A Novel Creation www.WatersWords.com

In the world of writers there is always a pen to paper challenge. For the month of April, bloggers were charged with the task of “Blogging A-Z.” The premise is simple. Write a blog post for each letter of the alphabet. I didn’t take part in the challenge. It is very time consuming and I’m in the middle of writing a novel. The second reason was more compelling. I was heading for India to work with girls who had been rescued from sex trafficking. I needed time to prepare. However, for years I have prayed what I call the Alphabet Prayer. It is a list of praises – at least one for each letter of the alphabet. Sometimes I pray it when I have trouble going to sleep. Sometimes I pray it when I’ve had a difficult day. Mostly I pray it because I am grateful to God for all He does for me. This practice of praising God through good times and bad has become all the more important to me these last few months. You see, six months ago today, my life…my life as I knew it…changed forever....

I met Amy Blake at a meeting of the Ohio Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers. She is interesting and fun. I asked her if she would agree to chat a bit on A Novel Creation.  So…Meet Amy Blake…First, a brief bio: Amy C. Blake is a pastor’s wife and homeschooling mother of four. She has a B.A. and an M.A. in English from Mississippi College. She contributed to Barbour's  Heavenly XOXO’s for Women,   Book Lover’s Devotional,  and  Every Good and Perfect Gift . Amy wrote short stories and articles for  Focus on the Family,Mature   Years, Significant Living, Vista, Encounter,  and other publications. She won awards at St. Davids Christian Writers Conference and West Branch Christian Writers Conference.  The Trojan Horse Traitor  quarter finaled in the 2011 ABNA contest. Her juvenile fantasy novel  The Trojan Horse Traitor,  releases in November, 2015, and her new adult suspense novel,  Whitewashed , released Februa...

Cut 22,000 words? …You’ve got to be kidding! True. (See  Two Truths and a Lie ) I pitched Breathing on Her Own  as an 80,000 word book. When I finished writing it –the day I turned it over to my publisher, it was 82,000 words. After some serious editing, where the story was “tightened,” I was feeling pretty good about the 79,000 word finished product. Then my editor sent me a text …the publisher wanted to cut it to 60,000 words. Credit: AlisonWilliams Why? I emailed the publisher and posed that very question. After all, he offered me a contract for the 80,000 word novel, right? The publishing business is ever changing. +Eddie Jones at Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas stays well informed of trends in the industry. That’s one of the reasons I like him. I understood from the beginning, the book would be released as an eBook. An eBook can be as long as you like, but the trend for purchasing a print version leaned toward a smaller book for a...

How long does it take to write a novel? A couple of weeks ago I shared two truths and a lie about writing Breathing on Her Own .  Last week I shared the lie –that the book was based on a true story. Today I want to talk about how long it takes to write a novel. This past January I received a call from a woman who wants to leave her present job and become a full-time writer. Now understand, she has never written anything, never tried to publish anything, but has a “best seller idea.” Her first question to me was “How long does it take to write a novel?” She then proceeded to tell me she wanted to write it and get it published by June so she could work the marketing side of it to get it making enough money by September to be able to quit her present job. I kid you not. Is it possible to start a novel in January and have it published by June? Absolutely. Yes, you could get the words on paper and there are some very successful, experienced authors who could weave a s...