BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS CHRISTIAN WRITERS CONFERENCE

Unleash your secret copywriter

Are you creative?

I'm looking for a new tagline for the 2011 Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. As I thought about this it occurred to me that many of the most creative people I know are part of my social media neighborhood. Why not ask for their creative help? Wanna play? If so, then here's what I need:

1. A tagline is a short statement that gives the reader a quick impression of a product or service. Think of the advertisements you've seen, read, or heard. Nike's "Just do it," or the milk industry's, "Milk, it does a body good." So, what pithy, memorable line will remind conferees of BRMCWC? ("Jumpstart your craft." "Leaving an eternal impression on minds worldwide.")
2. You must be willing to grant permission to Gansky Communications and LifeWay to use the slogan.
3. The tagline must be original to you (so please Google it before submitting).

I will enlist a few folks to help me decide which entry captures the essence of the conference.

Now the pay off: The winner will receive two--that's right, two--of my books, signed with love and gratitude. 

ALSO, I'm looking for a verse of Scripture to capture the spiritual element of what we do as communicators. I have a few in mind but would love to hear from you. Same payoff as above.

So how about it? Ready to let your creativity loose? Feel free to post them on this site or send an e-mail to me at alton@ganskycommunications.com.

Thanks, you guys are the best.

 

Alton Gansky, director

Alton Gansky is the director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference in North Carolina and the Southwest Christian Writers Studio in New Mexico. He is the author/co-author of 40 books and is founder of Gansky Communications. He lives in central California.

 

The Pomegranate Writer

OVER THE THANKSGIVING WEEKEND, I undertook a task I had been avoiding for months. When we moved to Fresno my wife and I carted along our library: hundreds of books. They’ve been sitting in the garage for months, waiting for me to cobble together enough time to set up shelves and move in the many tomes. I love books, but I hate moving them. While the task still remains undone, I made some headway. In the process, I came across a book I hadn’t opened since 1975.

The Best of Henry Kuttner came out thirty-five years ago. It’s a collection of short stories. Don’t recognized the name? Not surprising. Henry Kuttner died in 1958. Seventeen years later, his wife and others did us a favor by producing a collection of his short stories.

Kuttner is one of the most overlooked Golden Age science fiction writers. You might not recognize the name but if you watched the old Twilight Zone television series, then you’ve seen some of his work. Holding that book filled me with nostalgia. There was a time when all I read was SF. Kuttner did his work before I was born. Kuttner is responsible for there still being  books in my garage. For some reason, I found his “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” more interesting than the next 50 pound box of books. He wrote that story nearly 70 years ago yet it drew me in again. More proof that writers live on in their work.

While you may not know the name of Henry Kuttner, you will probably recognize the next name: Ray Bradbury. He provided the introduction: “A Neglected Master.” Bradbury did a masterful job in the introduction. He was one writer writing about another author, one that had a great influence on him.

It is Bradbury’s intro to the book that made me read story after story; it also caused me to stop and think about the craft we practice. This week, I want to pull a few gems from that 35-year-old intro and share them with you.

The first comment that stopped me in my tracks is this: “Was he a pomegranate writer—popping with seeds, full of ideas? He was.”

What a great image: A pomegranate writer popping with seeds. I am often asked (and I mean often), “Where do you get your ideas?” On occasion someone will write me to offer an idea for a book. “You can have it,” they say. “No charge.” As it turns out, I have more ideas of my own than I can handle. If someone can give me a few more hours, that would be different.

Here’s the thing I’ve noticed about writers: they’re chock-full of ideas. That’s true for the nonfiction writer as well as the fiction person. Ideas, ideas, ideas. Everywhere they fly about us like sparrows, noticed by only a few. I maintain a list of twenty or so ideas of books I want to write. Most won’t see the light of day, but they still deserve a place in my brain. It’s hard to tell when an idea will reach its teenage years and begin to grow uncontrollably.

That’s your job as a writer: to nurture ideas, concepts, stories. Be like Ray Bradbury and Henry Kuttner: filled to the brim with possibilities, aching to get the stories down, but waiting patiently for them to mature. Be that pomegranate writer, popping with seeds, full of ideas. Kuttner was.

Alton Gansky is the director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference in North Carolina and the Southwest Christian Writers Studio in New Mexico. He is the author/co-author of 40 books and is founder of Gansky Communications. He lives in central California.

 

Surprised

A confession of sorts. When I was a teenager I grew infatuated with an odd topic: UFOs. Yup, I read the books, I pooled a cadre of friends to join me in a effort to learn what the mysterious lights in the sky were and why they were here (note the assumption in my thinking). Together we trekked to the library and spent many dimes photocopying UFO articles and photos we found there. We scoured microfiche depositing more dimes to obtain grainy, barely-readable photostats. No Internet back then. No personal computers. No searching the Web or watching YouTube videos of strange, unidentifiable things in the sky. It’s a fond memory.

