Heading to the ACFW Conference in Dallas

I’ll be departing for Dallas and ACFW’s annual, national writer’s convention, in the wee hours on Thursday morning, 5:00 am to be exact. I’ll need to leave for the airport at around 2:00 am. Not fun, but by doing this, I was able to  work around an additional night’s stay at the convention hotel, which would’ve cost another $200.

We’re not flush this year. Crops yields were below average, and wheat prices are not at the break-even point. Saving money counts! Fortunately, I had saved my harvest wages from 2014, telling my husband that if things looked promising for my writing in the coming year, I would use it to attend the national ACFW convention in 2015. Interestingly, my wages were very, very close to the exact amount that the convention is costing me. So I guess that is what God always intended for me to do, and He gave me the means of doing it. 

This convention will be different for me in a couple of ways from any other writer’s convention I’ve attended. For one thing, it’s a Christian writer’s convention, which is very appealing. For another, I’m looking at it as a job interview. I’ll be pitching a marketable manuscript, one that has taken second place in three contests, and is currently a finalist in ACFW’s Genesis contest, to an editor and an agent. The manuscript may or may not sell to this editor. This agent may not take me on. But I will have made some connections and the door to the possibility of traditional publication will have opened a bit farther.  And that is awesome. 

I’ve written my elevator pitch, my two-paragraph pitch, and my acceptance speech, should I happen to win the Historical Romance category. 

I promised to show you my completed one sheet (see above).

I also bought a dress to wear to the awards gala and a pretty jacket of navy blue lace. The dress is a stretchy jersey fabric in sunset colors: reds, burgundies, oranges, and with a touch of navy. I found a sparkly necklace in the same colors. And I plan to wear some burgundy pumps that a good friend gave me, which we jokingly call “Dorothy’s Wizard of Oz” shoes. (Maybe they’ll bring me luck?)  

What’s been happening with you, now that summer’s over? Have you attended any writer’s conventions lately?