Category Archives: Blog

Your Royalty Note – Special Edition

April 28, 2014Blog, Contests, Fall Conference, Newlsetter, Upcoming Eventsguildadmin

Fall Conference Registration

Fall Conference Registration Now Open (Members Only): Registration is now open for SDCWG members (only) for our 2014 Fall conference. Open registration begins May 1, 2014.
When: October 24 and 25, 2014
Where: Maranatha Chapel in Rancho Bernardo
What: Our fall writers conference is for all writers–beginners to professionals, and those who are wondering if this is what they are called to do. Our workshops offer instruction in how to get started, self-publishing, fiction, non fiction, marketing, book proposals, screen writing, script writing, journalism, as well as spiritual inspiration —and more.The Friday evening and all day Saturday conference is designed to instruct, inspire and let you meet the writers, editors, and publishers who are committed to helping you write, get published and follow the Lord’s call on your life. We’re here to help you use your gifts.

One--on-One Faculty Consultation — One–on-One Faculty Consultation

Reminder: Guild members receive priority for faculty consultation signups. Signup numbers are awarded in the order your paid registration is received. So, as always, we encourage you to join the Guild and to sign up early in order to receive the consultation of your choice.

Spring Writing Contest Winners:

Contest Winners Francine Phillips & Felicia Cameron — Contest Winners
Francine Phillips & Felicia Cameron

Congratulations to Francine Phillips, winner of the SDCWG Spring Writing Contest for her article Things I Wish I’d Told My Husband (Prodigal Magazine, October 8, 2013) and Felicia Cameron for Remembering The Crew of United 175 and It Ain’t Over Yet.
For more pictures from the Spring Fellowship event please visit our Facebook page (photos by Vicki Hesterman)

SDCWG Annual Writing Awards
It’s time to submit your published writing from 2013 for the Guild’s annual writing awards. Awards will be presented at the Fall Conference in October. Current members, even past winners, are encouraged to submit their best writing published in 2013 for consideration. Please send four (4) copies of your submissions to PO Box 270403, San Diego, California, 92198 (or bring to the Spring Fellowship Event!) The final deadline is May 31, 2014. All entries (except books) may be submitted by sending a PDF formatted copy to info @ sandiegocwg.org.Rules: Material need not be overtly Christian in nature or published by a Christian publisher/magazine but should not be offensive. Maximum of three entries per person. You must be a current member to submit. Past winners are eligible. Board members are ineligible. Entries will not be returned.

Books: Fiction and non-Fiction, traditional or self-published
Articles: Magazines, online or printed
Poems: (Poems do not need to have been published. But they must have been written in 2013.)
Devotions
Songs
Plays

SDCWG Unpublished Manuscript Contest Deadline: May 31, 2014: It’s time to submit your unpublished, completed book manuscripts. Also eligible in this category are self-published (non-royalty or subsidized) books. Authors of self-published books (published in 2013) can choose to enter the unpublished manuscript category or the regular, published book category for the writing awards (see above). To enter the unpublished category, send the first 25 and the last 10 pages of your double-spaced manuscript electronically to info @ sandiegocwg.org with subject line: 2013 Award Submission. Please include a title page and the title/author/page number on the upper right hand corner of each page. The first place winner of this new category will be guaranteed an appointment at the Fall conference with an editor or agent of his or her choice.

San Diego Christian Writers Guild Fall Conference: October 24-25, 2014. Maranatha Chapel, Rancho Bernardo, CA 92127

Spring Fellowship Brunch – Join Us This Saturday!

April 25, 2014Blog, Upcoming Eventsbrunch, hammer, springguildadmin

Join the Guild at our Spring Fellowship Brunch this Saturday in Rancho Bernardo!
(April 26, 2014 10am-Noon)

Special guest speaker Bob Hamer and workshops by Susan Meissner and Martha Gorris.

This event is always a fun, relaxed time to meet and mingle with the SDCWG board of directors and other Christian writers.

Come for the food, come for the encouragement, come for the fellowship!

Where: The Cove, 11838 Bernardo Plaza Ct., SD, CA 92128 (BEHIND THE CITIBANK BUILDING!).

Cost: $25/person (bring someone new to the Guild and they are only $20). Register online via Paypal or at the door via cash/check/credit card. (If paying at the door please call 760.294.3269 or email sdcwg at yahoo.com and let us know to expect you.)

