Tip 1) Create a Business Plan

Just as with any other endeavor, you need a business plan for writing your book.
The business plan can be simple. Why, who, when and what are the questions you should answer. Why are you writing? Who is writing? When will you do it? What will you write about? Create clear and concise goals, set timeframes and create an outline for your book.

In your business plan, determine if you will self publish or if you plan to query publishing houses with your project. Be prepared to explain what you are doing in two minutes or less if asked. What do you hope to accomplish? Are you writing to become famous, for edification of others or simply for personal pleasure?

Lastly create a team, an editor, publicist, attorney, printer and tax consultant. These are the people that will be most important to your literary business.

*************************************************************************************

Tip 2 Industry Education

By now you have a degree or two, and these days to write a book you don't need a degree. We do suggest however, you have some knowledge of the industry and what it takes to become a literary entrepreneur.

Attend workshops, writer's conferences and seminars on publishing each year. This is how you attain 'continuing education' and learn new techniques while networking with your industry counterparts. Be sure to take part in literary events and networking functions to meet with others in the business who can share resources and information.

Make sure you join a writer's group in your area and join a few online groups also. This will allow you to engage in real conversation and active work on a consistent basis. Be prepared to help others as you move up the literary ladder also!

Sherie Clark Brooks is the founder of Writer's Legacy (Writing Group, Annual Writer's Conference Host) and also the author of 25 Steps to Becoming a Star Writer & Her Alabaster Box (Keeping God's Gifts Sacred). For additional questions/info send email to writerslegacy@yahoo.com.

Have you ever had those days when you just wanted to throw your hands in the air and give up? I know the feeling because I have rough days, too. The burden of stress falls on all of us and although it can be challenging, it is something we must all face. I would like to share some faith-based information and stress management techniques that I hope will help you cope with the stress in your lives.

Paulette Harper

Bitterness: Not In My House



Ruth 1:20-22 (Amplified Bible)
And she said to them, Call me not Naomi pleasant; call me Mara bitter, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?

If you have never read this story, here we have a woman whose life was drastically changed. First, she and her husband, Elimelech, and their two sons left Bethlehem because of a severe famine.

Looking for a better life, they journeyed to Moab. While in Moab, Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, dies, and ten years later, her two sons die, leaving her to care for her two daughters-in-law. Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, but upon returning she has no husband or sons, instead a bitter heart.

Just as Naomi did not understand why God had chosen to take her through one of the most challenging experiences in life, I pondered as well. Just like a child growing up in life you have expectation and plans that usually don’t include bruises, flat tires, accidents and bumps in the road.

But I found that even when the unexpected things in life do occur, God has a plan and purpose to make something good out of the worse situations. Can you believe that?

At 42 years of age I found hope, encouragement and a renewed spirit while going through a divorce. Although my dilemma was not one in which I welcomed or embraced I had to accept that this part of my life God had known about before the foundation of the world.

He was taking me through one of the most unpleasant times in my life but I had to trust that the one in which I had given my life to, knew exactly what was best for me. There was something about my life that He was going to reveal and what I had faced and conquered was really going to alter my life forever. I had one choice to make either I was going to allow myself to be bitter with what He had allowed or I was going to let the situation develop and make me into a better person, I decided to use the situation as a catalyst to make my life better.

God was using my circumstances to bring me to a place of maturity, confidence and total dependency on Him. I learned not to look at my current condition although quite hard at times but I had to realize that some day God would show me why He had chosen me to carry this particular cross. There was a bigger picture that God had for my life, a picture that was revealed at the beginning of 2007. God wanted me to begin telling people what He had did for me during my ordeal and how He carried me through the rages of life.

So many times I wanted to give up, throw in the towel and quit but something inside me would not let me. Gods’ spirit was constantly bringing comfort to me, guiding me and assuring me that everything was going to work out for my good.

Romans 8:28 (Amplified Bible):
We are assured and know that God being a partner in their labor all things work together and are fitting into a plan for good to and for those who love God and are called according to His design and purpose.

Naomi’s plight:
God allowed her husband and both sons to die in order to get her and Ruth back to Bethlehem so Ruth and Boaz could meet. Ruth and Boaz had a son
named Obed, who was the father of Jesse, and Jesse, was the father of David the King, who was the father of Solomon.

After a lineage of forty–two generations, we get to Jacob, who was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, who birthed Christ. God caused Naomi to lose everything she loved so that He could get her into position of receiving more than she could ever have gotten in Moab.

Naomi had no idea of the plan God had in store for her and Ruth. Sometimes when we are faced with hardships beyond measure it’s hard for us to even grasp or accept that things can get better. This is when you must exercise your faith. It is in this place where your faith will be tested, stretched and tired. God already knows you can handle everything that comes against you, but you need to know you are well equipped to handle everything as well.

Well as for me, writing has become one of my passions. Inspiring, encouraging and motivating others to rise above the muck and mire is what I have been called to do.

You have a choice to make, either you are going to allow the situation to overtake you and you become bitter or you say with a firm, bold stance “not in my house”! Bitterness cannot abide here!

I encourage you this day. Even when it appears that things don’t always go according to our plans, God plans are better. Choose to let the disappointments in life make you into a better person. Don’t allow your heart to become bitter with was has happened, embrace the changes, embrace the new things, embrace the season of new beginnings.

Paulette Harper is an emerging Christian Author making her debut with her first inspirational book “That Was Then, This Is Now, This Broken Vessel Restored”. You can learn more about her by visiting her official site http://www.bvministry.com/.