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How I Write: Julie Arduini

November 30, 2020 by Karin Beery 2 Comments

Julie Arduini is a multi-published author with traditional and self-publishing experience, and today she’s sharing her knowledge with us. Thank you!

Welcome, and thank you so much for being here. Let’s start with: what do you write? How/why did you pick your genre?

My preference is contemporary romance. I did write one series, Surrendering Stinkin’ Thinkin’, with my teen daughter for YA/Women’s Fiction. I love reading romance, but overall I believe God picked the genre for me.

How long does it take you to: write the book? Edit it? Finalize it?

Does it take and should it take are two different time frames for me. I think barring any interruptions, I can write a book in three months, edit in a couple weeks, and finalize in a couple weeks. The reality is life gets in the way. I have a husband with a demanding job. I have two children who live at home. I’m active with my church. My family lives 300 miles away and because it’s just me and my sister helping our mother, I travel there as often as I can. My upcoming release, Anchored Hearts, has taken nearly two years to write.

If you’ve written multiple books, which was harder: the first book or the following books? Why?

I think the following are harder for me because they were never in my plans, only God’s plans. The first book, Entrusted, I pictured for almost two decades before writing it for publication. I didn’t take being an author seriously until I finished Entrusted and knew within the story there was an open door to write another book. Entangled was the next one, and I struggled. I really agonized on how to write the second one because I stressed myself out.

What’s your writing day like?

No day is the same. As I type, I’m out of state helping my sister move, so my writing is delayed for a few weeks. When I’m home, I tend to get everyone ready for their work/school, then exercise, shower, and read devotions and pray. By then it’s late morning, so I try to get a couple hours writing in before I have to make dinner and deal with home issues. Some evenings I can get back at writing. But it’s hard.

How do you prepare to write your books: pantser, plotter, both, something completely different?

I think I’m a little of both. I have a bulletin board with index cards everywhere. Each book has a card with the overall goal. Then I create cards for each character. If I have a certain chapter where I have goals I want to achieve, that gets a card as well. Otherwise, I have a team that prays for me, and I pray as well. I ask God to direct me and write from there.

If you’re self-published, why did you decide to go that route? If you’re traditionally published, why did you decide to go that route?

I was with a small publisher and enjoyed it, but I felt a nudge from God to go indie. In doing so I felt it would be more than a small business, but a ministry where everything I do—writing, speaking, or mentoring—can fall under my surrender and chocolate brand. Being self-published gives me that freedom to do all these things.

What advice do you have for new authors?

Set deadlines for yourself. Whether it’s a first draft, submitting to an agent, or handing chapters in o a critique group, deadlines are essential. Treat your writing like a hobby and you’ll get hobby results. Treat writing like your calling/business, and your work will show.

What does your revision process look like?

I go through a chapter at a time. Once I’ve cleaned it up, I send to two critique groups. Once I receive their marks, I make changes. I finish the manuscript and go over it a couple more times before sending to an editor. I make those changes, and then to BETA readers.  After they return their comments, I go over it one more time.


Julie Arduini loves to encourage readers to find freedom in Christ by surrendering the good, the bad, and —maybe one day—the chocolate. She’s the author of the contemporary romance series SURRENDERING TIME, (Entrusted, Entangled, Engaged,) as well as the stand-alone novellas, MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN and RESTORING CHRISTMAS. She also shares her story in the infertility devotional, A WALK IN THE VALLEY.

Her other latest release, YOU’RE BRILLIANT, is for girls ages 10-100, written with her teenaged daughter, Hannah, and is book 3 in their SURRENDERING STINKIN’ THINKIN’ series.She blogs every other Wednesday for Christians Read, as well as monthly with Inspy Romance. She resides in Ohio with her husband and two children. Learn more by visiting her at http://juliearduini.com, where she invites readers to opt in to her content full of resources and giveaway opportunities.

Facebook: http://facebook.com/JulieArduini
Facebook Author Page: http://facebook.com/JulieArduiniAuthor
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JulieArduini
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/JulieArduini
Instagram: http://instagram.com/JulieArduini
Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/JulieArduini
Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/JulieArduini
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Julie-Arduini/e/B00PBKDRSQ/
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/julie-arduini
Julie Arduini Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/321e32f02e17/juliearduininewsletter

Filed Under: interview Tagged With: author interview, editing tips, Julie Arduini, writing fiction, writing tips

How I Write: James R. Callan

October 19, 2020 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

James R. Callan and I “met” online years ago, and it didn’t take me long to realize he’s a wealth of knowledge when it comes to writing and publishing a book. That’s why I’m thrilled to talk with him today, not just to share his knowledge with you but also to learn more about how he attained it.

James, thanks for letting me interview you.

Hi, Karin, and thanks for inviting me to be on your blog. It is always a pleasure to interact with you and your readers.

