Newsletters

Happy November,
THIS IS LONG....BUT IMPORTANT. READ EVERY WORD. (purty please?)

I cannot believe the time is ticking away so FAST. There is so much to be done. First and foremost, I am asking you to begin to pray for our conference. Enemy attacks usually hit us in January, but this year they are hitting us now. We have already had 5 conferees have to leave us due to serious family issues and illness. Please begin to pray as our prayer warriors pray  - that God will send those He'd have to attend this conference and that His ways would override any attacks from the enemy. I am serious. PRAY this prayer. We want all our conferees at the Cove safe and sound and their families and friends in perfect condition.

I will be adding each of these newsletters to our conference webpage. Please visit it frequently for the newsletters and any updates you may miss. You will notice that I not only send you the newsletter via Mailchimp but I also send you the LINK to the email via Gmail. Please mark us ([email protected]) as safe on your browser security so that we do not go to your spam or trash. I do my best to communicate with you. HENCE, why you see the Mailchimp, a Gmail note, and I list on the website. Someone will always say, "BUT I DIDN'T KNOW." You have no excuse not to know the information. I make sure you have access to information in three different ways. :)  Just sayin...you should never NOT know. lol.

PLEASE NOTE: IMPORTANT - If you pre-registered at the 2019 conference, you have received a note from me back in July and August about verifying your reservation. I gave a deadline (you know, deadlines are important when you are a writer) that if I didn't hear from you within a 15 day period, I would assume you were not attending and your $25 would be funneled into our scholarship fund. If you are just now letting me know that you cannot attend, your deposit has been placed in the scholarship fund and those funds were given out this week.  If you are not planning on attending, please let me know. The rooms we hold are costly and when all is said and done, if they are not filled by conference time, Chrisitan Devotions must pay for those rooms even if they are empty. Our ministry is small. We love this work, but we cannot afford to pay for rooms that are not filled...not when we have a list of folks who want to attend and cannot because the spot is taken. Please be kind and let me know if you are not planning on attending. At this time, there is no refund on the $25 deposit.
If you pre-registered at the Cove in February and paid $25 or if you paid a deposit online from the website: I am working on invoices now. Please help us by sending your payment as soon as possible. We must pay the Cove, in December. So help us out. When you get your invoice you can choose to pay it in two payments, however, you will be charged the PayPal charge for that convenience. I wish we could afford to pay that for you but we can't. We're itty-bitty and though God provides to the fullest, He's not great about PayPal's charge. (grin) Please help us by paying as soon as you receive your invoice. If you can pay in full that would be awesome. If you can't then the remainder is due Jan 5.

CURRENTLY, we have 9 rooms available on campus. If you are an off-campus person and would like to come on campus, please let me know. We can work something out. Email me at [email protected]. We have 38 open conferee slots. So if you know someone who wants to attend, let them know before we sell out. Those 38 slots will fill quickly.

JUST TO RECAP LAST NEWSLETTER IMPORTANT NEWS:
If you have registered online then I have your registration deposit and room preference. All I need (from those married couples attending) is an email for both.  (Please note that if your spouse does not plan to attend the full conference they are required to attend the full group sessions in order to stay on campus and they must wear their name badges at all times. The Cove is a non-profit and everyone that stays on campus MUST BE REGISTERED and ATTEND the conference. I cannot force you to attend all sessions, but to qualify you must attend the general group sessions in the morning and at night.  You can email me at [email protected] with that information. ALSO, a big problem arises when OUR LADIES register under a PayPal account with their hubby's name and email. I honestly don't mind who's account you use, BUT I do need to know you are female. Otherwise, I am placing you in a single room under the assumption you are male. SO please let me know if you are FEMALE (grin) registering under your hubby's PayPal so I don't put you in the wrong room...very embarrassing.
Here's an example of one thing I run into within PayPal.  Hamlett. Who are you? Male or female? Would you send me an email and let me know? SMILE.




HERE'S WHERE THE HARPING STARTS: (LOL)  I need a photo and short bio (50 words or less) that includes your email address and web or blog page. We do prepare a roster for our conferees so the sooner you send this...the better. You will send these (the photo and bio) to [email protected].
This is important to us. Our roster is one of the tools we use to 1) help you know folks before you arrive 2) use as a networking tool after the conference 3) keep as a document and not have to fumble with business cards that get misplaced. Our roster sets us apart from other conferences and we truly believe it's an important asset. If you have not already done so, please send your bio and photo as an attachment to Andrea. Thank you in advance.

CLASSES
Our classes and the schedule are officially posted on the website. The web url for the classes is https://ashevillechristianwritersconference.com/2020classes and the url for the class schedule is:https://ashevillechristianwritersconference.com/2020classschedule. Keep in mind, some things could change, but at this time these are the classes and the schedule.

