SHARE YOUR STORY CONTEST
You've been inspired, challenged or encouraged by the lyrics of a song on Reach FM. 
Now it's your chance to share your story.
 Click here to submit your story before midnight on Sunday, February 20, 2011.  
You could be selected to attend the Florida Writers Conference.
The Florida Christian Writers Conference is one of the premier writing conferences in the nation. This conference provides unprecedented access to editors, agents and best-selling authors.   Writing tracks include fiction, non-fiction, children, devotions and a track specifically for teen writers. Whether you are a beginner or a multi-published author, this conference is the next step in your unique publishing journey.  
For more information and to register for the conference,
call 321-269-5831 or www.FLWriters.org. 
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CONTINUING CLASS/MARKETING YOUR BOOK/Karen Whiting

CONTINUING CLASS

MARKETING YOUR BOOK

(marketing brainstorming summit)

I’m Karen Whiting, author of more than a dozen books with four more to be released in the coming year.

The conference is just around the corner and I’m gearing up for leading the continuing class. it’s all about the participants and you won’t even hear me lecture much.  I bring in guests and have a continuing guest who is fantastic-the marketing director from AMG Publishers John Fallahee. John has a side business helping people learn to study the Bible that has had phenomenal growth in social networking.

It doesn’t work or go like most workshops.  These classes are to generate ideas for each individual. I ask the people in the group to fill out an index card with their name, book title/topic, and a focus statement of what the book is about and who most needs it.  We continually give ideas on applying various marketing ideas to the book titles of the participants (using the cards.) Each day after learning about an area of marketing we divide into small groups and brainstorm ways to apply that day's concepts to each person’s book.

The Holy Spirit has gifted me with the ability to brainstorm marketing ideas and I have a great passion for helping people harness promotional concepts for their books.  John is a treasure chest of ideas. I’m praying the Holy Spirit will also pour out ideas on everyone in the group.

Market areas we will cover include:

            What’s in a marketing plan
            (and how to build one)

            Marketing via media

            Virtual marketing, 
            (including social networking)

            Non-virtual promotion

            Developing expertise in your topic

            Elements of a best seller

            Choosing what to work on next 
           (can’t do it all at once)

So, if you need to add more ideas to your book proposal or you have a book ready to launch, this continuing class will benefit you.

Meanwhile, please pray for my family and the other faculty. My husband has breast cancer and after a clean slate for several moths, cancer cells are growing again so they need to change his treatment. One daughter-in-law has a brain tumor. And that’s part of life that continues for so any writers.

I can’t wait to be there, meet new people with new visions and help them move forward with their dreams.

CHECK OUT THIS NEWS STORY/ Scholarship Available

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE BY ANITRA PARMELE  APPEARED IN THE GOOD NEWS 2/5/11 and Anitra gave us permission to run it on the FCWC blog. 

THE CORRUPTIBLE

Ray Quinn is cynical, bitter and somewhat aimless. You can’t really blame him. Crippled by a gunman’s bullet, Ray was forced into retiring from his life as an Orlando homicide detective. His new life is bookended by his two “friends” Jim and Joe. Ray relies on Jim Beam to get him to sleep and a “cup of joe” to wake him up.

That bullet that crippled Ray? There were more where that came from- one of which struck and killed his partner, Tricia, with whom he had just begun to express his tender, and tentative, love to.



Lost in the story

Did I mention that Ray is a fictional character? If you lost track of that fact, it is a testimony to both Mark Mynheir’s skill and experience that Ray Quinn comes to life within the pages of this follow-up to The Night Watchman.

The Corruptible picks up the story of Ray Quinn and his rag-tag staff at The Night Watchman Private Detective Agency which includes Pam, a possible contender for the position of love interest if Ray can ever manage to extricate his heart. As a believer in Christ, Pam serves as the perfect foil for both Mark’s initial contempt and ultimately his growing respect of the faith she not only professes but which marks her daily life.


Mark my words

Don’t be deceived. This is not solely an incredibly engrossing hard-boiled murder mystery, although even sticklers for procedure will revel in the authentic detail. Mynheir has managed to provide readers a novel which allows them to plunge headlong into the thoughts, actions, and motives of people who “exist” solely on the pages of his novel and within his fertile imagination. A task which any writer will agree looks the most effortless only when blood is spilled (along with sweat) on the part of the writer.


