Rae's Writing Cafe

If you've followed my writing path in the last 5 years than you've probably noticed that I've "gone dark" these last few months.  Never fear. Sometimes the writing route takes a detour. Why? Because life happens. For the majority of the Christian Author population, many female authors are moms. Some are new moms, others are well-seasoned, and most are mothers to grown children.  Me? I'm somewhere in the middle. Just when I think I have a handle on this whole mom business, whoop! I've been thrown a curve ball!  By now, you'd think this mom-of-5 would have the routine down pat. I mean, how many other moms come to me for some one-on-one/woman-to-woman/mom-to-mom advice? I must have it all under control, right? Well, sort of.  Being mom is tough work. It's being on call, on duty, 24/7--no weekends, no holidays, no 2 hour delays. Throw in the fact that I've got to somehow get one novel and two novellas written in the next 10 months, and I...

Writing a book is much more complicated than it seems. Perhaps that's why I receive so many queries ever year from aspiring authors who ask the question, "How do I get published?" "Where do I start?" and, "Where do I go from here?" I never tire from these inquiries because I was there once. I was the one asking all the questions and wrapping my mind around the intricacies of the novel writing process. How is one to learn the answer without posing the question, right? --And it's good that you DO ask those questions. You never want to jump into the publishing pool without knowing what lurks beneath the surface--there are sharks. And those sharks will make or break your future writing career.  But I'm getting ahead of myself. That's another article for a future post. So, you want to know how to get your book idea published. Let me give you the same advice I give to every single aspiring writer who comes my way. Whether you have the nex...

Once each year a small group of writers and authors come together for a day of retreat and rejuvenation. Of course, I am one of those authors who impatiently awaits this day. This year's Writing to Inspire mini-conference consisted of just 3 writing sessions led by authors, Roseanna M. White , Carrie Fancett Pagels , and myself ( Rachel D. Muller ) with author Rita Gerlach as our facilitator. To our delight, this year's conference grew in number, selling out all seats. We knew God was planning to do great things by this one-day writer's retreat.  And great things did come! Roseanna taught the rules of writing and when it's okay to break them. Everyone has questions when it comes to grammatical writing and dialogue. When we should intrude as author and when to let our story speak for itself. In her session, she cleared up many of those inconsistencies between English 101 and authorship.  With a Ph.D. in Psychology, Carrie Fancett Pagels taught the art of intervie...