Newsletters

Assignment 3 is up on the site
Assignment 3 is up on the site. You can click here for Andrea Merrell's awesome assignment on writing tight.  These assignments 7 weeks prior to your arriving at the conference are something we feel sets us apart from the pack. We want to educate you as much as we can and you'll find these little snippet assignments are going to help you prepare your work for the conference. It's my hope you'll take advantage of them. Andrea Merrell is a top notch editor, you'll learn much from her wisdom.

So assignment 3 is up on the site. You can access it today by going to our blog by clicking this link: http://wp.me/p2Fbzx-MJ

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All CONFERENCE UPDATES - Please check out the conference update page. If you are a new conferee, recently registered, you will find loads of information there. Those who have recently registered, we need your short bio and a jpg photo for our Roster. Cindy Saab is working hard to pull that together. Please, even if you don't think you have a bio, it's fine. Tell us a little about you. 75 words or less and send us a photo. This roster will be your best friend before and after the conference. Please note, we are not doing a major edit on the roster. Learning to write a bio is your responsibility. This is the one item you should have picture perfect before you send it anywhere. It's your first impression. So how will your first impression be? EEKK! :) I don't say this to be mean, but simply to say, it should be the beginning of your best work.  Just an FYI - bios are not written in first person. They are written in 3rd person. "Jane Doe is a member of the Writers Guild of America."  NOT "I am a member of the Writers Guild of America." JUST SAYIN'.

 From here forward, you will find all necessary information for your arrival at the Cove at this link. http://ashevillechristianwritersconference.com/prepare-for-arrival/  

Everything from where we meet, to what to wear is on the conference update page.  About check-in - We are tentatively set to stay in Pilgrams Inn (this is the first hotel as you go up the campus of the Cove). You will park your car there and the Cove runs a bus every 10 minutes for the 2 minute ride to the main building. YOU CANNOT PHYSICALLY ENTER YOUR HOTEL ROOM UNTIL AFTER 2 PM...BUT you will go to Pilgrams Inn, check in and get your name badge. You'll also find Dee Dee Parker and Beth Fortune waiting there to give give you all necessary items you will need for the Conference. You'll go straight to the main building, Floor 3, after you get your badge - Early Bird classes begin at 1. There will be time after early bird classes for you to move your baggage into your room. The rooms are not ready for occupancy before 2 p.m. 

Also the Newsletters are posted under the conference update tab, by clicking Forms and Newsletters. Each newsletter is placed on this page so you can go back and review information you might need.

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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 120 people responding, the thread grows long and emails are missed. PLEASE ALWAYS SEND ME A NEW EMAIL WITH YOUR CONCERNS OR QUESTIONS. Do not text me or IM me on FaceBook - it is too easily lost.
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Mentoring - Mentoring appointments are still available with Yvonne Lehman and Linda Gilden. Don't miss out on this prime opportunity to work one-on-one with the cream of the crop. Contact Terri at [email protected] for an appointment. 

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The Badge of Honor Contest closes at midnight, Eastern Standard Time. The entries are flowing in. I wish you all the very best in this wonderful opportunity. GOOD LUCK.
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ONE MORE TIME - 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. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE HELP US WITH THIS. We'll be sending you this networking tool the week prior to your arrival at the Cove. This is  soooo helpful. You'll be glad you have it. So send those bios and photos to Cindy Saab ASAP.

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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 - 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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ACWC 2018
We have our booked dates for February 16-18, 2018.  The Cove is wonderful to book ahead for us. Next year we are stepping out on faith and reserving 60 rooms. You have no idea how this scares me. But I want as many ON campus as possible. So if you think you might attend next year, pay your $25 deposit to hold the room of your choice (single or double - you'll tell us your preference when you reserve). This will assure you have a space on campus. This is the 5th year in a row we have sold out this conference. God is good. If you think you might attend, make a small deposit. We'll contact you mid-summer to see if you are still interested. Plan ahead. Get your spot reserved on campus.

