How I Write | Write Now Editing

How I Write: Ginny Dent Brant

October 11, 2021 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

Writing a book is hard enough. Writing a book while battling cancer? I can’t even imagine!

Ginny Dent Brant doesn’t have to imagine–she did it. And she published it. And she’s won awards for it.

Today, she’s sharing tips and wisdom from her experiences as a nonfiction and cancer survivor.

Thank you so much for joining me today. Please tell us what you write. How/why did you pick your genre?
I write memoirs and Christian living books. I enjoy writing about real people. I’ve also written over 50 articles that are interviews with Christians about their faith. Some of those articles have made it to The Baptist Press, Townhall, and The Christian Post. My most popular articles were my tributes to Chuck Colson (carried by 15 different newspapers/magazines), Billy Graham, Robertson McQuilkin, and Dr. Avery Willis after they passed.

What’s the most difficult part of writing? How do you work through those challenges?
I wrestled with God over writing a book about my cancer journey. While meeting with the hospital chaplain about the dilemma of dealing with cancer, he told me, “Consider this a gift from God for you to help other people. You’re a writer and a speaker—think of all the people you could help.”

My response, “No way. I don’t want this gift.” But the more I researched, the more I felt compelled to share with others what I’d learned. It was difficult to do the hard work while with dealing with the side effects of treatments and medications.

In my first book, Finding True Freedom, the difficult part was deciding which intimate details to share and getting the okay from family members. A memoir about your own family can be like walking through a field with landmines.

How long does it take you to: write the book? Edit it? Finalize it?
Unleash Your God-given Healing required two years of research, one year of writing, one year of editing and polishing, and 18 months of promoting it. I’m still doing podcasts and interviews.

Which was harder: the first book or the following books? Why?
This recent book Unleash Your God-Given Healing was harder because it is loaded with footnotes to medical research. My editor made me type out every name noted in the research articles instead of using “et al”. I was also asked to recheck all of the footnotes several times, note the last date I checked the websites, and verify all the difficult to spell names! Oh my! Memoirs that require a lot of footnoting can be difficult to write, and they also require the most of the writer including fiction techniques.

What’s your favorite writers conference? What do you like about it?
I’ve attended the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer’s conference four times. They have a wonderful faculty, and many experts have poured their lives into me. It’s also a great place to make connections with other writers, publishers and agents. It’s only 90 minutes from my home.

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?
My first book was traditionally published. For this second book, I knew that Christian publishers do not usually publish books on health and wellness. I knew a “cancer book” would be difficult to get published. I remember going to writer’s conferences and seeing acquisition editors with signs saying, “I’ve heard enough cancer stories.”

I then submitted to eight publishers I had connections with. I heard from three immediately who did not publish health books. In a few weeks, I heard back from three other interested publishers who wanted to see more. One suggested I get a doctor to write commentary in each chapter. I took their advice. Three of these publishers took my book up the ladder. It got close with two publishers, but all of them wanted the doctor commentator to be the co-author. I could not provide that. My book is from the patient’s perspective. It’s not about what the doctors do. It’s about the role the patient can play in their own prognosis. All the publishers said, “This book needs to be published.” That was reassuring.

At that time, I made the decision to self-publish. I went with Westbow Press because they’re the self-publishing arm of Thomas Nelson (Harper Collins). If my book sold well, they would begin distributing it. As of two weeks ago, Harper Collins is both distributing and promoting my book. After winning three awards (Golden Scrolls First, Selah Award Second, and Director’s Choice Award Second for Non-fiction overall), Westbow Press recognized my book with the Lighthouse Recognition Award.

Congratulations! What advice do you have for new authors?
Chuck Colson was the cover endorser for my first book. He advised me to start in the middle of a crisis. I did that in both books. He also advised me to use a theme from beginning to end to tie my story together.

In Finding True Freedom, the theme was dance. My father taught me to dance, he met my mother at a dance, and from a young age, we danced to the same tune, When I gave my life to Christ, we began spinning in different directions. My father tried to block my path, but God moved in his heart, and he became everything he forbid me to be including a missionary. In the end, we were dancing to the same beat with our heavenly Father.

The theme tied throughout my Unleash Your God–Given Healing book was an analogy to the Wizard of Oz. The analogy begins when my doctor shows me the MRI that looks like a tornado has invaded my body. Like Dorothy, I desperately want to get back home to a normal life. When discussing the eight steps, each one has a shared truth from God’s Word and a tie to the Wizard of Oz. For example, in the chapter on hydration, how ironic that Dorothy killed the Wicked Witch of the West with a bucket of water!

