A Passion for Books by Terry Glaspey, Editor, Harvest House

Book Review by Nan Rinella

Terry Glaspey is having an affair-with books. He has a passion for them.

“I came late to a love for books,” Glaspey writes. As a child, he was addicted to TV but it left him empty. What was missing was a sense of wonder that could best be met by books. This love, when it came, came with a passion.

They say that the most precious things are found in the smallest of boxes. This wee tome is a grand treasure in a tiny package - a sprinkling of gems from the Great Books. I savored every moment of my read. It was like indulging in a box of gourmet chocolates, tasting each morsel, letting it melt in my mouth, and wanting more.

I can only describe this book in terms of feasting on it-not devouring but relishing. Like a rich chocolate (can you tell I’m a chocoholic?) mousse sprinkled with luscious nuts and dried fruits, and presented like a work of art. It’s a beautiful gift book artfully designed with prints, portraits, and chuck full of delicious quotes from the greats.

C.S. Lewis: “No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which in not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.”

Glaspey refutes computers doing away with printed volumes. He cannot imagine climbing into bed with a computer or languishing in the tub with one. This is my type of person. I was very careful not to let his book fall into my bath.

Fiction vs. Nonfiction Track?

• I’ve asked that y’all reply to me about which track you are planning to attend.
• This was only to gauge approximate numbers for Joy’s & Frank’s workshops.
• You are free to choose each session individually as you like.
• You will note that there are a couple times where there is only session.

In that vein Terry says, “I noticed that my talk was, until recently, listed in the schedule as part of the fiction track. Just wanted to remind you that it is really more geared to non-fiction than fiction, though parts are applicable to both. Anyone who wants to write for publication should find it practical and helpful, but it is more focused on non-fiction.”

If you are not staying for the retreat you can order Diana’s lectures.

Bag End Thursday Night

This gathering after hours is a time of sharing, asking questions, and reading your stuff. The time is limited, there will be sleepyheads, and Friday is an early morning, so . . .

If you want to do a reading, choose something BRIEF, please. There will be a time limit. Just like in your writing-less is more. Be thrifty with your words. Remember if you want more substantial feedback, Lael Arrington and Kay Wood are available. Inquire at the registration table.

Of Interest on Conferences

There’s an article in October Writer’s Digest - “How Even a Bad Conference Can Make You a Better Writer,” giving the reader 18 lessons they can learn from any writing conference. Well, ours is going to be a really GOOD CONFERENCE, but their “More Tips for Making the Most of Any Conference” is informative and is most of what I’ve already imparted to y’all. I’ll include the list in your packet.

Also there are two articles in the Christian Communicator: September & October. I will include those also in your packet.

. . . I may have more so keep checking . . . Nan

Areas of interest: The Important “Ps”

PRONOUNCEMENT - What to read before you come.

PREPARATION - What do you need to do to prepare?

PURPOSE - Why you’re attending.

PLAN - What you hope to accomplish.

PRESENTATION - Making a good impression.

PREPARING & PRACTICING your PITCH - To our editor and agent.

PERFORMANCE - Do you want feedback/critique of your work?

PARTICIPATION - Are you looking forward to networking with other writers?

PARTICULARS & PRACTICALITIES - Hopefully, all your questions will be answered.

I’m imparting the following information in hopes it will be helpful. Actually, I know it will be because it has worked for me and for others. I’ve attended many writers’ conferences and directed them too. What I will share is taken from a presentation I give to my writer’s group, Panhandle Professional Writers in Amarillo, to prepare them for our annual conference, Frontiers in Writing. If you’ve done this before or are an old hand at it, you will find the advice familiar. If this is your first time or you still consider yourself new at this, you will find it beneficial. I was brand new once and had no idea what I was doing, or that I should or could prepare.

PRONOUNCEMENT - Recommend all attendees read keynote speaker Diana Pavlac Glyer’s The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community. I promise you will be encouraged, delighted, and get more out of the retreat and workshops. It’s not for writers only. If you haven’t time to read it through, please begin. See my review.

***Note: You can purchase all the speaker’s books from Amazon through the CSLF bookstore at http://www.cslewis.org/store/index.html. Visit this blog for reviews of speaker’s books.

PREPARATION - How to prepare.

