Do you know what laughter sounds like in a really big house with tall ceilings? Let me add, the laughter of eleven crazy women novelists. Heavenly and very loud.
Here I am in the beautiful mountains of northern Idaho, tasting just a little bit of what heaven will be like. The love, the fellowship, the community.
So far we have worked on six novels. My turn was first thing this morning, and the ideas I came away with are awesome. I’m so excited about this project (a novel that will release in spring of 2008). I came here excited about it, but now I’m even more excited. Perhaps because everyone responded so well to my premise.
What makes this brainstorming group special, however, is the faith of these women. The first night, we sat out on the veranda and shared what has happened to us over the last year. Our hurts. Our hopes. There were plenty of tears shed. So many of us have faced difficult trials since we were last together — health, families, jobs, grief. Life. Then last night, we sat in the great room and sang hymns for at least an hour, hymns that soon slipped into fun Sunday School songs of old ("Father Abraham had many sons…"). And finally we prayed. Wow, did we pray!
When lives are dedicated to serving God, the enemy starts working overtime. He hates those who obey God. And so we went to the throne with our needs and petitions. It was a mighty, powerful time, and we serve a mighty, powerful God.
Back to the laughter. We have laughed so much that I won’t need to do sit-ups for another week. Amazing how good that feels.
Right now, there are six of us sitting around the dining room table, working on our laptops. So I’d best post to this blog and get back to my w-i-p (my fourth Hart’s Crossing novella). I’d love to write one more page before we break for dinner (did I mention how much food we have consumed in two days?!?).
-rlh-
