Hello from Jeanette! I’m in the process of last-minute preparations for the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference (March 26-30). This conference is always a highlight of my year. I attended for the first time in 1995 and now have the honor of serving on the Support Staff as the coordinator of the first-timers’ Buddy System. If you have never attended a conference like Mount Hermon, I highly recommend it. Here are just a few of the things I love about writers’ conferences:
Tag: Jeanette Hanscome
This is our archive pageWhy I Love New Writers
Jeanette here, wondering how March got here so fast. A little over a week ago I had the fun of teaching at the Castro Valley Christian Writers’ Seminar. This is a conference that attracts a lot of beginning writers. Today, as I continued work on a buddy program for the upcoming Mount Hermon Christian Writer’s Conference, I couldn’t help reflecting on why I love new writers.
Flashback to First Writers’ Conference
Hello, from Jeanette, CAN’s faithful secretary! This week I am scrambling with last minute preparation for two writers’ conference workshops that I am teaching over the weekend. Teaching at the Castro Valley Christian Writer’s Seminar has become a highlight of my year. In addition to teaching, I critique, and have many opportunities to encourage and guide new writers. Fifteen years ago I attended my first writers’ conference with a pretty even mix of excitement and terror. Now I’m one of those standing beyond the podium (actually, at this conference we get a music stand) teaching hopeful newbie’s how to format…
Sharing Success
Last week my friend Diane pulled me aside after choir practice and placed a package in my hands. “I wanted you to have the first copy.” Her first book was finally in print! Over the past few years I have seen this book evolve as Diane brought individual devotions to our writer’s group, asked me to edit/critique the first draft, and started submitting to publishers. I was almost as excited as I would have been over my own book.
With Fear and Trembling
Hello from Jeanette. Today I spent 20 minutes in the backseat of our car with a trembling 50-lb dog. Car rides turn our pit mix, Belle, into a spineless mutt. They trigger memories of shots and other unpleasant vet visits. I assured Belle that we were only going to PetSmart to get her nails trimmed but she continued to squeal and pace, starring helplessly out the window, silently pleading to passersby, “Help me! I’m on my way to the manicurist. It’s so scary there.” I teased Belle about being a big baby, reminded her of her bread, but nothing worked….
How Old am I Again?
Happy New Year from Jeanette! I’m just getting back into my routine after a fun week with family and a wonderful Christmas. I think it seemed even more wonderful because it almost wasn’t.
“This Feels like Homework”
Happy December 21 from Jeanette. Today I spent a chunk of my writing day on a project that felt like homework. Usually I enjoy the type of assignment involved but this just wasn’t clicking. On top of that, my head was foggy from a cold, both sons are off school, and four days before Christmas all I want to do is bake and watch movies. Can you relate? Then maybe you’ll benefit from how I dealt with it.
Live to Write about it
Hello from Jeanette! Today my family woke up to our first major winter storm of the season. It closed schools (including the University) and kept most people home shoveling snow. My sons and I had to scoop the driveway twice before my husband got home from work and then he still had to clear more. Early in the day we got hit with another type of storm—the news that the store where my husband works will be closing in four weeks. They promised to transfer employees to other stores but we know there is a chance that some will find…
Are You Craving Boring?
Happy Tuesday from CAN Secretary Jeanette Hanscome. Do you ever catch yourself wishing that God would give you a little break from all the excitement? I’m not talking new contracts, speaking engagements, and writer’s conferences. I mean the “Is this my life or a made-for-T.V. movie” kind of excitement. You know—the events that you eventually use in books and speaking topics.
Blowing it
He was back . . . again—the annoying guy with the bad comb-over and pastel 3-piece suit. Who wore a suit like that to a writer’s conference? And what was he doing here anyway? Was he even a writer? According to our last conversation he was in town for a convention but stopped by the writer’s conference with some of his buddies to kill time. When did the conference coordinators start allowing that?
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