Only two weeks until Dallas, and the biggest conference
event of the year. The blogging community is buzzing. Online friends make plans
to meet. Writers practise their pitches to the bathroom mirror, their pet
canary and the Jehovah’s witnesses who knock at the door. Business cards arrive
in the mail. One sheets are designed and agonized over. Everyone is caught up
in a flurry of preparations, plans and adrenalin.
Everyone, it seems, except you.
This post is for you. The writer who is not attending ACFW
conference this year.
I understand and sympathize, because I’m not going either.
I know what it’s like to feel left out amid the buzz of
excitement and anticipation. The wistful daydreaming about what it would be
like to be there in the middle of all the action. The questions you ask
yourself about the state of your writing career. Are you ever going to get your
big break? Are you ever going to move forward, or will you still be stuck at
the starting blocks while your conference-going friends have crossed the
finishing line and are running a victory lap arm in arm?
There are lots of reasons you may not be able to make
conference this year. You may have family commitments, work commitments, financial
or health limitations. Perhaps you’re just at a stagnant place in your writing
journey and questioning the validity of continuing to invest into your writing.
I live in Australia, so attending a writing conference in
the States is a major deal for me. I’ve been to two in the past six years,
including my first ACFW last year. Ten weeks ago I gave birth to a beautiful
baby girl, so I knew attending ACFW conference would not be an option for me
this year, even if we could afford the international airfares.
Whatever your reason for not attending conference, I want to
encourage you to lift your gaze. It’s so tempting to focus on what you’re
missing out on instead of thanking God for how far you’ve already come.
With that in mind, here are some things you can do while
your friends jet off to Dallas in a couple of weeks’ time.
1. Use the time to pray about your writing journey.
Nothing beats discouragement like giving thanks. Praise God
for where he’s brought you thus far. Take the time to recount the ways God has
helped you along the path, giving thanks for every blessing, no matter how
small.
Then seek his face. Where would God have you step next? How
can you best use your time and talents to honor him? Ask for God’s blessing on
your writing, his daily help and guidance in shaping words that will bring him
glory.
2. Have a mini retreat.
Why not invest in some teaching CDs from conference? You
don’t have to miss out! If you can’t be there in person to hear from your
favorite author or editor, invite them into your home instead, and listen at
your leisure!
While conference is on, why not read a craft book you’ve
been meaning to get to for some time? I’ve set myself the challenge of reading
“The Fire in Fiction” by Donald Maas over the Dallas weekend. Who knows? It may
stir up some fresh inspiration and reinvigorate my writing energies – and all
without the jetlag.
3. Set some goals.
Just because you can’t pitch face-to-face to editors or
agents in a couple of weeks’ time doesn’t mean you can’t make equally valid
goals. Why not use the information about editors and agents on the ACFW website
and tailor a query letter to send out to your dream team? Face-to-face meetings
are wonderful, but they’re not everything. Stellar writing is what gets you noticed,
above all else.
Perhaps your goal is to finish outlining your book by the
end of September. Or finish writing it by Christmas. Or edit twenty pages by
the end of this week. Or polish your proposal and query five agents. Whatever
the case may be, breathe some life into your deflating dream by setting an
achievable goal and then taking action to make it happen.
4. Be encouraged.
Your future writing success doesn’t hinge on this one
conference. Your success is in God’s hands, not yours.
I love the dramatic way God teaches this truth to his people
in Chronicles as they prepare to face a vast army. He tells them, “Don’t be
discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. …You
will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch
the LORD’s victory.” (2 Chronicles 20:15, 17)
The Israelites believed what God told them and sang praises
all the way to the lookout, and when they looked down over the plain, the
entire opposing army was already dead. They didn’t have to lift a finger to
fight them.
It’s a concept that can seem foreign to us, used as we are
to struggling and striving. But often it’s in the times of waiting and
stillness that we’re reminded where our true strength lies.
“I wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him… My
salvation and my honor come from God alone.” Psalm 62:5,7
5. Know you are not forgotten.
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| Allegra Grace - my gorgeous little reason for not attending conference. |
God has a plan for your writing. Whether you are in America
or Australia, Alaska or Afghanistan, if God has called you to write, he will
make a way for you.
Whether you’re at conference wowing editors with your
eloquence and wit, or stuck at home changing diapers and wiping snotty noses,
God has a plan for this season of your life, and you haven’t been overlooked by
him.
Whether you can afford the glossiest business cards and
first-class plane tickets to get to Dallas, or whether you’re worrying about
meeting the rent for next week, God is your provider, and he is more than able
to be your abundance where there is lack.
As you hear all the exciting stories filtering back from
conference – of friendships made and rekindled, divine appointments, God
moments and blessings – rejoice with your friends and be glad for what God is
doing in their lives. He’s at work in yours too.
You’re not forgotten. Not left behind. Not disadvantaged or
limited.
Remember – you serve a God without limits. A God who is
able. A God who will fight for you even when you can’t.
A God who has called you, and placed his hand upon your
life, and won’t ever, ever let you go.
Images courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
Karen Schravemade lives in Australia. When she's not chasing after two small boys or gazing at her brand-new baby girl, she spends her spare minutes daydreaming about the intricate lives of characters who don't actually exist. Find her on her website, on Twitter or getting creative over at her mummy blog.
