LCW 2015 Christmas Celebration Saturday, 12/19/2015 PLUS SS2016 News!

Merry Christmas! It’s that time of year again when Lancaster Christian Writers welcomes a speaker who is talented, funny, poignant, inspiring, succinct (as in respecting time limits!) and just fabulous. That’s right—you! Come share your talent at Lancaster Christian Writers’ year-end Christmas Symposium and Bazaar Saturday, December 19, 2015, at Lancaster Alliance Church, 210 Pitney Rd (off Hwy 30 across from Costco) from 9:30AM-12 noon ((registration opens at 9).

SPEAKER: Yes, as has become LCW tradition, our December meeting will showcase the creativity and genius of our own members. Share a poem, drama, devotional, comedy skit, even a scene (short!) of that novel you’re working on. Time limit is 3-5 minutes (easy way to calculate is a maximum of 750 words), in order to permit as many to participate as possible. We do need an advance head count. SO please email if you want to participate so as to get you on the list.

CHRISTMAS BAZAAR: AND if you have published titles or Christmas crafts, do bring them along for our Christmas Bazaar.  What better or more economic gift can you get for family member or friend than a personalized autographed title or craft. WHICH also means you may want to bring your checkbook and cash for shopping.  

EATS!!!  If you are baking any Christmas goodies or would like to contribute a brunch type dish, we'd love to make this a real party. If you think you can bring something, a heads-up would be nice just for planning. But last minute goodies will also accepted. (and if you have nothing to bring, don't let that discourage you from coming. There is always enough food!)

SUPER SATURDAY 2016:  We also now have a firm date for our 2016 Super Saturday one-day writers conference at Lancaster Bible College: Saturday, April 16^th, so do mark your calendar. Already confirmed is a wonderful lineup of faculty from New York bestseller Lori Lough, award-winning novelist Gayle Roper, Dwight Kopp, non-fiction experts in marketing, editing, platform presence, Michele Chynoweth, Marsha Hubler, and more.

CRITIQUE GROUPS: We will be making time as well for our usual peer critique groups, so if you have that last piece you'd like critiqued before Christmas, bring 10 copies of up to 1500 words.

As always, email questions or concerns to jeanette@jeanettewindle.com

Blessings,
Jeanette Windle
President, Lancaster Christian Writers

LCW Welcomes Industry Expert Mike Gaines Saturday, November 21, 2015

Join Lancaster Christian Writers Saturday, November 21, 2015, 9:30AM-12 noon (registration opens at 9AM) at Lancaster Alliance Church, 210 Pitney Road, Lancaster, PA (right off HWY 30 near Costco) in welcoming industry expert Mike Gaines for an interactive workshop that can help authors avoid publishing pitfalls and detours.

SPEAKER: Mike Gaines served in full-time ministry before transitioning to become a Zondervan sales representative for over a decade, until 2012. He worked primarily with independent Christian bookstores, and his territory reached literally from coast to coast. As part of the world’s leading Bible company during one of the most challenging and controversial periods in its history, he had a front-row seat to witness some of the people, events and movements that helped shape the publishing industry. He currently lives in Lancaster, PA, where he serves as Sales Manager for Little Mountain Printing, a family-owned small business known as home to a favorite local publication called The Fishwrapper.

 WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: “Surfing the Swamp”.  Christian retail could be termed an “evolving door” authors must pass through to get their work to a waiting world, and it has changed with head-spinning speed over the last few years. How do publishers decide what to publish and how to promote it? Are retailers the “gatekeepers” they used to be? A veteran retailer once called Mike Gaines his “swamp guide” because of how murky the supply chain can seem without a dependable partner. Mike’s experienced advice can help you avoid hazards and detours that bog authors down as he shares his own experiences representing a publishing powerhouse to retailers all along the success spectrum.

CRITIQUE GROUPS: And don't forget to bring your latest work-in-progress from this summer for critique groups (ten copies up to 1500 words).

As always, email questions or concerns to jeanette@jeanettewindle.com

Blessings,
Jeanette Windle
President, Lancaster Christian Writers

Join LCW Welcoming Award-winning Novelist Shelley Adina Saturday, 10/17/15

Join Lancaster Christian Writers Saturday, October 17th, 2015, 9:30AM-12 noon (registration opens at 9AM) at Lancaster Alliance Church, 210 Pitney Road, Lancaster, PA (right off HWY 30 near Costco) in welcoming back Shelley Adina, bestselling Christian steampunk and Amish romance novelist, who was with us in 2013. She will be flying in again from CA for the Strasburg Railroad Festival and is taking time out to share another fiction workshop with us: Creating Communities With Character.

