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I vividly remember years when
the dream of writing seemed illusive. Somehow people had these
wonderful ideas that mysteriously turned into manuscripts. Somehow
those manuscripts found the right editors and agents. And somehow those
editors and agents made the manuscripts into books on store shelves
while the writer got huge advances and worked on another story.
The whole idea overwhelmed me
and left me feeling like the dream would never be more than that.
And it may have if I hadn’t
found American Christian Fiction Writers (www.acfw.com), a group of
more than 1700 individuals who write books or are involved in the
industry. Some have the dream. Some work actively in pursuit of it.
Some are published. Together we learn the craft that makes books come
to life when they intersect with a reader.
Is this your dream? Then here
are a few reasons to join ACFW:
1) You will be surrounded by a
community that “gets” you. They understand you aren’t crazy when you
say you hear voices in your head and you take dictation. They
experience the same phenomenon.
2) You will be surrounded by
craft. The e-loop contains weekly conversations about writing. The
online courses provide opportunities to dive deeper into topics like
research, character development, and pitches. And the forums are a
wonderful place to converse with other people about specific questions,
challenges, and successes.
3) You can enter ACFW contests.
The Genesis is designed for prepublished authors and provides an
opportunity to have your work evaluated by judges who want to help you
succeed. The Book of the Year is an opportunity for published authors
to have their books evaluated. Both awards are growing within the
industry, and are open only to ACFW members.
4) You can join a local chapter.
Chapters are a wonderful way to connect face-to-face with other writers
and ACFW members. Often the chapter meetings have a workshop or
teaching element. Many members don’t have access to a local chapter but
have the tremendous opportunity to network and meet online friends.
So if you have the dream. If you
read books and think, I could do that. Then it’s
time to take the next step and join ACFW.
Cara Putman
ACFW Publicity Officer.
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