Wow! How'd time get away from me?

It's been awhile since I posted on my blog. I feel like I've been completely out of touch. School, work, writing, critiqueing....It all takes up so much room in this brain, and doesn't leave much room to remember other things like buying toilet paper, or thawing the meat for dinner, or washing the enormous pile of laundry that has taken up residence in the hallway... UGH!

Anyways, I decided to take two months off from school to prepare for the LDStorymakers Conference coming up in a few weeks. I'm looking forward to getting out of town, taking in the clean air of Utah, and shoving every bit of writing information I can into this already overcrowed brain. My mother, and possibly my father will be hitching a ride with me to Utah, and we will get to see some family as well!!!

I'm excited about seeing my grandmother especially! Love ya!

I've got so much to tell her. She'll be so proud of her granddaugher.

So, in preparing for the conference, I bought Larry Brooks new book,"Story Engineering. Mastering the 6 Core Competencies of Successful Writing". I signed up to take his 2-hour master class at the conference, and I'm wanting to be as prepared as I can to get the most from the class. The book is awesome! I was struggling to find my groove as a writer. Too many questions, do I outline?, do I not outline?, can I just write with no end in mind, and figure that out later? The answer according to Larry...NO!

LOL. I'm really enjoying his advice. Learning to recognize all the components needed to write a successful novel is so much fun. I love movies, and I've found that after reading his book (as well as the screenwriting book he recommends) I am breaking down the stories as I watch. This gives me a much deeper appreciation for the method behind creating a great story. It's fun!

I highly recommend reading his book if you're like me and wanting to one day call yourself a "published writer". As for now, I'm taking his advice and trying to really outline and engineer my stories, before I sit down and write the scenes. It really does help.

BOOK SHOUT OUT!
I just finished reading the third book in Dan Wells' series. I HIGHLY recommend this series. I loved them!
Book #1 - I Am Not a Serial Killer, Book #2 - Mr. Monster, Book #3 - I Don't Want to Kill You.

Dan Wells is a master at weaving suspense and keeps you flipping pages until the end.
16 year old John Wayne Cleaver is a sociopath that you find yourself rooting for!

Love Always,
Kris