When it rains in Nashville, the heavens open in a biblical manner.  If you happen to be caught outside in it, you are soaked to the bone instantly.  Often the rain is accompanied by scary bursts of thunder and lightning.

Perhaps the thunder and lightning is scary to me because I experience it so rarely back home in Portland.  There, the rain is gentle yet persistent.  It is gentle enough that Portlanders scorn umbrellas and really, you can get along fine most rainy days without one. 

Not in Nashville. 

Yet I don't own an umbrella and it certainly never occurs to me to pack one, seeing as how I never use one in Portland.  And let me just say that my fall back position of all-purpose shawl held over my head is a lame attempt to shield myself from the rain.  And so I've been soaked several times now.

But Nashville has other delights and so I forgive it the rain this week.

I arrived last Friday afternoon to take part in Path and Pen, a spiritual writing conference.  What a great weekend.  I presented my Writing Abundance workshop on Saturday morning, and all of us had a blast.  Truly the reason the workshop went so well was because of my wonderful participants.  I got to spend quite a bit of time with the amazing Rabbi Rami Shapiro and also to attend the Greater Bethel AME church on Sunday morning, at the invitation of Kim Johnson, program director at Scarritt Bennett.  I made some good new friends, including fellow faculty members Kent Ira Groff and Dr Sybril Bennett.  Best of all, they've asked me to come back in December to be the writer in residence for Room to Write. What is Room to Write?  It is a two-day writing retreat.  All you have to do is show up and write.  Your room will be ready for you and all meals provided.  If you need advice or motivation or support, I'll be on hand to provide it.  Check it out, it's going to be wonderful.

I've been house-sitting in Nashville this week, spending time with friends, and putting the final touches on the fall orientation weekend at The Writer's Loft.  There's still time to join, either the full semester or the one-day workshops on Friday which are open to the public.  Join us for workshops from poet Bill Brown, CNF writer David Pierce, and fiction writer Terry Price.

Oh, and my friend from Portland, Mayanna is arriving tomorrow, as well as Linda Busby Parker from Alabama and Betsy Woods from Louisiana.  We're going to have a great time and learn lots about writing.

But in the meantime, I think its raining again….