I always try to read at least one book by each speaker. That wasn’t easy back in 2004 when I readied myself for my first CSLF conference, The Fantastic Worlds of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien-lots of scholarly tomes for this hobbit to read. This is how I was encouraged out of my writer’s slump when I read Diana Glyer’s encouraging book before attending the 2007  C.S. Lewis Summer Conference in San Diego, Finding the Way.

You may not have time to read all the way through these books, but start now. Reading books by speakers shows them you are interested in them and their work, and you bought their books. This will also help you in their sessions since you will already have a sense of what they are talking about.

• Joy Jordan-Lake - Blue Hole Back Home (reviewed)

Why Jesus Makes Me Nervous: Ten Alarming Words of Faith

Working Families: Navigating the Demands and Delights of Marriage, Parenting, and Career

• Terry Glaspey - Not a Tame Lion: The Spiritual Legacy of C.S. Lewis (reviewed)

Great Books of the Christian Tradition

• Frank Ball - Eyewitness: The Life of Christ Told in One Story
• Louis Markos - Lewis Agonistes: Wrestling With the Modern and Postmodern World

The Life and Writings of CS Lewis

• Joel Heck - Irrigating Deserts: C.S. Lewis on Education
• Andrew Lazo - Mere Christians: Inspiring Stories of Encounters with C.S. Lewis (co-editor)

Attention to “Retreaters” & non-pros-writing neophytes, beginning writers-just wandering into writing, flirting with the whole idea-to you I say-Relax. You’re coming to be a sponge. Soak it all up. But it doesn’t hurt to do a little reading. If you didn’t like reading, I doubt you’d have been interested in the first place. The rest of the “Ps” are specifically directed at the writing “workshopers,” however, it couldn’t hurt to read along . . .

PURPOSE - Why are you attending?

• You’re going for the retreat. You’re a devotee of Lewis’s writing. You like communing with people of like mind. You’re looking forward to enjoying a physically relaxing yet mentally and spiritually stimulating weekend in the country. That’s all you PLAN to accomplish.
• You’re going for the writers’ workshop and hopefully the retreat, as well. You want to learn to write better. You want to pitch a book or idea to an agent and editor. You want to network with other writers. You want to get connected with the techno-world out there-get a website and/or blog. You’ve got lots of questions.

PRESENTATION - Presenting yourself.

You want to make a good impression on the editor and agent-well, everybody, of course, but them especially. You want them to want your book. You can bring a manuscript but DO NOT BRING IT TO YOUR INTERVIEW. They will not ask for it. If they are interested in your work they will ask you to send it. It is very rare they will ask to read it.

PREPARING & PRACTICING YOUR PITCH

What you want to do is work very diligently on your “elevator pitch.” (If you were in an elevator with an agent or editor and they asked you what your book is about, you need to tell them in the time it takes to go a few floors.) Condense your pitch to 25 words or less. Less is more. Come up with a nice juicy HOOK! You’ve got 15 minutes-a couple minutes to tell them about you, pitch your book in five minutes-leave time for questions.

This is hard work. But it will pay. Practice, practice, practice! You don’t want to waste their time or theirs.

Do your homework. Visit their websites. Learn about them. Study what the agency sells and what the publishing house publishes. What authors do they represent? Are you a fit for them? You’ll have a chance to visit with the presenters at meals, around camp, and at Bag End-our after hours get-togethers, and the Friday night reception. Those times are not for pitching but for bonding. They might ask you what you write-be general. Always wait for them to ask for specifics.

Learn about our presenters personally. Find out something you have in common to break the ice. For instance . . . Joy Jordan-Lake says in her bio on her website that she and her husband share their lives with three fabulous children, a needy Golden Retriever, and two cats. In my first e-mail to her I told her that our son, the Crown Prince, is a grown-up now, and that my husband and I share our lives with our “granddog”-a demanding black lab, and five cats. We hit it off right away. I met Thomas Umstattd at a writers’ conference, he’s building my website.

PERFORMANCE - Do you desire feedback or critique on your work?

For those of you attending our writers’ workshop we are offering a limited opportunity for you to have your work individually looked at and commented on by experienced writers.

Lael Arrington is an author with a heart for mentoring writers. She has published books with NavPress, Crossway and Zondervan, including one for which she worked with leading Christian writers including Philip Yancey, John Eldredge, James Scott Bell, Randy Alcorn and others, editing their contributions (see laelarrington.com). She has also helped secure publishing contracts, and edited proposals and manuscripts for others.

