Angela Breidenbach is Mrs. Montana International 2009 working with the American Heart Association, the Jadyn Fred Foundation and drawing awareness to Fair Trade practices. She also serves as the American Christian Fiction Writer's Publicity Officer and is a multi-award winning inspirational author, speaker, and business owner. Angela is a Stephen Minister certified in mentor/peer counseling and Assisting Minister at her church. Angela supports the study of schizophrenia through awareness of brain donation. Not only did she walk the hard line of deciding to donate her mom's brain, but she is also on the brain donation list at the Brain Bank-Harvard McLean Hospital. She is married, has a combined family of six grown children, one grandson and lives in the Montana mountains. You can interact or learn more about Angela at these sites: http://www.AngelaBreidenbach.com http://www.MyGemofWisdom.com (coming soon.) http://GodUsesBrokenVessels.blogspot.com http://twitter.com/AngBreidenbach Facebook.com/AngelaBreidenbach http://WritingByFaith.blogspot.com http://www.twitter.com/AngBreidenbach

Recently the American Christian Fiction Writer Operating and Advisory Boards announced the creation of the ACFW Foundation. This nonprofit foundation was established exclusively to collect funds to support the ACFW Scholarship Program. Each scholarship for the ACFW national conference provides registration, hotel stay (one half of a double room), and $250 toward transportation to the conference. In the past, donations, though not tax deductible, helped members attend who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford the conference. With the establishment of the ACFW Foundation, all donations are now tax deductible!

This year we’ve provided six scholarships. We’d like to continue this blessing year after year, sending more ACFW members to our conferences. If you would like to help, please log on to www.acfw.com and click the link on the home page. You can make a donation via PayPal and immediately receive your receipt. Thank you for your consideration and for your generosity in donating to the ACFW Foundation.

ACFW now offers a large critique group for members. As group members get to know one other, we hope they will form smaller critique groups. To join the large critique group, a member must take a mandatory two-day orientation class that is offered the first of every month. The link to the class is critstarters_members. If you have any questions, please contact the Volunteer Officer at vol [at]acfw [dot]com.

Included in your American Christian Fiction Writers membership is the access to free writing and writing-related courses. (It’s one of the main reasons I joined ACFW several years ago and one I still enjoy to this day.) Folks are joining ($50 first time member/$40 annual renewal) for this benefit. But did you know you can access past classes? What an education awaits you! Where could you get that kind of an education for so little money? I know! It’s a unique opportunity you just cannot miss.

Follow these directions to find our wonderful Course List Hostess, Sharon Lavy.

To reach the archives:
Go to www.acfw.com and log in.
Click “Get Connected” on the bar along the top of the page.
Choose E-loops.
Check the archives found on the E-loops page.
Sort by author and read through the posts from the instructor.

One last reminder: The ACFW conference is just around the corner. Please take that moment you keep promising yourself and register. We have the most amazing and dynamic faculty ready to pour into your writer’s soul. In case you haven’t heard, we’ll be in Denver this year. The dates are September 17–20, 2009. You can register by going to www.acfw.com and clicking on the conference. Should you have any questions or trouble with registering, you can contact our conference director, Robin, at cd [at] acfw[dot] com.

Hope to see you on the Course Loop, as a member, and at conference!

Angie

(This article is a compilation from ACFW VP, Becky Yauger, ACFW Volunteer Officer, Margaret Daley, and PR Officer, Angela Breidenbach.)