It was great meeting friends, both old and new, at the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference! Enjoy the pics – I’m in the pic that’s second from the bottom!
Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference!
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Category Archives: Conferences
Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference
Photo used with permission of Romanticando.
I’ll be attending the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference tomorrow – Saturday, August 3rd. If you’re there and you see me, please say hello!
How Many Writers’ Conferences Have You Attended?
How many writers’ conferences have I attended?
Twenty-three!! But, I’m not sure if that’s the correct number – it’s just an estimate, but it should be pretty close to that figure!!
How many conferences have you attended? Can you leave a ballpark figure in the comments?
Yesterday’s Writers’ Rest blog post brought this question to mind. Here’s a list of conferences that I’ve attended – this list may not be complete because it’s based upon my memory over the last fifteen years. (I started writing back in 1994):
Florida Romance Writers Conference (a chapter of RWA) – This was my very first writers’ conference. I attended back in 1996. I recall that everybody was warm and friendly and there were some male romance models there on motorcycles.
RWA National Conference (Romance Writers of America) – I attended this one eight times. (1996-2002, 2009) This was the only conference I attended for several years. If you’re trying to break into the genre of romance fiction, then this conference is for you! You’ll find a plethora of editors and agents seeking authors. I stopped attending this conference because the Christian fiction professionals had stopped attending RWA conferences once ACFW was formed. I did look at the lineup for this year’s RWA conference, and a couple of Christian fiction publishers and agents are there. However, if Christian fiction is your focus, then you should attend ACFW (keep reading for more information about ACFW).
Washington Romance Writers Annual Retreat (a chapter of Romance Writers of America) – I attended this one at least five times, give or take? WRW is my local chapter, plus, I served on the board for this organization for a few years. I volunteered for the retreat by soliciting to publishers and authors for donations for the goody bags for this event. This conference USED to be held at historic Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia at the now-extinct, historic, Hilltop House Hotel. I loved this event because the scenery was so pretty and the casual, laid-back atmosphere was very nice! Also, I sold my SECOND BOOK as a result of meeting a Harlequin editor at this retreat. I know the location for this event has changed in recent years.
Midatlantic Christian Writers Conference – I attended this one twice, it doesn’t exist anymore. I really enjoyed it the first year because Jerry Jenkins was there and he was the keynote speaker! I even have a personally signed copy of his novel, The Mark. The second year that I attended, I didn’t enjoy it as much. Can’t recall why? I didn’t attend the third year and after the third year the organizer stopped doing this conference.
New Jersey Romance Writers Conference (a chapter of RWA) – I attended this one three times. It’s a great conference because, from what I can recall, since the location is near New York, they get a lot of editors and agents attending. It’s the next best thing to attending RWA’s National Conference.
Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference – I attended this one only once. I enjoyed the ACFW Conference more than this one because my focus is ONLY Christian fiction at the moment. This conference has a plethora of other types of things like self-publishing, magazines, devotionals, etc. It was a hodge-podge of things to choose from, and, while it was nice, I felt I got more for my money from ACFW. But, since this conference is local to me, I attended for the one year.
ACFW Conference – I attended this one three times. If you’re currently trying to get your Christian novel commercially published, then you should attend this conference. From what I’ve seen, this is where you will find the largest gathering of CHRISTIAN FICTION editors and agents. It was a great experience and I wish that I could attend this year, but, right now, I just can’t justify the cost! I’ll probably attend next year, though!
So, how many conferences have you attended? Can you leave a ballpark figure in the comments?
Conference Tips – From The Blog Archives
I’m re-posting an old blog entry about writers’ conference tips on the Writers’ Rest Blog. Stop by and leave a comment.
ACFW Conference 2010
Patricia commented on my ACFW Blog Post. Her comments are bolded:
Planning on going next year?
Probably, depending on a number of factors. I’d love to go again, though. I think I get more out of ACFW than RWA because MOST of the Christian publishers attend ACFW. Only a few Christian publishers attend RWA. When I went to RWA last year, I believe the only Christian houses attending were Bethany House and Steeple Hill.
Maybe when you’re rested, you could give us just a little about the workshops you attended?
I didn’t attend all of the workshops I signed up for since I got tired a few times and needed to rest, or sometimes I’d bump into people and we’d sit and talk and skip the workshops. This information is kind of sketchy, so read at your own risk, and take the following words with a grain of salt!
For the Continuing Education session, I attended Jim Rubart’s and Chip Macgregor’s class on Marketing Your Fiction. Basically, you need to find something you’re good at…something marketing related, and do that to market your stuff. For example, if you can’t stand blogging, then don’t start a blog! Also, you need to shock editors, agents, people, about your work. Give them material that’s not the norm. When you write a thank-you note for your rejections, think of writing something with some spark that’ll make that editor remember you! I missed part of this workshop since I had appointments. If you really want to know about all that was said, it’d be best to buy the CD. Marketing is all about getting people to like you and help you promote your material, build a tribe and they’ll help you promote your stuff. That’s all I can recall off the top of my head.
