Learning from the best...

About three weeks ago, I attended the Christian Writers Guild Craftsman residency as part of the course I'm taking with them at the moment. This year-long Craftsman course follows the two-year Apprentice and the one-year Journeyman courses, both offered through the Guild, which is owned now by Jerry B. Jenkins. There are ten of us in this first of all Craftsman courses and it was a real pleasure to meet the others and get to know those who have the same dreams I do--to write for the Lord and to write to the best of our abilities. We bonded immediately and are looking forward to seeing one another again in February when we attend the Writing for the Soul Conference in Colorado Springs.

Another fantastic aspect of this five-day residency (aside from the wonderful lodgings, great location, and scrumptious meals) was meeting Jerry B. Jenkins, John Perrodin, James Scott Bell, Chris Fabry, and McNair Wilson. Sitting down one-on-one (on three separate occasions, no less) with the author of the Left Behind series (as well as over 150 other books) was a humbling, thrilling, fun, and learning-filled experience. Who'd think that I would be trading opinions, jokes, stories about our kids and grandkids, and ideas about the plot of my novel with the man who authored the greatest Christian fiction series of all time? Certainly not me. But there I was. The individual meetings with Jerry, and other great authors--Jim, McNair, Chris, and John--gave me memories to last a lifetime (I know, it's cliche) and enough knowledge to ponder for the next fifty years. Learning from the best places certain expectations on my work. I have no excuses now.

Until the next time...