About the Author

Born and raised on the east coast of Central Florida, Mark battled dyslexia and dysgraphia throughout his education - finding success in sports, including football and martial arts.

After four years in the Marines, Mark entered law enforcement where sympathetic co-workers and a lot of hustle on his part hid his daily struggles with the endless paperwork associated with the job - a job in which he excelled as he worked as a narcotics agent, S.W.A.T. team member and Palm Bay homicide detective.

A health crisis with his oldest son led Mark to investigate the claims of Christ as revealed in the pages of the Bible. The once self-described hard-drinking, profane man who struggled with the minimum requirements of written communication became a husband, father, police officer and novelist highly respected and loved by family, friends and readers for his finely-tuned and incredibly engaging novels.




About his inspiration

After attending his first Florida Christian Writers Conference over a decade ago, Mark points to this annual conference as the place where he successfully pitched his novels, secured an agent and widened his circle of colleagues around the country.

This year, Mark is scheduled to co-lead the Fiction block of classes, an honor which he sees as his opportunity to give back to eager writers in the same way that he received encouragement each time he attended the Florida Christian Writers Conference.


Start … Write Now… And Win


In recognition of the elements of Mark’s success story at work within prospective writers around our community, The Good News is offering a scholarship to the upcoming Florida Christian Writers Conference. Submitting your entry is simple. Write an article (500-800 words) profiling an individual or organization within the tri-county area (Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach County) that has impacted our community for the better. It could be your neighbor who mentors young men at the area middle school, the Girl Scout troop that raised money to buy furniture after a family’s house fire, or your church’s prison ministry. E-mail your story and a picture of the subject to editor@GoodNewsFL.org before midnight February 15, 2011 and you may be one step closer to making 2011 the year you’re published.

KINDRED HEART WRITERS displayed this post on Friday, Feb.4 written by Johnnie Donley. Is she excited about the conference?  OH YES!  We all are looking forward to it and hope we see you there.


Four weeks from today, on Friday, March 4th, we'll be in the midst of the 2011 Florida Christian Writers Conference (March 3rd - 6th). Clella will arrive early in the week so she can be there to welcome the attendees and help them with registration. The rest of us will arrive on Wednesday evening, just in time for supper. Believe me, there'll be lots of hugging, laughing, and interrupting each other before we settle down to eat!


We're busy getting ready. Clella, Karen, and I got together last week to work on a book proposal for a collection of devotions that the five of us have written. We're submitting this proposal to an editor at the conference.

We're also working on our individual proposals, trying to decide on the continuing classes and workshops we want to take, and planning the appointments we want to make with the publishing professionals who'll be attending.

A writers conference is a great place to meet agents, editors, and other writers. It's a great place to find out the latest trends and genre-specific craftsmanship.

And take it from me -- a writers conference is a great place to make significant, lasting friendships.

When the writers conference is held in Leesburg, Florida, you can add sunshine, warmer weather than most of the rest of the country, and confernce director Billie Wilson's southern charm to its appeal.

If you've already registered, be sure and look us up. If you're not, what are you waiting for? It's not too late and we'd love to see you there.

Check out the FCWC Blog for interviews with the faculty and staff. You can also find the FCWC on Facebook.

Johnnie

BE YOURSELF by Ken Kulhken

Ken will be leading the
Christian Fiction
Continuing Class

Having lived as a writer and teacher of writing since long before my
hair began to disappear, I can offer advice about plenty of challenges
a writer faces. Out of all that, the most helpful to aspiring writers
is: be yourself.

Here’s a grim thought: “Moderate giftedness has been made worthless by the printing press and radio and television and satellites and all that. A moderately gifted person who would have been a community treasure a thousand years ago has to give up, has to go into some other line of work, since modern communications put him or her into daily competition with nothing but world's champions.” -Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., novelist

These days, with the ease of self-publishing and small press
publishing, the competition is evermore daunting. But take heart from the words of another fine and famous writer, Raymond Carver: “A writer doesn’t need to be the smartest kid on the block, only to be able to look with amazement at a leaf or an old shoe.” And, I’ll add, to express that amazement in our own words.

A Perelandra College student first tweaked my admiration during the application process, when she expressed a wish for me to “have a smashing weekend.” Soon thereafter, she confessed to being “all
aflutter.” I will gladly read whatever she writes, simply because I’m intrigued to know about a person from Ohio who uses words like “smashing” and “aflutter.”

