So it is late and my last post got erased so I will be brief. I went to the first session of the LDS Storymakers Conference today and it was fabulous! First of all, I got the day off work (pretty much the best thing ever…). Then I was able to attend lectures all day on writing (and pretty much when you are discussing writing, you are discussing life).
The day started out with a lecture on pacing in writing, then my favorite was on romantic literature, then we had lunch and I was able to meet up with my Aunt Chris and Cousin Elizabeth King.
They are both avid writers and have written multiple books over the years. The amount of material Elizabeth generates is amazing. She completed Nanowrimo while taking a full load at BYU. Impressive. It was a fun treat to spend time with family and nice to know someone at the conference.
Next I went to a lecture on grammar, revision and proofreading. It was a little dry but included a lot of good material. Next up was a lecture on writing memoirs which I found interesting as I recently have been poking at a true memoir version of the events I have penned in my novel.
My notes on the lectures can be found here:
Lecture notes on writing romance In that lecture I loved the quote ““Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others and the delight in that recognition” Alexander Smith
At 4 we had the treat of hearing from the keynote speaker novelist Anne Perry and I loved her words. She spoke about how are greatest gift we can give the future is by writing the stories in our hearts. I loved it. One of my favorite quotes of the day was when Perry said:
‘Each of us leads one life but if we read well we can empathize with many stories’. What is reading well? Ponder on that a sec. I believe it is not settling for mediocrity in life or in reading. I have argued tooth and nail with people that feel ‘any reading is good reading’ and I don’t agree. There is reading well and reading’. I believe it is the responsibility of all adults to encourage ‘reading well’ to our students and friends. Do not just be satisfied with the bare bones. Clearly to Anne Perry it is too important. In fact, reading and writing are what distinguish man from the animals.
https://smilingldsgirl.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/anne-perry.mp3
Finally we went to a mass book signing and I bought a bunch of cool new books (figured I had to if I was going to a writing conference)
Seems like a pretty good day to me! I’m looking forward to tomorrow! Happy writing
Now I am exhausted and off to bed! More fun to come tomorrow. I feel inspired to work more diligently on my book.
Rachel's Musings 