The Importance of Writing Conferences

Last month I had the opportunity to attend the Write to Publish conference in Chicago for the first time, so I wanted to share some pictures from there and some thoughts on conferences in general with you. Please add your comments below and tell us about your favorite conference experiences!

The classes and meetings with editors and agents are all very helpful, but my two favorite parts of Christian conferences are the worship services and all the wonderful people to meet and fellowship with.

Marty Nystrom, who composed "As the Deer Panteth for the Water" and many other Bible-based praise songs, was our worship leader at WTP. He did a great job of focusing our minds and hearts on Christ and letting Him work through us instead of focusing on ourselves.

Mary DeMuth whose site you can check out at http://www.marydemuth.com/ was our keynote speaker each evening. She gave several examples of tough real-life experiences God brought her through and which she has shared in her writing, and encouraged us to "infuse truth in our writing" by going with Jesus into "that tunnel of healing" where "He will go with you and grieve with you and walk out hand in hand with you."

I am sharing some pictures of some of the great writing friends I met at WTP, some for the first time, but we felt like "kindred spirits" from the first moment. In the top picture I am with Lanita Boyd and Jill Orr, two of my new friends whom I spent a lot of time with. Lanita only lives about an hour from me, so she invited me to ride up to Chicago with her. We met Jill our first day there. She was another "newbie" to the conference, so Lanita kindly mentored both of us.

One of the favorite things Lanita, Jill and Marjean Brooks and I did was visit The Wade Center on the edge of the Wheaton campus. This stone and brick home surrounded by an English garden houses many of the works of C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, J.R.R. Tolkien and four other authors. It also contains C.S. Lewis's desk where he wrote and a wardrobe from his home that was built by his own grandfather. The wardrobe is filled with fur coats like the one in "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" so I am sharing a picture of myself and Marjean ready to go inside and visit the land of Narnia. If you are in Chicago, this is a place you should check out for sure!

Another picture is of Millie Samuelson, my suite-mate (each dorm suite has two separate bedrooms with a shared bath in between) and a new friend Emily Downs. Emily and I both write fiction, so shared many classes together. I had met Millie at the last ACFW conference, so was glad to see her familiar face when I first arrived! Check out Millie's site at http://www.milliesbooks.org/ to learn more about her books and the various places she has lived such as China!

There were several ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) members at WTP also, and some of us met one evening for supper. From L to R we have Kenny Noble, Millie, Deb Read, Lisa Lickel and myself. Several of us were in the great fiction workshop taught by Jeff Gerke. Check out his brilliant ideas at http://www.wherethemapends.com/

Posting about the WTP conference has made me look forward to the ACFW conference in Denver in September. Hope to see many of you there. If you are not familiar with the BEST Christian fiction writers' organization and conference, hurry on over to http://www.acfw.com/ and join us!

Arrivederci, Roma!
This month has held several celebrations including my 100th blog post (see May 1st post) and my 41st wedding anniversary on May 11th. It also held the second crashing in the past three months of my four year old computer. It would not turn on at all last week, but I am very thankful for a young neighbor who was able to save almost all my files and finally has my new computer up and running so I can post this.

The first night we arrived in Rome, we took a bus to see the Trevi Fountains and the Spanish Steps. My hubby took this picture of me, Kathy and Dave, and Louise, a new friend from Australia whom we met on the tour, in front of the crowded steps. We all are carrying roses and Dave even has one in his teeth! A street vendor "gave" them to us, then took some back when we didn't offer him as many Euros as he'd hoped!

Another picture above is of my hubby and me with two of our best friends, Kathy and Dave, who were celebrating their 25 anniversary on this trip, also. We are standing in the Colosseum where we could still smell the dried blood of those slaughtered in this arena almost two millenia ago. The Colosseum held up to 55,000 spectators at one time. I just finished reading A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers which contains several scenes of fighting in this same location. I highly recommend this book and any book by Francine Rivers, BTW. She is one of those very talented Christian writers who successfully writes both historicals and contemporary stories. She also has published several Bible studies that are great.

You can find the old mixed with the new on almost every corner of Rome. The triple arches are the Arch of Constantine. The picture of the hole in the top of a building with the sky shining through was taken inside the Pantheon. Our very knowledgeable guide, Salvatore, said this massive structure would not have been able to hold together without collapsing upon itself without the hole.

We also toured the Catacombs, but they didn't allow any pictures there. We were allowed to shoot photos inside the Vatican and Sistine Chapel as long as we didn't use flash, so my pictures taken there are not very clear.

We celebrated Mother's Day and our last night in Rome by eating with our friends at a local Italian restaurant. I ate delicious eggplant and some ravioli and a caramel dessert. The picture at the top is of my husband and me taken at that restaurant.

Next on to Venice, but that will have to wait for a few days. I'm off to Chicago on Tuesday, June 2nd for the Write to Publish Conference. Prayers are much appreciated, and perhaps I'll see some of my readers there! Let me know if you read this blog.