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Tag: #acfw

So happy and grateful!

Posted on by Jill Willis

I’m thrilled to announce that my novel made it to the semi-final round in the Young Adult category of the American Christian Fiction Writers’ Genesis Contest for unpublished writers. I can’t name the novel because judges are working on whittling down the list of finalists. Check out the semi-finalists in all categories here.

My heart is so full. Someone likes my work! Please know how much I appreciate all the family and friends who have encouraged me over the years. Thanks, also, to my critique partners. Your honesty and support have been invaluable.

I started tinkering with the storyline in 2013 when my kids were in high school. Over Christmas break, I visited a couple of bookstores in search of some clean reads for them. Everything I found focused on vampires, magic and romance. Changing strategy, I checked out a Christian bookstore. Still nothing. Lots of middle school fiction, but few young adult books.

I thought, I’ve been a writer all my life, so I can churn out some quality fiction in no time. Boy, was I wrong! Fiction writing is very different from newspaper, magazine and website writing. My speech and script writing skills offered zero help. I became discouraged and shelved the project for a couple years.

When my youngest graduated high school, I revisited the story and roughed out a first draft. It took almost two years to complete. I carried it to a writer’s conference where I received lots of feedback . . . most of it directed to a total rewrite. Sigh.

After pushing self-doubt to the farthest corner of my mind, I took a bunch of online writing classes, studied books on writing and devoured dozens of novels in the YA genre. A year later, I rewrote and submitted the first 15 pages to the 2018 Genesis Contest. The judges were not impressed. Ugh!

I prayed and polished the entire manuscript. In March, I resubmitted those updated 15 pages to this year’s Genesis Contest. Last night, a very nice contest coordinator left the exciting message on my voice mail that I was one of the semi-finalists. I cried. It’s been such a long journey.

If you’re an aspiring writer, I encourage you to keep plugging. God has a plan for you. It may not be on your timeline but, I promise, He’s always working for your good.

Have you ever been in the dumps about your writing journey? How did you climb out?

Ernest Hemingway's study

Lessons from Hemingway

Posted on by Jill Willis

Recently, my friend and I toured Ernest Hemingway’s home in Key West, Florida. The visit left me inspired and amazed by his accomplishments. This Nobel Prize-winning author published seven hefty novels between 1926 and 1952.

I brought home three lessons that I recommend for all new writers:

  1. Persevere. The man never stopped writing, even while recovering from major injuries and illnesses. I learned that he’d sustained severe shrapnel wounds to both legs from mortar fire in WWI at age 18. He pulled a skylight down on his head while living in Paris, which left a permanent scar on his forehead. In Wyoming, he broke his arm in a car accident. It took a year to heal the nerves in his writing hand. While on a safari in East Africa, he contracted dysentery that caused a prolapsed intestine. Another car accident caused a serious concussion. A few years later, he survived two plane crashes on a trip to Africa, resulting in a broken skull, second-degree burns, cracked discs, a kidney and liver rupture, and a dislocated shoulder. He must have spent most of his life recuperating.
  2. Be disciplined. He’d get up at 6 a.m., walk from his second-floor bedroom across a catwalk to his garage studio, and write until noon. Six hours every day devoted to his work. No interruptions. I wonder how he would have dealt with internet distractions?
  3. Take a break. Around noon, Mr. Hemingway would head to the house for lunch. He devoted the afternoon and evening to fun activities. He’d play with his 70 six-toed cats. That’s not a typo. Visit his house. Fifty-nine feline descendants still occupy the grounds. He’d also deep-sea fish and hang out with his buddy, the owner of Sloppy Joe’s Pub. These pursuits would clear his mind to start afresh the next morning.

What a legend. Fans loved him so much they named a planet, a Montblanc fountain pen, furniture, safari clothes, and restaurants after him. Numerous writing contests, awards and scholarships have been established in his honor.

Have you read any of his books? If so, what’s your favorite?