Training Seminar for Christian Writers and Editors

‘Written Word’ a seminar for Christian writers and editors was organized by NCEASL in partnership with Media Associates International (MAI). It was held on 11th and 13th September 2010, and was attended by a total of 27 participants representing different churches and Christian organizations. The programme for writers and editors were conducted simultaneously as two separate tracks.
The trainers, Dr Miriam Adeney and Ms Yna Reyes are renowned trainers from MAI. Dr Miriam is an Anthropologist in the school of Theology at Seattle Pacific University and Teaching Fellow at Regent College. She is the renowned author of Kingdom Without Borders with several  other books to her credit. Dr Miriam lectures at many universities across North America and four other continents, especially in Southeast Asia. Over the two days Dr Miriam spoke to the Writers on style and structure, culture and theology, audience and market, maintaining a writing habit, and research very comprehensively.
Ms Yna Ryes is the Publications Director of OMF Literature. With 20 years of experience as an Editor, Yna is presently a member if the steering committee of the Christian Writers’ Fellowship. Ms Yna spoke to the Editors on editor’s responsibility, the qualities of a manuscript, evaluating and editing a manuscript, copy editing, and how to encourage the writer.
Some of the participants had this to say -
“Dr Miriam was delightful to listen to as she read many scripts from different writers to give us a feel of different styles of writing. She took us through a guide line on how to work out a frame work or skeleton and explained how one should flesh it out with content. The guideline was a good tool to discipline writers.”
“Dr Miriam spoke on different cultures, and how one should write in distinct styles to suit the culture of the reader”
“Ms Yna taught us to be sensitive when editing as writers write their manuscripts with great passion. I found the ‘inverted pyramid’ technique very useful when evaluating and editing written documents.”
Both modules were interactive including group work and presentations. At the end of the seminar all participants were awarded with certificates of completion.