Author Archives: Steph Nickel
Writing When Life Gets Crazy by Jack Popjes
Shortly after I agreed to write this blog post on the topic “Writing When Life Gets Crazy,” it did. The saying “It never rains but it pours” is apt for my life right now. I received invitations to speak at 7 events taking place within 18 days. Our chronically ill youngest daughter took a turn… Read more »
Writing When Life Gets Crazy by Pamela Mytroen
When isn’t life crazy? Job, family responsibilities, and news events crash against us like the wind batting and shaking our homes. If that’s not enough, then the media whispers ceaselessly around the cracks of our windows, letting us know that we are not beautiful, wealthy, or powerful enough. And yet we must take time to… Read more »
Nothing is Wasted by Violet Nesdoly
For most of us writers, working demands a certain amount of predictability and solitude. But life doesn’t always deliver that. Sometimes it gets crazy. Then the question becomes this: Do we continue to write or do we drop the pen and surrender to circumstances? To begin to answer these questions, let’s look at some of… Read more »
12 Ways to Carve Out Writing Time by Steph Beth Nickel
Sometimes life gets crazy busy. I know. I know. That’s an understatement. However . . . If we’re going to actually write (and not just dream about “someday”), we have to carve out some time. Here are a dozen suggestions on how to do so:
Add Colour to Your Writing by Janice L. Dick
When my son arrived in Lima, Peru, while on a mission trip some years ago, he was struck by the riot of colour in the city. His email said, “It looked like a kid had gone crazy with a box of crayons.” Without naming any colours, he had created a picture of the scene I… Read more »
Colour Me Gracious by Brenda J. Wood
Writers’ groups and their goals are as varied as the words on a page. They range from the tender and all-forgiving to the meanest criticism in the world. I’ve been a member of both types of groups and I definitely prefer the kinder kind. Unfortunately, some people thrive on shredding your work to pieces because… Read more »
Adding Colour—Literally by Tracy Krauss
As an artist as well as a writer, I know the importance of colour. Yet I’ve read a few manuscripts with a distinct lack of it. Rather than “fifty shades of gray,” perhaps we should be looking for fifty words to express exactly what we envision.
A Writer Who Speaks or A Speaker Who Writes? by Jack Popjes
Am I a writer who speaks, or a speaker who writes? I don’t know. What I do know is that the words I write as I tell a story for my readers are completely different from the words I use when I tell that story to a live audience.
Adding Colour by Pamela Mytroen
The hotel room I am staying in depresses me. Shades of brown from the bedspread to the carpet and drapes and even the beige wallpaper and gold-framed art are lacking an accent colour. But what is worse, a bland monochromatic colour scheme or loud colours of every shade shouting at you? To add colour to… Read more »