Last Chance Before Summer: Join LCW Saturday, June 17th, in Welcoming Speaker/Author Emily Chase

These long days do make clear we are heading into summer. Which means Lancaster Christian Writers will  be taking its usual hiatus for July and August. So do join us for our final meeting before break .on Saturday, June 17th, at Lancaster Alliance Church, 210 Pitney Rd (off Hwy 30 across from Costco) from 9:30AM-12 noon (registration opens at 9). We are delighted that our cancelled March speaker, well-known conference speaker and author Emily Chase, was able to reschedule her planned workshop for our June meeting.

SPEAKER: Originally trained as an archaeologist, Emily Chase has lived and worked in places as different as Laos, Mexico and Peru. Now she serves as staff chaplain at Bethany Christian Services. She is the author of seven books, including Help! My Family's Messed Up! (Kregel) and Standing Tall After Falling Short (Moody). She and her husband of over forty years reside in Mechanicsburg, PA.

WORKSHOP: "Hitting Your Target Every Time." When you shoot an arrow, you want it to hit the target, right? As a writer, you want to reach a specific audience. But how much time do you spend considering your audience as you prepare your manuscripts? You don't want your readers to snore, start to flip pages or, worse, close the book! In this practical workshop, discover hints on how to sharpen your writing so it hits your target audience every time.

THIS SUMMER'S CHRISTIAN WRITERS CONFERENCES Also, if you haven't yet registered for Christian writers conference this summer, we are privileged to have two of the biggest in our region, a great way to jump-start your summer writing, so I can't recommend highly enough attending one or the other or both. Check out their links for more info:

MONTROSE CHRISTIAN WRITERS CONFERENCE: July 16-21, 2017,. at Montrose Bible Conference, Montrose, PA (north-central PA). Info available at website:

GREATER PHILADELPHIA CHRISTIAN WRITERS CONFERENCE: July 26-29, 2017, at Cairn University, Langhorne, PA (near Philly). Info available at website:

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 summer, 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

Join LCW Saturday, March 18th, to Welcome Speaker/Author Emily Chase PLUS PR Offer to LCW Authors

Join Lancaster Christian Writers Saturday, March 18th, at Lancaster Alliance Church, 210 Pitney Rd (off Hwy 30 across from Costco) from 9:30AM-12 noon (registration opens at 9). We are delighted to welcome back well-known conference speaker and author Emily Chase. SPEAKER: Originally trained as an archaeologist, Emily Chase has lived and worked in places as different as Laos, Mexico and Peru. Now she serves as staff chaplain at Bethany Christian Services. She is the author of seven books, including Help! My Family's Messed Up! (Kregel) and Standing Tall After Falling Short (Moody). She and her husband of over forty years reside in Mechanicsburg, PA. WORKSHOP: When you shoot an arrow, you want it to hit the target, right? As a writer, you want to reach a specific audience. But how much time do you spend considering your audience as you prepare your manuscripts? You don't want your readers to snore, start to flip pages or, worse, close the book! In this practical workshop, discover hints on how to sharpen your writing so it hits your target audience every time. PR OPPORTUNITY FOR LCW MEMBERS: Professional editor/author Jeannette DiLouie of Innovative Editing, a recent transplant to Lancaster, PA, has offered the following opportunity to any LCW author, royalty or indie published, so do take advantage of this offer! "Innovative Editing Wants You! If you’re the published author of a novel, non-fiction book or children’s story, Innovative Editing would love to consider you for an upcoming Author of the Month spot on its site, www.InnovativeEditing.com. Along with an interview-style Q&A, each selected author will be featured online with a short bio, picture and links to their book(s), website and social media accounts. Young adult fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, autobiography—Whatever the genre, Innovative Editing wants to see your story! Reach out to JDiLouie@InnovativeEditing.com to start the submission process today." DEADLINE APPROACHING FOR SS2017!!!!!!  And please be aware that we are only six weeks out from our annual one-day conference. It isn't too early to get your registrations in. And please do help us make this conference a success by getting the word out. All links for registration, schedule, workshops and faculty bios, as well as paying on-line are now all live on our web page at (http://lancasterchristianwriterstoday.blogspot.com). You can also print out or simply save and send our SS2017 Registration Flyer (download and print here or at webpage). 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, 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

Lancaster Christian Writers News/Writing Opportunities

It was an enormous pleasure to see so many in attendance this last Saturday for our October LCW meeting, a truly full house with over 50 in attendance and a delightfully practical and interactive workshop from speaker Emily Chase. Emily has also left LCW with a fresh publication opportunity (see details below). A thanks as well to our own poet laureate Byron Smith, who shared a devotional challenge with the group along with his award-winning poetry. A congratulations to Byron for his poem, Sculpted, which was a finalist for Pennsylvania in the national 2012 Senior Poet Laureate Contest (poem included below for those who didn't get to hear Byron read in person).

