What's New in the Writing Academy?

Do you long to impact your world through the power of written communication? Do you need help and guidance in finding your writing niche and developing your own unique voice? The Writing Academy's professional staff can help you identify your strengths and hone your craft.

Getting started is easy. You complete the assessment writings and send them in for evaluation by a professional writer. If accepted, you may enroll in one of our writing courses. Just beginning? The introductory course is Writing Basics, which teaches fundamentals of crisp, clear, marketable writing.

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Memories of Mt. Olivet
bloom all year . . . .

Writer's Weekend, 2009
New Book, New Blog
Contest: and the Winner Is. . .

Academy News Briefs

Writer's Weekend, 2009

In winter, the Mt. Olivet Retreat Center must be covered in snow and ice. But since we always go in summer--in memory, the flowers of Mt. Olivet are always blooming. And the talented writers of the Writing Academy are always walking its paths, as they were in late July at Writer's Weekend, 2009.

Tommie Lenox

Tomaline Sharpe Lenox, award-winning educator, author, and filmmaker, was the keynote speaker for the Weekend. We were touched by the stories of children at risk, as Tommie shared from her new book, Crying in the Wilderness: a Voice for America's Children. She told us about the process of "birthing a book," from concept to publication. Wearing her favorite poem as a t-shirt, she helped us "awaken the muse within" with poetry, and she held a contest for the best triolet composed in class. For those who wanted more practice, she led an early morning poetry workshop in the cafeteria, giving assignments in form verse--such as palm psalms and haiku.

Kathy Bolduc, Arlene Walker

Kathy Bolduc and Arlene Walker working on a triolet. . . .

Other highlights. . .

On opening night, most of us displayed an alarming lack of artistic talent while drawing portraits of each other and playing Pictionary. But we had a blast!



Opening night ice breakers. . . .

Writer's eXchange groups met to give participants feedback on works in progress (novels and nonfiction), while Margaret Steinacker led the others in creative writing exercises.

Poetry eXchange Group

The newest Writer's eXchange group: Poetry

Webmaster Patty Kyrlach did a Power Point presentation on Tech Tools for Writers, including web pages, blogs, e-books and social networking. Do you tweet? Are you writing a blook?

Patty Kyrlach

Power Point on Tech Tools for Writers

Ruth Otto and Sheryl Van Weelden led a workshop on "Many Ways to Tell Your Story." They demonstrated creative ways to preserve family heritage--including journals, narrative cookbooks, and scrapbooks.
During Coffee House, we heard an amazing variety of readings, ranging from the hilarious to the heart-warming. Margaret Steinacker and Kathy Bolduc read chapters from their new books, and Robyn Whitlock read from her novel in progress. Fran Elsea read a piece about her love for the kids' show Wonder Pets, and Olga Williams gave us a humorous lesson in the Finnish language.
We each got to paint our own golden apple as a memento of the conference theme, "apples of gold in settings of silver." The wooden apples were carved by Jim Van Weelden.

golden apples

Apples of Gold

We were blessed to hear Connie Sharlau's creative "Midrash" on Bible stories like "Mary and Martha" and "The Woman Who Annointed Jesus with Perfume." Margaret Steinacker played the piano and led our Academy choral ensemble.



Morning Worship. . . .

During closing Communion, our choir unveiled a new song, written by a team of lyricists who met in the early morning at last year's seminar. The music was composed by Olga Williams.

On our last night, there were many awards--certificates for those who completed a writing series this past year (Kathy Bolduc, Sheryl Van Weelden); prizes for our Writing Contest winners (see article below); and "golden" trophies for the winners of the triolet contest. Ruth and Sheryl also presented humorous "Academy Awards" in several categories.

Robyn Whitlock

Robyn Whitlock reading her winning entry
(photo by Bill Menter)

What a perfect setting for Laughter Yoga--led by laugh-master Connie Sharlau!
Bob and Nancy Remmert did a reader's theatre presentation of a skit called "Postlude and Post Mortem." Perhaps the reason they were convincing as husband and wife is that they've been married for over 50 years.
A campfire with conversations and s'mores--what a perfect wrap-up for a wonderful weekend!

campfire

Relaxing by the campfire
(photo by Bill Menter)

Okay, so maybe the flowers don't always bloom at Mt. Olivet, but the community we've built and the growth we've seen in our writing--these things blossom through all seasons.

