Preparing for Conference

It's starting to feel a lot like Conference...

And I'm getting excited with it being just over three months away now. Seriously, when you get to be my age, three months gets swept up like a feather in a tornado.

So now I'm tackling the "what to do" list to prepare for the auspicious ACFW Writer's Conference to be held in St. Louis this year. (The pic here is me and blogging buddings at the 2009 ACFW Writer's Conference in Denver, Colorado during the awards ceremony night.) It's such a great time to meet up with people in person that you normally only interact with in cyber land. There's nothing like it for socializing and learning with like-minded friends. I'm booked. Are you?

To prepare, I'm working on:

• Putting the shine on "chosen" story for this year's conference. (Which is being a real pill to do for some reason. Prayers are always welcome!)


• Checking my business card stock. (You'll want to pass these out to all the wonderful people you meet that you'll want to keep in touch with thereafter.)


• Creating a one-sheet for said "chosen" story.


• Working on my elevator pitch.


• Doing self-confidence building as I tend to lack in this area.


• Lots of praying for conference to be all God wants it to be for all attendees.


• Reviewing pics from last conference so I don't take all the same clothes again this year.


• Battling those added pounds so I can afford to go to conference. Conference, accommodation, and flight is expensive enough, a new wardrobe for it isn't in the budget and I can't live in sweats while there! :( I've really come to appreciate elastic waste bands the last while, sadly!)

So that's my list so far. Did I forget anything? If so, please share so I'm not rushing last minute to get it done.

I sure hope to see many of you in St. Louis in September. It truly is an amazing conference for writers to grow in their craft and interact with like-minded people. If you're teetering about whether or not to attend, spend time in prayer and ask previous attendees questions to help you decide. I hope it turns out to be your year to attend!

Till next time, may writing flow smoothly for you, and may decision making come easy!

Surrendering to Him,
Eileen

Blogger ?

My frustration is mounting with Blogger. As a former Systems Analyst I can understand a week or so of the same problem happening. Some of those pesky bugs hide really well. But this seems to be going on for weeks and weeks now. Why hasn't it been fixed?

Am I the only one who has trouble leaving comments on random blogs anymore? It seems one out of every two of the blogs I get around to visit won't let me leave a comment even as an anonymous author. It just keeps sending me in a loop to sign into Google/Blogger.

So I'm sorry if I've not appeared to be visiting. I have been around, minimally compared to what I was doing, but I am still checking into many blogs and trying hard to leave comments on them too, but sadly to no avail for many. And the worst part is the time it takes to try and leave a comment that won't be accepted as I'd rather be moving on to read the next wonderful blog in my short time allotments these days.

Anyway, know that I am sorry if my presence hasn't been felt, but I am trying to keep in touch. If you leave a comment here and I can't leave one on yours it'd be great if you had comment reply active so that I can at least email you my comments to your posts some times.

May the sun be shining in your corner of the world, and may Blogger get this issue fixed! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

POSSIBLE FIX UPDATE: This just in thanks to Wendy Paine Miller: "Heather S. cracked the code for me. I can't leave comments if the comments are embedded UNDER the post. I switched mine to pop out and things seem to have improved."

Hope you all try this and that it works for you and me! :) Thanks Wendy for passing the info along!


Surrendering to Him,
Eileen

A Writing Tool Just A Click Away

The sun is shining, the humidex is climbing, the story is flat lining, the horse is wonderful, and the weeds are a pain. Yes, that sums up my life as of late. Missing you all. Lifting you up in prayer as I chauffeur daughters here and there, weed a lot, take care of Donner, and procrastinate from figuring out impossible story fixes.

But this post isn't about me, just thought I'd give you all an update, though. :)

I have something far more wonderful to share today. Many of you have probably already been blessed by knowing Jeannie Campbell, aka, The Character Therapist, but if you haven't, you're in for a real treat. She is a living breathing writing tool with a wonderful blog filled with character therapist reference info that's invaluable in creating three-dimensional, realistic characters. If your character has baggage, or even if he/she doesn't have a sordid past, the first place to go is Jeannie's blog to see how you can make he/she ring true to life.

Here's a short Bio on Jeannie Campbell:

Jeannie Campbell is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California. She is Head of Clinical Services for a large non-profit and enjoys working mainly with children and couples. She has a Masters of Divinity in Psychology and Counseling and bachelors degrees in both psychology and journalism. Two of Jeannie’s “therapeutic romance” manuscripts have garnered the high praise of being finalists in the Genesis Contest for unpublished writers, sponsored by the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), of which she is an active member. She writes a popular monthly column for Christian Fiction Online Magazine and has been featured in many other e-zines, newspapers, and blogs.

I hope you will all head over to Jeannie's new website and blog to find a writing tool worth bookmarking for good! Charactertherapist.com

May your characters draw your readers into their world, and may they help your readers grow too! Till next time, may life be a swell of sunshine and happiness to you and yours.

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen