Last week I attended BYU's Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Workshop. Wow, what a week. I'm still reeling from all that I learned, just trying to make room in my brain for the overflow. I commented to my friend Shari at one point that I felt like my brain was dribbling out my ears. There just wasn't anymore room to hold it all in.

For those who haven't attended before, let me tell you how it works. Most days the actual workshop goes from 8:30 to 12:30 where the group of 14 or 15 people sit with a published author and learn how to write by tearing each others manuscripts apart. After that we break for an hour for lunch, then come back for a half hour meet and greet with the authors where we can ask them questions and listen to their responses. From 2:00 to 3:00 we would listen to author readings and have a guest speaker, usually an agent or editor. From 3:00 to 5:00 or 5:30 (I forget already) we'd attend classes presented by the various authors.

I loved listening to the authors in the afternoon, but there wasn't much that was new for me there. I've been going to conferences for several years now and you can only hear so much about plot and voice before it gets repetitious. You can approach it new ways, yes, and they were great presentations, but I've heard it before.

For me, the most beneficial part of each day was the actual brutality of the workshop in the mornings. I spent my time with Brandon Sanderson's group and there was not a person in there who couldn't be published. I was astounded with the quality of writing that was presented each and every day, some of the best being written brand new while attending the conference. It's not that anybody was mean, really they weren't. Nearly everyone was very professional with their comments, both the positive and the negative. It's just that seeing your baby torn to pieces before you is never a pleasant experience--but it is a valuable one. I not only learned where my weaknesses were, but I saw where weak writing in general could be improved. I learned to see it all much more objectively than I ever have before, and I used that knowledge to write one of the best darn pieces of urban fiction I've ever vomited onto a page. Granted, it's a rough draft, but my rough draft after this class was better than a third or fourth draft in the past. It was a pheneomenal experience.

Brandon has a way of making everything interesting, even if he does talk too fast for me to take proper notes. He is engaging, entertaining, and extremely knowledgeable. It was a pleasure to be in his class. I've heard from him before at the LDStorymakers and LTUE conferences--have even communicated with him via e-mail before his first book (Elantris) came out--but this was the first time I've spent extensive time learning from him. The man has a brain I can only dream of having. He holds so much information in there, I don't know how he does it. I used to remember things really well, but . . . *sigh* oh well. I digress.

This is a workshop I will go to again and again and would highly recommend to anyone contemplating attending something to further their writing. I've never learned so much in such a short period of time and it was well worth the money spent.

Hey, maybe I'll see you there next year.

Quote of the Day: "Ink and paper are sometimes passionate lovers, oftentimes brother and sister, and occasionally mortal enemies."

~Emme Woodhull-Bäche

Book Review: Forged in the Refiner's Fire

I first met Candace Salima at the LDStorymakers conference in 2006 during early morning writer's boot camp and immediately felt a connection with her, despite her staunch disapproval of writing in first person. Candace has charisma and a strong personality that is tempered with a kind and giving heart, and thus it came as no surprise to me to discover the kinds of stories that combine to create Forged in the Refiner's Fire.

I didn't actually purchase the book for myself. It was a Christmas gift for my mother who tearfully placed it in my hands when she was done, insistent that I read it as soon as I could. With her testimonial shining in her eyes, I dug in and relished each and every story. This isn't the kind of book I could race through. It required savoring, one chapter at a time, letting the memories and thoughts linger in my mind long after I was done, much like the smoothness of european chocolate that should be allowed to melt and flow across the tongue. I could no more snarf down that chocolate than I could read this book in a day. It may sound trite, but this was one of those rare books that changed me. It changed my perspective and gave me an understanding of the learning and growth that come from our trials and helped me to look to the lesson rather than the pain when I must endure the agony of trial. It made me think, and what greater purpose can the written word truly have?

If you're looking for a recommendation, I couldn't give one much better. Forged in the Refiner's Fire is beyond worthy. It is well written and full of heart and faith, the kind that changes the hearts of those who read.

Tristi Pinkston's Blog Tour

Well, after nearly a month long vacation from blogland, I'm pleased to return in time to greet author Tristi Pinkston as she tours the virtual world.

I've spent the past two days reading Season of Sacrifice, and I must say, I am very impressed. I'm sure most of you have figured by now that I'm a bit of a fantasy girl. Okay, that's an understatement--I am a huge fantasy fan to that point that it is what I read almost exclusively. I throw in a few mysteries and most recently LDS fiction, but I would have to say that probably 9/10ths of my books fit into the speculative fiction category. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised with how enjoyable history can be.

Besides the obvious differences between history and fantasy (real world happenings verses anything the mind can conjure), the biggest obstacle for me to overcome was time. No, not finding time to read, but the fact that most fantasy takes place over a period of days or weeks and occasionally a year, but history takes years, all within the scope of one book. Once I passed that obstacle, the book was a fabulous read.

Season of Sacrifice is the story of Tristi's own ancestors. Here's the description from her site:

"Sarah Williams is a young Welsh immigrant, coming to Utah to join her sister Mary Ann Perkins. When the Perkins are asked to join the San Juan mission to pioneer a trail through Southern Utah, they take Sarah along to help care for the children. But a six-week journey turns into six agonizing months of hard work and toil as the Saints blast their way through a cliff to bring their wagons through what would become the famous Utah landmark "Hole in the Rock."

"Finally settled in the San Juan, Sarah's true hardship begins when Ben Perkins asks her to be his second wife. With their faith and testimonies challenged to the core, both Sarah and Mary Ann struggle to find the true meaning of Christ-like love and obedience. Will they make it through?"

The story is full of hazardous journeys, personal challenges ,and faith-testing experiences. It also deals with the issue of polygamy in a very believable manner, one that helped me to understand perhaps how challenging it might have been for the early saints.

My favorite scene is that of a story shared by one of the men going through the hole in the rock. He had been helping the families to ferry their wagons across the river all day and his family and wagon had been forgotten. After going back up the hill and seeing there was no one left to help him, he was furious, but his wife said it would be okay. She sat the three year old down with the baby in his lap and their older child facing them and told them not to move until they came back. They weren't sure they would survive the trip down with nobody at the top to hold the wagon back. The wife took the rope and tried to hold back the wagon but was quickly thrown under the wagon and dragged all the way down the hill until the wagon hit a boulder, jumped over it and threw the wife back to her feet. They arrived safely at the bottom with only a gash in the wife's leg to show the trauma she'd experienced. When they got back to the top to collect the children, the young ones said they had waited there with God the whole time. It was a powerful testament to me of how He watches over us, even in our most challenging moments, and can truly make the impossible possible.

If you haven't had the opportunity to read Season of Sacrifice yet, I would encourage you to do so. If you have a heart in your chest, it will be touched. Tristi is my favorite kind of writer: she has an amazing way of letting you climb into the shoes of her characters for a moment and live their lives along with them. I laughed, I cried, I got goosebumps galore, and couldn't put the book down, especially during the last half of the story.

I asked Tristi, "If you could send your readers away with one thing from this book, what would it be?" Her answer was this: "I would like the reader to come away from the book feeling that God can and will reach into their lives and make all things possible for them, just like He did for these pioneers, and that if we will turn our will over to Him, He will send more blessings our way than we ever thought possible."

What more can be said than that? Congratulations on your new book, Tristi. It is fabulous!

Quote of the Day: "When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing."

~Enrique Jardiel Poncela

Scary Good News

After my win at the LDStorymakers Confererence last month, my winning chapter was requested for review and as of yesterday they want to see the rest of the book. There's only one problem.

It's not written.

I am ecstatic they want to see it and feeling a bit overwhelmed at the idea of writing a book as quickly as I want to. At least I can honestly say the first draft is my favorite to write. Editing is the hard part for me, as I'm sure I've mentioned on several occasions. I'll continue to post my progress here in the hopes of holding myself accountable to somebody. I don't want to lose an opportunity to laziness!

So, to help myself along this journey, I've made a list of ten things that have helped me in the past. I needed the reminder to kick start this insane book writing I am about to attempt. I thought I'd share my list with all of you in the hopes that maybe it can be of use to someone other than myself.

1-Go walking every day, out in nature or just around the block. Take the time and get in tune with your creative self.

2-Write your author/morning pages (3 pages of freehand stream-of-conscious writing) and let all the garbage flow onto the page.

3-Do something to fill your creative well each and every day.

4-Remember who the true author is and be sure to check in with Him and ask for advice daily.

5-The spiritual well needs to be filled as often as the creative one.

6-Remember that life does not revolve around writing-writing is about life-and thus you need to remember to live it!

