Show Your Love Contest

If you are attending the LDStorymakers Conference in May, then you will want to head over the LDStorymakers blog and enter this contest. The prizes are awesome. Three winners will win a reserved seat at a table with James Dashner, Larry Brooks, Sara Crowe, Marcia Markland, and Becca Stumpf for the Friday night dinner. One grand prize winner will receive a 30 page manuscript review from Sara Megibow. Can I just say. . .those prizes are all amazing!

LDStorymakers Conference

Yes, it is that time of year again. The annual LDStorymakers Conference is quickly approaching. It Will be held from May 5-7 in Salt Lake City. If you are interested, you need to register soon. Many of my friends are busy getting their entries for the First Chapter Contest ready, since the deadline is Thursday, Feb 17th. This will be the first year I attend as a published author (which means I can't enter the First Chapters Contest). At least I can relax and enjoy the meal this time instead of sitting on the edge of my seat with my fingers crossed.

There is a long list of talented and dynamic presenters. Many agents and publishers will also be attending, including Larry Brooks, Becca Stumpf, Marcia Markland, Sara Crowe and Sara Megibow. I'm especially looking forward to a class I'm taking that will be taught by Larry Brooks.

This will be my fifth year attending the conference and I look forward to it every year. I always learn so much and I love seeing all my friends. Hopefully, I'll see you there.

A Few Tidbits

I've noticed more and more blog posts written point form. Is this because we are all becoming so busy it is easier to list a few things and then move on to something else? Throughout the day I think of the odd thing to write, but I never actually get to sit down and write it. (Notice I am finally sitting down to write a few words and it is almost 12:30 a.m.? Yes I'm just a little crazy and a lot sleep deprived.) So here are a few things running through my head. . .

• I finally finished half of an assignment for my class. I'll work on the other half tomorrow so I can get it sent off. Who knew I could find summarizing a short essay so difficult? It's probably because I over-think everything and hold myself up to such high standards. Rick keeps telling me not to worry so much about it. Hopefully the school thing will come a little easier as I find my groove.

• Still working on edits for Finding Rose. It's coming along, but not nearly as fast as I'd like. I did make some good progress today and I'm hoping to be able to get it out to readers soon so I can get it submitted before I head down to the LDStorymakers conference in April.

• I finally registered for the conference and am so excited to be going again. The night I registered, I just kept laughing to myself. Just one more reason for my husband to think I'm a little off my rocker. I think I look forward to the conference so much it just made me happy to sign up and get the money sent off.

• Finished a book today that had to be the worst book I've ever read. No I won't tell you the name, but I learned a lot about pacing and story development through this great example of what not to do. I couldn't help rewriting the book in my head as I read it. Sometimes reading something that bad helps me look at my own writing through different eyes. Hopefully I can catch any similar mistakes in my own work and clean them up before submitting.

I really should get to bed. Morning comes early and I'm never ready for it, even when I do get to sleep on time. Maybe I'll dream up a brilliant blog post to make up for the above randomness. Or at least enough material to finish the post I began yesterday. One can always hope, right?

A New Year and a New Start

2009 wasn't a great blogging year for me. As I think back, maybe it's because not much seemed to happen and the things that did happen kept me from the computer. I seem to take on more and more projects and I wonder how I get anything done. Anyway, I'm not looking back right now, this is all about looking forward. There are so many things on my plate and the biggest challenge is going to be scheduling everything.

1. Community Service: There are some new jobs I need to learn. I'm a member of the Cultural Arts Society in town and only barely managed to avoid the position of president at our last annual general meeting. I ended up as vice-president. It was made quite clear that they are grooming me to take over. Hopefully that is several years away. I am also on the public library board and at our last meeting they asked me to take on the role of secretary as our old secretary is retiring. I tried to beg out of that one, but no one else would step forward, and the job needs to be done. Sometimes I want to walk away from both of these, but they've had so few volunteers in the last few years, and both are important to me and to the community. I guess I'm in for the long haul.

