I Had the Time of my Life at the Florida Christian Writer's Conference

I only wish I could truly portray the blessing I had going to the FCWC! To be among some of the best Christian writers and authors in the field was so awesome. The amount of work that went into the conference by Billie Wilson and staff will be never fully be comprehended by many, but I am so grateful for their hard work.


In my eyes, everything was so wonderful and uplifting. The continuing class with Laura Christianson was very motivating and I loved each session of the elective workshops I took. The main session speakers, Cec Murphey, Jesse Florea, Jerry Jenkins and then ending with the lovely Eva Marie Everson were awesome. I shed more than a few tears and loved the comic relief that Jerry gave us Sat. night.

I met old friends and made new ones; I was so blessed to have Kathy Thomas as my roommate and I know the Lord has great things in store for her and her ministry. I felt the pain of some who were struggling and saw with my own eyes the Lord change the heart of one who came there with his own agenda and left praising the Lord for the fast track God is putting him on! I heard of at least one miracle of salvation coming to a heart and know that the Lord restored many hearts while they were ministered to, there.

I so loved learning about the racial reconciliation ministry that Craig von Buseck has, although it was after conference that I read articles he wrote. I’m a fan of writing in that arena, as sometimes I realize that we as a nation, have not come as far as we thought we had in racial issues.

Last year I got so involved with the thought of having to give an elevator pitch, that it ruined my appointments with the editors; this year I decided I would just be myself, and it worked out a lot better. Everyone I had appointments with was very gracious and kind and I so appreciate that. I found that some of the people that I met in the food line blessed me as much as my appointments and it is true that relationships formed are one of the main things that make you want to come back.

I did find my “angel” from last year, Margie and was also blessed to have some special time with Susie Davis when she came to visit Bryan and Amanda. I was so happy she was there to see Amanda get that award; awesome!

The music was wonderful and I was so glad to hear our special conference song, “You Never Let Go” which is probably the theme of my life. He is always faithful and will never let go of us, regardless of our faithfulness, regardless if our family is not the Cleaver’s, regardless if our lives are not “picture perfect.” He will never let go of the dreams he puts in our hearts even if they seem unattainable. He gives new dreams and is the true Dream Giver.

I’ll end with a quote Bryan Davis gave me many years ago at Rosemary Upton’s Writer’s Critiqueshop,

“Dreams inspire models; models bring forth plans; plans beget hope, and hope is the anchor for my soul; my reason for dreaming.”

I love this quote so much it is at the beginning of my book, “Somebody’s Daughter.”
PS Thanks so all who ended up calling me, Mom, after coming to the conclusion that my "brand" is "Somebody's Mother."

What Stirs you to Write?

I'm getting ready to go to the FCWC, so I'm pretty busy to be blogging.
Today I sent something to The Writer's View-2 about inspiration and creativity to write in response to a question they asked. Some things stir me to write and child abuse is one of them.

I find things to write about in newspaper articles all the time. I started out writing letters to editors and was privileged to have several letters as "My Word" columns. Once they even sent a photographer out to our home to photograph me with my daughters, when I reminisced about growing up unsupervised in the 60's. I've written about homeless issues, Heaven's Garden, (a home for recovering prostitutes) treasuring your time with a loved one, procrastination, and treatment centers. I wrote a response about an article called "Passage to Salvation" wondering how parents felt after seeing the faces of their daughters on billboards advertising men's clubs along I-95? The empathy I felt gave me the title for my first book called, "Somebody's Daughter."
One thing that stirred me up was a phrase a Judge used, "a little pedophilia" I wondered who has the definition of what "a little pedophilia" does to a child?
This excerpt was printed several years ago in the (Orlando) Sentinel:

And as for the comment that Maxwell reportedly made to a DCF staffer that he had "never known pedophilia to be life-threatening" surely we have all read newspaper article that would dispute this statement. He should try that line on a surviving parent. Perhaps he would talk to a sexual abuse survivor who could tell him about painful flashbacks and the years it takes to rebuild trust in authority figures. "A little pedophilia"? I don't think so. Trust me, I know. There is no such thing.
Donna Collins Tinsley thornrose7@aol.com