Recently I (Lorilyn Roberts) asked Shelley Hitz to share with us what she learned at the 2014 Christian Writer's Guild Conference. I was excited to have one of our John 3:16 authors to attend. Enjoy Shelley's insights and tidbits of wisdom. The information she highlights below makes me want to go next year.
I recently attended the Christian Writers Guild, "Writing for the Soul," conference. I learned a lot of
practical information I know I can apply immediately. I met some great
people and took TONS of notes. I will be sharing with you just a few of the
things I learned.
#1: Real Writing is Re-Writing
I attended the “Thick-Skinned
Manuscript Clinic” conducted by Jerry B. Jenkins and Andy Scheer. In this session, they gave us two pages of
notes on self-editing and then showed us samples of opening pages of both
fiction and nonfiction works submitted by conference attendees. They then went through line by line and
showed us how they would recommend editing the work. This was done anonymously without sharing who
the author was of each piece. It was
amazing to watch the editing process from two experts in the field. I learned so much. It was like watching a before and after
makeover. The key point that Jerry made during this
session is that “real writing is re-writing.” So true!
#2: The Best Way to Get Speaking Engagements
This
session by McNair Wilson was both entertaining and informative. I laughed a lot, but I also took a lot of
notes. One of the takeaways from this
session was that I needed to be an O.Y.F.O.L. speaker. O.Y.F.O.L. stands for On Your Feet Out
Loud. McNair recommends that every
speaker get on their feet and practice their talk out loud several times. Just like we need to practice a sport or a
musical instrument, we also need to practice being a speaker. However, he emphasized that correct practice makes perfect. Therefore, he then went on to share how we
should practice to be an effective speaker. Good stuff.
#3: How to Contact the Media
This was probably my favorite
session and was the most practical for where I am right now as an author. The presenter, Julie Neils, has worked as a
publicist for well-known ministries like Focus on the Family and other major
corporations. I could tell she really
knew her stuff. My favorite quote from
her session was, “Journalists do not want
information. They want stories.”
She proceeded to give us step-by-step instructions on the
best way to contact the media and how to pitch our book as a story. One of my goals this year is to do more
speaking, which includes pitching my story to the media, and this workshop helped
me to know how to prepare and which media to contact first.
#4: Interview Tips
In the session “Conducting
and Writing Interviews” by Dennis Hensley he shared a ton of do’s and
don’ts for interviewing guests. I have
a full page of notes, but his main point was to master the skill of
listening. If you are NOT a good
listener, chances are you will NOT be a good interviewer.
#5: Sharing Our Testimony is Powerful
Dennis E. Hensley also shared a session on how
to turn your testimony into a marketable book. I was interested to hear what he had to say
as I have done that very thing with several of my books. He took the testimony of Paul and correlated
it with how we can share our own testimony. He gave us many points to consider but a few that stood out to me were
to give your story a sharp focus, point people to Christ and not yourself and to
be honest, open and vulnerable. Be real
and let the reader see your struggle. This session was confirmation for some of the writing I have already
done.
#6: It is Important to Encourage Each Other
Writing can be a very lonely occupation. Therefore, one thing I learned is that we
need each other. I met many amazing
writers during the weekend. One
highlight of the conference for me is when a woman opened up to a few of us before
the last session. We were able to pray
with her about her unpublished book project and the ministry God is leading her
into. God was in our midst and we were
all encouraged afterwards.
#7: Never Give Up
From the keynote speeches to the breakout sessions, all the
speakers had similar stories. It took
years for them to learn the craft of writing and years to get published. Their
success was not overnight. Therefore, the
overarching theme of the weekend was…never
give up!
Conclusion
I am so thankful I had the opportunity to attend this
conference. I was inspired both
professionally and spiritually. They do
have MP3’s of the sessions if you are interested here.
The Christian Writers Guild is planning on changing the
format of their conferences to multiple regional conferences vs. one national
conference each year. This should make
it more affordable for authors to attend as the venue will be closer to home. I would definitely recommend these conferences
to both new and experienced authors.
Bio:
Shelley Hitz is an award-winning and internationally
best-selling author. She is the owner of TrainingAuthors.com and is passionate
about helping authors succeed in publishing and marketing their books. She
teaches from personal experience. Shelley has been writing and publishing
books since 2008 and has published over 30 books including print, eBook
and audio book formats.
Download
Shelley's free training “Building a Book
Marketing Plan” ($27 value) when you sign up for her newsletter here: http://trainingauthors.com/newsletter/
