NJCWG Conference - Help Needed

You are the piece of the puzzle that is missing.

NJCWG - A Reason to Write Conference (October 8, 2005)

I've got good news! Members of the NJCWG are being asked to get involved in our conference preparation and become a part of the NJCWG Conference Staff. NOW is the time for YOU to bless others AND receive a double portion of blessing yourself.

If you want to hob-nob with the some of the best in the writing business, if you
want to learn from experienced authors and publicists, if you are serious about publication -- it is time to join the NJCWG Conference Staff.

No experience is required -- I'll let you know what needs to be done. We need willing hands, a tenacious spirit and some serious sweat equity. Are you ready to take the next step in your writing career? Are you ready to spend time with those who are seriously committed to writing? Writing is more than putting words on paper. You must know the industry and spend time working with the experts. Email me today.

Conference Staff will participate in a special dinner hosted for staff memebers only.
Conference Staff will NOT pay to participate in the classes.
Conference Staff will be noted as such in our brouchure.
Conference Staff will add to their writing resume.
Conference Staff will receive blessings untold...

NEEDED

Person to handle the literature table.
Person to handle registration.
Person to handle "give-aways".
Person to handle attendee, information folders.

Louise Bergmann DuMont
Facilitator, NJCWG
Director, NJCWG - A REASON TO WRITE CONFERENCE

Writing Op - inspiredauthor.com

Below I've listed a message from the owner of inspiredauthor.com, a website for writers. It recently went through a renovation because hackers got in and did some serious damage. There is no monetary compensation but it is great exposure. The site receives a large number of hits. To see the website, go to: http://www.inspiredauthor.com/
________________________________________________

"Okay (you can post the request), as long as they know this is not paying, but I will trade advertising, a $50.00 value for an article. Short stories are okay, if they are family oriented.

I am in the process of developing a children's communication (English) program. I would be willing to look at stories for that, of course, impecable Chicago Style of Grammar. We are also building an internet Christian Fiction Writer's Radio Station, and there will be an opportunity for authors to read stories and promote themselves on air (well, on bandwidth.)

Everyone will receive a link back to their website, and we appreaciate one to ours - but this is not necessary. We will upload a picture of their current book.

Thanks for the help.
suz
____________________________________________

Writing Op - Chocolate & Coffee Stories

Just a reminder to check out the NJCWG pages on my website, www.louisedumont.com. Send your friends and family there to check out the fun coffee/chocolate materail as well.


A CALL FOR WEB CONTENT
I am still looking for chocolate & coffee related stories for my Mocha Latte Friends page.

AND I will shortly be adding a Book Review page. If you recently reviewed a good book, please send the review along with a jpg photo of the cover. Clare already sent me a review of my book "Faith-Dipped Chocolate" (THANKS CLARE) and that will be the first review to go up.

WRITERS GUIDELINES

QUERY FIRST
NO ATTACHMENTS
All submissions must have something to do with either chocolate or coffee
Accepting: fiction, nonfiction, essays, 'shorts' & some poetry

WORD COUNT
Fiction, Essays, Nonfiction - 400-800 wds
Shorts - 60-90 wds
Poetry - 4-20 lines

Book Reviews should be in standard review format. For an example of a book review you can go to my review of Raising Dragons on the crosshome website. http://www.crosshome.com/books31.shtml

I am also considering a Children's Page, IF I get some good chocolate childrens stories and/or fun things for kids to do.

Email queries to: word.worker@verizon.net

Louise Bergmann DuMont

Sharpening the Word Conference

Sharpening the Word
May 21, 2005
8:00 am - 3:00 pm
1 Day Conference
Sponsored by the Indian Valley Christian Writers Fellowship
Cost: $40.00
10% Discount for Teens (Ages 12-18)
Rgistration includes Boxed Lunch

Harleysville Activity Center
312 Alumni Avenue
Harleysville, PA 19438

To Register or for more information call or email:
215-453-0415
or
610-222-9363
or
pgardock@usadatanet.net

Main Speaker, Joan Esherick
Author of twenty non-fiction books, part-time freelance writer and the Chief Writer for Lighthouse Network, a non-profit organization specializing in biblical approaches to mental health, substance abuse and life skills issues.

