2016 Wordsowers Christian Writers Conference

We've created an exciting new webpage for the 2016 Wordsowers Christian Writers conference!

Click here for workshop information and to register.

Our 2016 Annual Conference Sponsors include:

            

Half price special coming soon

Due to popular demand Wordsowers will again offer

our half-price writers conference special. 

Photo courtesy gualberto @freedigitalphotos.net

 
We'll release the information soon, so watch our website and Facebook page to grab this super bargain!


Lifespring Church in Bellevue, Ne is the new location for the 2016 Wordsowers writers conference, April 29-30th.

Wordsowers 2016 Writers Conference

Mark your calendars for the 2016 Wordsowers Christian Writers Conference.

We're honored to welcome Focus on the Family's

Troy Griepentrog as this year's keynote speaker.

Troy is an editor at Focus on the Family’s Thriving Family magazine and FocusOnTheFamily.com.

 
Join us April 29-30 at LifeSpring Church in Bellevue, Nebraska.

Watch our website and Facebook page for more details.

The 2015 Conference line-up!

The Wordsowers 2015 Christian Writers Conference Keynote Speaker

Stephanie Grace Whitson Presents:

Precious Stones and Living Words  

 

Don't want the whole conference, but want to meet Stephanie Grace Whitson? 

Our at the door single workshop special is for you!

Hear Stephanie's presentation on Saturday April 25th from 8:45-9:45 AM. Plus, meet her at the book signing immediately following for the single workshop price of only $20.

Want to know about the presenters you'll meet at the 2015 Wordsowers Christian Writers Conference?   

Click on the names below for interviews, insights, workshops, and websites.
 

Workshops

Author Cheryl St.John: A Story is Feelings: Trigger Emotion in Your Reader

CWHAM founder Jill Hart:  Writing as a Business - Creating a Plan for Success.

Author Rose Zediker: Breaking into the Christian Children's Magazine Market.

Singer/Speaker/Writer Phil Morgan: The Art of Songcrafting

Singer/Speaker/Author Pam Morgan: The Complete Communicator

Author/Poet Sally Jadlow: How to Use Create Space for Your E-book

Author/Webmaster Angela D. Meyer: DIY Techie-Social Media basics on a budget

Standard editor Duane Brush:Article Writing 101- What Your Editor Wants to See 

Author/editor Lee Warren: Friday night: On-Ramp: Industry, craft and conference helps, like how to pitch your ideas to editors. 
Saturday: Using Fiction Techniques in Non-Fiction Writing.

Author Mary Connealy: Where do I begin--The five things you need to do to start your story.

Publisher Tamara Clymer: Marketing Outside the Box

Susan King, Associate Editor: Turning Personal Experience into a Devotional Message

Skype

Susan King, editor for Upper Room magazine

Jim Watkins, associate acquisitions editor at Wesleyan Publishing 

House

Shari Langton, associate editor of the Bible Advocate magazine and Now What? e-zine

Rowena Kuo, Managing Editor Brimstone Fiction/ Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas

Gloria Penwell, AMG Publishers

Editor Troy Gripentrog, Focus on the Family's Thriving Family magazine

Specialties

Laree Lindburg: EMoon Publishing

Pat Mingarelli: Professional photo shoots. Conference discount packages from $25 

R.J. Thesman: Certified life coach. Writing one-on-ones. Conference discount price-$25

Author/Webmaster Angela D. Meyer: One-on-one social media and tech help. Conference discount-$25

 Want more?

 Click here for the conference schedule

Click here for the conference brochure

Click here to register for the conference

CrossRiver founder Tamara Clymer

Publisher Tamara Clymer spent 15 years in the television and newspaper industry before founding the Christian publishing company, CrossRiver Media Group. 


Join us at the Wordsowers Christian Writers Conference for her presentation: Marketing Outside the Box – Ideas for marketing that takes you outside of the traditional and social media marketing box.

Jeanie: Tamara, you worked in the television and newspaper industries for years prior to founding CrossRiver Media Group. What prompted you to make that move?

Tamara: I loved working in the television and newspaper industry, but after fifteen years I felt like I needed to do something  different...something that would use my writing abilities to glorify God. 

A writer/speaker friend of mine sat down with me one evening over hot chocolate and talked about how difficult it was to get her writing published. I knew her work... it wasn't a matter of poor writing or editing. 

It was a limited marketplace that wasn't willing to take a risk on a unproven writer. Over the next few weeks, as she talked, I listened... and I began to believe that God may be calling me to help my friend and writers just like her. A few months later CrossRiver was born.


Jeanie: I'm looking forward to your "Marketing Outside the Box" workshop at theWordsowers Writers Conference in April. Can you share a bit about what you'll cover?

Tamara: We will be talking about specific ways writers can use social media to market their books. It takes more than just sharing blog links and favorite recipes... find out what your fans are needing from you.


Jeanie: In your opinion, when should an author begin marketing their book?

Tamara: Authors really should start their marketing before they have even finished their book. A good solid platform takes time to develop, so it isn't something you want to wait to start when the book is about to be published. Working on your platform before your first book comes out is also a good way to build anticipation of its release. 

 While writing, the author can be working on establishing a blog schedule, finding a following on Twitter and getting their feet wet on Facebook. Not to mention finding speaking engagements and radio
interviews.


Jeanie: Tamara, thanks for taking the time to chat with us.
 
Visit with Tamara and learn from her expertise at the Wordsowers Writers Conference April 24th & 25th.

Pat Mingarelli, Professional Photography on hand at Wordsower Writers Conference

Pasquale“Pat” Mingarelli is a photographer by trade and served 11 years with CampusCrusade for Christ (now called Cru) as a photojournalist with their magazine Worldwide Challenge. He left Cru to celebrate God as Creator through photography. His ministry, The Creation  Speaks, examines how nature reveals the glory of God and His attributes. It exploreswhat creation declares to our heart soul and mind about God. When we see howgreat God is in creation we will better understand how great He is in our lives! He posts on of his photos and a Visual Bible Verse

Daily. He lives in Bellevue with His wife Patti, their daughter Talitha, their son Pasquale andtheir dog Montana. 

Photo by Pat Mingarelli

In the spring of 2011 Pat became my professional photographer. The photos of me in the poka dots and pink jacket are from a day in the park with Pat. I'm looking forward to a new sitting while at our Wordsowers Conference April 25, 2015

Kat: Do you think it's an advantage for writers to know something about photographer and if so, what?

Pat: We have the perfect photo for the cover of their new book! (Sweet answer Pat.)

Kat: What are three good facts to know about you and why?

Pat:  1)  I am passionate about showing what nature can tell us about God. Why do people need to know this: Because we all need to pursue what God has made us passionate about.

          2)  Over the years I have spent plenty of time hiking, camping, swimming, scuba diving, gardening, walking and exploring the outdoors. Why do people need to know this: We all need to be deeply familiar with what is the focus of our writing and speaking.

          3)  God first, family second,  ministry/photography/writing  third. Why do people need to know this: That is the way it has to be. 

Kat: What scripture has spoke to you the most while you write and/or shoot scenery?

 

Pat:  Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.  And Psalm 104 the whole chapter.

Psalm 104.

Kat: What advice would you give to your younger self?

Pat: Focus and believe. A dream is good, but writing it down, making it a goal and pursing it is a whole better. And jobs are for people who want to work for someone else. 

Photo of Kat by Pat Mingarelli 

Note from Kat: Pat will be available for professional photos for writers.

Cost:  $25.00 for writers will have a photo session and their head shot emailed to them. For $40.00 Pat will touch up the head shot and send 4 x 6 prints of the writers choosing. 

