The Spirit of the Lord set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” – Ezekiel 37:1-3

This memoir-writing business is getting a little hard to pull off lately. I need concentrated time to get into the flow and, with the multiplicity of current distractions, I have a hard time stringing the hours together.

But this week’s rainy weather has proved helpful as I scratched a couple of trips to Wake Forest and managed to settle in for several three-hour stretches. Three hours seems to be the magic number, as I first think of a direction for my musings and then pry the lid off the experience to delve deeper. Sometimes I am amazed at what level of detail I find stored just a little below the surface.

The real challenge is to make an emotional connection with the event and to frame each story in a way that is consistent with the larger narrative – and then to communicate all of that in my writing. It does you no good as a reader if I simply recount what happened; I must make it come alive – kind of like the way God breathed life into the Valley of the Dry Bones.

I have stories, that is not the issue; the question is, can I make these stories live?

A Bed & Breakfast we will never forget!

Today’s story goes back to 1992. I am thirty-six, Rebekah is thirty-five, and we have taken our children (almost eight and ten) to see the land where I grew up, to experience something of the England I knew as a child, to begin to put the family stories into context.

It was an amazing trip. This narrative covers just one small slice.

Back in 1992 is was the uncertainty that made Bed & Breakfasting (without reservations) such an adventure! It was all about keeping a lookout for small signs on the side of the road, the random “B&B” nailed to a doorpost, or even better, “Turn here for farmhouse B&B” hanging from a nearby fence.

Sometimes you could end up in something beyond disappointing; sometimes, like some traveller in a storybook, you end up… well, just listen to the story.

I hope you enjoy listening. There is a lot more to share. Peace and more – DEREK