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Edie here. Today, I'm excited to introduce you to an amazing young woman. Paige Snedeker is an author, illustrator and speaker. She does all of this in spite of the fact that she suffers from a rare  neuromuscular disorder called Riboflavin Transporter Deficiency (RTD) Type 2, which has caused her to be deaf, legally blind, confined to a wheelchair and dependent on breathing assistance.  I've known Paige for several years and I'm proud to call her my friend. This month her foundation is raising money and awareness for RTD. When I found out, I insisted she come on as a guest. I  know you'll be blessed by her post and hope you'll  give her a warm TWC welcome. Be sure to visit her website and find out how you can help cure RTD. Walking Through the Writing Door by Paige Snedeker  @ paige_project   �...for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.� 1 Corinthians 16:9 ESV I had a strange dream that took me bac...

by Sarah Van Diest @SarahVanDiest As my thoughts meandered around this past month, they took an odd turn. It�s not that this kind of thing doesn�t go on in my mind all the time, because frankly it does, but it usually doesn�t make its way to paper. The level of �spiritual insight� may be lacking, at least in the up-front reading of it, and I�m not going to force any great pearls of wisdom to be born from this non-oyster. The only thing I will say is that God has implanted in each of us a creative and unique spirit. The beauty, splendor and majesty of our Father is revealed when we allow our individuality to show; when His workmanship stands in the sun and reflects Him to those who would see.   As a writer and editor, my mind needs to be �on,� but sometimes I can�t seem to find that button. Perhaps you can relate. This is what flumped out of me one day this month as I fumbled around trying to find the ON button. Productivity: a Tramp So Productivity was there for a moment, but now ...

by Beth Vogt @BethVogt I think the encouragement to keep reading is good advice for anyone, don�t you?  I certainly never lack for books to read � and while sometimes I just read for pleasure, there are certain books that have influenced me greatly, changing my thoughts about life and about myself. There are any number of quotes about advice: " No one can give you better advice than yourself.� -Cicero (106 BC � 43 BC), Roman philosopher  (Not sure I agree with Cicero.) �Wise men don�t need advice. Fools won�t take it.� -Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), one of the Founding Fathers of the United States  (Ben has a point.) �I owe my success to listening respectfully to the best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.� -G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English writer & theologian  (Had to laugh at G.K.�s attitude.) �Whatever advice you give, be brief.� -Horace (65 BC � 8 BC), Roman lyric poet  (Totally agree with Horace.) I�ve both given and rec...

by Marcia Moston @MarciaMoston I teach a class called Steal Like An Artist, a title I promptly stole after reading Austin Kleon�s book with the same name. We study examples of good writing, some to model, some to simply admire in hopes there�s such a thing as learning by literary osmosis. Although I know there�s a lot to learn from reading bad writing, I seldom use it as an example. It�s a philosophy I adopted a long time ago after reading a response Mark Twain gave to a question about his river piloting days. I can�t find the interview, but my paraphrased memory of it runs something like this: When Twain was asked how he knew where all the hidden reefs and rocks were, he said he didn�t need to know where all the dangers were�he just needed to know where the deep water was. (And if Twain didn�t say that, it�s still an idea that�s served me well, both in life� can�t anticipate every danger and temptation, but can know the where the good way is�and in teaching. Whether they write fic...

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson I read somewhere once that good dialogue is a conversation with the boring parts taken out. I completely agree. Just record and transcribe a normal conversation and you�ll see that it isn�t all that interesting to read without a lot of judicious editing. But even armed with that knowledge, how do we as writers, determine what�s boring and what�s not? That�s a skill that takes practice.   I believe good dialogue is more like music than anything else. We start with the rules, learning the craft and the technique. But to become masters we must develop an ear, a sense if you will, of what translates well to the page and what does not. Today I�m addressing how to develop an ear for dialogue. The foundation for that lies in eavesdropping. Although we rarely reproduce something we hear word-for-word. There is a natural cadence to dialogue that comes only by listening. We must learn to edit dialogue down to its essence  without  loosing that rhythm. Too...

by Sarah Sally Hamer @SarahSallyHamer Isn�t that what we all strive for? We all want the ability to write a scene that engulfs our reader with cathartic emotion, one that makes them laugh or cry, and hopefully, read the next one, right? A scene that is so powerful that we want to run to the top of Rocky�s steps and hold our arms up in jubilation? Of course we do!  So, how does it work? I�m standing on the shoulders of giants here. Dwight Swain, who wrote  Techniques of the Selling Writer , and Jack Bickham,  Scene and Structure, almost invented the method, and I sat at their feet. Well, I actually met Swain and talked to Bickham on the phone, but I�ve read every word of their books. These two men really understood the structure of powerful scenes and break it down for us in a way that can be duplicated with a little hard work and a lot of practice. But once you get used to it, it�s an amazing tool for powering up that weak-kneed scene. There are two basic parts of a great...