Interview by the Lionhearted Kat one of the Wordsowers Leadership Team 

Angela D. Meyer Teaches a Workshop: DYI Techie

Wordsowers Christian Writers is excited about our own Queen of the Media, Platform Building and DIY Techie, Angela Meyer, teaching a workshop for our third writers conference.

Angela joined Wordsowers a number of years ago. In the spring of 2011 she volunteered along with Jon Miller (then 17), Teresa Tierney and Kat Crawford to become one of the Wordsowers exciting new leadership team.

The new team of leaders had a dream, hold our first Wordsowers Christrian Writers Conference by spring of 2013. Angela built our website, set up facebook pages and encouraged the rest of the team to dig into building better websites, too.

Along with building the Wordsowers media world, Angela wrote her first book and taught workshops on platform building at the Wordsowers monthly meetings. In December of 2013 she moved from a Leadership Team roll to being Wordsowers Number One DIY Techi on the Advisory Council.  

Kat: You are working on your second novel. When will it be published?

Angela: The second book in the Applewood Hill series will be released in early 2016. 

Kat: Do you ever get writer’s block? If so, how do you unblock?

Kat: Ideas are always stirring when it comes to fiction, but sometimes I get so tired, its hard figuring out how to get those ideas on paper. 

Kat: You are presenting a workshop on being a DIY Techie. For the last three

DIY photo from Common Domain Pictures 

years you have created Websites, blogs, and facebook pages for Wordsowers. This year you’ve added memes to the mix. How have you accomplished all this technical stuff?

Angela: When I first started, I had no idea what I was doing and attempted to rope my teenage son into helping me. He would say "Google is your friend, Mom." From then on, when I saw something I wanted to do, I Googled it, read a lot of articles and watched tutorials to help me figure it out. 

Kat: There are many authors online these days teaching writers the basics. Is there one author, or one book that helped you?

Angela: When it comes to writing, one of my favorites is The First 50 Pages by Jeff Gerke. That book helped me tremendously. 

Kat:  Is there something in particular you would like the WordSowers to pray about?

Angela: Balance. It is really easy to let the marketing part of writing take over you life. I need to make sure I leave room to breathe! 

Check her website for more info:  Encouragement for Your Faith Journey

If you find Angela with nothing to do at the conference, pick her brain. She is full of information and enjoys helping writers. 

Interview by the Lionhearted Kat – One of the Wordsowers Leadership Team

Susan King from the Upper Room sharing Power Point on Devotion Writing

While skyping into Wordsowers Christian Writers Conference in April, Susan King is in California teaching on location at another conference. She is also directing a writer’s conference this year. She’s a busy woman and shares a great workshop with all her students.

You want to listen with both ears when you attend Susan’s workshop. She crams a three hour course in fifty minutes.

Susan has been with The Upper Room magazine for 20 years.  She has also taught English at Lipscomb University (Nashville, TN) for 20 years and functions as a seminar facilitator in leadership and group dynamics. 

Formerly she taught English and feature-writing classes at Biola University and Abilene Christian University, served as book editor and radio-program producer/on-air talent for The Institute of Scriptural Psychology, and wrote magazine features as a freelance writer.

The Upper Room®  is a global ministry designed to support Christians seeking to

Upper Room cover 

know God more fully. It’s a small book that fits in a pocket or purse. You’ll find this devotional in more waiting rooms than most Christian devotions.

Check out the writers guidelines and special emphasis months on the Upper Room Website. And Did You Know? If you are in need of prayer the Upper Room Living Prayer Center is a 7-day-a-week intercessory prayer ministry staffed by trained volunteers, call 1-800-251-2468 or visit The Living Prayer Center web site.   

Find Upper Room on Facebook, too. 

You'll find more info about teens and children materials and the writers guidelines. Check them out. 

The Upper Room, Bookstore, Books, Alive Now, Pockets,Weavings 

Kat: Pray for Susan while she skypes a Power Point presentation into Wordsowers while at another writers conference in California. We feel blessed to have Susan share about writing for Upper Room—and men, she often says she needs male authors. 

