Second chances are never free. Scott Everton risked his life to save his fellow Marines in Viet Nam, but the hard aftermath of war cost him his family and his dreams. When he accidentally runs over a roadside cross and feels honor-bound to replace it, Scott opens the door to supernatural grace in the form of a Warrior Angel. He's given a second chance to win the life and love he thought he'd never see again. But to grasp it he has to risk more than his life. He has to risk his heart.
Author and former literary agent Nathan Bransford shares his secrets for creating killer plots, fleshing out your first ideas, crafting compelling characters, and staying sane in the process. Read the guide that New York Times bestselling author Ransom Riggs called "The best how-to-write-a-novel book I've read."
If you have ever wanted to write down your life story but never found the time or the confidence, this book is for you. It will help you to find a style that suits you, collect and structure all the information you need, plan your story and discover your voice. In reading this book you will learn how to gather anecdotes and other infromation from your different sources, plan and structure your work and, ultimately, how and where to publish, guided by a highly experienced and prize-winning winning author. NOT GOT MUCH TIME? One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get you started. AUTHOR INSIGHTS Lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author's many years of experience. TEST YOURSELF Tests in the book and online to keep track of your progress. EXTEND YOUR KNOWLEDGE Extra online articles at www.teachyourself.com to give you a richer understanding of writing your life story. FIVE THINGS TO REMEMBER Quick refreshers to help you remember the key facts. TRY THIS Innovative exercises illustrate what you've learnt and how to use it.
Your Story Matters presents a dynamic and spiritually formative process for understanding and redeeming the past in order to live well in the present and into the future. Leslie Leyland Fields has used and taught this practical and inspiring writing process for decades, helping people from all walks of life to access memory and sift through the truth of their stories. This is not just a book for writers. Each one of us has a story, and understanding God's work in our stories is a vital part of our faith. Through the spiritual practice of writing, we can "remember" his acts among us, "declare his glory among the nations," and pass on to others what we have witnessed of God in this life: the mysterious, the tragic, the miraculous, the ordinary. With a companion video curriculum from RightNow Media, this is a "why not" book as opposed to a "how to" book. Leslie asks each of us an important question: "Why not learn to tell your story, in the context of the grander story of God?"
As a young child on a tiny plantation island in the Pacific, Kaua'i, half Native Hawaiian Bill Fernandez led a magical life of barefoot adventures during the 1930s-1940s. Few people had money but there were few places to spend it, so he and his friends were very creative in their play. A discarded tin roof became a tippy canoe to ride the surf, fence wire turned into a fishing spear, an old wooden ironing board became his surfboard, and poi was handy for pasting kites together. The author grew up in the tiny town of Kapa'a, one of the few places where sugar and pineapple plantations did not rule their lives but set amidst them. As sugar cane trains rolled past their homes they ran alongside and pulled cane to suck the sweet juice. In Part I, readers will chuckle when he describes his first ten years as he explored the ocean near his home, made tin canoes, picked seaweed and opihi from the rocks and surf, tried to find Santa Claus in the mountains, slid down waterfalls, and played Cowboys and Indians for endless days with no concern for tomorrow. His hukilau description brings the excitement to life when the community captures a large school of fish with a net surround and then enjoys a party on the beach. When Bill developed asthma, his half-Hawaiian mother brought him to a kahuna (shaman) and Chinese herbalist. In this town settled by immigrants who came to work on the plantations, Bill's family, friends, and neighbors were Chinese, Okinawan, Phillippino, Japanese, German, Portugese, French, Irish, Russian, Native Hawaiians, and others who created a sharing society, all struggling, all helping each other. Buddhist temples sat next to Christian churches. Bill's parents built the largest movie theater in the islands, Roxy, in 1939. He told its story in Rainbows Over Kapa'a. Kaua'i Kids is a perfect companion to that book and is also filled with photos. Part II begins when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor a hundred miles away on a beautiful December morning. Radios went silent. A Japanese plane landed on a nearby island. Fear of invasion by Japan gripped defenseless Kaua'i and life was no longer carefree. Blackouts, shelling by Japanese, gas masks, a sense of being very much alone and unprotected dominated life. One morning he awoke to find hundreds of GIs camped on a church lawn. The Fighting 69th had arrived and with it, antagonism toward the Asian-Americans who were friends and family. Bill discovered the profits to be made buying cigarettes, cokes, and candy for the GIs, even delivering them after dark to the machine gun nest near his ocean side home. Soon he started shining shoes. He learned a lot about life from the men and watching the action in town. The hard work of pineapple picking replaced his lazy days with friends. But the ocean, source of food for islanders to supplement meager rationed food, was off-limits and barb-wired. Boats and fishing were banned. The easy-living island became a big prison under military control. These experiences with military occupation were unique in America and Bill tells it through the eyes of a child. Bill's education took a major turn in 1944 when he was sent to Honolulu to Kamehameha School for children of Native Hawaiian ancestry. The book ends as Bill flies there, realizing his life would not be the same.
