It's St. Patrick's Day. I have corned beef cooking and will add the carrots, potatoes, and cabbage at the appropriate time. A shamrock door ornament has hung on my door all month, and a spray of glittery green and silver shamrocks is sitting amid the battery operated, flickery candles and ivy on the dining room table. That's as far as our St. Paddy's celebration goes. I've always believed the story that he drove the snakes out of Ireland, but after what I heard yesterday, I'm disillusioned. Is it true that there never were snakes in Ireland. Can't be. There are snakes everywhere. Maybe there just used to be many more than normal in Ireland. Why not honor the saint for the sacrifices he made to carry Christianity to a distant people? That seems enough to me.
I'm not Catholic. It was just always fun to wear green and enjoy the traditional food. It wasn't fun when I was a child who forgot to wear green and got pinched, a wicked tradition. In my opinion, so is all the green beer drinking that goes on and the accidents and rioting that follow, but who am I to criticize those whose beliefs differ from mine? I'll continue having fun on this day in my own conservative style.
This year St. Patrick's Day is a break from my labors as a member of Idaho Writer's League in searching for presenters at the conference Pocatello Chapter is hosting 22-23 September. Anyone who reads my blog is welcome. It will be at the Travel Lodge in Chubbck just north of Pocatello this year, and we are working hard to present a great conference at a minimum cost. The conference will include ten workshops running at the same time as ten others, twenty-two choices for attendees to choose from. So far we have lined up an artist to teach about illustration and book covers, writing film scripts, writing plays, writing about the outdoors, and travel writing. We plan to add e-books, a professional publisher, self-publishing, poetry, cowboy poetry, writing fantasy, short stories, historical fiction, flash fiction, Native American writing, social media, and a three-session workshop on starting, developing, and publishing your book, writing articles. Getting everything lined up requires many phone calls, e-mails, and in person visits. I'm busy, and I'm not alone. Just want you to know that something good for writers is coming up. Check my blog for updates.
