Five of our staff members — Joanne Sloan, David Sloan, Cheryl Wray, Sammie Barstow, and Christopher Sloan — all of whom are successful published writers, will also give presentations. You can check them out by clicking here.
The 2009 Workshop was held Friday and Saturday, June 12-13.
Location: Tuscaloosa, Ala., at First Baptist Church
Time: Registration will start at 11 a.m. Friday, and sessions at 1:00 p.m. The workshop will end at 4:00 p.m. Saturday.
2009 KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
CEC MURPHEY
Cec has had 108 books published, including 17 novels, and 700 articles. His first book came off the press in 1975, and he now publishes three or four books a year. His newest book, Everybody Loved Roger Harden, is the first of three cozy mysteries. His current bestseller is 90 Minutes in Heaven, which he wrote for Don Piper. It has sold nearly three million copies and is available in 25 languages. It has been on the New York Times bestseller list since October 2006 and has been optioned for film. Two follow-up books have since been released, and a third is in the planning stages. The first is Daily Devotions Inspired by 90 Minutes in Heaven. The second is Heaven is Real. With an initial print run of 190,000 copies, it debuted at #15 on the New York Times extended list for hardback, nonfiction. The movie Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, based on Cec’s book, premiered on TNT in February 2009.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS: “How To Be a Full-Time Writer”
WORKSHOP SESSION: “Writing Non-Fiction Books”
2009 KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
VANESSA DAVIS GRIGGS
Vanessa is the author of the “Blessed Trinity” trilogy and four other novels: Destiny Unlimited, The Rose of Jericho, Promises Beyond Jordan, and Wings of of Grace. She is also a motivational speaker who “adores the power of words both written and spoken.” In 1996, she left her job of 18 years with Bellsouth and, stepping out on faith, decided to pursue her passion for writing. Basing her life on Proverbs 18:16 (“A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men”), she began her own company (Free To Soar) and today speaks around the country. Her work has been recognized with numerous accolades. She was a finalist for the BWA 2002 Gold Pen Award for Christian Fiction, received a Shades of Romance Magazine Reader's Choice Award in 2002, won the Sistah Circle Book Club Self-published African American Author Book of the Year Award and Best Christian Fiction Award in 2002 for Promises Beyond Jordan, and a Road to Romance Reviewer's Choice Award for Wings of Grace. She has signed another three-book deal with Kensington/Dafina. The first book, Practicing What You Preach, is scheduled for release in May.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS: “How To Fulfill Your Dreams”
WORKSHOP SESSION: “Writing Novels”
LETTIE KIRKPATRICK BURRESS - Topic: “Sell What You Write ... Again
and Again”
Lettie has written two books and several hundred articles for numerous magazines, such as HomeLife, Christian Living, ParentLife, Discipleship Journal, Mature Living, Christian Parenting Today, Open Windows, The War Cry, Today’s Christian Woman, and Evangel. Her articles have been reprinted in many other publications, and she has contributed to seven book compilations. Her two books are Lessons, Laughter, and Tough Lessons: The Inez Clemmer Legacy and Glimpses of Grace: Stories of Hope. She writes both on assignment and speculation. Her publications range from cover stories to interview articles, personal-experience pieces, journalistic essays, and devotionals. She received her B.A. from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and has taught writing classes at Lifeway Christian Resources, Chattanooga Bible Institute, and Cleveland State College.
2009 WORKSHOP INSTRUCTIONAL SESSION LEADERS
CAROL MUSE EVANS - Topic: “Writing for Parenting Magazines”
Carol Muse Evans is editor of Birmingham Parent, a nationally-award-winning maga-zine. Printing approximately 64 pages per issue, it circulates 40,000 copies and has an estimated readership of 80,000. Before she and her husband started Evans Pub-lishing LLC/Birmingham Parent magazine, she worked as a stringer for the Birming-ham Post-Herald, a technical writer, editor, and freelance writer. Now in its fifth year of publication, Birmingham Parent is the only Alabama member of Parenting Publica-tions of America, a professional organization committed to excellence in journalism, business practices, and ethics with more than 200 members in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Evans is on its Board of Directors and was recently elected its Secretary/Treasurer. Birmingham Parent has won more than twenty editorial, web and design awards from PPA. She is also the author of the book The Complete Guide to Alabama Weather. In 2004 she received the Alabama Tourism Advocate Award for her freelance and Birmingham Parent travel stories focusing on Alabama. She won the 2003 first place award for editing of special sections for Birmingham Family Times from the Alabama Media Professionals and the National Federation of Press Women's 2003 Communications Contest. She has served as assistant editor at Go World Travel, an online travel publication. She received her B.A. in journalism from Auburn University.
GINGER RUE - Topic: “Writing for Teens”
Ginger has been an advice columnist for Sweet 16 magazine and has written for Family Circle, Girl's Life, Teen Vogue, and Seventeen magazines, among others. Her novel for teenagers, Brand New Emily (about a nerdy girl who hires a brand manager to help her become popular), is scheduled for publication by 10 Speed Press during the week of the SCWC workshop. She has an Ed.D. degree from the University of Alabama.
