Here is a brief photo recounting of the trip. I really should have taken more pictures, but I chose to just enjoy everything instead of worrying about photo documenting. Now I'm wishing I'd thought that through a bit better.
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On the flight to Utah from Arkansas, via LA. I worked on my pitch, started a short story for next week's genre wars blogfest on UB, outlined a bit on my next YA story, and enjoyed the view.
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This was the "upgrade" from the economy car I rented. My 11 year old was jealous that I got to drive this around for several days. I told him it was just to and from point A to point B, but he didn't care. I quite enjoyed it by the end, but it didn't have great pick up and go--and parking it was quite different from my van.
The Friday night keynote speaker was Orson Scott Card. There was a lot of talk on how his speech wasn't what most of the attendees expected. It was pretty close to what I knew about him and maybe that's why I was able to enjoy it. Sometime soon I'll give a recap of the highlights for you.
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And yes, I really was as tired as I look in this picture. LOL
This was the book signing event at the end of the day on Saturday. Next year I'm going to participate. Maybe. Eh, I've got a year to think about it, right? I enjoyed getting the books I bought signed this year as well as the general excitement of the room.
I ran into lots of my online friends, and for some reason or other I just didn't think of taking pictures. Sorry! Michael here was a new friend that Tamara and I met at dinner Friday night. He managed to roll with our off the wall joking and even gave in to eat Tamara's rice when his meal still hadn't shown up by the time we were almost done eating. Bless his sweet wife for letting him come to the conference while they were in the middle of the second move in 8 months--and she had a new baby less than 8 months old!
The last thing I did Saturday was go to dinner with my buddy Tamara Hart Heiner. She lives in Arkansas and I see her weekly, but it's always nice to hang out with her. We checked out a local restaurant with live music and a salsa bar. It was SOOO good!
By the end of the conference I was more than ready to come home. And in spite of the random moments when I wanted to toss all my manuscripts and start over, I feel like I'm ready to dig in again and become that writer I want to be.
Come back Wednesday for the pitch recap.
Have you ever been to a writer's conference? What was your favorite part?
Someone asked me that and I honestly can't say. I loved all of it! The people, the classes, being me and not mom, everything.
Glad you had a good time! What did Card talk about then?
ReplyDeleteI just found a great write up of the talk. For the most part I agree with everything mentioned. I too chose to be entertained and gleaned many of the same "gems" from the rambling talk. It's interesting that many people chose to be offended. Sad really. Here's the link:
Deletehttp://mormonmommywriters.blogspot.com/2014/05/that-keynote-address.html
We have a whole shelf of OSC books in our house, though it wasn't prior to the Ender's Game movie I'd heard of some of his controversial viewpoints. I think it's mainly political stuff and I honestly don't know a ton about it. It can be tough when you like an author's work but not their beliefs behind it.
DeleteI think a lot of people felt their personal beliefs were being challenged and didn't like that. Personally, that's not what I think OSC was trying to do. He was just trying to say that our writing isn't tied to our religious beliefs. I believe my desire to write (and hopefully what little gift I might have) are from God, but I know He is way to busy to feed me a story line by line. LOL.
DeleteHere is another link to a great keynote address recap--Lucinda Whitney
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a good time. This was your Christmas present or something like that, right?
ReplyDeleteYep! Probably one of the best Christmas presents to date. :)
DeleteAwesome! Sounds like a great conference. Glad you had time to "be yourself" and come away rejuvenated and ready to write! Can't wait to hear how the pitch went.... :)
ReplyDeleteYou definitely had a great time at the conference Charity. Photos or no Charity I'm glad you learned new things and had fun.
ReplyDeleteI've only been to one, and it was the second one of it's type for Self-Published authors over here.
ReplyDeleteIt was a great day and my Moleskine was severely put to the test.
You enjoyed your day, and that is what counts in the end. Get that next story out of your system.
I'm so jealous! I want to do a conference! Glad you had an awesome time. :)
ReplyDeleteI had no idea there was an LDStorymakers conference. Sounds like fun. So many Mormon writers together could get a bit crazy ;)
ReplyDeleteFun recap- thanks for sharing!