Newsletters

Assignment 1 is up on the site
One of the things that makes our conference different from others is the opportunity we take to cram as much information at you that will grow you in your writing. We begin today and will continue weekly until the week of the conference, to send you an assignment with instruction and a challenge. These are for you to use at home. File them in a file and keep them. Apply them to your work in progress. We are fortunate to have top-notch editor, Andrea Merrell providing these assignments for you. Take the time to read these posts, participate in the assignments. We want you to get the most out of the conference you can.

So assignment 1 is up on the site. You can access it today by going to our blog by clicking this link:  http://wp.me/p2Fbzx-Mg

I hope you'll take advantage of these assignments. They are great to use to improve your writing.
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THIS IS RED FOR A REASON!

PAY CLOSE ATTENTION - DO NOT RESPOND TO ME VIA REPLY ON THIS EMAIL.  Please send any responses to me in a new email to [email protected]. With over 100 people responding the thread grows long and emails are missed. PLEASE ALWAYS SEND ME A NEW EMAIL WITH YOUR CONCERNS OR QUESTIONS.

I'm not sure what I have to do to get this point across...HELP ME OUT HERE FOLKS.  Also, don't send me information via chat or FaceBook chat. I have no way of keeping up with it. I have folks sending me chats to change housing arrangements, and when you manage 5 emails, 4 websites, 2 facebook accounts, and a twitter account...it gets hard to know where WHAT came from. Please email me in a NEW EMAIL if you need to send me a message. Do not reply to this newsletter.

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Crunch Time. . .
I am frantically working to secure all our housing at the Cove. Again, I remind you, if you have not completed your payments for the conference, do so immediately. The links are at the bottom of the page. I don't want anyone to be turned away for non-payment. We press this with you because as good stewards of our funds, we pay our debts as they are due. We have promised ourselves and our Heavenly Father, that we will not go in debt. I will be sending out notices this week. Please be a good steward and complete your payments.
Thank you in advance.

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REMINDER:  BADGE OF HONOR BOOK CONTEST

The deadline for our book contest is drawing near. January 20 is the deadline. We have not received ONE ENTRY for this contest. I gotta say...I'm shocked. This is a prime opportunity for you skip the hubbub and get your work straight before a publishing committee. The winner will have their manuscript placed before the publications board of Lighthouse Publishing for a possible book contract.  What a wonderful opportunity - to be able to slide past editors, agents and paperwork to have an opportunity for your work to go directly to the publications board. Now, it's important for you to know that the publications board may or may not grant a contract. It depends on the book - just as it would with any publisher. But this is a step closer. We have had three authors receive contracts out of the last 4 years. So shine up those manuscripts, and click on the link for your additional information to enter.
http://ashevillechristianwritersconference.com/badge-of-honor-contest/ 

Time is quickly passing and we must have at least five submissions in order to hold this contest. We normally average 15. Don't let the clock run out on you.

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SEND THOSE BIOS AND JPGS to Cindy Saab
IF YOU ARE NEW TO OUR NEWS LETTERS we need you to send a .jpg and a short bio (under 75 words to [email protected] . This is VERY IMPORTANT. We need your photo and bio along with your email address so that we can complete our roster. This roster will be sent to you just before the conference so you can use it as a networking tool and familiarize yourself with your peers. PLEASE send this to Cindy Saab (not me...but CINDY SAAB) asap. We want you all in our roster.

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What is to come - 

1) It's time for you to begin to utilize the website www.ashevillechristianwritersconference.com. You will find all your updated information on under the tab called - you guessed it - CONFERENCE UPDATES.  As we grow closer to the conference, I'll all all the information for your check-in process. What to wear. Where to meet - all that "stuff".   It will all be RIGHT THERE FOR YOU.  INCLUDING the links for the additional assignments. This newsletter and all our past ones are listed with links on the site. You should have all your information at hand.

