Persons with Skin

I know that God is always with me and Jesus is all I need, but sometimes it's nice to have someone with skin on.

Writing is a fairly solitary activity and, although I love uninterrupted times when I'm free to work without distractions, I sometimes feel very isolated. That's why it was such a great experience to attend a writers' conference and spend two full days hobnobbing with fellow writers.

I have some very good friends that write. Angela and I have been friends for the fourteen years since we met in a creative writing class. During the class, we met to critique each other's work and have met regularly ever since. Although she lived in Minnesota for a time and there was once a space of about a year between our meetings, we try to get together once a month. For the third year in a row, we are participating together in the crazy challenge that is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), in which we attempt to write from scratch a novel of 50,000 words or more during the month of November.

I also some very good new friends that write. I met Lynn only a few months ago, but felt an immediate connection with her. She is a professional writer who spends all day, every day except Sunday, writing. She's been a great encouragement to me in my writing life.

But there are few writers among my everyday acquaintances, and it was a blessing to spend time with like-minded men and women at the writers' conference. Since it was a Christian writers' conference, the fellowship had a foundation and the camaraderie edified the faith.

Christ has promised never to leave us or forsake us. And for two days, I felt His presence in fellow writers who were His children with skin on.