So this past weekend I was at the American Christian Romance Writers Conference in Denver. It was sort of funny to be there among so many women who, I mean let’s face it, you’d never otherwise meet in normal circumstances. It was truly an experience to remember and I will for a long time, and not only because I was there as an editor and they were all excited to pitch to me, which actually is not my favorite part because I don’t like being the guy across the table having to diffuse the ticking stress bomb before we can have a conversation. But of course, when I’m talking to agents, I feel the same way and I start talking like this, in one big, long run-on sentence. It’s annoying, isn’t it?
The big announcement was made Friday night that ACRW was changing its name to ACFW–American Christian Fiction Writers–and everyone seemed to be pretty happy about the whole thing, including Francine Rivers who was there as keynote before taking a sabbatical from speaking for a year to work on her next book, whatever it might be. Wish I had such luxury. But I do love conferences, so I guess it’s a sacrifice you have to make.
If any of you are thinking about joining–including you non-American Christians–it’s a great idea since it gives you access to one of the greatest online writing families you could imagine. Most conferences have a stink of desperation about them with everyone pushing and shoving to get a piece of the biggest “star.” The ACRW is different. It’s more like a big family. Maybe it’s the high population of middle-aged women (please, that’s not a put-down), or the fact that everyone is in everyone else’s critique group, but it’s an incredibly supportive team-effort, this writing thing. I was impressed.
I’m thinking of joining for the next year. Maybe now I’ll finally get involved in that crit group I’ve been afraid of committing to. It’s got to be better than sitting around waiting for a three-book deal to fall in my lap.
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