She was 65 years young when she realized she had a talent for writing and she’s now gracefully enjoying age 81. And, she says, “thanks to the Lord, in good health.”

June Foster wasted no time doing something about it. She immediately got to work and, about three years later, Lisa Worthey Smith told her about Word Weavers International. Lisa was the president of Word Weavers North Alabama, which June joined and has remained a member ever since. 

June adds, “I got a publishing contract two years after I started writing. I laugh and say that God must've put me on the fast track because he knew my age.” 

Her most recent published work is The Novice Ranch Hand, a Ford Family Ranch Book. Along the way, she has earned a number of awards, most notably: The 2021 Selah for romantic suspense (First Place), Blue Lake Christian Writer's Retreat, 2024, Second place fiction for The Novice Rancher; First Place in Devotions "In All Circumstances", Ames Award 2023 General Fiction for Christmas at Cranberry Cove, SCWC 2024 SecondPplace for a devotion, "Dead End."

Currently June is working on a romantic suspense collection with Cynthia Hickey and Camy Tang. She is also a member of ACFW and a women’s prayer group at her church. 

And, you may not know this, but June’s great-grandfather was a Catholic priest. She wrote Dreams Deferred based on his  story.

We’re so glad to have June as a member of Word Weavers International! 

The Schedule is UP!

We have uploaded our Intensive and Conference Schedule for 2024. It is, of course, subject to change. To view the schedule, click HERE.

To Fear (AI) or Not to Fear (AI)
This year, Lynette Eason will offer a special class on Wednesday afternoon (3:00-5:00) on the good and bad of AI. This is a hot topic right now in the world of publishing and especially important for writers to best understand the ins and outs, the ups and downs of Artificial Intelligence. 

There is an additional charge for this, which you can include in your registration. If you have already registered but didn't add this class and would like to take it, you can go back into registration and add it at any time.

Let's Take a Look at Wednesday!
This year's intensive is for Children's Book Writers! Our workshop leaders are:

Michelle Medlock Adams

Sally Cressman

Tama Fortner

Rachel Pfeiffer

Leslie Santamaria

Tim Shoemaker, who will also serve as our keynote speaker during lunch.

We will provide 12 hours of teaching, just for children's book (etc.) writers! That's exciting enough.

But wait! There's more!

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

1:30 - 5:00: Registration Opens / Bookstore Opens (Please DO NOT arrive before 1:30. We will not be able to get you into your rooms.)

2:00 - 5:00: Book Proposal Studio Begins: This is the foundation for the Book Proposal Studio Continuing Class with Edie Melson (and guest leader, Lynette Eason). If you sign up for the BPS (there is an extra fee) but cannot arrive until later on Wednesday or Thursday morning, don't worry! You'll be fine.

3:00 - 5:00: Pitch Studio with Edwina Perkins: In this workshop, you’ll learn how to craft a perfect pitch. Whether you’re pitching a nonfiction or fiction, the mechanics of the pitch are the same, and so are the results. From the introduction of the main character to the hook to the promise of the premise, Edwina will walk you through what makes a powerful, memorable pitch. She’ll also share how to make the most of those 15-minute appointments with the editor you’ve been stalking.

3:00 - 5:00: To AI or Not to AI--That is the Question with Lynette Eason: Come join Lynette as she walks attendees through what AI is, why it's not ALL evil, along with the do's and don'ts of using it. She will show you how it can help you brainstorm your stories, be an amazing research tool and more. Lynette will demonstrate how she uses AI to plot a never before plotted story--in other words, she will do for the class, exactly what she does at home when she has a new story to generate. When you leave the class, you will be able to take this knowledge with you and do the same for your own novel. And plus, it's fun. And will involve chocolate. She hopes to see you there!

5:30-6:30: Dinner

6:45: Coke Floats and Conversation!
After dinner, join us in the main auditorium (Maguire) for coke floats and two panels of editors and agents who promise to answer your questions (we'll gather those soon). This is always exciting and fun (and we throw in a few 50s tunes just to get the party started)!

After Hours: Did you think we were done? No way! We have four 1-hour workshops to get our started (see schedule). After that, go to bed! (You'll need the rest ...)

Contests
Let your light shine at the Just Desserts Desserts Banquet (no, it's not misspelled)! Be sure to read and follow all the instructions for the SonShine Awards. We look forward to receiving your submissions!

Scholarships
Don't forget our scholarships. You cannot receive one if you do not first ask.  (Hey! That sounds like a sermon!)

See you in October!

Eva Marie & Taryn!

