“You drove four hours!” seemed to be the general
consensus among the retreat goers at the Oklahoma Romance Writers of America
(OKRWA) Fall Retreat the second weekend in September.
Yes, I did.
Why did I drive four hours one way to be at the OKRWA
members Fall Retreat?
For one, it’s not something I do often. More times than not, I miss the OKRWA monthly
meeting. DH works out of town and very
rarely do the dates align wherein he is at home (and, thus, can take care of
the chickens and rabbits and dogs) and I can go out of town myself without worrying
about the house and the animals.
Two, I planned on being in the OKC metro area that
Sunday anyway for the OWFI Board Meeting.
But the most important was the fellowship.
Fellowship, to a lot of us, sounds like church jargon
but it neatly fits what went on at the retreat.
An experience that cannot be duplicated at just anytime.
Forty-eight hours of catching up on my fellow writer’s
lives, their kids, grandkids, husbands, etc.
Forty-eight hours of studying and working through and
talking about writing techniques and accomplishments and disappointments.
Forty-eight hours of being around people who
understand me in a way that the non-writer people in my mundane life almost
never do.
Christmas morning and Thanksgiving Dinner
and Sukkot and Diwali all rolled into one.
Fellowship. Friends. Family.
So, yeah. I drove four hours each way to be a part of
that fellowship with my writer friends and felt like I belonged to a family once
again. It filled a hole in my soul that I didn’t even know I had. And it will
keep me writing on those days when I wonder why I thought I could do the second
toughest job in the world. Write.
Tell us about your last experience with fellowship and how it energized you.
(Picture dedicated to Debbie Fogel's friend Kay for giving us the phrase "peanuts and wine". ;) )
