The Review Is Not the Verdict: Why Book Reviews Don't Define Your Worth

From Edie: Heidi Gray McGill shares why book reviews don't define your worth as a writer and how to build reader relationships, gain reviews, and stay faithful to God's calling.

The Review Is Not the Verdict: Why Book Reviews Don't Define Your Worth

by Heidi Gray McGill @HeidiGrayMcGill

What I Learned About Numbers, Worth, and Showing Up Anyway

I joined the one-star review club a few years back. Feel free to clap.

I say that with a smile now, but the first time a reader put it in public that my work was not worth their time, I felt it. Not for long, but I felt it. What I have learned since then is that the review was never a verdict on my worth as a writer or my calling as an author. It was one data point in a much larger numbers game, and understanding that distinction changed how I read those numbers.

How to Work with Your Book Editor: 5 Tips for Authors

From Edie: Cindy K. Sproles shares 5 practical tips for working with your book editor, improving communication, managing deadlines, and navigating the editing process.

How to Work with Your Book Editor: 5 Tips for Authors

by Cindy K. Sproles @CindyDevoted

It finally happened—a contract. You’ve signed and returned it, and now the work begins. The montage of editors begins to pour in and suddenly you feel…a bit overwhelmed. Editors and deadlines, and timelines. Oh My. Dorothy could have a whole new set of lyrics to her song.

Don't Go It Alone: The Power of Accountability for Writers

From Edie: Larry J. Leech shares how accountability partners help writers stay connected, motivated, and encouraged through life's challenges and the writing journey.

Don't Go It Alone: The Power of Accountability for Writers

by Larry J. Leech, II @LarryJLeechII

Life likes to throw me more curveballs than anything else. At my age, I thought changeups and 75-mph fastballs would be what I faced the most.

Nope.

In recent years I feel like I’ve seen curveball after curveball after curveball. 

And I course, I swing and miss. Grumble. And wait for the next curveball. Miss again. Over and over and over. To the point, I want to throw down my bat, go home, and crawl into bed until life here on earth is done.

When Life Interrupts Your Writing: Finding the Courage to Continue

From Edie: Martin Wiles shares how Christian writers can find the strength and courage to keep writing through life's interruptions, difficult seasons, and unexpected challenges.

When Life Interrupts Your Writing: Finding the Courage to Continue

by Martin Wiles @LinesFromGod

Life’s twists and turns came, and I wrote through them.

My writing began in earnest forty years ago when I began supply preaching. Like dear ole’ dad, a lifelong preacher, I wrote my sermons out in longhand. 

When Writing Stops Being Fun: 4 Ways to Find Your Writing Joy Again

From Edie: Tim Suddeth shares four practical ways to rediscover the joy of writing, rekindle creativity, and make writing fun again when it starts to feel like work.

When Writing Stops Being Fun: 4 Ways to Find Your Writing Joy Again

by Tim Suddeth @TimSuddeth

When was the last time you allowed yourself to write for fun. Just for the fun of it.

Or, scarily, when was the last time you did anything for fun? Is that even allowed now that you’re an adult? Or old? (However you want to define it. I define it as the time when you lose your ability to have fun.)

The Writing Productivity Secret That Has Nothing to Do with Writing

From Edie: A.C. Williams reveals an unexpected secret to writing productivity and shares how one simple practice can prevent burnout and restore creativity.

The Writing Productivity Secret That Has Nothing to Do with Writing

by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author

Looking for a productivity hack for your writing? 

It’s not a new software, although several new ones have hit the market recently and are very useful. It’s not a new process, although many Youtubers have tried recreating famous authors’ writing routines to various degrees of success. It’s not even a new craft book that teaches you to draft faster. 

When Publishing Tests Your Patience: Trusting God Through the Writing Process

From Edie: Lynn H. Blackburn shares how Christian writers can trust God and find patience through publishing pressures, unexpected revisions, and overwhelming deadlines.

When Publishing Tests Your Patience: Trusting God Through the Writing Process

by Lynn H. Blackburn @LynnHBlackburn

Fruit Under Pressure: Deadlines, reviews, comparison, the silence after you hit send. We’re on month four of a nine-month exploration of what it looks like to live out the fruit of the Spirit as we navigate the pressure system of publishing.

Everyone take a deep breath. 

Today we’re talking about Patience.

If you’ve been a Christian or around the church for any length of time, you’ve heard this. “Don’t pray for patience!” No one, and I mean no one, wants to pray for that. We say it in a joking way, but we know, deep in our core, that opportunities to exercise patience abound. Praying for it is just asking for drama! 

And yet, I dare say that if you’re reading this, you’ve asked God to help you in your pursuit of publication.