I had a really nice lunch in White Marsh yesterday with my fiction cronies! In the photo, you’ll see Chandra, Tiff, and Dani, the Baltimore subgroup of the Midatlantic chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW).

We chatted about lots of things, but the most exciting is that Tiff is getting married!!! I’m sure she’ll be doing lots of planning within the next few months for her upcoming wedding!

Writing-wise, we talked about the submissions we currently have out at various publishing houses. We also chatted about agents and writers conferences. I told of how I sold my book to Barbour, and Tiff also told of her sale. Her book is entitled Promises Promises and it will be released as part of the Heartsong Presents line in January 2008.

I told of my experiences at the Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference last August, and Tiff told us about the Delaware Christian Writers Conference. I also reminisced about the good times I’d had at the now-extinct Mid-Atlantic Christian Writers Conference.

I pointed out that I usually choose the conferences that I plan on attending based upon the editors and agents attending. All three of my lunch buddies pointed out to me that I need to also look at the workshops being offered. They said that sometimes you can glean a wealth of information from the fiction workshops. I catalogued that information in the back of my mind for future reference.

I spoke a little about my agent search and we also talked about the fact that most Christian publishers require that you have an agent in order to submit. The exceptions are Steeple Hill and Barbour. I also recall reading something similiar on agent Chip MacGregor’s blog, about publishing houses closing the doors to unagented submissions. The only way around that is to meet with an editor at a writers conference!

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

Lisa Samson, an author on one of my writers loops, has posted about her Serenity Weekend! Go to the link and see the description for yourself! It sounds wonderful, peaceful, and divine! Good food, lovely atmosphere and great company would be a great way to whet your writing appetite! I think if I were to attend, I wouldn’t want to leave!

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

When I was interviewed for two local newspapers (The Greenbelt News Review and The Gazette) two years ago, one of the questions the interviewers asked me was my advice on how to get published. I recommended attending writers conferences. I know the annual Romance Writers of America (RWA) conference, and the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conference, are great, but can tend to be a bit pricey once you pay for your conference fee, hotel, food, airfare, etc. If it’s not possible to attend a conference on a national level, there may be conferences, some of them only one day, that might be in your area. I do know that there are an abundance of Christian writers conferences all over the United States. It might be possible to find one in your area and attend it for a day or so, might be more economically feasible for some.

Here are a few that caught my eye when doing a google search. I have never attended either of these, but they did sound interesting. The first one is the Delaware Christian Writers Conference:
http://www.delawarechristianwritersconference.com/
I’ve received correspondence via email from John Riddle in the past, and I believe he does this conference each year? The only people listed on the faculty that I’ve personally met was Candy Abbott (met her at Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference last August, and also met her at the now extinct Mid-Atlantic Christian Writers conference), and Joyce Hart from Hartline Literary Agency (met her at Mid-Atlantic Christian Writers Conference and ACFW last September).

The other conference that sounded interesting was the Memphis Black Writers Conference. The link is below:
http://lawrence.wayne.tripod.com/vipmemphis/
Again, I’m not familiar with the faculty, with the exception of Sister Betty. I met her twice, both times at the Faith-Based Arts Conference.

I also wanted to add a little bit advice to my earlier posting about critique groups.I blogged about critique groups the other day. However, I’d like to expand upon what I already discussed. I’ve found that over the years I’ve heard bits and pieces of advice about critique groups from various writers. The writers who seem to be in a successful group are usually in a group where most of the writers are on the same level, meaning you wouldn’t have a person who just started writing yesterday in the same critique group as an author who has successfully published several books. That’s an exaggerated example, I know.

If the relationship has a multi-pubbed author, and a new writer, one who is just getting his/her feet wet in the writing world, then I’m not sure that’s called a critique group. The word mentor comes to mind, but I’ve also been told that a mentoring relationship is for encouragement and support, not to give a writing critique.

Until next time,
Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

I was flipping through channels Sunday afternoon and I caught the last part of a great movie, Beaches. I saw this movie years ago and I recall loving it! One of the reasons I liked it so much is because of its emotional content. When Bette Midler’s best friend dies, it just makes you want to cry.

Another great movie that I absolutely love is Titanic. One of my favorite parts in that movie is when Jack holds Rose’s hand and they stand in the front of the ship, looking upon the water, Jack holding Rose in his arms, and she says it feels like flying! Oh, I love that scene!

When I write my stories, I try and create emotional scenes that’ll make my readers laugh, cry, and remember these people long after they’ve finished the book. When you watch your favorite movies, think about how you feel during certain scenes. Tap into these emotions and create stories that’ll have the same effect on your readers!

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com