As I mentioned in last week’s article, I have spent this weekend in North Mississippi and Collierville, Tenn. The Midsouth Christian Writers Conference was on Friday from 1-4:30 p.m. Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. I planned to do the Friday workshop, which was on self-publishing, which I really needed.
I did not plan to attend the meet and greet on Friday evening, because it would require driving home at night across Memphis. Saturday was to be a full day of informative workshops, inspirational speeches and panel discussions. I looked forward to all of it.
There was a sprinkling rain when I left Union headed north on Friday. Not far down the road the rain steadily increased until it was finally a downpour. By the time I reached Coldwater, I was too late and tired to make the Friday workshop. Instead I opted to rest at Chelle’s house for the afternoon. After a good nap, visit and food with Chelle, Kenny and Louise, and petting on the dogs, my enthusiasm for the conference was restored.
On Saturday I arrived at First Baptist Church of Collierville right on time to hear the keynote speaker, Brandilyn Collins, who spoke on, “A Burning Brand. Lighting the World Starts with You.” She covered the 19 years of struggle and growth it took her to accomplish the calling to shine her light through writing that God put on her life.
When she reached the point of total surrender to Him, she knew she had to withdraw from releasing her first two novels, which were just about to be published, because they were secular and sensuous in nature. She has now published 19 Christian suspense novels and several non-fiction books on the craft of writing.
My first workshop was by Bethany Jett on “Zero to Book Deal in Three Months.” This one moved a little too fast for me to keep up. I am not as tech savvy as I probably should be as a writer. Nowadays it is necessary to have a consistent and effective blogand social media presence. I like to get on Facebook for fun, but I seldom update my website or my author’s page on Facebook. I guess I need to look into that.
After a lunch break with mixing and mingling, I attended a workshop by Tracy Crump on “Stirring the Pot: Writing for Chicken Soup for the Soul,” which was excellent.
Jon Woodhams is an editor for Guidepost Fiction and led a workshop called “Writing for Continuity Fiction Series.” A very popular trend right now is in writing a book that continues on with the same characters into one or more additional books. He talked to us about that. That, too, was a good workshop.
After the final part of the keynote speaker’s address, there was a question and answer session with a panel made up of successful authors, agents and publishers,
I had been to this conference once before, several years ago. This year’s conference was so much better that it was like a completely different event. I may very well go next year. Should I do so, I would take some time from one of the workshops to try and schedule one on one time with an agent or publisher.
On Saturday night and Sunday I relaxed with the family, and went to do a little Lowe’s and Wal-Mart shopping with Chelle and enjoyed an at-home movie with the family, “Three Billboards in Ebbing, Missouri.” It has a pretty good theme and plot but really disgusting language.
The time here is almost gone. Chelle does not have WiFi in the Coldwater home, so tomorrow morning I will go to the library to email this column to The Union Appeal. About lunchtime I will be heading home to Union.
I hope everyone had a good spring break and would love to hear your stories of how you spent it. Until next week, keep the faith, be considerate to those you encounter and remember to thank the Lord for your blessings and those around you for their favors.
Send your news/items of interest to me by email gingersnapwelch@gmail.com or text to 601-504-3146 or leave a voice mail at 769-222-7055.
