Writing Conference - ACFW

Wow! I can't believe it has been so long since I posted an entry! I knew I had been busy getting ready for the American Christian Fiction Writers conference, but my goodness it has been forever. Please excuse me.

The ACFW conference is a tremendous experience. I added an extra day because I went to what the organizers called the Early Bird Conference. I wasn't sure what I expected, but it turned out to be a brainstorming session for the attendees. I came away with some good ideas to add to my work-in-progress (wip), Wyoming Wind. Deborah Raney and Colleen Coble were the reviewers/moderators of the session. They reviewed and critiqued submissions from 44 participants during the month preceding the conference. If they had as much work put into all 44 submissions as they did mine, they spent most of their waking moments over the last four weeks at their computers working on our work, not theirs. What dedication to the art of writing in the development of future published writers!

This is the third ACFW conference I've attended. The first was in Houston, followed the next year by the one in Denver. I missed the Nashville conference last year, but this year's was held in Dallas. Next year's conference will be held again in Dallas. If you're looking for a good writing conference to attend let me suggest the ACFW conference. It's expensive, but the cost includes all meals served from Thursday evening through Sunday breakfast (except Friday night this year). The hotel provided two snack breaks per day on Friday and Saturday as well. This is a Christian fiction writing conference, but that shouldn't make any difference. Most of the workshops presented focused on the art of writing which would apply to all writers of fiction, Christian or secular.

Another major plus to this conference is the availability of agents and editors. With your registration fee you can request a private meeting with one agent and one editor. I nearly cancelled both of my meetings, but I went ahead and met with an agent and an editor. The meeting with the agent was less than successful. She wasn't interested in me or my wip. She suggested that I speak with an editor for Love Inspired to pitch my wip idea. I already had an appointment scheduled for Melissa Endlich (the Steeple Hill/Love Inspired editor representative at the conference), so I met with her on Saturday and had a measure of success. She asked me to contact the company when I had my wip completed and send it to them at that point.

Am I excited about that? Sort of. I have the same feeling that I had when I went to an interview with Pat Smith, former superintendent of Marshall ISD, twenty-two years ago. I knew I was going to get the job at MISD before I went to the interview. The problem - I didn't want the job. I didn't want to work in Marshall. But I went. I got the job, and I spent the next twenty years working for MISD. Was it what I wanted? No. I wanted to teach at Sabine ISD; right here at home; just down the street. I didn't want to spend twenty years driving from home to Marshall and back ten months a year. I told myself I'd work for MISD for a while and then get a job closer to home. I applied a couple of times at Sabine ISD after that, but each time I left the interview I prayed that I wouldn't get the job. I didn't get either one. I knew I was supposed to stay in Marshall. I can't tell you why. I still don't know.

Now I have that feeling about Love Inspired. I'd rather be published by Multnomah, Tyndale, Bethany House, or Barbour. But is that what God wants for me? I don't know. We shall see. Of course I have to finish Wyoming Wind and have it written well enough for them to accept. I think I'm a little daunted by the prospect. After all I have to produce 60,000 - 65,000 words and don't have a lot of time in which to get them done. So I'll set a goal of January 1, 2007 for myself to complete the rough draft and see what happens.

I'm leaving Friday morning to go on a writing vacation to the mountains of North Carolina with my friend and writing partner Elaine. Normally we both have a laptop to carry with us. Mine died last month. I'd arranged to borrow one from my niece, but she's had an offer to purchase it by a friend of her brother, so it went back to her. I can't afford to buy it myself right now and go on vacation, so I may have to write on Wyoming Wind by hand while I'm on vacation because Elaine and I will be writing on a couple of projects for ourselves during that time using her laptop. That also leaves me without Internet access, so I won't be writing on this blog during that time. I hope to have a couple of guest bloggers during the next two weeks, but if not, I'll see you when I come home.

kmparis