To start, what do you write? How did you pick your genre?

I have written several stand-alone mysteries. I have also, at the request of a publisher, written two books on writing. But for several years now, I’ve concentrated on two series. One is the Father Frank Mysteries, a cozy, Christian mystery series. The other series is the Crystal Moore Suspense Series. The Crystal books fall between suspense and thriller. Personally, I think of them as suspense books. But often, reviewers describe them as thrillers. And I am a member of the International Thriller Writers. I picked these genres because those are the ones I prefer to read.

How long does it take you to write a book?

It’s difficult for me to set the length of time it takes me to write a book. The reason for this is, I don’t know when to say I’ve started. A germ of an idea pops into my head. That may be an incident, a character, or something else. I let that rattle around in my brain for some time, perhaps many weeks. Different aspects of this original thought begin to appear. After a while, connections between various bits of information begin to form. Characters walk in. At some point, I begin to hear snatches of conversation related to the book. And once those bit of dialog become significant, I know it’s time to start writing this book.

So, when does the process of writing the book start? That’s why it’s hard for me to say how long it takes to write the book. Off hand, I give it about a year. That includes several versions. So, to be a little more specific, I’d say the actual writing of the text takes me six months. Then there is another four months to polish it. Beta readers, another month. Add another month for polishing after Beta comments. About a year.

How do you prepare to write your books: pantser, plotter, or both?

I’m a mixture of pantser and plotter. I like to have an ending in mind when I begin to write. This allows me to plug along, knowing I have an ending. But the truth is, the book rarely ends that way. As I go through the writing process, some of the characters become so real that they may suggest turns I had not planned. And almost every book winds up with an ending different from what I thought it might be when I started writing. I suggest that you spend enough time with major characters that they can actually influence where the book goes. You may be in charge of the story, but the characters are living inside the story. If they feel strongly enough to suggest a turn to you, listen. They’re probably right.

How do you combat writer’s block?

My suggestion is to start writing – anything. Well, maybe not checks. But write a blog post, a letter to a friend (okay, an email). Anything. Write a description of the last party your family or friends had. Write. And after a while, without even thinking about it, you will start writing on the book again.

Which was harder, your first book or the following books? Why?

I think my first book was the hardest. I had no idea how to go about it. I stumbled along, and threw out more than I kept. I never thought it was good enough and I found myself unable to proceed because the last bit I’d written needed more polishing. Now, I know to write the story. Then I go back and polish it.

What surprised you most about the publishing process?

What surprised me the most about the entire process was the need to be engaged in marketing from day one.

What advice do you have for new authors?

I would suggest to all beginning writers to keep this in mind as they begin to write. Begin to collect an email list. Begin to establish a social media presence. And study other talented and successful writers. Why are they successful? What about their formation of sentences, paragraphs, plots makes you think, “She really got that right.” And I’ll add my comments below on the revision process as an important point for new writers.

Speaking of that, what does your revision process look like?

Revision is not anyone’s favorite thing. But it is so important. So, take the attitude: “This is great. I’ve finished the book. Now, I just need to make certain all the pieces fit together.”

I make a scene descriptor file – a list of every scene in every chapter. To each scene, I attach the date and time, the major characters in the scene, anything unusual (storm, accident, snow, new character, etc.) and what I hoped this scene did for the book. (It must do one of these two things: move the plot along, or enhance the reader’s understanding of a character.

This is best done as you move through writing the book. But, if you haven’t done it along the way, go back, start at chapter 1 and make this scene descriptor file as complete as possible. I have caught discrepancies in the date, day or time. I have found a scene where later in the book, a character should have been in that scene, but he wasn’t.

Making this scene chart takes time, but it helps avoid those embarrassing comments when people tell you character X was dead the day before he walked into the meeting. And that does happen when you’re writing the first draft.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us!


James R. Callan’s fourteenth book should be released in November.  It is a Father Frank Mystery titled A Plot for Murder.  It centers on finding who murdered an unpleasant speaker at a writers conference. If you’d like to read the first few chapters, send an email to: jim@jamesrcallan.com with the subject “Tell me more.”

http://jamesrcallan.com/

Filed Under: interview Tagged With: author interview, editing tips, James R. Callan, writing a book, writing tips

How Reading Helps Your Editing

October 9, 2020 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

There are a lot of rules for good writing, and good editors know all of those rules. Editors take writing and editing classes, read books, and go to conferences to help them better understand how to create a good book.

If you want to produce a great book, however, you need a great editor, and great editors know when and why to break the rules. There aren’t a lot of classes that teach you how to do that, though, so exactly how does an editor hone those rule-breaking skills?

By reading.

Read the rest of the article here on the PEN Tips blog!

Filed Under: editing Tagged With: editing tips, reading, writing fiction, writing tips

How I Write: Amanda Cabot

September 21, 2020 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

Some writers seem to be naturally gifted–they sit down and write, then submit an award-winning manuscript to their editors.