Lael is willing to have you get in touch with her via e-mail laela@laelarrington.com before the conference, and send her some of your work-a few pages of your writing or even a book proposal and sample chapter. You can then get together with her during registration on Thursday to schedule a time for discussing your work.

Kay Wood is an editor. An English major and English high school teacher, she has worked for both secular and Christian publishing companies and has edited books, sermons, scripts, etc. She has an eye for detail, consistency, and format. You can sign up at registration to meet with her and show her a sample of your work on Saturday.

Where Lael will be the one for critiquing content, Kay specializes in format, like chapter headings, table of contents, story outline. She looks for clarity and consistency.

Again, please submit only a brief representation of your work as Lael and Kay will only be available to a limited number of people, first come, first served.

PARTICIPATION - The keyword is networking. Besides rubbing elbows with our presenters, a gathering of writers is an opportunity to confer and trade stories with your peers. Do you have questions you are hesitant to ask a presenter? Try it out on another writer first. We’re all friends. No one understands a writer better than another writer.

PARTICULARS & PRACTICALITIES - Sign up for appointments & consultations.

Editor: Terry Glaspey

Agent: Steve Laube

Authors: Joy Jordan-Lake & Frank Ball

Tech Consultant: Thomas Umstattd

Feedback & Critique: Lael Arrington & Kay Wood (Lael will be present at registration, Kay arrives Friday for Saturday appointments only)

Thursday morning at the registration desk. There are a limited amount of appointments and consultations, so sign up early. First come, first served.

Also, Thursday morning sign ups for Saturday activities.

Dress - Casual. We don’t dress for dinner or Sunday services. Texas is boots ‘n jeans country.

Amenities - No TV, radios, telephone, and coffee pots in rooms. WiFi and computer access in the lobby.

Review by Nan Rinella

NOT A TAME LION is a book about a hero. Not as the world sees, but as God sees, and men of God desire to learn from and emulate. A lion of a man with a voice heard round the world, turning men to God.

It’s a small book as books about Lewis go, but it’s brimming with Lewis’s wisdom and dramatized scenes of his life. Terry Glaspey uses elements of creative nonfiction with fleshed out scenes that touch the senses and transport you into Lewis’s life.

The book begins on a cold foggy morning with “Jack” Lewis sitting in the sidecar of his brother Warren’s motorcycle on a trip from Oxford to Whipsnade Zoo. “When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” wrote Lewis in his autobiography, “and when we reached the zoo I did.”

As a boy of nine, Lewis lost his mother and turned from God. He would be a poet but went to war and was wounded. It is through his deep respect for logic that he returns to God via his intellect.

Terry met Lewis-not in person-but in the pages of his books. He was captivated by “the winsome, creative, intelligent personality that radiated between the lines of his writing. If such a man could wholeheartedly embrace Christianity, then perhaps it deserved a more careful look . . . Here was a God who did not fit into my comfortable preconceptions or a denominational box, a God upon whom I could not press my personal agendas. For as one of the characters [of Narnia] says of him, ‘He is not a tame lion.’ Neither was Lewis a ‘tame lion.’”

Terry treats us to Jack’s first sight of Oxford-“absolutely ripping,” he writes a friend, although he got off the train the wrong way looking first in the opposite direction.

We peek in on Lewis preparing to give a lecture on right and wrong for a BBC radio broadcast in 1941, rehearsing the first lines he hoped would grab his listeners. He went on to make many broadcasts, becoming “one of the most visible public defenders of the faith.”

We find him in church one morning in 1942, privy to the birth of The Screwtape Letters. Later he wrote, “Before the service was over . . . I was struck with an idea for a book . . . called ‘As One Devil to Another’ and would consist of letters from an elderly retired devil to a young devil who has just started to work on his ‘patient’ . . . .”

Biographer A.N. Wilson wrote, “Narnia is the inside of Lewis’s mind, peopled with a rich enjoyment of old books and old stories and the beauties of nature.”

This is a perfect book to enter into the mind, heart, and spirit of the man who gave his life away to God and his fellow man. He followed Jesus’ commandment to love God and men. Also, here an opportunity for those who haven’t the time or inclination to steep themselves in and explore the many biographies and letters, to learn more of the man.