Meanwhile mark your calendar for our next meeting, Saturday, November 17, 2012, at Lancaster Evangelical Free Church, 419 Pierson Rd, Lititz, PA, 17543 from 9:30AM-12 noon (registration opens at 9). We are delighted to welcome speaker and columnist Dona Fisher, whom many of you may recognize as director of Lancaster's National Day of Prayer Event. Dona will be sharing a workshop:  "Write It From A Prayerful Heart".

Dona shares about this workshop, "Nothing more intimidating than a full mind and a empty page. Learn to be aware, ponder, deposit those thoughts, pray fully dependent, and desperately in need of cultivating God's viewpoint. Think in parables-earthly stories with heavenly meanings."

SPEAKER BIO: A native of Lancaster, PA, Dona Fisher serves as Vice President of Friendship Foundation, Inc. which provides Christian outreach events including the non-denominational Change of Pace Bible Studies of which she has been director for 37 years.  She also chairs the annual Lancaster County National Day of Prayer. Among other publishing credits, Dona has written a column for the Matters of Faith section of Lancaster Sunday News since 2003.

On a personal note, I leave Friday Oct. 26th, for Nairobi, Kenya, where I will be on faculty at Littworld 2012, the global Christian publishing/writer conference that takes place every three years on shifting continents (www.littworld.org). One of my greatest delights is the privilege of mentoring writers across the developing world; this conference brings together more than 200 top leaders in Christian publishing and writing from across the developing world on all five continents. I would ask for prayer that God will grant safety in travel and right words in speaking. Above all, I am ferrying two suitcases of material and books earmarked for African Christian publishers and conferees.   Please pray with me that this luggage will arrive safely to the conference.

See below for writing opportunities and Byron Smith's wonderful award-winning poem.

Blessings,
Jeanette Windle
President, Lancaster Christian Writers
www.jeanettewindle.com
http://lancasterchristianwriterstoday.blogspot.com 

WRITING OPPORTUNITIES:

1. Emily Chase expresses appreciation for last year's participation by LCW members in West Shore Evangelical Free Church's Lenten publication. West Shore has again extended an invitation for LCW members to participate in their 2013 Lenten project, a book of daily offices with the working title Making Space: Learning How to Enjoy God’s Beautiful, Life-Giving Presence. 8 themes have been selected for the eight chapters; each chapter will have twenty brief essays, 300 words or so each.  The eight themes are: 1)   Silence (and solitude); 2)  Sabbath (and sacred time); 3)  Simplicity 4)  Fasting 5)  Prayer; 6)  Worship; 7) Hospitality; 8) Community. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 1, 2012. Authors of devotionals published in the book will each receive a single copy of the book.  All submissions can be sent to Emily Chase (echase@messiah.edu). 

2. LCW member Evelyn Merriams, recently accepted for publication by Salvation Army's 132 year old publication War Cry (congratulation!), is sharing this opportunity with the group. Now a monthly publication, War Cry accepts unsolicited subscriptions on a variety of topics. Guidelines available at:  War Cry Submission Guidelines

AWARD-WINNING POEM SCULPTED: BY BYRON SMITH, SENIOR POET LAUREATE, PA FINALIST

I moved freely                                                                     Thud of mallet, chip

within the marble mountain                                                 of chisel, nick the

until the grinding gnaw                                                        surfaces of my vault.

bit into the face                                                                   Studied persistent rasps

of our wall.                                                                         lay bare my contours.

Depletion of our solid                                                         Air and light touch me

cliff seemed small.                                                              into rigid helplessness

Neglected attention                                                              Ogled and admired, I stand

caught me one day                                                                real as life, they say.

in a special block                                                                 I return the stares.              

cut from our domain.

Furiously, I fought                                                              He who has imprisoned me

the sudden limits of                                                             is praised, applauded.

solitary confinement.                                                          Can he know how much

Surrounding barriers of                                                      he doesn't  understand

light and air                                                                        of inside life exposed,

encompassed my tight cell.                                                 leaving me motionless,

Caged in a cube                                                                   permanently not alive.

stolen from our mountain

I'm taken alone into a

curtained studio.        

