LDS Storymakers Annual Writer's Conference

This past weekend I attended this writer's conference. It was so worth the money. I learned a lot. I learned so much that I've decided that I need to totally rewrite my novel I had planned to send in June 1st. Now, I'm not sure when I'll be sending it in. Soon I hope.

Frustrations!

So I've been wanting to work on my novel in progress The MASH Boys, but whenever I go to sit down to work on it I feel like it is total crap. I work so hard to come up with funny scenes or even heart touching scenes, but when I read through what I wrote I feel like it is moving too slow. I want to do a story time with a couple of my friends so I can get their feedback on my story, but whenever I try to set up a time to have story time they have something else going on. So, that is what I've been feeling frustrated over lately. But since I've been pretty much stuck on my MASH Boys story I've actually been able to start a whole new novel, which I don't have a title for, and I'm loving it. So I'm actually trying to work on two novels at the same time.

My new class

Last week I started a class through the continuing education program through the Granite School District called Granite Peaks. The class I'm taking now is called "Stop Thinking and Start Writing". I am so loving this class. I just got back from from second week of class and would like to share the peice I wrote that my teacher and fellow class attenders enjoyed.

That Distant Night

The sound of the distant thunder shuddered down my spine as I watched the fog roll in over the hills through my bedroom window. Shaken with fear from the thunderous noise Gussie, my dog, snuggled up to me for comfort. As I held her in my arms petting her in hopes to calm her down, I thought about the distant night when my life change dramatically…

I could hear him in the other room preparing what should’ve been an excellent meal of spicy tacos. I could smell the spice of the taco meat from where I sat by the fire in the front room and couldn’t wait for him to tell me dinner was done.

I continued to sit there by the fire waiting for dinner and thought about the perfect day I had spent with him. The day started nice and hot, an unusual for our fall like season. We walked barefoot on the hot sidewalk surrounding our home soaking in the heat. After a while we decided to take the advantage of the nice day to go up into the canyons for a nice long hike. We ended up at the waterfall where we walked down to the bottom to stand behind on the rocks. We shared a kiss standing underneath the waterfall and were cherishing the moment that we shared.

When the sun started to descend, we made our way back home feeling the air chill drastically.

Brought out of my reverie of our day adventure, I walked away from the fire to look out the window. My eyes popped open with surprise as I watched snowflakes gently fall to the ground.
Excited for the first snowfall of the year I ran into the kitchen to pull him outside with me. I grabbed the towel he was holding and tossed it to the side. He hollered in excitement as we danced around letting the snow fall around us. I saw a large snowflake land on his nose and decided to kiss the flake away which brought about my first taste of snowflakes that year.

We lost all sense of time as we absorbed the warmth our bodies brought to each other out in the snow touched air. Later my nose started sniffing the air as it detected the smell of smoke. I quickly turned to look at the house and saw the house filled with smoke and flames. My heart clenched with fear as I thought about my most precious possession sleeping at the moment in the nursery. I screamed at the top of my lungs running towards the front door to go retrieve my baby, but I was stopped from behind by my husband who in turn ran to fetch the baby.

Surrounding neighbors started to gather around to watch my home rapidly get destroyed by fire. I held my breath waiting for my loved ones to emerge from the fiery wrath. I heard the sound of sirens approaching from a distant as I realized my life had changed forever.

I really hope you enjoyed it!

I did it!

I actually wrote a novel in one and a half months! I owe all that to Kelli and Myelle, who I work with, for all the support and encouragement they gave me concerning my writing. Thank you gals! Maybe one day you'll be able to see your name on my acknowledgement page of that book sitting on a bookshelf at Seagull Book!