I've been privileged to sit in Susan's workshop, have lunch with her and share about devotional writing. She's a woman who loves to encourage writers.  Lionhearted Kat one of the Wordsowers Leadership Team

Meet Writing Coach Rebecca (RJ) Thesman

Rebecca, better known as RJ, Thesman has attended different conferences over the years. A few years ago I sat in her classroom in a Called to Write Conference in Girard, Kansas. She is a phenomenal workshop leader and excellent writing coach.

RJ has a Facebook group for those caregiving an Alzheimer’s or Dementia patient—she enjoys helping caregivers find hope when life unravels. You’ll also find delightful stories in her books about the Unraveling of Rev.G. Look for them in the Wordsowers bookstore.

This year Wordsowers workshops were all filled, when RJ said, “I enjoy getting to

Book One 

know new writers and coaching them on their journey.”  For the first time Wordsowers is offering one on one coaching sessions. For a mere $25 you can sign up for a time with RJ. We asked what she normally charges. “Usually $75 a session.”

Don’t miss this great opportunity.

Kat: Share a bit of background with me—I have your bio, but help me know you better. Tell me something personal?

Rebecca: I grew up on a farm in Oklahoma and it's true you can't take the country out of the girl. I have always been a reader and a writer, but I also wanted to be a pastor and a concert pianist. When God called me into ministry, I gave up the concert idea although I did perform a piano concert while a missionary in Honduras. Never got to be a pastor, although I've been in ministry all my life.

Book Two 

Kat: How many books have you written and how did you choose the topic?

Rebecca: I've actually written 8 books. The 1st 4 were nonfiction and self-published to be used in ministry. Then fiction, so that's the three Reverend G books.

Another book is still unpublished and I'm praying about that. The topic of Alzheimer's came because of my mother's illness, my father's dementia and also  my experience in ministry.

Kat:  What led you into coaching other writers?

Rebecca: I became a Certified Life Coach through my work at GateWay of Hope. But I have always loved teaching at writer's conferences and so it was a natural shift into coaching writers.

Kat: Share a bit with our Wordsowers on what to expect from a writing coach.

Rebecca: A writing coach will help you identify a plan for moving past whatever obstacle you're facing. Maybe it's procrastination. Maybe it's finding your writing time / routine, etc. Maybe it's learning more about your core values so you'll know what topic to write about. A coach provides accountability, resources, a listening ear and encouragement.

Kat: Do you have something you’d like the Wordsowers to pray about?

Thank you!! My car is a concern right now. I've been sinking lots of money into it this past year, and praying about a miracle for replacement. Also, I'm facing several transitions in life and searching for another church. This is a source of grief as well as uncertainty. And then, of course, my mother and her Alzheimer's journey.

RJ will be available for a free interview (10 minute session) or $25 for a writers coaching session. Sign up when you register at the conference. 
You can find more info about RJ on her Website Finding Hope When Life Unravels
Facebook, Author page      Twitter          LinkedIn    Facebook Group 

Interview by the Lionhearted Kat - one of the Wordsowers Leadership Team

Duane Brush from STANDARD: Story Arc Worskhop

Duane Brush  from a College Graduation Ceremy

Duane Brush, editor of Standard and Reflecting God, was a 30-year pastor and frequently published writer before joining WordAction. He is a graduate of Olivet Nazarene University and Nazarene Theological Seminary. Wordsowers are privileged to have Duane present a workshop, “The story arc—a how to on plotting a story to a satisfying conclusion.”

Nazarene Publishing House 

            Nazarene Publishing House, the publishing arm of the Church of the Nazarene is located in Kansas City, MO. It was first founded in 1912.

Kat: I know you served in ministry for 30 years....did you write during that time?

Duane: I wrote for publication in addition to things written as part of my ministry: mostly newspapers, magazine articles and stories.  

