by Lee Carver Here’s the scenario: You enter the hotel elevator during the ACFW Conference and recognize an agent or editor you’d love to impress. Each of you selects a floor choice, and she turns to you and asks, “So what are you writing?” Being prepared for the question, you unabashedly speak your thirty-word pitch in the twenty seconds or …
How to Know When It’s Time to Give Up
by Cathleen Armstrong I met her the second day of the ACFW Conference when I sat down next to her at the lunch table. “How’s your conference going?” I smiled at her as I opened my napkin. This is conference-speak for, “How are you?” The usual answer is, “Great! How about you?” Not this lady. “Not so good. In fact, …
Beating the Post Conference BLUES
By Susan May Warren Are you home from the ACFW conference? Finally unpacked? I hope you came home filled with encouragement and new ideas on how to make your writing breathtaking. Now what? Conferences can be overwhelming, between the requests for proposals or full manuscripts, new story ideas, craft lessons, marketing epiphanies and loads of new friends. Where and how …
We Never Stop Learning
By Martha Rogers I have just returned from my 15th ACFW conference. It was one of the best I’ve attended. The best thing was seeing friends only known through the loop or Facebook or Twitter, but feeling like I’d known them forever. I offer my congratulations to all the Genesis and Carol Award winners. Keep turning out those great books. …
Post-Conference Planning
By Danica Favorite Whew! Some of you are home from the ACFW conference, and you’ve gotten back into the groove of life. Some of you didn’t get to go and are sad about that. Either way, it’s time to make a plan for moving forward. The problem with going to a great conference like ACFW is that you learn a …
8 Ways to Minimize the Effect of Post Conference Blues
by Edie Melson I’ve been attending large writing conferences for over fourteen years and they all have ONE thing in common-post conference blues. It’s only natural. A week-long conference is an exciting, grueling experience. Just physical exhaustion alone could get anyone down-add to that the mental and emotional effects and you have the perfect set-up for a huge let-down. For …
ACFW Conference 40 Days of Prayer
2015 ACFW CONFERENCE 40 DAYS OF PRAYER PRAYER TOPIC: FOR ATTENDEES Father, hundreds of attendees will be present this year in Dallas. New, tender-hearted writers hoping for encouragement and guidance. There will be folks who have progressed to the next level in the industry, but who still look for encouragement to move forward. Some writers will have been offered contracts …
ACFW 40 Days of Prayer: Day 1
2015 ACFW CONFERENCE 40 DAYS OF PRAYER DAY 1 PRAYER – TOPIC: THAT GOD’S WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED AT THE CONFERENCE Heavenly Father, thank You for the opportunity to go to the conference this year. We trust that each one of us in attendance is exactly where we are supposed to be. Please lead and guide us to speak to the …
ACFW 40 Days of Prayer: Day 2
2015 ACFW CONFERENCE 40 DAYS OF PRAYER DAY 2 PRAYER – TOPIC: GOOD WEATHER FOR TRAVEL Father God, we come to You, the One who created wind and rain, the One who still commands their attention. So many of us have faced disappointment and frustration in the past when weather interferes with travel plans. So much has been invested both …
ACFW 40 Days of Prayer: Day 3
2015 ACFW CONFERENCE: 40 DAYS OF PRAYER DAY 3 PRAYER TOPIC: EARLY BIRD AND POST-CONFERENCE SESSIONS Dear God: Thank You for making the Early Bird and Post-Conference sessions possible at the ACFW Conference. We lift up the people teaching the sessions. Please bless them as they prepare to teach. Bless them with clarity of thought and speech, and as they …