Cynthia Ruchti is in her 29th year as writer and producer of the daily radio broadcast "The Heartbeat of the Home," a slice-of-life radio drama woven together with relevant biblical teaching. The broadcast is created and recorded in central Wisconsin and aired on stations across the country.
She speaks to women's groups, leads worship and devotions or teaches workshops at a variety of writers' conferences (Write-to-Publish, Wisconsin Fellowship of Christian Authors, Quad-Cities Christian Writers' Conference, ACFW), writes magazine articles for regional and national publications, serves as editor and staff writer of a ministry magazine called Backyard Friends, and in-house has published 95 books which are compilations of past Heartbeat broadcasts. She's a humor columnist for American Christian Fiction Writer's Afictionado e-zine and writes a monthly column for Wisconsin Christian News.
Cynthia is also a cranny fiction writer. She steals miniscule crannies of time in which to write women's fiction which she calls "Diving Board Fiction: Taking you deeper than you thought you could plunge." That fits her overarching life ministry brand, which is "Splashing in the Deep End: Diving into Words, Worship, and Wonder." She will deliver the keynote address on "The Heart of a Writer."
2008 Workshop Leaders
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Roland Barksdale-Hall currently serves as the managing editor of an affiliate of the American Library Association's newsletter and publisher of The Health Reporter. He has planned healing and restoration family gatherings and published a family-centered newsletter, The Alleghenian. He studied publication management at George Washington University and teaches at Bryant and Stratton College. |
| Beverlee Blair has worked as a writer, teacher of creative writing, dramaturg, actor, dancer, private investigator, and library assistant. She has done research for 60 Minutes and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Her plays have been produced at Brava Theater for Women in the Arts in San Francisco, Pittsburgh Playwrights, and Luna Dance Theater. Her short stories have appeared in The Writers Post Journal and the Poets and Writers' online publication. | |
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Gloria Clover writes Christian fiction, edited the devotional Penned From the Heart for many years, and co-directs this writing conference. Her novella, The Remaking of Moe McKenna, was recently published in the anthology Race to the Altar from Barbour Publishing. Her previously published romances include Brianna's Pardon, also from Barbour, and Tangled Truths from Son-Rise Publications. |
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Salene J. Cowher (Ph.D.) has worked in higher education for most of her life, and is currently employed as a graduate professor in the counseling programs at Edinboro University. A licensed counselor she’s maintained a part-time private practice since 1987. Salene has written successful grants, published in juried publications, edited a textbook, and published poems. |
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Lynne Gordon and her husband Drew are directors of publications for Crown & Covenant Publications--a denominational publisher. Before Crown & Covenant, Lynne worked as a communication specialist for a Fortune 500 management consulting firm. She has a B.A. in English with minors in writing and journalism, and has taken some seminary graduate work. |
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Mary Gould and Eddie Berg have both been professional musicians for twenty-eight years. Having worked together at one time, they recently combined their talents to write and produce an album of their own music. |
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Mary Ann Haslett, author of My Prayer Box, a Gift to God, began wirting for the Pittsburgh Christian in 2004 as a columnist and reporter of special Christian interest stories. One such article involved an interview with PraiseMoves founder, Laurette Willis. MaryAnn, impressed with what she learned about this Christian alternative to yoga, became a certified PraiseMoves instructor. |
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Nancy E. James edits The Upper Case, the official newsletter/magazine of St. Davids Christian Writers Association. She taught creative writing at Westminster College and English as a foreign language in Japan and South Korea. Her poetry has appeared in many literary magazines, and she has taught workshops in poetry, journaling, and other topics at various writers' conferences. |
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Helen Kammerdiener is a retired elementary teacher whose articles and poems have appeared in Penned from the Heart, My Turn to Care, and the Leader-Vindicator. Some of her poems have been set to music and presented at such meetings as New Bethlehem's annual women's Christian seminar. Helen is a Methodist lay speaker, and presents a weekly short devotional as a part of the worship service at her church. |
