Articles

We have come to the end of our Esther study and are left with many life lessons. What will you take with you? Will it be Esther’s courageous response in the face of peril, her fasting then donning the royal robes to appeal to the king, or her poise and wisdom in allowing the events to unfold over two banquets? Or will it be Mordecai, not Esther, who will dwell in your memory? Without Mordecai’s guidance, Esther likely would not have made it to the throne. His influence moved

“God’s plans for us are better than our own” flashed before me on a church billboard as I arrived before sunrise at the airport en route to run the Disney Marathon. I laughed out loud as I reflected on how only five months earlier I had no thought of ever running a marathon. It never crossed my mind. No bucket list item nor life goal; it was never part of my plan. But God’s plans were not my own and were bigger and better than I could ever imagine. Esther must have felt the s

By Queen Lori (with a little help from Princess Julie) It’s been two years since my coronation at the 2016 Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop. When my daughter Julie and I returned home, I was motivated and ready to launch my new writing career. But there were a few obstacles and distractions as I tried to get started and stay focused: First Obstacle. I had computer issues. I could turn it on, find my home page, send and receive emails, but that was about it. All other challenges

I was enthroned and esteemed at the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop back in April, sent home with a tiara, then never to be seen or heard from again. What happened? I promised my subjects I would write. Was I to be queen for only a day and then vanish? Or did something happen that changed my plans? Something did indeed happen. It all began when I started looking for someone to get me out of the castle. To that point, no knight in shining armor had driven up in his Corvette con

I’ve never been a queen before. Royalty does not run in my family. In fact, I didn’t even expect to be noticed while attending the very popular Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop recently. But by day two, I was being crowned queen of the conference. As I stepped to the mic to make my acceptance speech, these words came out: “It’s never too late. I’m going to start writing.” My daughter, standing by my side, had always heard me talk about writing “someday.” Today is my someday. Th

Chatter filled the room as we squeezed through the crowd between clusters of reuniting friends. We didn’t know a soul, so we retreated to our room until the opening dinner in the hotel’s huge ballroom. There we sat at a table tucked in the back and, by the end of the night, made two new friends. We were a mother-daughter pair of newbies. Actually, we were known as virgins, officially “Erma Virgins” to be clear and precise as all writers should be — a tip gleaned in the days t