Contest Opportunities Fiction & Non-Fiction

We have FIVE contest opportunities at our Writers Conference this year.

The SUBMISSION DEADLINE is April 22, either emailed or postmarked.

The Arnold Family Foundation has graciously funded both our fiction and non-fiction categories again this year.
We want to encourage you to write and submit in these categories.
The Fiction category is 1500-2000 words.
The Non-Fiction is 750-1200 words.

As long as it hasn’t been published you can use something you are already working on. Go through your recent writings and find something that you like well enough to polish and revise — and submit it to dotlatjohn@gmail.com   or to Dorothy Johnson, 11260 Rivercrest Dr., Little Rock, AR 72213.  Be sure to follow the submission guidelines.  

Keep reading. Keep writing

Book Signing and Talk with Shellie Rushing Tomlinson

This is the first book signing and talk by an author that I have attended. It will not be the last.  Linda Scisson and I are reading Hearts Wide Open. Linda has a hard copy and I have an e-copy in my iPad.  So, Linda got her autograph but I decided Shellie probably shouldn't sign the screen of my iPad.  So I had no choice.  It was completely out of my hands. I had to buy two of Shellie's books just so she could write something to me.

Shellie shared with us her path to getting a publisher and it was so interesting and encouraging. She chose to self-publish her first three books. When Penguin Publisher noted how well her books were selling, they approached her and invited her to write for them. Amazing.

Shellie remembers her L O V E of reading as a child. Her family lived in a rural area and the Bookmobile from the Library came only once a month. They were allowed by the staff to check out six books for the month. She, being a desperate reader, agreed to do her two sisters' chores if they would let her check out their quota of books. Oh yes, they agreed. (Huckleberry Finn had nothing on these girls.)  And Shellie would lug 18 books to her house and devour them during the course of the month before the Bookmobile lumbered back down the road.

Shellie is a committed believer in Jesus Christ. She lives what she shares in her writing. She began by writing humorous books (I've got two of them) and Hearts Wide Open is her first Bible Study book.  It has a workbook (print or download)  and the teaching DVD is coming out soon.

We thoroughly enjoyed meeting Shellie Rushing Tomlinson and we are so grateful that she took the time to come and to talk with us. 

Now, about the Purple Cow.  Great burgers. Great shakes. Great rootbeer and Great de-caf coffee.  Fun company. 

Keep Reading. Keep Writing

Party ‘Til the Cows Come Home

By Linda L. Scisson

A Book Review of Heart Wide Open

by Shellie Rushing Tomlinson

Dorothy Hill and I did not exactly party ‘til the cows come home at The Purple Cow on Wednesday, March 26. But we had good food and fellowship, before making the 100-yard dash across the street to Barnes & Noble for Shellie Rushing Tomlinson’s 7 PM talk and book-signing of her latest book, Heart Wide Open: Trading Mundane Faith for an Exuberant Life with Jesus (WaterBrook Press, 2014).

“Exuberant” is an appropriate adjective not only for the book’s sub-title, but also for the author. Shellie Tomlinson is an enthusiastic speaker and enthusiastic participant of life. In Heart Wide Open, Shellie writes that we can find exuberant life here on earth, as we continue to live “in anticipation of seeing Him in the next” (page 21).

 And that stretches our margins of gratitude for the Great Exchange: Jesus traded His death on the cross for our eternal life.

To trade mundane faith for an exuberant life with Jesus: The first step is to admit one’s faith is mundane. This takes humility, which attribute is seen in the first few pages of Heart Wide Open.

Shellie admits to a season of feeling as if her faith were “compartmentalized.” She felt a “disconnect” between her Sunday morning faith and her everyday experience, although she retained “a healthy respect for the teachings of the church” (page 4). But she was looking for something more than “biblical head knowledge” (page 6). She was looking for something more than “the church-lady gig” (page 5). Why? — Because she had an “aching faking heart” (page 7).

So Shellie embarks on “some serious soul searching” (page 7), as she ponders the words of Jesus in Mark 12:30: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (NIV). 

To our advantage, Shellie hoists us on the highway of a holy enterprise — to trade the mundane for the exuberant — in the first of the book’s eight chapters, titled “When All You Can Bring Him Is A Broken Want-To.” 