A REASON TO WRITE CONFERENCE

A REASON TO WRITE
NJCWG 2005 Conference
October 8, 2005
8:00 - 5:00
Ringwood Baptist Church
30 Carletondale Rd
Ringwood, NJ 07456

FOR MEMBERS OF THE NJCWG

Our 2005 conference is fast becoming a reality. I am in the process of putting together the brouchure, the registration form and press releases.

NEED SOME MORE HELP NOW...

A number of people steped forward when I requested guest rooms for our teachers. The first two individuals (Maude Carolan and Valerie Schermerhorn) who offered will have that priveldge.

Now I need two people who are willing to handle the registration and the literature tables. The individuals in charge of these two tasks will receive free registration (yes you can still to attend the classes) and "staffer" notation at the conference. Both jobs will require a number of hours of work prior to the conference but it is nothing that can't be done over the course of a few weekends.

I will also need one person who is craft oriented. The theme of this year's A REASON TO WRITE conference will have to do with matching an individuals gifts and personality to their their writing genre, style and voice. I have a small gift idea that will cost almost nothing but will take time to make. If you have bent toward "crafts" please let me know and you can own this task.

Please email me if you are interested in joining the NJCWG Conference Staff. BTW, this is not a bad thing to have on your writing resume.

Louise Bergmann DuMont
Author, Speaker & Writing Mentor
word.worker@verizon.net

Memoir Workshop

Saturday
June 4, 2005
10:30 a.m.
Telling Our Stories: The Art and Craft of Memoir

Nancy Gerber, the author of Losing a Life: A Daughter's Memoir of Caregiving, will host a Writers' Memoir Workshop at the Ringwood Public Library on June 4. Gerber holds a doctorate in Literature and current teaches Englisha nd Women's Studies at Rutgers University. She will be available to discuss and sign her book after the workshop.

Ringwood Library - Poetry Reading

Valerie Schermerhorn will participate in a Poetry Reading as a member of the Poetry From the Heart group at the Ringwood Public Library this Thursday, April 28 at 7:30 pm. This is a great opportunity to hear and support a fellow NJCWG member. I'm looking forward to it!

NJCWG MEETING 4/25/05

REMINDER
NJCWG Meeting
Monday, April 25, 2005
6:15-7:00 Chat Time
7:00-8:00 Instruction
8:00-9:00 Critiques

Ringwood Baptist Church
30 Carletondale Road
Ringwood, NJ 07456

More Poetry News

Photo: Walt Whitman

MORE POETRY NEWS:
Here's another day to save:
September 24, 2005
10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
OCEAN GROVE'S THIRD ANNUAL
WALT WHITMAN POETRY FESTIVAL
Gloria Healey, Monmouth County poet and member of the Writer's Ink poetry group and Kevin Chambers, president of the Ocean Grove Historical Society are chairing the event. Workshops and readings will be held at Thornley Chapel and readings will be scheduled on the lawn next to the Great Auditorium. An art exhibition relating to Whitman and his poetry is being planned, as well as a walking tour of the Grove.

For information, contact Gloria Healey at: Wordancer1@aol.com

Contemporary Christian Inspirational Poetry

POETRY NEWS...
Have you marked your calendar yet to save the date?
Saturday, May 21, 2005
1 to 3 p.m.

A reading of:
CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN INSPIRATIONAL POETRY
at Christian Publications Bookstore (Cornerstone Chapel)
620 Route 46 North, Pompton Plains, NJ

Participating Poets:
NANCY BAKER
MAUDE CAROLAN
GLORIA HEALEY
BARBARA WILLIAMS HUBBARD
ANN LEFEVRE
ELIZABETH MARCHITTI
VALERIE SCHERMERHORN
NANCY STOPPELKAMP

Website - Writing Op

I spent this morning updating my website. It contains new information, additional pages and a number of recent NJCWG member photographs on the NJCWG page. Now you have two great places to send your friends who are also aspiring writers. You can send them to our blog and to the NJCWG page on my website - www.louisedumont.com

A CALL FOR WEB CONTENT
I am still looking for chocolate/coffee related stories AND I've added a book review page. I you recently reviewed a good book, please send the review along with a jpg photo of the cover.

