The Lord's Blessings...

God has been so very good to us, right?

He not only calls us to be writers, but then he blesses us with opportunities to turn our work into fruit. Signing with agents. Publishing books. Meeting other writer's we've only know on FB. Applying our writing to other avenues. Sometimes, setting the work aside for a time. All for God's glory. 

God is good. 

Here is how God has blessed us. In the comments, tell us how He's blessed you.

Pepper Basham: God blessed my writing in so many ways. I publish three books this year, two novels and one novella. I also taught my first class at ACFW. (from Mary: A great class on how to write a good hero)

Sherrinda Ketchersid: God blessed me with my first book, Lord of Her Heart, published in May.

Krista Phillips: God blessed in an unusual way. He asked me to set my writing aside. He has shown me it is important to set things aside for a season, to let it grow stronger, and be more fruitful. (note from Mary- Krista's book, Match Me If You Can was published earlier this year.)

Casey Herringshaw: God blessed me with a desire to write. This is such a blessing. An intimidating one, but a blessing nonetheless. AND, I saw so many of you at ACFW!

Mary Vee: I am thankful for the two stories God helped me publish. One a Christmas story: Sylvia's Secret, A Christmas Story the other a fantasy: Fire and Thorn, A Fantasy. AND--in all the crazy road trips and conferences I went to this year, God let me see all but one Alley Cat. As a bonus, I even saw many of you at those conferences. I am soooo thankful!

Ashley Clark: I'm so thankful to have found a home for my stories at Bethany House.

Angie Dicken: I have been so thankful to have readers share in the celebration of my third novel, The Yellow Lantern, my third novel release.

Julia Reffner: I've really been blessed to lead a small group at Proverbs 31 Online Bible Studies. It's a way I feel God is able to use my writing on a daily basis and I'm loving it.

Amy Leigh Simpson: God blessed me with a new agent this year

Laurie Tomlinson: God helped me to finish a very difficult manuscript this year.

Karen Schravemade: I'm thankful I was able to fly from Australia to attend ACFW for the first time in eight years. It was a blessing to hug my Alleycats in person, some of whom I met for the very first time. 

Cara Putman: I am thankful to have survived this busy year.

Now it's your turn! 

Please share God's blessing in your writing life.

~Mary Vee

Photo by Mary Vee

Link to Mary's books: https://amzn.to/2Fq4Jbm

Christmas is Mary Vee's favorite holiday. She loves to travel to places like New York City and Paris. Mary has been a finalist in several writing contests and writes for her king.  

Visit Mary at her Website, Blog, and her ministry blog to families: God Loves Kids. Or chat on Facebook or Twitter

A Writer's Harvest

photo by Carlos Porto on  freedigitalphotos.net

The cooling weather and crisp leaves floating all around, announce that it is certainly FALL. And after a long, long summer of heat, my soul praises God for ushering in His design of the harvest season. This year, not only does my family have the pleasure of driving by combines filling grain bins full, but we also have the simple delight of an over-abundant apple tree in our yard. With our bellies happy with the produce, I can't help but think on the fruits of the Spirit...and as a writer in need of inspiration, I chose this post to elaborate on the blessing of each fruit I am given as a wordsmith!

Some of my favorite people,
cheering me on in my craziness!

Love is the fellowship in this writing community. My friends and Alleycats always have open arms! They remind me of the JOY which writing brings to my heart, as well as give me a glimpse at the Creator's joy in bestowing such precious gifts upon me. Because of the love and joy He brings in writing and friends, I can cling to His Peace in the disappointment and doubt, knowing that I am well-loved and ordained for this journey, no matter what heartache it brings.

Often, I feel as though God's main purpose for this writing journey, is to refine a golden Patience in my naturally impatient heart. With many years of waiting, rejection, and wondering, the old is cast off, and patience has become a fragile blessing, budding ever so slow...but catching the dew of a new morning in the refining process.

As I continue on, Kindness meets me in the encouragement of a crit partner, a contest judge, and a fabulous agent. It is this fruit that gives me hope, and reminds me of the Goodness in the craft, in my purpose, in my God. Writing is only worth it if His goodness shines through on every page, at every turn.

As well as kindness, I find Gentleness in a correcting critique and a judge's suggestion. God uses each and every word to gently nudge me toward maturity in this craft. Gentleness is a comfort to my heart in the most challenging times, because it keeps my defenses low and my mind open to a more enriching journey.

It is only through God's Faithfulness in providing these abundant fruits along the way, that I am assured my path is the right one for me. His faithfulness meets me at every stumble, every victory, and every fork in the road. He never fails me. His faithfulness keeps my word count rising and my doubt falling away.

Of all these fruits, I taste the sweetness of God's journey for me, but the last fruit is one that I so often push aside in my flesh. Self-control is not as ripe as it should be when I begin to allow my thoughts to spiral downward, to take me to places of defeat, doubt, and jealousy. To take my thoughts captive is the ultimate harvest of Self-control on my journey. My basket often runs low on this fruit!

Thank goodness I have the love and joy of friends and writing! And I continue to grow the patience to wait on God to work in His kind, gentle way to show me that He will faithfully provide the promised self-control if I keep my heart open to His abundant harvest!

Had to include my daughter's journey
through the pumpkin patch!

Which fruit do you struggle with most on this journey as a writer? In life in general?

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Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous, mothering days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across historical cultures and social boundaries. Angie is an ACFW member and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

The Love of Writing Friends

Around this time two years ago, I was writing alone. Writing alone and timidly stepping into the blogging world by visiting Seekerville and the wild and crazy women there. That is where I met my friend Pepper Basham. She was also writing alone and not so timidly stalking the Seekerville gals.
(Pepper here: Yes, I'm a stalker...and I was LONELY)
Yes indeed, she was lonely. Or so she told me when she emailed me. I couldn't find her original email, but here is one of early emails from her....should I have been afraid?

A touch of insanity goes a long way---that's all I'll say.
Oh, it's so good to find a similar soul. Bless God.
Not that your insane, I'll let you make that admission on your own ;-)....Pepper

Hhhhmmm, a friend who thinks I'm insane. I love her!!!!!!!!!!! 

(Pepper here: The above statement is still very true. Kindred spirits are allowed to be as crazy as they like, you know)

I love how God puts two souls together who have similar backgrounds (we are both minister's wives) and who both love to write romance (well, Pepper loves to write in ALL genres....she is very well-rounded)

(Pepper here: I'm really not going to make a comment about how physically accurate that last statement is...sigh) Ahem, Pep, we won't go there, because I prefer to say that we are just well-rounded...it sounds much better.

Anyway, we began emailing in 2009 and in March of 2010 Pepper thought it be would fun to start a group blog. So we started recruiting people we had met through the writing blogosphere and found a great group of women to join us at what we called The Writer's Alley. We started out with five awesome ladies: Pepper Basham, Casey Herringshaw, Mary Vee,  Krista Phillips, and ME. 

(Pepper here: because we're so well-rounded -except Casey, who is skinny as a rail, a country rail.:-)

Now we are ten women who love God and LOVE to write. 

For almost three years now God has developed as sense of family in this group we call  The Writer's Alley. Though some have left, God has always provided a perfect fit with a new sister to our family. Not only do we benefit from the encouragement from each other, we have the opportunity to encourage others along the way. (This was all Pepper here. Dictator!) (Literally) :) 

We have had some great things to celebrate! Krista is now a published author with her book, Sandwich, With a Side of Romance. And five of our gals are now agented!  (See the side bar for the list!) We've gotten many contest finals and semi-finals, as well as numerous rejections, but I'm sure there will more to celebrate in the coming months and years. We've got some mad talent in this group of writers, and it all started with two scheming brainstorming blog buddies!

As we come up on our third year anniversary at The Writer's Alley, we would like to hear from you! What new topics would you like to see at The Alley? What old things have we done well? Let us know your thoughts! We want to keep providing great content for YOU!

***This post is brought to you by Sherrinda Ketchersid & Pepper Basham, written on the couch at Sherrinda's home in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Sneaking Into 2012 ACFW Conference

Yeah, I'm one of three Alley Cats who did not get to attend the 2012 ACFW Conference. While we all wanted to attend, I was the lucky one to live close enough to attend the MyBookTherapy Pizza party Friday night and the Awards Gala Saturday night.

Angie taught us the Low Rider move. 

I have never...EVER...met an online friend in person. (I take that back...I did meet Angie for lunch once!) So I was a little nervous! Would my Alley Cats be like I thought they were online and through email? Would I fit in? How awkward would it be to just show up in the midst of their conference experience?

Well, I'm here to tell ya...the Alley Cats ARE amazing! They ARE so nice, so sweet, so loving, so welcoming, so...like family. I felt like I was with sisters. They included me in their circle and shared their conference experiences, letting me into their lives, getting to know them better.

 It's been interesting reading some of the post-conference posts online, as many of them have focused on the relationships formed, instead of on writing. Some focus on the spiritual aspect of the conference, listening for God, refocusing their goals, dreaming bigger dreams.

I wasn't there for the whole conference, but I do know that relationships are important. They need to be nurtured. We must work at connecting with others in a way that is meaningful and purposeful.

Our God is a God of relationships. His desire is to have a relationship with us and have us become the kind of people that radiate His love for others. We are His hands, His feet, His heart.

So reach out to one another. Encourage each other. Pray for each other. Build each other up in love. His love.

How was your conference experience? Have you been to a conference where you expected one thing and received something different?

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This post is brought to you by

 Sherrinda Ketchersid

Sherrinda is wife to "Pastor John" and mother to three giant sons and one gorgeous daughter. A born and bred Texan, she writes historical romance filled with fun, faith, and forever love.

How Do I Network Without Being Obnoxious?

We hear about networking all the time as writers. It’s become the holy grail, the answer to everything. Want a job? Network. Want to promote your book? Network. Want friends? Network. We have social network accounts on everything from Goodreads to Pinterest.

But how do we know how far is too far? And do you ever feel like you’re being manipulative, starting new friendships with the hope of later selling those people a book?

I think it’s important to remember that networking really boils down to relationship. And all of our relationships should be God-honoring, even if they are purposeful. Is it okay to reach out to someone with the hope they will become a future reader? Sure! Think of book signings, for example. You wouldn’t invite a random person from a book signing to your house for dinner afterwards. There’s an appropriate boundary there. The key is that you don’t use (or abuse) that relationship out of its appropriate boundary.

When I think I networking, I can’t help but think of Colleen Coble because she’s such a superstar at it. In fact, most of you have probably been touched by Colleen in some way yourselves. I know I have. In addition to being so involved in helping others through ACFW, Colleen absolutely loves the folks at her publishing house. She sends them birthday cards and goes to visit them, creating a partnership. Is she being sneaky by being an easy person to work with? Of course not. She’s simply building a relationship with them, and she’s very good at that.

So how do you build relationships without coming across as pushy?

1) Show respect. We’ve all seen that person chasing agents around a conference, waving around a stack of one sheets and yelling, "You'll call me, right?" Don’t be that person. But this also applies to other relationships as well. Treat others as you would want them to treat you. Show genuine concern and investment in their lives, even if your paths only intersect for a moment.

2) Be yourself. This is very scary to do, but you can’t successfully network if you don’t put yourself out there. Some people aren’t going to like the vibe you give off. That's okay. But keep being yourself because when you do connect with people who are a good fit for you, it’ll be a more dynamic relationship.

3) Be honest. Think about the people on Facebook and Twitter who you enjoy following. What kinds of things do they post? With me, I enjoy reading updates from people like Jenny B. Jones because she always makes me laugh. What Idon't like is when people use social networking as a constant opportunity to promote their book. We want to get to know you. Otherwise we'd just read a book jacket. It's okay to say you haven't dusted the ceiling fans in eight months or that you just accidentally ate an entire bag of Peppermint Patties. These things are endearing, really.

4) Go the extra mile, whether it’s literally—to a conference; or figuratively—by putting forth effort to appreciate the other person. Again, you don't want to do this for ill reasons, but you do want to take time to appreciate those you are in relationship with, whether it be readers, mentors, editors, or friends. A relationship that is strictly "take" isn't really a relationship at all, because true relationship necessitates give and take.

