Breaking News: Relief author Margot Starbuck Hausmann from issue 4 just got a book deal from InterVarsity Press for her memoir, The Girl in the Orange Dress: A Search for the Father Who Does Not Fail. All of us at Relief send our congratulations to Margot!
So, wow. We're here at Calvin's Festival of Faith and Writing, and, wow. It's 10:40pm here, 9:40pm back in Chicagoland, and dudes, I am totally cashed. Today was a fantastic day of meeting old friends face-to-face, and meeting a lot of new friends along the way.
Scott Cairns, Luci Shaw, D.S. Martin, Margot Starbuck Hausmann, Stacy Barton, Nathan Knapp, David Long, Christopher Fisher, and several other authors that we've corresponded with over email and published in our pages were stopping by to visit all throughout the day. It was fantastic meeting folks like Andy Meisenheimer, Paul Berry, Susan Cowger, and Kris Christensen for the first time in real live space. And it was awesome to see old friends like Lisa Beth Anderson, Lisa Cockerel, and a lot of others. Holy cow, we must've talked to a couple hundred people today. Oh yeah, I just about forgot to mention that the newest member of our Advisory Board, J. Mark Bertrand is here (like he'd be anywhere else, right?), and it's always fantastic to be able to hang out with Mark.
Poetry Editor Brad Fruhauff had this fantastic idea to build a physical MySpace/Facebook Friends wall, and we started filling it today with posters and t-shirts from old and new friends at the various organizations in the Exhibition Hall. Today we added collateral from Zondervan (thanks Andy for lending us your Fink promo shirt!), Rock and Sling , Image , The Other Journal , the International Bible Society (thanks for trading us shirts Paul!) As we talk more with our colleagues in the industry like Rock and Sling and The Other Journal and get to know them, we'll add more tomorrow!
Most of you know that Calvin is our first conference endeavor, and the response was fantastic. We unveiled the Relief Writers Database today, and they sold like crazy. Our Assistant Editor-Who's-Doing-Cool-Stuff gave a lot of demos of the new software, and authors love it! We raffled off some free stuff, gave out bookmarks donated by Think3 Studio , and sold quite a few copies of Relief and the Diner. I'm kind of wondering at this point if we brought enough books. Fiction Editor Alan Ackmann was incredible introducing Relief to a lot of folks who had never heard of us before today! Thanks also go out to Diner Editor Michelle Pendergrass for helping us to build a great booth where friends old and new can come and sit a spell while we visit.
It's been a long, great day. I know this post is a little rougher than what we usually put up here, but I wanted to get down a few thoughts before I crash. Hit the Read More link to see a few pictures from today, and I'll try to post more tomorrow.
This week our Assistant Editor Heather von Doehren talks about money, inspiration, and the question of achievment.
I’ve been having trouble getting an email out of my head that I recently received from someone who had just discovered our website. The subject line of the email read “Relief…or maybe not” and the body of the email opened with the answer “maybe not because I can’t afford to buy my way into this site.”
I’ve been working with this journal since the beginning, and I have to say that the number of angry emails we receive can be very discouraging. I’ve been told that we’ll always receive the angry author emails, and that’s just to be expected. When an author pours their heart and soul (and in this case their faith) into their work, I expect that not everyone will understand that a rejection isn’t a rejection of the author, but a rejection of one particular piece. What surprises me the most, though, is the number of complaints we receive about either the price of our journal, or the fact that we’re even asking a price for it in the first place.
So maybe we should take a moment to respond:
The only thing on this website that does cost consumers money are the books we sell, and let’s face it . . . printing is not cheap. Everything you see on this site that is free (the website, the Relief Writers Network, the content from editors and writers, etc.) and everything that you may not see (web hosting, database development, paper, postage, ink, etc.) is provided entirely by our subscribers and donations—the largest of which are provided by the staff here at Relief, people who have other full-time jobs who give up their nights and weekends (and sometimes their paychecks) all in the name of keeping this journal going because they believe in this endeavor. We are not backed by a church, a foundation, or any governmental or educational institution at this time. As much as we may like to send you a free book, we aren’t able to keep the journal afloat if everything is free.
Back to the original email:
To give him credit, the emailer did state that he enjoyed what he did see here (the free content, of course) and that he was “truly” inspired. And then I began to wonder . . .
. . . is inspiration ever free?
What it is about our society that demands that anything inspirational should be free? How many times have we sat in the back of church awestruck and then let the collection plate pass? How many times have we paid a small fortune to fly thousands of miles to witness the beauty of a sunset over crystal clear water (or opaque mountains if that’s your thing) and then complain about the city spending money on own community? How many times have we been reluctant about parting with the American tax dollar if it means supporting schools or providing better health care for those who have none?
Everything comes at a cost.
In its first weekend alone, the movie College Road Trip grossed over 13 million dollars, for crying out loud! Why is it we are willing to pay a ton of money to be entertained, but to inspire or be inspired . . . well, the easy answer is that we just can’t afford it, don’t have enough time for it. I am not free from guilt here, either.