A preacher I like is liable to use the “dude” and “as it were” in the same sentence. I often return to a second service featuring the same message and listen again with pleasure.

Yesterday, a friend mentioned someone who is fit to be operated upon. She called him “surgible.” I asked if that was a dictionary word. She said, “Oh, no. I just invented it.” Need I add that she is a wonderful writer?

Now, being ourselves involves more than using original words or using words in original ways. At least as important is expressing our own unique ideas and perceptions. Let’s talk about that in Florida.

John will be presenting workshops at the conference and will post concerning his presentations in February. Watch for this post.

John Vonhof writes for Christian and secular markets. He is the author of self-published and mainstream books and booklets, with articles in print and on the web. He is an expert on finding ideas and writing for niche markets, and manages http://www.WritersConferenceGuidelines.com, a website to help writers get the most out of attending writers conferences. He loves helping new writers discover their writing niche and how to market their writing.

I AM INSPIRED BY THE CONFEREE

I attended my first writing conference in 1996. Three year later I started teaching at a local conference. Whether attending as a conferee or as one of the faculty, I was hooked. But I have to be honest, what draws me to the conferences is not the keynote speaker, the other speakers, or the workshops, the venue, or the food – it’s the conferees.

Allow me to share an email I received a few years ago from conferee Janet Rockey.

“I remember my first experience with the Florida Christian Writers Conference. I had high hopes of my book becoming the next best seller. After my first class on writing good fiction with Gayle Roper, I wanted to "un-submit" my manuscript. The only thing right about it was the font! Since then, with the help of conference classes, writer workshops, and critique groups, I've rewritten it, re-edited it, shaved off unnecessary and weak words, punched it up with more tension, and tightened my writing. In January, Eva Marie Everson suggested I enter it in the Christian Writers Guild First Novel Contest. That's the most encouraging critique I've ever had.

“The classes you taught at the conference have been a great help to me. You gave me the confidence to continue writing, and now I have a few published works. Chicken Soup for the Soul What I Learned from the Cat bought my story, Romeow and Julicat; and Barbour House bought my story, Silhouette on the Shade for their Heavenly Humor for the Cat Lover's Soul. PCCWeb Daily published my story, The Great Escape, in their daily e-mail devotional.”

My goal in going to any conference is to help others. I want you to return home, like Janet, and work on your writing – to make it better. I think I can safely say that is the goal and motivation of the other faculty too. We are there to teach, to share, to guide, to encourage, and to help. I love that. It’s beautiful.

The conferees come full of anxiety and apprehension. Is my writing good? Are my ideas worthwhile? Will someone request my proposal or manuscript? What will I learn? Will I know anyone?

They also come with a willingness to learn. They want to take notes, to pick our brains, to collect handouts and material off the freebie tables.

And they have questions about writing. Did I write a good query or proposal? Did I format my manuscript correctly? Which major track should I choose? How do I know which workshops to attend? Who should I meet with? Did I submit to the right editor?

Three factors: apprehension, a willingness to learn, and questions.

That’s what inspires me. That’s what inspires us as faculty.

You challenge us to deliver.

We are there for you. We want to talk to you. To help you choose the right workshops, to think through your ideas, to talk one-on-one, and to help you grow as writers.

"JUST DO IT' by Sharon King

For everyone who's wondering if investing the time and money in a major writer's conference like the FCWC is worth it, I encourage you to hold off on the debate and "just do it." You will thank yourself later--maybe years later.

I attended the 2009 conference and received two manuscript reviews. The reviews were encouraging, but they pointed out some things I needed to improve, not just to get published but to be a better writer. THAT's the value of attending a conference.

Yes, I have a success story to share--one of the FCWC manuscripts is under consideration by a major publisher and the second one (which I completely revised) has been published by Healthy Life Press in Florida (The Spiritual Fitness Checkup for the 50-Something Woman). But, the publishing was just the end product of a process that began when I spent time learning, sharing, and gaining guidance (and confidence) from other writers at FCWC. Conference attendance doesn't guarantee you'll get your book published, but you will leave a better writer--and isn't that everyone's real goal?

DO YOU COME HUNGRY? by Jean Wise

     Do you come to writers’ conferences hungry? Not in the physical sense, but with a thirst for learning and growing as a writer.     Attending writers' conferences  can be a wonderful, though overwhelming, experience(particularly if this is your first experience.) As you begin to prepare for the Florida Christian Writers Conference, one step to take can be listing specific questions you would like to explore.

