Going Where You're Led
Continuing with the theme of writing about writing conferences here on the blog...Okay, so I might have forgotten to do it last week. Write about the importance of writing conferences, I mean. I happened to think about Christmas in July and wanted to write about that .last week..
Anyway, I LOVE writing conferences! I attended my first conference a long time ago...I remember how I was a stay at home mom who wanted to be a fiction writer (I'd worked at a newspaper for years). One summer I wanted to go to a conference called the Dixie Council of Authors and Journalists. I don't remember who recommended it. I budgeted so hard for it, sent in the first couple of chapters and synopsis of my work in progress to be critiqued by the staff, and then did my earth mother thing and sewed a week's worth of summer clothes to wear there (those were the days when I baked bread, sewed clothes for my daughter and I, and even cleaned the house...). Anyway, I had to take a bus to Georgia because we had just the one family car and the hubby needed it. Well, I made the mistake of looking out the window as the bus pulled out of the station and saw him standing there, a small child on each side of him, clutching his hands. All three looked at me like I was never coming back. I turned to my seatmate and told her that she was not to let me off the bus. Thank goodness she listened and blocked the aisle. I think the course of my life might have been very different if I hadn't been brave enough to pursue something I wanted and venture outside my own little world.
I met other writers at the conference, got support and shared it, learned so much in workshops, and won first prize for the start of my novel. I was thrilled, and the experience gave me the confidence to keep pursuing publication and to attend other conferences. A year or two later, I became a charter member of the Romance Writers of America and won the very first Golden Heart Award for unpublished writers just a month after I sold my first book. I met other writers there -- one has remained my friend -- and I've continued to attend many types of conferences and teach at some of them since then. My children have grown to be supportive adults who learned that it is important for parents to seek their dreams, not just live through those of their children. They enjoyed time with their dad, he learned how hard Mom's job was, and everyone liked how happy I was when I returned home after a week to myself.
This year I'm hopeful that I'll get to attend the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conference in Denver in September. About two years ago, I felt led to write Christian fiction and it will be my first Christian conference. I want to meet some of the friends I've made online and attend the workshops. I just need to get my act together and figure out how I can do it while trying to sell my house, among other things...
Some of you are not just readers -- you're writers who want to get published. I can't say enough about all you'll learn about the craft and the business and most importantly -- about believing in your dream, especially when it gets hard.
This was a long post. Thanks if you've read it until the end. Maybe it'll give you encouragement to attend a workshop or conference -- or just help you to remember to see yourself as God's child entitled to do something that makes you happy, whatever that is!
'Til next time, blessings!
Barbara
Anyway, I LOVE writing conferences! I attended my first conference a long time ago...I remember how I was a stay at home mom who wanted to be a fiction writer (I'd worked at a newspaper for years). One summer I wanted to go to a conference called the Dixie Council of Authors and Journalists. I don't remember who recommended it. I budgeted so hard for it, sent in the first couple of chapters and synopsis of my work in progress to be critiqued by the staff, and then did my earth mother thing and sewed a week's worth of summer clothes to wear there (those were the days when I baked bread, sewed clothes for my daughter and I, and even cleaned the house...). Anyway, I had to take a bus to Georgia because we had just the one family car and the hubby needed it. Well, I made the mistake of looking out the window as the bus pulled out of the station and saw him standing there, a small child on each side of him, clutching his hands. All three looked at me like I was never coming back. I turned to my seatmate and told her that she was not to let me off the bus. Thank goodness she listened and blocked the aisle. I think the course of my life might have been very different if I hadn't been brave enough to pursue something I wanted and venture outside my own little world.
I met other writers at the conference, got support and shared it, learned so much in workshops, and won first prize for the start of my novel. I was thrilled, and the experience gave me the confidence to keep pursuing publication and to attend other conferences. A year or two later, I became a charter member of the Romance Writers of America and won the very first Golden Heart Award for unpublished writers just a month after I sold my first book. I met other writers there -- one has remained my friend -- and I've continued to attend many types of conferences and teach at some of them since then. My children have grown to be supportive adults who learned that it is important for parents to seek their dreams, not just live through those of their children. They enjoyed time with their dad, he learned how hard Mom's job was, and everyone liked how happy I was when I returned home after a week to myself.
This year I'm hopeful that I'll get to attend the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conference in Denver in September. About two years ago, I felt led to write Christian fiction and it will be my first Christian conference. I want to meet some of the friends I've made online and attend the workshops. I just need to get my act together and figure out how I can do it while trying to sell my house, among other things...
Some of you are not just readers -- you're writers who want to get published. I can't say enough about all you'll learn about the craft and the business and most importantly -- about believing in your dream, especially when it gets hard.
This was a long post. Thanks if you've read it until the end. Maybe it'll give you encouragement to attend a workshop or conference -- or just help you to remember to see yourself as God's child entitled to do something that makes you happy, whatever that is!
'Til next time, blessings!
Barbara
Barbara, thanks for sharing your story about how your writing career began. "Going where you're led" should be the theme of all our lives, and it seems to carry through in the Amish fiction. The Amish seek to find and follow God's will. It is good to see that He has led you to write Christian fiction, and we are all blessed by it!
Reply to this
Hi Cathey,
What a sweet note! Thank you so much!
Our readers are so nice. Wish I could meet every one of you in person.
Have a blessed day!
Barbara
Reply to this