September 29, 2014

InScribe Christian Writers' Fellowship Fall Conference 2014 - Ruth L. Snyder


InScribe Members Sheila Webster, Glynis Belec, Carol Schaefer, Ruth Snyder, Tandy Balson and Greg McKitrick at the ICWF Book Signing, The Fig Tree in West Edmonton Mall
Thursday night mixer

What a wonderful few days I've enjoyed! The fun and fellowship started on Thursday afternoon at the InScribe book signing at The Fig Tree in West Edmonton Mall. Six of us were able to participate. Although we didn't sell books that day, the manager invited us to leave our books in the store on consignment. He also set up a special InScribe Christian Writers' Fellowship section in the store! That evening we held our first ever Artists and Writers Coffee House Mixer. About 40 people came out and most attendees shared either a reading or a description of art. One attendee commented,
"This was a great way to meet others and share stories. I appreciated having the stories connected to the art piece."

Plenary session at Fall Conference
Attendance was up a bit for this year's conference, and before the weekend was over we gained 15 new members :). The extra workshops on Friday went over extremely well; in fact, people are asking for conference to start Friday morning next year. Attendees commented they appreciated the variety in workshops and the warm, welcoming atmosphere.
Keynote Speaker, Phil Callaway

Phil Callaway shared stories from his own writing journey and walk with God. On Saturday morning his session was called, "If Phil Can Write...So Can You!" He encouraged us to:
  1. Be talented
  2. Be a reader
  3. Be self-critical
  4. Be neat
  5. Be strategic
  6. Be focused
  7. Be knowledgeable about words & markets
  8. Be personable; Act like a Christian should!
  9. Be observant (Show, don't tell)
  10. Be persistent
  11. Be yourself
  12. Be prayerful; Ask God what He wants you to say
  13. Be a doer (Psalm 34:3-4
  14. Be faithful
"It is by sitting down to write every morning that one becomes a writer. Those who do not do this remain amateurs." Gerald Brenan
Executive members for 2014 - Back (L to R) Bryan Norford, Tracy Krauss, Ruth L. Snyder, Glynis Belec, Gwen Mathieu, Eleanor Bertin. Front (L to R) Sheila Webster, Shirley Patterson, Sheri Hathaway, Sandi Somers, Janice Dick, Bobbi Junior

 I'm thankful we have almost a full slate of officers on our executive for 2014. We still need someone to step into the Vice-president role. Here's a list of our current executive members:

President: Ruth L. Snyder
Vice-president: (Vacant)
Secretary: Sandi Somers
Treasurer: Bobbi Junior
Membership: Gwen Mathieu
Website: Janelle Baldwin
Local Writing Group Coordinator: Tracy Krauss
Publicity Coordinator: Glynis Belec
FellowScript Editor-in-Chief: Sheila Webster
FellowScript Acquisitions Editor: Pam Mytroen
FellowScript Columns Editor: Joanna Dawyd
FellowScript Layout Editor: Bryan Norford
Contest Coordinator: Eleanor Bertin
Conference Convener 2015: Shirley Patterson
InScribe Writers Online Blog Moderator: Tracy Krauss
Professional Blog Moderator: Stephanie Nickel
Spiritual Advisor: Sheila Webster
Listserv Moderator: Sheri Hathaway
BC Rep: Tracy Krauss
Saskatchewan Rep: Janice Dick
Manitoba Rep: Addy Oberlin
Ontario Rep: Glynis Belec
New Brunswick Rep: Elaine Ingalls Hogg
NL/Labrador Rep: Beverley Nippard

One of our new members sums it up well:
"I’m very grateful for the effort put into the conference this year.  Glad to have met so many new friends."

12 comments:

  1. Wonderful summary of the conference, Ruth. I too am thankful for the planning, imagination and work that went into this conference. Thanks be to God!

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  2. What a great overview! I plan to review Phil's recommendations often. One of these years I'm going to make it to the conference. :)

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  3. Thanks, Ruth, for sharing some conference highlights. I can feel the excitement and high energy!

    Congrats to everyone on the the new executive for 2014. God bless each one.

    Brenda


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  4. Amen, Sharon - Thanks be to God! Steph, we'd love to welcome you to Alberta. You're right, we need to review Phil's advice from time to time. Brenda, thanks for your encouragement :)

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  5. Hoping to be able to attend next year's conference, but not sure at this point. Attendance was up - that's great - how many were there?

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  6. Thanks Ruth, for giving us a glimpse of the conference. Looks like all who attended had a great time. Glad that our membership is growing.

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  7. Susan,
    We had 78 at our Friday banquet (including some spouses) and 71 on Saturday.

    How about if we each bring at least one friend next year?

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  8. Best thing about the conference? Being able to put faces to names and begin to really get to know some the wonderful writers...

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  9. Looking forward to next year!

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  10. Good job on giving an overview of the whole weekend, Ruth. It was a wonderful time. Thanks to the executive for all their hard work.

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  11. Great job Ruth. Thanks. A good review of a fantastic weekend. I am pumped. I am crazy busy here with you know what, but my brain is still crazy busy thinking about so many aspects of the conference. I, like Eleanor said, was thrilled to put names to faces. What a treat.

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  12. What a great foretaste of Heaven :) Glynis, it was a treat to have you. I hope we don't have to wait too many years to welcome you back to our conference.

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