Sunday, September 18, 2016

Fellowship





“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". ;) )