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by Sarah Sally Hamer @SarahSallyHamer Intimacy. What a suggestive word. It immediately brings up images of satin sheets, steamy love songs and sweaty bodies. But that�s not all of it. In fact, love-making is only one aspect of intimacy and may even have nothing to do with it. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/intimacy  gives three descriptions of intimacy: 1. A close or warm friendship, familiarity, closeness, friendliness�a friendly disposition 2. A usually secretive or illicit sexual relationship; affaire, amour, liaison, affair, involvement, sexual relationship�a relationship involving sexual intimacy 3. A feeling of being intimate and belonging together,  closeness ,  belonging Sex is only included in one of the three descriptions, for a very good reason.  Intimacy is not about sex!  Sex is just one of many diverse expressions of intimacy As you can see, other expressions are friendship, closeness, togetherness, a feeling of belonging. Another is hate. Not hate of strangers, but of

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson Today, my new Steampunk novel is free on kindle.  Here's what readers are saying: "A superb retelling of Robin Hood--steampunk style! Edie brings the beloved characters to life in a whole new way that will keep readers feverishly turning the pages to find out what happens next. I can't wait for the next in the series!" "A steampunk fable at its finest. Melson is a master craftsman in her action-packed spin with Maid Marion and Robin Hood at the helm." "Edie Melson's steampunk adventure kept me turning pages long after I should have called my lady's maid to help me prepare for dinner. There wasn't enough tea in all of England to settle my nerves as Marion and Robin first matched wits with each other and then joined forces to stop a horrific evil from taking over the land. Maiden of Iron is a must-read for fans of the steampunk genre and a perfect first foray for those new to it." Leave a comment below telling

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson For writers today, an online presence can mean the difference between success and failure. But if we�re not doing it right, we may be our own worst enemy.  10 Ways to Wreck Your Social Media Presence  1. You have an inconsistent social media presence �I�m not talking about taking weekends off. I'm referring to the necessity of spending consistent time building your online presence. This includes showing up on Twitter and Facebook with reasonable regularity, and keeping a regular schedule for your blog posts. 2. You over-promote �The promotion I�m talking about is SELF promotion. Use Edie�s 5 to 1 rule�for every 5 social media updates, you�re allowed one additional update about yourself. 3. Your website doesn�t have social share buttons �I don�t know how much time I�ve spent on sites looking for twitter handles or trying to follow them on Facebook. Most people won�t spend more than three seconds. If they can't find additional information, you've lo

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson How beautiful are the feet of the one who brings good news�Isaiah 52:7 Now that we�re deep into summer, I�ve finally gotten my feet sandal-worthy. And believe me, it�s not been an easy task. I tend to have very dry skin and the winter season, with the dry heat that comes with keeping the temperature comfortable indoors, wreaks havoc on my feet. To repair the damage, I have to be very consistent in my routine and it takes time. It�s not something that just happens overnight. Each night I massage in heavy-duty lotion and then pull on a pair of cotton socks to sleep. After several weeks of immersing my feet, I�ve managed to smooth out the calluses and soften up the dry skin�just in time for a few short sandal-weeks before I go back to wearing socks and boots.  Each year I promise myself it�ll be different. I�ll start my routine sooner and begin the summer with sandal-worthy feet. And each year I get busy, and summer sneaks up on me. In the past, the same thing h

by Cathy Fyock @CathyFyock It�s summertime. Vacations. Picnics. Days at the lake.  Thoughts tend to drift toward leisure activities, knowing that �back to school� season is just around the corner. So, is summertime a good time to write? Or is it the time to replenish and restore one�s soul? It depends. It depends on your needs, and it depends upon your goals and aspirations. For some, summertime is the perfect time to get those big tasks completed before the craziness of the fall begins. I know in my work as a speaker and consultant, the fall was always my busiest season, so the summer was the perfect time to wrap up longer-term projects like writing. For others, summertime is the signal for slowing down and smelling the honeysuckle. After all, in order to work hard one must be in top form. That means having an opportunity to relax, de-stress, and refuel so that you can be ready for the balance of the year. Whatever summertime means to you, be intentional. If you need to rest, then res