SPEAKER: Shelley Adina is an award-winning novelist, copy editor, and teaching writer in the MFA in Writing Popular Fiction program at Seton Hill University. She writese Amish women's fiction as Adina Senft. Shelley won the RITA Award® from the Romance Writers of America in 2005, and was a finalist the following year. She was a Christy Award finalist in 2009 for The Fruit of My Lipstick, a two-time Carol Award finalist, and has lately been an Amazon bestseller with the Magnificent Devices novels.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: "Creating Communities with Character" You’ve created a hero to die for and a heroine to challenge him—but two people aren’t enough to carry the whole book. What about all the other people in your story world? In this workshop, you’ll learn how to create communities populated by compelling secondary and tertiary characters. Best friends, buddies, exes, families, and coworkers create foils and contrasts for your main characters, push the plot’s emotional complexity, build the story towns your reader wants to come back to . . . and become the main characters for the next book.
 
KEYSTONE CHRISTIAN FICTION WRITERS CONFERENCE: If you are a fiction writer, you will also want to check out American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Pennsylvania Chapter's first one-day writer's conference at State College, PA on November 7th. Check out details at  http://acfwpennsylvania.com/keystone-christian-fiction-writers-conference/

CRITIQUE GROUPS: And don't forget to bring your latest work-in-progress from this summer for critique groups (ten copies up to 1500 words).

As always, more info can be found at our LCW blog: http://lancasterchristianwriterstoday.blogspot.com Or email questions or concerns to jeanette@jeanettewindle.com

Blessings,
Jeanette Windle
President, Lancaster Christian Writers

Mark Your Calendar For LCW's 2015-2016 Calendar Year Kickoff Saturday, September 26th: NOTE This is 4th, NOT 3rd Saturday

Wow, can summer really be almost over? I think I blinked and missed it! It was good to see many LCW members at Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference. Others took in St. Davids or Montrose Conferences. If you didn't make it to a conference, I trust your summer has at least included some writing time.

SEPTEMBER LCW KICKOFF: Regardless, do jump-start your fall writing by joining Lancaster Christian Writers 2015-2016 Kickoff on Saturday, September 26th at Lancaster Alliance Church, 210 Pitney Rd (off Hwy 30 across from Costco) from 9:30AM-12 noon (registration opens at 9). Please note this is the FOURTH Saturday, rather than the usual THIRD, due to a scheduling conflict (mine, actually. I will be ministry traveling over the next 2 1/2 months on three separate continents, but will be briefly back in Lancaster for 9/26).

SPEAKER:  LCW president Jeanette Windle (yes, that's me!) will be sharing one of most popular and practical workshops she taught at GPCWC: The A to Z of Writing a Sellable Article.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: The A to Z of Writing the Sellable Article: Where to find material or choose a topic? What makes an attention-grabbing lead and headline? What to include and how to organize? A great conclusion or just petering out? Taught by a twenty-year-veteran missions journalist and editor, this workshop lays out in practical steps how to turn out consistently exciting, tightly written articles, no matter your theme or subject matter.
 
SPEAKER BiO: Award-winning novelist, missions journalist, editor and collaborative writer Jeanette Windle grew up in equatorial South America's guerrilla hot zones, has lived in six countries and traveled in more than thirty. Those experiences have birthed 16 fiction titles, including bestselling Veiled Freedom (2010 ECPA Christian Book Award/Christy Award finalist), Freedom's Stand, (2012 ECPA Christian Book Award/Carol Award finalist), and Congo Dawn (2013 Golden Scroll Novel of the Year) as well as non-fiction collaborative titles Hope Underground: The Chilean Mine Rescue and Forgiven: The Amish Schoolhouse Shooting, a Mother’s Love, and a Story of Remarkable Grace (Bethany House, Fall, 2015). 

OCTOBER MEETING: We have also confirmed as speaker for our October meeting on Saturday, 10/17 (yes, that is back to 3rd Saturday!) Shelley Adina, bestselling Christian steampunk and Amish romance novelist, who was with us in 2013. She will be flying in again from CA for the Strasburg Railroad Festival and is taking time out to share another fiction workshop with us: Creating Communities With Character.

FALL/WINTER CALENDAR: We still have openings for speakers November-June, so if you have a suggestion for either speaker or workshop, please contact me at  jeanette@jeanettewindle.com We also have openings to share a devotional (5-10 minutes) each month. This is your opportunity to share your own inspirational writing with the group, so please do contact me if you'd like to get on the schedule.

As always, email questions or concerns to jeanette@jeanettewindle.com

Blessings,
Jeanette Windle
President, Lancaster Christian Writers

Don't Miss Final LCW Meeting Before Summer with Speaker/Author Lisa Lawmaster Hess Saturday, 6-20-15

Don’t miss your last chance to meet, learn, and share your work with other area scribblers before Lancaster Christian Writers breaks for the summer (July/August). We will be meeting Saturday, June 20, 2015, at Lancaster Alliance Church, 210 Pitney Rd (off Hwy 30 across from Costco) from 9:30AM-12 noon (registration opens at 9). Join us in welcoming speaker and author Lisa Lawmaster Hess as she shares “Sprints and Jogs and Bits and Pieces: Finding a Way to Weave Writing into Your Day.”
 
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: Most writers aren’t able to work at their craft full time, and instead, need to fit their writing into schedules filled with responsibilities that are both desirable (family) and undesirable (that full time job that pays the bills but isn’t as much fun as writing). Naturally organized people are often good at setting a schedule and sticking to it, but many creative people struggle to find the time they need to make progress on their writing projects. This workshop will appeal to both the schedulers and the flexers (for the record, the presenter fits into the second category) as Lisa discusses ways to use both small snippets and large chunks of time to finish those WIPs. 
 
SPEAKER: Lisa Lawmaster Hess is a retired school counselor who has taught classes on organization and time management to elementary aged children, busy adults and retirees. She is the author of two books in the education market, Acting Assertively and Diverse Divorce, and one novel, Casting the First Stone. In addition to writing, Lisa is an adjunct professor of psychology at York College of Pennsylvania.

CRITIQUE GROUPS: And don't forget to bring your latest work-in-progress from this summer for critique groups (ten copies up to 1500 words).

As always, email questions or concerns to jeanette@jeanettewindle.com

Blessings,
Jeanette Windle
President, Lancaster Christian Writers

LCW Welcomes Novelist Dwight Kopp Saturday, 5/16/15 PLUS Check Out This Summer's Christian Writers Conferences

Lancaster Christian Writers resumes its monthly meetings Saturday, May 16, 2015, at Lancaster Alliance Church, 210 Pitney Rd (off Hwy 30 across from Costco) from 9:30AM-12 noon (registration opens at 9). Join us in welcoming international suspense novelist Dwight Kopp, who will be sharing from personal experience, as he terms it, “how to be a Christian and still write about really bad people.”
 
SPEAKER: Author, speaker and storyteller, Dwight Kopp was born and raised in Zambia, Africa. By the age of 14 he had fourteen different countries stamped in his passport. He’s studied five languages, and eaten elephant, hippo, (tastes like beef, mostly), crocodile and flying ants. Currently residing in Pennsylvania, Dwight works as a realtor, contractor, writer and speaker— which is the nice way of saying, Dwight really isn’t sure what he’s going to do when he grows up. He is author of The Moderator Series, The Zambezi Chronicles trilogy and Made in Africa.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: “Mummies, Man-eaters, and Militants”. Complications define character. But not all complications are created equal.  If — in the writing process — you don’t face momentary panic about how to get your character out of his latest pickle, then turn up the heat, throw off restraint and remember, not all the problems you faced were covered in Sunday School.

SUPER SATURDAY 2015!! LCW’s one day conference is over for another year. It was a great day from its powerful beginning challenge from missionary author and speaker Grace Fabian through LBC’s delicious lunch buffet and workshops.  We enjoyed our best attendance ever. If you didn’t make it this year, do put it on your calendar for next!

CHRISTIAN WRITERS CONFERENCES: Spring is finally here, just the time to begin thinking about attending a full-length Christian writers conference this summer. PA is blessed with three within driving distance, St. Davids CWC (Grove City, PA) June 24-28, Montrose CWC (Scranton, PA), July 19-24, and Greater Philadelphia CWC July 29-August 1. A number of past LCW faculty will be teaching at each, including Jeanette Windle, Dave Fessenden, Carol Wedeven, Gayle Roper, Amy Deardon, Marsha Hubler, and many more. Beyond the learning opportunities, a writers conference is the best way to connect directly with agents and editors. All three have scholarships available, so don’t let finances be a stumbling block.

As always, email any additional questions or concerns to jeanette@jeanettewindle.com

Blessings,
Jeanette Windle
President, Lancaster Christian Writers