As the new year starts, I’m looking at what I’ve accomplished in the old one. I’ve set aside revisions for my Mountie story to work on 2 anthology projects. Both projects are blessings by how I became a member, as well as because of the people involved:

1.      The PE anthology: This was offered to me by my Inky sister, Gina Welborn when she realized she couldn’t participate. I’m grateful the other team members accepted me as Gina’s replacement. Because I’m unpubbed at this time, I’m required to submit a chapter so the proposed editor can ascertain if I can write and therefore fulfill my obligations. The status of this project: After writing, revising and rewriting, my chapter and synopsis is with the other team members awaiting critiques.

2.      The MT anthology: My friend, Val Comer talked about this when we were at the ACFW conference together last Sept in St Louis, MO. I think she even asked me before that, but the team members weren’t confirmed until a week before Christmas. And with a Jan 8th date for submission, this project is moving fast. Set in Montana, this anthology also requires me to submit a chapter and synopsis. which I’m in the process of completing.

By next week I’ll have a choice: go back to revisions on my Mountie story, or start something new.

My Mountie story, The Key to His Heart, is a success of 2011. I belong to 2 writing groups who recognize writers for completing a book:

1.      FinishTheBook is part of the Faith, Hope & Love (FHL) chapter of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) writing group. They offer a free 1 chapter critique to anyone finishing a book in that year. Last year, I won a free critique by Laurie Alice Eakes for finishing Emma’s Outlaw the year before. I used the free critique by sending the beginning of my Mountie story. The critique I received from Laurie Alice was sound advice which helped me in my contest placements. I’m waiting to see which author I’ve ‘won’ this year.

2.      NovelTrack and NovelTrackEditing are part of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) group. Because I used both NT and NTE while writing my Mountie story, I was able to submit my name with the rest of the finishers, into a draw for a free registration (approx. $500) to the next ACFW conference. (Held in Dallas for 2013).
I’m eagerly awaiting the results.

My Mountie story did very well on the contest circuit this year:

2011 ACFW's Genesis: Semi-Finalist
2011 Fool For Love: 2nd place
2011 Duel on the Delta: 3rd place 
2011 Daphne du Maurier: 5th place 

On the agent front, I’m still waiting for an offer of representation although I’m in the process of wooing an agency. The word is that I’m on their ‘short list’ but that seems to be on hold. The current trend is for agents to ignore your query if they aren’t interested. But since I’ve been on hold for months, I’m beginning to wonder about my status. At the last ACFW conference in St Louis, Steve Laube of The Steve Laube Agency said there are some writers who produce good manuscripts, but he puts them aside – on a pile beside his desk - when a better manuscript comes along. He doesn’t want to reject the writer, but he doesn’t want to offer representation, either. So the file sits there. I’m beginning to think I’ve fallen onto that pile.

Here are some pics I took on the evening of Oct 25th which was my last night in the city  of St Louis, Missouri.

Hansom cabs were numerous in St Louis. I only walked around the Old Court House and park area and yet I saw 2 hansom cabs in front of my Hyatt Regency Hotel, 6 in front of the Old Court House where it faced the Gateway Arch, and several more near the park. The cabs cost $30 for a 15 min ride and up, but there are set rates between points of interest, as well.

This little spider dropped down beside me as I took the above photo from the Court House steps.

I'd been leaning against the hand rail near the cement wall for several minutes when I sprang back from a movement at the corner of my eye. The spider dangled  just inches away. Creepers!

After that, I steered clear of walls and fences and even hurried to get past overhanging trees while in the park. 




The park is a beautiful place with an amphitheatre surrounding a steeped waterfall and a breathtaking view of the Gateway Arch behind the Old Court House.

This is my last shot of the Gateway Arch taken in the same spot several wedding parties had stood for photos the day before.  I never did find out why the fountain spouts deep aqua coloring.

My flight left St Louis at 7:30 Monday morning.  I believe we're flying northeast of St Louis.

And this is just seconds later. After correlating with maps, I believe this is where the Mississippi hits the area between Grafton and The Crossroads. After this photo, I was too high for more pics.

Goodbye St Louis. I'm already looking forward to the next ACFW conference to be held in Dallas, Texas next year. Yee haw!

7:20 Sunday morning (Sep 25) and the beautiful day played havoc with my feelings. In a few short hours, the 10th ACFW conference would be over for another year. Instead of dwelling on melancholy thoughts, I rushed down to where the Zones were meeting for breakfast.

Because I live in Canada, I belong to the Beyond the Border zone of the ACFW. On this 25th day of Sept, our zone table consisted of members from:
 - Canada (Cherie Gagnon, Susan Mason, Sandra Orchard, Gail Sattler, Eileen Watson)
 - Bermuda (Cathy West)
- Australia (Karen Schravemade) 
- and LeeAnne Hardy of the USA who is a contributor on http://internationalchristianfictionwriters.blogspot.com because of her book settings

Our zone table was in the back right corner of the room with an empty table in the corner beside us. I used the opportunity to move to the empty spot. I set up my Sansa Fuze on a fluffed up napkin and aimed the internal microphone at the dias. I had done the same with all the other worship session except I'd been in a crowd and the sound wasn't great. At all. I was hoping the empty back corner would alleviate this problem. I now know it did and am trying to figure out how to make a podcast of our worship session led by Rachel Hauck.
 
This back corner was also good for taping the ACFW choir on my little Lumix camera although I didn't know it at the time. Now that I look at the shaky video and fuzzy faces, I realize I should have used a tripod and moved in closer, but that would have distracted the people from the choir and I didn't want to do that.

So as the video plays, close your eyes and be blessed by the gift of these talented writers and industry people led by Rachael Philips, Choir Director. Rachael wrote one of the songs called, Writer's Prayer, based on scripture and will be posting the lyrics on her website soon.

