Four Things to do Once Conference is Through

This past weekend, many of my writing friends gathered in Nashville for the annual American Christian Fiction Writers Conference. After four days of craft classes, agent/editor appointments and connecting with old and new friends, most are waking up at home today ready to attack their WIP with renewed vigor.

Not likely! Their brains are mush from all the information they’ve heard over the last several days yet they’re dying to use it in their own writing. But I have some suggestions—four to be exact.

1) Rest
Getting some rest is most likely not your top priority after returning home after a conference but it should be. Consider this: since the moment you decided to go, you’ve been hard at work. Whether it’s writing or rewriting your sample chapters, designing your business cards, combing over the conference schedule and picking out the perfect classes, making up one sheets—you’ve put a great deal of time and effort into those four days. During the conference, you’re involved in an intense study of the craft.

Now it’s time to rest. Everything you’ve learned will still be there after a couple of good days of rest. So sleep. Watch a movie. Spend time with your family. Give your brain and your body a rest—You deserve it!

 2) Read
 Writers are usually voracious readers but reading after attending a writer’s conference may have an unexpected advantage. It might help you retain the information you’ve learned. When you read, you see real life examples of the information you’ve learned during class. For me, listening to books on my iPod is especially helpful. By making the connection between what you write and what you’ve learned, your chances of retaining it are better.

3) Realize
Despite your best efforts, you’re not going to remember everything thing you’ve heard over the last few days. But if you can retain one item that revolutionizes your writing, that’s worth the price of the conference alone! It's that 'ah-ha' moment that you just don't forget.  I’ve gone to many conference over the last twenty years and while the classes on craft have helped me along the way, it’s those little tidbits that have changed the way I look at my writing that I remember most. One year, I took away the need for a daily word count. Another was Jim Rubert’s class point of shocking the Brocca in marketing. Yet another was Karen Witemeyer’s class on giving the reader more than they expect. All of these helped me become a more well-rounded writer.

4) Reconnect
While you still in the afterglow of conference, you need to reach out and thank those agents/editors/mentors you met with during the conference. Remember, these folks have taken time out of their busy lives to meet and give you encouragement in your dream of writing for publication. If you think your conference was busy, these people are in constant movement from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed. Even their most private moments like dinner or going to the restroom get interrupted by overzealous writers. So please, drop them a small note to let them know how much you appreciate their work.




Patty Smith Hall is a multi-published, award-winning author with Love Inspired Historical and Barbour and currently serves as treasurer of the ACFW-North Georgia chapter. She currently lives in North Georgia with her husband of 30+ years, Danny; two gorgeous daughters and a future son-in-love. Her new release, The Marshall’s Lady is available on Amazon.
                                  

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#Writers Conferences

I love writer's conferences. I'm addicted to them. Where else can I get my annual fix? No where, that's where. Why? Because "normals" don't get us. When you're at a writer's conference and say, "I'm sorry, I didn't get that. I was listening to my character explain why she won't go to Cucamonga." 

Say that around a "normal" and you'll get looks like this and they quickly turn and walk away.

But not other writers. They can sit for hours talking about writing, plotting, how to get emotions just right.

We were out to dinner with friends. One of them mentioned that I was an author, and immediately Hubs leans over and says, "Don't start talking about books."

Normals just don't get it. So I live for the annual ACFW conference and the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. I'm excited to be teaching a workshop this year. I also got to teach at last year's BRMCWC. I really love to share what I've learned. 

My highlight this year is rooming with my two critique partners, Genghis Griep and Ludwig von Frankenpen. We don't get face time very often since we all live in different states.

So, what's your favorite part about writers' conferences? The learning? The hugs from friends? Late night brainstorming?
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SIT! STAY! LOVE!

Dana Mentink is a two time American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award winner. She is the author of over thirty titles in the suspense and lighthearted romance genres. Her suspense novel, Betrayal in the Badlands, earned a Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award and she has also been honored with a Holt Medallion Award of Merit. She is pleased to write for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense and Harlequin Heartwarming. Besides writing, she busies herself teaching third grade. Mostly, she loves to be home with Papa Bear, Yogi, Boo Boo, a dog with social anxiety problems, a chubby box turtle and a feisty parakeet.

My writing is going to the dogs lately. No kidding. It's strange how life parallels art sometimes. As I worked on Sit, Stay, Love, my first dog-themed book about a pro baseball pitcher and a geriatric pooch named Tippy, my own sweet old doggie was about to take her final walk. Nala was a part of our family for thirteen years and I knew that she was entering her final weeks as I pounded away on my keyboard. I found the scenes I wrote about the fictional Tippy were extra poignant, as I watched my sweet Nala enjoy napping in the sun and eagerly plodding along through her (slow) morning walks.

In addition to Sit, Stay, Love, I was working on a K-9 continuity for Love Inspired Suspense! I delved into the world of bloodhounds, otherwise known as “noses with dogs attached" for that story. So while my fictional dogs flourished, my own darling Nala passed away, just as both books were headed off to the editors. Oh how I cried. I still do. There will never be another dog like my adorable Nala, my writing partner, my devoted friend. For a long time the house felt empty without the jingle of her collar, and I looked for her in the hallway and lying on the grass in every patch of sunlight.

But time has a way of passing, doesn't it? Spring has brought us a wild, wiry little mutt named Junie. We went to the Animal Rescue foundation in search of an older, mid-sized dog and we emerged with a ten-pound puppy who adores her squeaky toys and steals my pencils at every opportunity.

Odd, that a similar wild, wiry little mutt named Jellybean is currently finding his way into my work-in-progress. Junie's a bundle of zany energy, she eats absolutely everything and as I type this, she is knocking all the pillows off the sofa. Will this insanity be a part of Jellybean's character in Paws for Love? Oh you betcha. I wonder what our box turtle will think after she awakens from her three-month hibernation to find out there's a puppy waiting to sniff, poke and pester her? "Doggone it!" I imagine she'll say before she goes to find a nice hole to hide in.

I don't even want to know what the parakeet thinks!

Sit Stay Love

Take one abrasive professional athlete, a quirky out-of-work schoolteacher, and an overweight geriatric dog, and you're ready for a lesson in love...Tippy style.

Pro baseball pitcher Cal Crawford is not a dog guy. When he inherits his deceased mother's elderly dog, Tippy, he's quick to call on a pet-sitting service.

Gina isn't thrilled to be a dog sitter when her aspirations lie in the classroom. Furthermore, she can't abide the unfriendly Cal, a man with all the charm of a wet towel. But with no other prospects and a deep love for all things canine, she takes the job caring for Tippy.

As Gina travels through Cal's world with Tippy in tow, she begins to see Cal in a different light. Gina longs to show Cal the God-given blessings in his life that have nothing to do with baseball or fame. When her longing blooms into attraction, Gina does her best to suppress it. But Cal is falling in love with her too...

Discover the charming story of Tippy, the dog who brought a family together.

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#Author @DanaMentink's writing goes to the dogs. Read her new release Sit, Stay, Love! (Click to Tweet)

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