Ldstorymaker conference and other cool stuff.

Last week I attended one day of the Storymaker conference that was held in SLC. It's always good. I always tell people that it's for anyone who wants to improve their writing, not just LDS--though it's mostly geared to fiction. Ever since I joined the storymakers about 8 years ago, I've helped in some capacity with the conference. This year I got to help authors or potential authors pitch to a publisher. I knocked on the door and kept things moving for an hour with the fabulous Lisa Mangum of Desert Book. Lisa is one of those people that puts people at ease and believe me it can be scary to pitch your idea in less than ten minutes--I've done it and know the heart-pounding anxiety it produces, but Lisa couldn't be more genuine. So I'd stand out the door and try to get the potentials ready by pitching to me first and giving encouragement. I got to meet some awesome people. It was fun and who knows maybe next year I'll dare do it myself. Here's some pics from the conference.

This is me with some other authors Ronda Gibbs Hinrichsen and Joan Soward.

This is me next to my editor Linda Mullineaux. She's as nice as she is lovely. And another author who I just met in person but knew online for a while Joyce Dipastina.

These last four pictures are of the winners of my novels at the conference. I like that three of the four winners are men and that at least one is another published author. I like it because some mistakenly believe writing and reading are a feminine activity.

Last but not least. I recently became aware of an author who has some exciting things going on. Check out this article in the Deseret News.http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705370789/Local-author-debuts-new-interactive-kids-books.html 
Karl Beckstrand served an LDS mission to Chile and that's where my son served too. Like Karl, my son has continued to use his language. My son is teaching his own children Spanish. They are being raised bi-lingual. Beckstrand's books sound really fun to me. Here's his site if you want to know more about his fun interactive books. http://gozobooks.com/  He's also got a booksigning coming up. It's Wed. June 15, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Sunflower Market: 656 E. 200 South, SLC, UT, USA. Good luck Karl.