Please check out my website and let me know if anything doesn't work with your browser.

Louise Bergmann DuMont
word.worker@verizon.net

For NJCWG Members Only

I NEED THE HELP OF MY NJCWG MEMBERS

Our October 8, A Reason to Write Conference will be honored to have on staff fiction author, Colleen Coble.

This can ony happen IF one of our members is willing to offer their guest room for her two night stay. If you have a nice home that can accommodate our guest, please notify me as soon as possible. Once her housing is covered I can finalize the deal.

If you would like to know a little about Colleen Coble you can go to her website:
http://www.colleencoble.com/

Essay Vs Article

A number of people have asked me what the difference is between an essay and an article.

Essays usually inject more of the author's opinions and emotions. Articles are more fact based and offer only generic or "public" opinions. Here's a website that shows essay writing step-by-step. It has printouts and lots of good essay-related resources:

http://members.tripod.com/~lklivingston/essay/

Writers Digest 100 Top Markets

Photo: Charles Dickens

When you go to the website below, you will find the top 100 writers' markets as listed by Writer's Digest magazine.

http://www.writersdigest.com/topics/wdtop100_listing.asp

Upcoming Christian Writers Conferences for 2005

Dear NJCWG and others who may be reading this blog...

Here is a 'short-list' of Christian Writer's Conferences that are available in 2005. I've listed even those that are not local to the North Jersey area because NJCWG members may have friends or relatives in other parts of the country. The NJCWG Blog is also receiving traffic from writers outside our local group.

Central Ohio Writers of Literature for Children, April 23, 2005.
Columbus, OH
http://www.sjms.net/conf/

Orange County Christian Writers Fellowship 20th Annual Spring Writers Day Saturday, April 30, 2005.
Santa Ana, CA
http://www.occwf.org/

Colorado Christian Writer's Conference, May 11-14, 2005.
Denver Colorado
http://writehisanswer.com/Colorado/index.html

Oregon Christian Writers. One-day conference. May 14, 2005
http://www.oregonchristianwriters.org/

Lighthouse Christian Writers, Oconto, WI. May 21, 2005
http://www.mychristiansite.com/ministries/lhchristianwriters/ancv.html

Kentucky Christian Writers Seminar, June 3-4, 2005.
http://www.kychristianwriters.com/Seminar2005.dsphttp://www.kychristianwriters.com/Seminar2005.dsp

Southern California Writers' Conference, Palm Springs. June 10-12, 2005.
http://www.writersconference.com/ps/psmain.html

Chenango Valley Writers Conference, June 19-25, 2005.
http://people.colgate.edu/cvwritersconference/

Sewanee Writers' Conference, July 12-24, 2005.
http://www.sewaneewriters.org/

Oregon Christian Writer's Summer Coaching Conference, August 1-4, 2005.

Texas Christian Writers Forum, August 6, 2005
http://writehisanswer.com/

Greater Philadelphia Christian Writer's Conference, August 18-20, 2005.
http://writehisanswer.com/

2nd Annual North Texas Christian Writers Conference, September 9-10, 2005.
http://www.ntchristianwriters.com/

4th Annual American Christian Fiction Writer's Conference, September 15-18, 2005
http://www.americanchristianfictionwriters.com/conference/

Sandy Cove Christian Writers Conference, October 2-5, 2005
http://watkins.gospelcom.net/sandycove.htm

NJCWG 2nd Annual, One-Day, A Reason To Write Conference, October 8, 2005
Email: word.worker@verizon.net
Web Information will be available shortly

Ohio Christian Writers' Conference 2005. October 12 - 15, 2005
http://www.christianwritersgroup.org/answer/index.php

Bev Caruso's Writers' Weekend, October 14-16, 2005
http://www.across2u.com/writersweekend.html

Glorieta Christian Writers Conference, October 26-30, 2005
http://www.classervices.com/CS_Glorieta_Conf.html

The NJCWG - A Reason To Write Conference

The date has been set for our NJCWG A Reason To Write Conference.
Saturday, October 8, 2005
Due to formerly unanticipated changes in ownership, the conference will not be held at the Christian Publications Bookstore. The Ringwood Baptist Church has offered to act as host to our conference this year. Praise God.