Not exactly. Amanda Cabot’s had more than 30 books published and she still takes the time to edit and revise. Want to know how she does it? Keep reading…

Hello, and thank you so much for being here! Let’s start at the beginning: what do you write? How did you pick your genre?

I write romances – short, long, contemporary, historical, with and without suspense elements. What my stories have in common are heroes and heroines who overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to reach the happily-ever-after (HEA) that romance readers demand from their books. As for how or why I chose to write romance, I’m not sure I had a choice. My favorite books to read were always those that had the classic HEA, so when it was my turn to write a book, it seemed natural to write a romance.

How long does it take you to: write the book? Edit it? Finalize it?

For me, the whole process (which I describe in more detail below) takes between six and eight months.

Which was harder to write: the first book or the following books?

The following books have been harder for me, simply because I strive to make each one better than the preceding one. That puts a lot of pressure on me to find new plot lines and characters who are distinctly different from the ones in earlier books. It’s hard work, but anything less would disappoint readers, and that’s not something I’m willing to do.

What’s your favorite book on writing?

It’s a toss-up between Dwight Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer and Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey. Swain, as his title indicates, outlines the basics of writing as a craft, while Vogler provides guidelines for effective plotting.

What’s your favorite writers conference? What do you like about it?

Although I haven’t been there in a few years, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ annual Colorado Gold conference is one of my favorites. The hotel is one of the best venues I’ve found for conferences; the workshops are excellent, the attendees and presenters friendly. I always come home energized and enthusiastic about writing.

How do you combat writer’s block?

Writer’s block – what’s that? While I haven’t suffered from it in its classic definition, I used to reach the middle of the first draft and be convinced that what I was writing was the worst prose in the English language and that my editor would reject the book and demand that I return the advance. But, since I had a contract, I continued writing. Each and every time, when I finished the first draft and reread it, I realized that it wasn’t the worst prose in the English language. It was simply a first draft, and first drafts can – and will be – edited into good stories.

What advice do you have for new authors?

Never give up. If you choose the traditional publishing route, rejection is a fact of life. I won’t sugarcoat it: rejection hurts. But if you let it defeat you, if you stop sending out your manuscript because it was rejected, you’re only hurting yourself. Believe in your book and in yourself.

What does your revision process look like?

For me, writing is a multi-step process. I begin with a brief synopsis, which is my selling tool. Once I have a contract, I create a chapter-by-chapter outline, deciding which scenes will be in each chapter. Note: this is not cast in stone. It often changes during the actual writing process, but it provides a basic roadmap.

Next comes the first draft, which I describe as the skeleton. Like Halloween skeletons, it’s ugly, but it’s the framework for the story. I do not revise during the first draft, although I may make notes on pages I’ve already written about changes I want to incorporate into the second draft.

Before I begin the second draft, aka the flesh-and-blood phase, I read through the full manuscript in printed form, making more notes of things I want to change. The second draft is where I incorporate those changes, which may involve adding or deleting scenes. I also add more description and more emotion.

When I finish the second draft, I do another readthrough of printed pages, this time doing what I call the accessories stage – you know, adding makeup and jewelry. The modifications at this stage are minimal, but this is where I catch word repetition, punctuation errors, or other problems that a copyeditor would flag.

Once I’ve finished this phase, I read through the entire manuscript one more time, this time on the computer. It always amazes me how differently my brain sees sentences on the screen compared to on the printed page. It’s only when I’ve done this final readthrough that I’m ready to send the manuscript to my editor.


A young woman with a tragic past has arrived in town . . . and trouble is following close behind

Ten years after her parents were killed, Evelyn Radcliffe is once more homeless. The orphanage that was her refuge and later her workplace has burned to the ground, and only she and a young orphan girl have escaped. Convinced this must be related to her parents’ murders, Evelyn flees with the girl to Mesquite Springs in the Texas Hill Country and finds shelter in the home of Wyatt Clark, a talented horse rancher whose plans don’t include a family of his own.

At first, Evelyn is a distraction. But when it becomes clear that trouble has followed her to Mesquite Springs, she becomes a full-blown disruption. Can Wyatt keep her safe from the man who wants her dead? And will his own plans become collateral damage?

Suspenseful and sweetly romantic, Out of the Embers is the first in a new series that invites you to the Texas Hill Country in the 1850s, when the West was wild, the men were noble, and the women were strong.


