The Cambridge Conference and a new book release by Sheila Johnson

 Following on from John Stevens blog on 7 September, I went to the Cambridge Conference and have returned to! I stayed in Christ's College with Maressa Mortimer.

Yes, this image of the college looks delightful and was the college my niece studied at. However, we weren't in this lovely old building but in the new build behind, up loads of steps. A bit of a challenge for my newly mended wrist and a case!

However, it was lovely being back in Cambridge again and visiting some familiar places and doing some great shopping. 

The conference itself was set in the very beautiful grounds of Ridley Hall on the outskirts of the town and led by Ruth Leigh and Andrew Chamberlain. We were certainly delighted and entertained by Ruth reading aloud from her newly published book of short stories, A great deal of ingenuity, based on minor characters from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. 

But, some of us  began our day by hearing from Maressa all about how to publish our own books and e-books, then from Joanna Watson with some wonderful God incidences and miracles and sharing our own with one another. 

After lunch, in the afternoon, media mogul, Jason Smith, took us through a quick route to using social media to our advantage. However, for me, the most exciting part of the day was hearing from God through two prayer ministry team members from Kingdom Living Ministries and last thing in the afternoon from Lauren Crook, their team leader about their work and our individual place in God's Kingdom for us and our writing.

I certainly feel that my latest book, Bible Reflections from a life devoted to the poor, written by Ethiopia's ambassador to the poor, Jember Teferra, and edited by me; is probably the best thing I have done in my Christian writing life. For a start, it isn't about me, but about her, her faith and determination to change the lives of the poorest people in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital city. And she did. In her lifetime she changed the lives of thousands of poor people. 

I'm not making any money from this book, all of it either covers the cost of the print run, or goes to the ongoing charities. But it seems so worthwhile. I don't feel I have done very much personally to help the poor but at least through my writing I can do something to raise this very worthy cause. But more of this next month...

Sheila Johnson lives in Cheltenham and is a qualified journalist who has written for a number of publications both local and national. She has also written two books under her pen name Sheila Donald, Alpha Male and Waireka and recently edited and published, Bible Reflections from a life devoted to the poor by Dr Jember Teferra. Her website can be found at www.journojohnson.com