Tools for Self-Editing - You Won't Want to Miss our April Meeting!

Join us Saturday, April 12, 2014 when author, mentor, and speaker Frank Ball gives us "Tools for Self-Editing" - Getting the words right isn’t easy, but it isn’t rocket science either. 

With these important tips, you can write like a pro. Some of the areas that will be covered are:

• Starting Strong
• Meaningless Filler Words
• The Point of Punctuation
• Recognizing Redundancies
• Using Better Grammar without Losing Your Voice
• Saying What You Mean
• The Malice of Modifiers

 

 Frank Ball founded North Texas Christian Writers to help members improve their writing skills. He is a panelist on The Writers’ View. Author of seven books, he has worked as a ghostwriter, writer’s coach, e-zine columnist, and copy editor. As Pastor of Biblical Research and Writing for three years, he wrote sermons, teaching materials, and hundreds of devotionals. His book Eyewitness: The Life of Christ Told in One Story is a compilation of biblical information on the life of Christ in a chronological story that reads like a novel. He founded HelpMeTellMyStory.com and speaks at churches and writing conferences to promote God’s story in people’s lives.

The ACFW-DFW Chapter meets at Bedford Public Library from 10::30 a.m. to noon. Guests are always welcome. Please plan to stay and go out to lunch with the rest of the "Ready Wrtiers". 

You Need to Find Time to Come in March!

Tick Tock: Time Management for the Busy Writer

From a full-time employee, to a stay-at-home writer-wife-mommy, to a part-time employee, and then back to a full-time day-job working, multi-published single mom with fiction deadlines and freelance journalism deadlines, Betsy believes she has a lot to offer on the topic of time management! In her lecture, Betsy will discuss the myriad of time-related obstacles obstructing a writer's path as well as offer insight into the deeper issues of motivation behind them. She will then offer practical solutions through the PAMPER steps she created that will allow each writer to better manage their time. Each attendee will also go home with a fun memento to remember their PAMPER steps and apply them to their writing lives. Betsy encourages attendees to be prepared to volunteer personal time struggles from their own lives as examples they can work through together as a class.

Betsy St. Amant has a heart for three things – chocolate, new shoes and sharing the amazing news of God’s grace through her novels. She lives in Louisiana with her adorable story-telling young daughter, a collection of Austen novels, and an impressive stash of Pickle Pringles. A freelance journalist and fiction author, Betsy is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and is multi-published in Contemporary Romance. Her ninth Love Inspired novel released in January 2014, while her first romance with Zondervan Publishers comes out August 2014. When she’s not reading, writing, or singing along to the Tangled soundtrack with her daughter, Betsy enjoys inspirational speaking and teaching on the craft of writing, and can usually be found somewhere in the vicinity of a white-chocolate mocha.  Visit her blog at

http://writergetsreal.blogspot.com/  or her website  www.betsystamant.com

So come join us on Saturday, March 8th at 10:30 at the Bedford Pubic Library. Guests are always welcomed. You're guaranteed to, pardon the pun, have a good time!

FEBRUARY CHANGE

OUR SPEAKER FOR THIS SATURDAY HAS CHANGED...

Detective Juliane has had a death in the family and had to unexpectedly go out of town. Juliane will be our guest speaker in August. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

So please join us as our own Marji Lane blesses us with her expertise of the Scrivener program. She'll share with us "What it is, How to use it, and Why it's beneficial." If you have the program, please bring your laptop for a hands-on tour of the helpful tool. And if you don't have the program, be prepared to take notes and see what all the buzz is about. After this meeting, you may want to purchase it to make your writing life easier!

Marji Laine is a homeschooling mom of four. She spends her days transporting kids to and from classes, volleyball, church, and various other pursuits while juggling her various ministries. She also teaches high school expository writing and has taught drama, directed multiple musicals for both children and adults and led worship for over a decade.

An avid photographer, she’s been known to take spontaneous road trips just to laugh and sing with her kids and take as many photographs of interesting things as she can find. Full of Texas sassy, she likes to laugh and doesn’t mind if it happens to be at herself. It’s one of the reasons her writing is full of humor. And because her relationship with the Lord is part of who she is, her characters encounter Christ in realistic ways as they struggle through their circumstances.

Cutting her teeth on Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew inspired a love of unraveling clues and she can still be found watching Perry Mason and Murder She Wrote re-runs. The timing God had of fanning the flames of her desire to write inspirational fiction proved perfect. The passion he infused allowed her to completely commit to her new career, finishing three full novels as well as several articles, scripts and short stories.

DFW-ACFW will meet this Saturday, February 15, 2014 at 10:30 a.m. at the Bedford Public Library, 2424 Forest Ridge Drive, Bedford, Texas. Please visithttp://www.dfwreadywriters.blogspot.com/ for directions and further information. There is a great deal of construction in the area. Small orange detour signs are on the side of the freeway to exit Forest Ridge at different exits. If you are traveling West bound on 183, please use the exit for Central Dr., Westpark Way, and Forest Ridge. If you are traveling East bound on 183, please use the exit for Bedford Rd., Brown Trail, and Forest Ridge.

Hope to see you there!

February 2014: Crime Scenes and Characters

Brainstorm your cozy mystery or suspense plot ideas and investigative characters' development with  Detective Juliane.

Juliane sates, "I have been with my department for 6 1/2 years.  I was on patrol for 4 1/2 years before going into a geographic investigations unit. I am currently still in the geographic investigations unit. I am married with two amazing Great Dane dogs. I do Crossfit, play volleyball, and make stained glass for my hobbies. I also enjoy reading a little bit of everything.

