Writing Workshop This Saturday!

This is how we often write in our little mountain town ... or at least it's how I often write up here. Yes, San Diego is known for its beautiful harbor, white sandy beaches, and 72-degree weather year round. But up here at nearly 4,000 feet elevation we live quite differently from the people "down the hill." We use wood to heat our home. We get snow several times each winter. Our low temps drop into the mid-teens. And with my extremely arthritic hands, I often write and type with fingerless gloves on, a wonderful Christmas gift from Keith. Yes, I wear them even inside the house.

But I am particularly excited about a writing event up here in our little mountain village. On Saturday, Dr. Dean Nelson, founder of the Journalism department at Point Loma Nazarene University, will be leading a writing workshop at the Pine Valley Bible Conference Center just two miles from my home. Judith and I invited him up, and despite still being in recovery mode after the recent Writers' Symposium by the Sea which he puts on each February, Dean agreed to drive up the mountain and impart his writerly wisdom to us.

I've been quite consumed this week with the registration process, and it looks as though we will have nearly thirty writers in attendance on Saturday. That's an impressive number of local mountain dwellers and flatlanders willing to drive up the mountain to learn of Dean. Judith has worked with Dean in the past, and Dean was my creative writing professor when I was an undergrad at PLNU and he also kindly offered me the use of his office for a couple of semesters when I was an adjunct instructor (and at the university much earlier than he). E also has PLNU quite high on her list of colleges, and she's coming along to the workshop as well as English/journalism is her major of choice.

We'll be at the lovely Pine Valley Bible Conference Center from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, ducking over to the Dining Hall for lunch. The grounds are so beautiful; I hope that we'll have nice weather. Although we need rain so very badly, sunny days have lately been in short supply up here, and I'd love to be able to spread out across the camp to compose a poem or essay. This year, more than any other, I would love to take my writing to the next level and develop a group of writers who can truly trust one another with our writing. A group that will be consistent in meeting monthly and who are serious about improving our technique, style, voice, expression. I am praying that such a group will develop from this Saturday's workshop.

Information regarding our writing workshop on Saturday and our writing group in general can be obtained at this blog site: MECAC Writers' Workshop.