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Faculty
Bios and Workshop Descriptions
2010
Content Almost Complete: 1-27-10
Quick links to bios below: Michael Brewer, Wendy
Brown, Lettie
Burress, Tracy Crump, Ann
H. Gabhart, Carlton
Hughes, Virginia
Smith, Kim Peterson, David
W. Pierce, Upper Room, Emily
Akin
Michael
Brewer has published four books in the Christian market, and hundreds of articles, sermons, devotionals, stories, lessons, Bible studies, and comic books. He is a part-time writer, a full-time pastor, and an adjunct professor of religious studies at Northern Kentucky University.
Website: www.hmichaelbrewer.com.
Turning Facts into Truth: Using Fiction Techniques in
Non-fiction. We live in a culture glutted with information, but starving for truth. We can turn dry facts into vital truth when we adapt fiction techniques in our articles and devotionals. Hook readers and grab their emotions.
Heads and Tails. How to craft effective article beginnings and endings
Wendy
C. Brown
is a seeker, hiker and lover of nature who also enjoys writing, teaching, speaking, photography and travel. She has written for many Christian magazines and completed her first nonfiction
book, The CPR of Hope. Wendy is currently director of Women At Risk International, an organization which addresses issues of prostitution and human trafficking.
Online: www.wendycameronbrown.blogspot.com
and www.tothelees.com.
The Writers Ministry: Employed by God. Who do we write for and why? Does my writing make a difference? How can it change lives? What benefits does this career offer? Let’s sit down together and discuss our biblical job description for writers. We’ll leave motivated to stay the course and be about God’s business of writing.
Oil Cans and Flashlights: Writing Techniques from Scripture.
God's Word is packed full of the greatest authors and literature of all time. Let's learn and practice techniques to make description more vivid, dialogue more believable and characters jump off the page. Fiction or non-fiction, this workshop will help us structure and improve our gift of writing.
Lettie
Kirkpatrick Burress
has written articles for over 50 publications. Her latest book, is Glimpses of Grace: Stories of
Hope. Lettie speaks frequently and teaches beginning writers how to publish. She has taught at Lifeway, Southern Christian Writers Conference, and Kentucky Christian Writers Conference. She loves hiking in the East TN and North GA mountains.
Site: www.writingforhim.com.
Beginners Basics, Part I and Part II. This two-part workshop is designed to train those to whom God has given a passion for touching lives with the power of the written word. Equip yourself for the ministry of writing for publication. Learn effective marketing techniques and organizational strategies, and receive materials and resources that will assist you in targeting editors and publishers.
Proof and
Profit: Selling What You Write Again and Again. Mastering the art
of reprint sales to multiply both the profit of freelance writing and
the audience exposure necessary for a larger marketing base.
Tracy Crump has almost 100 writing credits in publications such as
Focus on the Family, ParentLife, Today’s Christian, and
Pray! along with six stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul books. She leads an online critique
group, edits a writers’ newsletter (The Write Life) and co-presents Write Life Workshops.
Website: www.TracyCrump.com.
Stirring the Pot: Writing for Chicken Soup and Other Inspirational Markets.
Chicken Soup for the Soul receives thousands of submissions but selects only 101 stories for each book. How can you increase the chances they’ll choose your story? Come learn what Chicken Soup wants, what they don’t want, and how you can stir up a winning
Chicken Soup story.
Tackling Tough
Topics: Writing on Sensitive Issues from Personal Experience. It takes courage to address controversial or sensitive issues, especially when writing from a personal standpoint, but your words can make a difference in someone’s life. Learn how to write with humor and insight to give your readers hope for the future and avoid pitfalls inherent in tackling the tough topics.
Ann
H. Gabhart
was ten when she started down the writing road. Twenty years later her first novel, a historical romance, was published by Warner Books. Since then she’s published nineteen novels. She and her husband live on a farm in Central Kentucky. They have three children and nine grandchildren.
Website: www.annhgabhart.com.
Making Characters Come to Life.
Great fiction needs great characters. Readers might love them or hate them, but most of all they want to believe our characters are real, breathing people. You can learn how to create and develop characters that jump off the pages of your story and into your readers’ hearts.
Revise, Revise, Revise. Revision is vital to every writer's work and something writers must accept as part of the writing process if they want to see their work in print. Learn how to chisel and polish your first drafts until their sparkle and shine invites readers into your story.
