We are so excited to introduce our intern for the Fall 2025 semester, Aubrey Winstead. Aubrey is a senior at North Greenville University and is making her debut on Write2Ignite's blog with a recap of Saturday’s Master Class. Welcome, Aubrey! We are so excited to have you on board.

The Master Class

Saturday's opening devotional referenced Psalm 115:1: “Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory because of your faithful love, because of your truth” (CSB). Making known God’s truth for his glory remained a theme throughout the day. A shared love of fiction and biblical values brought together authors from every stage in the writing journey. Darcy Pattison, an award-winning children’s literature author and founder of the Mims House Books independent press, led the class.

For my first Write2Ignite Master Class, the depth of Pattison’s teaching amazed me. Her points came from her experience of building Mims House Books from the ground up as a response to the narrowing focus of traditional publishing. Pattison demonstrated an unrelenting dedication to her writing voice and biblical values. Each session and breakout group left me with pages of notes to pour over as I learn more about crafting fiction for Christ.

The Workshops

The first of Pattison’s three workshops gave an overview of writing with kids in mind. Titled “Craft that Captivates,” the session included basics on choosing an age group and word count, creating themes that resonate with kids, the importance of feedback and mentor texts, and how to research the market. Because I am new to the publishing world, I learned so much from this bird’s-eye view of children’s literature. In her second workshop, Pattison emphasized defining success on your own terms through establishing personal goals. One of my main takeaways was the diligence and perseverance that self-publishing demands. Writers begin by narrowing their target audience, determining their overall budget, and choosing between options like offset printing and printing on demand. To close, the third workshop covered metadata, publication schedules, and advertising. Pattison taught the 5W Action Plan for marketing: who (audience), what (media), when (timeline), where (promotional platform), and why (goals).

The Author Panel

In the Master Class’s author panel, six storytellers shared their paths to self-publishing. I appreciated their real-life examples that, although going independent requires hard work, traditional publishing is not the only way to share truth through fiction. They also gave practical steps, such as reading the manuscript aloud and asking for feedback from kids. The Master Class’s door prizes, awarded to attendees by a random drawing, included books from each of these authors.

The Breakout Sessions

I gained additional insight from our breakout sessions following each workshop. By hearing about the work of other writers, I was encouraged to continue in the ordinary faithfulness of writing a few hundred words every day. Participants shared where they stood in their writing process, what previous experiences they had with publishing, and what goals they had for the future. Ultimately, this community defined success as obedience to God’s call on their lives. Through stewardship of their time, finances, and energy, they sought to open even just one person’s eyes to the takeaways of their stories, which pointed to God’s glory.

If you missed this...

If you registered for the Master Class but weren’t able to attend, watch your email for information about how to access the recordings. They will be available until November 1. Also, make sure you subscribe to Write2Ignite and check out our critique groups and Time2Write.

You can read an interview with Darcy here and read her guest post here.

As a lifelong reader, Aubrey Winstead is passionate about Christian literature for young people. She has continued cultivating her love of reading and writing at North Greenville University, where she is in her senior year of pursuing an English major with a double minor in Honors and Intercultural Studies. Aubrey looks forward to joining the Write2Ignite team as their Fall 2025 NGU intern.