because I haven’t posted much about my conference experience. Truthfully, it’s been all I can do to get my life back on track. I’ve been amazed at all of the awesome posts about the conference, especially over at Shannon McNear’s blog. I’m not sure I could be that transparent, revealing every emotion. But I know that anyone who is able to do that is certainly an awesome writer–one who is sure to carry readers through a powerful emotional experience. I’m waiting to buy your book, Shannon! It’s interesting to step back and look at everything that we do as aspiring …
Scenes and Beans
Don’t forget that tomorrow I’ll be posting my interview with Stephen Lawhead over on Favorite Pastimes. This is such a thrill and honor for me. Steve is my favorite author, my inspiration. I’ve told you I’m writing for Brandilyn Collin’s Scenes and Beans blog–a character blog for her newly-released suspense thriller Violet Dawn. Most of us were able to get together for a group picture at the ACFW conference. Kneeling, left to right: Chawna Schroeder (writing as Bev Trexel) and Michael Snyder (Leslie Brymes). Standing, left to right: Brandilyn Collins, me (writing as Bev Trexel), Dineen Miller (Baialey Truitt), Jennifer …
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers get together at the ACFW conference.
From left to right bottom row: Becky Miller, Beth Goddard, Jackie Castle, Bryan Davis, Kacy, Tim Hicks. Left to right top row: Jim Sanders, Stephen Burnett, Tracy Higley (T.L. Higley) John Olson, Michelle Griep, Terri Thompson, Ryan Smith, John Otte, Ronie Kendig, Stuart Stockton, Shannon McNear. As you can see, or maybe you can’t, only three of us participated in the dress-up part! Still, it was great fun to mingle with kindred spirits. Blessings!Beth.
Reflections . . .
. . .on the American Christian Fiction Writer’s conference. As promised, I posted a picture from my recent camping trip on the Oregon Coast. The above is a photo of starfish we found while exploring the beach during a low tide. Now onto the conference discussion. Would you believe I took NO pictures at the conference. However, I know many friends who did, and I should be receiving images from them within the next few days and will post those to the blog. First an important announcement. The three winners of the Genesis contest in the SFF category are: 1st …
CSFF Blog Tour: EdenStar
Okay, I’ve never heard of EdenStar much less visited the site. This is my first look. and I have to say I’m impressed. Very clean. Very professional. And in fact, in a way, that is what the sight is promoting. . .”Good clean science fiction and fantasy.” Already, it’s enought to make me add them to my links. I’m going to do that now. Back. The first page that snags my attention is the “On Harry Potter” page where ten books are listed discussing this controversial topic. Then there’s the page on Stephen Lawhead, my favorite author. Did I mention …
Warning: Camping. No Computers!
Egad. Last weekend we decided to take the kids camping. Somehow with our busy schedules, we neglected to do that this summer. So we’re well into September now and off we went to the Oregon coast. It’s amazing the chill factor by the ocean. We decided since this was to be concentrated family time we would declare it to be an electronic free weekend. My daughter, knowing this “rule”, pulled out her portable dvd player about halfway there. Scream. As we approached the turn into to the campground, we noticed the wireless internet declaration added to the sign. My husband …
Steve Irwin
I had planned to blog about The Village, another M. Night Shyamalan movie. The untimely death of Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, took me by surprise as it has the rest of the world. My family loved watching his show, The Crocodile Hunter. Many times we were concerned over his antics and wondered if one day he might fall to a black mamba or a crocodile, after all. The fact that he died in such a freakish manner, is all the more disturbing. I’m sorry for his wife, Terri, an Oregonian, and their two children. I confess I even modeled …
And the twist is. . .
Becky Miller nailed it. The Twist in The Sixth Sense is that the man who thought he was helping the little boy stop imagining that he saw dead people was actually one of the dead and the little boy, who was gifted with this sixth sense, was helping him. Love that ending! There are several other of M. Night Shyamalan’s movies I’d love to explore. Not sure which one is next. Could it be The Village or Unbreakable? Hmmmm. Don’t forget to visit Favorite Pastimes this week where I’m blogging. I’m posting an interview with Carol Umberger. And my character …
Do the Twist: M. Night Shyamalan
Recently I participated in a flash fiction contest–flash fiction defined as a short story under a thousand words. One wouldn’t think it would be too difficult for a novelist to write a short story. I learned a lot. First that I was trying to put too much story into it. Second, it was a great exercise in writing tight. Third, I was missing something–that umph that gives the story/scene meaning. I put it aside for a few weeks hoping that the missing piece would reveal itself to me while I was thinking about something completely different, or in the middle …
SFF Blog Tour: Interview with Kathy Tyers Part II
Welcome to Day 3 of the CSFF Blog tour featuring Science Fiction author Kathy Tyers. What is your personal all-time favorite SF work and why? By “SF,” if you mean “speculative fiction,” including all of the speculative genres, that’s easy. Lord of the Rings—the books, though I also enjoyed the movies. For sheer richness of invention, the Lewisian sense of longing for a country I’ve never visited, the memorable characters, and for the many years of pleasure I’ve drawn from that trilogy. By the time I graduated from high school, I’d read them … well … more times than I …