Last week I drove to St. Louis to attend the American Christian Fiction Writers conference. I had a great time talking to other authors and attending workshops by agents and authors on craft and the business of writing. I was a semi-finalist in the Genesis contest in the historical fiction category, but did not win. Congratulations to Jacinta Merideth!

I must admit, at times the conference left me discouraged. One agent equated the journey of publishing a novel to climbing Mt. Everest. It is a lot of work, has great risk and there’s a lot to learn. You can’t show up at base camp in shorts and a t-shirt. You need to get a puffy coat and hire a sherpa. And when you finally publish the novel, you have to climb the mountain all over again. (sigh) Some of the other workshops smacked my face with a long list of things I need to do to improve my market research, newsletter, rewriting skills, etc.

Today, I’ve got more energy (thanks to coffee!) and I’m getting things squared away and starting on that long list. As mentioned, one is to upgrade my newsletter. Of course, even now you receive a free e-book and a story in every issue, but I’ll be adding more value for my newsletter reader in the months ahead. If you haven’t subscribed, do so now!