Lancaster Christian Writers Super Saturday 2011 Schedule

SUPER SATURDAY SEMINAR

8:45AM-4PM PM, MARCH 19, 2011

LANCASTER EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCH

419 PIERSON RD., LITITZ, PA, 17543

8:00 AM--REGISTRATION OPEN

8:45 AM--OPENING IN SANCTUARY

9:30-10:45 AM--FIRST WORKSHOP:

A-101-- T.L. HIGLEY: "Stereotypes: Love ‘em and Leave ‘em." Learn to both utilize and break from personality types to create memorable fiction characters that leap off the page.

A-103-- EMILY PARKE CHASE: "Pro/Con: Cool it!" Addressing hot topics with temperature-lowering grace.

10:45-11:00 AM--BREAK, Bookstore Open

11:00 AM-12:15 PM--SECOND WORKSHOP:

A-101--ALAN LOEWEN: "Fantasy is a Christian Genre Too!"

A-103-- TERRI GILLESPIE: "Apples of Gold—Writing for the Devotional Market."

12:15-1:00 PM--LUNCH, Bag Lunch served in foyer. Bookstore open.

1:00-2:15 PM--THIRD WORKSHOP:

A-101-- JEANETTE WINDLE: "The Nuts and Bolts of Plotting High-Octane Fiction."  Developing a compelling story lies not only in who, what, where, and when, but how and especially why.

 A-103-- HANA HAATAINEN CAYE: "The Business of Writing--Ways to Make Money as a Freelance Writer."

2:15-2:30 PM--BREAK, Bookstore Open

2:30-3:45 PM--FOURTH WORKSHOP

A-101-- JOYCE MAGNIN: "Make ‘em Laugh—But not too much." Infusing fiction and nonfiction with a laugh track.

A-103-- CAROL WEDEVEN: “Choosing WORDS for Kids.” Enjoy the adventure of discovering WORDS of gold which will thrill the reading child.

3:45-4:15--FINAL BOOKSTORE CALL



SUPER SATURDAY 2011 WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS

 Dear Lancaster Christian Writers:

Many have been asking exactly what workshops our wonderful faculty will be offering for Super Saturday 2011. The descriptions are now in. Check them out below and share them with your friends.

HANA HAATAINEN CAYE: "The Business of Writing--Ways to Make Money as a Freelance Writer." Running a freelance writing business can be more profitable than you may think. This workshop will cover the various types of business and creative writing opportunities that exist for writers who see beyond their fiction and poetry and want to find a way to make a living, or simply earn some extra cash, through the written word. Examples include press releases, advertising copy, magazine articles, on hold message scripts, sales letters, webpage writing, search engine optimized writing, newsletters, and more.

EMILY PARKE CHASE: "Pro/Con: Cool it!" Hot topics like politics, abortion, and homosexuality can separate readers into opposing camps.  Incorporating humor and anecdotes into your writing can lower temperatures and bridge the divide that stalls dialog on important issues.

TERRI GILLESPIE: "Apples of Gold—Writing for the Devotional Market." Devotional writing is a great way to break into publishing and to reach others with sweet, life changing messages of God’s redemption. This class will give you markets and practical formats for devotional writing.

T.L. HIGLEY: "Stereotypes: Love ‘em and Leave ‘em." Learn to both utilize and break from personality types to create memorable characters that leap off the page.

CRAIG ALAN LOEWEN: "Fantasy is a Christian Genre Too!" Christian-themed fantasy/sci-fi has a growing fan base within both the CBA and ABA marketplace. This interactive workshop will cover the various sub-genres of fantasy writing as well as carry the participant through the process of creating ideas for the story, doing research for the background, writing and revising the story, and then having it published in a suitable market. The tips and resources will be helpful to all writers regardless of the genre they prefer to work in.

JOYCE MAGNIN: "Make ‘em Laugh—But not too much." It’s been said that there would be no laughter without sorrow. Discover the science behind the funny and learn how to infuse your fiction and nonfiction with a laugh track. Sometimes it takes the unexpected to get a chuckle and other times it’s simply a tiny curlicue on a sentence or two to relieve the tension.

CAROL WEDEVEN: “Choosing WORDS for Kids.” Enjoy the adventure of discovering WORDS of gold which will thrill the reading child. Don’t settle for less. Collect the best. Get rid of tongue twisters. Put characters in place. Use color-coded WORDS. Every manuscript deserves your rapt attention to detail.

JEANETTE WINDLE: "The Nuts and Bolts of Plotting High-Octane Fiction." Developing a compelling story lies not only in who, what, where, and when, but how and especially why. Interweaving plot lines, conflict, POV, dialogue, forward motion vs. flashback, character vs. action-driven are among the elements necessary to tell an effective story.