by Jean James and Mary James
There is no more important work in this world, no greater duty, than to help others to keep up their courage. He is our best friend whose words of cheerful confidence give more life to the heart; and he is our enemy who, by his words of doubt and his spirit of fear, saps this ardour, and take from us our courage.
There is no more important work in this world, no greater duty, than to help others to keep up their courage. He is our best friend whose words of cheerful confidence give more life to the heart; and he is our enemy who, by his words of doubt and his spirit of fear, saps this ardour, and take from us our courage.
Anon
(Nineteenth century writer)
The wonderful, terrible power of words:
There is no work on earth as challenging as creating something. It generally involves risk taking, thinking out of the box, and, at times, stepping out of the box. The more daring our venture, the greater our chance of setbacks and discouragements. But what if everyone gave in to doubt and fear? What if everyone did everything alike? What a dull world this would be.
How many times have we heard, “It’s too late for anything now,” or “It’s never going to happen,” or “Just resign yourself, it wasn’t meant to be”? How can anyone succeed when they're loaded down with doubt? It's like when a computer picks up a virus and gets slower and slower as it's bogged down with spam.Too much discouragement from others can be death to our faith and our will to accomplish, just as our own dismal words might kill someone’s bright dreams. We might be surprised what effect our words have on others.
Give the gift of words, spoken from the heart:
As we go out to conferences, book fairs, and other public events this last half of 2011, we want to remember we’re not just there to receive, we’re there to give. The more we give, the more we will come home with when it’s all over.
Below is a partial list of literary events coming up in the next few months. Try to attend a few. They can be a wonderful help and a great opportunity to give and receive encouragement.
Upcoming secular writing conferences:
July, 2011, 25th Iowa Summer Writing Festival, Iowa City , IA
http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/iswfest/
http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/iswfest/
Upcoming Christian conferences:
Book Fairs and Festivals:
These are generally inexpensive or free to the public and are a great place to find new books and make valuable contacts in the writing industry.
9/23-25 2011, Baltimore Book Festival, http://www.baltimorebookfestival.com
11/13-20, 2011 Miami Book Fair International, http://www.miamibookfair.com
We intended to post the live-action book trailer of our new novel, Sparrow Alone on the Housetop, in this blog, but we’re hopelessly behind schedule. We have taped most of the scenes, but the editing is still before us, and we’re working on four other projects due to come out in the same month. Now I know how it feels to stand under a giant tsunami! Guess we should run a little faster. The trailer will be out shortly, along with more info on how to handle the final stages of that type video production.
By the way, we could use a couple more reviewers or influencers for the novel. If anyone is interested in this, please email us at: jameswriters@yahoo.com
I missed this article some way. I'm sorry.
ReplyDeleteYes, conferences and festivals are important events that we all need to find and participate.
Which reminds me, I need to get my act together and fix a box of 4RV books to send you for the festivals you're attending.