Writing Workshops & the Winners are...

I've been working all week on getting ready for the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference in Elizabethtown coming up this Friday and Saturday, June 24 & 25. I had actually thought this was my first writers conference when I went last year, but then I was reminded that I had led some workshops at the Green Rivers Writers Retreat some years back - probably in the 1980s or 90s. That was in Louisville and I drove back and forth so maybe that's why I didn't think about it actually being a conference. But I did meet with writers and try to share my limited writing knowledge with them. That's what I'm going to be trying to do again at KCWC.

The picture is of me and last year's keynote speaker, Virginia Smith. Ginny did a great job of delivering the keynote speeches last year. Ginny does a great job every time she speaks. Just check out her website, Viginia Smith and you'll see that she has some interesting topics for her talks. And she's always fun. She was last year too. This year they have Cecil Murphey who has written so many books it's a wonder he hasn't lost count. Maybe he has! He has his name on some of the books and some of them he ghostwrote such as 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper. They say he's a tremendous speaker and encourager so I know the conference attendees will more than get their money's worth. 

I always feel a little inadequate - oh heck, I feel a lot inadequate when I am asked to lead a workshop. I'm a writer, not a teacher. But at the same time, I enjoy teaching. I did a community ed writing class for several years here in my county and found it fun. Time consuming, creative energy draining, but fun. So I do have some experience teaching and almost all the comments on my sessions last year were favorable. Wonder why that one really critical remark is the one that stuck?   (Sigh)

Last year I had workshops on character and rewriting. I was a little surprised to discover that a lot of writers thought the rewriting topic was not all that interesting. I like to rewrite. For one thing that means I've finished the hard part of writing and have the story told. But I'm not trying to encourage the wisdom of rewriting your work this year. My workshops are "Dialogue - The Fizz in Fiction" and "Facts in Fiction - Using History in your Story." 

I think I came up with good titles anyway. Now to put the meat into the session and deliver it in such a way that my advice will encourage other writers. Even if they leave my class saying that was a lot of nonsense and I can do better than that. A lot of good books have been written by writers who said that very thing. Motivation is necessary for characters in stories and for writers.   

But in the three conferences I have been part of I have found one thing true of them all. It's the people you meet, the friends you make that give you the most lasting benefits. The writing information is good. Feedback is good. Discovering new markets or new possibilities of ways to use your writing talent is good. But best is making friends who know how hard writing can be, who may have experienced the same discouragement over rejections or joy over acceptances. People who understand because they have the writing bug crawling around inside them too.

So if you're at the conference in E-town, be sure to introduce yourself and tell me you are a reading friend. Then we can be face to face writing friends too. 


A couple more items here. My first book launch for The Blessed will be next week on Thursday night, June 30th at the Corinth Book Store in Frankfort, KY at 7 p.m. If you live in the area I'd love to see you there. Then I'll have a Hometown Book Launch at the Anderson Public Library in July on Sunday the 24th at 2 p.m. Door prizes and chocolate there. Both places I'll be talking about writing my new Shaker book, The Blessed. On June 30th at the book store I'll be sharing the podium with Catherine Sheets, a Frankfort author with a new book out titled A Place Called Morning. 

And now for the big news. I have the winners of my Celebration giveaway. The winner of the "never win anything" (at least from my website) is Abi of ND. She picked Orchard of Hope.The winner of the "I've been blessed" drawing is Ann Marie. The winner of the angel figurine and a book is Donna of KY. The winners of autographed copies of The Blessed are Susan of NE, Sally of TX, Katie of CA, Linda of MI, and Virginia of VA. Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing. I'll be doing some more giveaways in September (you know, because when you get older you have to celebrate by giving stuff away), so check my events page on my website for when and how to enter. I'll also be guesting on some blogs that will be giving away a copy of The Blessed. That info is also on my website event page. 


Blessings to all of you. And wish me smooth talking and intelligent words for my workshops this weekend. If you were attending one of the workshops, what would you most want to know?



Snf no

Celebrating a New Year

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life." That quote is on a refrigerator magnet my daughter brought home years ago. We've had a lot of new years and new days since then, but that doesn't make the saying any less true. There's also the saying about yesterday being gone, tomorrow is not here and all we have is the present. We need to treat it like the gift it is and rejoice in the precious present and embrace our new beginnings.

But New Year's is a time when we're more aware of those new beginnings. The chance to change. The motivation to change. The challenge to change. I don't usually make New Year's resolutions because I don't want to only be ready to change once a year. I want to be ready to do some resolving to change any time I recognize that I need to do that changing. That's pretty often.

But this year I'm seeing the necessity for making a few changes and it happens to be right now here at New Year's. I'm going to have to carve some working time out of my schedule. I'm going to have to stop letting myself be distracted by the many tasks and chores - fun and not so fun - of writing and do the writing. So much of Facebook and even posting here on my on-line journal feeds my need to write, but not that deeper need to create a story. So I am searching for hours each day to do the real writing.

