Everything I learned about writing I learned at Storymakers.

Well okay almost everything. There've been a few books and a smattering of other conferences. But for the most part it is true.

I've gone to the last 6 conferences and come away with so much information my brain has done some sort of gelatin thing for at least a week after as it processed all the awesomeness into information I could use. I've learned writing, editing, synopsis, querying, plotting, and networking to name a few. I've come home and revised rewritten or just plain started writing and basked in the glow of what is the Storymakers conference.

But that isn't the best part.

I am a LDStorymakers success story. Yeah I know they don't have anything fancy or a list of those of us who are, but I am all the same.

Two years ago I sat at dinner Friday night with Some friends and Amy Orton who is the PR/designer of Walnut Springs. during the conversation I asked her if they'd be interested in a story I had been shoping. She said it sounded like something they'd want to see so I sent it off within days of the conference. I also pitched a middle grade non fiction to them at the publishing meet and greet and was told to send that one in too.

Skip to today I am eagerly awaiting the release of my technical suspense next month and the middle grade in the spring.

I wouldn't be where I am without Storymakers.

Conference thoughts

I wish i could tell you what is going through my mind right now. the conference was so awesome and in someways it was felt and can't be written down.

If you are a writer and are near SLC in the spring you NEED to be here. I learned so much from every class.

One thing I learned from David Farland was that he takes a walk with his sweetheart every day and talks to her about his ideas and stuff. How cool is that? He also says its important to get daily exercise so his body works right and he can write.

I learned from Julie Coulter Belon how important setting is to the story. That is a place where i seriously lack skills. I need to work on setting.

I am also going to keep in contact with my friends this time i let them just fade away last year. not this time. It's my friends that buoy me up and cheer me on and keep me going. I love them a ton.

Just thought you'd like to know.

I'm so excited!

I am so excited! I am officially registered for the LDStorymakers Writers Conference and have sent my chapters in for the contest. I look forward to this conference every year and after my brain stops burning (about 12 hours) I am looking forward to the next one. If you are a writer and live within traveling hours of Salt Lake This is the conference to go to.
Not only are there great classes but I get to hang with my writer friends.

Go visit the website HERE.

If you've registered and want to win some awesome prizes go HERE

It's all in the head. . .

I went to the LDStorymakers conference this year.

It was a complete blast.

The classes were awesome. The friends were beyond awesome. The food, once I convinced them that I really am allergic to tomatoes, was awesome too. I was able to talk to people I admire and chat with people who I think are so cool and didn't feel like an idiot.

I want to thank Tristi Pinkston, Jaime Theeler and Crystal Liechty for all their hard work in putting the conference together. For all the teachers that worked for hours on thier classes. For the people in AI who also worked many hours to get people excited and involved. Also to Julie Coulter Belon for managing the First Chapter Contest and somehow handling over 190 entries.

I didnt win anything in the contest although I did win a CD from Covenant (door prize). But this year that's okay. I didnt expect to win this year I had much more realistic expectations and entered the contest with the sole intention of getting those crits. Although winning the laptop would have been nice.

I'm glad I took that approach, this conference was so much more enjoyable. Silly me don't know why I was so wrapped up in the contest last year. Maybe since I won the LTUE contest in 08 I was too full of myself. Letting it get to my head. I know, bad me.

Anyway, this year was a blast, I had alot of fun and got alot of books signed and got a coveted copy of "Mr. Monster" (the sequel of I am Not a Serial Killer) by Dan Wells. Next year I don't even think I am entering the contest. Most of the crits for all four chapters I entered were all saying the same thing anyway. I know where my strengths and weaknesses are and I am working on it.

Regardless I had a great time and it was certainly inspiring for me. Thanks Guys!

Untill it shines. . .

One thing that some writers need to learn is that when in the revision and editing process there is a point where if you do any more revisions,your going to lose your voice. Or that editing it over and over is actually destroying the story.

In my opinion, you can only cut out so many words and add so many things and change the sentences around so many times before it all starts to sound like drivel.

For example I have sent a few of my first chapters out for critiques for the LDStorymaker Writers Conference First Chapter Contest. One of the stories was wordy and I spent some time revising those sentences so they read better.

The origional sentence read:

I could tell that my avoidance of the subject was garnering me unwanted attention from the man who held my existence in his hands.

I revised the sentence to read:

I could tell I was garnering unwanted attention from the man who held my existence in his hands.

See, less wordy and reads better, While still getting the message across. However I could have been tempted to revise the sentence again to look like this:

I was getting unwanted attention from him.

Sure it's cleaned up and nice and precise, but I have lost my voice by cutting it too much. There is a point in which we need to turn off the internal editor and close the notebook or word program. Is that story perfect? I don't believe it is, but at least it still has voice.

There's a time where we have done everything we can to a MS and it's time to put it away and start sending it out into the world. Time to let your MS stand on it's own two legs and be what it was meant to be.

While a shiny new car is nice to drive, the older car you have driven for years, has character.

I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells

When I saw this book at the LDStorymakers conference this April I had to get it. I mean I write assassins they're like serial killers right? In fact the discussion about this book while we were in line to purchase the book was the one that got me a MS request. (thanks Dan) I met Dan Wells as we were stading in that line and I got the book signed too. (#17!)

But I am getting off track. That's not what I am writing this blog about. I opened this book and by the third page was deeply drawn in the world of John Cleaver. Once in the book I could only put it down when my eyes refused to stay open any longer.

The book is about a fifteen year old sociopath named John Wayne Cleaver. His mother and aunt run the local mortuary which is a bad thing for a boy who is obsessed with serial killers. the story takes a severe plot hike when a serial killer begins to stalk John's home town.

The book isn't available in the United States yet, but it is in England. You can get it here and here.

The book is amazing for a first novel, completely amazing. Go on, you know you want to get it.