Dry Creek Writer's Retreat

March 1-3, 2012


Dry Creek Camp was a beautiful setting for a relaxed but vigorous writing retreat. Hosted by Curt Isles, past camp director, the piney woods of Western Louisana proved to be an ideal setting for learning, inspiration, and making new writer friends.

The lovely White House bed and breakfast housing the conference attendees was built as a school in 1912. Closed in 1962, the building was purchased in 1980 by the camp that adjoined the property. Extensive renovation restored the school into a building that invited writers' imagination.




Curt Isles on the left, introduced our speakers: DiAnn Mills and Frank Ball.

DiAnn and Frank alternated sessions. DiAnn presented the joys and blessings of mentoring. She discussed self-editing, developing character and plot and ended with Rhino-skinned (or alligator-skinned) critique techniques.
Frank spoke on the power of story, writing a captivating story, what is a creative genius, and different point of view.
DiAnn is the author of 57 Christian books and is a Christy Award Winner.
Frank has written several books and is the developer of North Texas Christian Writers, an orginazation of critique groups.


Writers attended from as far as Florida, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Mike, Two Shadows, entertained us with a Native American story and hauntingly beautiful music on his wooden flute.










Gatherings in Western Louisiana and East Texas are not complete without music. We were entertained by these musicians who wrote their own music as well as played familiar tunes.

One of the musicians commented at the closing of the retreat that what he'd learned about writing applied to his writing of music lyrics.


On the final day of the conference we joined on the front steps of the old school house for the obligatory "school" picture.

I am highly motivated by the retreat and have sent my completed manuscript, "Soul Sisters", to writers for critique.

With plans for a return trip to Alaska this summer, I've discovered new ways to journal.

What would you like to see as focus for journaling?

Darrell 8/28/82 - 1/29/12

My adopted son, Darrell, was born a normal, healthy infant but within weeks he suffered two broken arms, broken ribs and a subdural hematoma that left him blind, with seizures, and profoundly retarded.

The courts found Darrell's birth mother guilty of shaking the tiny new-born infant. Was he crying too long or too loud? No one will ever know, nor will we know what potential was shaken from him.

I am writing as a memorial to Darrell who went to be with the Lord on Jan. 29, 2012.

Shaken Baby Syndrome is a silent, hidden form of child abuse that maims and kills. The condition is difficult to diagnose unless the child is admitted to the hospital with multiple symptoms. However, knowledge of The Period of Purple Crying, a new way to understand baby's normal crying, can help prevent shaking.The crying of many newborn babies will

Peak in the first couple of months, then decrease. Crying may happen at

Unexpected times, without apparent cause. Baby will

Resist all efforts to comfort him. He may cry as if in

Pain, but he isn't. Baby cries for

Long periods of time. And seems to cry more in the

Evening.

Sometimes a parent or caregiver becomes so frustrated or angry because of the excessive crying that they lose control and shake the baby causing brain injury and even death. Often called colic, Purple Crying is a developmental stage, not an illness.

Darrell's life had profound impact on me, a single mom, and the lives of my children. I share his story to inform and educate parents and caregivers on Shaken Baby Syndrome. Using doctor's records and Children Protective Services case records, I wrote Adopting Darrell to encourage parents, teachers, and others who care for special needs children. I use this information as a platform for teaching parenting classes on child abuse prevention.

In Darrell's honor I am offering free copies of Adopting Darrell to anyone who contacts me by email.

grandmas_onthego@yahoo.com

The Period of Purple crying is a Shaken Baby Syndrome prevention program of the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome.

www.dontshake.org

purplecrying.info

New Release

More than three years ago, I contracted with (and paid) a local publisher to edit, print, publish and promote an inspriational novel, Beneath the Surface. After many excuses, much procrastination and a visit to court, I received a proof copy with errors on 3/4 of the 200+ pages. Months later and another visit to court, I received the rights to my manyscript back. I decided to republish on createspace.com, changing the cover and proofing again. Within a week, I received a proof. My first order arrived in a week.

What cost me megabucks, time and headaches, I was able to do myself with books in hand within two weeks, not three (plus) years.

What a learning experience this has been! Writers beware. There are many unscrupulous publishers and editors/predators waiting for your money.

My book is available at Amazon.com, from createspace.com and of course from me. I will be hosting booksignings this spring.

Self published, print on demand books are not carried by major book store chains, but don't let that deter you, they won't carry any print on demand books, no matter who the publisher is.

Not to be discouraged, I'm working on my third inspriational novel.

Boy Scouts winter camp and bonus

Boy Scout winter camp at Camp Urland, near Woodville was an exciting volunteer experience for me. I arrrived Dec. 26th on a cold clear morning. By the following morning the temp was in the 20s.

We struggled out of bed by 5 am every morning for staff meetings and the flag raising ceremony before breakfast.

I taught the basketry merit badge to 11 young scouts. The weather was so cold that they had to work indoors. If they had tried to soak the basket reeds outside their hands would have turned icy.

The Scouts have a duct tape sculpture contest. The statue of Liberty and the indian were the winners.

The bonus this year is that I was able to take a 20 hour course in wilderness First Aid and CPR.

The CPR course was a review and for recertification. We became intimate with Annie.

The First Aid course was much more involved than any course I've previously taken. Special hands on experiences were provided by mock accidents. One of the leaders used stage make-up to add reality to" injuries" suffered by an explosion, a bike accident and a rock slide.

We adult leaders, who were taking the course, and to rush out of the classroom and respond to the emergencies with a packed First Aid kit, hoping we could remember everything we'd studied.


Rushing down the hill, I saw this boy's amputated foot. My first thought was that it was hidden in a hole. But no. He had actually had the foot amlputated the previous year. His mother used fake blood to make it look like a serious accident. Freaked me out.

Look at the smiles.

As the counselors were carrying our "injured" boy up the hill to a pretend ambulance, several campers started down the hill, saw the bloody injury, and ran the other way.

Missy, one of the instructors, pretended to be in shock after seeing her injured boys. The rescuer in the cowboy hat determined that she had hypothermia, and that the First Aid manual stated that he should undress her, and himself, and get under the space blanket with her to warm her up!

We vetoed the idea and declared her healed.

Winter camp was too short. Friday evening the final flag ceremony ended another enjoyable and educational volunteer experience.

volunteering-from the heart

I received another call out to join a feeding unit in Bastrop on Sat. Dec. 3. I was scheduled for jury duty the following week, so early Monday morning I rushed downtown to get excused, then hurriedly finished packing and began the 4 hour drive to Bastrop.

This deployment differed from the last two primarily because the weather was in the twenties at night and upper thirties during the day.

We were busy scrambling eggs over a huge propane burner by 5:30 a.m. Theheat from the convection ovens cooking sausage and bacon took off a bit of the chill. On this deployment we were only feeding between twenty and thirty clean up volunteers.

New friends included the lady in the tan jacket who has muscular distrophy and works primarily from a wheel chair. Once we had the food prepared in the tent, we stored it in cambros and trucked it inside the warehouse building for serving.

Previous blogs showed additional pictures of cooking and serving.

After meals comes clean up. All those pots, pans and cambros have to be scrubbed and disinfected with bleach. Note the steam rising from the rinse tanks.

Bob is finishing up pots after dark with a hot-water pressure washer. Look out for the hot steam!



One morning the cook team started chili cooking in the tilt skillet and took a welcome break to visit some of the work sites.

Here two members of a chainsaw team are limbing a downed dead pine tree.

We were allowed to look around and take pictures after we all donned yellow hard hats.


This once lovely large brick home home is now nothing but ash. The fierce heat evaporated the moisture from the brick mortar. The standing brick walls could be pushed over with a finger.

Only ash-out crews were allowed to work on the foundation, sifting for the families valuables, then shoveling out the ash.

The burned and dead trees will be removed.

Most home owners were able to escape with a few pets, posessions and papers. Others were not so fortunate. Mobile home exploded as flames and heat roared beneath the flooring.

Praise the Lord that no lives were lost.

Home owners were amazed that volunteers were willing to give of thier time and expertise to aid in clean up and recovery without pay.

Another form of recovery involved salvaging chared trees. John Deer Tractor company donated the use of this huge forklift to move logs around a portable saw mill.

I got to ride on this monser!

The logs were power washed to rid them of ash and burned bark, then graded.

I can't explain how this sawmill works, except that I watched it saw off the side of this log until it was a huge square beam, then it was sawed into planks. The lumber was sorted into sizes and made available in kit form for the construction of sheds. Praise the Lord for the ability to reclaim and reuse the results of the fires.

