ELEVATE
LIVE
Saturday, October 16th
at the Event Center
at Shadow Mountain
from 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM
SCS Press
2nd Annual
Southern California
Writers Conference
ELEVATE
2021 LIVE EVENT
Join fellow writers for a live conference; a time to reignite your passion! Leave motivated with a new sense of purpose and what to do next. Saturday, October 16th from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM. $ $49 Early Bird Registration includes entrance to all events, worship, continental breakfast, lunch, writer’s resources and materials. Early Bird ends September 30th. After Sept. 30th, registration is $69.
ELEVATE LIVE WORSHIP
with Kekoa & Amy Grover
Kekoa and Amy Grover began their ministry together in the spring of 2011 leading worship for Shadow Mountain’s Sr. High Ministry, The Gathering. Through their collective twenty-plus years at Shadow, they have lead worship, planted a church, worked in Production, and served at both the Encinitas and Alpine campuses. Both Amy & Kekoa hold degrees in music with Amy earning her Bachelor’s in Worship Leading from San Diego Christian College and Kekoa graduating from Western Michigan University with a Bachelor’s in Music.
JOEL RYAN
Session 1 - WHY Should We Then Write? Thinking Biblically About Careers, Callings, and Craft in an Upside Down Age
Joel Ryan has worn many hats in the arts and specializes in writing for children and young adults, receiving his MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Before returning to children’s and young adult fiction, Joel was a script reader in Hollywood and core trainer for Disney’s Youth Education Series, where he helped develop and oversee interactive educational programs on leadership, story, and marketing. He has also spent time writing for the church, creating immersive theatrical content for youth groups and Vacation Bible Schools and is currently a contributing writer for Crosswalk and Christianity.com. Joel has a passion for helping young writers find their voice and unlock their stories, and when he’s not working on his own fiction, he teaches writing and communications at Life Pacific University.
For more about Joel visit www.perspectivesoffthepage.com
Cindi McMenamin
Session 2 - HOW Should We then Write? 7 Principles for Creating Life-Changing Material
Prolific Author and Writing Coach Cindi McMenamin will provide 7 essentials in writing not just to inform, but to transform. Whether writing books, short stories or articles, these principles will make you a more effective writer who reaches more readers.
Cindi McMenamin is an award-winning writer and national speaker who helps women and couples strengthen their relationship with God and one another. She is the author of 17 books (all from Harvest House Publishers), including When Women Walk Alone (more than 130,000 copies sold), When God Sees Your Tears, and When Couples Walk Together (co-authored with her husband, Hugh, a pastor). Cindi has appeared on hundreds of national TV and radio shows, inspiring women to let God meet their emotional needs, grow stronger through their alone times, and pursue their dreams with boldness. Now a certified Writing Coach, Cindi is helping aspiring writers become published authors, which she’s done in her “spare time” for the past 15 years. She and Hugh live in San Diego County and have an adult daughter.
For more on her ministry, see www.StrengthForTheSoul.com.
Brae Wyckoff
Session 3 - The Benefits of Networking With Other Writers
Brae Wyckoff is an award-winning and internationally acclaimed author, born and raised in San Diego, CA. He has been married to his beautiful wife, Jill, since 1993, and they have three children and six wonderful grandchildren. Brae is currently the Director of Kingdom Writers Association based in San Diego where he is working with writers of all levels to encourage and empower them to pursue their calling as authors. Brae hosts monthly writers’ gatherings with published and unpublished writers to strengthen and spur them on in their passion for writing. He has won several awards, been an Amazon bestseller, and was a top-ten finalist for the Author Academy Awards.
B.J. Taylor
Session 4 - For Such A Time As This
B.J. Taylor writes for Guideposts, Angels on Earth, Mysterious Ways, and All Creatures magazines (the Guideposts family). Her career also includes selling forty stories to Chicken Soup for the Soul and numerous articles to Writer’s Digest, Romantic Homes, Victorian Homes, John Gray’s Mars and Venus in Love, and many others. B.J. teaches how to write true stories that sell, and put her winning formula into a succinct book titled Writing True Stories: Using the Winning Formula P MS to a T. She is the author of the memoir CHARLIE BEAR: What a Headstrong Rescue Dog Taught Me about Life, Love, and Second Chances. B.J. lives in Northern Idaho half the year and in Southern California the other half. She enjoys walking her scruffy dog Charlie Bear, golfing, aqua classes, traveling, and helping writers to reach their goals.
Cindi McMenamin
Session 5 - Staying the Course: 5 Ways to Persevere Through the Writing and Publishing Process
Most writers never publish because they fail to follow through, or they give up when discouraged. Yet the battle is common and worth it because of how God refines us through it. Cindi will share inspirational and instructional help to challenge you to stay the course for the prize at the end of the race.
Sherry Ward
Session 6 - Author Marketing Made Easy: You Don’t Have to be a Marketing Unicorn
“God told me to write this book, so now it’s up to God to market it” is the common myth many Christian authors believe. God wants us to be good stewards of what He has entrusted to us so that He can bless us and our books. Marketing is not so much selling to someone as sharing with someone…sharing our stories, our life, and our products to help them. In this session, I will be discussing ways in which you can share your stories with integrity and intentionality, while not feeling sleezy in your marketing journey. You may not be a “marketing unicorn” who can do it all, but I will show you the steps to begin your process. Whether you want to do all the marketing yourself (DIY) or hire professionals to handle some of the tasks, Author Marketing Made Easy will help you simplify the marketing process and finally bring in the revenue you want.
Founder and CEO of Square Tree Publishing, Sherry Ward has been in the publishing industry for over 10 years. Author of Finding Freedom was Just the Beginning, and A Journey Out of the Wilderness, Sherry’s 25 years of experience as a professor and educator, help bring a new perspective to her writing and publishing, inspiring hope and healing. Uniquely qualified in curriculum development, Sherry has been featured on Good Morning America, The Home & Family Show, and media all over the world. Through her dedicated work with human trafficking survivors, her passion has led to take on many social justice causes, giving a voice to those whose stories are yet to be written. She is also the host of a Podcast called the Wilderness Season to help those who are going through tough times. www.SquareTreePublishing.com
NEW AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT
Jeanette Crystal Bradley
For nearly 25 years, Jeanette Crystal Bradley’s youthful spirit and playful demeanor have connected her with preschool children in enjoyable and distinctive ways. Her hard work and dedication to bringing a new level of excitement into the classroom by adding animal fun to the learning experience help fulfill her goal of delivering joy and smiles into the world. Jeanette brings this same passion to her writing, worshipping Jesus, and pursuit of higher education.
She is the Director of a corporate preschool in San Diego, California. She loves laughter, dessert (especially chocolate), and spending time with her incredible family and friends. Although her current writing focus is children, Jeanette’s next book will speak to a believer’s identity in Christ.
Quay Ball
Quay has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education with kindergarten/early childhood endorsement and taught in public schools in Florida until three unexpected tragedies turned her life around and set her on a new course:
- The discovery of her first husband’s double-life and sex addiction
- The loss of her daughter in a tragic car accident
- Years of physical, occupational, and emotional therapy as a result of the accident that crushed her body into four inches of space and left her with multiple broken bones.
As a trauma survivor, Quay uses her experience of complete healing and intimacy with Christ to help others heal from their wounds, physically, emotionally and spiritually. She has written the new book Your Beautiful Exchange, from her testimony of how to turn your brokenness into joy.