Rocky Mountain High Colorado...Here I Come!!

This time last week I was looking to May as being an ordinary month for me. No plans for travel. No plans for anything out of the ordinary. Then God did an extraordinary thing. During my prayer time this week I was seeking His leading on what I should be doing with my writing life and other issues. Later I checked my email and my good friend, Julie Dearyan, had posted on the ACFW loop that no one should miss attending the Colorado Christian Writers Conference because the event is awesome. No only is it a great conference for writers to learn about the craft and connect with editors and agents, but it's also a time of spirtual refreshment. I felt a little nudge inside my gut to check it out. So I started asking questions on the ACFW loop, and all I heard from one person after another was how it's an experience to not be ignored.

I also learned about a scholarship program for 1/2 off the price of registration. A good friend agreed to recommend me for the scholarship. At every turn everything was falling into place, including a round trip price from United for less than $150! Then I received an email from another ACFW member who was thinking about going. We agreed to be roommates. So far nothing had blocked my going. So I signed up, applied for a small writing clinic, and booked my flights. Then the possible roommate situation didn't work out. No problem. I decided if by the next day no one else came forth to answer my query on the ACFW loop for someone to room with, I'd ask the conference to match me and see what God intended. Funny thing, yesterday when I tried to download the lodging registration form so I could fax it from my church office I couldn't get it to download. In fact, it hung my entire computer up and I had to leave for an appointment. When I came back a couple hours later, I had an email from someone saying they'd decided at the last minute to attend the conference, and did I still need a roommate! Was the computer hangup just one of those things or was this divine intervention? You may think the former, but I prefer the latter explanation. God had been in it all along. Why would He stop then?

I am so jazzed. An excellent faculty, fantastic learning experience, agents to pitch, and four days in the moutains communing with God and His creation. Woo Hoo!! I leave May 16th.

God is good.

Fiction Friday!

This week's Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is featuring "Reclaiming Nick" by my friend Susan May Warren. This is the first book in an exciting new Noble Legacy series by Susie about some of my favorite kind of people--cowboys. Book Two, "Taming Rafe" is about a bull rider and will be out January 2008. I'm really excited about that one because a good friend of mine who is a former bull rider gave technical advice to Susie on the art of riding bulls.

Now back to Reclaiming Nick:

A Modern Day Prodigal Comes Home...

NICK NOBLE HADN'T PLANNED ON BEING THE PRODIGAL SON.
But when his father dies and leaves half of Silver Buckle--the Noble family ranch--to Nick’s former best friend, he must return home to face his mistakes, and guarantee that the Silver Buckle stays in the Noble family.
Award-winning journalist Piper Sullivan believes Nick framed her brother for murder, and she’s determined to find justice. But following Nick to the Silver Buckle and posing as a ranch cook proves more challenging than she thinks. So does resisting his charming smile.
As Nick seeks to overturn his father’s will--and Piper digs for answers--family secrets surface that send Nick’s life into a tailspin. But there’s someone who’s out to take the Silver Buckle from the Noble family, and he’ll stop at nothing--even murder--to make it happen.

Endorsement:
“Susan May Warren once again delivers that perfect combination of heart-pumping suspense and heart-warming romance.”--Tracey Bateman, author of the Claire Everett series

And can you believe it? Nick even has his own blog. Also, the first chapter is there...

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Award winning author SUSAN MAY WARREN recently returned home to her native Minnesota after serving for eight years with her husband and four children as missionaries with SEND International in Far East Russia. She now writes full time from Minnesota's north woods. Visit her Web site at http://www.susanmaywarren.com/.

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/141431017X

Teaching To Read Words Is Almost As Much Fun As Writing Them!

Every Tuesday morning I head for the local library and teach my friend Yoshie how to read English through the local Read to Learn Program. The other day I had my camera with me and had someone take our picture.

It's been fun to see Yoshie's reading and speaking skills improve over the past six months. It's also a great way to get to know someone from another culture and to help someone read. As a writer I find that very rewarding.

I've just learned that I can send my full manuscript to the publisher I've been targeting for MFB and am hard at work tweaking it so I can get it sent. I've set a goal to have it done by Easter, if not sooner. I'll keep you posted as to my progress! Right now I'm on Chapter Five with about thirty to go, give or take, as I may do some rearranging as I go. I'm excited to get this done so I can send it out and also query some agents. Yes!