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Margaret Menamin’s poems have appeared in a wide variety of publications, including Good Housekeeping, The Lyric, The Formalist, Iambs & Trochees, and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She has also won first place in both Writer's Digest's and Iambs & Trochees' annual poetry competitions. Her book, Sonnets for a Second Summer, was published by Westphalia Press, and her online chapbook, Essential Tremors, by New Formalist. |
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Evelyn Minshull is the author of 26 books, her most recent being four novels in the Guideposts Church Choir mystery series and a picturebook titled Eaglet's World. Her credits also include hundreds of articles, short stories, poems, and plays. A former creative writing teacher in public schools, she has taught over 50 weeklong courses at elderhostels. She is also co-director of this conference. |
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Sherris Moreira-Byers is the editor of Views and Voices monthly magazine for women through The Herald and Allied News newspapers. Sherris was a staff writer for six years at The Herald and her beat areas included Brookfield, Hermitage and Grove City. |
Stephanie Pedas, a former writing teacher, has a Master's Degree in English from Slippery Rock University. |
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Mary Jo Rulnick was the Bronze winner for the Parenting Publications of America 2006 Awards. She is the author of The Frantic Woman's Guide to Feeding Family and Friends (Warner Books, 2006) and The Frantic Woman's Guide to Life (Warner Books, 2004), and is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. |
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Audrey Stallsmith is the author of the Thyme Will Tell mystery series from WaterBrook Press and The Body They May Kill from Thomas Nelson. She has also been published in such periodicals as Woman's World, Birds & Blooms, and Moody Magazine, and writes articles on plant folklore and Christian thought for her own web sites: thymewilltell.com and inklingsoftruth.com . Audrey is registrar and webmaster for St. Davids Writers' Conference. |
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Shirley Stevens is leader of the First Word Christian Writers, mentor for The Writing Academy, secretary of the St. Davids Christian Writers Conference Board, and poetry columnist for The Upper Case. Her poems have been published in Poet Lore, The Christian Century, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Time of Singing, Pennsylvania Anthology of Poets on Pennsylvania, and Prize-Winning Poems from Pennsylvania Poetry Society. |
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Marjie Stewart is a playwright with more than 20 productions. She is also a college English teacher working on her Ph.D. in composition at Indiana University of PA. Her mother thought she was a very odd child because she liked to read plays, but she grew up to write them. Coincidence? We don't think so. Marjie also holds an MFA in fiction writing from the Univ. of Pittsburgh and is the current president of the St. David's Christian Writers' Association. |
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Lora Zill has a M.A. in English and teaches at Gannon University and for Allegheny College's gifted program for public schools. She is a teaching artist with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, directs the St. Davids Christian Writer's Conference, edits the quarterly journal of literary poetry Time Of Singing, and speaks at writers’ conferences. Her award-winning work has been published widely. |
8:15-8:45 – Registration and Fellowship
9:00-9:50 – Announcements, Worship, and Keynote
10:00-10:50 – Workshop 1
11:00-11:50 – Workshop 2
12:00-12:50 – Workshop 3A, or lunch
1:00-1:50 – Workshop 3B, or lunch
2:00-2:50 – Workshop 4
3:00-3:50 - Workshop 5
4:00-4:45 – Awards Ceremony, Closing Remarks
The number after the workshop title tells you in what time slot that workshop will be held. Workshop titles will be listed under the appropriate category as they become available.
Fiction
Beginners/Audrey Stallsmith (1) — Though this class is geared toward novelists, all beginning writers will find helpful information to get them started in the amazing business of publishing.
Novellas/Gloria Clover (2) — Focus in this workshop will be on characterization which is primary regardless of the length of story, and the plotting to size.
Genre Fiction/Gloria Clover (3A) — Focus on this workshop will be the differences in plotting genre fiction to meet reader expectations, with discussion on various sub-genres that keep novelists from feeling locked into a formula.
It Helps If We’ve Never Grown Up/ Evelyn Minshull (3B) — Writing for children. Though under the fiction track title, this workshop will cover skits, non-fiction articles, and picture books.
Short Stories/Beverlee Blair (4) — is intended to teach the writer to hear his/her story’s heartbeat and to amplify it or mute it as its various parts require. Students should bring either an early draft of a short story or the kernel of an idea and be prepared to read aloud from their work. Specific plot, character and arc points will be amplified, shaded or muted using a variety of techniques--including studies in light and shadow, sight lines, the archaeology of feeling and the use of amplifying foresight.