I would advise any authors to take Chuck Colson’s advice.

How do you self-edit your manuscript?
I was under cancer treatment during most of the process. I was actually making mistakes I’d normally not make due to brain fog. I asked five friends to go behind me and look for errors and recommendations. Two were English majors, two were nurses, and one was a cancer patient. They caught many mistakes. Mistakes are part of the process. I even found ten mistakes after my first book was published. Although mistakes are normal, you must do everything you can to catch them.

I couldn’t agree more. Thank you so much for joining me today!

Ginny Dent Brant is a speaker and writer who grew up in the halls of power in Washington, DC. She has battled cancer, ministered around the world, and served as a counselor, educator, wellness advocate, and adjunct professor. Brant’s award-winning book, Finding True Freedom: From the White House to the World, was endorsed by Chuck Colson and featured in many media interviews. Unleash Your God-Given Healing was released in May 2020 after her journey with cancer. It was written with commentary by an oncologist, and was recently given a Golden Scrolls Award and named a Selah Award Finalist.

Cancer prevention and wellness blog at www.ginnybrant.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ginny.d.brant/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ginnydentbrant/

How I Write: Joanna White

August 9, 2021 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

Most authors stick with one (or two) genres, but that’s not always the case. Joanna White’s varied career includes several genres and series, and today she’s here to talk about her experiences and what works for her.

Thanks for being here! What do you write? How/why did you pick your genre?
I am the kind of author who writes whatever I’m in the mood for. Most of the time, it’s fantasy, so fantasy is my main genre, but I also write clean romance, action-adventure, historical fiction, Biblical fiction, and I’ve dabbled in a bit of science fiction and military action. The main reason is, again, just because it’s what I’m in the mood for.

What’s the most difficult part of writing your genre? How do you work through those challenges?
That’s a good question. Honestly, writing is a hobby and a passion first, not just a job for me, so most of the time, writing is my way of relaxing and having fun. Sometimes, being creative can be mentally exhausting, but most of the time the difficulty comes from editing it after the book is written. That, and marketing. Trying to get people to buy and read books is so hard for me.

How long does it take you to: write the book? Edit it? Finalize it?
I’m a faster writer than any other author I’ve met. I wrote a million words in 2020 and can write about fifty thousand words in two weeks if I’m able to write a lot every day. Sometimes, I’m tired or lazy or my wrists hurt, but if I push myself, I can write a lot. I can edit pretty quickly—a few weeks to a month or so as well. Depends on how much work the book needs to prepare it for publishing. But my highest word count is about thirty thousand words in eight to ten hours of writing.

If you’ve written multiple books, which was harder: the first book or the following books? Why?
For me, ending a series is way much harder. I have a tendency to not want things to end, so when I wrote the Valiant Series, I first started it around 2012 and finished it in 2017. Even several years later, I am still debating about the ending and trying to revise things and come up with ideas to make it better. I don’t end things very well. Even most of my books end on cliff hangers—that’s how the series was started in the first place; too many cliff hangers, so it all just kept going, haha.

How do you self-edit your manuscript?
Well, I started self-editing because I had to. There was no way I could afford to pay for an editor. It helped that I was a writing competition judge and host for about four years, so I was used to fixing mistakes because I would score writers based on everything from grammar, vocab, sentence structure, to description, action, and dialogue, all the way to the characters acting like they’ve been portrayed to be and no plot holes and stuff like that.

I started having to do that for my own books. For some reason, I miss a lot more when I’m self-editing but when I’m editing other people’s works, I am able to fix just as much as other editors. That’s why I became a freelance editor because I wanted to give people the chance to have an editor they could afford while also giving the same quality as the high-priced ones. But usually, when I’m self-editing, I’ll go through Grammarly on the book once and then read it through and try to catch as much as I can. Sometimes, with some books that are more complicated that need plot or character help, I’ll go through it with my husband because he’s an editor Nazi! I can’t see mistakes within the plot or characters, so that’s when I defer to him. But he also catches mistakes that I don’t see—like sentence structure, which is one of my weaknesses as a writer.

Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and experience with us today! Here’s a bit more about Joanna and her books:

Joanna White is a Christian Author and fangirl. Hunter and Shifter are the first two books in her debut series, called the Valiant Series. In December 2019, one of her short stories was featured in Once Upon A Yuletide, a Christmas fairy tale anthology by Divination Publishing. Dark Magi, a prequel in the Republic Chronicles came out in November 2019. Glimpses of Time and Magic, a historical fantasy anthology, also featured one of her stories.

