A Bad Conference Experience
May 8, 2012
Attending writing conferences can be an excellent way for writers, both new and experienced, to learn new skills and improve their craft.
Recently a writer friend asked on Facebook if anyone had ever been to a bad or unprofessional conference, and, if so, what made it bad or unprofessional. I responded with an experience I had at a national conference I attended not long after I started to write.
The content of the conference was fabulous and very professionally presented. However, it was held in a luxury hotel in New York City, and the meeting rooms were on three floors connected by escalators. Unfortunately, at the time I was on a motorized scooter and at least four other attendees were in wheelchairs or scooters. Obviously we couldn’t use the escalators, but the two upper floors of the conference levels had no other means of access.
Workshops were held on all three floors with only a few minutes between each session. I wasn’t able to attend the specific workshops I wanted because I had no way to get to the right floor, so I had to pick workshops that were held on the one floor I could reach. I still learned an incredible amount, even if it wasn’t exactly what I had planned to learn.
At the end of the final conference day, I was so exhausted I could barely sit upright on the scooter. The elevators were so crowded I couldn’t get the scooter in. Although others had to wait a while, eventually everyone else got on the elevators, leaving me alone on the second floor.
I sat there for almost an hour before I finally got the attention of a hotel employee setting up for an event and told him I had to have help or I would collapse. He said he would send help but no one came. Finally I went back where he was working and asked for help again. He called security, and after what seemed like an eternity, a security guard finally arrived and led me through the kitchens to the service elevator and got me back to my room.
The registration form for the conference even asked about special needs, and I had plainly indicated that I required handicap access. So it wasn’t like someone shouldn’t have been prepared for those of us who couldn’t handle the escalator/elevator situation.
No matter how wonderful the workshops are, a conference isn’t very useful to attendees who have no access to the meeting rooms.
National Day of Prayer 2012
May 3, 2012
Today is the annual National Day of Prayer to “to mobilize prayer in America and to encourage personal repentance and righteousness in the culture.”
Visit the website to learn about local and national prayer events.
Here is the official national prayer for today from the NDOP website:
2012 NATIONAL PRAYER
Dr. David Jeremiah – NDP Honorary ChairmanHeavenly Father,
Every good gift and perfect gift comes from You. You are a faithful God and Your mercy endures forever.
You have promised to bless the nation that trusts in You. Our currency proclaims “In God We Trust,” but in our culture we are far from You.
In the words of the prophet Daniel, “We have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.”
We come before You once more, seeking Your forgiveness and mercy. You, O God, are our only hope… Hear our prayer and, for Your honor’s sake, shine Your face upon this nation.
Give our leaders the desire to seek Your wisdom and the courage to follow Your guidance… and watch over the men and women of our armed forces as they sacrifice for the cause of freedom.
We give You thanks for all You have done for us, and we earnestly pray that You will help us become, once again, a nation whose God is the Lord.
In the name of Your Son, and our Savior, we pray this prayer.
Amen.
May 2012 Is Stroke Awareness Month
May 1, 2012
May is National Stroke Awareness Month. As I’ve written about before, I had a stroke 20 years ago, and I don’t want you or someone you love to go through that.
To learn what stroke is, risk factors, prevention, how to recognize when someone is having a stroke and what to do about it, and more, visit the National Stroke Association website and read some of my previous posts:
- May Is Stroke Awareness Month
- National Stroke Awareness Month: My Stroke – the Beginning
- National Stroke Awareness Month: My Stroke – The Next Three Days
- National Stroke Awareness Month: My Stroke – the Aftermath
- National Stroke Awareness Month: Stroke Risk Factors and Symptoms
- Stroke Awareness Month 2011
Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and a major cause for long-term disability. If you don’t want to be a part of those statistics, educate yourself about stroke during Stroke Awareness Month.
Internet Evangelism Day 2012
April 29, 2012
Today is Internet Evangelism Day.
According to the website:
Digital media have transformed the world in the last 15 years. We have entered a new ‘digital communication culture’ where all the rules for effective communication have changed. Even offline!
There are 2+ billion web users, and over 4 billion people use mobile phones (increasingly these are web-equipped). The Web is not just another means of communication, but a hyper-medium that subsumes, links together, and enhances all previous media.
Read more at Internet Evangelism Day.
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
As I mentioned in My Reading Plan Was Random; God’s Wasn’t, I read a number of Christian nonfiction books during Lent that I thought were randomly chosen. Yet they all emphasized that every Christian has a call and an absolute obligation evangelize. My husband and I have some health issues and don’t get out much, so the Internet is my primary connection to the world.
Although my original focus for this blog was writing, editing, and publishing, through the years, I have discovered it offers a wonderful opportunity for me to share my faith. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, the Life—our only salvation and the only way to Heaven, and I want you to see you in Heaven!
Book Review: A Bride’s Dilemma in Friendship, Tennessee
April 26, 2012
A Bride’s Dilemma in Friendship, Tennessee by Diana Lesire Brandmeyer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I met Diana Brandmeyer online several years ago when we both had books with the same electronic publisher and have been a fan a long time. While I was predisposed to like Diana’s latest book, historical romance isn’t a favorite genre for me, so my review is as objective and unbiased as humanly possible.
I love the characters, especially Heaven, Angel, and Travis. My minor complaint about the characters is that I wondered for about halfway through the book how old Angel was. At various times in the story, I guessed her age to be younger or older than it actually was when it was finally mentioned. I hope to read more about Annabelle and Jake in a future book.
The faith message is intricately woven into the story so that it teaches but doesn’t preach. A strong woman’s struggle to be independent, a discouraged doctor’s desire to avoid medical failures, a pre-teen’s will to live a normal life in spite of a disability, a father’s attempt to provide a safe future for his daughters, a guilt-ridden soldier’s efforts to withdraw from society, and a jilted young woman’s plan to run away from embarrassment combine in an intriguing story in post-Civil War Tennessee. Add a little humor, and you have a real winner that will appeal to fans of Christian fiction, lovers of romance, readers who enjoy history of Civil War times, and those who like to read a love story that acknowledges physical attraction but focuses on emotional connection.
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