The Gathering. Atlanta 2011.

Of course, The Gathering was awesome! Ted Dekker and Kevin Kaiser (Ted's producer) were both so nice and down to earth. April 22, 2011 is a day that I will never forget for so many reasons! For the sake of keeping this short I'm only going to talk about two of those reasons, but if you want to hear more, I would love to tell you all about it!

Writing has always been one of my passions, but recently it's become more like a chore. It's just seemed like I've had to force myself to write. Thankfully, all of that changed 8 days ago. That's when I went to Ted Dekker's Gathering in Atlanta. I told Ted about how his books always spoke to my current situation and how they always left me feeling challenged and changed and I asked him how to write books that will change the world. Well, his advice sort of threw me at first, but now it's been such an inspiration and encouragement. He said that I should "write without an agenda. Don't worry about changing the world. Write to discover. Write about love and light and truth." He said, "That's what draws people and ultimately changes them." Since then I've thrown all of my old "writing theology" out the window and I've been writing a story that I've fallen in love with. "Broken" is IT. Besides all of the epicness that comes with meeting my favorite author for the first time and rediscovering a passion that I thought was long lost, God also sent me the friend I've really been needing! In Emily I've found a fellow Dekkie that shares my passion for reading and writing. She has also been awesome at encouraging me and I hope I've been an encouragement to her too! A big "Thank you!" to Ted Dekker and Emily for all of their encouragement and advice!

Dive Deep,
Beth