By Lori Hatcher @LoriHatcher2 How many times have you said, �That�s it. I quit�? If you�re a writer, you�ve said it at least once�this hour. Or maybe you�re on a writer�s high, and you haven�t said it in a day or two. For the sake of the community, allow me to crack open your skull (figuratively speaking, of course) and expose your innermost thoughts for the writing world to hear: I�m never going to finish this book. I could have birthed an elephant in the time I�ve been working on it. Maybe two. And if I do finish it, no agent will want to represent me. I�m a nobody. And if, by chance, someone feels sorry for me and takes me on as a benevolence project, he�ll never be able to find a publisher.  I�m sorry, but your manuscript doesn�t meet our publication needs at this time.  Besides, lots of other people have written about ________ (insert your subject or story line). What makes me think mine is unique? And even IF a publisher says yes, who�s going to pay good money to read what I�ve w

by Henry McLaughlin @RiverBendSagas Do you ever get the feeling life is running out of control and you�re racing like a car in the Indy 500? And falling further behind the rest of the cars no matter how fast you go? And your pit crew looks like the Three Stooges on steroids? A few months ago, my wife and I were going through a time such as this. We were involved in a ministry we love at our church and there always seemed to be more we could do to take our service to the new areas and levels.   We became grandparents for the third time. Our new grandson is an eight-hour drive away. Close but it�s not a day trip. It�s at least three days. We�re blessed with new friendships, close relationships we treasure.  The busier we get, the more things we can get involved in. All good things.  Then add work, keeping up with the rest of our scattered family and the routines maintaining the house and cars and other stuff. My own workload added to the frenetic pace. I had set a due date and word limit

by DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Some of our character�s traits are easy to discover. Physical description, food preference, a career choice, favorite color or food, wants, goals, and other basic attributes that can be revealed in a non-threatening manner.  Life experiences that had painful physical, mental, or emotional outcomes are often hidden beneath a character�s facade. Sometimes those events are shoved to a dark corner of the mind, and many times they are not topics for discussion.   The writer can�t address issues if she doesn�t know what they are. How does a writer force a character to be transparent? Once we understand the character psychologically, we can better predict the response to uncomfortable situations. The character will  show us the answers to hard questions before telling us. The following steps will help a writer discover deep-rooted traits resulting from wounds. Establish the character�s personality. Many excellent solutions are available for personality testing, but

by Eva Marie Everson @EvaMarieEverson I recently taught a continuing fiction class at St. David�s Christian Writers Conference, which is held each June at Grove City College, a picturesque institution of higher learning tucked along the eastern border of Grove City, Pennsylvania. Participants�limited to eight�were to bring the first thousand words of their work in progress (WIP) as well as a letter from their protagonist to whomever. The letter should begin, I instructed them, with  Today is my birthday �  Who the character writes the letter to is entirely up to the individual writer, I said.  Allow me to be honest�this was the first time I added this exercise to my continuing class (but it won�t be the last). The results were astonishing. Class participants expressed how much they learned about their characters, simply by writing a letter in the pen and through the mind of their main character.  Know thyself,  the ancient Greek aphorism goes. Sometime later, Socrates said that the une

by Ane Mulligan @AneMulligan We�ve all read novels that held us tightly engaged from page one to �The End.� Then we�ve read others that while good, we could read a chapter and put it down. There can be various reasons, but I believe when we can experience the story not just read it, we overlook a multitude of possible problems.  So how do we get a book that offers an experience? By taking a lesson from a layer cake. When is a Novel Like A Layer Cake? When you add layers, of course! To draw your readers into your story, you want to create an experience for them. But that experience is filtered through your POV character. You know that already? Good. But are you layering the five senses into your fiction so the reader hears, sees, smells, tastes, and feels it? It�s actually a matter of �showing vs. telling� gone wild. Your characters, plot, etc. are the flour, butter, and liquid you mix to build your cake � uh, novel.  The 5 Senses are your icing. The icing on a cake is what makes it ext

by Rhonda Rhea @RhondaRhea Never scrimp on an electric blanket. Electrical currents on top of your body. While you�re sleeping. Think about it. Also, if the lights flicker when you plug it in and you smell bacon you should probably forget the whole thing and just get a Snuggie. Or also if you wake up in a morning and find it melted into a puddle of liquid wool and smoking wires. Snuggie. If you hear sizzling at any time. Snuggie. My grandmother once had an electric blanket that had to be from the pit of the hottest parts of the darkest abyss. But she paid good money for it, so we were going to use that thing or die. I figured probably both. We didn�t need a nightlight at Grandma�s. The little sparks from that blanket did the trick. Never mind the flames. Just pat those puppies out, turn over and go back to sleep.   Every once in a while life can feel a little like my grandma�s blanket. Just at the moment you think things are going to get comfy and warm, you feel flames instead. Sometim