Welcome to Attendees of KCWC 2007

Hello,

If you are visiting here because you heard about the project at the 2007 Kentucky Christian Writers Conference in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, I want to offer you a special welcome and thanks for acting on my recent call for submissions. I look forward to hearing from you in an e-mail request for guidelines and again with at least one submission to the project.

Because of the pace of the conference, we couldn't really tell you everything about the project, but you will learn a whole lot about it and about me through the guidelines and samples. You can also learn something from previous posts at this blog. I will give you a little bit more information here in this post, however, so you won't have to search back for old posts if you are time crunched.

First, I have been a member of Louisville Christian Writers for almost ten years now. In that time, I have learned the value of a good critique. At LCW meetings, we try to dedicate at least one hour of each meeting to critiques so we can help other writers with encouragement and instruction. Learning how to give and receive critiques has helped all of our members gain strength as writers and as self-editors. Recently, our members have pledged to take what we've learned at LCW and pass it on as a mission to strengthen other writers. I believe this project was born out of that desire.

Most writers enjoy writing. Most also enjoy writing prompts to get some focus and direction for their writing days. And, between the Internet and the Writer's Digest Book Club, it's pretty easy to find prompts and exercises to enjoy. But Christian writers (Christians who write) have a couple unique needs that are not often met by the current books available for writers. We need encouragement to remember that our writing is a calling, and we need prompts to remind us that we can write about non-church subjects and still be a Christian writer because we write from a Christian perspective. The Good Morning Christian Writer book will strive to meet both of these unique needs.

To meet these needs, I am requesting submissions for encouraging devotional articles that give examples of those things in your lives that have encouraged you as a writer. Your encouragement could have come in the form of a word from a friend, a message at a conference or workshop, a Scripture, a time of prayer, or just about any word or event that helped you to get to or stay on your "writer's feet." Along with the articles, I am looking for prompts or exercises that relate to the articles and can help other writers apply the inspirations effectively. If a writer cannot supply an exercise or prompt, I encourage him or her to submit anyway because there may be a writer out there who has only a prompt or exercise and can't seem to find a topic for a devotion to go with it.

If you are a writer and would like to see samples of these devotion/exercise combinations, please click here to drop me an e-mail and request the guidelines and samples. The Word 2000 document I will send out will include a letter to writers, the call for submissions, and two sample submissions. It will instruct you on formatting, rights, compensation, and other information you might want to know before submitting.

I hope to hear from you soon and I look forward to working with you in both the submission and editing process. I will try to give you a kind and thorough critique and I will do my best to help your writing pass the qualifications to be published in the GMCW compilation. I believe that if my goal is to encourage other writers, it must begin now with the writers in this project.

Thank you with sincere blessings that you all may be blessed and find shalom in all you do--and write--for Christ,

~Crystal A. Murray
Project Creator & Author