Partway through the final service, I saw my roomie, Gina Welborn, heading for the door with her suitcase. I followed her out and stayed with her until it was time for her to catch the shuttle. The past few days with Gina and Dina Sleiman had been such a blessing. I totally loved being their roomie, hanging out with them, and listening to them talk 'industry' late into the night... actually, they'd talk until one of them fell asleep. :)

After Gina left, Dina and I went up to the room and made this video: 

After Gina left, Dina and I went for a walk outside. We headed east toward the Gateway Arch which sits beside the Mississippi river.

Along the way, we found ourselves behind 2 other ACFWers, Sandra Orchard and Eileen Watson.

The four of us walked towards the base of the arch looking for the way into the Visitor's Center. Once we saw the long lines of people waiting to get inside however, we bypassed the arch and headed for the river to see the view with paddlewheelers.

A short while later, Dina left as well. I went down to the lobby sitting area to see who was still around and spent time getting caught up with Love Inspired and Revell author Ginny Aiken. I love talking with Ginny as she's full of life and unique ideas which translates into wonderfully entertaining books. She's also a great encouragement to me.

Later on that night after wandering outside and taking pics of St Louis at night (I'll post in my next blog), I sat with Seeker Camy Tang, eHarlequin host Danica Favorite and literary agent Chip MacGregor who were celebrating Camy's birthday. It was fitting that they would be the last ACFW members I saw before leaving, because Danica was one of the first writers I'd met when I began taking my writing career seriously in 2005 and joined up with the Harlequin forum.

So what's a Star Fleet officer doing at the ACFW Awards Gala? Fulfilling my dreams!

No, not in the sense that I'm dreaming of a Star Fleet officer, but that ever since seeing Rosslyn Elliott in her late 19th century outfit several years ago, I've thought attendees of the Dinner and Awards show should dress in the period of their books.

This Star Fleet officer was one of the volunteers taking tickets as we entered the banquet room - a very nice touch to the evening ahead where Fantasy and SciFi genres joined some of the Historical writers for a fun evening. Rubber-necking ruled.

The only downfall to this costume parade is that the contemporary writers aren't included.  Something to think about.

With all the awards given out, the crowds lingered and then left. I spent some time with my Seeker and Inky friends and finally faced the fact that another ACFW conference would end in the morning.

Friday at the ACFW conference was the first full day of workshops, industry appointments, and the MBT Pizza Party.

After breakfast with my Inky sisters (Inkwell Inspirations blog), I headed to Day 1 of a 2 part Continuing Education session on Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake Method. I have the Snowflake writing software but don't have the time to learn the tricks and nuances to use it efficiently, so this seemed like an opportune time to learn from the Snowflake man himself.

I took this photo on the way to Randy's workshop. Taken at 9 am on a foggy Sep 23rd, it shows an employee scraping paint off the ironwork railing with one end of the Gateway Arch in the background.

I was thankful to have an enlightening agent appt in the morning, followed by an encouraging editor appt in the afternoon. Because of those, I didn't sit at one of the industry professional tables at lunch, preferring to relax with friends and gather my thoughts.

The afternoon Worship session was followed by the Keynote Address given by Tracie Peterson. And then it was free time for a few hours. This is when many of my friends go out to dinner with their publishers or agents. Since I'm not affiliated with anyone, I was hitting the roof...

Susan May Warren and Rachel Hauck hosted the 4th annual My Book Therapy Pizza Party up on the rooftop terrace of our Hyatt Regency Hotel. This was a gorgeous setting with an unprecedented view of the Gateway Arch and the Mississippi River from an open ceiling terrace. I enjoyed the food (pizza), won a prize (DVD) and laughed ridiculously loud at the entertainment (see video) which was provided by many participants including Karen Ball and Jim Rubart.
A highlight of the party was when the Frasier writing award was handed out to Andrea Nell. (Andrea did win it, right?)

                                                    

I was having so much fun at the Pizza Party, I forgot all about the time until I chanced a look and saw that it was 8:25 pm. Yikes! The evening sessions were due to start in 5 mins and I was a reporter for the ACFW's eZine, The Afictionado. Susie May was directing everyone on the proper use of the magic wand we'd each received in our gift bag when I skedaddled out the door.

The session I was scheduled to report on was Rejection: The Key To Your Success presented by Steve Laube and Tamela Hancock Murray. Their presentation was professional, humorous and the perfect way to end a heavy day.

Day 1 of the ACFW conference in St Louis started with an 8 am Early Bird session of  The Moral Premise presented by the man who wrote the book, Stanley Williams.  An excellent workshop, Dr. Stanley used clips from books and movies to show story structure and "harness virtue & vice for box office success".

The opening session began at 3pm with worship and the keynote address by Bethany author Tracie Peterson.

The first dinner of the conference was shared with my Inkwell blogmates - also called my Inky sisters:

(l to r) Dina Sleiman, Gina Welborn, Lisa Richardson, Jennifer AlLee

I saw this image of the Gateway Arch on the way to the Publisher's Spotlight session later that evening. After that, I attended an interesting  Agent Panel.

Yesterday I arrived in St Louis, Missouri for the annual American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conference. Although we don't have a view of the famous Gateway Arch, I'm enjoying the one we do have from our 16th floor window.

The beautiful architecture in the foreground is the Old Courthouse and if you look in the park, you'll see a fountain with blue water.

I'm not sure what the blue water signifies, because the St Louis Cardinals have red uniforms. A few blocks from the fountain is the stadium where the Cards were playing last night. I took the first photo around 6 pm and the 2nd one during the game.

So many old and new friends and oodles of hugging.  The opening session is due to start in a few minutes so I'm heading down. Maybe I'll even take photos of people this time. :)