Saturday, September 22, 2012

Building a Platform for Teen Readers: Writing What Teens Want to Read - DISCUSS!

NOTE: This class was emailed to you as a PowerPoint PDF - please check the bottom of your newsletter for the correct link.

There's one more class that needs an open format for conversation. Here's another post for discussing Writing What Teens Want to Read. Again, I apologize for not having a better format for you. This will give us something to work for next year.

Enjoy! (And thanks for your patience)

ACFW Saturday Night Gala

This is totally what the ACFW banquet looks like!  Photo Credit




Don't forget to tune in tonight to watch live coverage of the ACFW Gala. See who wins Genesis, Carol, Mentor of the Year, and Agent of the Year awards. It's a great time - I hope you'll all support those who are being honored!


http://www.acfw.com/conference/liveblog.shtml

Building a Platform for Teen Readers: Marketing to Teens - DISCUSS!

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This is an interactive class, so you need a place to interact!

You can find the class here: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/9103766/at_home_conference/

Since we're all still pretty new at this on-line conference thing, we haven't yet figured out the perfect way to host this kind of class. For now, we're opening up this post for your comments to/from the instructors, Shellie Neumeier. Please forgive us as we continue to figure out how make all of more efficient - thanks!

Friday, September 21, 2012

Friday's Schedule

We've got another great group of classes for you today! (Have you signed up yet? If not, go here). Once you sign up, you'll have access to these amazing lessons:
 
  • BRAINSTORMING:Finding an Idea and Expanding it to a Story Premise by Darlene Franklin
  • Plotting by Christina Miller
  • The Over 50 Writer by Patti Shene
 Have a great day!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Coming tomorrow - The At-Home Conference!

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Can you believe it's already here? I'm not sure where the time went (I hope it was productive), but I don't miss it too much - not when it means it's time for the conference to begin!

If you haven't already signed up for the conference, make sure you do it now! (Go here)

Here are the classes you're going to get tomorrow (Thursday, September 20):

* Getting All You Can from a Conference by Tiffany Colter
* Character Development by James Callan
* Weeding Weak Wording from Your Writing by Patti Shene

Just a reminder - don't forget to enter the book giveaway (we've got over a dozen books!).

Have fun this weekend - so glad you're here!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Free Books!

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The generosity of ACFW members continues to bless and amaze me. This year we have FOURTEEN donated books to giveaway to At-Home Conference attendees! In no particular order, here's what we have for you this year:

A Brides Dilemma in Friendship, Tennessee by Diana Brandmeyer

Christmas Belles of Georgia by Rose McCauley

Catch a Falling Star, Counting on Starlight, and The Sweetheart of Starlight by Lynette Sowell (This is a set - winner gets all three!)

Small Town Sweethearts, Love Under Cover, and Mandy and the Mayor by Jean Gordon

Writer's Guide to Personality Type, Writer's Guide to Personality Disorders, Writer's Guide to Creating Rich Back Story, and Writer's Guide to Grief by Jeannie Campbell

Cleansed by Fire by James R. Callan

A copy of Strunk & White's The Elements of Style (donated)

Just go to the Book Giveaway tab and enter to win! All winners will be selected on Sunday, September 23 (to give everyone a chance to get entered). Please make sure to thank and support our generous friends!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

It's time to sign up!

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Okay, we're ready for you!

This year the At-Home Conference is coming directly to your inbox. Instead of trying to direct traffic, we're asking you to visit one like:

At-Home Conference Sign-Up

Click the link above and you'll find yourself at a newsletter sign-up page. Fill in your email, name, and ACFW affiliation. Once you submit your information you'll receive an email confirming that you do, in fact, want to receive the At-Home Conference emails. After you confirm, you're all set! The only emails you'll receive from us are the At-Home Conference emails. Tiff Colter is graciously letting us use her Writing Career Coach site, but you will not receive unsolicited emails from her (just to ease your mind).

Let me know if you have any problems - just two weeks til show time!

Saturday, September 1, 2012

What's New in 2012?

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Lots!

As the At-Home Conference continues to grow, we have to continue to evolve. Last year we opened the conference to all ACFW members, but some of the changes were a bit confusing. This year we hope to clear things up and make this a more enjoyable event for everyone.

Here are the big changes:

1. We're coming to you. Instead of asking you to find us online, we're bringing the conference right to your inbox. This year we're going to send you a daily newsletter with links to all of the day's lessons. You will have to sign up (once!) to receive the newsletter, but you will ONLY receive an email on the conference days (Sept. 20-23).

2. PDFs, Presentations, Webinars - oh my! This year we've given the instructors three options for presenting their lessons:
*Written PDF lesson
*Audio presentation
*Webinar
Regardless of the class format, your daily newsletter will include the links you need, so you don't have to worry about whether or not you've ever participated in a webinar. We'll send you all of the information you need.

I'll have the newsletter link for you soon, as well as a schedule of classes. We're already updating the teacher bio page. I'll let you know as we continue to improve your At-Home Conference experience!