Week Four Extended Learning

Week Four Extended Learning - Jan 31
Saturday, January 31, 2026 by Cindy K. Sproles

Welcome to week four of your Extended Learning. This week Denise Loock walks you through description. Description is vital in fiction, but honestly, it's underrated in non-fiction. Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, learning solid and effective description is so important. CLICK HERE for this week's extra study with Denise Loock.

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Housekeeping hurts, but it has to be done. So this newsletter has that hard thing of housekeeping. We'll start with the great!

A good note - Our contests are closed out. We had a good number of you accept the challenge. That makes me so proud. One of the biggest challenges for conferees is learning to step out and enter contests. So, let me address CONFERENCE CONTESTS.

When you enter a conference contest, you are 1) allowing your work to be seen, 2) allowing your work to be critiqued, and 3) growing your submission muscles. Submitting to a contest means you have to follow the guidelines of submission. You would be surprised how many folks never read those submission guidelines. And the truth be known, when you don't follow them, it can easily disqualify your work. So, you are learning HOW to submit, meet a deadline, and turn in work that is the best you can do.

Secondly, entering a conference contest places you in a race with your peers at THAT CONFERENCE. Though your competition may be from around the country, the contest is not a national contest. It's a conference contest. It's a contest that gives you a well deserved pat on the back, offers encouragement, and hopefully, gives you the confidence to enter larger contests like the ACFW Genesis Contest. There are a number of contests across the country held for unpublished writers. Writer’s Digest offers these type of contests. Enter. Try and know that when you win at a conference, it's the best at THAT conference. Step two is to go on to larger contests. Keep trying. Eventually, you'll be published, and your book can enter national contests like the Illumination Awards, the Carol Awards, or the Selah Awards. It's like learning to drive. Practice, practice, practice.

Sarah Thomas and Andrea Merrell manage our contests and do a wonderful job. And for those who entered our Kingdom Devotions Contest, all those devotions will (with the help of Martin Wiles, editor, and Andrea) make their way to publication on ChristianDevotions.us.

Thank you for stepping out and making the effort. I'm proud of you.

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Critiques and Mentoring - There are still a "few" slots for mentoring. If your choice of mentors is filled, Terri will help you find the best fit. So, don't fret. If you want to have a paid critique or mentoring session, contact Terri at [email protected] asap as the window for this to happen is closing.

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The Conference Update page is live - We have a conference update page with all your information on check-in. Please check this page regularly because things change. At this point, we are at the mercy of the venue, and any changes they make will affect us. Those sudden changes will be listed here.

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CANCELLATIONS - In the past week, we've had some folks who have had to cancel due to hospitalizations and surgeries. We do have a cancellation policy listed on our website. Our full cancellation refund ends on Jan. 1. This is because we are under contract and payment dates are assigned to us for various things. By mid-January, the funds collected from registrations are gone--flights for faculty, housing, and insurance are all due.

Currently, we have four off-campus slots available. Put the word out that these are available and help me re-sell these slots so that I can help those conferees who have had life events happen.
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HEADS-UP - This year, our credit card processing fees increased. The ministry has absorbed a good amount of that charge, but we have no control over processing fees. And it's not money we keep. When you use your card, the card company automatically deducts the fee before we receive the payment.

When you come to the conference, shop in our bookstore, and use your card, the 3.3% + .30 per card swipe fee will apply. The amazing Bennie Jones has tinkered around with the Square until she has found a way to only charge the fee, so we don't do a flat fee of $3 or $5. This saves you a few dollars.

Here's what we suggest if you don't want to pay that extra fee. Bring checks or cash. We will always offer the convenience of a card, and I realize many of you accept that this is just the cost of doing business, but for me and my team -- we want to save you money. We always welcome your charge and ATM cards, but if you don't want to pay that 3.3% fee bring cash or check.

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FINALLY...

The Cost of Doing Business

I've heard this phrase all week and frankly, I'm tired of it. The Asheville Christian Writers Conference is a ministry of Christian Devotions Ministries. As a result, we don't always "do business" the way the average conference does. We pray through every decision. We have a board who oversees our efforts. And for the most part, our way of doing business runs like any non-profit except! Yes, there's an EXCEPT ( Sorta like when I was a kid and my mom would say, "You did that good BUT..."),

Our exception plays purely into the heart of what we feel like God is leading us to do. Sometimes that is what seems to be the average answer, and at other times, God says do it differently.

When you come to this conference, you'll see a box on the bookstore table. This is what we lovingly refer to as the "Bob Box." This box is not just any box. It's our tithe. It's your opportunity to tithe with us if you feel so moved. Our dear friend Bob Hostetler has two sibling grandchildren who have Cystic Fibrosis. Yearly, Bob steps out in faith to help raise money for research that not only will, but ALREADY has, changed the lives of these children, and well...the life of my own family member. As a conference, we have committed to help Bob raise funds that go to aid in valuable research for Cystic Fibrosis. His grandchildren and my cousin, are seeing a success with new medications found in this research. Our Taylor was hospitalized at least three to five times a year before these meds, but with the new medications developed through this research, she has not been hospitalized once in four years.

When you put money in the Bob Box, Christian Devotions steps out in faith and matches the $$ in the box. Then Bob takes that money and gives it to his son, who works for a computer company that then doubles that amount. And to that, I look at this raunchy disease and say, "Now, that's the cost of doing business. Take that!" I believe when I write that final check for our tithes, that God smiles. I believe He fully supports that we followed through on His command to help others.

The cost of doing business in the working world is a negative thing. It's a price to be paid that most of the time we cannot avoid. But the cost of doing business in God's eyes, is unselfishly doing for others. Helping.

When I look at the sacrifice Christ made, I see the cost of doing business. I see the cost was a price so high that Jesus had to die. But what a result, right! What a result! That cost, opened the gates of heaven. What a gift.

As you use your gifts of writing, remember there is always going to be a cost, but boy, when you do it right. When you give it back to God as your cost of doing business, He takes hold and opens an explosion of miracles. Make your writing count. Make your giving count. It matters big when it's from the heart.

Cindy