Lancaster Christian Writers Hosts One-Day Conference Saturday, April 12, 2014, at Lancaster Bible College

Whether you are a writer or know one, you'll want to mark your calendar for Lancaster Christian Writers' Super Saturday 2014!! to be held April 12th, 2014, from 8:30am.-4:30pm at Lancaster Bible College, 901 Eden Road, Lancaster, PA 17601. This one-day writers conference offers a full slate of workshops taught by top industry professionals in both fiction and non-fiction fields.  An early registration price of $40 is due by Wednesday, April 9, and includes soup/sandwich buffet lunch (think Panini!) and LCW membership. Registrations after April 9 and walk-ins day of the conference are $50.

A fiction track will be taught by award-winning novelists Tracy Higley, Mike Dellosso, Marsha Hubler, and Joyce Magnin. Non-fiction faculty include marketing/promotions expert Suzanne Kuhn, founder of author promotions firm SuzyQ, as well as journalist/editor/author Jeannette Scott, and veteran editor/ agent/author Dave Fessenden. Keynoting the opening session will be renowned conference director/publisher/ author/speaker Marlene Bagnull.

Workshops cover such topics as:

• The Hero’s Journey: Perfecting Plot and Story Structure.
• That’s What I’m Talking About! Reaching Your Audience Through Social Media
• Borrowed Eyes: Seeing the World Through the Eyes of Your Characters
• Be Engaging! Maximizing Interactions to Turn Any Public Appearance into an Effective Author Event.
• Every Story Needs a Home: World-Building for Contemporary, Historical and Fantasy Fiction.
• A Fly on the Wall in a Publishing House: How Publishing Decisions Are Made and How You Can Get Your Material Off The Slush Pile.
• Bring Out the Child In You: Writing on the Child’s Level Without Talking Down
• You Can’t Make This Stuff Up! In This Intro to Narrative Nonfiction, Learn How True Stories Told Well Can Impact Readers' Hearts and Minds.

A conference bookstore will offer a wide variety of writer resources and faculty titles. Conference attendees can get personal consultations with faculty on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Lancaster Christian Writers welcomes writers of all churches and denominations and of all levels and genres. Monthly meetings offer opportunities for manuscript critique, networking with other writers, and occasional workshops and guest authors. More information, including the Super Saturday 2014 Flyer/Registration Form and Press Release can be found at above link OR can be requested at jeanette@jeanettewindle.com

Mail the Super Saturday 2014 registration form and check or money order payable to: Lancaster Christian Writers, c/o Jeanette Windle, 1776 Euclid Drive, Lancaster, PA 17601.  Email questions to LCW President Jeanette Windle at jeanette@jeanettewindle.com (preferred) or call 717-209-0011 after 4 PM.

LCW Welcomes Award-Winning Author/Speaker Karen Whiting Saturday, 01/18/14 PLUS Check Out SS2014 Faculty Lineup!!

Happy New Years 2014!!  Can you believe we are already in another calendar year? And to kick it off, we are delighted to welcome a very special guest speaker, Karen Whiting, who will be sharing at our Lancaster Christian Writers January meeting on Saturday, January 18, 2014,  at Lancaster Alliance Church, 210 Pitney Rd (off Hwy 30 across from Costco) from 9:30AM-12 noon ((registration opens at 9).

 Many of you have met Karen Whiting on faculty at Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference or LCW's own Super Saturday one-day conferences. As board-member of the Christian Author Network, she will be in town the weekend of January 18-21 for the Christian Product Expo (Hershey).

Karen has graciously consented to take time out to share one of her practical and fun conference workshops: "Bread and Butter from Shorts: Selling sidebars and short pieces is a great way to break into magazines and earn money. These are 100-500 words and compliment articles or stand alone. They are also easier to submit. PLUS before writing be certain your idea is RIPE. Discover the four essential elements for writing a nonfiction article or book."

An award-winning author of sixteen books, including Time, God’s Girls series, and The 365 Most Important Bible Passages for Women, Karen Whiting has seen in print as well more than 500 magazine articles in more than sixty periodicals. Her newest release, The One-Year Princess Devotions, Tyndale House Publishers, releases September 1, 2014. Karen's Stories of Faith and Courage from the Home Front received the 2013 Military Writers Society of America Gold Medal in the faith category. The book also received the Golden Scroll Nonfiction Book of the Year at the International Christian Retail Show. For more, check out www.karenwhiting.com.