Critique Groups/Panel of authors (5) — Want some immediate feedback on your manuscript? Bring a few pages of your current work to share.
Non-fiction
Beyond Articles and Books/Mary Jo Rulnick (1) — Community newsletters, niche guides, and press releases can add consistent revenue to your income. Learn what needs to be included in a press release, how to seek out clients and how to submit to the media. Find out if a community newsletter will be a worthwhile project for your area and a venue to promote your own writing, while generating an income. Niche guides provide an opportunity to utilize your expertise to a narrow target audience or for a subject that offers a limited amount of information. Format, options, and marketing of these projects will be discussed. Workshop includes: information on how to brainstorm, how to make money with newsletter, guides, and releases, and what opportunities for each idea writers can expect.
Writing for Denominational Publishers/Lynn Gordon (2) — Denominational and small church publishers offer a niche with a defined audience and unique opportunities for writers to build their resumés. Most of these publishers offer opportunities to write not only books, but also articles and ministry-related materials. This class will introduce how to approach church-related publishers and write for them successfully.
Refine & Define/Sherris Moreira-Byers (3A) — editing your own work
Academic Writing/Salene Cowher (3B) — focuses on writing for research and practice; including articles for juried publications, textbooks, self-help books, and grant proposals.
From A to Z: Writing for Encyclopedias/Roland Barkesdale-Hall (4) — looks at how to develop a specific subject interest, market, research and write for lucrative reference sources.
Getting the Word Out/Roland Barkesdale-Hall (5) — addresses newsletter publication for family, churches, and organizations
Articles
An Ear to Hear/Sherris Moreira-Byers (1) — learning how to interview
Designed to Sell/Cynthia Ruchti (2) — if you want to attract the interest of an editor or publisher, you'll need to learn how to design your writing with an eye for making a sale, not raising eyebrows. Come learn how to target your work for today's publishing market.
Award Winning Article/Mary Joe Rulnick (3A) — the five key elements to snag the editor’s attention: topic, research, statistics, quotes, and advice. Ninety-five percent of articles sold today are advice pieces. Discover how to find topics that grab interest for a salable idea, and how to fine-tune your research, add compelling statistics that give punch, plus gather quotes and solid suggestions from experts. Learn how to utilize your time to find experts, pinpoint specific advice and keep the theme throughout the piece. Rulnick dissects these components using her award-winning article as an example. Workshop includes: Keeping the theme flowing through the article, how to gather statistics related to the piece, and how to work in sidebars related to the theme.
How to Write an Essay/Marjorie Stewart (3B) — from Montaigne to freshman composition to creative nonfiction, the essay has been extolled, loathed, loved, feared and misunderstood. In this workshop, we'll try to nail this mercurial form down long enough to begin writing one.
Worshipping Through Words/Evelyn Minshull (4) — writing and marketing devotionals.
Stepping Into Their Sandals/Helen Kammerdiener (5) — In this workshop we will attempt to look out at the world from inside a Bible character’s skin so that we can think, feel, laugh, and cry with them. That new perspective can be the starting point for a devotional, skit, etc.
Poetry
Poetry Percs/Shirley Stevens (1) — Brewing a Poem: Beginners learn to grind coffee beans before percolating them. Or they select tea leaves then let them steep. The first step (or steeping) involves reading good poems aloud. Begin with the concrete. and then produce images. So come prime your pump and perc a poem.
Formal Poetry/Margaret Menamin (2) — forms discussed: Couplet, Rhymed Quatrain, Sonnet (very lightly), Villanelle, Ballade, Triolet, and Pantoum. There will be handouts with samples by well-known poets as well as a few of the speaker’s own poems.
Sonnets/Margaret Menamin (3A) — A detailed focus on how to write a sonnet with the opportunity to compose a few lines.
Producing a Chapbook/Lora Zill (4) — Do you dream of putting your poems in book form? Lora has helped poets publish their own chapbooks and will share from her experience what to consider during this fulfilling and challenging process. Her workshop will include how to select poems, book design tips, copyright issues, publishing do's and don'ts, and will include examples of self-published books to generate ideas for your own. This workshop will also benefit those who look to publish other genres but need some insight into the self-publishing process.
