Yesterday was a sad day at Relief.Upon tracking our taxes, budget, subscriptions, donations, etc. we realized that starting with Relief Volume 2, Issue 2 we will no longer be able to offer cash prizes for our “Editor’s Choice” winners.We are currently seeking sponsors who would be willing to fund the Editor’s Choice prize while spotlighting their businesses and/or projects with a fancy full page add right at the beginning of the journal.In the meantime, we will still be honoring authors with the title of “Editor’s Choice” (and a snazzy certificate suitable for framing).Hopefully the impending sales and donation boom will once again enable us to pay the winners of our elite prize.
According to Paul Wirth at Relevant Church , Christians are not having enough.The reason? The lack of time spent on fulfilling our spouse’s emotional needs.What’s that you ask?You're Single?Well you’re getting too much sexual attention (not just sex mind you), which is weakening others areas of your connection with your significant other and with God.
Over the past month, Relevant Church asked its congregation to take part in a 30 Day Sex Challenge.Of course, not all Christians like sex (or they don’t find church to be the appropriate discussion venue).As you can imagine, there have been varied reactions to their series.
Here’s a sneak peek at what people are saying about the challenge:
ThinkChristian.net
This is a forum page listing varied comments you might find interesting.Click Here to read about what people are saying.
Straight From Relevant
Relevant’s own church sponsors a blog where you can read about how participants in the challenge have changed their marriages (and single lives).Click Here to read about what Relevant has to say.
From the Newsroom
Many Tampa News teams interviewed members of the church regarding this challenge.Among the newsgroups were St. Petersburg Times, as well as Fox News, CBS News, and many others.Just type “30 Day Sex Challenge” into Google and see what you find.
Relief Gets a Post Interview
Relief editor Heather von Doehren will be interviewing Paul and Susie Wirth right here at www.reliefjournal.com, so stay tuned.
You’ve seen this happen before . . . people working for organizations with low funds become so engrossed with their work that they forget or fail to realize there’s a world outside their organization. I’ve seen it happen to many a literary journal or literary magazine, and I’ve certainly seen it happen a lot (and I mean a lot) within churches.
Once my blog “The Price of Inspiration ” hit cyberspace I began to realize that that particular blog would never have happened if I hadn’t been working, thinking, breathing, and sleeping Relief. And although I do feel the blog was beneficial and necessary (yes, there are some people who think we’re stapling paper together like some pamphlet—we’re not. It’s a book), I can’t help but feel that I’ve forgotten what it feels like to work outside of a journal.
And so I introduce to you Operation Blog-About-More-Stuff.
About the Project:
The goal here is to not only write more consistently, but to offer a broader perspective of what it means to be Christian in today’s society. We’ve posted a few ads on some freelance writing sites, and on Chicago’s Craigslist, and we are now reviewing applications to broaden our staff writers. All because I feel we are in danger of narrowfocusness (yeah, that’s right . . . I made up a word). So, none of our staff writers will have anything to do with the journal. That’s right! If they volunteer to help (which would be really really tempting right before a deadline) we’re not going to let them. We don’t want to taint their wonderful and refreshing outside perspective.
We’re looking for people who like to write, who are spiritually and/or literarily inclined, and who want to work for free (sorry about that last part). If you’d like to apply, send a résumé and/or bio along with a writing sample to me, Heather (assistanteditor[at] you know the extension).
Steps of the Project:
Review applications
Interact with/pray about (or for) applicants
Hire applicants and discuss goals, expectations, and to make a blog schedule
Develop topics and an initial blog series (three or four blogs loosely related)
Edit Blogs
Post Blogs
With that schedule in mind, it might be a little while before the Relief community gets to know these new bloggers. But in the meantime, we at Relief are hoping to do more meaningful blogs and interviews. We’ve just found out that Paul and Susie Wirth of Relevant Church have agreed to do an interview with us as a follow-up to their controversial series called “The 30 Day Sex Challenge.” We’re also working on a lot of cool things for writers who can’t quite figure out how to use Microsoft Word. I’ve also been working on a video to act as a tutorial in how to format submissions. Those are just a few things we have in the works. So check back soon, or subscribe to our RSS feed to stay updated on all the cool happenings here at Relief and in the world of God (and of course literature).
Howdy howdy, Coach here with the latest breaking news:
Issue 2.1 has shipped out, and if you haven't gotten yours yet, it should be on your doorstep this week. Sorry about the delay, we're still getting used to our new printer partner's schedule.
Relief Issue 2.2 is in full swing and we're getting all the ducks in a row for that one.
You can find Relief Issue 2.1 , The Best of Relief Volume 1 , and Coach's Midnight Diner on Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com, and about a billion other web stores. All three are also available to order from Ingram's and Baker and Taylor. From here on out, Relief and related anthologies will be available through more outlets.
In response to our international friends who have trouble getting some Relief outside the borders, the rise of e-book readers like the Kindle and others, and those who just want the instant gratification of getting some Relief right now, we're looking into some eBook solutions. We'd like to remain purists about print, but we know that there's some folks out there that also would like to get it immediately and in digital form, so we're going to work on that for you. But don't worry, for you die-hards Relief will always have an ink-on-paper form. Look for a test-run of an eBook solution soon.
Our staff is starting to undergo a few changes as the universe turns, so here's the quick re-cap of what's been happening the last couple of months:
Alan Ackmann is moving up to serve as our Fiction Editor.
J. Mark Bertrand is moving from Fiction Editor to be part of our forming Relief Advisory Board as his book deals start cooking. We're thrilled to keep Mark as an advisor, and his contributions have shaped Relief in a major way.
Lisa Ohlen Harris is changing titles to represent all her fantastic work. She's been a co-editor of Creative Nonfiction, but she does so much more. Her new title is Assistant Editor, and she'll still be working with the Creative Nonfiction side as well. Lisa is a major asset to our team, and we felt that her title should represent what she's already accomplishing.
Jill Noel Kandel, as most of you know, is our Guest Editor for Creative Nonfiction for Issue 2.3. If you missed it, her interview can be found here .
Karen Miedrich-Luo is moving from Creative Nonfiction Editor to Creative Nonfiction Consultant to focus more on writing.
We're still trying to come up with a new title for Heather von Doehren, as she's working on some new partnerships and stuff, so for right now she's going to be Editor-Who's-Working-On-Cool-Stuff in addition to working with poetry and wearing as many hats as possible an Assitant Editor.
Calvin's Festival of Faith and Writing is coming up, and the Relief team will be bringing as many dogs and ponies as we can. We've got a booth reserved in the Exhibitor's Hall, and in addition to selling Relief stuff, I'm going to be looking at submissions for Coach's Midnight Diner on-site, so bring your stuff on a USB stick or in hard copy if ya like.
So that's news to know right now, gang. I'm going to do my best to keep you updated every Tuesday about the guts of what's-a-happening around Relief. Go out and do something good today, eh?
You never know what you're going to get in the office White Elephant gift exchange.
On behalf of the entire Relief Staff (and Murphy), we wish you a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks for all your support in 2007, and we look forward to a bright 2008!
