In our general session that morning, we went around the room and asked everyone to share who they were, where they were from, and a little about their writing. Here's how attendees felt about starting the day in that way:

Here's what attendees said about our morning workshops:

Let’s Write by Donna Shepherd 

• Fear: I think I could identify with almost all of the fears that I face in writing.
• Great sharing on fears.
• Appreciated the guidelines; helps push past the barriers.
• Thank you; thank you. It was helpful having you go thru all the fears.
• Inspirational w/much pertinent information.
• Absolutely awesome! Very encouraging, helpful.
• Great website resources!
• I need to realize that there will be an audience for your writing if God has ordained/directed your work.
• Encouraging guidelines for how to enter into the market of devotional marketing.
• Donna is motivating and inspiring. Makes me want to set specific time aside to continue in my writing.
• Yes! This has been so helpful in finding forms, identifying barriers (so freeing).

Nuts and Bolts of Manuscript Preparation by Mary Busha

• Good written info/handout!!
• Answer to some of the mysterious numbers and pages inside a book; this was quite valuable.
• Excellent – having checklists were great helps to getting organized.
• Excellent summary of basic process – possibly offer a sheet of resources to use rather than just holding up 1 or books.
• Very informative and good outlines to follow. Great facts to be aware of.
• Very helpful – exactly the kind of info I wanted.
• Great info – I feel I have more equipment to do this.
• Getting a plan for yourself is a must. I learned a lot I didn’t know about a book. I need a computer program – your manuscript preparation pointed this out to me.
• Love actually having handouts for records. Mary’s experience and knowledge is a Godsend. Timely info.
• Some basics I was unfamiliar with, such as the style sheet. Making out a basic plan and sharing it with others identified common obstacles and ideas to overcome.
• Good practice – harder to do but makes you commit to action steps.
• Worksheet and discussion very helpful.
• Great to connect with other writers and to keep one another accountable.
• A good start to putting legs on the project.
• Good information to linger over. This was most interesting to me.
• Small group feedback to next steps. We’re all going thru same things.

 Here's what they said about lunch:

• Great food.
• Enjoyed meeting other men and women.
• Very tasty brownie.
• Enjoyed Donna and worship songs.
• Lunch was excellent! Yum.
• Very tasty and filling – as lunch should be!
• Delicious – Thank you!
• Thanks for the door prizes and great element of fun.
• Great lunch. Great music.
• Tasty. Good conversation around table.

We also provided time for networking:

• Great fun – helpful and relaxing.
• Wonderful idea to provide time for connecting w/other writers.
• Wow, I can’t believe how many genres in Christian writing there are!
• Needed alone time…lovely, sunny day.

Here's what attendees said about our afternoon workshops:
 

Writing Devotionals by Donna Shepherd

• Great info – feel ready to try it. Donna is a great encourager.
• Lots and lots of helpful descriptions of devotional writing. I am truly inspired.
• Information that was relevant and specific to the necessary skills for this type of writing.
• I didn’t realize how many types of devotionals there are out on the market.
• I have a new found respect for devotional writers for their skill in writing concise and descriptive info in such few words.
• Thank you for the practical experience and opportunity to write and share. Thanks for your encouragement!
• Very clear and readily understandable. Liked Donna's personal examples. Liked the time we had to write a devotional.

 Marketing Yourself and Your Book by Mary Busha

• Book proposal outline very helpful.
• Step by step you are eliminating my ignorance! Thank you!
• This provided a lot of questions, tough questions, I need to consider.
• Great info on a phase I knew was out there, but was just beginning to think about.
• Great info! Would be good to go over how to handle rejection. Helpful resources/books would be great as handout list.
• Would have been nice to have more info on tax info if going to bring it up. Bio piece was great start! Would have liked more guided discussion on how to market.
• Good things to think about and assess to move forward re: marketing.
• Overwhelming, but needed big picture.
• Marketing is something I have not thought about but needed to.
• Use your networking to find marketing agent.
• Good to know. Affirms to me I need an agent/publicist soon! Not my cup of tea! I want to write, not market.
• While I knew some of these items on the bio sheet, this session clarified and demystified everything. I found additional direction in my current writing project.
• Thank you so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge!
• Very good for me to make me begin to think about what to do; good ideas for action steps given.
• Good conversations and brainstorming re: marketing our materials.
• Excellent chance to flesh out some thoughts and ideas – thanks, Mary!!
• I realized tragedy makes one simplify and this goes hand and hand with my clutter control business. I need to market through my business.
• This was great info – the bio sheet wonderful.
• Excellent! Great sharing of ideas, thoughts. Mary is so knowledgeable and generous in sharing her wisdom and experience.

During our closing, we gave away several books and door prizes. Donna gave us a charge to go forth in our writing and led us in worship:

• Very good, very worthwhile day. Thanks!
• Inspirational – you two ladies bear much fruit yourselves.
• Thanks for the encouragement!
• Good. Timely.
• Both of you are a gift from God.
• Devotional to encourage us. Thanks for praying for each of us by name.

  Additional comments:

• Thanks so much; this was very energizing; I thoroughly enjoyed this day.
• You ladies are such an encouragement and are so knowledgeable. Thank you! And God bless you both!
• This was wonderfully helpful, encouraging and motivating – thank you both.
• Thank you for your care and support of others who want to give back to God the gifts He has given.
• I’ll be in touch about your doing a workshop at my church.
• Thank God, I came here today! It was inspiring and deeply motivating.
• Looking forward to networking with both of you again.
• Would like this to become a regular event.

   
Greater Harvest Workshops are designed to move you closer to your goal of
becoming a working writer and published author.
Taught by Donna Shepherd, an author and speaker, and writer's coach Mary Busha,
these workshops, along with hands-on training, will motivate you to step up to the next level!