Meet you at the ranch?

The ranch would be the CLASS Christian Writers Conference at the Ghost Ranch, October 31-November 4 in Abiquiu New Mexico (just North of Santa Fe). It's a great conference and there is still time to take advantage of the price before it goes up October 1. Saundra and I will be there and we would love to have you join us. It's a great place to learn, write, fellowship, and just have some time in a beautiful place to listen to God's direction for your writing. 

The picture shown here is one Saundra took of me there as are the ones on my web page and facebook page. 


Saundra (and mom before she passed on) does love to go to the ghost ranch with me. Not only is it awesome scenery, but it's a remote setting where you can really get in touch with your writing and in touch with God. I’ve gone to it for 14-15 years now. Including going when it was in Glorieta and if you have ever read the writing testimony that is on my website (http://www.terryburns.net/Testimony.htm ), this conference is where that experience happened.  

One plus for new writers is the fact that you can leave the conference as a published writer. During the conference attendees have the chance to work with a talented writer, an editor or an agent to write a story or item for inclusion in an anthology that will be produced following the conference. It's a great writing experience and does produce a good writing credit.

There are no televisions or other diversions at the ranch so that produces a relaxed environment with fellowship not only with the other writers but with the agents and editors that are there. That is unparallelled networking opportunities. 

If you'd like to know more, you can find the information at classeminars.org 

Hope we get the chance to meet you there.

Getting old

My advice is . . . don't do it.

Getting old is for the birds. And I can remember exactly when it happened to me. You don't believe I can pinpoint an exact time? Well, I can.

I was an energetic middle aged man when one day a ladder went out from under me and I got stuck non-weight-bearing on that foot for 7 months while it healed. Of course muscles don't like that kind on inactivity very much so I've never been quite the same. One day I was middle aged, and the next day I was old. Bummer.

Why am I talking about this today? It's on my mind because I was working in the workshop yesterday and picked up something that was heavier than I thought it was and was soon down in my back. Another bummer.

That's the second thing that contributed to my officially being a senior citizen. I was at a writer's conference a few years back and took a box of books out of an elderly ladies trunk for her, twisting somehow in the process. Talk about a painful ride back from Dallas to Amarillo. Now I can easily do something that will aggrivate it, and as I said I managed to do that yesterday. I told Saundra yesterday that I should have been rewarded for helping that little lady, not punished.

But that's how life works and I'm just explaining, not complaining, at least not much. A few months before Mother went on to her reward she told me, "I've never been hurt or abused, never gone hungry, have walked with Jesus and been blessed my whole life." Saundra and I often reflect on this and it is true for us as well.

We see the problems that so many people have and we have quite simply been blessed our whole lives. Sure, we have little things like this happen to us, but God doesn't promise that his children won't have problems, He just promises to help us through them, and He does. I look back at the little valleys in our lives and I wonder how people handle them that don't have the Lord's help.

Well, that's my thoughts for a peaceful Sunday morning. Instead of having the pleasure of being at Sunday School and church I'm sitting here being philosophical. Or maybe it's just the little buzz from the pain pill Saundra gave me. I guess it could go either way.