Writers Conferences--Are They Worth It?

by Pamela S. Meyers

Just after the calendar turned from 1999 to 2000, when I was starting to write fiction, I became aware of a Christian writers conference in my own area called Write to Publish. I had heard from others that a conference like WTP was the best way to get noticed by editors and agents.

I attended the conference with the dream of having my current WIP contracted by the time it was over. I didn’t see my dream realized (rarely is a contract signed at a conference), but I came away with a lot more.

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A New Season of Writing

By Michael Ehret

Last month in my Novel Rocket post “You’re Invited!,” I began telling the story of my participation in Allen Arnold’s ACFW Conference class, “The Wildness of Writing with God.” You can click back and read the previous post or this snippet from it will set the stage:

You're invited into The Story!

Last September at the … workshop … Allen Arnold announced that he had prayed for all of us and had asked God to give him the words each of us needed to hear about our creative lives. Then, he said, he had written those words into a notebook that he would present to us.

I felt that familiar tummy turmoil as he walked around the room randomly handing out notebooks. Questions raced through my mind as anticipation and fear warred.

Then Allen set a notebook in front of me. My notebook. And I knew it was not a message from him—he was just the conduit. It was a message—an invitation—from God.

And I feared to open it.

Why did I fear?

Why do we fear anything? The unknown. Failure. Lack of confidence in our abilities. There are a plethora of reasons why we fear hearing from God. For me it was all of those—and more.

For me the fear stemmed from knowing. I knew God had called me to write and I had purposefully been avoiding it since 2007, when an appointment with an agent at a conference took a dark, unexpected (to me), turn.

"You'll never be a writer."

It’s hard for me to talk about my own work, and the experience always leaves me trembling (I know many of you can relate). But I screwed up my courage and got a 15-minute appointment with my dream agent. I gave my horrible pitch and handed the agent my first chapter.

The agent, one of the most respected in the field, read several pages. Enough that I was feeling a little confident. After all, the agent didn’t toss it right away, right?

“This is not publishable,” the agent said, with no softening preamble. “You’ll never be a writer.”

Truthfully, the agent definitely said the first part of that quote. Without a doubt.

I remain unsure about the second part. It certainly seems like it was said. In my head I still hear the agent saying it. But from what I know about agents and editors, particularly in the Christian market, I have doubts that it was verbally said.

But regardless, I heard it. And I believed it. And I let it cripple me.

My notebook inscription

God's messages are all around us.

So when I received the notebook from Allen, I opened it in fear and trembling.

“I’m inviting you into a new season of writing. Aslan is on the move! Have fun!” —God

See what God did there?

The agent was correct. My manuscript was not publishable at that time. But that isn’t what God addressed in His affirmation. He addressed what my heart heard and took inside, “You’ll never be a writer.” He poked my wound—to bring healing. And reminded me that His will for me should bring me joy, not fear.

And He didn't scold me for running from my calling. Before the conference, I asked God for a clear sign. Something that could not be mistaken. "Is this still something You have for me? I need to know."

And now I know. Will I ever be published? Well, first of all, I already am. Have been many times. Will my fiction be published? I don’t know. It’s in my hands, and it’s not. But I know this: I am a writer. I’ve made my living as a writer (and editor) since 1986 and I expect that to continue in this “new season.” God told me so.

Are you willing to ask God for a clear sign? And when (not if) He answers, are you willing to listen to what He says? What is He writing in your notebook? Don’t be afraid to open the cover.

Read the story I wrote for ACFW about Allen Arnold's workshop.

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Michael Ehret has accepted God's invitation and is a freelance editor at WritingOnTheFineLine.com. In addition, he's worked as editor-in-chief of the ACFW Journal at American Christian Fiction Writers. He pays the bills as a marketing communications writer and sharpened his writing and editing skills as a reporter for The Indianapolis News and The Indianapolis Star.

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Martyred For A Noble Cause

Writers, for all their talk about bravely speaking truth, are sometimes just whiners. Those who most loudly claim a noble calling to write truth, also complain most loudly when they believe they're being persecuted. Writers tend to enjoy drama and some love to play the martyr, it seems.

I used to think it was only general market writers who whined about being censored. YA writers with gritty, sexually graphic, or disturbing books about aberrant behavior, are quick to cry, “Censorship!” when people complain about their books. I expect it from them. Recently I came across a Christian writer claiming that she and her friends were being censored by Christian bookstore owners who didn’t like sex shops, wine, or frank language in the books they sold.

This accusation bothers me. It feels manipulative. It reminds me of when people say Christians engage in hate-speech when they don't affirm sinful lifestyles. It's meant to shame the other guy into lowering his standards, I think.

I came across the accusation of censorship on a Christianity Today blog when I followed links from one of Steve Laube’s News You Can Use posts. The author of the CT post, Caryn Rivadeneira, suggests that Christian publishers and bookstore owners sin when they ask faithful Christian writers to remove certain words. Christian writers are, after all, present-day prophets, in Ms. Rivadeneira’s estimation, and they should not be hindered in getting their stories out:

The problem with Vaginagate—and any other effort  to remove specific and frank language from books written by faithful Christians—isn’t that bookstores don’t have the right to decide what types of books they will or will not sell. They are businesses after all, and to be successful, businesses need to sell products their customers will read without getting up in arms. The problem with Vagina-gate and similar forms of “censorship” is that, in an attempt to protect customers, publishers and bookstores are making it a lot harder for writers to tell the stories God has called them to write. And when Christians are barred by other Christians from serving God, it dishonors God. In fact, it’s sin. 

As an aside, is it clever or clichéd to link a woman’s reproductive organs to a political cause?

Ms. Rivadeneira illustrates her blog post with a picture of a girl with duct tape over her mouth and with a “censored” stamp.

This is hardly helpful.

First of all, is Rachel Held Evans [the target of the aforementioned, "vagina-gate"] a faithful Christian? I don’t know her so I’m not saying she’s not. I’m only saying that if I was a bookstore owner or a publisher, I wouldn’t assume that everyone who sent me a book was a faithful Christian. I would look at the book and judge whether I thought it was edifying. How would I know if the writer was faithful or not?

Secondly, I can't see that anyone is being censored. It’s not like there aren’t other publishing options, as Nicole Petrino-Salter said recently. Publishers and bookstore owners have a right and a duty to obey God to the best of their ability, and to protect their brands. They are under no obligation to help writers who don’t fit their brand.

Even if Rachel Held Evans were a prophetess, to refuse to publish or stock her books is not to “bar” her from serving God.

Imprisoning her? Maybe. Beating her senseless? Sure. But refusing to sell her books in your store?

Implying that publishers and bookstore owners bar Christians from serving God is the same thing as bearing false witness against a neighbor, isn't it? Where does this accusation of censorship come from? Is it justified? What am I missing? When Christian authors take offense at Christian publishers and bookstore owners over the content of books, how do they differ from Christian readers who take offense over the content of books?

photo credit: Éole via photo pin cc

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Sally Apokedak has published short works in a number of places, has won various and sundry contests, and has received an SCBWI Work in Progress grant. She's between agents at present, and can be found blogging about young adult novels at sally-apokedak.com. 

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