She graduated from Full Sail University with a BFA in Creative Writing for Entertainment. Ever since she was ten years old, she’s been writing stories and has a deep passion for writing and creating stories, worlds, characters, and plots that readers can immerse themselves in. In 2020, she reached her personal goal of writing a million words in a year. Most of all, Joanna loves God, her family, staying at home, and being a total nerd.

To stay updated and find out more about her novels, where her inspiration comes from, games, giveaways, and more, visit her website at: authorjoannawhite.com.

Facebook: facebook.com/authorjoannawhite
Instagram: instagram.com/authorjoannawhite
Pinterest: pinterest.com/authorjoannawhite
Facebook fangroup: facebook.com/groups/jwwarriors.

How I Write: Jennifer Uhlarik

July 12, 2021 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

Looking for a good writer’s conference to attend? How about tips for breaking through writer’s block? Today, multi-published author and editor Jennifer Uhlarik sits down to tell us what it’s really like being a writer.

Welcome! Let’s start with what you write and how you picked your genre.
I write historical fiction, with my favorite time period being the Old West. I kind of fell into this genre accidentally. I come from a long line of history nerds, and as a child, I read a lot of “horse” books—The Black Stallion series, etc. But when I got to the point that I’d read every young adult book I could find with a horse on the cover, I started searching for something new. I went into my oldest brother’s room and raided his bookshelf, found the only book that had a horse on the cover (a Louis L’Amour western), and began to read it. I quickly discovered that the horse was okay, but the guy on the horse was amazing, and the time period in our country’s history was rife with struggles and adventure. That’s where my love for the genre was born.

If you’ve written multiple books, which was harder: the first book or the following books? Why?
Oh gosh. I’ve found that every book comes with its own challenges. No one is any easier than another. Some take inordinate amounts of research to get the history down. Others, the characters are tight-lipped and won’t tell me what they’re thinking. So each one is difficult in its own way.

What’s your favorite writers conference? What do you like about it?
My new favorite is Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference. I love the faculty—they always have a great group of authors, agents, editors, and other industry professionals teaching classes at this conference, and everyone is so encouraging, no matter what stage of writing you’re in. And hey, you can’t beat the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountain setting!

What’s your writing day like?
A typical day for me is to wake up, read my Bible, then go to the gym with my (retired) hubby. Once we’re home, we’ll have lunch together, and I’ll get to work. I’ll work through the afternoon until dinnertime. We’ll prepare and eat our meal, maybe watch a bit of TV together, and depending on how much more I need to get done that day, I’ll usually sit back down and write a while more. If I’m on a close deadline, then all bets are off, and I’m shackled to my computer until the story is done.

How do you combat writer’s block?
Usually, my writer’s block comes in the form of not knowing how to bridge the gap between where I am in the story and the next major plot point, so sometimes all it takes is to re-read the synopsis I wrote for the story. Other times, I go back and re-read part or all of the story to catch the flow and spirit again. Or I talk to my husband and writing friends who are familiar with the story to see what advice they might give on how to proceed from the point I’m at. And—most of all—I pray for God’s inspiration and try to be quiet and listen for His answers.

How do you prepare to write your books: pantser, plotter, both, something completely different?
I’m what I call a “plantser”—a hybrid between a plotter and a pantser. I’ve written a full synopsis (usually 1-3 pages long) on every story that I’ve published before I began the story. This gives me a nice broad-stroke framework. But it also gives me lots of freedom to explore the twists and turns and be a bit more free-spirited in how I move between the major plot points.

What advice do you have for new authors?
First, it’s a proven fact that people who set realistic/attainable goals are far more likely to achieve them. Those who write them down and post their goals where they can see them are even more likely to make them reality. So set writing goals, write them down, and put them where they are staring you in the face every day—above your desk, on your bathroom mirror, on the refrigerator, or all of the above. Second, never give up in pursuing those dreams. No matter how many times you get told “no,” keep moving forward until you hear a “yes.”

What does your revision process look like?
By the time I write “the end,” my stories are usually pretty sound as far as the story itself. I’ve got two readers—a dear writer friend and my husband—who help me keep the story on the right track. But I am always over my word count, so a lot of my revision process is finding ways to cut words without having to cut content. That means examining every sentence to see if I can cull even one or two words to bring the word count down. Across a full manuscript, those one or two words per sentence adds up to thousands of words and has always gotten me to my goal.