A self-employed writer has to learn discipline or nothing gets written. That writer sees other writers posting that they wrote thousands of words or three books a year and it's easy to begin to feel a tad down in the dumps. That writer - me - knows she's never going to be able to spill out words like that, but that writer also knows without a regular schedule with a goal of so many pages a day, no book will ever get written. So in spite of life happening with a mother who needs me along with all the usual busyness of my life, I'm going to have to find a new writing routine. That's my New Year's goal. I'm ready to begin on the book. I have the characters. I have a bit of the idea. Now to find the hours. Early or late or squeezed in the middle, I will find them. God willing, the book will get written.

So what are your resolutions? Changes you want to make in this new year of 2011. The second decade already of the 21st century. Wow! Time does speed past. Just ask my mom who is feeling her age tonight. She was sad earlier because she was feeling old and didn't want to leave us. All I could think to tell her was that she was looking at it from the wrong direction and that she needed to look back at all the good years she'd had and the love she'd shared with us so long. But that probably didn't help much. The hugs I gave her may have helped more and in the end I'm sharing her tears because I'm not ready for any leave taking either.

But if you've stuck with me this long, on to happier things. I drew the winners for my Christmas/New Year's giveaway. I'm going to be keeping the Post Office in business for a while. The never won before winner is Eva who left a comment here on the blog to enter. Linda H won the Christmas story drawing. She's the one whose best Christmas was surviving a heart attack this year. I do appreciate all of you who entered and I had such fun reading your Christmas memory stories. The other winners are Laurie L, Crystal C, Sandra A and Laurie C. I'll be contacting you by e-mail to find out which books you want and to get your mailing addresses. I hunted up some of the surprises today. One's a Shaker Christmas ornament. I have two Shaker wooden bookmarks, a Shaker clothespin and cake tester bundle of straws and other possibilities along with some good books by well-known Christian authors.

So thanks for reading and for entering my book giveaway. Give me a week or two and I'll think up something to give away to celebrate Angel Sister being released. Enjoy!

TTYL and other Text Letter Mysteries

I'm a little nervous about doing this post. SIMB (Shaking in my boots) because I think I've had TMB (too many birthdays) to come up with all these shortcuts in the world of texting. See the picture. That's where I am. Using quills and paper. Actually I've advanced all the way up to ballpoint pens and paper. You know the kind of pens you pick up at the bank and carry home until you can't stuff one more pen in that cup on your desk and you have to get a new pen holding cup.


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But texters don't have to worry about pens. They have their fancy little phones in their pockets. And then they type in shortcut words and phrases. Like LOL. I know what that one means although the first time I saw it I thought maybe it meant Lots of Love. But the writers kept throwing in expressions of love at the oddest times. Finally somebody let me know they were laughing. Probably at me! Of course ROTFL is even funnier. And somehow I always doubt if the person is actually rolling on the floor laughing. Have you ever seen anyone over the age of five roll on the floor laughing? Especially while typing. But perhaps you can ROTFL and text at the same time.
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What got me started on this is I got a message from a friend and she ended it with TTYL. I have no idea what TTYL stands for and so I've been trying to figure it out. It came at the end of her message so I thought it might be some kind of Yours truly. Truly truly you live. Text till you're loved. Tomorrow take your leave. Take that you louse. That's the yellow lemon. Obviously, as you can see I'm TOTT. Too old to text.
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I found that out some time back when I did one of my first on-line interviews. People signed in and I was signed in and they asked questions that after a respectful pause I was supposed to answer. Somebody asked me if I was a SOTP writer. Well, not wanting to appear out of it and TOTT, I frantically tried to make sense of what in the world a sotp writer was. Silly? Old? Timid? Proud? I had to forget about the proud and admit my ignorance. Of course! Seat of the pants. Anybody - especially a writer - should be able to figure that out. More so, since I am one. A sotp writer. But not a sotp texting interviewee it seemed.
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I think I need a reference book for texting shortcuts. Maybe there is one out there already. If so, I don't think you want me to edit it. Although between us, I'm wagering we could come up with some interesting entries. I just worry I could put some letters together that I might think means one thing when it might mean something not so nice to text experts. Like Iitd. (I'm in the dark.) So educate me those of you not TOTT. Throw some texting shortcuts out here and see what weird meanings I can discover for them. Then you can all be ROTFL.
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My website book giveaway winners were Lucy of Ohio and Barbara Sh. of I don't know where yet. Barb, you'll have to e-mail me your address. Lucy won three books. She picked my Orchard of Hope and she gets Susan Meissner's Shape of Mercy and Athol Dickson's Lost Mission - both award-winning books. Barb gets her choice of one of my books and that Shaker surprise - a spicy fragrant Hands to Work and Hearts to God hot mat and a huge Shaker clothespin. Fun gifts from the Shaker gift shop. Check back soon here or on my website. I'll be doing a birthday giveaway. I mean even though I might be TOTT, at least I'm not TOTGAB. Too old to give away books. (Or Too old to Gab either.) Have a great week.