4th YEAR IN A ROW!!

Johnnie won Novel of the Year 2010, and this is the fourth year in a row a Kindred Heart has won an award!

Here's how God blessed us here at the conference:

Clella: Harvest House requested a proposal from me for SPICE UP YOUR LIFE which is my latest project. I am excited! While I am writing this, the other Kindred Hearts are acting like children and having such a good time. Conference time is our time and we do enjoy one another. Thank you God for the Kindred Hearts.

Karen: My military and cop stories may have finally found a home. I learned so much from the classes taught by Angela Hunt and Nancy Rue, that my head is about to explode. Does anyone have any cotton for my ears when I sleep, so the stuff doesn't run out? Our reunion of the "hearts" blessed, warmed and enlarged my heart. And I don't care if that runs out!!

Laura: I brought my novel, and a publishing house showed interest -- now I have work to do! I learned tons in my Fiction Mentoring Track, taught by Ken Kuhlken. The hearts had great fun laughing, eating, learning, and worshipping together -- what a blessing.

Jeanie: The encouragement and feedback from all the editors I met will give me energy to revisit my projects. I was amazed at how many opportunities we had for one to one times with them. Also the friendships and worship kept all our hearts on God, not ourselves.

Johnnie: Nancy Rue helped me cut out my sticky-wicket "Interlude" chapter and gave me ideas for getting from one point in time to a few years later without bogging down the story. I can look around this table and count five blessings -- the Kindred Hearts and our writing pal Karen Wingate.

What a joy this conference has been for all of us. We thank Conference Director Billie Wilson most of all for making this happen! If it hadn't been for this conference, we'd all still be sitting home looking longingly at Writer's Digest.

New Look, Old Friends: Florida Christian Writers Conference 2010

We're together!!! The five of us met for the first time at the 2007 Florida Christian Writers Conference. Little did we know all that God had planned for us.

We do a lot more than critique each other's writing ministries. We encourage and support one other in all aspects of our successes and heartaches as writers. We are more than an online writing group . . . we are kindred hearts.

We are so excited to be with each other and share our writing journeys together.

As the conference begins, we want to share with you what we're looking forward to in the next few days.

Jeanie: I am taking Jeanne Gowen Dennis' continuing class called Beyond Words: Writing Great Prose. I deeply want my writing to sing and know I need to continually improve.

Laura: I'll be working in author Ken Kuhlken's Fiction Mentoring Track. I've brought the novel I began during NaNoWriMo, and I'm excited to get some input and direction.

Clella: I am signed up for mentoring by Janis Whipple in the non-fiction area. I hope to grow in my knowledge of the organization of the non-fiction book.

Karen: I want to find out if the true-life stories about my son's experiences in boot camp and police work will appeal to any editor. I'm also branching out and going to some fiction classes, too. That might be dangerous! Uh, oh!

Johnnie: I aspire to write compelling novels with unforgettable characters so I'm excited about the fiction continuing class being taught by Angela Hunt and Nancy Rue.

So tune in next Monday to see what we learned, how we laughed, and how God blessed us in this special time together! (And let us know how you like our new look!)

The Kindred Heart Writers

One-Sheet Wonder

A one-sheet summarizes the pertinent information from a book proposal and serves as a concise marketing tool. A well-designed one-sheet gives agents and publishers a snapshot of the proposed project.

Include these essential elements:

• your name and contact information
• your photo
• summary statement (nonfiction) or storyline (fiction)
• a very brief synopsis (one to three paragraphs)

Novelist Mary DeMuth includes more detailed information on her website on what to include in both nonfiction and fiction one sheets (click here). Her site links to examples of nonfiction and fiction one-sheets.

Learning to create an effective one-sheet is an important skill for writers and adds a professional touch to manuscript proposals.

Each one of us has been working on one-sheets for our writing projects in preparation for next week's Florida Christian Writers Conference. This way, we can hand a piece of paper to the publishing professionals we meet that showcases the strong points of our proposals.

What are your tips for creating and writing an effective one-sheet?

Johnnie