Marilyn's Musings

I enjoy speaking to writers' groups and there are several that I always hope will ask me back. Ridgewriters, a branch of the California Writers Club, is one of my favorite places to visit. The group is located in Ridgecrest which is way out on the high dessert with it's main claim to fame, the China Lake Naval Air Station. During the spring, the desert fills with colorful wildflowers--wildflowers you don't see in other places. When I contacted them about coming again to speak this year, they already had a speaker for March. As it turned out, that speaker was my good friend, Willma Gore. Willma taught me so much about writing during the years she lived in Porterville and we both attended the writers' critique group. Willma has a new book out, a memoir, and she planned a book tour in California beginning with the Ridgewriters group. Something happened though, and the dates got muddled. Ridgewriters expected her on March 2 and she thought the date was March 9. She made h...

This week we went to Ridgecrest so I could talk to the Ridgewriters, a branch of California Writers Club about POV. This was my fourth visit there in as many years. Ridgecrest is in the Mojave Desert and it's big claim to fame is China Lake Naval Air Station where many of the citizens of the town work. The town itself is medium sized with many of the same kind of stores you'll find anywhere else. There is an abundance of motels which cater to the Naval Personnel and all the engineers that come into town. Many people who came to work at China Lake eventually retied in Ridgecrest. But when I say it's in the middle of the desert, that's exactly where it is. The photos were taken on our way there. The Red Rock Canyon State Park is on the way and the rock formations are absolutely fantastic as you can see. I wanted photos of the wild flowers that were coming out, but didn't manage to get any. There was a sprinkling alongside the road of the tiniest light yellow flowers. ...