*It was a really lazy morning. I started the day with a lovely visit with April for about an hour. Then I did some things on the computer, snuggled with Clark, and just relaxed. It felt good to do a bunch of nothing this morning.
*Around noon I made some lunch and ate, and watched some Call The Midwife. Then it was time to get ready for the big night.
*I follow the author Anne Lamott on Facebook, and earlier this year there was announcement that she would be speaking in Spokane on April 28. I asked Christy if she would like to go, and she said yes. The tickets became available in February, while I was on the road to Canada, so Christy secured a couple of tickets for us that day.
*We decided to have an early dinner at Anthony’s, a seafood restaurant in Spokane that overlooks the Spokane River and the Spokane Falls. Late April is always a great time to view the Spokane Falls, because of the amount of water crashing down into the river.
Spokane Falls
*Both Christy and I enjoyed a Chop Chop Seafood Salad, with fresh bay shrimp and Dungeness Crab. It was really delicious.
*After enjoying our dinner, we drove downtown and parked and made our way to a line of people waiting to get into the Bing Crosby Theater. When Christy ordered the tickets, she made it so we could pick them up at Will Call. That was a great move, because we were able to go to the head of the line, pick up our tickets at the window, and be one of the first people in the theater to choose our seats.
*Once our seats were secured, I decided to go peruse the book choices in the lobby. I purchased a few of her books, and came back and sat down. Christy went up to the lobby to look at the books, and, while she was gone, a couple of women came and chose seats next to us in our row. When Christy returned, she realized the woman next to me was a woman named Cindy Hval, who Christy has been Facebook friends with for many years but has never met. Cindy is a columnist for the Spokesman Review, and also an author. It was fun meeting her and visiting with her this evening. The funny part is, Christy mentioned as we were driving to Spokane that Cindy would be in the audience, and she wondered if she would get a chance to meet her. And she did!!
*A little after 7 p.m., Anne Lamott came out to the podium on the stage. In a very relaxed manner she shared about writing, and life, and “shitty first drafts” and “short assignments” and being disciplined to write an hour each day. It was inspiring!! It made we want to reread Bird by Bird, and the new books of hers I purchased. She shared a lot about the need to feel good about yourself and your own writing, because no one else cares. “The respect and admiration for your writing is an inside job”. You have to love and care about what you are writing. She also said “perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.” There was also encouragement to join a writing group, bring people in who can read your writing, encourage you, and be good resources for you.
*I came away from the evening encouraged to expand on my daily writing discipline. For over a year I have been faithful at writing my Gathering Graces each day. But now I would like to add some writing that will help me complete the book I am writing. If I devote at least an hour to writing the book, that will be making some progress. That is my next writing goal.
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