It’s 2AM and I'm awake. Awake, but not writing. (Unless you count this, of course.) I managed to get some much needed work done to the novel today yet my word count didn’t budge. Housekeeping, I suppose one would say. It felt nice.
Part of me knows that I should be working on my novel. If I'm going to be awake and alert at this time of night, shouldn’t I be putting it to good use? Alas, my mind is elsewhere.
Tonight, I'm thinking of past. Well, Pasts, actually. We all have one. We all come with something else included. We’re all packaged deals. Some of us come with spouses. Some of us come with children. Some of us come with mountains we have climbed, struggles we have faced and battles we have fought - including some we lost. Accepting the extra weight, the “baggage” is what makes a friend a friend, right?
Me? I come complete with a loving mother and sarcastic brother. But I also am followed by the ghost of my father. If you want me you get all of my enthusiasm and gusto, my playfulness and humor, my creativity and imagination. With all of that you also get my mood swings and my tears, my bouts of immaturity and stubbornness, my manic periods and my off-kilter sleep cycles.
“No man is an island.” Yes. But I would also add that, “No person is simply a piece. We are all a puzzle, to which every event, person and personality quirk contribute.” To love, we accept - past and all.
“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” Romans 15:7
Monday was groovy.
Usually it takes all the patience I can muster just to sit through a 50 minute lecture, listening to a professor drone on and on about Russian Formalism or The past exploits of WB Yeats. On Monday morning I sat through 3 hours of the same speaker and was simply left asking for more.
Steven James, who's written some apparently good fiction that I've never read, spoke about hoe he crafts stories and works action, adventure, mystery and suspense into his Christian novels - and keep them from sucking. He was a very intriguing speaker. Thankfully I brought my voice recorder along. I fully intend on listening to all three hours again when I have some time.
I've made some lovely friends as well. Sarah, from Colorado. Lily-Bea, from Indiana (I think) and Angie, from a tiny town in North Carolina. We've already begun exchanging emails and such. It's good to know other writers. :)
Also on Monday, the fog rolled in. You couldn't see more than 50 yards in front of you the moment you stepped outside. When it lifted a little the mountains surrounding were stilled swathed with fog. It's eerily beautiful to see the fog rising from the mountains. You feel for a moment as if you were the only person on Earth. 
Good morning! I'm blogging from beautiful Black Mountain, North Carolina today. This afternoon will see the beginning of the Blue Ridge Christian Novelist Retreat and I must admit and I am a tad excited.
There will only be 50 to 60 writers attending the retreat, for which I am very thankful. Things will be able to be more personal this way. If many more people were attending there would bound to be some of us that got lost in the crowd. I hope to be able to personally introduce myself to every writer here.
I'm trying to be a good girl. I have a bad habit when it comes to being around other writers, I'll be honest. I guess you could say I have a "Highlander" mentality to the whole thing. "There can be only one." :P I'm just not used to competition. Sure, some of my good friends are writers, but we are all in different places with our writing. I'm researching publishers while another friend of mine is just casually going through story line in her mind. Here, it's going to be a bit more even. We'll all have a novel that is currently being written. Should be interesting.
I'll post again tonight after we've had our first session thingy. Have a great day!
Much Love,
Sarah
PS I'm also posting the obligatory travel photo. I'll post more pics as I take them. 