SETP UP AND STEP OUT
It's important to know we provide two learning tracks. One for newer writers (Step UP) and one for more advanced writers (Step OUT). We can't make you stay in any one track but we encourage you to choose one and try to stay. PURCHASE the MP3's for $35 (cheap, cheap) and you will have the entire conference. Plus, you will receive ALL, let me repeat, ALL the class handouts for every class. So choose a track and stick. Take home the manual you get and purchase the mp3's. You will have the entire conference at your fingertips. Get face time at the conference with the faculty that can teach you where you are currently. Take home the book and order the MP3s and you can study the classes you missed in your office. FACE TIME is vital. Just sayin...

WE SELL OUT YEARLY - You can be our best advertisement. Let your peers know we are having a conference. Encourage them to register. Help us fill this conference to overflowing. We are praying faithfully that God will send those He would have attend. Every year He sells this conference out. SO pray with us that very prayer, Lord, send those You would have attend. Then sound off and let others know about us.

Critiques, mentoring, and contests:  Be sure to check out our critiques, mentoring, and contest page. We are still locking in our mentors so check back from time to time. I encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities. This is how you learn and to sit at the feet of professionals giving you direction...it's wonderful. There is an additional cost but it's something you do to further your career. We try to keep pricing reasonable. Terri Kelly manages these appointments so be sure and visit the Critiques and Contest Page - her email is listed there.

Sparrow Award (Formerly The Badge of Honor Book Contest) - The winner of the Sparrow Award will have their manuscript (must meet requirements) presented to the board or either Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas or Iron Stream Media. This is not a guarantee for a contract but it is a foot in a door. We've had several of our winners published because of this award. Sarah Loudin Thomas heads this contest up and her email, along with the rules and requirements are on the website under Critiques and Contests. (It has a pretty spiffy trophy too!)
The Devotions Contest - Why not try? One of the best ways to grow as a writer is to enter contests. Please step out of your comfort zone and enter the contest. The guidelines and rules are, ONCE AGAIN, on the critiques and contests page.

PRAY, PRAY, PRAY. WRITE, WRITE, WRITE.

Do Not Fear

When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
    when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Proverbs 3:24 NIV

I have days. Good ones and then days like today. Days when tears pool in the corners of my eyes and balance tediously. I wish the reason for the sensitivity was my writing but it's not. It's a monster called cancer, that attacks my family...in particular, my husband. (Otherwise known as my prince.) Suffice to say, there are times anxiety engulfs me. It takes my breath. Sucks the joy out of me. It fills me with fear.

When those days happen, my writing suffers. I walk to my office door and can't seem to make my hand twist the knob. So my computer sits idle. Untouched. Cold. Words escape me. So trust me, I completely get it when I have conferees tell me they are afraid. Life sometimes does that to us. It's important to know that you have friends who can come under you and support you when those moments hit. If you don't have them, find them. You need them.

This morning my prayers were simple for my husband and for my best friend, who just found out she has lymphoma on Friday. "Lord, help me find the joy in the hardship. Teach me to seek gratefulness even when I don't understand Your ways. Even when I don't understand the WHYs." This scripture came to me by the goodness of God last night because He knows I'm a pacer. God knows I get up all through the night, pass by my prayer bowl, grab and prayer request, walk the hall and pray over it before I can go back to sleep. Sometimes I do this 7 or 8 times through the night. My husband calls me a prayer pacer. I suppose that is as good a title as I could have. The truth is, I worry. But last night, I slept all night long because God said, Cindy pay attention to My Word. When you lie down, you will not be afraid;  when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

There is a method to my madness here because as writers fear creeps into our hearts. We're afraid that our work will be rejected, others will think it's not good enough. We'll fret and worry that we can't ever meet the expectations we put on ourselves. I'm here to tell you - fear is fear. Be it in our writing or in a battle with a monster like cancer. Fear is fear. You have to have people in place who can help keep you in check. That doesn't mean someone who fusses at you, rather, someone who nudges you at the perfect time. (I have Edie, Eva Marie, Edie, and Bob).

As I sat in Sunday school class this morning, my phone buzzed with a text. Across the room was my a good friend, Angie, who texted, "I see your fear. I am with you." And at that very moment, it was as if God rested His hand on my shoulder. The fear eased and I could breathe.

The closer the conference approaches, the easier for Satan to try his best to scare you, but don't believe the lies. DON'T YOU DARE. Because if I can withstand the fear into peace, so can you.
Turn the knob on your office door. Flip on the computer and write. Fear gives us inspiration but writing gives us an outlet. Now write and know that you are being prayed over EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Much love,
Cindy Sproles
Director, Asheville Christian Writers Conference