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!

---

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/.

2009 Peak Writing Conference

I know that a couple of people have already posted about this recently but I’m excited about our chapter hosting this event and I don’t want anyone to miss it. It’s this Saturday, February 28th, doors open at 9 am to begin check-in. If the weather is bad, we’ll make a determination and let you know if we have to move the conference to our snow date of March 7th.

We have three awesome speakers who will teach and inspire us in our writing, author Donita K. Paul, author Lisa Tawn Bergren, and agent Beth Jusino. We are planning to record the session, but I’m in charge of that and I’m about as untechie as you get. I could give you a list of a dozen people or so who will verify this but I won’t bore you with that. You’ll just have to trust me.

Anyway, I’m going to get together with a tech person at my church this week to learn how to do all that. When I have succeeded (I have to have confidence), then we will make a CD of the sessions we get permission to record and offer that CD for sale. So whether you attend the conference or not, we are hoping to have the CD available for purchase.

Besides our authors and the CDs, we will have paid critiques you can sign up for to be completed via e-mail at a later date. You can pay for the critique at the conference and send in the selection to be critiqued later. We will not be doing any critiques at the conference.

We have autographed books to give away and other freebies. Anyone attending the conference who would like to sell books at our book table is welcome to do so. Download the form and bring it with you. Let Tiff know if you will be bringing books so she can have a space for you.

We will also be announcing our speaker line-up for next year.

Then to end the whole event we will have a book signing. This will include the speakers as well as any attendees who want to sign their books for people.

We do have limited space and limited food, so if you are planning to come and plan to pay at the door, let us know so we can hold a spot for you.

I look forward to seeing you there! :-)

Peak Writing Conference -- A Treasurer's Perspective

You know, I'm excited about the prospect of being a part of launching our very first writing conference here in Colorado. I am confident it's going to be the first of many for years to come and set a precedent for a late Fall conference as well. We've got a fantastic line-up of speakers, delicious food, a book table and a book signing to boot! You can read all about it on the EVENTS page.

But, as the treasurer for the Colorado Springs chapter, I must say I'm learning a whole new set of rules and regulations, restrictions and requirements, as we move closer and closer toward crossing those T's and dotting those I's. All in the name of making sure we have our bases covered and are operating above board on everything connected to the conference.

First, I learned from a helpful CPA who has advised us in business procedures, that we need to file for a tax license in order to sell books at the conference. One must be filed with the state. The other with the county. Thanks to Norm, I located the forms we needed, but it was all Greek to me! :) So, a phone call was made and the forms were filled out for us. I only had to drop them off, pay for the license and we're all set. Phew! One thing down.

Second, I had to have legal forms for the authors who would be consigning books at our book table. Thanks to the years I spent co-running the national bookstore at the annual conference, I had these forms on hand. They only needed some minor tweaking, and we were good to go! Just have to make sure all authors complete the forms beforehand so we have their consent.

Third, and this doesn't directly affect me, but we are planning to record the 3 sessions and make a CD avaialable. Enter another set of rules and regulations to make certain the production is done correctly and all copyright information is visible on the front of the CD. I know I won't be handling this part, but I will be handling the orders and collecting the funds.

Finally, all of this is happening when I'm just 5 weeks away from delivering a baby. I'll be 3 weeks away when the day of the conference comes. They say that your brain gets sapped when you're pregnant, and this is so true! It's great to have a supportive board who is faithful to remind me when I forget something or write it down and send the notes so that I can reference and remember what it was I was supposed to do. If I had to rely on my memory? Yeah...I'm sure there'd be things not done. :)

I can only imagine what I'll be like after they baby's born. Might have to bone up even more on my vitamins and brain power supplements.

So, to wrap up, if you have been considering the conference and wondering if it's worth it to attend, don't delay. We'd love to have a head count in advance as much as possible to prepare the food. Me personally? I'd love to know about authors attending who will be selling books to make sure we have the space for everyone's products.

Just click on the EVENTS page and download/print the registration form. The 2 book forms are there as well.

Hope to see you there!

---

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 March 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.ambermiller.com/.