I will discuss what I currently do in my geographic investigations unit; what life is like for a patrol officer; and police culture. To break down these topics even further, for geographic investigations, I investigate burglaries of habitations, burglaries of vehicles, thefts, criminal mischief, and any assaults - not domestic related. For a patrol officer, the kind of service calls that a patrol officer answers on a regular basis, including domestics, report calls, vehicle accidents, and mental calls. For police culture, I will touch on how police officers are/can be treated by the public, and how officers can have support through their "police family."

So, all you future Jessica Fletcher types have your plot twists and who-done-it red herrings ready. Take plenty of notes in your black book to make sure the DCI or CIS who is investigating the crime scene in your tale is realistic.

For those who don't write in this genre, well...you have an antagonist or two in your story line, right? Our February meeting will help you make sure your character is three-dimensionally molded and realistic. 

Betcha after an  hour of, as Hercule Poirot would say, little grey cell exercising with Juliane, you'll be spurred to click away on that keyboard. It will be worth the weave through the Mid-Cities'construction zones to get here.

So, join ACFW-DFW on February 15th, at 10:30 a.m. We meet in the Bedford Public Library at the crossroads of Forest Ridge Drive and Bedford Road, a few blocks north of Hwy121. Visitors are always welcome.

January 2014: Setting and Achieving Goals

Make 2014 Your Best Year Ever: Setting and Achieving Goals

Whether writing-related or otherwise, dreams don't come true by magic. Juggling the many demands of 21st-century living can distract us from achieving our writing objectives. Let's start the new year by looking at what we want to accomplish in 2014, and how we can make sure we'll celebrate those accomplishments this time next year. This will be an interactive workshop, so prepare to get started on your plan for the coming year.

Join ACFW-DFW as we welcome Laura McClellan on Saturday, January 11th at 10:30am. Dig into the new year with her interactive workshop at the Bedford Public Library.

A lawyer by day, a self-professed productivity geek, and a lover of the written word since childhood, Laura has been published both in professional publications and inspirational magazines and is a contributor to the popular Stepcase Lifehack blog. In 2012 she committed to pursuing her lifetime dream of writing a novel, and she’s currently polishing her first women’s fiction manuscript, a winner in several fiction contests, in anticipation of submitting it (by request!) to her dream agent. Laura is member of American Christian Fiction Writers and a team member at My Book Therapy. Find Laura online at www.Laura-McClellan.com, on Facebook as LauraLeaMcClellan, or on Twitter as @LauraMcMom.

We look forward to seeing you there! Visitors welcome.

Please note: There is a great deal of construction in the area. Small orange detour signs are on the side of the freeway to exit Forest Ridge at different exits. If you are traveling West bound on 183, please use the exit for Central Drive, Westpark Way, and Forest Ridge. If you are traveling East bound on 183, please use the exit for Bedford Rd., Brown Trail, and Forest Ridge.

December 2013: A Christmas Party!

Please join us on Saturday, December 14th at 10:30am as we have a time of fellowship and celebrating the Christmas holidays.

We will have a Chinese auction gift exchange. Something a writer would like--books, stationery items, chocolate, lotions and potions, etc. Please bring gifts valued at $10-15 dollars, and we'll have fun with the gift exchange.

We'll enjoy a Christmas story or two along the way and have a fun time!

Visitors welcome.

We meet at the Bedford Public Library.

Hope to see you there!

November 2013: Workshop with Deborah Raney

ACFW DFW will meet on Saturday, November 9th at 10:30am.  November's meeting will be a 2-hour workshop featuring multi-published author Deborah Raney discussing "Surprising Secrets of the Writing Life."  Here's what Deborah had to say about this topic:

SURPRISING SECRETS OF THE WRITING LIFE 

Little-known facts about what a working writer's daily life is really like. Did you know that much of a writer's day is spent doing things besides writing? Do you know why your agent earns his/her keep? What are the pitfalls of fame and the myths of fortune? How do you deal with the green-eyed monster––yours and fellow writers'? How does becoming a writer threaten your family life and life as you knew it before you were a writer? All this and much more, including what to do about it all!

DEBORAH RANEY's first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title and launched her writing career after 20 happy years as a stay-at-home mom. Since then, her books have won numerous awards including the RITA, National Readers Choice Award, HOLT Medallion, the Carol Award, and have twice been Christy Award finalists. Deb's 23rd novel, The Face of the Earth, released from Howard/Simon & Schuster in May and her new Christmas novel, Silver Bells, just came out from Guideposts. She is currently working on a five-book series for Abingdon Press Fiction. Deb enjoys teaching at writers' conferences across the country. She and her husband, Ken Raney, recently traded small-town life in Kansas ––the setting of many of Deb's novels––for life in the (relatively) big city of Wichita where they enjoy gardening, antiquing, movies and traveling to visit four children and a growing brood of grandchildren who all live much too far away. Visit Deb on the Web at www.deborahraney.com.

Cost for this workshop is $15 (plus an additional $2 fee for members only).  Don't miss this great opportunity!  We meet at the Bedford Public Library beginning at 10:30am.

Please note:  There is a great deal of construction in the area. Small orange detour signs are on the side of the freeway to exit Forest Ridge at different exits. If you are traveling West bound on 183, please use the exit for Central Dr., Westpark Way, and Forest Ridge. If you are traveling East bound on 183, please use the exit for Bedford Rd., Brown Trail, and Forest Ridge.

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, November 9.  Visitors always welcome!