Prayer and Writing Go Hand in Hand

Yesterday, in church, our pastor spoke on the battle we fight in this world as Christians. It's not against people, although we often engage in verbal, emotional or even physical fights with them at times. No, it's against the spiritual realm that is fighting with everything it has to thwart our efforts and keep as many people off their knees as possible.

Our calling as Christian writers is critical. The words we write and the messages we share through those words can have a big impact on those who read them. Because of that, we need to be even more careful about the words we choose and the image we're presenting. To do that effectively, we need to grab hold of the single most important weapon and tool we have:

Prayer!

Our church body is in the middle of a 40-day prayer vigil, 24-7, with members taking 1-hour slots day and night for 40 days. When we finish with this, we're going to continue on a 24-7 vigil, with members taking 1-hour slots each week. The same time every week as a commitment to regular prayer. The spiritual battle we face involves an enemy who only needs a foothold to get in. But he's not content with just that. Once he has it, he'll wedge in his heel, then his leg, then his hip and his arm until finally he has a complete presence.

You've likely heard the old adage, "The pen is mightier than the sword." This has never been more true than it is today. With so many people turning to the internet, texting on cell phones, emails and the electronic communication, verbal impact is losing ground. So much is read now, and it's so easy to sway someone's thinking when the messages are repeatedly pounded into the brain through the eyes.

So, join with me in prayer for your writing, for your ministry, for your impact, and for your witness. Your words could be the saving grace for someone out there. Make sure you put prayer first before you set your fingers to the keyboard or pen to paper.

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Tiffany Amber Stockton is an author and freelance web site designer who lives with her husband and fellow author in beautiful Colorado Springs. They celebrated the birth of their first child in April and have a vivacious puppy named Roxie, a Border Collie/Flat-Haired Retriever mix. She has sold six books so far to Barbour Publishing. Other credits include writing articles for various publications, five short stories with Romancing the Christian Heart, and contributions to the books: 101 Ways to Romance Your Marriage and Grit for the Oyster.

Read more about her at her web site: http://www.amberstockton.com/.

ICRS and the Christy's!

As you read this, I'm on my way to Denver with my husband and daughter to spend the day at the Colorado Convention Center and walk the floors during ICRS (International Christian Retail Show). This will be my first time attending. Stuart told me all about it from when he attended 5 years ago. I believe this was the last time ICRS was in Denver. Ironic that ACFW was also in Denver that year and is returning again this year, the same year ICRS returned. 5 years ago is when Stu and I met...but that's a whole different story. :)

I wasn't able to attend the Christy's, but like Heather, I dream of one day being nominated for one and perhaps even winning. Of course, that also means I need to branch into trade-length from mass-market where I am now. All in God's timing.

Still, I saw the list of winners and am ecstatic that three of my friends won. Cathy Gohlke, Tamera Alexander and Tracey Bateman. Cathy won for her first novel as well, so her first 2 novels have both won this prestigious award. Tamera won a previous one as well. For Tracey, it's her first, and I'm so excited to see these and other familiar names on the list. Six winners I know are ACFW members. Not sure about the other three. Just goes to show you what a fantastic representation ACFW has among the winners as well.

For those who haven't seen the list, visit this web site: http://ajast.com/ChristyAwards2009WinnerPR.pdf

Anyway, I suppose it's pointless to say just how excited I am to be able to attend, even for 1 day. Stu and I are going on behalf of David C. Cook, where Stu works...or at least he is. Victoria and I are just tagging along. :)

So, I might return and post a comment or amend this post with a very brief report from the event. And I might even see some of you reading this up there. In any event, I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun.

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Tiffany Amber Stockton is an author and freelance web site designer who lives with her husband and fellow author in beautiful Colorado Springs. They celebrated the birth of their first child in April and have a vivacious puppy named Roxie, a Border Collie/Flat-Haired Retriever mix. She has sold six books so far to Barbour Publishing. Other credits include writing articles for various publications, five short stories with Romancing the Christian Heart, and contributions to the books: 101 Ways to Romance Your Marriage and Grit for the Oyster.

Read more about her at her web site: http://www.amberstockton.com/.

Juggling Finances and Balancing Spreadsheets

All right, so many of you already know my time is quite limited these days. Then again, whose isn't?

My newborn daughter will be 7 weeks old this coming Thursday, and although we're beginning to settle into a routine, it's only the very early stages. That means it's still a work in progress as we both adjust.

However, life doesn't stop to allow time to adjust. My work as treasurer still requires my attention, and since Donna and I just recently balanced our books following our annual ACFW Colorado Retreat, I figured writing about it would suffice for this month. *grins*

If you've meandered through our web site, you'd see the somewhat new PayPal buttons that have been added for the convenience of making payments online instead of having to snail mail them in to us. Our boards thought it would be a fantastic addition and simplify a lot of things. Well, in theory, it would....if it all worked right.