Line Dancing/Shirley Stevens (5) — Study the styles of poets from Walt Whitman to Barbara Crooker. After reading models, you will emulate their style. Using your own subject matter, you experiment with these poets’ techniques and launch your own poems. Find your muse!
Drama
A Picture Worth a Thousand Words/Stephanie Pedas (1) — Have a picture worth a thousand words? This class covers the basic terms and techniques needed to prepare a script for filmed media, from cinema to podcasting. Whether you have a screenplay written up already, a novel you want to convert to a screenplay, short stories that could work as television scripts, or just an idea you need to explore in a visual medium, this class will give you insight into how these different forms work and how you can turn your words into moving images.
Improv!/Marjorie Stewart (2) — Stimulate your creativity through theatrical improvisation exercises. Improv is more than you see on "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" — it's an excellent training ground for character development, understanding plot, and just flat out having a great time.
Writing for the Ear/Cynthia Ruchti (4) — Whether or not you ever intend to write radio scripts, blurbs, or ad copy, you might gain some insights for your magazine or novel projects through this workshop on writing for the ear. The techniques involved in writing for radio carry over into other forms of writing. If you also have a unique idea for radio, choose this workshop as a place to learn about radio's challenges and joys.
Set it to Music: Creative Lyric Writing/Mary Gould (5) — Some of the topics covered: How to lure inspiration and keep it warm; the rhythm of words; song lyrics are not poetry; saying it another way; things publishers hate to hear unless you're already famous; outside helps: not all rhyming dictionaries are created equal; and more...
Writer's Life
Revvin’ Your Engines/Evelyn Minshull (1) — how to jump start your writing and leap over writers’ block
Daily Writing Practice: Starting to Get Ready to Begin/NancyE James (2)— The word practice means a habit or custom. It also means working on a skill in order to perfect it. Daily writing practice is both of these, and more. Writer Natalie Goldberg says, “Writing practice is a priori to any other kind of writing you might do. And . . . you can move . . . right over into a short story, a novel, an essay.” We will both talk about the practice and practice it!
On the Way to Memoir: Getting Ready to Begin/NancyE James (3A) —This workshop may be taken separately or as a follow-up to “Daily Writing Practice.” How can daily writings generate the memoir you’ve been wanting to write? How can biographical material be sorted, selected, organized? How may you choose a pattern, a theme, a focus for your memoir? The workshop will include brainstorming exercises as well as suggestions from various resources on memoir-writing.
Word Playing with My Friend Dick and His Pal the Dinosaur/Helen Kammerdiener (3B) — this is a light-hearted look at word meaning, word choice, and rewriting with the help of a dictionary and thesaurus. You may want to bring your favorite thesaurus and/or dictionary to use in class exercises.
Therapeutic Writing/Salene Cowher (4) — focuses on the therapeutic value of writing and related creative outlets in everyday life. The use of poetic symbolism as metaphor for problems will also be addressed.
PraiseMoves: The Christian Alternative to Yoga/Mary Ann Haslett (5) — As a writer, I know that you can get so caught up in writing that you get stiff, and sore, but don't feel like taking a break to exercise. PraiseMoves is the perfect way to relieve those stiff shoulders, sore back, and aching neck because it combines Deep Stretching, Gentle Movement, and Strong Scripture for Weight Loss, Stress Relief, Flexibility, and Strength. This workshop presentation will include a brief overview of PraiseMoves and then we will engage in about 10 minutes of gentle aerobics, about 30 - 35 minutes of stretching Postures (each posture is associated with a Scripture) and about 5 - 10 minutes of a Scripture Sequence where we will flow the postures to a Scripture. Then we will conclude with WWJD relaxation and mediation. Come enjoy a relaxing exercise break! If you would like more information on PraiseMoves - check out the website - www.praisemoves.com
All entries must be mailed to Audrey Stallsmith at 87 Pines Road East, Hadley, PA 16130 and postmarked by April 1, 2008. There is no charge. Envelopes and entries should be clearly marked CONTEST. You should include a cover sheet with your name, pertinent info., entry categories, and manuscript titles. A piece title, not your name, should identify each separate ms.
