the winters typing stories on the enormous black Underwood typewriter given to me by my great-aunt.

How many books do you have published?

I wrote three non-fiction books with coauthors: Lost Boys and the Moms Who Love Them with Heather Harpham Kopp and Melody Carlson (WaterBrook), and Revealed: Spiritual Reality in a Makeover World and Making Peace with a Dangerous God with Kristen Ingram (both from Revell). My novel (The Fence My Father Built, Abingdon Press) is my fourth book but the first all by myself.

How did you get your first book contract?

CAN Book Feature: The Last Woman Standing by Tia McCollors

The Last Woman Standing

Moody Publishers,
Lift Every Voice Books
ISBN-10: 0802498639
ISBN-13: 978-0802498632

The man. His woman. His ex-wife. After being married to their careers instead of each other for ten years, “Ace” and Lynette Bowers ended their marriage. But four years later, it seems their love never ended – to both of their surprises and denial. Sheila Rushmore is Ace’s current girlfriend and a woman who is used to getting what she wants – except Ace’s commitment to marriage. When Sheila realizes Lynette may be the cause, she launches a plan to play the hand of God, instead of allowing Him to bring the love all three of them desire.

Read an excerpt here: Last Woman Standing