Writing Tips

A writing voice is simply putting you and your personality on paper. It’s writing with words that communicate, “This is who I am, and this is what I care about.” Let’s start by reading blog posts by two writers with distinctive writing voices. Example 1: “So I’m a mess and we’re all failures — at least…

In the past few months we’ve been posting blogs by published authors to give you a glimpse into the self-publishing and traditionally published writing world. Today, we welcome Wendy Pope as our guest blogger. What I love about Wendy and know you will too is that she is candid and speaks from a heart for…

At Next Step Coaching Services, we want to give you as much information as we can to help you with your writing, speaking, and ministry journey. We’ve been talking to authors about their writing journeys to offer you encouragement and practical steps for your own journey. Today we welcome guest blogger, Marissa Henley, who offers…

Last week in my blog post I gave some guidelines for using Scripture in our writing. This week I’ll continue to do that, focusing on the correct mechanics of using parenthetic documentation (in-text citation) for long quotations. What are the proper guidelines for including a long quotation of Scripture such as the one below? Now in…

Including Scripture in our writing is one of the practices that will strengthen our writing, while at the same time point others to Christ. Today let’s look at the mechanics of how to quote Scripture correctly. Quotation marks should begin and end your quoting of Scripture. The beginning quotation mark means this is where you…

The answer is yes! And today’s guest post is by someone who has done so. We welcome today’s guest blogger, Dr. Michelle Bengtson, who offers insights about both traditional publishing and self-publishing. Her unique books provide a faith-based and medical perspective on mental health disorders. Michelle, tell us about your books. My first book was…

Something magical happens when you see your words in print. You feel a mixture of emotions like no other. You might cry, feel exhilarated, and feel vulnerable, all at one time. At Next Step Coaching Services, we want to celebrate with you when your writing or speaking dreams come true, and we also want to…

Point of view in writing refers to who is telling the story and refers to that particular perspective. We identify point of view by the pronouns used. First, let’s look at the three points of view and corresponding pronouns. first-person singular – I, me, my first-person plural – we, us, our second-person singular and plural …