An incomplete report of the response to the Bastrop fires follows: Volunteers participated from utah/Idaho, Louisiana, California, New Mexico, Oregon, Kentucky and Kansas as well as from Texas. 4, 350 volunteer days were log. over 15,000 meals served, 445 cleanup and recovery sites were completed, with a few more sites to be completed before the first of the year. Spiritual contacts were made with more than 600 individuals, with the Gospel presented to move than 250 people. Some 80 persons accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.

Ministries provided in addition to feeding, cleanup and recovery, were chaplins, operations, assessments, laundry and showers, and child care.

Thanks to all of you. As I was driving home I learned that Extreme Home Make Over is building a home in Smithville for one of the firefighters who lost his home. Don't know when it will air.

I rushed home on Friday, Dec. 9, to join Monique and Nickolas volunteeering with Feast of Sharing at Ford Arena in Beaumont. HEB grocery provided the food for several thousand people who drove or were bused to the area for fun, festivities, and a holiday meal

Nick and I are plating ham, then passing the plate to Monique and the fellow next to me for a serving of mashed potatoes, then on down the line. There were two long tables like this. We challenged each other to see who was the fastest ham plater. Notice the cambro of potatoes.

Teens and young adults were waiters to take the prepared plates to the thousands waiting in shifts to eat. Other volunteers took around apple pie and drinks. We enjoyed several children's choirs.


It warmed my heart to see all the people volunteering to serve their fellows. The festive atmosphere and loving acceptance of people from all walks of life make this a Christmas experience I'll do again.

Volunteering- What a way to go!

Caring and Sharing in prison.

Wednesday, Dec. 1, Nickloas and Monique joined me to help Rodney Barnett and others load BBQ, potato salad, sauce, bread and #10 cans of beans to feed 250 prison guards and employees at the Hightower Unit in Dayton.

Nickolas and Monique loaded down my car with non perishibles. We then loaded meat and potato salad in to 6 large coolers, iced it down and packed it in James' truck.

Thursday morning we met at 6 am on Major Dr. to caravan to Dayton.

On arival at the prison, we were discouraged to learn that neither our ID information or the contents of our coolers and boxes had been cleared through the guards.

I prefered waiting outside in the cold (35 degree), windy parking lot to the prospect of entering that razor wire compound.

Soon however the chaplin had everything straightened out and we were frisked, searched, questioned and signed in.

The food was taken to the officers' dinning room where inmates took over heating the meat and serving the officers as they came in for lunch.

I spoke with a teacher who enjoyed her job with her "captive audience" of students who had to request attending school, a therapist who had seen many of the inmates, and we spoke with several guards who shared stories that are confidential.

Hightower is a medium security prison with two men's units and one women's unit. We warmly thanked the staff for the difficult job they have in keeping order and helping the inmates prepare for the outside world.

Friday and Saturday atheletes with Champion's for Life (Bill Glass campaign) visited all the prisons in the area to present the gospel. I'm glad I was able to have a small part in showing others that Christians care.

So Much to be Thankful For

Saturday, Nov. 19th, my mother and I pack up the RV to begin a road trip to Florida.

On the way I joined six other authors for a signing at Sonshine Books in Sulphur La. Sales were good. The owner/manager made us all feel quite welcome, and I made some new writer friends.

Mother and I spent the night with my brother and family in Lake Charles, attended church on Sunday at East Ridge Baptist where my brother is pastor, and were on I-10 East bound after a quick lunch.

Driving through Mississippi was a challenge when a thick blanket of fog obscured over 100 miles of highway. Darkness forced us into a Wal-Mart parking lot for the night. Monday morning fog clouded the highway until we were past Mobile, then the sun burned it away and the remaining trip to Apopka, north of Orlando was uneventful.

Daughter, Colleen, decorated for Christmas because my grandson, Devin, is home on a short leave from an airbase in South Korea.

A traditional Thanksgiving dinner was enjoyed by all, especially Oliver the cat who was allowed to stay on the chair begging for left overs just long enough for pictures.

To work off excess eating, we visited Wikiva Springs State Park for hiking. Colleen and husband, Mark, flank Grandma, with Devin next to her. On the back row are my granddaughters, Chelsea, Hannah, and Rachel.

Colleen is a writer who has published through online sites. She led me through the process of publishing Beneath the Surface, a novel that I had to take legal action to regain my rights to the manuscript. Another publisher took my investment and did not publish the book for over two years. The result was so full of errors that I was embarassed to have it on the market.
I'm very pleased with the new results and will blog about it soon.