I won't go into all the details, but it took us about 2 months to get our account squared away to the point where we would be allowed to utilize all of the options available to us. The main issue was our not-for-profit status that required scanned documents, not electronic. After many phone calls and emails, we finally got it worked out and our account was restored to full status.

Then, there's the issue of 2 chapters with funds coming into one account and having to be divided so each chapter receives what was designated for them. Since some payments came through PayPal and others through checks, the total funds had to be calculated, then the expenses from each chapter had to be subtracted to determine what was owed where. Add to that the fact that some funds were in 1 bank account and some were in the PayPal account, and then the balance owed had to be delivered via check and PayPal transfer.

When all was said and done, the calculations were checked and double-checked by myself and Donna (the HIS Writers treasurer) and a spreadsheet was provided detailing the summary. Thanks goodness for a system of checks and balances!

I said all of that to say this: the process was confusing enough. But with a newborn and only having snippets of available time, I'm amazed it all came out balanced in the end. So glad everyone else provided excellent records of the costs and expenses and income. Otherwise, the end result might not have been so "balanced." :)

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Tiffany Amber Stockton is an author and freelance web site designer who lives with her husband and fellow author in beautiful Colorado Springs. They celebrated the birth of their first child in April and have a vivacious puppy named Roxie, a Border Collie/Flat-Haired Retriever mix. She has sold six books so far to Barbour Publishing. Other credits include writing articles for various publications, five short stories with Romancing the Christian Heart, and contributions to the books: 101 Ways to Romance Your Marriage and Grit for the Oyster.

Read more about her at her web site: http://www.amberstockton.com/.

Spring Arrivals -- Babies and "Babies"

Yes, I know. It's Tuesday, and this was supposed to appear yesterday. For some reason, I got my days mixed up. Can't imagine why, though. It's not like I have anything different happening in my life that would have caused this confusion.

Oh wait. Yes, I do. A brand new baby girl! :)

That's right. Margie announced the birth on April 3rd on this blog, but I'm here to share a bit more for those who would like to hear.

But first, there are 2 other "babies" birthed this month. Not only a daughter, but my husband Stuart's very first book released on April 1st and my 4th book (Copper and Candles) released as well. Stuart has been working hard for years and has finally seen all of his hard work come to fruition. Starfire is available through Marcher Lord Press and will be on Amazon and Barnes & Noble by the end of the month. It's a science fiction/speculative story about an alien race, an ancient artificial intelligence, and a warrior who must make a choice that could save his nation or doom his world.

It has been receiving just as many rave reviews as Stuart's other creative endeavor. :)

For that "baby", Stuart and I are now the proud parents of a beautiful little girl! Victoria Elizabeth Stockton arrived at 3:29pm on Thursday, April 2nd, weighing 7lbs. 9oz. and measuring 20in. long. Labor started at 12:30pm on April 1st but by 4am on April 2nd, I was exhausted, had stalled in dilation, and had to get an epidural. At 7:30am, my doctor broke my water and at 9am, after no progress, a 2cc dose of pitocin was administered. Progress began and that was all it took. By 2, we prepped and after an hour of pushing, Tori was here!

The full story is on my personal blog, if you want to read all of the exciting details and the "novel" adventure we had getting to the hospital. That can be found here.

Baby Photo Album

There isn't much to report from the first week home. As most of you know, babies don't do a whole lot at the start. Eat, sleep and mess their diapers. And we've had plenty of that. The good news is that everything is normal, which brings a great sigh of relief.

Victoria had her first doctor's visit at 4 days old, and she was given a clean bill of health. She is back to her birth weight and gained 9 oz. just in the past week. Healthy eater! LOL! We've been so blessed with a beautiful and seemingly even-tempered angel. Likely due to the laid back attitude of Mom and Dad. :)

For Easter, we bought a dress and had a "Baby's First Easter" outfit given to us. So, we took some pictures and posed her with a little duck given to her by her grandparents (on dad's side).

Other than that, she's been smiling, taking in the world, loving to be rocked and held, and just being a huge blessing to our lives. The days pass so fast, but I'll be glad to get back into part of my old schedule so I can actually know which day is which. They've all blurred together so far. Stu is back at work today after 7 days off, so I'm on my own until Friday when my family arrives.

That's all from me. No treasurer's perspective, but Victoria is definitely a treasure that deserves all our praise and thanks to God for giving us such a beautiful miracle.

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Tiffany Amber Stockton is an author and freelance web site designer who lives with her husband and fellow author in beautiful Colorado Springs. They celebrated the birth of their first child this month and have a vivacious puppy named Roxie, a Border Collie/Flat-Haired Retriever mix. She has sold six books so far to Barbour Publishing. Other credits include writing articles for various publications, five short stories with Romancing the Christian Heart, and contributions to the books: 101 Ways to Romance Your Marriage and Grit for the Oyster.

Read more about her at her web site: http://www.amberstockton.com/.

2009 Peak Writing Conference Report

Well, I must apologize for the un-originality of this post. I had intended to come up with something more connected to the general scope of writing, but my focus and my time is at a minimum these days.