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West.

Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list several times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers, Women Writing the West, and is a lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

Newsletter Sign-up: https://www.subscribepage.com/Jen’s_Newsletter
Website: www.jenniferuhlarik.com
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Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jennifer-uhlarik

How I Write: Valerie Goree

June 28, 2021 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

Do you lose your writing inspiration during the summer? It can be hard to focus when there are so many things going on and the beach is calling your name. You still need to write, though, and today Valerie Goree is going to talk about her publishing experience to help motivate all of us to keep writing!

What do you write? How did you pick your genre?
I write romantic suspense because that’s the genre I prefer to read. In writing romantic suspense, I create the level of suspense I’m comfortable with, and although I sometimes question law enforcement officers to make sure I get the details correct, I still control the action.

What’s the most difficult part of writing your genre? How do you work through those challenges?
The most difficult aspect of writing romantic suspense is to develop a balance between the two elements. The romance must blossom alongside the suspense thread. Neither should overshadow the other. I create situations where the characters have to rely on each other to solve the mystery and so build the bonds that will lead to romance. All my novels have a strong spiritual thread, too, that has to be woven throughout the story.

If you’ve written multiple books, which was harder: the first book or the following books? Why?
I think the following books were harder to write because by then I knew more about the craft of writing a good story. The first novel I wrote flowed freely, however, when I presented it for a critique at a conference, I was sadly disappointed that my book baby was no instantly snapped up by a publisher. So yes, it might have been easy to write but it was not a polished product. I have since revised it considerably, and now it is in print. Forever Under Blue Skies, available from Amazon.

What’s your favorite book on writing? What do you like about it?
My favorite book is The Emotions Thesaurus, by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, published in 2012. Authors are familiar with the “rule” Show Don’t Tell. This book lists a variety of emotions, then describes the physical actions or gestures that reflect that emotion.

For example, I can write: Rosa was anxious. (Telling.) Or, I could write: Rosa clutched her purse to her chest and blew out a serious of short breaths. Then she rubbed the back of her neck and glanced at the clock again. (Showing.) Naturally, I also rely on how I would act in a given situation, but the book delves deep into the emotion.

What’s your favorite writers conference?
My favorite conference is the Mount Hermon Writers Conference. They offered a plethora of workshops for fiction and non-fiction authors. The causal atmosphere in the lush forests near Santa Cruz, California, allowed want-to-be authors to visit with multi-published folks, agents, and editors. The website indicated the conference may be cancelled. Sad.

How do you prepare to write your books: pantser, plotter, both, something completely different?
I’m a pantser/plotter. I begin by completing background information for my major characters. What are their strengths and weaknesses? What happened in their pasts that makes them who they are today? What jobs do they have? What are their hopes and dreams for the future?

When I know who will star in my story, I outline the basic plot, especially the suspense element. I know how I want the story to end … and so the writing begins and the pantser takes over.

Quite often a character will “give” me details during a conversation with another member of the cast. My plan might be for the plot to veer left, but the character will say something that takes the story in a completely different direction. This may sound strange to some readers, but believe me, many authors will agree that if your characters aren’t “talking” to you, maybe it’s because you’re taking them in the wrong direction.

What advice do you have for new authors?
Read the genre you write, study craft books, attend conferences and workshops, but keep on writing. As with any other skill, you have to practice to improve. If possible, join a critique group. You’ll be surprised by how much you’ll learn.

How do you self-edit your manuscript?
I edit as I write. Sometimes this interferes with the creative process, but my OCD tendencies usually won’t allow me to continue if I’m aware of mistakes or plot holes. Before I begin a chapter, I generally know what I want to cover and sometimes I jot down notes to remind myself. Many times throughout the process, I stop and reread what I’ve written. This allows me to spot inconsistencies or problems.

When the novel is complete, I search for weasel words and either remove or replace them. I’m always surprised at how often I use the word “just.”

American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis Award winner Valerie Massey Goree resides on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula of Washington State.

After serving as missionaries in her home country of Zimbabwe and raising two children, Glenn and Valerie moved to Texas. She worked in the public school system for many years, focusing on students with special needs. Now retired in Washington, Valerie spends her time writing, and spoiling her grandchildren.

