For many writers, especially if we’re just getting our feet wet in the networking game, “tooting our own horn” can seem a bit self-indulgent and somewhat off-putting. We’re afraid that if we talk about ourselves and what it is we do that somehow this will make us appear less than humble. We’re afraid of others’ perceptions. We’re afraid of stumbling. We’re afraid of …
Good to the Last Bite
When describing a delicious meal or something super tasty, we often say “it was good to the last bite.” It’s a complimentary statement that insinuates satisfaction, delight, and a feeling of fullness. Perhaps, we offer those words graciously to our hostess after a hearty home-cooked meal of our favorite comfort foods. (And everyone knows that there’s nothing as tantalizing as …
Changing Seasons, Shifting Focus
Fall is my favorite time of year. The warm, golden colors of the season signal change. I’m often still in recovery mode from the busy summer months, and the slower pace of cooler days promises a brief, but much-needed respite. I’m not particularly a fan of cold months (or change necessarily), but I do appreciate the opportunity to pause for a bit, sip …
Staying Christ-focused While Keeping it Real: Love Scenes in Faith-based Romance
At the 2011 American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conference, I recently had the opportunity to attend many interesting workshops that pertained to the writing craft. Since I write faith-based romance, naturally I registered for the A Kiss is Not Just a Kiss session taught by Christian authors Julie Lessman and Ruth Axtell Morren. This particular workshop focused on how to write an …
Still Dishing…Part 2 of ACFW Conference Impressions
In Wednesday’s post, I gave a brief synopsis of my overall ACFW conference impressions. Today I wanted to focus a bit more on something that’s less talked about, but something that (if truth be told) is always on our minds as we attend these types of writing events. Competition. The mere word can conjure myriad emotions. When we’re placed in a situation …
Dishing About the 2011 ACFW Conference…from a First Time Attendee's POV
Today I thought I’d dish about the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) conference I recently attended in St. Louis. The conference dates were officially from 09/22/11 thru 09/25/11, though many attendees began arriving on the evening of Wednesday, 09/21. There’s just too much information to sum up in one post, so I may dish up some more of the scoop in …
2011 ACFW Conference
Since I am thoroughly (but blissfully) exhausted, today I’m going to just share a few photographs from the amazing 2011 ACFW conference. In short, the recent American Christian Fiction Writers’ conference was everything I dreamed it would be and more! I’ll be dishing all about it in future posts. Stay tuned! Friend, agency mate, and fab writer Sarah Forgrave. The amazing Keli …
Writing Conferences: Catching the Vision
While preparing for writing conferences, it can be an exhilarating, albeit busy, time. Smaller, local conferences may be one to two-day events, while national writing conferences can number several hundreds of attendees or more and last over the course of five days to a full week. For any type of writing conference, there’s often much planning, preparation, and schedule crunching that …
A Double Rainbow Kind of Week
This week is undoubtedly going to be one of the busiest I’ve had in a while, but it’s also going to be a very exciting time, as well. For those navigating the path to publishing, we all realize that there are necessary steps in attaining our goals. I’ve mentioned these before: Become involved with local and national writing organizations. Affiliation with …
Indescribable Greatness
A few years ago, we visited Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a lovely, little gem surrounded by the beautiful Ozark mountains. (Eureka Springs is listed on the National Register for Historic Places.) I’ve talked about it on my blog before a few times, but you can also refer back to my post A Cure for What Ails Us if you’d like. While at Eureka Springs, we had the …