I went to Terri Blackstock’s workshop on writing suspense. Very interesting. You need to raise the stakes in your suspense stories and not make them too predictable. She used the movie Ransom? to illustrate what she was trying to tell us. We were supposed to watch this movie before attending the workshop, but I didn’t take the time to do that, but still gleaned lots of great information from her teaching.
The mock acquisitions meeting that Thomas Nelson did was quite interesting. It was great to see a re-enactment of the dialog that editors have when trying to decide if they want to publish a book. People asked questions afterwards.
That’s a brief summary of what I can recall from the conference.
Was this your first ACFW conference? If so, any thoughts from the perspective of a first-timer?
Nope, it wasn’t my first conference! If memory serves me correctly, it was my third conference. If you’re a first timer, just go and enjoy, take good notes and make lots of connections with authors!
Oh, got another rejection today! I’m not typing the full rejection on this blog post as I promised I would. Why? It’s too lengthy and I’m tired of typing. But, she gave me great feedback and I’m going to re-submit this project since she suggested I do so.
ACFW Conference 2010
I’m too tired to blog about the conference. If you have any specific questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll respond in another blog post. As I stated earlier, I’m a terrible reporter. I just don’t feel like typing up all of the wonderful details about the conference since I’m too tired and lazy right now and I’ve got to finish reading books that I agreed to review for blog tours, plus, I have some proposals that I need to polish and submit as a result of the meetings I had with editors and agents at the conference. As I’ve said on this blog before, if you want to get commercially published within the Christian market then ACFW is the place to be! All those industry professionals and writers under one roof! I had an awesome time and it was great networking, socializing and worshipping with other writers! I had a great time! Here’s some pics that other conferees took! I had my camera with me but failed to take any pictures. When I go to these events, I rarely take photos. I’m so busy having fun that I never take the time to take pics!
Me with local ACFW member Terri Haynes! Her entry was a finalist in the Genesis Contest!
Me with author Julie Lessman – the author of hot, spicy Christian romance. Her books are fantastic! I’ve reviewed her Daughters of Boston Series on this blog!
Me socializing with someone named Kathy. I met her at author Michelle Sutton’s chocolate party. If memory serves me correctly, she told me about her experiences self-publishing her book.
Me talking to author Gail Sattler. Her recent release, The Narrow Path, sounds quite interesting since the heroine is new-order Mennonite and the hero is old-order Mennonite. When I find the time, I’ll probably read her book.
Me, with a goofy, cheesy smile! I think I was winding down at this point, about ready to head back to my room to go to bed! I’d had my fill of chocolate by this time!
Me, sitting next to a woman named Cassandra at the awards banquet. I had NO IDEA this picture was being taken!
September 17, 2010 – Day 1 For ACFW
I arrived in Indianapolis yesterday and shared a ride with another ACFW member to the hotel. So far, the hotel has been somewhat nice, but I’ve noticed that I have to wait a LONG TIME for elevators and when you get on an elevator, it’s usually filled to capacity. I’ve run into LOTS of authors and I’m not sure if I can even attempt to list them all here. I did have a lot of conversations last night and my throat hurts from talking so much. I had lunch with ACFW member Dani Pettrey and my roommate Chandra Smith . Lunch was great. There was a chef making pasta to order and I’d never had that before, and it was tasty. I ran into author Tracie Peterson during lunch and it was great to see her! I hadn’t seen her in YEARS! She was instrumental in helping me to land my first and third book contract!
After lunch, I had a long chat with author Ramona Cecil about her historicals. We also talked a lot about writing for Barbour. I was then approached by author Jennifer Rogers Spinola and we chatted for awhile and I gave her a copy of Chesapeake Weddings.
Praise and worship was awesome! I also was glad to see my former critique partner, Rose McCauley receive her first publishing contract for a Christmas historical novella!!! 🙂 The novella is being published by Barbour Publishing! Yea! 🙂
I talked to authors Pat Simmons and I spoke with Vanessa Miller about her novel, Long Time Coming. It’s an emotional read that’ll bring tears to your eyes and I plan on posting a review later this year, closer to the released date of the novel.
I went to my room for a few minutes and by the time I got to dinner, most of the over six hundred people attending this conference were already seated! I found a seat in the back next to Jim Rubart, author of Rooms. Author Jenny Jones and Abington editor Barbara Scott were also at the table. I was able to talk to Barbara Scott about my writing and I was glad that I was able to do that.
After dinner, I attended two late night chats. One was for Summerside Press. Apparently, you need an agent to submit to them. It doesn’t appear that you can submit to them via conference appointment unless you have an agent. I do enjoy their books and I’ve reviewed a number of their titles on this blog. They’re still looking for unique settings for their Love Finds You Line and they’ve added a few lines to their house, too, and the two editors talked about that for a bit. I think these books have lovely covers, too!