Novels include: Deceive Me Once; Colors of Deceit; The Stolen Lives Trilogy, Weep in the Night; Day of Reckoning; and Justice at Dawn, to be released July, 2021. Valerie’s latest novel Forever Under Blue Skies, is now available from Amazon.

https://www.facebook.com/ValerieMasseyGoree/
www.valeriegoreeauthor.com

How I Write: Ane Mulligan

June 14, 2021 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

An author’s brand is important, but sometimes it takes a while to figure out exactly what it is. Christian fiction author Ane Mulligan wrote several books before realizing her brand wasn’t genre specific. She’s here to tell us about it, as well as sharing some of her fiction writing tips and tricks.

Welcome! Let’s start with the basics: what do you write? How did you pick your genre?

I started writing contemporary women’s fiction, but a story set in the Great Depression continued perking in my brain. After the four contemporary books were published, my agent told me to go ahead and write the depression era one. She had noted that all my books feature an ensemble cast of strong Southern women, helping one another through life’s issues. That became my brand/genre: Southern-fried Fiction.

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

I used to write one a year, since I am the managing director of a theatre company. But when COVID-19 shut the theatre down, I wrote 2 ½ books in nine months. The two were edited and turned in. Now that our theatre is open again, I’m trying to find the middle road and write two per year. We’ll see.

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

Early in my career, I loved James Scott Bell’s Plot & Structure. It taught me a lot about the structure of a book. Jim has a great way of teaching. Then his book Quantum Story helped take my writing to another level. I must add my favorite writing companion book is The Flip Dictionary. It’s more than a thesaurus. For example, the word fear: The Flip Dictionary gives you synonyms for different types of fear. I love it and always have it beside me when I write.

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

The Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference is my favorite. It’s at a retreat center near Ashville, NC. The accommodations are beautiful, but the main reason is the selection of classes. It’s amazing! They offer a wider variety of classes of any conference I know. I took a continuing, in-depth class on Scrivener, the writing software I use. I found a class I loved on Bullet Journaling. Who knew I could design and customize my own planner?

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

Once I have that “what if” of an idea, I choose my characters’ photos and names. I’m a visual writer and I must have photos to interview them. I also believe names are so important. I’ve had characters change names on me after I’m part way through a book. So, I spend a good amount of time finding those things first.

Then I do an intense interview and write their backstory, sometimes going back several generations. Most of this never goes into a book, but I’ve got to learn about the character’s fears, the lie they believe about themselves, and their motivation, before I can begin to write word one. At that point, I will finally note a few scenes I know must happen to get from the beginning to the end.

With every book I write, I find I get stopped about one quarter or a third of the way in. That’s when I stop and call a critique partner to brainstorm. After a few minutes, I’m filled with ideas and have no problem finishing book.

How do you self-edit your manuscript?

I always edit yesterday’s work top start my new writing day. I also have three of the world’s best critique partners. They catch everything. Interestingly, each of our editors (and we are all at different publishing houses) say we have the cleanest manuscripts they see. And finally, before I turn in the manuscript, I have two beta readers who pick-up little details we might have missed.

To make ends meet, the Fitzgerald women must open their home as a boardinghouse, but will the secrets they uncover prove their undoing?

The day Cora Fitzgerald turned sixteen, she fled Sugar Hill for the bright lights of New York City, leaving behind her senator father’s abuse. But just as her career takes off, she’s summoned home.

The stock market has crashed. The senator is dead. Her mother is delusional, and her mute Aunt Clara pens novels that expose the town’s secrets. Then there’s Boone Robertson, who never knew she was alive back in high school but now manages to be around whenever she needs help.

And the Fitzgerald women need a lot of help, indeed. They are forced to find a way to make ends meet, whether it’s mining for gold or doing what Southern women have done for generations in times of need—turning their home into a boardinghouse.

But will the people of Cora’s past keep her from returning to a brilliant future?

Ane Mulligan has been a voracious reader ever since her mom instilled within her a love of reading at age three, escaping into worlds otherwise unknown. But when Ane saw PETER PAN on stage, she was struck with a fever from which she never recovered—stage fever. She submerged herself in drama through high school and college. One day, her two loves collided, and a bestselling, award-winning novelist emerged. She lives in Sugar Hill, GA, with her artist husband and a rascally Rottweiler. Find Ane on her website, Amazon Author page, Facebook, BookBub, Goodreads, Pinterest, Twitter, and The Write Conversation.

How I Write: Ginny Dent Brant

How I Write: Joanna White

How I Write: Jennifer Uhlarik

How I Write: Valerie Goree

How I Write: Ane Mulligan

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