LIFE PRESS CHRISTIAN WRITERS' CONFERENCE
P
PHONE: 901-309-3692
E-mail: Gmoearth@gmail.com
FOR 2010 RULES click here
PROGRAM:
August 7, 2010
Director: Frances Brinkley Cowden
Assistant Director: Mary Frances Broome
Key Note Speaker: Linda Douty
8:30 - AM Registration
and
Continental Breakfast. Smith
Center, Covenant UMC
Cordova, TN.
8:45 - Welcome and
Introductions:
Frances Brinkley Cowden, founder of Life Press
Christian
Writers Association and editor/publisher of
Grandmother Earth and Life Press.
9:05 - Fascination
and Writing: Robert
L. Hall
is a writer, researcher and degreed musician from
Marion, Arkansas. He is currently employed as Fleet Manager
at Flash
Oil Company of Arkansas in West Memphis, He has
self-published
three novels--one of which, The Learnin' Post, was endorsed
by Mike
Huckabee—former Governor of Arkansas. The
other two are
in a series: The Time of Jacob's Trouble and White
Stone Prophecy. His closet is getting
crowded--what
with all the unpublished manuscripts in there.
Often a speaker at our
conferences, this year Robert will speak on the subject of Fascination:
That
is, what is it that astonishes us and makes us want to
write? The
influence of compelling material on writers is well known to
drive
them to excellence, comphrehension and completion of their
work. He
will lead us in a study of the subject.
10:10 - Break
Writing
Inspirational:
Shannon Taylor Vannatter is a
stay-at-home
mom/pastor’s wife/writer from Heber Springs, Arkansas. After
writing for ten
years, she recently signed a three-book contract with Heartsong
Presents for a series of contemporary inspirational romances
set in
Romance and Rose Bud, AR. Shannon will teach how to seamlessly weave a
spiritual thread into your inspirational novel without beating the
reader over
the head or coming across as preachy. These techniques should also help
I other
types of writing. Her short stories appeared in Mature Living and The
Writers' Journal, in 2009. She’s received several
pre-published awards
including 2nd place in RWA's 2007 Touched By Love and 2008
Where the Magic Begins Contests, and a HM in The 2007
Writer's
Journal Romance Contest. Find out more about her and her books at
11:00
- Key Note Speaker: Linda Douty
Linda
Douty was an English major
at Memphis State University, followed by study in the
fields
of philosophy, religion, music and art at Lambuth College, Southern
Methodist
University, and Rhodes College Meeman Center for Lifelong
Learning. She
is a Certified Bible Teacher and has completed the Academy of Spiritual
Formation, the Spirit Seminar on Jungian Psychology and Spirituality,
and a
two-year program at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Guidance in
Washington,
D.C.
An experienced
teacher, Linda has
taught courses on spiritual growth, theology,
healing, and wholeness. She also is a frequent public
speaker, retreat and workshop leader, small group facilitator,
book
reviewer for Presence Journal (Spiritual Directors
International),
contributes articles regularly to various periodicals and explorefaith.com.
Her work with the Academy for Spiritual Formation includes leadership
positions
as well as teaching presentations on topics related to spiritual
growth. A
practicing spiritual director, she is the author of How Can I Let
Go When I
Don’t Know I’m Holding On—Setting Our Souls Free? and
How Can I
See the Light When It’s So Dark?—Journey to a Thankful
Heart.
Upcoming book projects include a book on “When You Don’t
Have Time to Pray”
and “How Did I Get to be Seventy When I’m Thirty-five
Inside?”.
12:00 - Southern Style
Lunch
(included with registration) with the Judges, Editors and Authors
1:00 - Door prizes and
Awards.
1: 15 - Creating
Humor Through Real Life Experiences,
Anne Hall Norris. The author of The
Charm Bracelet
and Other Stories and Uncle Nip. Her new book, Aunt
Zeenie is a collection of her award-winning Aunt Zeenie stories,
Anne
Norris has received regional and national awards and is noted for
her
humorous stories. A member and past president of Memphis Story Tellers'
League,
she is featured in the story tellers’ anthologies. She is a
former member of
National League of American Pen Women and is a member and teacher at
Cross
Roads United Methodist Church
2:20 - Panel Critique:
a look at polishing work by Robert Hall,
conference
speaker and one of the fiction judges and Malu Graham, one of
the poetry
judges. Some of the winning poems will be read with permission of the
authors.
3:30 - Break
Malu Graham won
the Hackney Award for fiction (Birmingham Southern College). She has
poems and
short stories published in St. Petersburg Times, Emerald Coast
Review,
Octoberfest Mag, Broomstick. She has won numerous prizes in poetry
and
prizes in fiction from Florida Writers’ Competition, Grandmother
Earth
and Life Press. She was PST's poet
laureate for 2006-07. She is one of the critics for the Poetry
Society of
Tennessee’s workshops and has won numerous awards including Grandmother
Earth’s top prose award. She was also a “Best
of the Fest” Award
winner.
3:30 Inspirations
through Life Experience: Roundtable
discussion led by Frances Cowden