For those who aren't aware, I'm days away from the birth of my first baby. Between appointments, check-ups, to-do lists and family and friends all asking if the baby is here yet, I'm afraid my brain can't handle much else.

So, with that said...since a lot of meetings have taken place where I've provided others with a report of our first annual one-day conference, I figured it'd be great to also share the success with you. As it was our first attempt, we are all quite pleased with the results.

We had 31 in attendance, including 3 speakers. 18 attendees were ACFW members, and 13 were not. That is the best part. The fact that we attracted that many non-ACFW members. Of course, 2 of them are now members and others have said they intend to join. So, even just in spreading the word, the conference did its job.

All told, we ended up with a positive balance when all was said and done. Again, a fantastic feat. Breaking even would have sufficed, but coming up on the plus side is even better!

We have 2 of our speakers confirmed for next year already (author Colleen Coble and literary agent Beth Jusino), and those who attended provided complimentary feedback on the speakers, the organization, the overall feel and of course, the delicious food. :)

So, here's to everyone who helped make this year's conference a great success. I know 2010 is going to be even better!

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Tiffany Amber Stockton is an author and freelance web site designer who lives with her husband and fellow author in beautiful Colorado Springs. They are awaiting the birth of their first child this month and have a vivacious puppy named Roxie, a Border Collie/Flat-Haired Retriever mix. She has sold six books so far to Barbour Publishing. Other credits include writing articles for various publications, five short stories with Romancing the Christian Heart, and contributions to the books: 101 Ways to Romance Your Marriage and Grit for the Oyster.

Read more about her at her web site: http://www.amberstockton.com/.

Opportunities with Our Web Site

Yes, yes, it's me. The illustrious...or perhaps *infamous* web designer for our brand new ACFW Colorado web site. It's been an exciting venture to get it set up and established, not to mention handling all of the little tweaks and updates. And of course, with several different "cooks" offering input on the recipe that would eventually become the site, it's been at times harried to keep up with everything and make sure all requests were handled.

Like so many others here among my fellow board members, my life is a busy one. But it was just like God to allow me time to make it through my THREE book deadlines this past week before it came my turn to post on this blog. Yes, that's right. If you haven't figured it out yet, we're on a rotating schedule that is shared by all of the board members for the currently existing chapters of ACFW in Colorado. As we form new chapters, we'll add the new board members.

In my "other life" when I'm not doing web design, I'm a published author and the treasurer for Worship! Write! Witness!, the Colorado Springs chapter of ACFW. Last year, when it came time for elections for the board positions for 2009, I had a momentary lapse of sanity in considering the position of publicity officer and handing over my position to someone else. It was our very own Mary Davis, president of the Springs chapter, who talked some sense into me. :)

For those who aren't aware, I'm pregnant and expecting our first baby in March. It's going to bring about a lot of change, and I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I thought I could take on anything more than I already do. So, thank you, Mary, for being a somewhat sane person during my brief spell of insanity!

Now, let's get back to this fantastic web site. Yes, I can say that, since I designed it and maintain it. LOL!

How about a peek in what's coming in the next week or so? Would you like that? Yes, I thought you would.

But first, here's what we have to offer right now:

• A blog on the main page that you can follow, posted to by the board officers for our existing chapters
• Individual chapter pages featuring their upcoming schedule and speaker line-ups for 2009
• Links along the sidebars on the chapter pages to member web sites and blogs
• A preview of other groups in Colorado who may or may not be in the process of forming an official chapter, so if you live in that area, you can get in touch with others who live nearby (if they become chapters, they'll have their own page)

Next up is a page spotlighting current and upcoming events that will be taking place in Colorado. These will include our one-day conferences and our annual retreat for now. However, if there will be multi-author book signings or speaking events, we'll also highlight those as well.

In addition, we'll soon be offering the opportunity for you to request critiques of your fiction writing by professional critiquers. There will be a page where you can fill out a form with your request and submit your pages. Proceeds will benefit the chapters in Colorado.

That's all for now, but stay tuned to all of the exciting things happening. We've just launched, but already, we're buzzing and hopping.

And don't forget, our national conference this year is coming to DENVER! It's been 5 years since it's been here, and we're all excited. If you're a fiction writer and are able to attend, you don't want to miss it. Of course, your favorite board officers here in Colorado will be there to greet you too. *winks*

That's all from me for this month. Thanks for stopping by.

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Tiffany (Amber Miller) Stockton is an author and freelance web site designer who lives with her husband and fellow author in beautiful Colorado Springs. They are expecting their first child in March and have a vivacious puppy named Roxie, who is half Border Collie and half Flat-Haired Retriever. She has sold six books to the Heartsong Presents line of Barbour Publishing. Other writing credits include several writing articles for various publications, five short stories with Romancing the Christian Heart, nine contributions to the book, 101 Ways to Romance Your Marriage and 2 contributions to Grit for the Oyster. Read more about her at her web site: www.ambermiller.com.