I grew older and my interests shifted to other things. I maintained enough of an interest in the subject to watch whatever came over my television but that was it. Fast forward nearly forty years into the future. It’s been a demanding year for me in a number of ways. Because of a string of unsettling events in my life, I fell behind in my work, and—for this I am thankful—I have plenty of work. Every professional writer knows that missing a deadline is stressful not only for the writer but the people waiting on the content. For many weeks I was working many hours, seven days a week. When I finally finished a pressing project I decided to read something I didn’t need to pay much attention to. I used to do this after finals in college. “I’m gonna read something I don’t have to remember,” was my motto in those days.

I had heard a man interviewed on the radio. Richard Dolan is a UFO expert as well as a historian specializing in the Cold War. He was articulate and balanced in his presentation. So, I decided to buy his book. I hadn’t touched a UFO book in three decades, so I thought it might be fun, a lark.

I downloaded the book to my iPad and, with trepidation, began reading. Why trepidation? Well, it’s a book about UFOs. How good could it be? I steeled myself for poor writing, exaggerated claims, and huge leaps in logic.

Boy, was I wrong. The book is well-written from beginning to end. The prose is tight, the subject fairly treated, and the author’s voice is clear and unmistakable. Ten pages in, I knew I was dealing with a writer.

My point is not to further belief in UFOs. The topic has been debated since the late 1940s. The debate will continue. I do have a point: good writing is good writing. The information in the book is fascinating and provocative; so was my response to the author’s craft. I had, wrongly I admit, assumed the writing would be mediocre.

The real revelation for me was a reminder how effective and engaging good writing can be. Writers are a different breed of readers. We read because we enjoy it, but also because we might learn something about our craft in the process. Any well-written piece becomes our tutor. Perhaps this is why I’m such a slow reader. The better the material, the slower I read. I liken it to eating a great steak dinner. Somethings shouldn’t be rushed.

Have you ever been surprised by a book? By its craft? It’s easy to point out fault in an author’s technique; it takes a real love of composition to notice the things author’s do right. What book has impressed you?

 

Alton Gansky is the director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference in North Carolina and the Southwest Christian Writers Studio in New Mexico. He is the author/co-author of 40 books and is founder of Gansky Communications. He lives in central California.

 

Creativity Wins During Tough Times for Writers

By Les Stobbe

Ever wonder what Jesus had to say to writers about surviving during tough times? In reading through the Bible using The Message I came across the answer to that question in Luke 16, where Jesus told the story of the corrupt manager who was fired. Before he left his job he ingratiated himself with his boss’s customers by calling each in and reducing what they owed.  Eugene Peterson’s version of Jesus’ conclusion reads: “I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.”

So how do we use adversity to stimulate us to “creative survival”? As I meditated on that I remembered clients who were using their God-given creative talents to create income and get out their message as writers—and others who gained book publishing contracts because of their creative approach.

At writers’ conferences I consistently promote article writing because articles reach many thousands more than books. My hostess at the HACWN Christian writers’ conference in Kansas City, Beth Hey, illustrates one approach. She loves travel, so decided to submit articles to travel publications. She’s developed some excellent connections and recently visited New England, Hawaii, and Israel on fully paid travel writing assignments, with a writing fee on top of expenses. Other writers I met have gained steady writing assignments from Focus on the Family publications, Chicken Soup for the Soul compilations, Upper Room and Guideposts devotional publications. One of the men I met set out to write a book on the Fourth Quarter, which he quickly discovered would not work for women readers unfamiliar with football or basketball. He really perked up when I suggested he’d reach a lot more readers by turning chapters into articles for men’s magazines, something he had never considered.

A Canadian pastor/writer, Murray Pura, wrote literary level fiction that failed to interest U.S. publishers. Through contacts he got it published in Canada, but he really wanted to enter the U.S. fiction market. He could have dismissed the U.S. market as too shallow and not worth considering, but decided instead to tackle an Amish romance. Though some editors still considered it too literary, it has found a home at Barbour Publishing in their Bride series.

At last year’s HACWN conference I met Kristen Feola, a creative non-fiction writer who had participated in her church’s practice of the Daniel Fast and decided to write a book with 21 devotions to enrich the spiritual focus of those practicing the fast. She faced the daunting task of convincing editors who insist non-fiction editors need a national platform when writing on Christian living topics. Since her platform was only her large home church, she became creative. She developed 100 recipes suitable for those participating in the Daniel Fast, preparing each dish and photographing it in a makeshift photo studio she set up in her kitchen. Then she set out to get at least one testimony from a Daniel Fast practitioner for every devotional. When I sent out her proposal Zondervan jumped on it. The completed book, with full-color photos of completed dishes as an insert, was released after Thanksgiving, just over a year from when she presented the proposal to me.

Now fiction is obviously a creative effort from the get-go, but how does an author without a published novel get the attention of editors? As Pepper Bashan’s agent I sent out several novel proposals without positive results. Then she embarked on an approach I have often recommended. She started entering both Christian and secular fiction writing contests—and winning. One of the secular contests she entered had the editor from a Christian publishing house as judge, who really liked Pepper’s novel. Though it was not the right length for her book club, she recommended it to her associate. Now the proposal came not only with my recommendation, but an editor at the publishing house.

