Where Writers Meet Friends by Susan Barclay

The best thing about writing conferences from my point of view are the networking opportunities and inspiration they provide. Although I always take notes during courses and workshops, in the long run they don’t often do anything to change my writing process or technique. This is because I don’t usually review the notes, retype them, or immediately begin to apply what I’ve ‘learned.’ But the people I interact with – why, they become friends, e-mail buddies, co-labourers, encouragers – and in the long run, that’s just as (or more) valuable than any writing improvements I might gain.

At my second Write! Canada conference, I met Lisa. She lives fairly close to me and her nephew and my son were actually in the same kindergarten class. Lisa and I have been getting together for regular breakfast dates for 13 years now. Our friendship is close to both our hearts.

At the same event, I met two other aspiring authors. We didn’t interact much at the time, but years later, we’ve become part of the same writers’ critique group. For the last four years we’ve been investing in each others’ work, encouraging each other along the way, bettering our skill. In addition, I’ve contributed to C’s monthly e-newsletter a couple of times and copy-edited one of H’s novels.

An editor at one conference told me my work was in the ‘top 10%’ of what crossed her desk every day. Elsewhere a writer-in-residence affirmed ‘you are a writer.’ A college-level writing instructor said, ‘you have something to say.’ All of these encouraged me to keep pressing on.

For me the best part of a writing conference or workshop are the relationships that can develop. Where would we be without mentors, role-models, motivators and friends?

Keeping our Country Strong - Meeting its People - Karen Toews

For the last eight months our daughter (Renee) and family have lived in Quebec. How they ended up on the Gaspe Peninsula is a long story that has to do with: a move from Maine, U. S. to Canada, needing to live close to mountains (not wanting, it's a definite requirement), must be within a day's drive of our home (ditto - a definite must), home-based jobs with flexibility to live "wherever," within the parameters of the aforementioned.

Now we have the ideal chance to get to know this province and its people (my husband and I previously spent a week in La belle province on a rendezvous with our children and families, and in 2007 we drove through the province on our cross-country move). Our daughter lives on the west end of the Bay de Chaleur, a tourist destination, with several large pockets of both French and English speaking people - making their transition and ours much easier. Even in other regions, so far in my experience, the notion that I might be snubbed by not speaking French has been unfounded. (I've been amazed that my high school "book" French resurrects occasionally in my valiant efforts of communicating.)

On our Christmas visit there, one evening we bundled up (they do have lots of snow and cold temperatures) and went carolling. Joyeaux Noel expressing the language of the season, we all met new-to-us neighbours - who stopped by the next day and invited us along on their cross-country ski outing.

For the month of June, our QC family lived in Montreal -  "free" accommodation with a guide semi-familiar with the Metro so we were there! Culture, fashion, historic architecture, foods (I confess this nutritional nut tried poutine) - and more welcoming people.

On our trip home we drove along the Saguenay River - which included an overnight stay on July 1st in Chicoutami. Chatting with our B&B hosts, watching fireworks from their window, I felt a kindred spirit with those who share this diverse, wonderful country we are blessed to live in.

Granted, all of us don't have the same opportunity to personally meet people across the country. But we can connect through online friendships; the neighbours down the street, at our schools or in church.

We can keep our country strong by building friendships with its people. It's a good thing - we all win, and I believe it's God's way and will.

Horse Sense 101 - Lynda Schultz

If you watch horse racing you may have observed that some of the horses wear blinkers or blinders. These leather screens are attached to the horse's bridle to prevent the animal from seeing sideways or behind. The idea is to keep a horse that is easily distracted from seeing what is going on around him and to prevent him from losing his primary focus—full steam straight ahead to the finish line.

"I will walk in my house with a blameless heart," writes David in Psalm 101 (NIV). We nod our heads knowingly; David was no saint at home. Remember Bathsheba? Then again, if I point a finger at someone else, there are always several pointing right back at me. What I do I do in the privacy of my own home that would disgrace me were it revealed in public, and bring shame on the name of the Lord?

Reading the psalm got me thinking about what I fill my idle spaces with when I am at home. David writes: "I will set before my eyes no vile thing" (verse 3). What do I read? What do I watch on television? What kinds of DVDs do I entertain myself with? What sites do I visit on the Internet?

The songwriter then determines not to "hang" with anyone in his home who is faithless, perverse, a slanderer, proud, deceitful, or a liar. He wants to keep company with those who are faithful and to be mentored by those who are what he wants to become—blameless. Clearly we can't disassociate ourselves from everyone who doesn't conform to Biblical standards. How would we witness to them or be of influence in their lives if we had nothing to do with those who most need to discover new life through faith in Christ Jesus? I think the psalmist is talking about those who are his closest friends. Who is within my intimate circle of relationships? They should be those who pull me up spiritually, not those who tempt me toward that downward spiral away from the Lord.

Just as blinders keep horses focused so that they can win the race, we need to consciously choose to keep our private spaces as free from evil as possible, and "hang" with those who build us up spiritually so that we can keep focused on being, in private and in public, the witnesses to truth to which God has called us.