SUPER SATURDAY 2014!! And if you haven't yet marked your calendar for this year's one-day writers conference Saturday, April 12, 2014, 8:30AM-4:30PM at Lancaster Bible College, you will want to do so and get the news out to fellow writers. We have a stellar faculty lineup, including:

• Suzanne Kuhn, marketing/promotions expert and founder of SuzyQ, a full-service author promotion and retail development firm.
• Dave Fessenden, publisher, editor and agent with more than 20 years experience.
• Marlene Bagnull, publisher, author, and director GPCWC and CWC.
• Jeannette Scott, journalist, editor, author.
• Tracy Higley, award-winning novelist, including Seven Ancient Wonders series.
• Mike Dellosso, award-winning novelist, speculative fiction
• Marsha Hubler, award-winning novelist, YA fiction
• Joyce Magnin, award-winning novelist, including Bright Pond series.

GRAPHIC/FLYER DESIGNER NEEDED:  And speaking of Super Saturday, we are in need of a volunteer who would be interested in putting together a flyer for this year's Super Saturday. If you have such skills and would be interested, please drop an email to jeanette@jeanettewindle.com

DEVOTIONAL SPEAKERS. We still have openings for devotional speakers (5-10 minutes) at our monthly meetings Jan-March. If you are interested, drop an email to jeanette@jeanettewindle.com

ONE FINAL ITEM!!! LCW Blog List:

We've received quite a number of member blogs links to display on the LCW website. It is not too late to add yours. If you would like to add your blog to the list, please respond to this email with the following:

• your name
• the name your blog (if applicable)
• your blog's URL (web address)

Don't Miss LCW's Christmas Party & Holiday Bazaar 12/21/13--Guest Speaker: YOU!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2013 from Lancaster Christian Writers. Those able to join us for our November meeting enjoyed guest author Shelley Adina, in full Victorian regalia. Just one more meeting for the 2013 calendar year, Do come celebrate the season with us Saturday, December 21, 2013, at Lancaster Alliance Church, 210 Pitney Rd (off Hwy 30 across from Costco) from 9:30AM-12 noon ((registration opens at 9). Our fabulous guest speaker--YOU!!

Yes, as has become LCW tradition, our December meeting will showcase the creativity and genius of our own members. Share a poem, drama, devotional, even a scene of that novel. Time limit is 3-5 minutes (easy way to calculate is a maximum of 700 words), in order to permit as many to participate as possible. I do need an advance head count. SO please let me know if you want to participate so as to get you on the list.

Party food:  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.

Holiday Bazaar: AND if you have published titles or Christmas crafts, do bring them along for our Holiday Bazaar.  What better or more economic gift can you get for family member or friend than a personalized autographed title or craft.

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.

ONE FINAL ITEM!!! LCW Blog List

Do you maintain a blog that you'd like to share with our group? We are compiling a list of member blogs to display on the LCW website. This is great way for each of you to connect online, offer and receive encouragement throughout the month, and build readership. If you would like to add your blog to the list, please respond to the below email with the following:

• your name
• the name your blog (if applicable)
• your blog's URL (web address)

 Blessings,
Jeanette Windle
President, Lancaster Christian Writers
Website: www.jeanettewindle.com 
Email: jeanette@jeanettewindle.com

LCW Welcomes Awardwinning Author ADINA SENFT 11/16/13 PLUS Contest and Other News

Whether your storytelling is fiction or non-fiction, you won't want to miss Lancaster Christian Writers' next meeting Saturday, November 16, 2013, 9:30AM-12 noon (registration opens at 9AM) at Lancaster Alliance Church, 210 Pitney Road, Lancaster, PA (right off HWY 30 near Costco). For this month's speaker, it was a delightful surprise to learn that ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) author Adina Senft (publishing also as Shelley Adina and Shelley Bates) would be in town all the way from Silicon Valley, CA, for a book-signing at the Strasburg Railroad Steampunk Unlimited event Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 16-17.  Adina graciously consented to duck out of the event long enough to share with Lancaster's local Christian writing community her fun-filled and practical workshop on presenting an effective setting to your reader:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Adina Senft grew up in a plain house church, where she was often asked by outsiders if she was Amish (the answer was no), she made her own clothes, and she perfected the art of the French braid. She holds an M.F.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania, where she teaches as adjunct faculty. Writing as Shelley Bates, she was the winner of RWA’s RITA Award for Best Inspirational Novel in 2005, and a finalist for that award in 2006. Writing as Shelley Adina, she is an Amazon bestseller for her self-published Magnificent Devices steampunk series, and was a Christy Award finalist in 2009. Three of her books have shortlisted for the American Christian Fiction Writers’ Carol Award for book of the year. 

