A Writer's Dream

The Blue Ridge Conference has become one of the highlights of my year in writing conferences. It is held each year at Ridgecrest, a Baptist based Christian conference center in Black Mountain, North Carolina. National authors, publishers, editors and agents are available to meet with writers and critique their work and instruct new writers in every genre possible. It is a writer’s dream conference in May each year.

Each morning and evening a keynote speaker shares their innermost thoughts and life experiences pertaining to writing. The information is like finding a gold nugget in a river of scattered thoughts and attempted manuscripts. The speakers are entertaining and well prepared. Classes are offered on every topic that would benefit writers from beginners to professionals. It is brain overload. But every piece of information is stored for later use.

I would like to share some of the main points from this year’s conference with those of you who write or dream about writing someday. Hearing these fine artists share their hidden treasures helped confirm some of my thoughts and goals for writing. Keynote speakers were Angela Hunt, Cecil Murphey, Steven James, Chip McGregor, Ron Benrey and Alton Gansky. Each one offered tidbits of advice from their own experiences.

Some Thoughts from Keynote Speakers about Writing

• We are the speakers, writers, and communicators for God’s word – we are the scribes.
• It takes energy and effort to be successful in writing; you must be consistent.
• If God is calling you to write, there will be satisfaction and peace and you will have a passion for it.
• Rejection is part of the business.
• When we become honest about our pain, we improve our stories.
• Who you are becomes what you write.
• Jesus used words to reconcile – there is healing in words.
• We live in a world that is unreconciled – God gives us messages of reconciliation
• Our words will go out and give hope to people we never meet.
• Seeds are planted through writing. Someone’s life could be changed.

Each morning and evening, our worship was beautiful. The music was sweet and Spirit-led. It set the tone for the day as we worshipped God through praise songs and hymns.

I also had the opportunity to meet John Riddle (in above picture beside of me) at the conference. He is the founder of the national “I Love to Write Day.” It is a day set aside to encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to write something. “I Love to Write Day” is in its 8^th year and will be celebrated on Nov. 15. Go to http://www.ilovetowriteday.org/ to learn more about this celebration.

The final speaker was Alton Gansky, the director of the conference. He commissioned us to go out and plant seeds through our writing. If you really think about it, each word that is read is like a seed planted, only later to be harvested in ways and in places unknown to the writer. Sound familiar? In the book of Matthew, we are commissioned to go out and spread the gospel. As communicators, we can do this through the spoken and written word.

¹⁹ “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20.

This was the second year for me to attend the Blue Ridge Conference. It was truly an investment in my calling to write the words inspired by God. May you be blessed by these words from my heart.

Psalm 45:1

My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.