How does she do that? She discovers a way to conquer the mountain of the mundane. She embraces “the blessed challenge” (page 11). She asks herself:  “What am I collecting?” And she finds a “clear directive” in Matthew 6:20: “. . . collect for yourselves treasures in heaven” (page 11).

 

One simple prayer to regain a “heart wide open” to God is: “Help me to value and love You more.” And one practical step that we can take toward this goal is to remember, which means “to recollect.” We remember by collecting again (p. 15).

 

In other words, as we treasure God’s love for us, we will experience “the biggest adventure of all time” (page 9) — such as the “freeing [of] me from me” (page 125), as well as “the sweetest of addiction” to God’s friendship (page 21) — because “joy and contentment are found in Him” (page 19). 

 

Yet, to actually know God will probably not result in a 24-7 party ‘til the cows come home this side of heaven; but there will be indication of something favorable, something significant, something exuberant, as the Holy Spirit supernaturally ignites the lukewarm heart, as He woos us back to the Father.

Perseverance Pays Off

By Linda L. Scisson

Author Deborah Howard spoke at our March meeting on Monday, the 17th, rather than the original scheduled date of March 11, 2014 (the 2nd Tuesday of the month) because of hazardous road conditions caused by ice and snow.

It was worth the wait.

For one thing, this lady knows a lot about another kind of delay: the delay in being published. Deborah said she literally wall-papered a wall in a room in her house with rejection slips she received upon first trying to get published. Yet through a lot of hard work and perseverance, her Wall of Rejection transformed into a Wall of Perseverance.

Her 2005 book Sunsets: Reflections for Life’s Final Journey is relevant to everyone, because death touches everyone’s life. As a certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse, Deborah writes what she knows about.  Sunsets is a composite of different patients with a fictional character introducing each chapter.

Deborah’s book Where is God in All of This?: Finding God’s Purpose in Our Suffering (2009) is like a first cousin to Sunsets. It dives into a question many of us ask ourselves at one season or another.

Another book by Deborah is much shorter; it’s only four chapters in length. The title is: HELP! Someone I Love Has Cancer (2010). And HELP! Someone I Love Has Alzheimer’s (2012) also comes in a compact size.

And we look forward to the release later this year of HELP! I’m So Lonely. While Deborah shared that she has never been plagued with loneliness, she interviewed a lot of people who have.

Besides nursing and writing, Deborah (Mrs. Theron) Howard divides her time with editing, ghost writing, and lecturing. She mentioned a book that she ghost-wrote and emphasized the importance of being like-minded with the author. But she was not an unseen ghost, as Deborah’s name appears on the book’s front cover: It’s Not Fair! Finding Hope When Times Are Tough by Wayne A. Mack with Deborah Howard (published in 2008).

Deborah gave us advice on getting published. First and foremost, we are to read and keep reading. Writers love to read; that’s a given.

Secondly, buy an updated edition of Writer’s Market. Check the submission guidelines carefully. Use the editor’s name in your correspondence, rather than simply writing “Dear Editor.”

Third: Enter writing contests. Fourth: Attend writers’ conferences and ghost-writing conferences, as Deborah specified some of the “How To’s” one learns at these conferences.

Her final points of advice were to get an agent, and to keep marketing your own books, as generally a publishing company markets their authors’ books for only the first six months, and that’s it.

Hopefully, with Deborah’s appearance at our writers’ club, she will see an increase in sales of her books, as they are worth our time to read. And whether we look up from our reading and see snow and ice or Bradford pears and forsythia, let’s keep reading and writing.  

What a Fantastic Idea & Opportunity!

Here is a WONDERFUL IDEA from Linda Scisson.  The moment I read it I knew that I'M IN!  I want to do this.  I sure hope you can join us
Read On:

Linda Scisson was in Barnes & Noble and saw a sign about an upcoming book-signing and talk by a CHRISTIAN author,

Shellie Rushing Tomlinson,

Linda thought some of us might be interested in this.

Shellie Rushing Tomlinson has obviously got some good marketing going for her . . . with a book-signing AND talk at our local Barnes & Noble:

March 26, 2014

Wednesday, 7 PM
Talk and Book-signing
By: Shellie Rushing Tomlinson

Book:
Heart Wide Open: Trading Mundane Faith for an Exuberant Life with Jesus

The cover of the book reflects an endorsement by author-speaker Sheila Walsh.