STANDARD SS Handout

Kat: How and why did you change professions?

Duane: At 58 I was exploring my options. I knew that it was time to leave my current pastoral position. My wife and I were prayerfully seeking God's direction for our future. I am a great believer in knocking on many doors, and trusting God to open the right one. A friend made a house available to us in Kansas City during that time. After working several temporary positions I was offered the editorial position at NPH. 

Kat: Have you published a book?

Duane: I wrote a chapter in a book about our church's response to Hurricane Katrina.

Reflecting God Devotional

I wrote a worship planning guide for the Worship in Song hymnal. I have pitched several books and had two accepted by NPH. Unfortunately those projects are now on hold because of the company's reorganization.

Kat: You've presented workshops at many conferences....how many and where?

Duane: I have presented conference workshops at the HACWN conference for 5 or 6 years. I did a Skype conference for a Christian writer's group in Raleigh, North Carolina and for Wordsowers in 2014. My workshops have largely focused on article and devotional writing and the changing markets for both. 

Kat: You mentioned family and grandchildren--do any of your family write? 

Duane and wife Nora 

Duane: My wife Nora has written some, she is also a minister and chaplain, she has written both articles and devotionals. Our son, David, has written chapters for books and for his ministry projects. He is a lay discipleship minister at his church and is a graduate of Fuller seminary with a degree in international missions.

Kat: Do you have a "bucket list" in the writing world before retirement, or are you like some of us who will never retire?

Bucket from Common Domain

Duane: I have several book ideas I would like to pursue. A dream project would be a textbook on preaching for ministers from the Wesleyan-Holiness perspective.
Find Duane Brush on Facebook

Kat: A note to Wordsowers: Duane is a great workshop teacher and easy to talk with in interview sessions. Besides the workshop for our conference this year, he has taught “Good theology for Christian writers who aren’t theologians.” Another is, “Character development in short story writing.” Feel free to ask him questions.

          Also, Duane mentioned the the reorganization of Nazarene Publishing House. Pray for all the editors and publishers at NPH during this transition.

Interview by Kat Crawford-one of the Wordsowers Leadership Team

Lee Warren Presents On Ramp and a Workshop

Lee Warren, author and freelance editor is one of the founding members of

Lee Warren Author and Freelance Editor 

Wordsowers Christian Writers. His website says he’s a sportswriter, storyteller and a sentimentalist…and he is. When you delve into Lee’s latest book you’ll hear his heartbeat. Lee will share industry terms and other tidbits on Friday night in order to prepare writers Saturday’s conference. Lee will also teach a workshop and be available for interviews. And don’t miss the opportunity to pick up his brand new book—Common Grounds.

Kat:  What prompted you to write and freelance edit full time?

Lee: It wasn’t anything mystical. I just had a strong desire to do so. As somebody who is painfully shy, writing has been my primary means for communicating the way I feel. Once I realized that doing so touched others on occasion, it awakened a desire to do it professionally.

On the editing side, it’s a natural progression for somebody who is trying to make a full-time living in the industry.     

Lee's latest book

Kat: You have a new book coming out soon. I know you have the title. Do you have the subtitle yet? Why did you write this particular book?

Lee: The book is called “Common Grounds” and the subtitle I will probably use is “Contemplations, Confessions and (unexpected) Connections from the Coffee Shop.” A subscriber to my email list sent that idea to me, and I love it.

I wrote this book to see if I was the only one. Am I the only one who is still shy about approaching a woman I am interested in, even though I am forty-eight years old? Am I the only one who just needs to be around people sometimes, even if we don’t have a conversation? Am I the only shy, large person who tries to blend in wherever he goes? 

Deep down, I knew I wasn’t the only one in any of these cases, but knowing something and feeling it are two different things. As such, I believe this book will resonate with people who have similar questions about their own insecurities and struggles.

I visited thirty coffee shops to find out the answers to those questions, and more.