2. My family is also expecting more homemade bread and other goodies, thanks to the Bosch mixer that Santa brought. It is a huge step up from the old -fashioned egg beater I had been using. I made a couple loaves of whole wheat bread yesterday and couldn't believe how fast and easy it was. I'm excited to try new recipes and add all the fancy grains I love. I'm tired of paying so much at the store for a high fibre loaf of good bread.

3. I also signed up for Weight Watchers online a few months ago. It's been going really well (although Christmas really got me). I plan on hitting it hard this year and I can't wait to see the results. Already, I'm wearing a skirt I haven't been able to wear in two years.

4. Education: I took a huge leap and signed up for university. My husband and I have been having a lot of conversations about the future and my lack of education keeps bothering me. We finally decided going back to school is the right thing. I'll be doing most of it through distance education, which will give me the freedom to stay home with the family and take as few or as many courses as I can handle at one time. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but now that I am actually looking at course manuals, I wonder if I have enough brain cells left to make it work.

5. Writing: I'm still working on the edits to my novel and hope to get it resubmitted very soon. The revisions are lengthy, but I can see how they are going to make the story better. I'm looking forward to the LDStorymakers conference in April and will likely be bringing a bunch of writing friends this time. This past year I started a critique group that has been valuable and a lot of fun. We kept things pretty casual, but with a rather large donation of funds, we had to go more official, so the group elected me Chairperson of the Southern Alberta Writer's Workshop. Should be another interesting learning experience.

6. And last but not least is family. Despite all the other things going on in my life, I need to spend more time with my family. I keep thinking about my oldest daughter and how she only has a year and a half before she heads off to university. It seems like it is coming too fast and I have to spend every moment with her that I can. Then I look at the other two and realize they aren't far behind. Every moment is precious. I'm especially grateful for my long-suffering husband who takes the pieces of me that are left and never complains. He needs more time too.

So with all that I am juggling, I don't know if this blog will be any more active. I'm not setting any concrete goals here. I'll just be here when I can and hope you will all continue to drop by once in a while.

Happy New Year!

Never a Dull Moment

This spring began with an exciting and inspirational trip to the LDStorymakers conference in Utah. I've gone three years now and I'm already looking forward to the next one. It can never come fast enough.

Then there was highland dancing. It started out with competition in May, where my daughter won the aggregate trophy for her competition level. Then there were two recitals. I love highland dancing and I'm looking forward to the Highland games in August where she'll compete. Bagpipes rock!

I also spent time helping my daughter with her first date. It's a sad commentary on our society when a girl's first date has to be one she plans. It was the Sadie Hawkins dance and she asked one of her best guy friends. This is his answer on the road in front of our house. This work of art took him about an hour after the sun went down. She was pretty impressed. I worked with her to plan a barbecue for her, her friends, and their dates. It was a great evening and they all had a great time.
Then we had soccer season. I think I only missed one of my son's games. Soccer definitely gets more exciting as the kids get older. Gone are the days when they sat in a corner of the field picking dandelions. Now they really get out there and work. Makes for an entertaining evening.
The ballet program was a new thing for us. There was a small recital last year, but this year was a full production in a real theatre. I was informed the dressing rooms even had lights around the mirrors. I'm not that knowledgeable about ballet, but I love how the lessons have made my daughter more graceful and aware of how she moves. The important thing is that she loves it, which is good. I can't imagine having to drag her to all the extra practices and photo sessions if she hated it.

My oldest daughter got a job in the city, which means I drive her in when she has to work until she gets her driver's licence. I hope that happens soon, but until then, I spend more time on the road than I used to. I'm going to start hanging out at the library or my MIL's house and do some writing while I wait for her shift to end.

Now I'm busy working on 22 costumes for a pioneer trek my kids are going on. The stake is planning several small vignettes the kids will stop to watch as they are on the trail. I have a work meeting planned for Thursday night, so hopefully we can get the majority of them finished then. After that, I have to sew pioneer clothing for my daughter to wear on the trek.

And then there is still the class reunion. Don't even ask how that is going. Everyone seems excited to come, but aren't really available to help. We all keep so busy these days, no one has a spare minute anywhere. Somehow it all comes together in the end. If anyone has any great ideas for reunion entertainment or games, I'd love to hear them.

