What a long weekend! My conference started on Thursday night with the Marathonarium, a 3-hour short story writing session, which once completed leads to publication in next year’s anthology. I was excited but very nervous about this venture. I showed up, met a few people and began to write. About halfway through I got up to take a little break, as I entered the room I tripped over the raised flooring and fell. Suddenly I found myself on my right hip with my head spinning a bit from banging it on the chairs and totally embarrassed! I not only drew attention to myself, but I also interrupted everyone else’s writing flow. I felt awful! However, in that same instant I felt very humbled, loved and accepted. Weird, I know but the people were genuinely concerned about me and I felt it. Of course, I said I was fine and went back to my writing, shaking internally the whole time. It wasn’t until the next day that I truly began to feel the effects of that fall, realizing I had given myself whiplash. Today is Monday and I am much better, so on with my weekend review.

I know myself very well and when I try to jam too many workshops into my schedule, I end up feeling very overwhelmed and freeze up, getting nothing accomplished and remembering very little. Knowing that fact about myself and still recovering from my fall, I was very selective of my choices and the timing of them. I allowed breaks in between sessions, and I created white space in my schedule to write and recover (ice and heating pad to my head and neck).

One of the things I have learned from my conferences this year is no matter what workshops I take, or how many I work into my schedule, God tends to pull one major lesson into focus. This conference it was emotion and description in my writing. Show don’t tell.

While finishing up my short story I found myself becoming my main character. I found that exhilarating! I have done that for years as a reader, but I had never allowed myself to fall into my story that way before. It has brought a whole new depth to my fiction writing and I love it. I finally submitted my first official short story rough draft on Saturday night. Though I know I still have much work to do editing and polishing the story, I felt very accomplished. For the first time I not only felt like a writer, but I also felt like an author. Prior to this moment, I would not have called myself an author, because I believed an author was a writer that is published. Others may still believe that, but I finished a story and that makes me an author. WOW! I need to let that thought sink in a bit, I think I am going to cry.

On Sunday, the final day of the conference, I attended two sessions and began working on another short story. Yes, I do believe I have found my next season in life. I am an author and I have a lot of adventures ahead of me. I hope you join me on the journey.

Blessings,

Kathryn