We Return to our Regularly Scheduled 2016 NCWA Writers' Renewal Conference After Action Report

After I got Starving Artist up on AUG 1 I kindda fell into a slump, writing that post drained me more than I expected, and for the next 5 days I let myself get distracted with watching and sorting drawing videos, and not doing any writing.  And even during the following week I was still not writing enough on this article. 

So then, where was I before I got interrupted by a writing assignment from Eric, my counselor?   Right, the 2016 NCWA Writers' Renewal.

I was saying I had made it to the 2016 Writer's Renewal Conference without turning around and calling Mindy and telling her I wasn't going to make it, and without leaving after I got there. 

It was a busy morning running around from room to room making sure workshop speakers' tech was working.  I ended up missing, or just plain skipping most Friday workshops.  I did get to Ben Wolf's workshop about writing Speculative Fiction.

While running around doing tech, and skipping workshops, I was visiting with Spec Fic writing friends, and we were talking about how we need a Facebook support group, since most of us are so spread out across the state, and cannot get together in person, except during the conference, and visiting once a year isn't enough.

And it's not always enough to hang out with other writers, even general fiction writers, because while writers are generally a misunderstood lot, non-fiction writer types often do not understand the act of writing fiction, and general fiction writers don't get writing Spec Fic, particularly in the so-called Christian publishing world - "Ewwww - 'Christian Fantasy' what's that all about?"  Apparently they never read Lewis' Narnia Chronicles.

So that's why, as I mentioned in Part 3 of Starving Artist, after Ben's "Making it Weird" workshop I went ahead and created a Facebook group for NCWA's Spec Fic Authors - come join us if you are a Spec Fic writing member of NCWA  It is a place where we can gather, at least virtually, and support one another, ask questions, whatever. 

Ben's workshop was also the genesis of the idea to create a new blog, called "Strange Realms - Spectacularly Redeemed,"  I intend it to be "A Place of Hope.  A Place of Light.  A Place of Healing.  A Place of Life."  The idea is to spectacularly redeem strange realms creation in our writing.  I want it to be a place where Christian Spec Fic authors can talk about why they write Spec Fic, what they write, and what they hope to accomplish with it, both what they hope to get out of it, and what they hope their readers get out of their Spec Fic.

And one thing led to another, and that is why I am thinking of also creating a Strange Realms - Spectacularly Redeemed Facebook group for those who would be interested.  It would be open to all Christian Spec Fic writers, and readers, whereas the  NCWA Spec Fic group is intended to be a smaller, local group, so if anyone wants to join, let me know, here in the comments or tag me in Facebook, I need one other member before Facebook will let me create a group (There cannot be only one).

The  2nd, and only other, workshop I went to was Ben Wolf's Realistic Combat for Writers.  After which I spoke up and said, "hey maybe I could do a workshop next year on Guns for Writers, since I like shooting and grew up around guns."  WHAT WAS I THINKING?  I gotta stop going to writing workshops while on drugs.  Well, we'll see when it comes time that they are looking for work shoppers for next year's conference, maybe I will have regained my sanity by then, and maybe those who heard me will have forgotten.

At the end of the conference they always give the attendees a chance to go up and talk, briefly, about what they got out of the conference.  I wasn't going to go up and say anything, but then I found myself in the front talking about having depression and walking out of the monthly meeting in OCT 2014, and almost not going to the conference this year.

Not only did I not plan on going up and speaking about my dealing with, and being treated for, depression, I certainly didn't have plans to start writing articles for this blog.  I figured it had pretty much died, and I was going to leave it dead and buried.  But then I found myself working on this blog, which meant putting down new words for a blog article, this blog article, for example, or it might mean reading, re-writing, editing, shuffling, and even deleting yesterday's words.

Writing these blog articles gives me more ideas for writing more articles to post.  Writing inspires me to keep writing. Blogging even inspires me with my Spec Fic writing I need to schedule into my day.

Not writing makes me want to keep not writing.

Writing begets writing.  Not writing begets not writing.  Like begets like.

I am a writer, therefore  I must write.