Wednesday, July 13, 2005

disappointments

4:12LIVE

Donita K. Paul checking in from the real world and looking for my fantasy world to dive into.

I missed my regular day to post because I was in Denver at the ICRS. (For those of you who read my last blog, the S stands for Show. How mundane is that? Symposium would have been nice.)
I had my laptop with me, but I needed a techo-savvy teen with me as well. I could not figure out how to get on-line from the hotel room. Now, I bet 90% of the teens I know could have had me connected in less than 60 seconds. But where were the teens when I needed them? I was disappointed that I couldn't blog with you.

I attended a three day writers' retreat and for the first day I just kept gasping at the names on the name tags: Brandilyn Collins, Carol Umberger, Kathleen Morgan, Lori Copeland, Tom Morrisey, James Scott Bell, Neta and Dave Jackson, Hannah Alexander, Karen Kinsbury, Karen Ball, Lissa Hall Johnson, Angela Hunt, Gail Martin, Peggy Darty, Yvonne Lehman, and many more. It was like walking down the fiction aisle at the local Christian Book Store and having the authors standing there with their books. We did workshop type things, fellowship, and worship. No disappointments there.

Saturday night was the Christy Award Banquet. I got to wear a beautiful red dress and fancy jewelry. It was funny getting ready with my two author roommates at the hotel. Reminded me of getting ready for a prom.
Dragonspell was a finalist for the Visionary category. We didn't get the grand prize, but we did get a medal for being a finalist. Yes, I was disappointed, but I like the writing of Karen Hancock, and she won for The Shadow Within, so I wasn't devastated. Still it would have been nice to get top honors. Funny thing- I felt God's reassurance as the time grew closer for the announcement. I "knew" Dragonspell hadn't gotten the award, and I knew it was all right. I still felt disappointed, but I felt God's love, too.

Last disappointment: I had to come home from the convention early because my stupid leg decided to be stupid. No that's wrong. Actually, my stupid leg (the one that is lame and causes me problems) was behaving. The other leg - the smart one- came undone. I twisted that knee in a grand way. Ended up going to the convention floor in a wheelchair to do my signing. And then went home. I have been waiting to go to this ICRS convention for years. There were concerts and speakers I wanted to hear. The glimpse I got of the display booths only whetted my appetite, and then the doctor orders me off the leg and to bed. Aaargh!

It's at times like this that you have to deliberately choose not to be defeated. It's not a word game we Christians play. It's not positive thinking. It's reality from a heavenly perspective. The things I didn't get to do are not as important as the things I did get to do. And who decided which things were important. You got it! God is in control.

1 comment:

mbpbooks said...

Donita, that is disappointing about your leg. One of those events that don't make sense and then years from now (or in heaven) we look back and say, "Oh. So that's why God let that happen." Anyway, I'm sure you looked fantastic in that red dress. Nothing like a red dress to get you through a stressful situation.