Faith & Fiction Retreat 2009

Tiffany Warren, Inspirational Author

Hi Everyone! See the message below from fellow author and the outstanding host of the Faith & Fiction Retreat, Tiffany Warren. I'm honored to be one of the featured authors for the

2009 event in Orlando, Florida. Mark your calendars now and

add the registration costs to your budget!

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The Faith and Fiction Retreat staff has just recovered from the awesome time we had in Destin , FL for the 2008 Faith and Fiction Retreat. The fellowship with our featured authors Victoria Christopher Murray, ReShonda Tate Billingsley, Michele Andrea Bowen and Kendra Norman Bellamy was such a unique experience for readers and other authors! The late night pajama party book discussions were off the hook too, with the authors sharing the motivation behind their stories and characters. It was truly a weekend for bonding and encouragement. For pictures and attendees reviews of the weekend view these blogs:

http://readinnwritin.blogspot.com/
http://www.rhondamcknight.net/2008/08/faith-and-fiction-retreat.html
http://www.tywebbin.com/ty/2008/08/2008-faith-and-fiction-retreat-photo-album/

We are excited to announce the Faith and Fiction Retreat 2009: Power of the Pen. Our dates will be July 16-19, 2009 and it will take place in sunny Orlando , Florida ! We are still in final negotiations with the chosen resort, so when we have that finalized we will announce the locale. Make sure to read through to the end for SPECIAL OFFERS!

On October 1st, we will announce our author panelists and soon thereafter launch the brand new Faith and Fiction Retreat website! But I can give you a sneak peek of our featured authors. Back by popular demand are Victoria Christopher Murray and ReShonda Tate Billingsley. We’ll also feature fan favorites Angela Benson, Tia McCollors and me, Tiffany L. Warren. Along with the featured authors, there will be a ton of author panelists all writing faith fiction!

In addition to the late night discussions, panels and interviews that we’ve become known for, here are some NEW highlights for our 2009 program:

• Teen book discussions featuring Inspirational Fiction at their level
  
• Book Club forum – how to build, promote and keep your book club going
  
• VIP networking session
  
• Industry professionals (editors, agents, publicists, publishers) share tips and tools for writers

For those of you who definitely don’t want to miss next year’s retreat, we’re offering Early Bird Registration. Anyone who has ever planned a conference knows how important early registrations are to the success of your event! We will be rewarding our early bird registrants with something very special the first night of our retreat! Early retreat registration is only $99 and fully refundable until January 1, 2009.

Registration does not include meals however we will be offering a meal package in early 2009. It also does not include hotel accommodations, air or ground transportation.

Visit www.tiffanylwarren.com/registration2009.html to submit payment for your Early Bird Registration. The registration form will be available with the new website launch, but until then along with payment, submit an email to http://us.mc313.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=info@faithandfictionretreat.com that includes your NAME, ADDRESS, PHONE, EMAIL, BOOK CLUB and T-SHIRT SIZE.

SPECIAL OFFERS/CONTESTS
Book Club presidents – If five or more members of your book club are Early Bird Registrants, your registration is free (meal package/accommodations not included)!

Two registrants who utilize Early Bird Registration will be randomly selected to receive a FREE meal package ($160 value)

Author Panelists who refer five or more registrations receive FREE REGISTRATION and special VIP session.

Tell-a-friend Campaign – Early Bird Registrants who convince their friends and family to register too, will be entered into the contest to win a FREE meal package ($160 value)


The Faith and Fiction Retreat is all about YOU! So, please forward any concerns, ideas or suggestions to the retreat staff at http://us.mc313.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=info@faithandfictionretreat.com! I look forward to seeing you all in Orlando !

Blessings,
Tiffany L Warren
Faith and Fiction Retreat Host

MONET - Is Her Relationship On The Road To Disaster?

Monet: Excerpt #4 from THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE

Monét bit her lip. “I don’t know. I’m not ready for the whole meet-the-parents ordeal.”

“You met them at Zora and Preston’s wedding already.”

"No. I spoke to them at the wedding. We had a brief conversation and that was it. Going with you to Houston is different. Besides, that’s the weekend before the fundraiser and I’m sure I’ll have plenty to do.”

“Interesting. Savon is the excuse for the second time today.”

“It’s my job.”

“You’re your own boss. Give yourself the time off. You act like I asked you to go next
week. The party is three months from now,” Jeremiah said, slowing down at the yellow traffic light.

Monét knew he was looking over at her, but she didn’t look back. Her experiences with the parents of her boyfriends had never been anything to write home about.

“I’ll think about it.”

“You’ll think about it? Is it the money? I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t plan on taking care of everything.”

“In the past –"

“The past is the past. We need to think about our future.”

Our future?

They were the last words in Monét’s mind before she heard tires screeching. The impact jarred behind her, throwing her against the door. It was so sudden that she didn’t have time to react.