What We’re Reading – April 2014

April 21, 2014Blog, What We're Reading, Writers Quotesguildadmin

Good writers read. So, let’s share what we’re reading with each other each month.Send in what you’re reading with a short thumbs up/down blurb and a photo (.jpg) of yourself and we’ll post on the third Monday of the month.
Email to: sdcwg@yahoo.com
Subject: Reading

Join the Guild at our Spring Fellowship Brunch this Saturday! (April 26, 2014 10am-Noon) Special guest speaker Bob Hamer and workshops. Where: The Cove, 11838 Bernardo Plaza Ct., SD, CA 92128 (BEHIND THE CITIBANK BUILDING!). $25/person (bring someone new to the Guild and they are only $20). Register online via Paypal or mail in registration form.

I’m reading David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Writing this book reportedly brought author Malcolm Gladwell back to his faith. I’m also reading The Great Santini by Pat Conroy, and recently finished A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner and Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. All excellent!

Just finished The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt. I liked this book! Haidt’s a self-described, left-leaning liberal, but in my opinion he’s one of the good ones in that he’s willing to think for himself and isn’t afraid to be as critical of the left as he is of the right. The book is based on years of his own research as a social psychologist, is peppered throughout with end notes which are as interesting as the book itself, and is extremely well-documented. Anyone interested in why our society is so polarized but who may not have time to read the book, you’ll find Haidt on TED, or go to his website at http://righteousmind.com.

On the recommendation of a friend I just finished A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. They said it was an interesting and easy read. I found it boring, tedious, confusing and difficult but I was determined to slug through it. They kept asking me how I liked it. About half way through I realized I’d ordered A Short History of the World by Blainey instead of Bryson’s book! LOL. Mystery solved and after reading Bryson I may not agree with everything he wrote but agree that it was written in an easy and entertaining style! I also read Think of a Number (mystery) by John Verdon. What impressed me about this book was the extensive vocabulary list I built from looking up words I didn’t know. I also finished Master the SAT (along with all the sample problems and practice tests). Great way to humble yourself in front of your teenagers and learn something along the way!

Ten Laws for Critique Groups

February 11, 2014Blogguildadmin

Check this out from Chip MacGregor:

http://www.chipmacgregor.com/uncategorized/ten-laws-writing-critique-groups/

News of Note

February 3, 2014Blog, Newlsetter, Upcoming Eventsguildadmin

Santee Critique Group:

The new time and day for the Santee Critique Group, hosted by Tiffany Hanson, will be the first and third Saturdays of the month from 10am-12pm at the Santee Library (9225 Carlton Hills Blvd). However, for the month of February, the group will only meet on February 15.

SDCWG Spring Fellowship Brunch: April 26, 2014:

at The Cove in Rancho Bernardo (a venue of The Church at Rancho Bernardo). More details coming soon!

SDCWG Writing Contest: March 26, 2014 deadline

!Sharpen your pencils and ink your quills and get ready for the Guild’s first annual Spring Writing Contest. Submit your best poem, devotional, short story, or article of 1,500 words or less and email as a .doc or .pdf to sdcwg @ yahoo.com no later than March 26, 2014. The winner will be announced on April 10 and receive a ticket to our Spring Fellowship Brunch on Saturday, April 26, 2014 at The Cove in Rancho Bernardo (The Church at Rancho Bernardo). Our Fall Writing contest will continue to be the Unpublished Manuscript competition, the winner of which receives a 15-minute consultation with their choice of our Fall Conference faculty.

Writers Symposium by the Sea, Point Loma Nazarene University, Feb. 20-27, 2014.

Jeannette Walls is the one people are buzzing about the most. Her memoir Glass Castle was a bestseller for more than a year, and has sold more copies than almost any other memoir. It’s being made into a movie with Jennifer Lawrence, who is both starring in it and producing it. The director of the movie is our own PLNU alum Destin Daniel Cretton, who won several awards recently for his film Short Term 12.

Walls also has some novels — her recent Silver Star was a great success, as was Half-Broke Horses. She has another non-fiction book called Dish, about how the news became an extension of celebrity gossip. She’s a former gossip columnist for the New Yorker.

Samuel Freedman is a columnist for the New York Times who writes about race and religion. His most recent book is Breaking the Line, about college sports and race. He’s also written books about the black church in New York (Upon This Rock), about failing schools in New York (Small Victories), about Jewish identity (Jew vs. Jew) and several others. I use his book Letters to a Young Journalist in one of my classes.

Anne Lamott is coming for her third appearance at the Symposium. We first had her soon after Bird By Bird came out, and she gets better each time. Her latest book, Stitches, has been a best-seller for several weeks. She is an audience favorite.

And we are doing a combined effort with UCSD to bring out cancer researcher and writer Siddhartha Mukherjee, whose book The Emperor of All Maladies won the Pulitzer Prize.

Dean Nelson will be doing interviews with each of the writers, as has been the format from the beginning of the Symposium. There will be time for audience Q&A and a book signing.

All the pertinent details are at www.pointloma.edu/writers.