A RED VELVET MASTERPIECE

by Jill Roman Lord

Ah, the sweet aroma of a cake baking. I was preparing my daughter’s 16^th birthday cake the day after I arrived home from the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference. I had hoped to create a masterpiece of the Red Velvet Cake she had requested. As I carefully measured the ingredients and sprinkled them into the bowl, I recalled my very recent days at the conference and couldn’t help but feel like God had been doing the same thing at the conference.

It seems like He provided the way for each of us to be there and carefully blended the lot of us together. He sprinkled new friendships and old friendships into the mixture of fabulous editors, agents, authors and producers.

With the backdrop of the North Carolina Mountains, a beautiful facility and gorgeous weather, the stage was set for a masterpiece of a week to be made. The combination of educational classes, beautiful worship music, moving keynote speakers with a hilarious talent show stirred in created the perfect opportunity for growth. God blessed us with quaint moments at the coffee shop with friends, quiet walks through the prayer garden, and late nights filled with laughing ‘til our sides hurt.

And just like it is important to put ingredients into a batter in a particular order, I noticed ‘God Appointments’ happening at precise moments. God intricately crossed people’s paths for new friendships to form, for encouragement to occur, lessons to learn, and writers to grow. He provided opportunities to cheer on new friends, build each other up as writers, share our strengths, and learn from each other. 

As a cake needs heat to bake, the heat was certainly on at the conference as we pitched our manuscripts or ideas to the editors, agents and producers. Instructors and critiquers cranked up the heat a notch with challenges to push us to make each manuscript stronger or tighter, to extend ourselves further in our writing, to work harder, step out of our comfort zones, and to reach for new heights to produce the best products possible.

The icing on the cake was the banquet on the last evening. After a delicious dinner was served on white linen-covered tables, and after the last bites of the ‘to die for’ desserts were consumed, the awards ceremony began. Here anticipation and elation filled the room as numerous awards in various categories were given. Friends cheered for each other, hardy pats on the back were issued and heart-felt hugs were embraced with the recipients of the awards. Many pictures were taken in hopes of preserving the memories of the week.

God must have been smiling down on his creation of a Red Velvet Masterpiece week as if to say, “Ah, the sweet aroma of Christian Authors connecting, bonding, and growing to share My love and My message with the world.”

Write2Ignite! Conference 2012 – March 16-17, 2012 at North Greenville University