7- Coordinate with family on your needs and let them help you to succeed. Talk to them about what you are doing and where you are at and they might help you move past fears, blocks, and speed bumps. (I'm blessed to have such a supportive family)

8-Have faith. The Lord put you on this path for a purpose. Believe He will help you succeed.

9-Write with a purpose. Make goals and follow through. Use a timer and don't stop until it dings. Remember, B.I.C.F.O.K.T.A.M. (Butt In Chair, Fingers On Keyboard Typing Away Madly).

10-Feed your artist self with love and she will shower you with inspiration. Starve her with criticism and she will wilt and prick. In other words, keep the inner dialogue positive. Love yourself. Love what you write.

Quote of the day: "Ink on paper is as beautiful to me as flowers on the mountains; God composes, why shouldn't we?"

~Audra Foveo-Alba

Spring Dragon

Last Saturday I went to a luncheon / party with the Beautiful Bodacious Babbling Blogging Babes, which was basically a potluck lunch combined with an Urban Botanic fragrance party. Holy cow, am I hooked! I've been hearing about Urban Botanic for about a year, but had no idea how wonderful it would be. Not only was the food great and the company wonderful, but immersing myself in scent and creating a fragrance that said something about me was very . . . empowering.

Now, something you should know about me-I am not a party person by any stretch of the imagination. I don't like crowds, and hate feeling pressured to buy anything, so I usually avoid "sales" parties at all costs. This was different. Not only was I surrounded by a small group of people who quickly became friends, but there was no pressure. It was more of a "Here, let's play chemist with all this yummy smelling stuff and see if we can make it smell even better." It worked. I created a scent that I just can't get enough of. Seriously-I spray perfume on before I go to bed! I'm constantly saying "do you like this?" to anyone who will hold still long enough to sniff. This stuff smells amazing!

If you're not familiar with Urban Botanic, check out their website, and if you get the chance to go to or host a party, do it. You won't regret it. It's like playing in a perfume factory, only better-no headache from overwhelming smells. I started by sniffing each of the 66 different oils to see what appealed to me. I loved a lot of them, but there were a few that just made me melt. I ended up with a fruity/leafy/herby mix I call "Spring Dragon".

I guess I'd better schedule my own party soon, because at the rate I'm going I'll be out of perfume in no time! I'm going to wear out my nose with all the sniffing. Thank you, Karlene, for your hospitality and the chance to finally check out Urban Botanic. You've got another loyal customer!

Quote of the Day: What no wife (or husband!) of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he's staring out of the window.

~Burton Rascoe

The Power of Encouragement

Yesterday I found myself getting discouraged with my inability to find direction in my book. I felt like a failure and began to question this whole quest to write. What if I couldn't do it? What if I'd written all I was going to write? Whatif it wasn't any good? It was bringing me down big time, so I took a break and checked my e-mail.

There, I found a beautiful message from a dear friend who had just read my winning chapter from the LDStorymakers contest. She said: "Finally read your winning chapter -- What a hoot! I loved it! Loved the grandpa especially, and how you make the story come alive with details. I am right there as Claire and the fairy interact. You've got me checking my cursor and all. Great job and Good Luck with the story!"

I hope she doesn't mind me sharing this, because it made a huge difference in my attitude yesterday. Suddenly I wasn't worried anymore. I was rejoicing. I said to myself, "well, if Jewel thinks I can write, then maybe I really can!" Recognizing the power in this thought, I began to collect as many of the positive things I could find that had been said about my writing. I pulled them from blog comments, e-mail, and even comments authors wrote in the front of their books when they autographed them for me. I ended up with about thirty bits of encouragement from a wide variety of individuals I have met at LTUE, LDStorymakers conferences, Authors Incognito, and the blogosphere.

As I looked at all these beautiful cheerleading words, I decided it wasn't enough to just collect them in one place--these words needed to be somewhere I could see them daily, hourly if needed. This was my cheering section when no one was around, and so I created . . . The Wall of Champions. It is filled with comments like "HA! I told you you were great!" and "I was very impressed with your writing at the conference and the judges obviously were too. Believe in yourself, because we all believe in you!"

The one comment that makes me laugh every time I read it comes from another dear friend. "I read it. LOVED IT!! and I hate you. Call me." The comment that reminds me writing is something I'm supposed to do, says, "We need your gift of writing in our lives. The world needs your stories. Only you can write them." And the comment that humbles me to the very earth says simply "You are my hero."

All of these individuals have empowered me, supported and lifted me when I couldn't pull myself forward anymore. Knowing they believe in me, even when I couldn't believe in myself, has made me sit down one more time, write one more word, try one more time-and they do it time after time after time.

So, thank you, my friends. Thank you for the encouragement and the pick-me-up. Thank you for caring enough to leave a comment or send a note. Thank you for believing in me when I forgot to believe in myself. Thank you for lifting me up and helping me to write again -and the next time you leave an encouraging comment on somebody's blog, know that it's not dropping into cyberspace. Those comments are very meaningful and you just never know when some small thing you say might just make a difference.


Quote of the Day: "The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say."

~Anaïs Nin

Tag again

Gaynelle tagged me for a qurky little meme. The rules are:



1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


I'm usually pretty good at posting random things about me, but rarely do I post the weird ones, so I thought I'd take that and run with it today. It shouldn't be hard to come up with 7 off-the-wall things about me, because frankly, I'm an oddball. I'm okay with that though. I have learned to embrace my weirdness.


1-I like to sing songs in what I call "The Bobby Voice". It's high, squeaky, sounds a bit like Mr. Bill, and makes the kids laugh quicker than anything. I once had a roommate who was talking to someone on the phone and unbeknownst to me left it off the hook while she went to the restroom. Being by myself, I began to sing "Jingle bells" in a rather loud Bobby voice. My friend came back in the room after a bit, looking at me rather strangely, and when she picked up the phone the guy on the other end was laughing his head off. Needless to say, I was a little embarrassed. I usually hide my weirdness better than that.

2-While we are on the Bobby Voice concept, my husband and I used to converse as Bobby and Yoda. It was pretty hilarious.

3-On a particulary strange day in high school and with the intent of cheering up a friend, I began to search the garbage cans for my missing brain. I'd open it up, lean inside and say, "Here brainy, brainy!" It worked in part. She laughed the rest of the day, though I never did find my brain.

4-I love miracle whip, especially on broccoli, cauliflower, or spinach. Seriously. Once, when I was a kid, Mom sent me to Grandma's to borrow some miracle whip for dinner. I'd eaten it all by the time I got home and had to go back for more. Yes, I ate it plain. Who needs veggies when you've got the sauce???

5-I love to find better ways to do things, especially if they save me from overexertion. About ten years ago, my husband and I were moving from the third floor of an apartment complex. We lived in the middle of the building and the parking lot could be seen from our back patio. Rather than go down three flights of stairs and all the way around the building while carrying heavy boxes full of books and videos-A LOT of books and videos-I invented a little pully system that consisted of a rope strung from the balcony to the parking lot. I took a laundry basket, strung it up with ropes from each corner, and put a clasp on the end. I'd pop a box in the laundry basket, shove it over the balcony and lower it down the slide-rope with a line in my hand. It worked GREAT. Clothes were the most fun though. Just grab a bundle, tie the hangers to together and let them fly down the line. My sister-in-law insists I should have been engineer, but that's not nearly as much fun as writing.

6-I'm a collector. I can't help myself. If I have the first book in a series, I have to have them all. I can't own two and read the rest from the library. I just can't! Needless to say, I now own over 1,200 books, 600 CD's, and 700 plus DVD's and Videos. Eeek, even I am cringing at reading that. But, hey, we share with the neighbors, so that's got to count for something, doesn't it? They call us the Hoover family library/video store. What's the point in having if you can't share?

7-Sometimes my characters become so alive that I have a hard time drawing the line between the imaginary and real world. Once my family and I got in the car to go somewhere and I turned around in a panic and said "Where's JJ?" Everybody looked at me like I was crazy and my youngest son said, "Mom, who's JJ?" That's when I realized he was fictional. A little scary, I know. It makes me feel like Sandra Bullock in "Premonition". Sometimes you wonder which world is the real one. You never know . . . .


So, now you've entered the strange world of Karen Hoover. As for who to tag next? Well, I'm tempted to pick on my writing group because they are easy targets, :p but since not all of them have blogs, I can only pick on the ones who do. Shanna, Wendy, Michelle, and Paulette-you're up! And as for the rest, how about Emily, Melinda, and Julie.

Have fun, guys!

Quote of the Day: "And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt."

~Sylvia Plath