Tag Archives: Conferences

ACFW . . . and Realm Makers

  By Ralene Burke • September 21, 2015 ,

Wow! What a whirlwind ACFW conference this year! I really felt like it was here and gone and left me in a cloud of dust. As that dust clears, though, I think this may have been the most inspirational ACFW conference I’ve been to.

For those who may not know, ACFW stands for American Christian Fiction Writers, and they have an annual conference where hundreds of Christian writers from all genres gather together to learn, worship, and fellowship on a long weekend.

11200796_10207617348136891_6678106449078097704_nHighlights for me this year:

Meeting my roommates and spending time with them. (I didn’t know them beforehand, not even much from Facebook.)

 

Sharing with my agent and my hubby that one of the publishing houses requested a proposal for my fantasy trilogy. (Squeeeeeee!)

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Hanging out with my fellow spekkies from Realm Makers AND finding that there were several speculative fiction writers there who had not hear of Realm Makers and therefore getting to tell them about it! (Yes, that was a bad sentence.)

 

12004088_10207610882215247_5009947617500223860_nListening to the keynote speaker, Bill Myers, who is such a source of inspiration, laughter, and wisdom. I truly got the most out of his sessions than any other part of the conference this year.

 

Next year, the conference is in Nashville, much closer to my home. I’m so excited for that one!

 

Speaking of next year . . .

And about a completely different conference.

We now know the date and place for Realm Makers 2016!

 

And on that note, I’ll leave you with one last thought that I gleaned from Bill Myers.

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“The key to my success is that I’m a crybaby. I’m a coward. And I’m a moron. But I always say YES to God.”

 

This quote is going up on my wall tomorrow and will be my inspiration for the rest of the year. Amen!

Fab 5 Friday: Chaos Edition

  By Ralene Burke • September 11, 2015

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I’ve finally made the transition from summer to school, from conference planning to conference prep, from business to writing . . . In other words, it’s been completely crazy around here. And the craziness will continue at least through next week, which is when I will attend ACFW in Dallas.

Books:

So, I saw that one of my friends was publishing her 3rd book in a YA speculative trilogy. I had no idea that she had even published the first 2, much less that they were spec in nature. Excited to learn this, I bought the first book–and devoured it in 2 days. I bought the 2nd, and then the 3rd. I finished all 3 in about a week. I won’t tell you much about them, but I will suggest that you check out The Gifting Series by K.E. Ganshert, starting with The Gifting.

Business:

There are some exciting things going on in my business world. If you’ve been following my blog or social media, you already know that I have a book coming out next month–you can see the cover and blurb here. I’m super excited to share the first part of this 5-part mini-series with you.

Homeschool:

We’re officially into our new school year. The girls have been so excited as we’ve been studying the early Native Americans as we are into the early American History. They’re particularly excited for me to get back from ACFW so we can start our astronomy course and the typing software. So cute!

We decided to try the whole homeschool co-op thing this year, after a year-long break. The girls are taking a sign-language class and one called 50 States. Connor is taking a 2-part class where they study different countries around the world. Yesterday was their first day, and they had a lot of fun!

What did I do during this time? Worked on planning my book launch!

Conferences:

In June, I had KY Christian Writers Conference. In August, it was Realm Makers–a conference for speculative fiction writers who are Christian. And this month, I’m headed to the American Christian Fiction Writers conference. For the first 2, I was on the planning committee and did a lot of working during the conference for both. I’m excited to head to ACFW where I can kick back and hobknob, maybe learn a thing or 2.

QOTW:

What have you been reading lately? Which ones would you recommend to fellow readers?

5 Things I Learned at the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference

  By Ralene Burke • June 29, 2015 ,

10253868_722067807814954_1123009107988543688_nThis past weekend, I attended the KY Christian Writers Conference, held in Elizabethtown, KY. Actually, attended might not be the right word. I am the faculty chair for KCWC, so maybe “worked” would be the more appropriate term, especially since I only attended 1 session that I wasn’t either teaching or hosting. Still, there was a lot that I learned at this year’s conference.

1. If you’re looking to lose weight, try working on the planning committee for a decent-sized conference. You’ll either be too busy or too stressed to eat much, and you’ll be hurrying from one side of the building to the other most of the day. I think I may have lost 10 lbs. OK, maybe not quite that much . . .

2. When you get involved, conferences are a great place to network with people. Well, this isn’t something I learned this year, but it’s definitely something I’m reminded of at every conference I attend. I love volunteering. At ACFW, I often work the registration desk or the bookstore; for KCWC, I am the faculty chair; and for Realm Makers, I’m the Social Media Director and the Director’s minion (ha!). Through these opportunities, I’ve met some amazing people–like my agent, many of my critique partners, and a whole multitude of people who have been sources of encouragement, insight, and wisdom.

3. I’m funny! Seriously, that is something I learned at KCWC this year. I have been so afraid and self-conscious about getting up in front of people to speak, that I’ve never applied to do workshops and, in fact, avoided anything that required me to do so. However, I felt the pull to do a workshop this year. Plus, as faculty chair, I was in charge of leading the Editor’s Panel and doing all the giveaways and entertaining when we gathered as big group. So, I was up on stage, in front of the whole conference, several times throughout the 2 days. And, apparently, I’m pretty funny. Unless they were just laughing at how pitiful I was, which I would entirely understand. 🙂

4. Jesse Florea (from Focus on the Family) was a great keynote speaker. I didn’t get to sit in on most of his first 2 keynote sessions, but what I did hear was pretty entertaining and helpful. However, his last keynote session was downright inspiring. He made us laugh, made us cry, and made me want to go home and write!

11217513_10206984246869755_5010395468265576946_n5. My agent, Julie Gwinn, rocks! Not only did she do a fabulous job answering questions on the Editor’s Panel and the Fiction Panel, but she is great at brainstorming and helping to decide on career direction. In face, her and I have some exciting stuff cooking . . . which could actually involve some major changes in my writing over the next few months. Can we say “published writer”? More information to come soon!

I’m so thankful for the conference this past weekend. While I didn’t exactly learn a lot of writing-related tips and tricks, I did get to listen to a few knowledgeable experts, meet some amazing writers, spend time with friends, and leave with a lot of motivation and inspiration.

The planning committee is taking a hiatus for the rest of the summer, but we’ll be diving back into planning for 2016 in September. We already know that Sandra Aldrich will be the keynote for next year . . . the rest of the speakers are still a mystery. Only God knows–and that means the conference is in good hands!

If you live in the area, or even within a few hours drive, I highly suggest coming to hang out with us next summer! Dates are June 17-18.