Agents attending our conference - This year we will have Diana Flegal returning representing Hartline Literary Agency and we will have Les Stobbe representing his agency. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to network, meet with them, and show them your work. Plan to make an appointment with our attending agents. 

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Appointments - We will be allowing our faculty to do 15-minute appointments with you at the conference. So go to the faculty page and look over the faculty. See who you'd like to meet with and chat about your work, your direction, or any questions you may have. Please contact Terri Kelly if you have questions [email protected]

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Critiques and Mentoring - Terri Kelly is preparing our critique schedule and mentoring schedule. Critiques cost you a little money but BOY ARE THEY WORTH IT. Consider taking this next step in your writing career and do a paid critique. You'll get amazing and professional feed back about your work, and who knows...maybe you'll get an invitation to send your work to one of them for possible publication. Check out the critiques page

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Book store and Bob Jar - Our bookstore will again be open so you can purchase our faculty books, reserve your conference spot for 2018, purchase the conference MP3s, and donate to our BOB JAR.  Last year, we extended our conference hand into active giving and we chose to support Bob Hostetler (who has two grandchildren with Cystic Fibrosis) and his CF campaign. We sent Bob just over $900. Not only was Bob blown away, but so was I. This is what we do for our fellow man - we serve. If you don't know who Bob Hostetler is, well, check out his website. He's an amazing writer, speaker, and (we have to be careful or his head will grow) but just a darn good guy. Our conference again will support Bob's efforts to raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis research. His granddaughter is currently receiving a new medication to help her battle in CF because of the efforts to help raise money for the CF Foundation. Not only Bob's granddaughter, but my own cousin as well. So plan now, to donate a little something to our Bob Jar. What ever the conference donates, Christian Devotions will match for Bob's campaign fund raiser.

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Prayer Changes Your Attitude  

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God... Col. 1:9-10 NIV.

You've heard me say this continually. Perhaps you think I'm harping. BUT, I tell you again, that we have been praying for you since this very time last year. Our prayers go out year round to hundreds of prayer warriors and they are this:  Lord, please send those YOU want to attend. Allow us the opportunity to cultivate new attitudes within this industry. Allow us to encourage and teach so that YOUR word goes out.

Mid-summer, Beth Fortune and Dee Dee Parker received a list of conferees and their job began to not only specifically pray for you but to get others to pray for you.  Just ask Dee Dee how many ribbons are on her prayer bush.

Paul understood the power in prayer. He also understood how easily it's forgotten or worse yet, taken for granted. Still, his strength grew in Christ as he continued to pray for others and as he led others to pray. 

We know God has graced you all with unique talents and gifts. Some of you are speakers looking to add onto your gifts, while others have stories or articles churning around in your gut. It is so easy to allow yourselves to be sucked into the worldly idea of publication and forget the simple ways God uses you. 

Ten years ago, Eddie and I sat in Alton Gansky's class. Oddly enough, we'd not met yet, but Eddie wrote down the same words that I wrote down from Al's amazing experience and wisdom. "If you really want to write for God, then you have to understand that your words may never be bound between a cover and placed on the shelves of a Lifeway Bookstore. They may only be meant for the person sitting next to you. When you get your head around the fact that the words belong to God and not you, then He can and will use you."

Those were the wisest words I've ever gleaned from a conference. When Eddie and I set the guidelines for this ministry, we first promised one another and God, that this would always be HIS ministry based solely on prayer. And if He would allow us the opportunity, we would take those words of wisdom from Al and teach them over and over, instilling a new attitude into the hearts of writers. It's not about us, it's about Him. 

Publication is not an entitlement. It's earned through hard work, prayer, and determination. Paul shared his hopes with the Colossians - We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God...

Bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.  You are prayed over. You are prayed for. You are lifted before others in your writing efforts, so that you might bear fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God. 

We ask you to lift this conference before the Father. Praise Him for the opportunity and thank Him for His call on your life - then take action.

Much love,
Cin

Below are the links to complete your payments: