CALL FOR ARTICLES

Hi Writer,

We have several things we wanted to let you know about: 

*First and foremost is a call from Jim Bell for a second Angels, Miracles, and Heavenly Encounters book. I am attaching Jim's call-out letter and pasting it below. In short, Jim's looking for 1000-2000 word personal experience articles involving your encounters with the supernatural realm--from a Christian perspective. Jim explains it more thoroughly in his letter. This is a paying opportunity (all of Jim's projects pay authors).

*Second, a major secular publisher has asked Jim to put together samples and a proposal for a book of "blessing" stories. So he'd love to see your stories of 1000 to 2000 words about "gifts from above that enrich our lives." While these need to be very well written, they don't have to be as heavy on the drama and conflict as some of the manuscript calls we put out. They're feel-good stories about blessings from God and others. Right now we need samples to get a contract on the project, and then we'll put out a more detailed call. If you sent in a sample for the Shelter in the Storm project, you've probably received my email that a new editor came in and declined to continue with that book. You might look at the sample you sent and see if you can tweak it to fit the blessings motif. The email address for these stories is: blessingcall@earthlink.net. 

Per normal, it will take a while to process stories and samples, so we appreciate your patience. You may feel free to pass along the Angels, Miracles, and Heavenly Encounters call to writers' groups, etc. Since we just need samples for the second call, you might wait to pass that along until we have a contract signed and put out an official call.

For those of you who might be interested in developing your writing further, I wanted to let you know about a couple of opportunities through Heart of America Christian Writers' Network, which I co-direct:

*On Feb. 23, Dennis Hensley will be instructing writers for a day long seminar in Kansas City. Whether you're a beginner or an advanced writer, you'll glean something from this outstanding author and teacher! Dennis has had dozens of books published by major publishers (including Writer's Digest) and has written thousands of articles for magazines such as Reader's Digest. I've attached a flyer, and you can learn more at www.HACWN.org.

*Also, if you'd like personal mentoring, HACWN has a Virtual Mentoring Retreat program. The beauty is that you can do this from your own home in your schedule. We connect you with a mentor who will look at your materials, give you feedback, look at your rewrite, etc. Mentors participating in our next session (Feb.-Mar.) include MacKenzie Howard (Thomas Nelson, children's/women's editor), Bruce Nygren (Waterbrook editor), Mary Sue Seymour (Agent), and others. For more information, see www.HACWN.org, or contact Mark Littleton (MLittleton@earthlink.net).

May God continue to bless you as you seek to serve Him with your writing!

Jeanette

Jeanette Gardner Littleton

Editorial Associate

Angels, Miracles, and Heavenly Encounters (Bethany House, 2014)

A James Stuart Bell Project

Dear Contributor,

 You may recall my role as editor for story collections such as: A Cup of Comfort, Life Savors, Extraordinary Answers to Prayer, and Love is a Verb.  At present I am putting together a sequel volume of stories that will follow Angels, Miracles, and Heavenly Encounters, published by Bethany House Publishers in the first half of 2012. 

 The content will be similar to the original volume. The supernatural realm consisting of God and His angels, as well as evil spirits, is ever present in our midst.  On rare occasions this realm becomes visible or we see its direct effects that can in no way be explained in the natural realm. These stories will cover the gamut of supernatural encounters: from supernatural miracles including physical healing, angelic visitations, near-death experiences of the afterlife, manifestations of evil, apparitions, and miraculous rescues.  For the sake of authenticity, we are interested only in first-hand accounts in the first person.  The stories need to go beyond subjective or speculative interpretations of events and be as concrete as possible, so if presented in a court there would be no human explanation of hard evidence. 

We’ll consider original, unpublished stories from 1,000 to 2,000 words. The stories should have a creative title, an attention-grabbing introduction, main body with a conflict or challenge, and a clear, satisfying resolution.  They need to be descriptive, rooted in time and place, with a realistic portrayal of the characters involved. They need to be substantive stories rather than mere testimonies or teachings, and the focus should not be on the supernatural realm alone, but rather the spiritual lesson learned.  Please include a personal biography of 30 words or less at the end of each manuscript. 

The book will be released by Bethany House Publishers sometime in 2014. Your manuscript will be due no later than July 1, 2013, but we would prefer it much earlier.  Please send your manuscript attached to the e-mail rather than pasting text in the email window as a Word document.  Send your manuscript in normal manuscript formatting, with your full contact information--name, address, phone number, and e-mail address on the actual manuscript, not just in your e-mail.    We are offering a one-time fee of $50 for stories 1,500 words and over, and $25 for stories under that word count.                            

We will send you contracts upon the publisher’s acceptance and would need them back promptly. Payment will be made after all contracts have been received.  Please direct all inquiries and manuscript submissions to my colleague, Jeanette Littleton, at supernaturalstories2@earthlink.net.  If this e-mail has been forwarded to you, and you can’t submit to this call, but would like to hear about other editorial needs as they arise, please send us your e-mail address and we’ll add you to our notification list.

Blessings to you and yours,

James Stuart Bell