Jeremiah’s truck was rammed into the intersection. She felt it spinning and she gripped the dashboard until the truck came to a sudden stop in the middle of the intersection. Monét’s heart felt like it was beating in her throat. They were facing oncoming traffic.

“Thank you, God,” she managed to say. She looked at Jeremiah. His hands were still clenching the steering wheel.

“Jeremiah?”

“I didn’t really think people’s lives flashed before their eyes.” He rubbed his forearm. “You alright?”

“Yes.” She unbuckled her seatbelt. It burned across her neck. Looking in the visor mirror, she saw a small area where the skin had been rubbed raw by the friction of the seatbelt locking her against the seat.

“Don’t get out.” Jeremiah reached behind his seat for an umbrella, opened the door, then stepped out into the pelting rain.

Monét could barely see past the heavy rain cascading down the car windows. Someone with a red umbrella stood at the back of Jeremiah’s truck, probably inspecting damage to the two vehicles.

Unlike Jeremiah, her life hadn’t flashed before her eyes during the seconds they hydroplaned across the two lanes of traffic. But now she was in the car alone, mulling over her last thoughts before the accident. Our future?

Cars crept past the accident. The police came. And the only thing she could think was, “Was the future of their relationship an accident waiting to happen?”


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ZORA: Excerpt #3 from The Truth About Love

The warning came from the middle of the crowd and rippled through the student mass. “Gun!” The shouts came from everywhere now. Students and teachers scattered.

Zora dropped to the ground behind a white car. The loose gravel scraped her knees through her slacks as water from a nearby puddle seeped into her shoes.

Zora heard tires spinning and rocks being thrown as a car peeled out of the student lot. She crawled to the rear bumper in time to see a four-door black sedan with tinted windows heading east. She pulled herself up by the car’s door handle and brushed the dirt off her knees.

Zora corralled the remaining students back to the front of the school and onto the buses. The students talked over each other, recounting the story as they’d seen it. There were as many versions as there were people. Even when the police arrived, they couldn’t find a consistent testimony among the students who’d been kept behind.

Mrs. Fields, Mrs. Fields.”

Zora was finally headed home when Toni called her from the end of the west wing corridor. Her voice was unusually loud as it reverberated through the empty hallway.

"Were you outside when the shooting went down?” Toni patted herself on the chest, seemingly to calm herself down.

Zora was amazed at how the grapevine of gossip had escalated the incident into a shooting. “Yes, I was outside, but there weren’t any gunshots.”

Toni noticed the soiled bottom half of Zora’s pants. “You were ducking from something.”

Zora’s knee caps still stung even though she’d treated her scrapes with antibiotic ointment and covered them with bandages from the school’s first aid kit.

“Everybody was screaming there was a gun,” she said to Toni. “What else what I was supposed to do?”

“I wouldn’t think you’d care about getting shot and dying?”

"What? Why in the world would you think that?”

“’Cause you would go to heaven anyway, right? You pray and go to church and all that,” Toni surmised.

“Yes. But that doesn’t mean I’m ready to go now. Just like God has plans for your life, He has plans for mine too.”


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BELINDA - When A Blended Family Is Not Mixing Too Well

Belinda: Excerpt #2 from THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE

Belinda peeked out of the peephole. Juanita? She immediately recognized the face of T.J.’s mother and opened the door. Juanita’s hair was shorter and she’d gained about twenty pounds, but there was no mistaking the scowl that framed her face. Belinda had seen it plenty of times when she and Thomas were dating. Over the last ten years, it hadn’t changed.

Belinda unlocked the storm door and Juanita swung it open so fast and hard that Belinda thought she heard the metal spring pop. She staggered to regain her balance when Juanita pushed past her.

“T.J.?” Juanita yelled at the top of her lungs as soon as she barged into the house. Seeing no sight of her son, she screamed in the direction of the steps, making the hairs stand up on the back of Belinda’s neck. “T.J, are you up there?”

She’s still crazy, Belinda thought. She was so stunned, that it took her a minute to respond.

“Now wait just a minute. I know you’re worried about your son, but you need to calm down. There’s no need to disrespect my home.”

Juanita jerked her neck back like she was offended. “This is between me and my son’s father,” she said. She pointed a red acrylic fingernail at Thomas who’d appeared from around the corner.

Astonishment wasn’t even fitting to describe the look on his face. He scooped up Hannah who was crying louder than Juanita’s tirade.'

“Which means it’s between all of us, because there’s no separation here,” Belinda said. She stepped close enough to Juanita for their toes to touch. “So you have a decision to make.” Belinda said. She was keeping her cool as best as she could. “You can act like you’ve got some sense and have a cordial visit, or you can reverse your behind out of my front door.”

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Stay tuned for the next "literary episode" of The Truth About Love...