What’s your flip? Jim Rubart asked this last week during his awesome keynote address at the Oregon Christian Writer’s conference. He meant it in as, “What is the thing you are afraid to do?” (He flipped off a cliff!) Writing takes great courage – sure, we can spend hours in our room typing out a story, but when we emerge, we have to show it to the world.
Scary. Not unlike walking around naked, I think. But, the truth is, in order to be published, we must have the courage to believe in our writing, to have confidence in what we’ve put on the page.
That’s why I love this issue of the Voices Ezine. It’s timely, because many of us are headed to the ACFW National conference in just a few weeks. We’ll face editors, agents and peers — and we’ll need confidence to believe in our stories. We’ll need courage to pitch them.
Start at Rachel Hauck’s article and read through to the end. As the MBT Therapist, Rachel sets the tone with understanding how expectations affect our confidence. Our MBT Member Care Coach, Dr. Reba J Hoffman, inspires us to face our fears, and MBT Skills Coach and Mentor Beth Vogt has some excellent insights as to what courage looks like.
Get inspired by personal encouragement from our Fraiser finalists and then read the articles by MBT Voices/finalists Heidi Chiavaroli and Jill Kemerer.
You’ll also find other ways to gain confidence with your writing through the excellent articles by our staff. Amanda Stevens has fun interview with Karen Ball (read it for insights on how to submit a proposal!) and Matthew Sheehy reveals secrets of the male perspective. I love it!
Alena Tauriainen, the MBT Retreats Hostess, issues a fitness challenge that I think might work for all of us! And Jennie Atkins and Edie Melson, our Social Media Coach, teach us essential computer and social media skills. I’d suggest printing both those articles!
We’re all about craft here, too, so don’t miss MBT Huddle Coach Michelle Lim’s fabulous how-to article on creating compelling historical characters. Carrie Fancett Pagels has more great insights on writing historical characters authentically, yet with a contemporary flair. And Patricia Woodside challenges us to cast characters against type. Let’s broaden our casts and include people of all races and ethnicity!
Don’t miss our new releases from our Voices in July and August, as well as the shout outs-congrats to others!
I have confidence that you’ll be equipped to pack your bags and attend ACFW without fear! Bring it, friends. We’re rooting for you at MBT!
Excellent issue from Lisa Jordan and her team!
Susie May
PS: If you want to prepare for the ACFW Conference (or any other writers conference), the MBT Staff has put together a fabulous e-book on “The Truth About Conferences: the MBT guide on how to have a successful writers conference.” Like us on Facebook to get your free excerpt and sign up for the free “Truth about Conferences” Webinar next Thursday (August 30), 7pm, CST to get your invaluable hints!