For the Guys 

I wrote about what I observed and experienced. If I’ve done the math correctly, I spent $136.42 on coffee and a few donuts, which is a small price to pay for the commonality I felt between the patrons, baristas, and myself. And standing on common ground gave me strength in the most unexpected of ways.

Kat: Several Wordsowers participated in NationalNovel Writing Month. We met

in a restaurant and spent time together. Share why you think NaNoWriMo is valuable and why you encourage other authors to get involved?

Lee: Writing groups, email lists, and conferences are great. But in my experience, too many of us who want to write spend most of our free time thinking or talking about writing, rather than actually sitting down and producing content.

Buy for Christmas Now

Participating in NaNoWriMo is a commitment to produce 50,000 words in 30 days. The time for talking about writing is over at that point. Early in the process, you learn the necessity of creating a production schedule. If you don’t, then you will not write 1,667 words in a day (the average you must maintain). At the end of the month, you will have established a writing habit that should carry forward into the next month, and beyond.

Once you have established that habit, you can produce a great deal of content. Even if you only wrote for one hour a day, averaging 800 words per hour, it would only take you 100 days to write the first draft of an 80,000-word novel, or 63 days to write the first draft of a 50,000-word non-fiction book. All of us can write for an hour a day, but it starts by building that habit into our schedule. Participating in NaNoWriMo is a great way to do that.

Kat:  You usually write non-fiction and work at editing, but recently you have invested more time in novel writing? Do you find writing fiction relaxing, fun, or challenging.

Lee: Fiction is more difficult for me to write, though, than nonfiction. My

Great Devotions 

thinking is more linear than creative, so nonfiction is more natural for me. Producing great fiction requires the ability to complete a believable story arc with memorable characters, and since neither happens in a linear fashion, I struggle through that process. I suspect that I’m a “seat of the pants” novelist for this very reason. For nonfiction, I’m a strict outliner.  

Kat: Any other thoughts you want to add?

I look forward to meeting new attendees at the conference, as well as catching up with old friends. If you feel a bit lost in the publishing maze, make sure you sign up for an appointment to see me. I’d love to walk you through it.

One more thing ... as I make a transition from traditional publishing to indie publishing, I’m looking to engage with my readers, and prospective readers, more than ever. My plan is to offer them the best deals on my books going forward.

 (I’m going to offer the Kindle version of “Common Grounds” for .99 cents to my email list for a limited time), as well as to offer giveaways. The way to be eligible is to join my free email list: http://www.leewarren.info/email-list.html.

Interview by Kat Crawford, one of the Wordsowers Christian Writer's Leadership Team. Lovin' the opportunity to share in the lives with other writers.

Mary Connealy Author of Romantic Comedy with Cowboys

If you haven’t read a Mary Connealy cowboy romance you're missing out. In years past I read the books not knowing the author. Now I just love to crawl in bed with my kindle, saddle up and have fun with Mary’s characters. I smile, laugh out loud and sometimes cry. Each book is a great adventure. Check her blog for actual photos of a sod houses with horses on the roof and more.... 
You won’t want to miss her workshop.

Kat: Tell us about you and your family:

Mary: I live on a farm/ranch in northeast Nebraska. My husband and I are high school sweethearts who just celebrated our 38^th wedding anniversary. And we live ten miles from where I grew up and three miles from where he did.

We live in the bluffs along the Missouri River and we run cattle on the land too steep to grow crops and farm the land that’s nice enough to lay flat instead of stand on end. I call my husband My Cowboy on Facebook but it’s more correct to call him a cattleman, as we don’t

have those cool horses, chaps, lassoes and such that cowboys in the western part of the states have. But he needed a fun nickname so I came up with My Cowboy

We have four grown daughters. Two married, a third engaged with a June wedding coming up. I have three beautiful grandchildren with one daughter and a second is expecting her first child in August.

Kat: How many books have you published?