After the Summerside Press chat, I went to the Steeple Hill chat and afterwards spoke with editor Tina Columbo James. If you’re looking to submit someplace and you’re unagented and unpublished, I think SH would be a great place to submit, especially since they take unagented submissions and I’ve noticed they have a habit of granting contracts to new authors.
During both the Summerside Press and Steeple Hill chats I had long conversations with a number of authors, but my fingers and getting a bit tired from typing and breakfast is coming up soon, and I don’t feel like trying to recall all the names of whom I spoke with after the chats! I know I talked to author Ginny Aiken for awhile and Merrilee Wren and Lynette Sowell.
Author Michelle Sutton’s chocolate party was great! I talked to a bunch of people here, too, including author Laurie Alice Eakes, Gail Sattler, Lena Nelson Dooley and a bunch of others! I saw Julie Lesssman, author of the hot and steamy inspirational Daughters of Boston series, and that was a treat!
I hope to post another blog entry later today or tomorrow! I did bring my camera with me, but, so far, I haven’t taken any pics! But, others have taken pics of me, so, when I can get ahold of some, I’ll post on the blog!
Indianapolis, Here I Come!
I’m leaving for the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference in about an hour! It’ll be good to see old friends and to make some new connections!
I also wanted to share a positive review about Chesapeake Weddings that was recently posted on Amazon.com:
Weddings For Everyone; Spoiler Alert
Cecelia Dowdy wrote a collection of three short stories in the Christian fiction genre based on the lives of three women in unrelated situations, but whose life path ended up crossing at a later point. Monica was forced to take in her blind nephew when her younger and irresponsible estranged sister decides that she wants to chase her dream of traveling the world with her new fiancé under the premise that she wanted to travel the world. After the death of her father, Emily thinks that her biggest challenge is managing an entire dairy farm all alone, but soon finds that she has to fight for the survival of her livelihood once some secrets are exposed that she was never told. Karen had her entire life turned upside down when her fiancé ran off with the church secretary and a large chunk of embezzled funds, leaving her to wonder if her life with the man she was about to marry was a farce.
The title of the book gave the reader the proper expectation for all of the short stories, so there was little opportunity for shock and surprise. This was the first time that I read a book from the ‘Romancing America’ series, but it seems that there are a series of books that highlight a different state in the country and focus the setting of the story on that particular region. To whet your appetite, the author speaks at length about all of the various food selections in that area to the point that while reading, I often wanted the pleasure to taste the dishes myself.
Another impressive point of this story was the obvious research that the author conducted to make her characters’ areas of expertise believable. In Monica’s story, the gentleman that she ended up falling in love with was an agnostic scientist who was able to tutor her blind nephew. In that story, she was able to convey the language of someone who had that background. Emily’s life was based on a dairy farm with an eventual CPA beau that had a drinking problem, and she was able to make the reader feel as if they were actually in a farm setting with all of the proper lingo. Karen fell in love with the man who lived next door to her mother who was a plumber and who had a heart for ministry.
I recommend this for the reader who needs something to just sit back and relax with on a lazy day. It is not a difficult read that requires much active thought. But, I definitely recommend that the serious dieter pass this read by, the temptation is entirely too great with all of the wonderful description of fresh seafood from the Chesapeake.
The book was provided by the author for review purposes.
Shica Robinson
APOOO BookClub
Tenwek Hospital
A good friend of ours, Ron Johnson, is out with a group of people in Kenya doing missionary work at Tenwek Hospital and the surrounding area. We receive daily emails from his group about their experiences and the emails bring both laughter and tears to our eyes as we read about babies dying and AIDs orphans who receive their first pair of shoes. If you feel led, keep this hospital and this ministry bathed in prayer.
My novel collection, Chesapeake Weddings, received a favorable review in The Examiner.
I’ll be heading to ACFW tomorrow morning. If you’re coming and you see me, stop and say hello, also let me know if you read my blog! I’ve often met my blog readers at conferences. I’ll try and report on what I see and hear at the conference, but, as in past years, I find I do a terrible job at reporting. By the time I get back to my room, I just feel like going to sleep! I usually end up staying awake much later than normal, socializing!
Also, I forgot to mention, about a week ago I submitted one of my old, rejected manuscripts to another publisher. This particular publisher markets their novels primarily to libraries and the pay isn’t much, but, the reject is just sitting there, gathering dust, so I might as well try and make a few dollars from my weeks worth of labor! 🙂 I’ll keep you posted about that!
Wedding Anniversary And Conference
We celebrated seven years of marriage today! We celebrated by pulling out our wedding video and watching it yesterday. Our son didn’t recognize a lot of the people in the video since, well, you know how it goes. Sometimes the only times you see some friends and family is at weddings and funerals. Some of the people are good friends of ours, too and these people are unfamiliar to our son! 🙁
Maybe we’ll show him the wedding video every year and make more of an effort to hook up with our friends and family members!
I’m heading out to ACFW within the next few days. I’m too tired to be excited. I’m sure the giddiness of being around all those great, wonderful people will kick in once I get there! There’s so much going on in my mind that my head feels cluttered!