You may enter as many categories as you’d like, but enter each category only once. The poetry contest is the exception. You can enter up to three poems in each category, but the total lines must not exceed 40. (In other words, you can enter one 40-line poem, two 20-line poems, or three 13-line poems, but NOT three 40-line poems!)
Poetry Contests
Beginning Poetry: Any poetic style, 1-3 poems, total of 40 lines or less in all poems together. This is for newbies, not humble poets. If you’ve placed in this category before, please don't play again.
Light Verse: 1-3 poems, total of 40 lines or less in all poems together. Make us laugh.
Advanced Poetry: If you have placed in the Beginner's Poetry contest in years past, it is time to enter here. Any type of poetry. 1-3 poems, 40 lines or less.
Fiction Contests
Story Beginning: No more than four pages, double-spaced, of your best adult fiction in any genre.
Description of Person or Place: This is an exercise in preparing your story. In fiction, your description must be given out with your action and dialogue. (No information dumps as they are sometimes called.) But here we are giving you the opportunity to know what your character or setting look like, information dump, but seek out the beautiful way of expressing it that you will want to transfer over to your story. No more than two pages double-spaced. Any genre.
Children’s Story: A picture book or a story for a magazine, complete in four, double-spaced pages.
Non-fiction Contests
Devotional: 250 words or less, one Christian thought, including Scripture and prayer.
Editorial: Your opinion on a current controversial topic with incorporated scripture. 500 words or less.
"I knew I was a writer when...": Two pages double-spaced, a serious or humorous writing experience in your style of choice.
2007 Winners:
Beginning Poetry
Honorable Mention: Stoned by Marjory Baker
3. Lists by Joe Stierheim
2. Snow-Capped Peaks by Eric Dilmore
1. I Lost My Temper by Patty Zion
Childhood Memory
HM: The Skating Rink by Linda Parker
HM: The Visitation by Mary Grzebieniak
3. Sparks in the Dark by Marjorie Wonner
2. Rosaria by Jean Croyle
1. Shoe Leather and Book Store Bags by Roberta Rhodes
Children's Story
HM: Margo by Marjory Baker
3. Carol Wants a Nickname by Carol Silvis
2. Through Ice and Snow, O'er Blocks We Go by Lisa Ann Over
1. Just Because I'm Me by Jennifer Blanton-Stevenson
Conventional Poetry HM: Word Power by Helen Kammerdiener
HM: Summer 1941 by Joe Stierheim
HM: To Learn the Truth by Jack Wonner
3. Spring Struggles by Kathy Schriefer
2. Heaven and Nature Sings by Betty Rosian
1. Margaret Binney Smith by Patty Zion
Devotional
HM: Getting to Know You by Angie Kay Dilmore
HM: Love Still Lives by Maureen Profeta
HM: Someone's Waiting by Jennifer Lis
3. Trust the Lord by Virginia McBurney
2. Not Trials, but Faith by Cindy Bingham
1. God's Plans by Helen Kammerdiener
Editorial
HM: The Santa Dilemma by Betty Rosian
3. Ten Commandments Are More than Granite by Roberta Tucker Brosius
Essay
3. I Had a Dream by Jamie Thrush
2. Ironing by Virginia McBurney
Light Verse
HM: Lament by Charlene Byrd
3. Clothese Trees by Betty Rosian
2. Eats by Patty Zion
1. Let Me Count the Pain by Betty Rosian
Short-Shorts HM: Dream or Reality? by Lorena Estep
HM: Two Pink Lines by Angie Kay Dilmore
3. Through Ice and Snow, O'er Blocks We Go by Lisa Ann Over
2. Busted by Roberta Tucker Brosius
1. The Writer's Get-Away by Betty Rosian
Story Beginning
3. Swish by Carol Hamilton
2. Thirty Days Hath September by Roberta Tucker Brosius
1. Silent Command by Jennifer Lis
If you have questions about the conference or need a brochure, please click on Gloria Clover, Registrar to e-mail Gloria. To access a printable registration form, please click on Registration.