Over the past several years, I have felt frustrated by my church’s inability to inspire me. When I first became Christian and starting attending church, there wasn’t a day that would go by when I didn’t leave awestruck, crying, and completely changed—inspired if you will—by the message that God and his people had presented to me for one hour while sitting in a chair. And because I had been inspired, I went out fired up to spread that same inspiration. But the novelty of this kind of passive inspiration is fleeting. Several years have gone by, and what used to inspire me now sounds redundant, ordinary, and wholly uninspired. And rather than searching for what has changed in me, I throw blame at the concrete entity “The Church” for not being more inspirational or more relevant to my little life. And I’m ashamed to admit, I stopped attending as regularly, which also meant I stopped tithing regularly. And I’ve got to tell you, not staying focused on a regular giving plan has caused me to stop being focused on what (or better…who) I give up my time and money for. Too many followers have given up far more than what I’ve ever been asked to give. And I was silly enough to think that sitting in a chair would always be enough.
Let’s pause for a moment and consider the stories or rather the people who we find inspiring. In fact, let’s oversimplify it for fun, shall we?
Fill-in-the-Blanks:
I find [Enter Inspirational person here] truly inspiring because despite his/her shortcomings he/she was able to [enter the amazing accomplishment here] .
When you boil it all down to one fill-in-the-blank question or statement, what inspires us doesn’t seem to be all that much. Maybe that’s the problem. When we simplify the feats, or (if you’d like to go the more blameful route) when schools teach us as children about amazing people like Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, or Fill-in-the-blank here, we . . . well . . . fill their achievements in the blanks in order to prove we’ve remembered them and to feign understanding.
Have our lives become just that? One big blank where, here and there, we fill in some kind of achievement?
Well, that certainly doesn’t seem very inspirational. No, it’s everything else that is inspirational. Not the personal achievements, but personal failures; not the financial gain, but the financial struggle. So why, with this in mind, do we expect inspiration to come freely when it has always cost someone something by the time it has been handed down?
I understand how some people cannot afford to spend 12 bucks on a book. Trust me, we at Relief know about financial hardship. But money aside, how can we afford to ignore the sacrifices of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?
We need to recalibrate not only what, but how much we are willing to give in order to be inspired. This week, I challenge you to give something back to the people who inspire you whether it be time, money, or just kind words.
News from North Texas is that last night's reading by Melody Graves was a great success. Coach's Midnight Diner authors Michael Medina and Chris Mikesell made long freeway drives to attend the event (you guys are great!). Melody read with passion, drawing in shoppers so that attendance increased as the evening unfolded until every seat in the house was filled.
Congratulations to Jan Holt and Christine Chapman, who each won the door prize drawing and left Barnes & Noble clutching their groovy Coach's Midnight Diner mugs. Barnes & Noble reports that the event was "awesome" and that they sold all but one of the Diner anthologies in stock for the event.
We're proud of you, Melody. And to all those who bought copies of the anthology last night, welcome to the Diner!
And now, pictures from the signing. Click on any of the pics to bring up a slightly larger version:
Diner author Melody Graves is doing a reading and anthology signing in your neck of the woods on January 11th. Starting with a reading at 6:00 p.m., she'll be at the Barnes & Noble just off Interstate 20 in Arlington (3909 S. Cooper St., 76015). Relief editor Lisa Ohlen Harris will be there "on assignment," so introduce yourself and have your picture taken with Melody for the Relief blog. If you haven't yet bought your copy of Coach's Midnight Diner, now's your chance!
Melody is also doing a reading at BookPeople in Austin in April 2008. More details forthcoming on that event when it gets closer.
Melody is the author of "The Looking Glass," a beautifully crafted Gothic tale involving absinthe, a preacher, and a vampire. If you haven't read it yet, or even if you have, go hear it from the author herself!
Back when Moses was in charge of handling all the issues that the children of Israel were wrestling, his father-in-law Jethro told him, "What the hell do you think you're doing? You're wearing yourself out, man! Go get some help!" Ok, so that's an official Coach Culbertson paraphrase, but the intent is the same. Being a relatively smart man, I decided to take Jethro's advice and recruit from the Diner alumni some colleagues to help man the kitchen of this strange out-of-the-way place.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to some new members of the Coach's Midnight Diner Editorial Team:
Kevin Lucia - Author of "The Way Station" from the first edition of the Diner, providing wit and speed for the team- http://www.kevinlucia.net
Mike Duran - Author of "Polly's Muse" from the first edition, solving for the experience and wisdom side of the Diner equation- http://www.mikeduran.com
Michelle Pendergrass - Bloggerina from the Misfits and Nanowrimo Spring Training Veteran, providing heart for the team- http://zanesmilkmachine.blogspot.com
Melody Graves, Author of "The Looking Glass" from the first edition, will be stepping up as our new Layout Editor - http://www.melodygraves.com
and of course, your friendly neighborhood fry cook, Coach Culbertson
I've posted up a placeholder web site for the Diner at http://www.reliefjournal.com/cmd that contains the snarky submission guidelines for the time being. It will eventually be replaced with a much cooler site that will feature a lot more. Submissions are only taken at the Relief Writers Network.
For the second edition, all categories will be open for the three Editor's Choice cash prizes. Also, all accepted authors will be eligible for serving in the Diner kitchen for the third edition.
We might still have a few more join the Diner staff, but all in good time. Meanwhile, go get your coffee and start writing up some good genre entrees that we can put on the menu.
So, wow. We're here at Calvin's Festival of Faith and Writing, and, wow. It's 10:40pm here, 9:40pm back in Chicagoland, and dudes, I am totally cashed. Today was a fantastic day of meeting old friends face-to-face, and meeting a lot of new friends along the way.
