C J's News

Yep, I'm going to the Romance Writers Conference in San Diego this year. I even have a room on the marina so there will be the magnificent Pacific right outside my window. Wow! As you can tell, I'm excited. I haven't been to San Diego since I was eight years old and went with my family to see a naval buddy of my father.

As in the past, when I'm getting ready to leave on a journey, I remember this quotation from Ernest Hemingway:

"It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end."

I believe that Hemingway meant that life is actually a series of journeys whether physical ones or ones we take in our minds when we read about far away places, learn about new cultures and absorb new information. All our journeys, if we let them, open us to new ideas, adventures, and possibilities.

When I go to RWA, I'll actually be taking two journeys at once. Although I've traveled to over half the states in the U.S.A. and to sixteen countries of the world, this journey, like those in the past, will be two-fold . One journey is explore a place I saw as a child and see how it has changed over time. The second one is a mental journey toward getting published as a romance writer.

The trick of each journey is to keep an open mind to absorb all the experiences these two journeys offer. While I'm sure that San Diego has many surprises for me, it will be fascinating to contrast it to my childhood memories. And while the conference will also offer me those delights as I meet authors and others from all over the world, it will also offer me new concepts, skills and ideas about writing fiction. I look forward to both journeys.

If I've learned anything from my many travels - and I believe I have - it is, as Hemingway said, its the journey itself that matters in the end. As Walter Gropius, the famous architect, once remarked, "The human mind is like an umbrella. It functions best when open."I'm looking forward to being that "open umbrella" while on my two journeys to San Diego.

May you also find wonderful new worlds from whatever journeys, mental or physical, you take this summer.

I'd love to hear your ideas on journeys should you care to share them. Just got to TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK on this website and drop me a line or more.