Inspiration Archives - Marsha Ward

I’ve been tied up with choir practice for a special church event that takes place twice a year. This weekend, we finished practices and sang.

LDS congregations are geographically based. They are called “wards” or “branches,” depending on the number of members therein. I live within a branch. Several congregations are grouped into an entity called a “stake.” A stake is similar in concept to a Catholic diocese. My stake is the Payson Arizona Stake.

Twice a year, members forego holding the usual weekly worship services and instead, attend “stake conference,” where we have a Saturday evening and a Sunday morning meeting. We listen to talks from our local leaders as well as from visitors from the mission and temple that pertain to us. We are in the Scottsdale Arizona Mission, and the Mesa Arizona Temple district. From time to time, we have visiting authorities from church headquarters in Utah.

A temporary stake choir made up of volunteers sings at each of the general meetings. That’s what I participated in. Our director is an excellent musician, as is our accompanist. It was a real joy for me to sing with all those who joined the choir.

I traveled the 20 miles to Payson on both days. Then today I attended a luncheon in town to thank the volunteers who worked so hard to to bring off the Payson Book Festival. We had a great time.

Left to right: Connie Cockrell, Payson Book Festival Director, and Marie Fasano, Volunteer Coordinator.

Some of the Payson Book Festival volunteers.

More volunteers.

I don’t mind the travel time for such good causes.

Save

Share This:

Once in a while, I have to sit back and count my blessings. Among them is a daughter who doesn’t mind if I bend her ear to listen to a scene I wrote. Her feedback is so helpful, and her responses are genuinely what I worked for.

I’m also grateful for wherever it is I get my inspiration for characters (there are several theories to consider). For the current work-in-progress (WIP), I’ve looked up settler and long-time Shenandoah Valley folk to borrow their surnames. They just fit.

When I started this crazy adventure story back in my late teens, I had no idea that a real family named “Owen” (no s) actually settled just across the mountain from where I plopped down my characters in Colorado Territory. I didn’t know that fact until thirty-some years later. I had no idea that the surname “Owen” was that of several Confederate soldiers who originated from the Shenandoah Valley. I had no idea I would eventually write about the American Civil War as it impacted MY Owen family.

Blind luck? Serendipity? Whatever I owe this whole shebang to, it’s very special to me, and I’m grateful for the experience.

Save

Share This: