With a decent amount of sleep, I was able to stay more alert in the classes today. Made a good choice to force myself to go to bed at midnight last night. Hmm … what time is it now? 🙂 But today was too good not to share.
Before I get into the ACFW update, I’ll direct you to PixnPens for a review by Phee Paradise. (Is that not the coolest name ever?) Any comments you leave there will earn you another entry into the ten-book, September 30 giveaway.
And, if my goal is to live transparently, then I suppose I have to–though it is a bit embarrassing–direct you to my first three-star review on amazon. But, really, doesn’t this make me even more of a “real” author? Despite the low rating, she had quite a few positive things to say about the writing, so I wouldn’t even call it a bad review. And everyone has a right to not like the book or the plot or how I structured the story. I’m still thankful Debbie took the time to read the book and write a review. That’s a big investment of time. 🙂
Okay, so on to ACFW: Day 2!
After breakfast, Harry Kraus shared a brilliantly simple devotional. Never heard of Dr. Kraus? Neither had we, but his words were so powerful and God-centered, we bought three of his books after the session. He wants all of us to remember two things:
1) We are small. But not insignificant. Reminding ourselves of this makes us walk in humbleness and not swell with pride.
2) Our God is big! He spoke … and stars happened.
He warned against being bored with majesty. Excellent, excellent devotion.
Then Mom and I went to our continuing education class taught by Susie May Warren and Rachel Hauck. Those ladies are interesting and convey massive amounts of great information in an entertaining tag-team way. The questions they had us asking were “book therapy” questions. If our book has issues somewhere, it needs therapy. Great tips for identify what the problem in a manuscript is so that therapy can be applied and result in a “healed” book.
After a delicious lunch shared with Roxanne Henke and Deb Raney, I braved the description and went to Randy Ingermanson’s Writing from the Male’s POV workshop. He warned us at the beginning that it was an R-rated class … and he was NOT joking. I had to leave for an editor appointment, but walked back in just in time to hit an explanation of arousal and what men really think when they see a sexy woman. He talked about ego, lust, and thinking vs. feeling. If you buy this CD, do NOT listen to it while your kids are in the car! Great insight into the male mind. Or at least one of them!
I did get to attend all of Sue Brower’s workshop on profiling characters. One thing that stuck with me from that workshop was how important it is to show a natural faith change.
The rest of the night is chronicled in the pics below …
Sounds like SOOooo much fun!! Feeling like I’m missing out this year (though if being here is God’s will, then that means I’m not really!). Just had to tell you to say hello to Lindy for me! Gotta love that Deb Raney and I remember learning so much from Susan May Warren in her sessions. SO, Tynan will be drooling when he sees you met Ted Dekker (he’s read EVERYTHING of his), and (if we’re being “transparent here) my twinge of envy was that I LOVE Kristen Billerbeck and had always hoped to meet her at a conference one year! She is one of the main inspirations that got me off wishing to be a writer & actually beginning my writing several years ago…
I think getting into the male psyche would just depress me! I get too much of it as it is…just being married.
I’m impressed w/ your response to the 3-star review. Even Suzanne Collins has a number of 1-star review. A lot of those seem vindictive, personal, and spiteful, though. I’m not sure I’ll be able to bring myself to read any reviews lower than 3-stars when my book comes out.
You got to meet some of my favorite people! Hope you’re having a great time!
Oh my, I think I’d go to the conference just to meet my favorite authors! Thanks for posting about your day.
Blessings,
Susan 🙂
Rebecca, Lindy had already asked about you. Know that you were missed!
Tamara, the male POV is both scary and fascinatingly hilarious. 😉 The reviewer offered to change her rating if I show her the page number of one of her issues and I did resolve it. I think that’s pretty amazing, so now I need to grab a book and look through it …
Bonnie, someday we’ll meet, right? 🙂
Susan, it might just be worth it!
Christina, the conference sounded like a lot of fun. I’ve enjoyed your pics! Especially the ones of Ted Dekker. Besides meeting many of my blogging friends at a conference, I would love to meet him. Of all the authors I read, he seems like he might have the most intersting bio. I just read When Heaven Weeps while on an Oregon vacation. I liked it a lot. I think it’s very different from his most recent works.