The West Virginia Writers annual conference, always in June, always at Cedar Lakes Conference Center in Ripley, WV is one of the writing world’s best-kept secrets. Where else can you see a lineup like this (including me!) for $125 for members and $150 for nonmembers. Lodging, on-site, is reasonable as is the cafeteria food plan. You can give yourself a stellar writing retreat for not much moola! Info here.
West Virginia Writers, like the people of West Virginia, are very welcoming. You needn’t worry about coming alone, you will leave with friends. Find your writing tribe in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.
Warmth and sun, oh how I need it. I have slid the cover of the moonroof back on my car. My commute this morning should be glorious. The window itself is closed but light will flood the car.
Oh, how my pineal gland needs the stimulation. Homemade vitamin D coursing through my body. I will almost be able to hear the birdsong off in the woods as I rumble down the interstate. I will take the exit through the park today to check out the gardens and trees of the rich folk. I expect daffodils and redbud and pear. Perhaps the dogwood will be starting.
“In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost.”
The Divine Comedy
Well. As you can imagine, I was quite startled. Imagine meeting yourself in a dark forest when you’ve lost the road? Or found it, depending on your perspective. The two of you, literally, standing there. Both in shock. Mouths open, staring. The one a hunter and the other a gatherer. Would there be nervous laughter. Both of us are me so I imagine there would be. With a divine comedy, laughter is essential.
Talk about a midlife crisis. Two of me. The adventurer and the homebody. The urban dweller meets the hermit who lives in a large tree trunk. Both me, neither me. We need to integrate.
Or do we? Can’t there be two? The introvert and the extravert? Yin and yang. Ego and Id. One for desire, one for need.
Should life be a straight Roman road? Sunlit and laid out before you? Or a winding country path verdant in dappled shadows hiding and seeking.
Is it a conundrum or a dream? Sacred or profane?
Questions. Which of me will ask the most questions. I imagine the hermit mostly silent, observing and taking it all in. The traveler babbling trying to make sense of the few details I’ve noted. Like two of me. In a forest. Lost.
Are you a tourist or a traveler? Is it a trip or a quest? A journey or a destination?
These days, I’m a tourist more than a journeyer. I did my journey early in life. I was on a quest for years before coming home to myself. Coming home to my heritage. Coming home to my genetics.
That sounds kind of sad, but I don’t mean for it to. A year or so ago, maybe two, I was playing around with some video software and did a digital story about my house. I often don’t know what I think, until I start writing. The montage needed a script and so I wrote one. In the course of writing, I discovered I had reached my destination. The journey was over.
Now when I leave home, I’m a tourist. I’m not looking for a place to live or find happiness or fulfillment. I’m simply out seeing the sights. Kirk Judd wrote:
I thinks one reason I be leavin' alla time is 'cause the comin' home feel so good
W. Va. Fur and Root 