What I Learned At ACFW

Last weekend, the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conference was packed out by multi-published authors and the soon-to-be-published. Old friends got reacquainted and new friends met in the hallways and in workshops. I heard one first-timer say she would certainly attend again next year. “Once you come, you’re hooked.”

Everyone learned a lot either about themselves, about writing, or about their relationship with God. Since I learned many things, I thought I’d take this time to share a few of them.

What I learned at ACFW:

1. If you set your goals low enough, you can exceed them and celebrate. I’m big on celebrating all the baby steps along my journey. It doesn’t make sense to set goals just out of reach and be disappointed when you miss them. I like setting reachable goals. If your goals aren’t motivating you, set them higher, but still reachable.

2. If you know your story well enough, you can change your pitch overnight. In one evening workshop, I, along with thirty others, submitted a one-page proposal called a one-sheet. Three well-respected agents showed us how they come to the decision to pass on a proposal or ask to see more of the author’s writing. They spoke their thoughts on each of the thirty one-sheets so we could make appropriate changes to them before pitching our ideas in an appointment with an agent.

When my one-sheet came to the top of the stack, I found out that my story idea was fine, but I used the wrong format in describing what happens in the story. Being rejected by three agents at the same time was discouraging. However when I realized that the point of the workshop was to prepare me for the agent appointment I’d scheduled for the next day, I gathered my determination. I stayed up that night as long as it took to get my pitch sounding just right. At my 9am agent appointment the next morning, I read the new pitch, answered questions, and tried to show a little passion for my characters and setting. The agent asked me to send a full proposal when the appointment was over. I was dancing on clouds at that point. The determined effort was worth it.

I’m still very grateful for that scary workshop. The three agents were kind and honest. It really helped me see what they were looking for. Thanks.

3. My husband has good instincts. After my agent appointment, I received a critique from an award-winning author. She showed me some manuscript corrections I could make. But to really make it a great story, she said I should break the story into two books. I listened to her comments about why this is a great idea and agreed with her that I could do it. When I came home and told my husband what she said, he grinned and responded, “I told you so.”