I find if I have a list of what I want to learn, it is easier to focus. If I hit the brick wall of fatigue, doubt, and rejection, I have something concrete to center on. If I have already identified what I most need to learn, I can then concentrate on finding that answer.

Everyone will have a different set of questions, but here are a few you might consider:

·      What specific writing technique do you want to learn? Dialogue? Voice? Point of view?

·      Do you want to explore a new genre? A non-fiction writer grows by learning fiction techniques. All of us become better storytellers by studying how to write a movie script.

·      Maybe you are working on marketing. Your focus may be to gather as many examples of business cards or one sheets as possible.  You may want to sit down and talk with more seasoned writers about ideas.

·      What new approach to social marketing can you learn?

·      Is there a new trend in the publishing business?

·      Is this person the right agent for me?

·      If I could ask the keynote speaker one question what would it be?

·      Have two or three ideas ready to develop and brainstorm with other writes about  how to bring your ideas to life.

Listen more than talk is a good guideline for making the most of a conference. If you take a few minutes of preparation to get your questions clarified and ready to ask, your hungry heart will find some answers.  Florida Christian Writers’ Conference is a great place to be fed.

NOTE FROM EVA MARIE EVERSON

LOOKING AHEAD FROM EVA MARIE I received a bit of interesting news today. According to an email from Billie Wilson, our illustrious leader at Florida Christian Writers Conference, I have two registrants already signed up for my Fiction Mentoring Track. I'm doubly excited.   For one, I love the Fiction Mentoring Track because it's about getting "in there" with "both hands" and helping other writers. It's about more than just my ideas or my so-called expert opinion. It's about Christian writers learning and growing together. It's about forming bonds. It's about one day seeing a book on a shelf that you didn't write and saying, "I had a hand in that" and being truly proud of and for the author.       But the doubly comes because, after last year's Fiction Mentoring Track, we learned that there is much to say and much to do and the hours we were given were not enough. So, I groveled at Billie's feet and she graciously gave us more. YES! (I didn't really grovel...) So then, what do we do in this Fiction Mentoring Track and who is qualified to sign up for them? Question one:  Well, for one we sit around and nibble on little squares of chocolate. But more importantly, we work on the basics of fiction and those all-important first pages, the contract-winning proposal, dialogue, character arcs and plot lines. This track is about making words sing! About making them jump off the pages and right into the reader's heart. This is about finding what works and making it work harder and finding what doesn't work and editing it to pieces.  And, again, it's about doing it as a team. Question two: who is qualified to sign up (real question: Are you qualified to sign up?).  If this is your very first writers conference, if you are getting your feet wet in this wonderful world of the pen (or keyboard), then by all means you do not want to venture in. There are a host of classes and workshops prepared just for you. But if you've been at this long enough to feel ready, if you've written a good chunk of your manuscript and you want to see if it's set to meet the eye of an editor, if your manuscript has already met the eye of an editor and they'd like to see if again after you do a little self-editing, if you think you are ready for the gruesome task of self-editing, if you think it's time to move closer to publication but feel the work needs a little more polish ... well then! You are not only qualified, you are just who we are looking for for the Fiction Mentoring Class. Just know that while others are sitting in a wide variety of hour-long workshops, we will be together for long periods of time, hands-on working. And writing. Later on I'll share what you will need to bring ... but in the meanwhile, if you want to join this illustrious group at FCWC 2011, just let our lovely leader know.  And I'll bring the chocolate... Eva Marie Everson Fiction Mentoring Leader FCWC 2011

NOT TOO EARLY!

Kindred Heart Writers are already preparing  for the conference in March. It isn’t too early to begin to make plans.  Here is our list below:

Check out the editors or agents who will be in attendance.

Look into their websites. Study the possible needs of the editors. Check out the editorial styles and read some of the published materials. Look into the authors that an agent already represents.

Talk to other people about the agents and editors.

Decide what you will want to present at the conference. Is it a WIP or do you have something finished that you feel is right for one of the editors or agents?

Begin to plan your time (even now) in order to have some free time before the conference for changes or re-writes or emergencies.

PRAY ABOUT THE CONFERENCE AND FOR THE PEOPLE WHO ARE WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES AND UP FRONT THAT THIS MIGHT BE A SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCE.

PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR BILLIE AND HER STAFF