Tag: cornelia becker

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A Welcome Letter from FCWC Director

Cornelia Becker Seigneur  By Cornelia Becker Seigneur

On behalf of the entire Faith & Culture Writers Conference Leadership Team, I want to welcome you to the Expanded 2015 Faith & Culture Writers Conference – Rough Draft: From Blank To Beautiful.

Last year you spoke, saying you wanted more time for fellowship and legroom — in short, more breathing space — and we listened. We added our Friday pre-conference experience which we are calling “Breathing Space-A Mini Retreat”; we also have Art Stations in McGuire, where you can reflect on the conference visually. In addition, we will have a prayer room available to ponder your creative God-given calling. We truly hope and pray that you find inspiration, courage, and community during your experience with us.

We need in-person connection and we intentionally want to be a creative community where everyone belongs and feels as though their story matters. Because it does!

It Takes a Village!
After my life-changing Accident in January, this amazing team that I serve alongside continued to move this conference forward, and without them there would be no conference! I am incredibly and humbly grateful for their service and friendship.

  • Bethany Jackson has been so faithful, keeping us on task as our Executive Administrator
  • Marc Schelske serves as our Scribe and (new!) Launch Coordinator and all-around get-things done guy
  • Taylor Smith returns as the warm and amazing Communications Coordinator of our speakers;
  • Brooke Nicole Perry is once again our expert, matching attendees with their Agents, Editors, and Mentors;
  • A big nod goes to Tony Kriz, one of our visionaries and Advisory Board Members;
  • Leah Abraham, is our awesome Website Administrator;
  • Matthew O’Connell, organizes our Faith & Culture Writing Contest;
  • Jody Collins, is our Volunteer Coordinator|Administrative Assistant.
  • Our Committee members include: Kim Hunt, social media coordinator, Cayla Pruett and Rachael Metzger, creative space coordinators; Faye Strudler our Prayer Team Coordinator; and Stephen Carter, Writing Contest|Social Media Assistant.
  • Huge thank you goes to Bethany Sundstrom-Smith for re-designing our website this year. Be sure to see our “Acknowledgments” page in your folder for complete list of thank you’s.
  • We are also thankful to Warner Pacific College for their hospitality as our sponsoring host. Grace Kim and Melody Burton have made us feel very welcome, as they have worked behind the scenes with logistics and details. Thank you to Mimi Fonseca for coordinating our bookstore and Joel Santana, our meals.
  • Once again, we are honored that Martin French created our beautiful WORDS logo shown at the top of this letter;
  • Aaron Esparza returns as our photographer;
  • Brad Ediger is recording all talks and sessions for you to purchase.
  • And, we give a shout-out to the judges of our Writing Contest as well as Scrivener and Bedlam Magazine.

A Couple of Changes.

I do have a couple of notes to make you aware of. We are sorry to say that due to a family situation, Amber Haines and Erika Morrison are no longer able to be with us. And Nish Weiseth has to leave early so she will not be leading the afternoon mini-retreat small groups. But, Micah J. Murray and Karen Zacharias Spear are stepping in to join the co-led groups of  Seth Haines and Brooke Perry and Tony Kriz and Romal Tune

We serve a creative God who carved something beautiful out of nothing; and now He calls us to create, to fill the blank pages of our lives with our WORDS, our stories. We pray that you find a place of community and belonging here, and that you sense that you matter. May Christ be honored this weekend; may He give you the WORDS to share the stories that change lives. I am so glad you are here!

Happy Writing and stay connected.

P.S. Please understand if I am not my usual, energetic self! Blame it on the concussion. Hey, you try surviving getting hit by an SUV and live to tell!

– Cornelia Becker-Seigneur

Cornelia is the founding Director for the Faith & Culture Writer’s Conference, and blogs at www.corneliaseigneur.com.  If you have any questions about the conference, you can email her at cornelia@corneliaseigneur.com.

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Rough Draft – Our conference theme, our lives.

Cornelia Becker SeigneurBy Cornelia Becker Seigneur

I love the quote by Maxwell Perkins that goes like this: “Just get it down on paper, then we will see what to do with it.” Perkins, as the editor of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe, knew what he was talking about.

I just wish I would live by those words, as I should.

The blank page. Why does it haunt us?

Just begin.

The perfectionist in us perhaps, or the fear of being criticized or the fear of the painful memories we channel when we begin to write. But, the quote by Perkins reminds us to just begin, just get it on paper, onto the computer, into that journal.

That’s why we are really excited to announce the theme of the 2015 Faith & Culture Writers Conference:

Rough Draft: From Blank to Beautiful.

We want to gather friends of words and story and The Word together to give them permission to create. To not be afraid of the blank page. To know that it’s okay to know that our work is in progress. Because aren’t we all rough drafts, creations of God whom He’s working on?