This is your roadmap for completing the memoir you've dreamed about writing. "Rachael Herron resonates with our audience, and not just because she knows her stuff—she does—or because she's hilarious—she is—but because her honesty and earnestness come through in all her messaging." Samantha Sanders, Writer’s Digest Writing memoir is daunting! You’re the expert on your life, naturally, but narrating and organizing your own experiences in the best way can feel impossible. Many writers become frustrated in early drafting stages and quit after a couple of brief attempts. Learn from bestselling memoirist Rachael Herron (who teaches this class at Stanford Continuing Studies) how to fast-draft your memoir while keeping its structure compelling. Learn how to frame your life’s story and give it a natural arc to keep your reader glued to the page. Figure out how to handle those family and friends you’re writing about. Explore what truth means in memoir. Work quickly to quiet the inner critic. Most of all, learn how to get out of your own way to get the words on the page. You can do this! Rachael will show you how. CLICK BUY NOW!
Emerging With Wings is a love story. Danielle Bernock takes you with her on her raw yet graceful journey from an invisible cage full of agony and shame, to the incomprehensible joy of validation, love and the empowerment of personal freedom. She unveils how this cage was built as well as how she obtained her freedom. Many things she did not know kept her in the dark, one being the harmful effects of multiple childhood traumas that went unaddressed which fed that darkness and a pervasive fear. The love story reveals a LOVE that secretly carried and protected her despite the lies that grew in that darkness, organized for destruction. This LOVE came and never gave up. The LOVE of one she calls The Pursuer. You are invited into her story. Enter it, share its elegance and in it see The Pursuer for yourself, in your story, for your freedom.
An extraordinary "practical resource for beginners" looking to write their own memoir—now new and revised (Kirkus Reviews)! The greatest story you could write is one you've experienced yourself. Knowing where to start is the hardest part, but it just got a little easier with this essential guidebook for anyone wanting to write a memoir. Did you know that the #1 thing that baby boomers want to do in retirement is write a book—about themselves? It's not that every person has lived such a unique or dramatic life, but we inherently understand that writing a memoir—whether it's a book, blog, or just a letter to a child—is the single greatest path to self-examination. Through the use of disarmingly frank, but wildly fun tactics that offer you simple and effective guidelines that work, you can stop treading water in writing exercises or hiding behind writer's block. Previously self-published under the title, Writing What You Know: Raelia, this book has found an enthusiastic audience that now writes with intent.
“In a lyrical and hard-hitting exploration of betrayal and healing, the son of a Connecticut socialite comes to terms with his abuse at the hands of a beloved priest” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). As sixteen-year-old Aidan Donovan’s fractured family disintegrates around him, he searches for solace in a few bumps of Adderall, his father’s wet bar, and the attentions of his local priest, Father Greg—the only adult who actually listens to him. When Christmas hits, Aidan’s world collapses in a crisis of trust when he recognizes the darkness of Father Greg’s affections. He turns to a crew of new friends to help make sense of his life: Josie, the girl he just might love; Sophie, who’s a little wild; and Mark, the charismatic swim team captain whose own secret agonies converge with Aidan’s. The Gospel of Winter maps the ways love can be used as a weapon against the innocent—but can also, in the right hands, restore hope and even faith. Brendan Kiely’s unflinching and courageous debut novel exposes the damage from the secrets we keep and proves that in truth, there is power. And real love.
This fun and exciting guide shows you how to write an autobiography or biography that will bring your story to life. It begins by introducing you to all the different forms a life story can take, from journals to blogs to magazine articles to complete memoirs. Then it helps you organize your story into either chronological, thematic or anecdotal form. You'll receive a powerful set of writing tools, and learn how to use story structure, viewpoint, dialogue and settings to make your story clear and vivid. A comprehensive collection of writing prompts helps you collect and organize the events that shaped a life. Finally, you'll learn exactly how to get your book published and into the hands of your readers. Whether you want to share your story with the public or just your family, this book gives you all you need to create a wonderful gift for future generations.
