I enjoy family reunions. My family attends an annual one hosted by my husband’s cousins. Originally the outsider to this group, I’ve grown acquainted with many family members and consider them friends.
We meet at a restaurant the first evening. The next day we gather at a public park where we’ve reserved a group site and share potluck together. A river tumbles by, offering water activities for the children, and trees shade the picnic tables—perfect for conversations that usually take up the entire afternoon. My family returns home reconnected to people we love.
I’ll be attending a different kind of reunion this next week—a writer’s conference. Just like the family reunion, I began as an outsider and with repeat visits to different conferences over the past few years, I’ve become acquainted with many authors, editors and agents—many of whom I consider friends.
This year I travel to Indianapolis for the American Christian Fiction Writers conference. If you follow my blog, you know last year I visited Dallas, Texas for the same gathering. This meeting of writers and editors draws people from all over the United States, as well as from some foreign countries. Last year, I met someone from New Zealand.
I’ll be gone three days, but the schedule is jam-packed with workshops, meetings with editors, getting reacquainted with friends, and sitting down with agents. I’ll return home exhausted, but recharged—which sounds like an oxymoron. But like the family reunion, I’ll come back reconnected with people I’ve grown to love.
See you in two weeks.