Finally, what does it take to be published by a major publishing house that focuses on much-published and already selling authors? That’s the task Rachel Carter faced when she decided to write a book on modesty. Yes, she had been an international model for 20 years and has been speaking fairly widely to both young people and women for several years, but the market already has books on purity by well-known authors. Rachel decided to creatively enhance the value of her book. First she gained permission from her modeling agencies to use photos from her modeling experiences in her book. Then she enlisted seven good-looking young men to write 300-word essays on their perspective on modesty. She wove in her own experiences turning down lucrative assignments because they would compromise her commitment to modesty. That proposal landed at the desk of the editor for Tommy Nelson, the YA and childrens’ publishing entity of Thomas Nelson. The editor loved what she saw and quickly got the support for a publishing contract. Fashioned by Faith will be released in the spring of 2011 with a magazine look cover, plus full color photos from Rachel’s modeling assignments inside.

With dramatic changes in distribution patterns, layoffs of editors and marketing staff to cut budgets during the current recession, the increasing focus on celebrity authors by Christian readers, the approach to writing books that served writers well for many decades are now considered inadequate. That is totally frustrating to authors who do not have the national platform demanded by marketing departments. Jesus’ said that during a time of adversity, creativity is the key to success.

 

Les Stobbe is one of BRMCWC perennial faculty members. He is an agent and founder of Leslie H. Stobee Literary Agency. His full biography can be found here. This article appeared on his blog and is used here by permission.

 

Creation or Innovation

Recently I posted a question on Twitter and Facebook: What’s the difference between creativity and innovation? I received several, ahem, creative and innovative answers. Creativity describes the act of bringing something new into the world; innovation is the use of what exists in a new way. Writers need to be practitioners of both.

Writers create stories, poems, essays, and articles from nothing more than an idea. If things go well, the intangible becomes something a reader can hold and absorb, and hopefully be bettered by the experience. Writers are seldom innovators—until recently. Oh, an author might try something new in narration, or like Truman Capote in In Cold Blood, fabricate a new genre (in his case the “nonfiction novel,” a nonfiction book told in narrative form).

The twenty-first century book writer is called upon to be more than a wordsmith; he is asked to be a marketeer, a public speaker, a builder of platform, a blogger, an expert at radio interviews, a personality, and a promoter. More and more duties that had once been the responsibility of the publisher has been shoved onto the author. In fairness, public speaking has always been seen as a way to promote books. Mark Twain kept his career alive by giving humorous presentations. Charles Dickens not only wrote the novella A Christmas Carol but “performed” it through dramatic reading about 127 times. (By the way, that small book spurred charitable giving around the Christmas season.)

We at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference understand the new demands on authors. It’s why we have in the past offered more than classes in writing. We also offer continuing classes in marketing, self-publishing, and public speaking. And in 2011 we’ll be taking some of those subjects to the next level.

As director, it is my desire to keep BRMCWC on the leading edge of publishing. We want to help our conferees be not only great writers, but great professionals. Publishing is changing at an unbelievable pace. We want to equip you to deal with those changes.

So, what would help you?

Alton Gansky is the director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference in North Carolina and the Southwest Christian Writers Studio in New Mexico. He is the author/co-author of 40 books and is founder of Gansky Communications. He lives in central California.

 

Vendors

Are you a vendor with a product useful to writers? Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference has room for a few select vendors like you. If your product would benefit writers of Christian material, then BRMCWC is the place for you. For information please contact Alton Gansky, Director at alton@ganskycommunications.com. Fees are reasonable, the conferees marvelous, the scenery breathtaking, and the conference center is beautiful.

2011 Schedule

 
BY USING the link below you can downloard a PDF file of the 2011 Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. Please note, that scheludes such as this are flexible things, often changing as we near the date of the confernce. Some of these changes are brought about changes in faculty status, or availabilty of meeting rooms. We will do our best to keep the schedule up to date.

Those classes shown in yellow are workshops, 1 hour 15 minute classes. Continuing Classes (a class that meets over 3 to 4 days) have no shading.

Downloadable schedule coming soon.

 

Aaaaaand we're off

Planning and organizing for the 2011 Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference is well underway. Soon this site will reflect the new information you will need for the upcoming event. I am thrilled with the faculty we will have and some of the new things we will be doing. More about that later, but I can say we have classes and clinics for beginners and advanced writers.

One thing to note: the dates are a little different than previous years. We’re meeting earlier and—because of Mother’s Day—we’ve moved our start date to Monday instead of Sunday. We want to give mothers every opportunity to spend time with their families and eat all that chocolate (I’m sure some of it will make its way to the conference. I’m told writing and chocolate go together).

Stay tuned to this blog. In the days ahead I will be revealing our faculty, our new advanced tracks, and a few other things.

Now an apology. The site is being updated, so many of the pages have been cleared and are being made ready for new information. That means you’ll see a few “Coming Soon” notes.

Al “this is going to be great” Gansky, Director