5) Be available. If you're at a conference, walk around the hallways where the people are. If you're in your living room, reach out to others on Twitter and Facebook, and comment on blogs. Never burn bridges, so to speak. You can't network if you don't make yourself available and friendly to begin with.

6) Realize you don't have to connect with everyone. So often, people avoid networking because it overwhelms them. They think, "You want to me to connect with how many people? Do you have any idea how shy I am?" But the thing is, that's the beauty of networking as relationship. You just have to be yourself. Yes, you might have to step out of your comfort zone a little if you're shy, but you can adapt your methods of networking according to your personality, so that maybe you focus more on internet relationships rather than face-to-face or phone-based relationships. Customize your approach to what works best for you.

What do you think? Have you ever cringed at the idea of networking? Can you think of anyone who networks well? What have they done to make you feel that way about them?

*Image from http://mrazz.deviantart.com/art/Social-Cup-anyone-153448985?q=1&qo=1

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Ashley Clark writes romantic comedy with southern grace. She's dreamed of being a writer ever since the thumbprint-cookie-days of library story time. Ashley has an M.A. in English and enjoys teaching literature courses at her local university. She's an active member of ACFW and runs their newcomer's loop. When she's not writing, Ashley's usually busy rescuing stray animals and finding charming new towns. You can find Ashley on her personal blog and herTumblr. She's also on Facebook and Twitter. She is represented by Karen Solem.

Meet Me In St. Louis: ACFW Networking

I have a sticky note app on my laptop, and one of my highlighted sticky notes has been on there since May. It is a prestigious list...the names pop out at me every time I log on, and I get a little nervous. And then I have a string of emails, and I look at those names, and I get super excited! ACFW is a little over two weeks away and I wanted to give some last minute tips (some of which I need to take for myself!) on how to prepare for this social extravaganza.

My sticky note: Agents and Editors to meet...what to do now for those pre-destined meetings:

• Research, research, research: Make sure you know who the agents and editors are and what they represent. Although everyone focuses on their pitches and synopsis, you need to know what the agents and editors represent, who they are, what they are looking for. You can go to the conference page at ACFW and click on Editor Appointments and Agent Appointments to get their write ups. Then, go to their agency's or publishing house's website. Know the authors and the books they represent. Are they a good fit? Can you use those to compare your own book too? 

• Prepare for the lunches: Not only do I have a list of possible appointments, I have a couple of names for who I would like to sit at lunch with. The lunches are c-r-a-z-y! Everyone is rushing to the table they want, to the agent or editor who may ask to hear their pitch...First of all...RELAX! God's got you covered here. If you don't get the person you want, you are still networking...you are meeting more writers, more professionals in the industry, you are learning the ins and outs which is just as important as pitching your novel. However, do prepare for this, know who you want to sit with—and be ready to sparkle if you get that opportunity to give your pitch. Oh, and take your one sheets with you!! The editor I sat with last year, gathered all our one sheets. Who knows if she looked through the pile, but at least I got mine out there. Look at Katie Ganshert's vlog and listen to her tips on the lunches!

My email strings: Authors and Friends to admire and encourage:

• Be sure to find out when your favorite authors are out signing books, and be sure you bring your books with you to get signed! 

• Look up the Carol and Genesis nominees ahead of time. You will see who the finalists are around the conference (they will have it on their name tag...but if you know what they wrote, that's even better!) Congratulate them and cheer for them at the banquet. It's so much more fun if you have a name with a face and you know what they write. You can be the conversation starter when you bump into them in the hall, and also a great encourager! 

• Start contacting all your friends that you want to meet at conference. Find time for coffee breaks, dinners, late night chocolate indulgence (ready my fellow Alley Cats?)... You can get so caught up in your own agenda that you will walk away from conference missing great times with all these people in the blog world and the ACFW crit groups. And, you will be miserable if you don't prepare ahead and show up without any chocolate to share! 

In the end, remember conference is a chance to deepen your knowledge for the craft, and fellowship with other Christians who have the same passion for writing as you. Be confident, be prepared, and HAVE FUN!