I confess, I never planned to write biblical fiction. Some time during the six (yes, count ‘em—six!) years that it took for Demon to sell, I scribbled a first-person page of Eve as an old woman, preparing to tell her story. I don’t know why I did this, I just remember hearing her voice very clearly in my head.

And then I put the page in a drawer and forgot about it. Fast forward a few years. My agent is negotiating the sale of Demon and my new editor wants to know what else I have. Flummoxed, I yank open my drawer and pull out the frayed notebook page that would eventually become the prologue to Havah.

At the time, I was just ecstatic to have a book deal. I signed the contract, edited Demon, and then sat down to write Havah.

The next days and weeks were spent in a fit of hair-pulling as I realized what I’d gotten myself into—the kinds of questions I now needed to find theologically and historically plausible answers for. (Where was Eden? How does a snake talk? What was that fruit, anyway? Where did they go after exile? Did they ever try to go back? How did they learn the basic skills to survive? What did Eve think the first time she saw one of her own babies? What was Cain's mark? And where in the world was Nod??)

My initial search became a panicked dig for answers, an obsessive collecting of commentaries, textbooks, and archaeologists. Lecture transcripts, DVDs, and volumes of books littered my floor as I plagued academics and theologians with my questions. (Warren Wiersbe wrote me back: “You said you only had a FEW questions!”)

I’m asked a lot about research, about how to bring biblical characters to life. I have no elegant answers, only the following advice: 

1. Ask the questions—all of them, even if they sound stupid. Be exacting, and go there. You’ll find that readers appreciate—even with a sense of relief—that you, too, have wondered the same things they have.

2. Do your homework. Readers of biblical fiction enjoy the genre because it provides context for a character or story important to their faith. But you have to earn trust through thorough historical, biblical and theological research. Even if a reader doesn’t agree with a choice you made, I find they will respect you if you have done the work and can back up your decision. To this day, I have no idea what the mark of Cain was, or how old Judas was when he joined Jesus’ ministry. But I can tell you why I went with the story decisions I did.

3. Let your research inform your characters and their motivations. A first Century Jewish man had different ideas about what freedom or salvation meant than we do today. A nation living under Roman occupation has very different daily and religious concerns than we do as free, modern people today. Build your context, and then slip into their shoes. Experience the world as they did, and let that inform your characters and story.

4. Find yourself in your protagonist. We all have hopes, struggles, and wounds. We all spend our lives searching for answers, meaning, and fulfillment. At some point in the writing of Iscariot, I realized I wasn’t just telling Judas’ story… I was also telling my own. His decisions were and are also mine. At some level, we are all the same. 

5. Tell the truth. If something’s not pretty, don’t shield us from it. If your character is struggling, let us go through the trenches with her. Don’t give easy answers—they rarely exist in real life. We don’t have to agree with a character’s decision, but we need to understand exactly why that decision made sense at the time. 

6. Give us detail. What color is the Galilean countryside? How do those oil lamps work? What are the other ethnic influences of your setting? America isn’t populated or influenced by a single ethnic group—neither was the landscape of the Levant. That said, avoid history lessons or long exposition. Readers can get that from other types of books.

7. Check for anachronisms—enlist help in this area from people who know the time period. Check language, clothing, tools, food, the political situation, foreign influences on your setting, the New York Times Bestselling Author most recent history of the period that set the stage for your novel. There are a lot of amateur biblical historians out there, and you’ll hear from them if you get one of these wrong.

8. Don’t lose sight of the story. By the time I had over-written Iscariot by about 140,000 words (I wish that number was a typo) I realized that in my pursuit of every fascinating historical or theological detail I had come across, that I had obscured the emotional impact of the story itself. Research is the foundation of your credibility. But make no mistake: even readers who love learning the context of a biblical story are reading to be moved. Retain enough detail to make your novel ring with authenticity, but keep your eye on the point and emotional impact of the story.

Biblical fiction is a beautiful genre. A chance for those of us who grew up  watching Bible stories play out on flannel graph boards to actually experience them. To find complex aspects of ourselves in the characters or setting that informs our faith. Biblical fiction also requires a lot of extra work. Give it due diligence. Your readers will thank you.

Tosca Lee is a New York Times bestselling author of twelve novels. Her books have been translated into seventeen languages and optioned for TV and film and have won numerous awards including two International Book Awards and ECPA Book of the Year. She teaches on the faculty of Drexel University’s MFA program and serves on the board of International Thriller Writers’ Board of Directors. To learn more about Tosca, please visit:  www.toscalee.com