Mary: You know, I’m sort of losing count. Seriously. I’ve done some Indy pubbed books and quite a few novellas lately, in addition to my traditionally published books. The count is getting away from me. I think my 38^th and 39^th books are the two indy pubbed novellas coming in April which will make my June release my 40^th book.

I could be off a few. I think I’ve published maybe…13 novellas in the last three years. It’s gotten way out of hand! 

Kat: When did you decide to write and why did you choose cowboy romance?

Mary: I wrote for ten years before I got my first book published and on that day when I got my first contract, I have 20 finished books on my computer. Those books were mostly all romance and all Christian, but beyond that…I wrote everything and anything that appealed to me. Contemporary sweet, contemporary police procedurals, romantic suspense, even a gothic. And

I wrote historical westerns.

After I received my first contract I sold (not counting the very first one) I sold seven books before I had to write one. And since then of those twenty books I’ve sold 14, I think. Some I’ve cut to novella length. So I didn’t really ‘choose’ the cowboy romances but I think I found my voice in them, which is why they sold. 

Kat: Did you have anything embarrassing or humorous happen to you while writing a book, meeting an editor or agent? 

Mary: I remember one of the most fun times I ever had with an agent. The American Christian Fiction Writers conference has, as part of the conference fee, a meeting with an agent and a meeting with an editor. You’re guaranteed two. So my second conference I already had an agent. (I’m on my third and have finally got a really good one!) But my agent wasn’t at conference—I’d just barely signed with that one shortly before conference, and I’d yet to sell a book.

So I got to choose an agent and I had all these books to sell and no real idea how to proceed. I’d made up FOUR versions of a book list. One targeting Love Inspired Harlequin, One targeting Barbour Heartsong, (where I made me first sale too, that year at conference.) One listing all my historicals and one listing the romantic suspense. And I had a meeting with an editor and wasn’t sure just how to proceed.

So I went to the agent appointment and I sat down with this extremely nice lady that I still know, and said, “Wendy (Lawton) I already have an agent but he’s not here and I get an appointment and you’re the lucky girl. I need advice.” Then I dragged out all my one sheets and said, “Who do I talk to. What do I show? Is this a testimony to hard work and commitment or is it a towering symbol of failure.”

Well, we just started talking and I think she was sort of relieved to NOT have someone pitching to her for one precious 15 minute spell and she gave me lots of advice and we talked our heads off the whole time. It was great fun.

Kat: I know you are working on a new series this summer. How and why did you choose to write 12 bride stories and how do you develop such different characters for each book?

Mary: I’ve written one book in the 12 Brides of Christmas series and one book in the 12 Brides

of Summer series. So there are 12 authors working together. These are some of the 13 novellas I’ve written in the last few years.

When I was writing for Barbour Publishing they had me writing four full length books (90-100,000 words) a year. I could keep up with that pace mainly because I had so many books already written. But it was starting to scare me. Then I got a good agent and a great offer from Bethany House but they only wanted two books a year.

I think a comfortable pace is probably three books. So now I’ve got all this time on my hands and I worry that I’ll accidentally make a friend or get a hobby and mess up my whole life. So the novellas are filling in the holes in my spare time and writing some of them for Barbour Publishing is fun because I love those folks and I don’t forget that they gave me my first chance.

Kat: Do you have a special program that helps track the color of the eyes and hair?

Mary: I make notes at the top of the manuscript with details like that. ages, eye color, names and jobs of minor characters (those are the hardest to keep track of). By the time I’m done with a book I might have several pages worth of notes.

I’ve tried creating spread sheets but then I make a change in the book and forget to update the spread sheet and then I don’t know which is right or if I changed it in the book or not, so that’s confusing.

Kat: Do you have a special prayer request?

Mary: For my family and my presentation. 

Kat: If you want to know more about Mary and her books, check out her website. 

Interview by Lionhearted Kat, one of the Wordsowers Leadership Team.