RENE HOLT - Topic: “Working with a Magazine Editor”
As content editor of Mature Living, a Christian lifestyle magazine for senior adults, René oversees all aspects of production. The magazine, which has a circulation of 330,000, includes human interest, humorous, informational, and nostalgia articles. She also has been an editor and writer for HomeLife magazine. Both magazines are published by LifeWay Christian Resources. Previously she was author relations specialist for Broadman & Holman Publishers, LifeWay’s trade book division. She received her B.S. degree in English from Middle Tennessee State University and is completing a Master of Christian Studies degree from Union University.
WARREN BAKER - Topic: “Working with a Book Editor”
Warren is the Senior Editor of AMG Publishers in Chattanooga, Tenn. He is co-author of The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament; general editor of The Complete Word Study Old Testament; editor of Strong’s Complete Word Study Concordance and Nave’s Complete Word Study Topical Bible; and managing editor of The Complete Word Study New Testament, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, and The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible.
He has a doctoral degree in religious education and taught Old Testament courses at seminaries in New York and Philadelphia before beginning his career in Christian publishing 19 years ago.
SHEREE MARTIN - Topic: “The Writer and the Law”
Sheree, a freelance magazine writer, works as an attorney with the law firm of Rosen Harwood in Tuscaloosa. She is a member of both the Alabama and Florida state bars. She received her J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1987 and the LL.M. from the University of Florida in 1989. She also has a Ph.D. in mass communication and a B.A. in broadcasting from the University of Alabama. Along with practicing law, she has taught such courses as media law and writing at Oklahoma State University, the University of Alabama, and Samford University.
GREG DANIEL - Topic: “Finding and Working with a Literary Agent”
Greg is president of Daniel Literary Group, which he founded in 2007 after more than 10 years in publishing, six of which were at the executive level at Thomas Nelson Publishers. Most recently he had been Vice President and Associate Publisher for W Publishing Group (formerly Word Publishing), a trade book division of Thomas Nelson.
During his publishing career, he has workied with such critically acclaimed authors as Brian McLaren, Max Lucado, Scot McKnight, Jon Sweeney, David Dark, Phyllis Tickle, Jim Palmer, and Rick and Bubba. (“Okay,” he says of Rick and Bubba, “maybe they aren't critically acclaimed, but their book did hit the New York Times bestseller list.”) He has also been involved with publishing books by a number of celebrity personalities, including Bono, George Foreman, and "Black Hawk Down" hero Capt. Jeff Struecker.
He has been responsible for such notable books as the NY Times best-selling Same Kind of Different as Me and the ECPA Gold Medallion Award-winning books A Table in the Presence and Extreme Devotion. He teaches writing workshops at a small number of conferences each year.
SUE BRANNON WALKER - Topic: “Writing and Publishing Poetry”
Sue is Poet Laureate of Alabama, She teaches English at the University of South Alabama, where she is the Stokes Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing, director of the Stokes Center for Creative Writing, and chair of the English Department. Her book Blood Must Bear Your Name was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2003. Whatever Remembers Us: An Anthology of Alabama Poetry was a Southern Booksellers Best Poetry Book finalist in 2008.
She has eight published books of poetry, has edited four national literary anthologies, has had work published in more than fifteen anthologies and sixty national journals, and is known for her critical work on Southern writers Carson McCullers, Flannery O’Connor, and James Dickey. As editor and publisher of Negative Capability since 1981, she has published the works of numerous poets and writers, providing some of them their first opportunity to be published. Writer’s Digest has ranked Negative Capability as the third most prestigious literary publisher in the nation.
She has won numerous awards, including the Book of the Century Award from the Alabama State Poetry Society and the William Crawford Gorgas Award for Life on the Line: Selections on Words and Healing; the Hackney Literary Award for fiction; the Alabama Writer’s Conclave Play-Writing competition for her play based on the life of Mobile’s Madame Octavia LeVert; the Mobile Arts Council Award for Lifetime Achievement; and an Alabama Council on the Arts Individual Writers Fellowship.
She has served as president of the Alabama State Poetry Society, the Alabama National League of American Pen Women, and The Pensters.
She received her Ph.D. from Tulane University.
MARY ANN LENZ - Topic: “Writing Fillers”
Mary Ann has published puzzles, quizzes, and short articles in more than 50 different Christian and secular publications. They include such magazines as Guide, Live, Partners, Purpose, Seek, and Mature Living. For six years she wrote material for the activity books for TeamKID curriculum, a Lifeway publication. She received her B.A. from the University of North Alabama.
VICKIE PHELPS - Topic: “Writing Gift Books”
Vickie Phelps is the author of five gift books and a perpetual calendar published by Barbour Publishing. Her most recent is 101 Thanksgiving Blessings. She is also the co-author with Jo Huddleston of three e-books for booklocker.com, and she has worked on a devotional book project with other writers for the un-churched. Life’s Simple Guide to Happiness was released in 2007 by FaithWords. She is also a freelance magazine writer, and more than 150 of her articles have been published in magazines such as Woman’s Touch, Lutheran Woman Today, Church of God Evangel, Mature Living, The War Cry, Christian Standard, and CBN.com. Her work is included in several anthologies. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, the Northeast Texas Writers Organization, and The Writers View, an online writers group. She has had an active critique group meeting in her home for fifteen years. She is also the book buyer for an independent bookstore where she has been employed for fifteen years.