So that has been the last few months at my house. I haven't done much writing, although I did finish editing a manuscript and submitted it, and I'm almost ready to submit a second one to a different publishing house. I've also done a lot of thinking about my newest character (a lot of plotting can be done while watching a soccer game). I think I've almost got her story figured out, now I just have to figure out where it begins. Once I get the time to actually do some real writing, the story will just flow. I can't wait.

Only one more week...

My writing persona has been put aside for a few days as I try to get caught up on some sewing. The jobs aren't too bad. I took on three prom dresses but I'm just doing alterations. The work is going quickly and I hope to get them finished as much as possible before the end of the week. Even though my fingers are holding a needle and thread instead of typing, my brain is thinking ahead to the LDStorymakers conference.

I can't believe I'm leaving for Utah next week. It's always seemed so far away, and now I'm looking at just a few days to prepare everything so I can go. There is the job of picking just the right section of my book for bootcamp. I want to get the most out of the session so I hope to pick the section that needs the most help, though I'm not sure which part that is yet.

Then there is the pitch session. Having never done one before, I'm at a bit of a loss how to prepare for it. I received some excellent advice from a friend, and it's helping, but I'm still a little nervous about it. I just keep reminding myself that it will be a good experience and I have an opportunity to ask an editor a few questions and share my excitement about my current project.

To top it off, I get to travel to Utah with my aunt and once there, I get to meet up with many writer friends I've made over the last few years. The hardest part is leaving my family behind for a week. Yesterday my son admitted that he will miss me when I'm gone. Good to hear. I do believe if I leave once in awhile, they'll appreciate me that much more when I get back, and every mother needs a little appreciation once in awhile.

I just plan on enjoying every moment. Before I know it, this conference will be just a distant memory and I'll be looking ahead to the next one.

LDStorymakers Conference and Whitney 2009

The registration for the LDStorymakers conference opened up in December. It's a great writer's conference and one I try not to miss. I remember the first time I attended, feeling a little like an imposter - a writer wanna be. Being one of those classic introverts who doesn't handle crowds well I worried about whether I would even get anything out of the conference since I knew my tendency to fade into the woodwork and observe rather than take part. But I wanted to reach my dreams bad enough so I swallowed the fears and went - although I did have to talk my sister-in-law into coming with me for moral support.

That first conference I attended was amazing. I've never felt more at home in a crowd of strangers than I did in that room full of people who understood the way I think. They understood the feeling of having a character wake you up in the night just so their story could be told. They understood the frustration of trying to decide which book to write next. They understood the absolute drive to put pen to paper and rewrite until the words flow in exactly the right way.

Since then I've looked forward to the conference every year. I've met incredible people, received encouragement and advice from authors I admire, and discovered many I call friends. Really I just went to learn a little more about how to be better at what I do, but the benefits that came on the side have changed my life. So if you're a writer and haven't attended the LDStorymakers conference, I encourage you to go. I'll be getting my registration in this week.

Last year the experience became even more incredible as they added the Whitney Awards Gala to the two day conference. It was amazing to attend the first ever awards and see wonderful LDS writers being honoured by their peers. As much as I enjoyed the Whitney Gala last year and would love to go this year, I've decided not to purchase a ticket, in the interest of saving money, since the drive from Canada to Utah eats up a large portion of my budget, and money's tight this time around. But I'll be watching online that night to finally hear who the winners are.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting impatiently for the finalists for the 2008 Whitney Awards to be announced. I know those responsible for putting the list together are hard at work and will announce the titles as soon as possible. Even though the finalists for the 2008 year aren't out yet, there are already a few books to add to the list for the 2009 awards. I love keeping a list here as it helps me keep up with what's new and I love trying to read as many as I can. So once again, I'm planning on keeping a list of books eligible for the 2009 awards.

I do have one question for you. Which type of list do you prefer - alphabetical by author, or alphabetical by title? I'm also asking for the names and authors of any books you know of, written by an LDS author and published in 2009 that need to be placed on the list.