Writing Advice from The Novelists of ChiLibris

MOST VALUABLE WRITING LESSONS --

"The most valuable lesson I've learned about writing is that it's hard work. It's energizing and draining, something I love to do and hate to do, something that's never done, but eventually has to be turned in."
~Randy Alcorn, author of Safely Home (Tyndale).

"The most valuable lesson I've learned about writing is that it's about production. Turning out a certain number of words each day, and then polishing those words so they're the best I can do (the polishing comes later, after getting the words out). And as in production of goods, production of words must follow the Japanese principle of kaizen--continuous improvement in quality. That means learning the craft and applying what I learn to my words, and doing this over and over again."
~James Scott Bell, author of Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure (Writers
Digest Books).

"The most important lesson I've learned about writing is that you earn the right to say what you want. It's a privilege, not a right, to be published. You pay your dues as in any other business and putting down someone ahead of you will not get to your goal faster."
~Kristin Billerbeck, author of What A Girl Wants (WestBow Press).

"The most important thing I learned about writing: every writer experiences seasons. There's the heady Spring Season when everything you write gets published and it's all fresh, new, exciting. There's the Summer Season full
of readers, fans, people who recognize your name, and the promise of unending future contracts. There's the Autumn Season when prospects become sparse and you need encouragement to stay productive while you rethink who
you are and where you're headed. Then there's Winter Season's icy lulls of waiting and wondering if it's all over and that's all you've wrote forevermore. The neat thing about it--winter doesn't last if you keep plodding with that next idea."
~Janet Chester Bly, author of Words To Live By For Women (Bethany House)

"The most valuable lesson I learned about writing is that when the plot drags, shoot someone."
~Stephen Bly, author of Paperback Writer (Broadman & Holman).

"The most important thing I've learned has been to let myself write badly. Every day I'm still tempted to avoid typing anything that isn't excellent. That just freezes my creativity and I don't get anything written. Instead,
I'm training myself to JUST WRITE. Write what's in my heart, what's in my brain, just as it comes out. It looks like a mess, but after that first draft is completed, the real fun begins."
~Janelle Burnham Schneider, author of British Columbia: The Romantic History of Dawson Creek in Four Complete Novels (Barbour Publishing)

"The most valuable lesson I've learned about writing is that the old admonition "write your passion" is more than mere mantra-it's essential to developing your calling as a writer. For years I wrote what I thought the market wanted, but then an editor said, "What are you dying to write?" That
question-and the resulting book-gave me the first glimmer of the writer I was supposed to be when I grew up."
~Angela E. Hunt, author of Unspoken (WestBow Press).

"The most valuable lesson I've learned about writing is to tell the Truth. This sounds like a contradiction, since we novelists apparently get paid for making up all sorts of lies. But don't be misled by questions of mere fact. The telephone book is full of facts, but it hasn't got enough Truth in it to move an amoeba. Write a Truthful novel--one packed full of your own ragged hurts, joys, fears, passions, rage, love--and you'll have a book that can move mountains."
~Randall Ingermanson, author of Double Vision (Bethany House).

"The most valuable lesson I learned about writing is that it can always be better but sometimes you have to stop and accept that it's as good as it's going to get. If novelists suffered over every line waiting to get it perfect, we'd only write punch lines."
~Nancy Moser, author of The Seat Beside Me (Multnomah)

"Write tight."
~Jane Orcutt, author of Dear Baby Girl (Tyndale House).

"Though the act of writing may be therapeutic for the
writer, a book doesn't really come to life until it's read by someone else. If God uses your story to bring joy or comfort or reproof or wisdom to even one other life, you are a success in the eyes of the only One who matters."
~Deborah Raney, author of A Nest of Sparrows (WaterBrook Press)

You can find quotes like these in the upcoming book of short stories:
WHAT THE WIND PICKED UP
available online, March 2005 . . .
includes your favorite CBA authors, such as . . .
Lynn Austin (Gods and Kings), Karen Ball (Shattered Justice),
Ron and Janet Benrey (Pippa Hunnechurch Mysteries),
Sandra Byrd (Friends for a Season), Mindy Starns Clark (The Buck Stops Here), Brandilyn Collins (Brink of Death), Anne de Graaf (Into the Nevernight),
DeAnna Julie Dodson (In Honor Bound), Robert Elmer (The Celebrity),
Rene Gutteridge (Boo Who), Robin Lee Hatcher (Beyond the Shadows),
Kristen Heitzman (Secrets), Roxanne Henke (After Anne),
Patricia Hickman (Nazareth's Song), Clay Jacobsen (Interview with the Devil),
Lissa Halls Johnson (Bad Girl Days), Jane Kirkpatrick (A Land of Sheltered Promise), Harry Kraus (Could I Have This Dance?), Wendy Lawton (Shadow of His Hand),
Yvonne Lehman (Coffee Rings), Cindy Martinusen (The Salt Garden),
Judith Miller (A Love Woven), Tom Morissey (Deep Blue), Bill Myers (Soul Tracker), Carol Umberger (Scottish Crown Series), Stephanie Grace Whitson (A Garden in Paris)
and more . . .