How I Spent My Summer Vacation (This Week)

I just got back from the KenTen Christian Writers Retreat, and I wanted to share some things I learned from the experience. I hope you enjoy it!

1. 

   

   
   

   Retreats and conferences are made better when enjoyed in a beautiful, natural setting. Montgomery Bell State Park was wonderful, and the weather was perfect.

2. Sometimes being moved out of your comfort zone can provide wonderful surprises. I shared a room with someone I didn’t know. That isn’t an experience I would ever seek out on my own, and it caused a little stress before I got there. God blessed me with a wonderful roommate for the conference. She and I enjoyed several fun conversations and some meaningful ones as well. I hope to keep in contact with her and see her at future conferences.

3. 

   

   

   
   

   When you put a fantasy writer and three contemporary romance writers together to brainstorm, a simple stained glass window can become a door to another world and an idea for a time slip novel is born. An added bonus, give them extra time together, add Ground Hog’s Day (the real one, not the movie), and the idea of a compilation project to come up with a great idea for a collection of novellas like no one has seen before!

4. 

   

   
   

   If you want to win at trivia, this is the team to beat! The Fantastic Four lived up to their name. By the way, did you know The Six Million Dollar Man was based on a book? P.S. The lady in the selfie with me is an excellent trivia night creator and host. Thanks for a fun evening of laughter with everyone!

5. 

   

   
   

   Writers are interesting people. We don’t mind being compared to a bag of Hershey Miniatures, and it’s surprising how many mini candy bars and bags of M & Ms a group of thirty writers can go through in two days. We like creative and quirky ways of explaining what we do. And hearing a writer say, “I’ve got to figure out how to murder him after I kidnap him” is not cause for alarm. We love to laugh together. We are each other’s cheering sections. And, as evidenced by the writer’s survival bag and motivation bags we received, we really care about seeing each other succeed at this thing called writing. As a side note, plot bunnies apparently multiply like regular ones. I had a whole fluffle (yes that’s a real term) in my bag!