Author and speaker N. J. Lindquist, and writer and editor Wendy Elaine Nelles have worked together as co-directors of the conference since the summer of 2001.
Last June, Patricia Paddey spent time with each of them during Write! Canada 2009, to record their thoughts about a quarter century of conferences for Canadian writers who are Christian.
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PP: N. J., before you became involved in planning the conference, you came as an attendee. Help us understand what it meant to you.
NJL: I'd been writing for something like 15 years before I came to the God Uses Ink (GUI) conference in 1988, but I didn’t know what to do with anything I'd written. And although I had attended a conference run by Decision magazine in 1979 in Calgary, I really didn't know any other writers. The moment a friend of mine told me about the God Uses Ink conference, then held in November in Toronto, I knew I had to attend.
I learned a lot, but the pivotal point of that first conference was when another attendee took me to the bookstore, and showed me a Christian Writers’ Market Guide. That book was the key that opened the door to my getting published. I had several things accepted by magazines in 1989, and my first book for teens came out with Moody Press in 1991.
Over the years, the key has been the people I've met. Year after year, different individuals have helped me in all kinds of ways. It doesn't matter whether they're editors or agents or other writers; each year I learn more. And I’ve made many of my best friends through the conferences.
PP: For people who don’t know, tell us about the scope of your involvement in Write! Canada.
NJL: As i said, I came for the first time in 1988, and I've come every year since. I co-taught a workshop with Elma Schemenauer in 1991. A couple of years later, I co-taught a workshop with Ray Wiseman. The next year I taught a continuing class, and I’ve frequently taught workshops and classes ever since. Plus I was the keynote speaker in 2004.
I also was a member of the planning for a number years.
Then the day before God Uses Ink. in June, 2001, some of the planning committee and faculty were told this was to be the last conference. A number of us who said, "No way, it’s not the last year; we’re going to find a way to make it continue." Throughout that summer, I conducted research into why we should keep it going. That fall, the conference's original sponsor, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, gave us the right to use the name God Use Ink. So we quickly began planning for the 2002 conference (which, by the way, more than doubled in size from 2001.)
The Word Guild came into being because of our research, because we realized that we needed a year-round way to connect with people, and not just the once-a-year conference.
I've been co-director of the conference since we took over in the fall of 2001.
PP: As you look back over all the years of your involvement, and consider the millions of words that have been written, that might never have been had the conference not continued, what are your thoughts?
NJL: I believe it's made a lot of difference to a lot of people, but we may never really know the full extent of who has been impacted. Some people tell us, of course, but we can’t keep track of every attendee, and we often don't know who is influenced by the conference or in what ways.
But if we’re being faithful to our calling, and doing what God has given us to do, then God is going to use what we do. That's what really matters – being faithful to the calling God has given us. And trust me, God made it very clear to me and to others that this conference had to continue.
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PP: Wendy, like N. J., you came to your first conference in 1988, and you haven't missed one. Do you have a favourite memory or anecdote you could share?
WEN: Around 2002 or 2003, soon after we had taken over the conference, a woman attendee stopped me at the end of the conference as she was about to leave. She had received a bursary to enable her to attend, and she wanted to express her thanks to me. She said, “Next to the gift of my salvation, and the birth of my three children, coming to this conference is the greatest gift I have ever received!”
She has gone on to publish at least three books for American Christian publishers and get a job in communications for a Canadian Christian charity. That statement touched me deeply.
PP: You've served on the planning committee for this conference longer than any other single person. What's kept you coming back?
WEN: I’ve been part of the leadership team for 21 years, and I keep motivated by the challenge of continuously finding ways to improve the conference. Over the years, the conference has changed significantly. In the past, the event was mainly education-focused, drew a higher percentage of wanna-be and beginner writers, had a very subdued marketing element (in typically Canadian fashion), and fewer opportunities for pitching proposals to editors and agents.
When N. J. Lindquist and I decided we had to take over the conference, we had three goals in mind:
a) Increase the attendance numbers, particularly through offering more professional development opportunities to keep the advanced writers coming back;
b) Increase the number of young adults and teenagers coming, thus training our next generation and lowering the average age of attendees; and
c) Increase the number of attendees coming from multi-cultural backgrounds, including from the black and Asian communities, to better reflect the Canadian demographics.
We've made progress on all three fronts, but we'd love to see more people coming from all three groups.
PP: Wendy, you’ve really devoted your life — for years — to helping build up Canadian writers and editors who are Christian: rewarding and celebrating them, creating the conditions under which they can connect, improve and grow. Why is this so important to you?
WEN: I’ve always been passionate about making my life count. I’m passionate about the Write! Canada conference and The Word Guild, because I know how much they would have meant to me when I was a student and young adult, longing to find someone to give me some guidance and encouragement. I can empathize with what it’s like to want to use my writing skills to bring glory to God, to want to get published, yet to lack the self-confidence or the contacts or the resources to know how to go about it.
I longed to find someone to mentor me as a writer, to give me that boost of encouragement I needed, and to help me plug into the writing and publishing industry. I never found an individual, but I found the conference. It was the only point of contact most of us had with other Canadian writers who were Christian.
We found a place where we were part of a community of people with similar interests and dreams. We learned a great deal from the classes, we networked with colleagues and editors, we found writing work through the contacts we made. And we made many good friends.
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NOTABLE QUOTES:
“After my first conference, I learned that I needed to come back better prepared. So this time I prepared better before hand. I’m leaving with an assignment for a book review and requests for two proposals. So that’s looking good.”
- Violet Nesdoly, children’s author from Langley, B.C.
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