Archives for August 2011

Writer’s Conference Blessings, Part 1

August 16, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

It is hard to put into words the blessing I received at last week’s conference. It was amazing! I made new friends, had some valuable experience being critiqued, participated in one-on-one interviews with authors, agents and editors, learned a LOT.

One of the biggest blessings was meeting up again with author Cec Murphey, who has impacted my writing in many ways. I met him first at a writer’s conference in 2005 in Ohio. I took copious notes from his workshop, and applied them as much as I could in my writing and life.

Then, in 2007, I had the opportunity to attend one of his mentoring clinics. This event truly made a difference in my writing.

Last week, at the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writer’s Conference, I attended his “Dancing with Dialogue” workshop. During the workshop, I had the opportunity for one page of dialogue from my manuscript to be torn apart by the class. :)

I have learned to love criticism (when it comes to writing, anyway). It’s the only way to grow. Wonderful!

House Rules

August 12, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

All summer long, our kids have been waking up fairly early in the morning, with the sun. They usually find something quiet to do. Often, they draw. My kids are serious artists. The other day, my husband and I came downstairs to see this on the kitchen table.

Funny how we like to have rules. Of course, as parents, it’s necessary to make rules. We’ve tried a number of different “systems” in our home, and a number of different parenting philosophies have influenced us. When my firstborn was very young, I read Shepherding a Child’s Heart. I liked the idea of being able to show your children from the Bible how to mold their behavior.

Later on, we struggled with just exactly how to discipline as we realized we had one child who seemed to thrive on negativity, and discipline appeared to have no effect. I searched everywhere I could and found a book entitled, Transforming the Difficult Child: The Nurtured Heart Approach. I had avoided reading this book, not wanting to label my child, “difficult.” But when I was desperate, I focused instead on the idea of nurturing the heart.

The book taught me to recognize my child. To constantly “notice” everyday activities and make comments about them–not always praise–sometimes just saying something like “Look at that. You’re using a green crayon to color the house.” When the child misbehaves, he or she is to be sent for a time out, the idea being to remove them from where the “fun” is–where the action of the family is.

It’s incredibly difficult to do–to notice and praise, when your instinct is, “everything’s going well now–I’m not going to disturb things.”

While we still use many of these principles, we’ve finally arrived at something that works really well for our family: the If/Then Chart from Doorposts.

If/Then Chart Doorposts — image from Doorposts site

As with any “system” you’d choose to use with your family, consistency is the key to success. But this is simple, with not too many rules, it’s biblical, and kids can clearly see and understand what the consequences of their behavior are. Even the smallest ones.

Have you adopted a system of discipline for your family? How does it work?

The One-Sheet

August 8, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

I freely admit that I have a lot yet to learn about the publishing industry. Which is why I’m really grateful for the opportunity to attend the writer’s conference this week. For the two or three years before we left for China, I was actively working on my freelance writing, doing copywriting work for a local company, writing my novel, staying abreast of the latest books and news, and generally advancing a freelance writing career on the side while I homeschooled my kids.

Then we moved to China, where quite frankly, I cared about other things. Like negotiating the price of a garment in Chinese while three kids were tugging on my sleeve and speaking to me in English. Or keeping mold out of our belongings in mold season, and cockroaches in cockroach season–other things besides writing and publishing.

I don’t regret that. I just need to be aware of how much the publishing industry has changed while I’ve been out of the loop. So this weekend, I learned a new skill: the one-sheet. Thanks to the Writer’s Conference Survival Guide (there you go, another free ad), I figured out how to put mine together. Here it is, but since the one-sheet goes to an editor or agent, who want to know how you’ve rounded out the ending, I’ve hidden some information to prevent a spoiler.

I created it in Photoshop Elements with a stock photograph in the background from my favorite stock photography company, Pond 5.

Left to Their Own Devices

August 3, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

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