Add this to your site |
Hello Inspire Writers,
Now is the time to sign up for
the Sierra Foothills Christian Writers Conference, before the price increases
in August. Registration is only $40 if you sign up now.
October
2, 2010
9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Bayside Auburn Church
450 Nevada Street
Auburn CA 95603
And will include workshops by
these fantastic authors:
Cindy
Martinusen Coloma, award-nominated author of adult and YA fiction
Judi Braddy,
speaker and author of five non-fiction books
Jan Coleman,
speaker and author of non-fiction books for women
Kathleen Popa,
author of To Dance in the Desert and The Feast of St. Bertie
Sharon Souza,
author of Every Good and Perfect Gift
and Lying on Sunday
Wendy Lawton,
agent with Books and Such Literary Agency
For more
information or to register for the conference, visit www.sierrafoothillsconference.com
Have a
wonderful weekend!
Gratefully,
Beth
The morning track Writing Children's Books with Bill Myers was filled with great information and tools for writing stories today's children will read. The class, including homework assignments, was as much fun as reading one of Bill's books.
I attended two classes on writing with humor which were not only fun but also informative and had great handouts. I learned from B. J. Taylor the formula for how write stories to win the Guidepost Writer's Contest. The winner gets an all expenses paid week in New York learning how to write for Guidepost magazine. B. J. also taught a class I attended on how to write personal stories for anthologies for Chicken Soup where the pay is $200/story.Hello Inspire Writers,
Just want to share some pictures of our group at the 2010 Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. Each of these writers has an amazing story to tell about what they learned at Mount Hermon: the doors God opened, the direction God gave, the wonderful people they met and the growth they experienced as writers. We will hear from them in upcoming posts.
This is the whole group (except Dee and Sue who were busy meeting with editors when this was taken). From left to right: Chris P., Kris L., Dana, Beth T., Beth S., Deborah, Danie Marie, Lois, Jennifer, Joanne and Julie.
This is Mary DeMuth with our own Julie Williams. Julie participated in Mary’s fiction mentoring track. It was a great experience. Julie received helpful feedback on her novel and met some wonderful writers in this track.
Me and Angela Hunt. Angela is one of my favorite authors. My daughter Julia loves her Nicki Holland Series. If you haven’t read The Debt, by Angela Hunt, I highly recommend it!
Here I am with my sweet friend Cheryl Ricker. Cheryl won the 2010 Mount Hermon Poetry Award. She is the author of A Friend in the Storm, releasing this fall. (But it’s available now for preorder on Amazon.com!)
Julie and me with Randy Ingermanson. Randy is the author of Writing Fiction for Dummies, which the Inspire Elk Grove group is working through beginning April 15—join us if you can.
Here is Dee with Andi Ashcroft (author and wife of Charlie Peacock), Charlie Peacock and Mark Young. Mark is a novelist and the 2nd place winner in the 2010 Mount Hermon Fiction Contest.
This is Julie Williams and me smiling and having a great time.
I hope you are already planning to attend Mount Hermon 2011 with the Inspire writers. We had a blast together this year and can’t wait to go again.
Gratefully,
Beth
40th Annual Christian Writer’s Conference Recap
The Mount Hermon Christian Writer’s Conference is about increasing our knowledge, improving our writing skills, making new friends and exposing our best work to critique so it can one day be read by others. I came away realizing it was a “You had to be there!” experience. However, here are the highlights from my perspective.
Second, the talent available to learn our craft is staggering. I had the privilege of sitting at the feet of Mona Hodgson who has written multitudes of children’s books and articles. I learned more about the details of writing for children, including the nuance of manuscript submission for the genre, in nine hours than many months of self-education. I am armed with all I need to write and submit the next best-selling children’s book.
Lastly, the conference provided every opportunity to have my work critiqued. I submitted two manuscripts and had each one critiqued by two different faculty members. I was very encouraged to hear I write well, provide engaging dialogue and grab the reader’s attention. I also submitted my picture book manuscript for editorial review by Nick Harrison at Harvest House Publishers. Although it was not a fit for their house, he liked the story and referred me to other publishers where the fit was better. I also pitched two article ideas to Jesse Florea of Clubhouse and Clubhouse Jr. for Focus on the Family and he liked them.
I feel blessed by the whole experience. God had prepared me with a teachable spirit. I am grateful for that. It was very exciting to have such talented authors show such sincere interest in my work. Now I am ready to get back to work.
Chris Pedersen lives with her husband and a chocolate lab named Brandy in the beautiful Sierra foothills in California. With two grown children and three grandchildren, she has turned years of writing mostly technical material into writing for children. You can learn more about Chris by visiting her blog: Paws and Ponder.
Here we are leaving for the 2009 Christian Writers Seminar:
Dee Aspin, Kris Lindsey, Me, Beth Self and Lori Sinclair just before we climbed into my car for the drive to Castro Valley. Half the fun of attending a conference with the Inspire group is the lively conversations along the way.
James Scott Bell encouraged us with "Every hour you spend writing is an hour you don't spend worrying about your writing."
He also urged us to continue writing during these tough economic times, to provide encouragement, hope, escape and entertainment to a world in need of our words.
Me, Joanne Kraft, Lori Sinclair, Kris Lindsey and Beth Self at the beginning of the final keynote session.
Other great quotes gleaned at CWS:
"If you build a house and no one moves in—it is incomplete. Similarly—writing is incomplete without a reader." Cindy Martinusen Coloma
"The last sentence needs to go KA-BOOM! It should not trail off into the wind." Ken Jones
"Articles must always answer the 'So what?' question." Lynne Thompson
"Set realistic goals so you can feel the satisfaction of reaching them instead of feeling like a failure for falling short." Cindy Martinusen Coloma
"Always give God the glory." James Scott Bell
Kris Lindsey, D. L. Huckabay, Beth Self, Me, Joanne Kraft and Lori Sinclair. The Seminar has just ended. Now if we can just apply everything we learned!
Watch for information on several upcoming conferences. We would love to have you join us.
Gratefully,
Beth
