Creative Writing Prompts and Warm-Up Writing

I’m not a fan of writing prompts. They make me feel like I’m back in high school English, waiting to get a bunch of red pen marks all over it. I sometimes read books on writing, trying to hone my craft and learn from other writers. The advice I get from these books is great, […]

The Perfect Writing Moment

I make so many excuses when it comes to writing. I’m too tired, I’m too busy, I’ll write when I have the perfect moment. I will write later. I always make this promise to myself. I always feel there will be a better moment somewhere in the near future, where the quality of writing produced […]

Inspiration is a necessity

Writing while dry is not productive. I have tried many times to sit down at my keyboard when I’m completely devoid of inspiration. I do believe that inspiration will not just come to you. Sometimes you have to seek it out, and that often comes from simply doing the work. However, I have noticed that […]

Description Puts the Reader Into the Story

Description is an important element of the craftsmanship of writing. Description is the means by which the writer conveys the setting to the reader. In the sentence, “Harry entered the room,” the reader does not have much material for his own mental picture of the situation. That sentence needs to be embedded in or to […]

What the Gospel Writers Knew About ‘Show Don’t Tell’

You wouldn’t think the Gospels could teach us much about subtlety and hidden meaning in our creative writing, would you? They each tell the story of Jesus’ ministry in an apparently straightforward way, laying out what happened from their own clear perspectives. Yet, I found out just how subtle, and therefore how rich and extra-satisfying […]

How a Christian Writer Should Research Topics

Good research is a science, really. There are clear steps to take and key things you do in performing good research. Then it becomes an art; knowing what bits and pieces to keep and which ones to throw out and how to fit all the pieces together to make the picture. It is important to […]

Prayer and Worship Through Your Writing

I was struggling in my prayer life. I was talking and talking and talking and, of course, talking some more, but God was not answering. Why was He not answering me?! I would spend ten minutes in prayer and be bored, distracted, and half falling asleep. I was frustrated and had no idea where to […]

A Much Needed Push (For The Christian Writer)

I’ll never forget that first day of class. It was my junior year of college and I enrolled in – what I thought – would be a blow-off class. Boy was I wrong. It was a communications class with a new professor by the name of Dr. Hensley. Hensley got up, stared at us until […]