A few weeks ago, I wrote about scrunching up my ‘turned down self’ and applying again to attend one of the writing workshops at Collegeville Institute.  It was hard to overcome having been turned down before and harder because I had to submit a far more extensive writing sample.  Last week, I got word that I had not been accepted but that they hoped I would consider being an alternate in case one of the selected participants was not able to attend. I said no because the last time I had the same situation and kept my hopes up ‘in vain’ so I felt doubly disappointed.  A while ago, I got a call–though the person knew I had turned down the possibility, she wanted me to know that I had been at the top of the list of alternates and a person had dropped out so she wanted to offer me the slot, just in case I might change my mind.  I’m going.  From July 18-27, I will participate in a workshop led by Lauren Winner, a well-known and respected writer and Episcopal priest. The name of the workshop is Christian Spirituality and the Writing Life.  Those really hard things we do and the ways we draw ourselves up to a stature we don’t quite believe we are capable of attaining? Totally worth doing. AMDG.