Every year as we think through, pray over, and dream about the theme for the Faith & Culture Writers Conference, we come up with five words that represent our vision for the year. This year, to go along with the Rough Draft theme, we wanted to have those five words reflect the nature of the creative process. Those five words this year are:

Decide, Dare, Prepare, Persist, Release.

Follow these 5 words, and you will find your creativity expand and your writing career moving forward.

Decide. We need to decide we are writers, dreamers, artists, activists, authors, entrepreneurs, believers. It starts with a yes. An, “I can do this, I will do this, I start today.” It is a simple yes, packed in deep dreams and beliefs and that you-know-you-are-called vision. Don’t wait for someone else to give you permission, to tell you you are good enough. You do not need their permission. God has already given you permission. He has shaped you and molded you and made you into a creative being. He is a creative God. His first words, “In the beginning, God created.” Decide. Begin.

Dare. To write that first word. That first story. That first blog post. That first article. That first book proposal. That hundredth book proposal. Let’s face it, It takes courage to get our words and story out there. It takes guts. People may not like our work, they may not appreciate our story, they may think we are not good enough. That’s okay. Do it anyway. It’s your calling.

Prepare. Yes, you do need to decide that you are a writer with something to contribute, and you then need to dare to get your art out there, to have courage. But then, you need to find a way, get some advice, seek out the expertise of others, learn how to write moving blog posts. As a writers’ conference, we want to help you prepare for that launch of your words, your art, your story, your creativity.

Persist. Okay, you’ve decided to begin, you’ve said yes to the dare, and you’ve begun to prepare for what that means. Perhaps, it’s twice a week blog posts, meeting with a friend, seeking out an editor, attending a writers conference. But, then truth be told, it takes persistence. It takes sticking with it! There really are no one–book wonders or one-blog-post-goes-viral-and-you-are-famous wonders, or one-anything-wonders. Most of those authors who “make it” have been writing for years. When no one was noticing. Until one day, they got noticed.

Release. It’s time. You’ve decided to get your words out there, you’ve dared to be creative, you’ve prepared and you’ve stuck with it. Now, let it go. That’s it. Let people read it, and keep getting it out there, and leave the results to God. If one or a million or just you are changed by your words, your story, your art, it was worth it.

Cornelia is a freelance journalist and the mother of five children and finds her pen often turning to the chaos and craziness and beauty in her family life. She is the Founding Director for the Faith & Culture Writer’s Conference, and blogs at www.corneliaseigneur.com.

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If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write

By CORNELIA BECKER SEIGNEUR

One of my favorite writing quotes is by Martin Luther: “If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.” I think I have always appreciated the power of the pen, the strength of story and the wonder of Words.

As we head into the weekend for Portland’s second Faith & Culture Writers Conference at Multnomah University, Friday-Saturday April 5-6, I am excited to lead a breakout session on “Freelance Writing in the Digital World.”

I love sharing the story of how God opened the door for me to freelance for The Oregonian newspaper beginning in 1996. I have had the honor of penning stories of doctors going to Africa, of kids raising money for orphans, of entire youth groups traveling to Mississippi rather than go to a summer camp for fun. After people read my stories, I receive emails or phone calls from folks saying they read my story and they decided to donate funds, or help someone, or go on a mission trip. Wow, that feeling of lives being changed through story is amazing.

My daughter Rach had written a teen column for The Oregonian while she was in high school and one of the things she wrote about once was how she did not want gifts for Christmas but instead she wanted money so she could go on a mission trip to Mississippi. She received a check in the mail for $ 100 from a reader who was so moved by her story. My Rachie said to me, “Mom, I did not realize how much writing can impact people.”

While I have specialized in stories of faith and culture, family and community for The Oregonian, I had also  dreamed of writing for Christianity Today, and am grateful for the opportunity that has opened up for me to do just that.  I have been able to pen stories about (the late) Richard Twiss and Lopez Lomong, whose story is that running — and writing — saved  his life.

I look forward to penning more stories. But first, our upcoming writers conference. And, speaking of Christianity Today, I asked my editor Katelyn Beaty to donate magazines, and they did. We have a few gift subscriptions as door prizes, and a box full of magazines to give away. Christy Tenant Krispin will be here representing CT and its This is Our City Project, which collects stories of folks reaching out and impacting culture locally.

Buzz is building for this weekend’s conference as people who have never been before are learning about it. It’s fun to see all the connections being made with old friends and new friendships forming. Twitter hashtag #faithculture2013 is active on our @WritersUniteNW Twitter page and our  Faith & Culture Writers Connection Facebook page can be found at:  Facebook Faith & Culture Writers

Registration at the door on Friday-Saturday April 5-6 is $ 75 and students are just $ 25. Visit: Faith & Culture Writers Conference