February 10 and Assignment 7

February 10 and Assignment 7
Sunday, February 10, 2019 by Cindy Sproles

12 DAYS - I'm hyperventilating! Assignment 7 is up on the blog
This week Bob Hostetler sends you instruction on How NOT to Get An Agent. I had to chuckle because, I'm not an agent and I've had these very things done to me. So let me just say this. I've been a conferee. I was one years before I became a published author and an managing editor. Trust me, I understand the excitement involved in this appointments. Conferences are busy, but if you follow the instructions, you'll get your appointment time. We want everyone to have an opportunity to have an appointment at our conference. So when I say this, I say it with great love. Terri Kelly will announce to you about signing up for appointments. If you have sent in a critique, that appointment will already be scheduled. When you are released to go sign up for your appointments...please keep in mind that you are human beings not a herd of cattle. Don't knock folks down. Don't destroy our book tables (it's happened in the past). Be polite. We want you all to have the opportunity to sign up for an appointment. If you don't get the person you want, don't fret. Join that faculty member at a meal or meet with them in the hotel lobby where folks gather to chat. Remember, we want you to have a good experience at this conference. We'll work with you. So be patient. NOW...go hither...read about the do nots in getting an agent. :)
Click here for the link to the website post.

PRAY THIS WEEK - I ask for your prayers over this conference. Pray for good weather (so far so good). Pray for safety. Pray for your peers. Pray for your staff and faculty. Pray that God will show up and not only will you learn writing but you will learn His will for you. We are lifting you up.
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ROSTER
The roster is being finalized. It will be sent to you later in the week. I will send it to you via this newsletter and it will be posted on the CURRENT UPDATE page of the website.
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WE ARE STAYING IN Pilgrams Inn- Pilgrams Inn is the first hotel as you go up the mountain. You'll stop at the guard shack, sign in, get your parking pass, then drive straight up the mountain to the first left.

The Conference takes place in the Training Center. It's the second left. We occupy the entire 3rd floor. So park in the upper parking lot, walk down the steps into the Training Center, and you will see a HUGE fireplace. Directly across from the fireplace is the elevator. Take that to the 3rd floor and boom...there we are. Can't miss Bennie, Kevin, and Wendy.

Remember, you will leave your bags in your car UNLESS YOU ARE BEING DROPPED OFF. If you are being dropped off by a friend or spouse, you can leave your bags in the corner inside the hotel. No one will bother them. The Cove staff will be there while we are in early bird classes.

IF YOU ARE ARRIVING AFTER 6 p.m. please go to PILGRAMS INN and check in with the hotel assistant to get your badge, whether you are on or off campus. All badges will be at PILGRAMS INN.

In the event of emergency, please contact me at 423-384-4821 or call the Cove front desk and leave a message for me (828) 298-2092. We pray for safe travel for everyone but we also know life happens. Please let me know immediately if you are not able to attend so we don't have the Cove security and Eddie combing the mountainside for you. :)

I have given you my phone number and as much as I love you, I ask that you do not abuse that. Remember, I work a job outside my home and I have an aging mother I care for along with my family. I ask you respect that please. Call me in the event of an emergency otherwise, email me at [email protected].

All of this information and more is on the website under Current Conference UPDATES
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Spiritual Takeaway

LOVE IS. . .

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. - 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NIV

Love is missing these days. Kinda breaks my heart. I remember as a youngster, my mother constantly quoting Abraham Lincoln.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter
and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

It's frightening that this seems to be case some 154 years after Lincoln's death. Our world is spinning on frustration, anger, and entitlement. If we don't get our way, we become like little children kicking and screaming, blaming everyone else and worse, we become vindictive. We are, just as Lincoln predicted, destroying ourselves.

The writing world is no different really. It's filled with hardships and frustrations. Rejections are common place. People throw up their arms and quit. It's as though there is no hope.

We are all pursuing the dream of writing. None of those you will work with have had an easy pathway. None were published the first time out. None were published without work...hard work. And none. . .not one, was published without love.

Paul knew better than anyone, what rejection felt like. Never think for a moment, that even in good times, the sting of rejection didn't haunt him, but he held on to love. He acknowledged it didn't matter his successes or gifts, without love, he was nothing. . .would gain nothing.

We are nearing the time for our conference. You've heard hundreds of times, that we PRAYED YOU HERE! You've received a prayer note from our Conference Care representatives. I hope you believe me when you hear us say this. Our staff and faculty LOVE YOU and more than anything we don't want you to fall to discouragement and frustration if you do not publish right away. We urge you to go the long route to publication over the short, self-publishing one. It might be the exact thing for you to self-publish, but only if you have fully thought through the financial, business, and spiritual aspects. Going the long route, trains you up. It strengthens your faith. Fills you with determination, and shows you the reality of how God is in your daily work and in His timing and plans. Be patient.

Love fully when you are rejected. Love faithfully when the timing is not yours. Love wholly when you must go back and practice the craft. Love unconditionally when others give you guidance. Love wholeheartedly when others move ahead of you while you seem stuck on the start line. Love radically when the urge to quit hoovers over you. Love absolutely when God says wait.

Love, love, love when it is so hard you think you cannot breath because, love overcomes darkness. Love overwhelms Satan. Love is the one gift God gives you that is especially for you.

As you work through this week and finish up your preparations for the conference, would you go to your knees and pray for the strength found in the love of Christ? Pray for God to show up. For His will to be made known. And if the answer is wait, let His love comfort you.

Remember what Paul said, if I do not have love, I have nothing.