Terry has digested the books I’ve thought to “elfish” for my “hobbit” brain. However, the brief snippets from these tomes, tempt me to try. The rich quotes sent me scurrying to the endnotes.

On God: “We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven-a senile benevolence who, as they say, ‘liked to see young people enjoying themselves’ and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be said at the end of each day ‘a good time was had by all.’”

Of Jesus: “There is no question of what we can make of Him, it is entirely a question of what He intends to make of us.”

On Pain: “God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

Miracles “in fact are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.”

Heart of a Child: “When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”

Common Sense: “. . . one of humanity’s key tools for determining truth . . . .”

Morality: ” . . . is not an abstract question for debate, it is the foundation for the growth of character.”

Obedience: “To have the kind of faith that obeys God even when there is not attending feeling of conviction is to defuse one of the Devil’s most powerful tools.”

Humility: “. . . a really humble man . . . will not be thinking about humility; he will not be thinking about himself at all.

These delicious gems sprinkled throughout Terry’s delectable prose made a delightful feast, and left me wanting more.

How about you? Do you want more? Read Terry’s book. It’s  is not a tame read. It’s not a safe read. But it is good. Even better is getting to know Terry and Lewis too.

Review of The Company They Keep:
C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community by Dr. Diana Pavlac Glyer

“No man is an island, entire of itself,” John Donne wrote in the 17^th century, “Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main . . .”

Everyone needs others. If God had meant us to do this life solo, He would have stopped with Adam.

In The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community, Dr. Diana Pavlac Glyer has written about the community shared by the Inklings and the influence it had on the lives and works of individual members - C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, Hugo Dyson, R.E. Havard, David Cecil, Nevill Coghill, Warren Lewis, and others.

Charles Williams thought we should live by the principle that, everyone, all the time, owes his life to the lives and labor of others. He believed in co-inherence-the unity within the Trinity, of all Christian believers, and of divine and human in the Incarnation.

The story of the Inklings gives us an exceptional example of the elements of influence and encouragement. In Chapter Three we read about “Resonators,” which “refers to anyone who acts as a friendly, interested, supportive audience.” They show interest, give feedback, express praise, offer encouragement, contribute practical help, and promote the work of others. This heartening gift is absolutely essential to the very existence of any work.

“What I owe them is incalculable.” (Lewis)

“We owed each a great debt to the other.” (Tolkien)

Think of it. Would we have The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters today, were it not for the relationship these men shared?

When I read Tolkien’s epic a second time as a mature adult, I was enchanted. I reread it again and again, and The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and whatever other works I could find. Then I started on the biographies and discovered you really can’t have Tolkien without Lewis, and visa versa. While enjoying Glyer’s book, you learn all the delicious reasons why. If it hadn’t been for Tolkien and Dyson’s influence, would Lewis have turned to God? Would Tolkien have ever finished his Rings epic if Lewis had not “put the screw” to him?

We discover Lewis struggled with discouragement, and experienced anxiety, fear, and doubt, but saw them as inevitable aspects of the creative process. His first desire was to write poetry, but rejection shook his confidence. He battled discouragement over the delay in publishing his first novel. And he suffered from ill health.

As a “notorious non-finisher,” Tolkien needed the presence of others to keep writing. It took him twelve years to write LOTR. After Lewis died and the group disbanded, Tolkien became increasingly isolated and unable to write.

Tolkien said of Lewis, “He was for long my only audience. Only from him did I ever get the idea that my ‘stuff’ could be more than a hobby.”

Interestingly though, Tolkien-the perfectionist-was not taken with the Chronicles. He thought his friend mixed too many elements. Some of the Inklings couldn’t bear to hear more of “The New Hobbit.”

Lewis, though, thought LOTR was “like lightning out of a clear sky.”

Glyer called it “diversity within unity.” “Out of this perpetual dogfight a community of mind and a deep affection emerge,” wrote Lewis, who also said friends ” . . . join like raindrops on a window.” They “are not primarily absorbed in each other. It is when we are doing things together that friendship springs up-painting, sailing ships, praying, philosophizing, fighting shoulder to shoulder.” Lewis

Upon conclusion we are left with the principle that we are influenced by the company we keep.

She quotes a Buddhist monastic saying, “When a tree grows by itself it spreads out, but does not grow tall. When trees grow together in the forest, they help push each other up towards the sun.”

I look forward to hearing Diana speak at the C.S. Lewis Foundation Southwest Regional Retreat. It is a rich opportunity for all of us to grow up towards the sun and reach out and influence each other. Read the book before you come. It will enrich the experience. It did for me.

(For your convenience, you can buy the book through the C.S. Lewis Foundation Bookstore)

Nan Rinella

Book Review:

Blue Hole Back Home

By Joy Jordan-Lake

BLUE HOLE BACK HOME tugs at the heart like that big swimming hole drew the young people of the Appalachian mountain town to its frigid waters in that hot summer of 1979.

A tale so haunting in its realness, its earthiness, its foreshadowing of tragedy from the moment Farsanna, “the new girl lifted her brown legs up over the tailgate of the truck” and the mangy pack introduced her to the Blue Hole and the all-white community of teens. Shelby Lenoir Maynard and the other four teens of the pack welcomed the new girl from Sri Lanka.

The story begins with the narrator, Shelby Lenoir Maynard, grown and living in Boston. A chance encounter triggers her memory of the events that happen when she was sixteen-years-old and “skinny and awkward and carried whatever smarts I had then like a warning.” In the telling she sheds her constructed shell to face the guilt her past brings her: “Maybe some parts of your past don’t stay just where you thought your life left them all shredded in pieces.”

The pack offered a hand and friendship. Farsanna took it-Sanna, the color of hot cocoa, speech stiff and stilted, face expressionless, hair flowing licorice, eyes “black pits that might or might not be hiding explosives.” And Stray too, the black and white spotted mutt.

When the friends welcomed the dark-skinned girl into their circle they thought they were a good generation past that racial “stuff” that had happened years before. That’s why they decided to “say nothing to nobody,” not about the shooting they witnessed the night they drove down into the valley where the blacks live; nor about Turtle and Sanna’s almost hit and run, nor the burnt cross on Em’s truck seat-”all the stuff that didn’t mean anything.” Too late, they come face to face with bigotry and suffer it’s vengeance. “It was the men in white bed sheets that changed us,” writes Shelby, “them and the Blue Hole changed us forever.”

Jordan-Lake paints the characters with a scalpel. Shelby’s nickname of Turtle gives us an inkling into her psyche and the naiveté of the pack.  Turtle’s older brother Emerson “billed himself as a bona fide Jock and hid books, old poetry mostly, in issues of Sports Illustrated.” His best friend, Beauregard Riggs the preacher’s son, Jimbo, “handled words like electrical wires he just might dip into water.” L.J. was the pack’s resident genius—”clumsy and stringy and smart in a school that cared nothing for schooling.” Bobby, Welp, was a whittler, a fence sitter, and-perhaps a sulking Judas? Always present is Big Dog, the chubby golden retriever who loved barbeque and Dr. Pepper.

They say you can’t go home again, but Joy takes us back to her own teen years in Tennessee where there she knew a new girl from Sri Lanka. There was a real racial incident that gave birth to the story. From that she spins her tale. It’s fiction, but her characters breathe discomfort. Mort is “a Clydesdale behind skittish ponies”-the pack thought him “all swagger and snarl. Him and his gun for a security blanket.” Jimbo’s daddy, whose “flesh nor his thoughts seemed to take on a firm substance.” He preached a nice God. “Truth was something the Good Reverend liked to hand out soft and slow and sweet-smelling . . .” Then of course there was the Blue Hole, not blue at all but deep rusty brown when churned up, its banks heavy with teenagers and boys contending in wild contests swinging from the rope swing and casting their bodies into the unforgiving mountain waters.

I was stunned when I began reading-stunned by the incredible language-prose that sings. I read the first chapter four times before coming to terms that I couldn’t do the book justice on a trip to Hawaii. Home, and with no distractions, I could feast on the banquet of poetic prose. We writers can read how-to-write tomes endlessly and learn to put words on paper-but to make those words sing? This takes God inspired talent and a superb mastery of the tongue. Joy’s use of singular action verbs, vivid description, scintillating dialogue, and unique metaphors mesmerized me.  You’d think it was a textbook for all my highlighting. I’ve shared some of the sentences and phrases with my critique group.

As I write, I am constantly challenged to find a livelier word, more imaginative simile, or less clichéd phrase. Just reading Joy is an education in exceptional writing. I can’t begin to imagine what two days under her tutelage will produce. Can you?

I went as a participant of the Summer Seminars-in-Residence for the August 1-7 session. The Kilns was bought and restored by the C.S. Lewis Foundation. See “Programs” on this site for more information. If you are interested in my tales of The Kilns, click here to view the main C.S. Lewis Foundation Blog.  I wrote one post on-site and will continue with The Kilns Chronicles soon.

Meanwhile, “back at the ranch,” the plans go forward to our Texas retreat and writers workshop coming up just about two months from now. There is so much to share about this one-of-a-kind workshop. Keep visiting this blog for more.

Inklings & Inspiration

THE COMPANY THEY KEEP: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community by Dr. Diana Pavlac Glyer was the inspiration for this writers workshop. Lewis, Tolkien, and the other men who made up the Inklings were all writers. In her book, Diana tells their fascinating story-of the influence they had on each other, their lives and their work. So, it was a natural fit to include a focus on writing at this retreat.

I believe that it’s fairly common for writers - when we discover authors whose words sink right to the heart, settle into the soul, and stimulate the mind - to devour their every work and learn all we can about them. Of course, meeting them in person is a special treat. But for those no longer in this world, second best is learning from those who knew or studied them. Diana has thrown open the wardrobe door and invited us into the world of the Inklings.

It’s encouraging and comforting to discover that the “greats” endured circumstances, encountered obstacles, and accepted challenges similar to our own. I used to picture famous authors working in sacred silence, uninterrupted - just them, genius, and muse - creating classics. I saw them as strong, perfect, and prolific.

Of course, even fantasy doesn’t read that way. Real people are flawed, have weaknesses, make mistakes, and deal with fractured relationships and home troubles.  Real writers are human. Often their best work is a byproduct of their trials and tribulations.

Tolkien had four children, was a professor, wrote books, studied and made up languages, and created a whole other world during his spare moments. He didn’t own a car and wrote with pen or typewriter on paper hard to come by during the war years and after. He wrote the famous words, “In a hole lived a hobbit,” on the back of an exam paper he was grading.

Lewis’s home life was strained.  A bachelor, he cared for an aging, difficult woman, an often incapacitated brother, various and sundry household staff, children during the Blitz, and in later life, a dying wife and her two sons. Beyond this, he suffered serious career disappointments and ill health.

Both men wrote without computers, copy machines, or fax machines. Research was done in the library flipping through pages in musty books, not online surfing the net. Manuscripts were one copy, tediously typed or hand written, and were delivered in person to the publisher. However, the quality of their work and word of mouth sold their books. No endless book tours and personal appearances and book signings. Their books are still in print tantalizing generation after generation.

And we think we have it tough. You say you haven’t time to write? Joy Jordan-Lake, our Writers Workshop speaker, is a professor, a minister, a writer, a wife, and a mother of four children, two cats, and one very demanding dog.  Besides writing, she could probably teach us a lot about time management.

Why read Diana’s book? In one word - ENCOURAGEMENT!

Reviews of Diana’s and Joy’s books to follow.  Plus others.

Tolkien calls the name [Inklings] “a pleasantly ingenious pun ,” referring to those who “dabble in ink.” C.S. Lewis

Hi, this is Nan Rinella, and I, along with Laura Sullivan, will be coordinating this event under the direction of Stan Mattson, President of the C.S. Lewis Foundation.

I’m a native Californian transplanted in Amarillo, Texas. It was in 2001 that Lewis and Tolkien captured my interest and I became an enthusiastic student of their lives and works, attending my first foundation event in 2004. It is indeed a pleasure to be on the volunteer team. I’m a writer, speaker, freelance journalist, and have directed Frontiers in Writing, Panhandle Professional Writers annual conference, as well as attending a myriad of conferences.

Laura is a probation clerk in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and administrative marvel. She found C.S. Lewis by accident and was smitten. She has attended events for five years and coordinated the retreat for the last two years. We’ve joined forces and are excited about launching our pilot writers workshop.

In this series of blog posts, we’ll be giving you “inklings” about our program, hopefully answering questions like: “Why should I attend?” “What’s special or different about this workshop?” “What will you offer that’s worth my time and treasure?” “Who are these speakers, and what will I learn from them?”

