Stolen(!) Content

I only met fellow writer Bob Leonard in person a few months ago, and now I’m stealing from him!

Bob and I connected at a peaceful demonstration in Des Moines in April.

I’ll be a presenter at the Okoboji Writers’ and Songwriters’ Retreat coming up September 28-October 1. I’m a first-timer, but Bob is an Okoboji long-timer, so I’m lifting content from his recent post—in which he calls the event THE GREATEST WRITERS AND SONGWRITERS RETREAT IN THE UNIVERSE.

According to Bob (and I believe him), some of the best writers and songwriters in the country will be in Iowa this fall. “It’s a remarkable, life-changing gathering,” Bob says. “I was reluctant to go the first time,” he continues, “but Julie twisted my arm, and my life has never been the same.”

“Julie” is Iowa journalism legend Julie Gammack, the event’s mastermind and founder.

Julie founded the Okoboji Writers’ Retreat and the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. I’m a huge Julie Gammack fan.

I’m working (feverishly) on my lecture, a new one, the first-ever slide program I’ve created for quilters and non-quilters alike. “Read My Latest Quilt” will be a visual tour of American quilts that have words on them.

Here’s one of the quilts that will be featured my lecture.

“Freedom,” 73 x 87 inches, 1975, by Jessie Telfair, National Museum of African American History and Culture. Telfair’s quilt memorializes her experiences during the Civil Rights Movement.

Here’s another.

“Baby, You Can Drive My Car,” 34 x 54 inches, by Pixeladies Kris Sazaki and Deb Cashatt. Their word-jammed quilt is an homage to the Volkswagen Beetle.

Circling back to Bob, here’s the opening paragraph of the letter he wrote to Julie after last year’s event,

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Dear Julie Gammack,

Once again, you plucked me from my little corner of the universe in rural southern Iowa, which seems so small to others yet so vast to me, and set me down tenderly on the banks on the distant shores of Lake Okoboji, among my brothers and sisters for another Okoboji Writers’ and Songwriters’ Retreat.

Bob describes people he learned from in 2024. I stole a handful of blurbs from his long, lively list.

• A poet walking up the stairs in a black dress whose words gallop across her emotions and ours.

• An agent who wants to work with authors who write in genres I didn’t know existed.

• A novelist juggling the vicissitudes of modern life, who manages to look like she just stepped off the cover of one of her novels.

• A writer and teacher who beamed with pride as his daughter stood at his side as they learned and taught together.

• A musician whose beautiful voice, playing, and lyrics reminded me of what I enjoy most about country music.

• Two television writers who made it look easy.

• A reporter who tells international truths in a hostile environment.

• A mystery novelist I first found randomly on Kindle and who now is my friend, and could be yours.

• An arts reporter who is a work of art.

• Dozens of writers young and old who found, at long last, their community.

Click here for a full list of 2025 Okoboji presenters. It’s long and robust, so take the time to read all about all of them. You’ll find me under Fiction.

Click on the green Early Bird Discount button, and register right now!

Thank you, Bob, and before I sign off from Quiltropolis, here’s one more awesome quilt from my lecture.

“Centennial,” 82.5 x 72.5 inches, 1876, probably made by Gertrude Knappenberger, American Folk Art Museum, New York City

P.S. I’m a proud member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please check out the work of my fellow columnists here. Subscribe! Become a paid subscriber if you can afford it. Please and thank you. We need you.