ACFW Conference Recap...friends and connections made!

Okay, so Georgiana mentioned she's waiting for my conference memories post. LOL. Well, here it is. I'll start by saying, I'm not a photo taker, I'm not a scrapbooker, and I'm not one to take note of things. Hmmm, not great for a newspaper correspondent. LOL. Anyway, I don't have photos to share, but I have lots of memories.

The conference started off with a sweet card from my roommate, Cara Putman. She's the most considerate friend. She had a little card on my pillow welcoming me to the conference and just started my day off with a smile. Cara has moved from "writing" friend to just friend over the course of the last year or two and I felt blessed to have her as a roommate.

Thursday evening I met Kaye Dacus. I'd been to the 2005 ACFW conference but never had a chance to meet her so I was pleased to check that off my to do list. :) Waving at Kaye.

The food at the conference was fab! We had so many great entrees and let's not even talk about the dessert. Sheesh, that was good carrot cake.

Friday I had an editor meeting with Krista and an agent meeting with Kelly Mortimer. Both meetings went well. Krista requested I change Rock Bottom to third person--pray for me--but overall she acted like she really liked the concept of Rock Bottom and my romance, Inn For A Penny. Kelly Mortimer started off the meeting grabbing me and hugging me. (which for a non-touchy person, I was a little caught off guard) Her gregarious personality put me right at ease. She's friendly and kind and seemingly really in it to helping the unpublished writer.

I also got to meet one of my favorite authors, Rachel Hauck. I adore her writing and now I even adore her. She's such a doll and she has this really cool vibe. Especially when she's worshipping. When she led worship she was clearly in His presence and therefore took us with her on the journey as you lose yourself in the music. The prayer and worship alone were enough to go to the conference for.

Oh, and I got to meet up with Lynette Sowell. Lynette and I have been email friends for a little while since we both wrote for Carla Raddling on the Scenes and Beans Blog for Brandilyn Collins. It was so fun getting to know her and I feel like I came away with a new friend.

The conference ended with the awards banquet and while I didn't place in my category, I did get some great feedback from one of the judges so all was not lost. I feel like the direction I got will help make the story better so it's all good.

Oh and big congrats to Georgiana for placing second in the Lit category. I think Georgiana is the sweetest thing and I'm so happy for her.

Finally, I came away from the conference feeling a little refreshed and ready to tackle these works in progress. I was starting to feel slightly defeated and ready to take some time off. Now I'm actually looking forward to making the changes to my work and seeing the improvement that comes with learning and growth.

AHHH...ACFW CONFERENCE IS LESS THAN 6 DAYS AWAY!!!

Let me start by apologizing for not being a responsible Blog hostess. Sigh. I've slipped in my blog responsibilities of late, but I'm not entirely to blame...see I'm trying to finish up my rough draft of Rock Bottom so I can at least say I'm finished with the rough draft when I pitch it at ACFW conference next week.

Something occurred to me yesterday about said book. Since RB is a finalist in the Genesis contest, the editor I had planned to pitch to is also the second round judge for my category. So here's the predicament. I haven't received my comments for the second round yet (we get them a couple weeks after conference, per Camy Tang) so what if I pitch this book to this woman who's read the first three chapters and she's sitting there, familiar with the book, and little do I know... she hated it...what a waste of both of our time not to mention how stupid I'll feel when I get her comments back.

So I think I'm going to pitch something else I'm working on. So if any of you have an opinion...I'd be glad to hear it. Like Georgiana, if you read this, what are you going to do? Are you pitching your finalist entry to Krista or someone else? Or are you pitching it at all? Just curious. ;)

ACFW 2007 Genesis Contest...Round One

I found out this week that my book, Rock Bottom, is a finalist in the ACFW Genesis contest. With that news has brought some mixed emotions. First, I'm proud that I've made the second round and I will honestly say I needed the encouragement. I've been a bit overwhelmed with doing my freelance jobs and still finding time for the fiction. I've doubted my ability lately and will benefit from the confidence booster.

Having said that, on our member forum there's been a huge discussion about this year's judges and whether or not they were too harsh in their critiques or unfair in some way. I got to thinking about the whole concept of a contest and what it means to final. Ironically my scores are actually lower than they were last year (for the same story) but because we have a stand alone Chick Lit category this year I still had a better chance...which brings to mind the question how subjective are contests and are they worth our time to enter???

Here's my two cents for whatever it's worth, and as late as it is it's probably not worth much. LOL. Anyway, I believe that any type of art-- and our writing is an art form--is very subjective in and of itself. Just as I may look at a painting and think it's beautiful and glorious and envy the talent of the artist, another spectator may look at it and see distorted lines and bad use of color or whatever...a judge may read my story and think it's crap and then the next judge reads the same exact story and may say "wow this is great"...but then as writers that's exactly what we set ourselves up for when we submit to editors and hopefully the general public if we make that first sale. So I believe that even if we don't agree with the comments and the scores, isn't it at least good to get the feedback and learn whatever we can from it? Good or bad. Even if all we learn is to be a little tougher.

For instance if a judge says you don't have enough conflict set up in the first 25 pages and you're thinking "but it's coming later" The judge is right, the story needs to start from page one. A reader may not necessarily read all the way to page 48 to find out whether the story is going to hold their interest. You don't have to agree with the judges, but if you pay to enter the contest and it's with an organization you respect, then shouldn't you at least take the comments into consideration? That's what I did last year. (even if my scores are lower this year, LOL)

I'm tired and I'm rambling so I'm probably not making much sense, but I just hope everyone who entered got at least something from the contest and can find some value in their experience. I didn't final last year but I can't tell you how many times I took out my scoresheets and re-read what they said and thought about how to apply the concepts they suggested. It was even a help to me with my other book, Prescription for Murder. I used one of the judges examples and reworked several scenes in PM.

It's tough and disheartening when the remarks are less than favorable, but I truly think it's at least worth the experience to enter contests. (as long as it's from a reputable organization)

Next week I'm going to be interviewing Ramona Cecil and we'll see how a contest changed her life when she won the top prize. They published her book Larkspur. It's a fab book and she's generously offered to give a copy away. Stop by to meet this very kind woman.

Oh, and I wanted to congratulate all the Genesis finalists. Especially Jenny Cary and Georgiana Daniels. You both rock!