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MP3s of the Conference - This year our own Scott McCausey will be recording all our classes. He works hard to put them all in MP3 format so you can download them to your personal computer. There is no CD to worry about...you will simply download them from a secure page when they are ready. Our MP3s of the ENTIRE conference are only $35. I encourage you to purchase them. You'll have all the handouts in your ACWC Stepping In and Stepping Out Manual. The two together get you a year-round conference. I encourage you to purchase the MP3s. You'll be glad to have them for future reference.

OUR EMAIL ADDRESSES - We want all our conferees to be a part of our ministry and so we will add you to our www.christiandevotions.us email list and also to our prayer warrior list. It is our hopes you will enjoy Christian Devotions and that you will actively participate by praying daily for the work of our ministry. You can always unsubscribe...but I hope you won't. Help us spread the ministry. Write a devotion for Christian Devotions...be a part of what God has assigned us to do - SPREAD HIS WORD.

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You've asked for an update: I appreciate so many of you sending me notes to ask about my health. As you know it's been a rough road for me since August. I saw the endocrinologist this week, who said from the outside, my pituitary gland looks okay. They have done bloodwork to be sure it is functioning properly and hopefully we will have those results by next Friday. This little pituitary issue was an  incidental find on the MRI. Good news on that - no tumors, no masses, no growths, no white matter, and I do officially have a brain. My husband and I travel to Duke University on Tuesday for additional testing and a neurological consult for surgery on my ears. There is a thinning of the bones in my ears and my balance organs are exposed. So walking like a drunk and hungover headaches are becoming an everyday thing for me. We pray this is a fixable issue with surgery. We'll find out on Thursday. Until then, I value your prayers. Please continue to pray for healing. What a testimony to be able to say God just flat out healed me. The thoughts of surgery is a little unsettling but the hope of the return of normalcy will be welcome. Thank you again for your prayers, and your concern. I am grateful to know I am covered in prayer. God has this. I am sure.

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Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. - Matthew 22:37 NIV

Today was inauguration day - that once every 4 years event when our nation welcomes or re-welcomes leadership. I watched as tradition seemed to unfold. Some things remained traditional while others changed slightly. New hands on an old subject - the country awaits the promises of a president to be fulfilled.

I can't help it. I'm patriotic. I stand when I hear the national anthem, place my hand over my heart, and mouth the words to a meaningful and beautiful song. I tear up as the military pass. So when I hear loud booing, snide remarks, and disrespect to our leaders, it breaks my heart. What impressed me, was though there was dissension all around, prayer after prayer covered our leaders and our nation, especially when we live in a time when prayer is becoming taboo. I love this country - despite its flaws.

As the fanfares rang across our nation's capital, I found myself praying, "Oh Lord, show us mercy. Forgive a fallen nation who shoves you to the side. Remember those who love you fully. Have favor, despite our sin." 

Several months ago, we began telling you that you were prayed into this conference. And you are/were. You are here because we asked God to call you as His servant, to not only learn to write words that bring Him glory, but that we might strengthen an army of believers to walk in His footsteps. We want to guide you into the call you have answered, arming you with the right attitude, kindness, intentional prayer, and skills to write. We want to do this because it is what God has called us to do. It is what we do because we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind.

I can't say all I saw during the inauguration celebrations, were an honor to God. In fact, there was much chaos and destruction, a lack of respect, greed, and sin just blocks away. But what I can say is I saw a nation covered in prayer by believers who love the Lord our God. 

It's easy to say you want to be a writer, but it's hard to maintain the course. The human part of us is easily distracted from the calling we have received. The question then becomes, what or who do you love more? The world offers us lots of distractions, hopes of riches and fame. So what do you love or desire most?

My hope is, as you prepare for this conference, that you will faithfully and seriously look at this call - this special invitation, your Lord God has given especially and specifically to you. 

*When you are tempted to quit - love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.
*When you are frustrated because rejection knocks you back - love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.
*When you feel that sense of entitlement -love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. 
*When you feel the sting of a bad attitude - love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

That love will bring you back. It will serve as your compass pointing you directly into the arms of the God who called you not only to write, but who called you as His own.

This week, spend time in prayer - not just for our conference, or your writing, or friends and family, but pray relentlessly for our nation. Pray that God will raise His church for all to see so that we can continue to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind.
 
Cindy