So now the work begins. It looks like we are going to have quite a staff. I'm fine-tuning a few more details but Rebeca Seitz from Glass Road Public Relations in TN has offered her services as a speaker for our conference and she may bring along one of her latest Fiction Authors! Rebeca brings with her substantial experience as a publicist. Her primary concern right now is fiction and she recently launched Thomas Nelson's fiction line, WestBow Press. She includes among her credits authors scheduled on the Today Show, in Southern Living, and in all the major trades (Publishers Weekly, Christian Retailing, CBA Marketplace, Library Journal, etc.). This is quite a nice addtion to our conference. I've asked Maude to teach a poetry class and Patrick to return with a class on scripts. I'm also working on having the creator of Dora the Explorer teach our children's tract.

God is calling His people to put their thoughts and words into action. Many of you exprssed gratitude for last year's conference and many asked about the 2005 conference. Now it is time to get to work. To build a conference that will truly glorify the Lord I will need your help. 1) I will possibly need an offer of housing for Rebca Seitz (this would include meals). She is picking up her own tab for the travel (God bless her). 2) I will need someone to solicit, store and arrange for disply of writing literature and a book table. 3) I'm considering offering critiques, IF someone in our group would be willing to coordinate this part of the conference. 4) I will need someone to handle the food & beverages for lunch and breaks 5) and last but certainly not least, I need someone to handle the overall registration

Pray. Offer your heart and your hands to God. Let me know what YOU will do to help!

Louise Bergmann DuMont
word.worker@verizon.net

Writing Op - Children's Stories

GUIDE MAGAZINE http://www.guidemagazine.org
Guide is a Christian story magazine for young people ages 10-14. The 32-page four-color publication is published weekly by Review and Herald Publishing Association. Our mission is to show readers, through stories that illustrate Bible truth, how to walk with God now and forever. Pays $0.07-0.10/word upon acceptance for first serial rights. For submission and complete guidelines, see http://www.guidemagazineorg/aboutguide/writersguidelines.asp

Review of *Circles of Seven*

My review of Bryan Davis' latest book, Circles of Seven, is now online at WordSmithShoppe

http://wordsmithshoppe.com/Reviews/circlesseven.htm

Louise Bergmann DuMont

CBA Industry News

INTEGRITY PUBLISHERS SIGNS WITH INGRAM. Ingram Publisher Services (Ingram) will provide Integrity Publishers with fulfillment services beginning July 3. Ingram branched into fulfillment services in March, and Integrity is the first CBA-member publisher to sign on.

NAVPRESS/ZONDERVAN TO PUBLISH PARALLEL BIBLE. Zondervan and NavPress will co-publish the TNIV/Message Remix Parallel Bible in September. The new Bible is part of the companies’ strategy to reach a younger generation.

PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE NO. 1 ON MULTIPLE LISTS. Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life (Zondervan) is No. 1 on The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly best-seller lists last week. The accomplishment is notable because the best-selling book has been in print since 2002.

FINDEX TO RELEASE QUICKVERSE FOR MACS. Findex.com will launch QuickVerse Mac, a Macintosh edition of its QuickVerse Bible study software, this spring. Logos Bible Software recently announced all its software would be available in a Mac version in December.

LOGOS TO ADD MAC RESOURCES. Logos Bible Software announced it will release a Macintosh version of the company's digital library software in December. The Macintosh version will read the same book files as the PC version.

Writing Op - Youth Worker Journal

Kids on the Fringe
November/December 2005

How can we improve our ability to minister to at-risk kids? Those with
physical handicaps, ADHD, or depression? Substance abuse issues or
cutting/self mutilation? How can reach kids most youth ministries miss?
Where do we go for help? And how do our teaching and disciplinary styles
need to adapt?

If you have article ideas on this theme, write November/December 2005
proposal in the e-mail subject field, and send an outline and opening
paragraph within the e-mail body by June 15 to proposals@youthworker.com. You'll receive a reply no later than October 1.

To improve the chances of being published, we encourage you to check out our
writer's guidelines at www.youthworker.com/writers_guidelines.php