Our website lists our presenters’ bios and credits. However, on this blog, we’ll introduce you to personal snapshots, interviews, Q&A’s, and reviews of their books. I’ve found that reading at least one book by each speaker in preparation for a conference makes the experience richer, and gives you a head start in connecting with faculty members. Diana Pavlac Gyler’s tome on the “Inklings” was the inspiration for this workshop. Just reading Joy Jordan-Lake’s novel was an education in exceptional writing. Frank Ball writes an “eyewitness” story that makes a believer out of you. Terry Glaspey’s book on Lewis leaves you wanting more.

We challenge you to read Lewis, if you haven’t already. And if you haven’t time to digest Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, read The Hobbit. They’re not just for children, nor are The Chronicles of Narnia.

Why a C.S. Lewis conference? What can two older English professors at Oxford and Cambridge-who wrote a half century ago-teach us today? Just how relevant are the Inklings and their experiences? Oh, will you be surprised, delighted, encouraged-and you’ll be a better writer for it. I promise. Because, you see, I was. I am. You will too.

Whether you are a fiction or nonfiction writer, a published professional, accomplished yet unpublished, or maybe in print but not paid, a novice with aspirations, or a church or community volunteer desiring more expertise -this is the opportunity for you.

The program was designed to satisfy both those desiring advanced teaching, those who’ve just begun to learn the craft, and those just wanting to improve their skills. Then, of course, there are all important private appointments with our editor, agent, media tech expert, and authors.

All this and the retreat, too-devotions, praise and worship, special breakout sessions, Sunday service, song and inspired dance artistry. It’s self-contained, nestled in the piney woods of the Camp Allen Conference Center. Rustic, but comfortable. Telephones, WiFi-but no TV. The meals are yummy with variety for different tastes. Save room for cobbler a la mode. And tea with our Lady Diana.

Make this a vacation with purpose. There are outdoor activities that can occupy a spouse, and are available for attendees who want to take Saturday afternoon off. The children’s program for ages 7-12 is a voyage on the Dawn Treader.

Are you ready to “go further up and further in?

Main Conference Retreat Package (Friday - Sunday)*

Double Occupancy (per person)

Standard Rate: $270
Early Bird Rate: $245

Writers Workshop Standalone Packages (Thursday - Saturday) ***

Double Occupancy (per person)

Standard Rate: $305
Early Bird Rate: $280

SAVE BY SHARING A ROOM - Regular Double Occupancy rates save registrants $70 per person over Single Occupancy rates. Take advantage of this savings and bring a friend or family member!

* The main retreat package includes 2 nights lodging (Friday & Saturday nights), meals, taxes, and full weekend program.

*** The Writer’s Workshop Standalone Package includes 2 nights lodging (Thursday - Friday nights), meals, taxes, and the full Writers Workshop program and Saturday Retreat Program. Note: this package can be purchased as a standalone option..

All reservations require payment in full. 25% of the registration fee is non-refundable. 100% of the registration fee is non-refundable if cancelled 14 days prior to the event.

October 29 - November 1, 2009

The Writers Retreat is part of the C.S. Lewis Foundation Southwest Regional Retreat.  Click here to view the main retreat page.

Join our workshops and lectures for the jump-start, dusting off, or home-stretch encouragement you’ve been needing to move forward with your writing.

We all know that writing well is, in part, a talent. But moving from God-given gift to a finished — and perhaps published — product requires self-discipline and dogged perseverance, as well the encouragement and feedback of others.

We’ll create an affirming atmosphere for reading and commenting on one another’s work, hear the often grim, full-of-failure background stories of now-respected writers, and discuss specifics for creating a writing life that is more than a rainy-day hobby. Writers of all expertise levels are welcome to come celebrate the creative life — and the privilege of working in community.

The Writers Workshop is part of the larger Southwest Regional Retreat on the theme The Company They Keep: Creativity & Community with C.S. Lewis & the Inklings.

The Workshop begins preconference on October 29th and continues throughout the retreat.

Featuring

Author Joy Jordan-Lake

Author Frank Ball

Agent Steve Laube

Editor Terry Glaspey

Web expert Thomas Umstattd

Two Tracks for Writers of Fiction and Nonfiction

Fiction Track led by Joy Jordan-Lake

Nonfiction Track led by Frank Ball, focusing on devotionals, journals, memoirs, family histories, and church projects