I haven’t blogged for almost a week because I was gone over a long weekend (4 days) to Nashville and the ACFW conference. The only bad thing about the trip was having to be in a car for 9 hours in a driving rain that made it difficult to see even ten feet in front of the car. I don’t think we had more than about 30 minutes of clear weather the whole trip to Nashville. Coming home was great!
I had a ball at the conference. The best things about the conference were:
1. seeing my friends and fellow writers whom I’ve gotten to know online,
2. listening to Deb Raney talk about writing and revising–an excellent teacher’
3. Gold in the Fire came in second in the book of the year contest for short contemporary category–I was shocked and don’t remember much beyond standing up,
4. seeing my editors and talking with them,
5. seeing several good friends get awards and book contracts,
6. listening to Colleen Coble’s speech on romantic suspense,
7. being entertained by Karen Ball–one funny lady with a good message, and
8. most importantly being reminded how God works in our lives and how important He is!
The only bad thing about the conference again was the weather on the trip to Nashville–oh, and the food at the hotel. The room was great!
The most important thing I got from Deb Raney’s class was how to go about doing effective revisions before sending the manuscript into an editor. It’s nice to be reminded of that part of the process. The most important thing I took away from Colleen’s speech was how important the setting could be to a suspense book. She starts with her setting when coming up with a new book. I had never thought of doing that. It is definitely something to consider with a future book.
