I'm standing outside The Hayes, live from the WOWiG conference... by Jane Walters

Imagine the scene: I’m in a conference hall, at about half past ten at night. I’m wearing a fabulous jacket, pink shot with gold, and I’m surrounded by elegantly dressed ladies who are encouraging me to write a book about how to sell my kidney, which will be followed by said kidney being auctioned off at an artificially inflated price because of the success of the book.

Imagine another scene: it’s a little after midnight and I’m standing outside in my pyjamas and a rather fine dressing gown (M and S, if you were to press me for details), surrounded by variously dressed personages, one of them a man holding a full mug of tea and being overly cheerful, given the circumstances.

If you’re confused, let me put you out of your misery. I’m writing this from the wonderful Worth our Weight in Gold conference being held in honour of ACW’s golden jubilee. It’s been an extraordinary time so far of celebration and fellowship, peppered with inspirational moments and wisdom handed down by superb speakers. The pyjama scene was not a figment of my novelist imagination but what actually happened when the fire alarms went off on Friday night and we all had to make our groggy way outside. My almost-asleep mind initially struggled to make sense of the alarm – first blaming my mobile phone on the bedside cabinet beside me. However, it was the insistent male voice informing me that it was an alarm and that I was to immediately vacate the building that cleared the matter up somewhat decisively and led to some uninvited but rather special extra fellowship time.

The conference hall scene followed our presentation gala, which saw prizes being awarded for, among many, the longest title on the bookstall and the first person to book their place. Our president and first lady – aka Adrian and Bridget Plass – were adorned in personalised sashes and, for Adrian, a peaked cap bearing the word President, before entertaining us in inimitable style. Afterwards, somewhat jaded from the lack of sleep and an action-packed day, I was caught up in the surreal kidney discussion, during which I suddenly asked, ‘What date is it?’ before remembering that I was due to write this blog and had only hours to go before it went live. Delaying the writing by eating my body weight in guacamole and tortilla chips, I have now retreated to the calm of my room to tell you of those two incidents.

You will have to wait until the summer edition of Christian Writers before reading the full account of our jubilee weekend. For now, all I can say is that it has been the best weekend of my writing life. There will be fruit from it, I’m sure, which will involve growing friendships and putting some of the messages into action. But for now, zzzzzzzzz.

 

Jane Walters is vice-chair of ACW and currently very tired indeed...

www.janewyattwalters.com

Insta: @readywritersretreats