Idahope Writers

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of speaking to writers in another state. I attended the Third Annual Idahope Writers Conference in Boise, Idaho as a representative of Written World Communications. Our CEO, Kristine, was supposed to attend, but circumstances prevented her ability to fulfill the commitment, so she asked me to go in her place.



I flew out of Colorado Springs airport early in the morning, which meant I had to leave my home at about 3:00 AM. I praised God that I did not have to thread my way through construction in the dark! Last August, upon my return from Philadelphia, I got hopelessly lost as I tried to find my way out of the airport. (That's another story).



The president of Idahope writers, Adam, and his wife, Andrea, were to meet me at Boise airport. We had never met before, but they managed to find and identify me. They took me to their home, then to lunch at a pizza place called Flying Pie. It boasts a ball of aluminum foil that weighs 400 pounds (see left)!







They then took me to the home of the host family I would be staying with for the week-end. They were delightful people and own a beautiful home. My accommodations were so comfortable with a beautiful view and my host and hostess delightful. They made me feel right at home and fed me some delicious meals. They even spent quite a bit of time on the phone, going through the step by step process with their ISP provider of getting my computer hooked up to the internet. Thanks Becky and Steve for everything!

The conference was Saturday. I missed many of the classes because, when I wasn't teaching, I had appointments with writers. That was fine because I love to talk to writers about their projects and give them advice that will help them get published! I did get to listen to the keynote speaker, Sandra Bishop. Sandra is an agent who worked with the MacGregor Literary Agency. She talked about the future of publishing.

My talk was scheduled for 11:00 AM. My subject was "What An Editor Wants - Does This Mean I Don't Send Chocolate?" I enjoyed giving the talk and received some positive feedback about it. I owe a big thanks to those editors who are much more experienced than I and shared their thoughts on the subject. One thing I forgot to do was turn on the tape recorder until about halfway through my presentation! Gee, I was mad at myself for that! I also fell a little short of the hour I was supposed to fill. Nobody complained, though, since the next session was lunch!

I was able to listen to another speaker, Ray, who is a member of Idahope Writers. He is a police officer and a minister who gave an engaging talk on cultural differences and impressions.

Julie Hoy of Salem, Oregon, provided inspirational worship and praise music.

All of the people at the conference were so gracious and treated me like I was someone special! I loved visiting with both faculty and conferees about writing, listening to them talk about their experience and their projects. They gave all of us speakers some wonderful gifts, a box of candy and a Barnes & Noble gift card.

I was supposed to fly home Sunday night, but received a phone call Sunday morning telling me my flight from Denver to Colorado Springs had been canceled. After consultation with my host family and their generous offer to have me stay another night, I booked my entire flight for Monday.

Due to the delay, I got to go snowshoeing! I had never done that before. When I was a kid, my relatives in the Adirondacks had snowshoes. I remember they were huge, like tennis rackets! These were small, and once I got them adjusted, quite comfortable. It was a great experience to spend some time in the Idaho mountains, surrounded by snow and God's wondrous handiwork. I did feel like a wimp though! An hour on the snowshoes left me exhausted! I'd love to get in shape to be able to enjoy winter sports again!



It was off to the airport very early Sunday morning. My flight was due to depart at 6:00 AM. Thank goodness the airport was only ten minutes away.

I contacted my Written World Communications boss, Kristine, while in Denver and told her I would be in Colorado Springs around 11:30 and asked if she could meet me for a quick lunch. The arrangements were made and I actually arrived at our meeting place without getting lost. (Big deal for me!) It was a nice way to finish the trip.

All in all, I loved my week-end in Idaho! The scenery is splendid, the people are wonderful, and the experience was one I will remember and learn from for a long time to come.

Thank you for welcoming me, Idahope writers!

Thanks for reading my blog!

Confessions of a Fly-by-Night Blogger

Do you know how long it has been since I entered a blog post? Well, so long that.....

Blogger didn't even show up in my Internet history.

If my username and password had not been automatically filled in, I would have had to create new ones.

The temperature has increased by about forty degrees.

You get the point. It's been quite a while!

I have mixed feelings about this whole blogging thing. I have my favorite blogs that I check every so often. For some of them, I get an email alert in my inbox every time the blogger enters a post. Some of them are like clockwork - every single day. I admire those people more than I can say. Unlike me, they are obviously planners who have posts prepared long before they ever enter cyberspace.

Others have not posted since long before my last posting date. I wonder if those people are like me, so buried in priorities that they just don't have anything to say. Or, perhaps, they have nothing to write and will post again when they find something in their lives worth sharing.

Once again, I will try to resume posting to my long-neglected blog. My readers are patient with me! On the other hand, maybe that's why I have so few?

Back in a day or so...or a few days...or next week...or - well, let's just say I'll be back just as soon as I can get here!

Thanks for reading my blog.