Finding Religion at River's Edge

The vegetarian kebabs, wild rice, salad, and angel food cake paled against our Friday evening dinner conversation about lost loves, peak experiences, life-changing lows, our lack of religion, and how journaling adds layers of meaning to our lives. Some of us spent time in restorative yoga, getting centered, while others became grounded with a good walk before we holed up in the cozy Victorian parlors to explore voice and its connection with storytelling. We wrote as many images of things that move as we could think of, described an object that we encounter often, and wrote two memories of deception to learn something about ourselves and tell the reader something they didn't know or help them see what we found out in a different way. That element of surprise was our goal as we wrote poetry, thought about what brings out the muse, and talked about writing spaces. We spotted a hawk in the Rocky River Valley and walked flat footed in the therapeutic pool. We shared our writing and inspired each other to continue to pursue writing goals. It was hard to leave each other and go back to the real world, but we are already connecting on Word Lovers Facebook Page where Trudy's already posting and sharing. I'm looking forward to reconnecting with some of my favorite writers at Lakeside during the weekend of May 30-June 1.