How ACFW Has Been Good to Me and For Me

My friend and fellow ACFW board member, Cara Putman, talks about American Christian Fiction Writers on her blog this morning. What she wrote prompted me to say a few words about ACFW myself.

I joined ACFW back when it was still called ACRW (the "R" stands for romance). It was a fledgling group of about 100 members at the time, but now, five years later has grown to well over 1000 members writing in a multitude of genres! In spite of its growth, the organization has managed to retain a good sense of community among Christian writers who write fiction.

If I hadn't joined ACFW I don't think my writing would be at the level it is today. ACFW is a cross-section of new, intermediate, and advanced writers. You'll find authors who are well known to people who read Christian fiction and some who are just getting started.

I remember the first national conference in Kansas City like it was yesterday. The lobby of that hotel is probably still reeling from the gaggle of people looking at name tags and hugging like long-lost friends. People were seeing people they'd only known on line for the first time. It was like a high school reunion gone wild LOL. And even today, it's much the same.

Last September after a long day of board meetings, I stepped into our Dallas hotel lobby the night before the official start of our conference. Hugs, laughs, and non-stop conversation was going on in every nook and cranny. I found it hard to work my way through the crowd to the hotel restaurant where we were to resume our meeting over supper.

But, that's not the whole of it. Through the on-line writing workshops, conference workshops, critique groups, and mentoring offered by seasoned writers who unselfishly give of their time, I have grown in my craft. I've learned about revisions and editing from Deb Raney, the ins and outs of writing suspense from Colleen Coble, how to write mystery (yes there is a difference between suspense and mystery) from Karen Weisner, the Snowflake Method from Randy Ingermanson, just to name a few. I'm not trying to name drop by only naming the known writers who have helped me. Critique partners like Lisa Tuttle, Rich Bullock, and Fay Lamb to name several have made a huge difference in my growth as a writer.

I've been honored to be a part of the ACFW board and to have a small role in helping this organization become what it is today. I often receive emails from people who have happened onto the ACFW site asking why they should join. I write back and tell them pretty much what I've just written here. It's fun to see their names show up a few days later on the list of new members and to send them a welcome letter which is one of the fun things I get to do as board secretary.

If you are a Christian who writes and don't belong to ACFW what are you waiting for? If you've not been published in fiction, by joining now you still have time to submit 25 pages to the Genesis writing contest, and if you have a fiction work published by a royalty paying publisher in the past year, you have time to submit your work to the Book of the Year contest. Registration for our National Conference scheduled for the third weekend in September in Dallas opens June 1st. Our keynote speaker is James Scott Bell, and we have a dynamite schedule of continuing sessions and workshops lined up. You can learn more about this one-of-a-kind conference (we only focus on fiction) by heading over to the ACFW website and clicking on the link to the conference page.

I guess you can tell I'm pretty much sold on ACFW. Where else can you get connected to other writers who are striving to write for Him and to be encouraged and taught in the process?

CFBA Blog Tour This Week: It Happens Every Spring

GARY CHAPMAN is the author of the New York Times best seller The Five Love Languages and numerous othe rbooks. He's the director of Marriage & Family Life Consultants, Inc., and host of A Growing Marriage, a syndicated radio program heard on over 100 stations across North America. He and his wife, Karolyn, live in North Carolina.
CATHERINE PALMER is the Christy Award-winning, CBA best-selling author of more than forty novels--including The Bachelor's Bargain--which have more than 2 million copies in print. She lives in Missouri with her husband, Tim, and two sons.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING is the first of The Four Seasons fiction series, based on the ever-changing cycles of relationships detailed in Gary Chapman's nonfiction book The Four Seasons of Marriage. The novels will focus on four couples, each moving in and out of a different season.


Word travels fast at the Just As I Am beauty shop. So when a simple homeless man appears on Steve and Brenda Hansen's doorstep, the entire shop is set abuzz, especially when Brenda lets him sleep on their porch.

That's not all the neighbors are talking about. Spring may be blooming outdoors, but an icy chill has settled over the Hansens' marriage. Steve is keeping late hours with clients, and the usually upbeat Brenda is feeling the absence of her husband and her college-age kids.Add to that the unsavory business moving in next to the beauty shop and the entire community gets turned upside down.

Now Brenda's friends must unite to pull her out of her rut and keep the unwanted sotre out of town. But can Steve and Brenda learn to thaw their chilly marriage and enjoy the hope spring offers?



Ordering Info: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1414311656