January 8 Newsletter - 15 days and Counting
Thursday, February 8, 2024 by Cindy Sproles

Countdown - 15 days!

The Next Extended Learning - Our next week of learning focuses on a one-sheet. Andrea Merrell has prepared a great little lesson for you about what a one-sheet is and how it is used. Some of you may have stories or manuscripts that are ready for submission - others may not. Either way, you need to learn what a one-sheet is and how and when to use it. So buzz on over the blog on the website and read, learn, and do. Here's the link
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The SCHEDULE is up! - Terri and I finally have the final confirmation from the Cove and our schedule is updated and a printable pdf is there as well. You'll be able to download the schedule and print it. Bring it along with you so you can keep up. There may be a few tweaks but this is pretty much our schedule of events and classes.
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The Conference Notes page is up and being tweaked. Please keep checking that tab on the website. Anything that changes suddenly will be there and all your check-in info is there as well. LINK

Business stuff - THANK YOU! Everyone has paid. I am so grateful. Thank you so much for being good stewards.

Mentoring, Critiques, and Contests are now officially closed. - If you have requested a paid critique or private mentoring, please be sure that you have contacted your mentor/critiquer, and that you have sent your information, and that you have made payment to them for the work they are doing. We appreciate your promptness on all these counts. If you have questions, contact Terri's email address. Contact me about contests and I'll put you in touch with those contest directors you need to speak with about your questions.

THE BOB BOX - We do hope you'll participate in our mission for the conference. We sponsor Bob Hostetler and his part in raising funds to help the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Bob has two grandchildren who fight the battle daily with Cystic Fibrosis. I also have a family member who has beat the odds thanks to this foundation. So, we hope you'll give a little to our Bob Box at the bookstore. Whatever you give, Christian Devotions matches. We believe it is vital to give back. God has blessed us in so many ways. Pay it forward.

MP3s will be available to purchase at the conference bookstore. They are $45 and will be sent to you when they are completed for you to download to your desktop. These recordings are yours forever and they are amazing teaching for you down the road. I always keep my recordings close when I travel. I play them through my phone so that I can continue to learn from the masters. Money collected is added to our scholarship fund.

PRE-REGISTER for 2025 - We will offer you an opportunity to reserve a room on campus for 2025. The cost is $25 and when you register, we will deduct that amount from your final payment. I will contact you in the summer and verify your attendance for 2025. If we do not get a response from you, that money also goes into our scholarship fund. Consider reserving a room now for on-campus next year. The Cove experience is well worth pre-registration to ensure that on-campus spot. You can pre-register at the Conference Bookstore.

Read our past newsletters and see our liability form that you will be asked to sign. Each year, we must provide signatures for our event insurance. So please take a moment to read that liability release and know that when you check in, you will be asked to sign it.
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We are a fragrance-free conference - Please, please, please, leave your perfumes, colognes, and body sprays at home. We have a number of faculty members who are highly allergic to perfumed scents, and several conferees who have asthma. I know you love to smell right purty. But we are asking that you skip it for the weekend. Thank you in advance.

Arrival time - Arrival time for conferees is 11-12 noon. Please do not arrive sooner than 11 a.m. You will go to the Shepherds Inn, get your name tag which gives you access to the 3rd floor at the training center. Early bird classes begin at 1:00 p.m. Again, please do not arrive before 11 a.m. We simply will not be ready to give you access to the Training Center.

NAME TAGS ARE A MUST AT ALL TIMES - Yep, that name tag has to be on your body at all times. Why? Well, it's your security clearance. It's for your safety. And it's your meal ticket. And it's your admittance to the 3rd floor where the conference is. The Cove staff monitors every person to ensure they are safe and if you do not have your name tag, they will stop you and ask you where it is and to please secure that where it can be seen. Remember, this is not to be picky. It's for your promised security and your meals. Please wear your name tag at all times.

That's enough for now. Here's your encouragement.

Friends Mean So Much

This week I've had the opportunity to travel with my long-time peer, Lynette Eason. The publisher has set up a book tour for her and this week I was able to jump in the car and be her sidekick. Outside of eating, a lot and laughing even more, we've met some wonderful readers at bookstores in Nashville, Somerset, KY, and now Knoxville, TN.

We were chatting about those friends we'd never met until this week. The ones we call readers, or if you want to be cold about it, consumers. One of the beautiful things about this profession is that we make friends all over the country. Most we never meet face to face, but we recognize from our social media. Those readers love what we do. And it's wonderful to see that we've written something that gives them such pleasure, fun, and relaxation.

Our God is a god of relationships. He loves our relationship with Him and I think because of that, He's incorporated it into our earthly lives. We need one another. We need to please others and to be pleased. To love others and to be loved. To laugh, cry, and share our dreams.

Being a writer affords such amazing things. When you attend one conference you walk home with at least 50 new peers. Go to a large conference and you come home with hundreds. These people become your tribe, your friends who completely get you and who help you in your writing career.

There will come a day when you're recognized by readers. Never look at them as a problem or an inconvenience. Instead, look at them as a blessing. Know that you bring great joy to them and they, likewise, bring great joy for you.

I've loved my time with Lynette this week. We met at our first conference 25 years ago. And though I don't get to see her more than a couple of times a year, I know I can call on her anytime.

While you are at this conference, meet people. Get their names. exchange emails. These will become your class of 2024 friends. You'll grow up in the publishing world with them, and you'll see them one by one become published. It's such fun. I'm proof. I'm so proud of the success Lynette has become and I got to be a tiny part of that. More so, I have a dear friend for life.

I can't wait for you to find some of these folks to add to your life. Fifteen days and counting. See you then.