Amanda Cabot’s dream of selling a book before her thirtieth birthday came true, and she’s now the author of more than thirty-five novels as well as eight novellas, four non-fiction books, and what she describes as enough technical articles to cure insomnia in a medium-sized city. Her inspirational romances have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists, have garnered a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and have been nominated for the ACFW Carol, the HOLT Medallion, and the Booksellers Best awards. A popular workshop presenter, Amanda takes pleasure in helping other writers achieve their dreams of publication.

www.amandacabot.com
https://www.facebook.com/amanda.j.cabot
https://twitter.com/AmandaJoyCabot/
http://amandajoycabot.blogspot.com/

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Filed Under: interview Tagged With: Amanda Cabot, author interview, editing tips, interview, writing fiction, writing tips, writing tools

How I Write: Christina Sinisi

August 17, 2020 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

Some writers wait for the muse before they write (not a recommended strategy), but not Christina Sinisi. She actually turns to simple math to help her get her stories written–and it’s working! With two novellas and one novel releasing in three years, she’s figured a few things out, and she’s here to share her secrets.

Thank you for being here! First things first: what do you write?

Thank you for having me! I write Christian Contemporary Romance. So far, I’ve sold two Christmas novellas—The Christmas Confusion came out last November and Christmas on Ocracoke is expected this December—and one full-length novel is expected next summer, Sweet Summer. 

I chose this genre because it reflects who I am. My faith is the most important thing in my life, followed by my husband of 34 years and my children. Now, did I realize that at first? No. I was writing fantasy/sci fi and getting nowhere until a friend (who also happens to be a NY Times best-selling author) said I think you should write inspirational. She was right.

What’s the most difficult part of writing your genre? How do you work through those challenges?

There’s a balance between demonstrating how God works in people’s lives and being preachy; I need to work to find that happy medium, not lukewarm, but neither do I want to turn people off. I want to depict people’s struggles with their faith as well as how wonderfully faith can be a comfort in the tough times.

How long does it take you to: write the book? Edit it? Finalize it?

Don’t hate me—but I can write in whatever time frame I’m given. I wrote The Christmas Confusion in 3 and a half weeks because that’s how long I had between seeing the call for novellas and the deadline. I set a goal and I reach it. Now, if I could only do that with my diet. J

What’s your favorite book on writing? What do you like about it?

Deb Dixon’s GMC, Goal Motivation and Conflict is a very hands-on and useful book. I use her charts for every book I write. I find it really important to get to know my characters as people and the plot follows from there.

What conference do you most want to attend? Why?

I’ve attended RWA and Moonlight and Magnolias several times each, as far as the general romance writing world, but I have yet to attend ACFW. Since this is my writer’s world now and I really love our local chapter members so I look forward to attending the national conference as soon as I can.

What’s your writing day like?

I rarely get a day to just write. I’m a professor in my day job and that, along with being department chair, never seems to completely stop.

In the summer, though, I do get afternoons or mornings depending on what comes up. When I sit down to write, I usually journal first as a warm-up. Then, I write until I reach my page count for the day.  I set my page count by literally counting the days until the book is due (or, when I don’t have an official deadline, I’ll set one) and divide.

So, for example the typical novel is around 300 pages (check guidelines for whichever publisher you’re considering submitting) and if I have three months…I’ll give myself a week for plotting and planning and creating the GMC for my characters. Then, I’ll deduct at least a week or two at the end to revise and edit and send to a writing partner for critique. So, that gives me about 2 months and a week which rounds out to 5 pages a day. That’s not hard!!

What advice do you have for new authors?

If you love writing, keep at it. Don’t let rejections or the lack of time or everybody’s confusion—how can you keep writing when you’re getting nowhere—get to you. I mean, what else are you going to do with your spare time? Binge watch Netflix all day? Nah.

How do you self-edit your manuscript?

I was a member of RWA for over a decade and attended monthly workshops as much as possible so I’ve learned quite a few strategies on self-editing and revising. Generally, I love the process where you take turns going through the manuscript, maybe with different colored post-it notes looking at different things. These passes can include—POV, romance threat, conflict thread, faith thread, and grammar. I’ll also take notes as I go about small points I need to check on—like does my secondary character have the same name through the entire thing (I tend to write fast and try out different options). I talk more about plotting and this pass-through process in my own blog at www. https/ChristinaSinisi.com


A member of the American Christian Ficiton Writers, Christina Sinisi writes stories about families, both the broken and blessed. Her works include a semi-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest and the American Title IV Contest in which she appeared in the top ten in the Romantic Times magazine. Her published books include The Christmas Confusion and the upcoming Sweet Summer, the first two books in the Summer Creek Series, as well as the upcoming Christmas On Ocracoke expected this December. By day, she is a psychology professor and lives in the Lowcountry of South Carolina with her husband and two children and cat Chessie.

Website/Blog: https://www.christinasinisi.com/
Twitter: @ChristinaSinisi
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Christina-Sinisi-Author-105861987440664/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Instagram: @csinisi123
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/csinisi/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/101218889-christina-sinisi

Filed Under: interview Tagged With: author interview, editing tips, self-editing, writer's conference, writing tips

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