I’m still decompressing from this past weekend in Destin, Fl. It was an awesome experience to meet and listen to some of my favorite authors in person. The featured authors included Victoria Christopher Murray, Reshonda Tate Billingsley, Michelle Bowens, Kendra Norman-Bellamy, Sherri Lewis, Dwan Abrams, Bonnie Hopkins and our gracious host, Tiffany Warren.
I’m going to post my take (along with photos) on the 2nd Annual Faith and Fiction Retreat this evening or tomorrow, but for now I wanted to share some interesting news.
Next spring, everything about the marketing and selling of Christian books is going to change. The ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) is going to host the Christian Book Expo in Dallas, March 20-22.
Literary Agent Chip MacGregor began his blog post with this announcement yesterday. I encourage you as an author or reader to check out the full blog post at ChipMacGregor.com.
Charles Marshall began his career onstage as a singer/songwriter. When his singing voice gave out, he turned to stand-up comedy and was much more successful. He is now a nationally syndicated Christian humor columnist and has contributed to Focus on the Family magazine. He is the author of Shattering the Glass Slipper: Destroying Fairy Tale Thinking Before It Destroys You and has filmed two stand-up comedy videos, I’m Just Sayin’ and Fully Animated.
Deena over at A Peek at My Bookshelf tagged me to play along with the “Book Buzz” game . Becky Miller (A Christian Worldview of Fiction) came up with this game to bring participants more blog traffic.
Here’s how it will work.
I’m going to list five MUST Read novels and five Keep Your Eyes on These novels, then tag five bloggers who I’m asking to post my list on their site. They may then add one book to each list but must also subtract one book. Finally they should tag five other bloggers, click here at A Christian Worldview of Fiction, and comment to this post so visitors here know to check out how they may have changed the list.
Recently, literary agent Terry Whalin talked about the danger of a single focus.
… in this entry on The Writing Life, I want to point out the danger of a single focus for your writing. I’ve met many writers who have only focused on their lengthy fiction project and never considered writing anything smaller like a short story or a nonfiction magazine article. Because of their single-minded focus, they have never experimented with the other writing forms to their own detriment. Why? They have failed one of the key ingredients for any successful writer and not built a body of work.
Kind of interesting read. About three years ago now, I never imagined writing a full length novel. I’ve always been pulled to this idea of writing a book, but figured it would be nonfiction. While my focus now is on a few fiction projects, I still love to read and write nonfiction pieces.
There’s definitely a balance when you can flow in and out of writing about a character and then write about Christian living or a bible study, which being a teacher at heart, I love to do.
If you hadn’t noticed in the upper right hand corner of TyoraMoody.com, my other blog, CookieAisle.com is listed. On Cookie Aisle, I tend to focus on my nonfiction writing.
The craft of writing is the same across the board whether it’s fiction or nonfiction.
It’s important to engage the reader and write tight.
If you haven’t already, check out my God’s Word Unwrapped devotion this week, All About Us (Or Is It?).
This devotion was originally written in 2000 and entitled “All About Me”. It’s been modified to reflect my thoughts now as more mature Christian. At least that’s my prayer. If you like it stop by and leave a comment. Share your thoughts.
"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 12:1-2 NIV
There was a time I thought I was Ms. Goody-Two Shoes. You know my good outweighs my bad, so I’m okay. Not like other folks. This same condescending attitude kept me from accepting God in my life for years.
I believed in "the man upstairs", but I did my own thing, not comprehending there was a greater purpose outside my little world. As life goes, frustration and anger settled into my being and I started to wonder, wasn’t there more to life than this?