Carlton
W. Hughes is a communications professor at Southeast Kentucky CTC and children’s pastor at Lynch Church of God. He has an essay featured in
Simple Little Words from Honor Books. He has written numerous skits, plays, and curricula for ministry and articles for Christian and secular publications, including Kentucky Christian magazine.
Writing for Your Children’s Ministry: Tailoring the Right Message for Your Crew.
Children’s ministry can be a
roller-coaster ride, and finding the right message—through VBS curriculum, Christmas plays, skits, etc.—for your group can be especially hard. Learn tried-and-true tricks of the trade to write your own material for your ministry, delivering a tailor-made message for your church.
The
Plot Thickens (with Ginny Smith). Workshop description TBA
(1-27-10).
Kim Peterson serves as Writer-at-Large and online instructor for Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana, mentoring students seeking careers in writing, editing, and publishing. She also mentors writers through the Jerry Jenkins Christian Writers Guild. Because Kim loves to read, she reviews books for CBA Retailers+Resources and Young Adult Books Central.
Kids Want to Know: Writing for Children’s Magazines.
From the “Why?” of a two-year-old to the “whatever” of a teen, kids want to know how things work, why things happen, and how to cope with life. Magazine publishers, religious and secular, seek nonfiction and fiction to appeal to and educate young readers. Tailor your writing to their readers’ interests.
Writing for Young Adults. From Sunday school take-home papers to young adult novels, learn to effectively connect with the current teen and preteen culture. We will examine why some writers succeed in connecting with today’s media-saturated young adults through the written word. Then we will tackle some of your nonfiction and fiction ideas and learn how to give them more reader appeal.
David
W. Pierce
has published over a dozen short stories (Alfred
Hitchcock and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazines), two children’s books with his wife Chonda (ZonderKidz), and a memoir titled
Don’t Let Me Go (WaterBrook Press, 2009). David lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and teaches English at Western Kentucky University.
Website: www.DavidWPierce.com.
And the Secret to Mystery Writing Is….
This workshop will focus on the different mystery genres from locked room to hard boiled to cozy to caper. We’ll unveil such conventions as villains and violence, suspense and irony, clues and red herrings, fair play and the McGuffin. Your readers will say, “I should have seen that coming!”
Understanding How the Me in Memoir Works.
This workshop will unpack this idea of how your experiences connect with others - every time - making your story relevant, compelling and revealing. It will help you peel back the layers of our life so you can discover what it is about you that you’re really writing about.
Virginia
Smith
is the author of twelve Christian novels as well as dozens of articles and short stories. In 2008, she was named Writer of the Year at Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference.
Stuck in the Middle, book one in her Sister-to-Sister Series, was a finalist for ACFW’s 2009 Book of the Year award, and
A Taste of Murder was a finalist for the 2009 Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. Ginny’s website was listed in the top ten writer sites of 2009 by Writers Digest. She and her husband divide their time between Kentucky and Utah, and escape as often as they can for “research trips” (or so she says) to scuba dive in the warm waters of the Caribbean.
Website: www.virginiasmith.org.
The Plot
Thickens (with Carlton Hughes). Workshop
description TBA (1-27-10).
Dive Deep: Taking POV to a New Level. Point of View errors are among the most common reasons editors reject manuscripts. When used properly, POV is a powerful tool that will enhance your story and make your characters come alive. This workshop outlines the basic rules of POV, and presents
techniques to aid writers in mailing sure they are using POV to its fullest potential. (for beginning and intermediate writers).
Upper
Room
Editor's
name will be announced at a later date.
Website:
www.upperroom.org.
Sharing Your Faith: Writing Daily Devotionals, Part I and Part II.
The focus of this workshop is to help you develop the essentials for good devotional writing. Discover where and how to start writing meditations. Learn the significance of being Bible-based and authentic as you share your faith through your writing. Sample and compare several leading daily devotionals to see how they differ and receive a market list. This workshop is designed for both beginning and intermediate writers.
Adjunct
Faculty
Emily
Akin is
a freelance writer, blogger, editor, and webmaster/blogger for KCWC, She
has worked as executive assistant in academic and manufacturing environments. Her former supervisor once introduced her as "Ms. Organization." Her work has appeared
The Upper Room, The Secret Place, HomeLife, The Lookout, Vista, Mature
Years, and others. Akin is also a contributing editor for Hometown Magazine.
See her Web site at www.emilyakin.com
Get Organized and Sell Your Work:
Whether you are a full-time writer or a sometime writer, published
or unpublished, you’ll get more done if you get organized. There’s a lot to writing for publication besides writing. Learn tips & tricks for keeping your act together so you can get more writing done.
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