A transplanted Canadian, Adina returns there annually to have her accent calibrated. Between books, she enjoys traveling with her husband, playing the piano and Celtic harp, and spoiling her flock of rescued chickens. These days, she makes period costumes and only puts up her hair for historical events and fun. Check out more about Adina and her Amish and steampunk novels at her websites: http://www.adinasenft.com; http://www.shelleyadina.com; http://www.shelleybates.com

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: "World Building Through Your Characters' Eyes".

Building a setting is more than paragraphs of description of a Regency ballroom or the main street of a small town. It’s how your character sees your story world and how it in turn reflects her. It’s how the environment influences and changes your character—and how your character changes her environment—during the events of the story. In this workshop, award-winning author Adina Senft, who also writes as Shelley Adina, will show you how to build a setting from the top down and from the inside out so that your world becomes as much a character as your people. You’ll also get some tips on how to research a believable setting, even if you’re making it all up.

VOLUNTEER NEEDED TO CHAUFFEUR SPEAKER:  Our guest speaker will be staying at Limestone Inn Bed and Breakfast, 33 East Main Street, Strasburg, PA. A volunteer is urgently needed to pick Adina up at the inn (by 8:45AM), bring her to Lancaster Alliance Church, then take her back to Strasburg by noon (when she is due at the Railroad event). BONUS: Getting to pick the brain of an unbelievably talented and creative author coming and going. If you can offer chauffeur services, please email jeanette@jeanettewindle.com

DEVOTIONAL SPEAKERS:  Thank you, Donna Smith, for a wonderful devotional thought shared with our October group. If any LCW member would be interested in sharing a devotional message geared to writers God has laid on your heart(5-10 minutes) for the November meeting, please email jeanette@jeanettewindle.com

BOOK MANUSCRIPT CONTEST: Lancaster Christian Writers has received an invitation from Deep River Books (founded by Bill and Nancy Carmichael, founding publishers of Good Family Magazines, which included Christian Parenting Today, Virtue, etc) to submit book manuscripts for their 2013-2014 writing contest, first prize a publishing contract. Check out details HERE.

THANK YOU FROM MICHELE CHYNOWETH: Those in attendance at the October meeting had a delightful time with guest author Michele Chynoweth. Michele sends the group this follow-up thanks:

"Dear Jeanette and fellow Christian writers, I’d like to thank you for hosting me as your Writers Workshop speaker on Character Development this past Saturday; it was a delightful group full of enthusiasm and I really appreciated the opportunity.  I look forward to seeing you all again soon!

Meanwhile, if anyone would still like to purchase copies of my novels, The Faithful One or The Peace Maker, please visit my website: www.michelechynoweth.com or go on www.amazon.com.

Blessings,
Jeanette Windle
President, Lancaster Christian Writers
www.jeanettewindle.com

Lancaster Christian Writers Welcomes Novelist Michele Chynoweth Saturday, October 19, 2013

It was a delight to see so many of you for LCWs' September kickoff with Dean Drawbaugh at Lancaster Alliance Church. Thank you, Dean for an interesting and practical workshop. Meanwhile, I hope you will take time to read through the following e-blast because we have quite a few news items to cover.

OCTOBER MEETING: Our next meeting will be Saturday, October 19, 2013, 9:30AM-12 noon. We will again be meeting at Lancaster Alliance Church, 210 Pitney Road, Lancaster, PA (right off HWY 30 near Costco). As speaker, we are delighted to welcome novelist Michele Chynoweth. Whether writing fiction or non-fiction, every author needs to learn how to present believable characters and dialogue. Michele will be sharing her own tried and true process for developing characters that is fun, flexible and really works - from coming up with names to creating profiles that portray your characters physically, emotionally and spiritually. She will help you develop believable, compelling characters that readers can really connect with, who make you laugh, cry and care. A screenplay writer as well, she'll even teach you how thinking like a movie director can help!