Poetry workshop

Nancy Remmert, Ruth Otto, Lonni Docter

In front of chapel. . .

Writer's Weekend, 2009

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New Book, New Blog

Fearless Teaching from a Grocery Cart

Margaret Steinacker, choir director and pianist for the annual Writer's Weekend, has written a new book about teaching behind bars. Fearless Teaching from a Grocery Cart, subtitled "How to Teach Effectively With A Limited Assigned Area," chronicles Margaret's adventures in teaching GED classes in a jail setting. Each chapter of this practical book ends with tips for teachers.

No stapler? No desks? No blackboards? No problem! Fearless Teaching from A Grocery Cart shows how to orchestrate a workable classroom anywhere. Steinacker has spent over 34 years as a classroom teacher and instructor to inmates in two Indiana county jails. In this book, she teaches teachers how to meet the needs of every student in very limited classrooms.

Joel

Margaret's new blog at margaret-steinacker.blogspot.com

Margaret has also started a blog called Mag's Muse, at http://margaret-steinacker.blogspot.com. You can follow updates about Margaret's writing journey by reading Mag's Muse.

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Contest: and the Winner Is. . .

For the Writing Academy's 2009 writing contest, you were asked to write about a time in your life when you received "apples of gold" in someone's words to you--OR a time when you felt like you had just the right words for someone else.

The winners were announced on Sunday night, August 2nd, at the Writer's Weekend:

2nd Honorable Mention: Mary A. Koepke
1st Honorable Mention: Tommie Lenox
3rd Place: Margaret Garrison
2nd Place: Sheryl Van Weelden
1st Place: Robyn Whitlock

Robyn Whitlock

Robyn Whitlock took first place for her short essay called "Gifts and Goodbyes," about her grandfather, who encouraged her to be a writer. Robyn has a parenting blog (Llama Mama), and she is working on a novel about teen pregnancy.

In addition to these categories, the judge awarded a special prize to William E. Peterson for "Faith in the Face of Seemingly Insurmountable Circumstances." Bill has battled a terrible illness this past year and still found the time to enter our contest.

The judge for this year's contest was Kathleen Deyer Bolduc. Her book Autism and Alleluias, which tells the story of her son Joel's teen years, will be published by Judson Press in March of 2010. Contest Coordinator was Patty Kyrlach.

On our award's night, we also announced that Rita Scheidt placed in three categories of the writing contest at the St. David's conference this year.

Congratulations to ALL the winners. Entries will be posted soon in Showcase!

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Writing Academy Members, what's new with you? Let us know! Send us an e-mail with news of your latest writing-related news. Got a book you'd like to recommend--or a favorite quotation to share? Just be BRIEF! And send your news briefs to the Writing Academy by clicking on this text .

Sally Devine will have seven devotions published in Light from the Word and seven more in The Quiet Hour--all in 2010. Sally is the leader of our Writer's eXchange group that works on devotions, and she has encouraged other members to submit their writings.

Rita Scheidt

Jerry Elsea

Jerry Elsea presented "My Notorious Relations," a critique of "cable news' miserable overall performance," to the Cedar Rapids Literary Club. He co-produced the summer "Ministry in Action" report for the inner-city Matthew 25 Ministry he serves as a volunteer.

Since February of 2008, Kay Clark has been writing a weekly column for a local paper, The Chesterfield Weekly. Her column is called "Kay's Korner," and she writes about "any topic that hits my fancy" for a readership of about 4,000. Congratulations, Kay.

Kay Clark

Sheryl Van Weelden

In April, Sheryl Van Weelden and her daughter Sherry Borzo did a podcast with Lillian Brummet. Sheryl and Sherry were promoting their book, Under the Tea Leaves: Reflections of a Mother-Daughter Journey. Lillian asked permission to quote Sheryl in her book, Puple Snowflake Marketing: How to Make Your Book Stand Out in a Crowd.

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Are you concerned about the plight of America's children?

Crying in the Wilderness: a Voice for America's Children puts human faces on the statistics and gives a voice to those who have no voice in the system. This timely book, by award-winning author and educator Tomaline Lenox, tells the real life stories of children at risk.

Tomaline Lenox

Ordering information.

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