Shellie Rushing Tomlinson and her husband live and farm in Louisiana, according to the bio part of her book.

AN IDEA:

On a related note: Would some of you like to meet . . . say at The Purple Cow (restaurant) across the street from Barnes & Noble at . .

6:00 PM (one hour before the event)

March 26, 2014 (Wednesday)

The Purple Cow (sandwich, soup place, milk-shakes -- very casual)

Eat there, and then walk over

to Barnes & Noble . . .

and support this Christian author,

Shellie Rushing Tomlinson,

. . . as a group: the Little Rock chapter of American Christian Writers

There.  I told you it was a fantastic idea. Would you shoot me an email to let us know you are planning to attend so we know the size of table to get?  I love love love the Purple Cow.  How about you?  Are you in?  I'm dohill@Reagan.com
I wanted to include Linda's email but didn't ask her first, so I'm not comfortable just handing out her email information...

Keep reading. Keep writing.

Contest Opportunities and Rules & A Writing Prompt

This a copy & paste version of the Contest catagories and the rules.  I want these out up front so you have time to write, revise and write some more. When you have buffed and polished your entry you can either email dotlatjohn@gmail.com or snail-mail (US Post Office) it to Dorothy Johnson.  She will ensure that the entries get to the proper judges by the correct date. 
I will need to find her mailing address.... sigh.  I thought I had it handy...

Little Rock American Christian Writers

2014 Writing Contest

 We would like to invite you to participate in our annual writing contest. Some of the categories have been named after our generous sponsors. Please visit their websites to see what they are working on right now and browse their archives.

 Contest 1: The Arnold Family Foundation Fiction Contest

     ·         1,500 to 2,000 words
     ·         Prizes--$50 first place; $25 second place; $15 third place

 Contest 2:  The Arnold Family Foundation Non-Fiction Contest

     ·         750 to 1,200 words
     ·         Prizes--$50 first place; $25 second place; $15 third place

Contest 3: StoryWriting Studio Humorous Memoir Contest:  (sponsored by Karen Jordan and The StoryWriting Studio) http://storywritingstudio.wordpress.com

     ·         Write a funny story about a person, place, or an event from your personal life.
     ·         1,000 words or less
     ·         Prizes--$25 first place; $15 second place; $10 third place

Contest 4: Devotional (sponsored by Dorothy Johnson)
 www.reflectionsfromdorothy.blogspot.com
     ·         Write on the Subject: “You are a Letter from God” 2 Corinthians 3:3
     ·         500 words or less
     ·         Prizes--$25 first place; $15 second place; $10 third place

Contest 5:  Poetry
     ·         12-48 lines
     ·         Prizes--$25 first place; $15 second place; $10 third place

WRITING PROMPT:

There, is that big enough to catch your eye?? I'll try to find a way that is identifiable and not so loud to look at. But for today here we go:  The theme for March is NEW LIFE

The power to change is in my hands.”
― Helen M. Ryan,   
In this instance, Ms. Ryan's book is about a new body in 21 days. 

Connect this statement to your writing, your writing life. Think about it: how has writing changed you or cemented you or grounded you or challenged you? In regards to your writing How is the power to change in your hands. Do you agree with the statement? Write a journal entry. You determine the length.  Find someone you are comfortable with and share your thoughts.

I'm going to write on this topic too. 

Keep Reading. Keep Writing. 

Our Writing on the Rock Blog is about to undergo some changes. You will see more blog postings about things that are happening in the Little Rock Chapter of American Christian Writers.  I will be sharing information on and pictures of speakers we have had. There will be lots of information about upcoming events, like our Writers Conference in May. And Contests!  We welcome entries and are excited to read things right from your heart.

I will also be posting writing prompts for any who chose to use them.  We were reminded again by our most recent guest speaker, Deborah Howard, how writing prompts help us grow by challenging us to think & write 'outside the box'. 

March's theme is New Life.  So the posts will have some connection to that and the writing prompts will, hopefully, engage us in thinking and writing about that topic.

Just a quiet heads-up...April is Poetry Month, so the posts will be about poetry, the writing prompts will, too. We will explore some different kinds of poetry and hopefully share some as well.  I love poetry.

Enough for now. 

Write On!