Michele Chynoweth has been a news reporter, advertising copywriter and ad agency owner. She is author of two novels, The Faithful One and The Peace Maker. She has won several awards for her work, including Writer of the Year at Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference and first place in the drama category of the Maryland Writers Association Fiction Contest. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and lives in her native Maryland. Check out Michele's books and blog at: www.michelechynoweth.com

DEVOTIONAL SPEAKERS:  Our LCW openings is a wonderful opportunity for our members to share your own writing and a message God has laid on your heart with the larger group. We are looking for devotional speakers (5-10 minutes) for the rest of the calendar year, including October. If you'd be interested in a calendar slot, please email jeanette@jeanettewindle.com

SUPER SATURDAY 2014!! Lancaster Bible College has just confirmed a date on their campus for our 2014 one-day conference, so mark your calendars now for Saturday, April 12, 2014.  We are currently accepting proposals for workshops and faculty, so if you have a suggested speaker, please also email jeanette@jeanettewindle.com with those suggestions.

MONTHLY WORKSHOPS: This year's calendar is already filling up quickly, but we still do have several openings after Christmas for workshops. If you have a suggestion for speaker, please let us know too as soon as possible.

CALENDAR: Lancaster Christian Writers typically meets third Saturdays of the month, but this is always subject to change depending on scheduling conflict. Please note our current meeting schedule below through April; these are all Saturdays, and will be held at Lancaster Alliance Church's Uptown Theater unless marked otherwise. 
October 19

November 16

December 21

January 18

February 15

March 15

April 12 (SS2014 at LBC)

CRITIQUE GROUPS: As always, there will also be opportunity for our usual peer critique groups after Michele Chynoweth's workshop. As per guidelines, bring ten printed copies of no more than 1500 words.

Blessings,
Jeanette Windle
President, Lancaster Christian Writers
www.jeanettewindle.com
jeanette@jeanettewindle.com

Lancaster Christian Writers Kicks Off 2013-2014 Season on 9/28: NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE!!

Have you've marked your calendar for Lancaster Christian Writers' Fall Kickoff on Saturday, September 28, 2013, 9:30AM-12 noon, with well-known regional Christian publisher Dean Drawbaugh?  If so, please note the following CHANGE OF VENUE. LCW's Fall Kickoff will not be held as in the past at Lancaster Evangelical Free Church in Lititz, PA, but at Lancaster Alliance Church, 210 Pitney Road, Lancaster, PA. The location is right off HWY 30 just a short distance from exit of HWY 222 near Costco (from HWY 30 take Greenfield Rd. exit, curve past Costco, Lowes, Best Buy to Pitney Rd. traffic light, turn left under Hwy 30 overpass, then an immediate right into church parking lot). We will be meeting in LAC's Uptown Theater just inside main entrance.

Please note as well CHANGE OF DATE from our usual third Saturday of month to fourth Saturday. This is due to a scheduling conflict and does occur a couple times each year so do take note each month of actual date scheduled. While we try to stick to 3rd Saturday, that doesn't always prove possible.

As speaker, we are delighted to welcome back well-known publishing consultant Dean Drawbaugh, who shared with us last March his acclaimed seminar "The BookSeller: Nine Qualities that Generate Book Sales." Author, public speaker, former general manager of Destiny Image Publishing Company, and now President at Drawbaugh Publishing Group, Dean Drawbaugh has been in the business of producing successful book titles for over 40 years. He has engineered 600+ books in the last 7 years alone.

Last March Drawbaugh was able to offer our LCW group an overall synopsis of his groundbreaking seminar on the nine qualities that allow a book to continue selling or cause the sales process to stop (I can personally testify to their practicality as I've put to use several tips for my own most recent release, Tyndale House title, Congo Dawn!). All of which left members clamoring for a more in-depth coverage on how to apply these principles specifically to our own books and writing. So we are delighted to welcome Dean Drawbaugh back for a full three-hour clinic that will expand on his original presentation.  During our September 28^th meeting, Drawbaugh will provide a short review of his last presentation, walk through case studies to show how to fine tune a manuscript and prepare it for publishing. Finally, he will conduct an open workshop that allows participants to experiment and ask questions.

Whether you attended Drawbaugh's original workshop or not, you won't want to miss this opportunity for a behind-the-scenes look at what makes a book successful, above all, your book!

Critique groups: There will also be opportunity for our usual peer critique groups after the clinic. As per guidelines, bring ten printed copies of no more than 1500 words. For any who want a peer critique and cannot stay on after the clinic, we will be offering one time slot for critique during second half of clinic.

As always, regular news bulletins for LCW can be found at our blogsite: http://lancasterchristianwriterstoday.blogspot.com/.

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