Pink Think: “I believe strongly in writing groups such as Romance Writers Of America that offer support, information and networking.” – Nora Roberts
Spent this past weekend with fellow authors at the LDStorymakers Conference in Provo, Utah. Some of the highlights for me:
1. I met blogging friends, and they are as nice in person as they are in blogland! (I’m not even going to attempt to mention who, as I am sure I will miss someone, but suffice to say, blogging rocks!)
2. Learned from and hung out with lots of cool authors (I actually know authors of books which my kids love – how cool is that!). I also got to hang out with my critique partner Alauna who came to conference for the first time.
Photo: (back) James Dashner, J. Scott Savage, Robison Wells (front) Alauna and me
3. Ate gelato (Italian ice cream) and had wonderful conversation with a huge group of writers Friday night (Fun idea, Kristi!). It’s interesting what your brain comes up with on three hours of sleep.
Photo (l-r): Janette Rallison, Kristi Stevens, Matthew Buckley, me, Eric Swedin
4. I was washing my hands at the restroom sink and turned to the person to my left, thinking she looked familiar. I asked her if she was Aprilynne Pike (an author I admire and have blogged about here) and she said yes. She was there for the Whitney Awards and I was on my way out. She asked me, “Are you Pink Ink?” It was a bizarrely exciting moment in my blogging career.
Photo: me and Aprilynne Pike. What you don’t see in photo that she had in her purse -the UK edition of her book Wings.
5. My writer’s group friend Karen won the grand prize in the First Chapter Contest. I’ve read this chapter and it IS amazing. Go Karen!
6. Got great feedback on my first chapter. So now I am rewriting it into a stronger and more suspenseful opening.
7. Was talking to a teenager and she said she would read fantasy over historical. I said jokingly, “Too bad there aren’t dragons in Philippine mythology.” But later, thinking this over, I thought, why not…?
So now I have a story idea for a fantasy set in the Philippines (well not necessarily about dragons) and I am very excited with its possibilities. I can’t wait to tackle it after I finish edits on my historical novel. Recently, I wondered if I would be running out of story ideas any time soon, and I realized I haven’t! Which was such a relief.
All in all a fabulous weekend!
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