I got to spend some time with my husband in the children which we rarely seem to be able to do these days. Then I went back to the LDStorymakers conference for a while. I enjoyed meeting up again with Ilene, a great woman I met yesterday and I think is going to be a friend to me in the future. We're going to get a critique group going, so if you're interested and you live in the Salt Lake Valley, let us know! (We would really like to find Elana who we met in line and 'felt right' to both Ilene and I. So if you know Elana - who placed with a first chapter, yay! - tell her we're looking for her!)
I also got to meet Stephanie Humphreys today! I also wanted to meet Christine from AI and Shanna - my good IF (internet friend) - but no luck. Stephanie is just as pretty in person as the beautiful sketch on her blog depicts.
Because I was sitting with Stephanie a wonderful, and not accidental, thing happened. I got to sit with other Canadians, among them was Rob Ficiur. Rob says he lived in Foremost when Stephanie told him that my hubby was from there. Rob then says that he needs to call 'this man' and shows me a note on which he has written "Joe Cross" and a phone number. I said, "That's my husband's dad!"
Rob then proceeded to tell me a little (it was hard to talk) about his experience with Joe and what a blessing Joe was to him and his family. He offered to email me with some excerpts from the book he is currently writing in which Joe is featured. He also gave me a copy of his book "Trouble in Palmyra"
I have actually had an interest in this book in the past when it on the shelves and now, having a glimpse into the heart of this man, I am very excited to read it. I think my boys will love it too.
OK, great news! I entered my first chapter of The Devil's Daughter into the conference's contest and guess what?
I embarrassed myself when I whooped out loud when I heard I had won. Oh well, what can I say? I was excited and happy! Yay for me! But goodness, I have GOT to have my name changed legally because I'm so sick of having an alias! For some dumb reason (I thought I should) I entered the contest under my real name, Sandra, so no one knew who I was! Argh! Anyway, I'm super dee duperty excited to have won. Obviously.
OK, a few more things ... We had a little easter egg hunt for the boys tonight and that was sweet and fun. We were able to hide the eggs in much more challenging places this time which made it more fun for all of us. Then David took us out for dinner to celebrate my 'big win', lol, to Texas Roadhouse (our favorite place). While there, I was telling about the things I learned and the ideas I had while listening to James Dashner and Jeff Savage teach on strengthening your story. Together, all four of us kicked around ideas and holy cow you guys my Jump Boys story is going to TOTALLY ROCK now! It was okay-ish before (some who've read it might say not so much) but now? Watch out!! It's going to kick butt. With the ideas of my family - and can I say how awesome it was to play the "what if?" game with my seven year old boys? way fun - I've found a way to make not only my current antagonist a lot stronger but to add a really bad bad guy into the mix and how to create an almost insurmountable challenge for the boys thereby jacking up the tension and suspense by oh, about 100 %!
Now ... to put into practice the things I learned from Rachel Ann Nunes about finding time to write ...
OK, a few more things ... We had a little easter egg hunt for the boys tonight and that was sweet and fun. We were able to hide the eggs in much more challenging places this time which made it more fun for all of us. Then David took us out for dinner to celebrate my 'big win', lol, to Texas Roadhouse (our favorite place). While there, I was telling about the things I learned and the ideas I had while listening to James Dashner and Jeff Savage teach on strengthening your story. Together, all four of us kicked around ideas and holy cow you guys my Jump Boys story is going to TOTALLY ROCK now! It was okay-ish before (some who've read it might say not so much) but now? Watch out!! It's going to kick butt. With the ideas of my family - and can I say how awesome it was to play the "what if?" game with my seven year old boys? way fun - I've found a way to make not only my current antagonist a lot stronger but to add a really bad bad guy into the mix and how to create an almost insurmountable challenge for the boys thereby jacking up the tension and suspense by oh, about 100 %!
Now ... to put into practice the things I learned from Rachel Ann Nunes about finding time to write ...
