What I learned during my hiatus

Greetings everyone!


It’s been a few weeks since my last post. I apologize for my absence, although I’m sure you haven’t missed me a bit! A lot has happened since my last blog post. We went camping, I attended WIFYR and met a ton of great new writing friends, I continued training for my ½ marathon and my dad had a bit of an accident.

Allow me to catch you up.


Top 10 Things I learned during my Hiatus


10. Sleeping bags shrink. Okay, maybe they don’t shrink in the I-Washed-It-In-Hot-Water kind of shrink. More of a Hey-I’ve-Gotten-Fatter-Since-We-Did-This-Last kind of way.


9. Quitting Diet Pepsi hasn’t helped me lose any weight but I’m holding strong. I will be reunited with the Dark Mother in T-Minus 9 Days. I’m still struggling to drop some poundage before the race next Saturday. But, according to my husband, “You may not have lost any weight—but at least your legs don’t look like they are choking in your pants.”


8. Running 11 miles along the beautiful Snake River doesn’t make running 11 miles any easier. You just smell worse because you can’t shower afterwards when you’re camping.


7. Dogs are a lot more fun outside—on account of there’s no carpet to chew.


6. 72-year old men should not be climbing 20-ft ladders to prune trees with chainsaws. I’m just saying.


5. Get a good job and be very grateful for health insurance—because one day you might need it in a big, big way.


4. My first novel is dead, I’m afraid. I received my 8th rejection, which I’m okay with. But I realized the story is so flawed that I either need to start over or put it in a drawer. I’m opting for the drawer. I’m going to give my new manuscript a chance to get finished.


3. I don’t know the first thing about writing, and yet, I know a little more than I thought.


2. The main character in my new novel has no motivation and the world I built didn’t make any sense and needs to be revamped. Easy-Peasy. Right? #pullshair


1. WIFYR is still the best week of my year. I love meeting writers and learning more about the craft.


Here’s hoping everyone has a wonderful weekend. I will be spending mine learning how to be a farmer. Don’t be jealous! I’ll send pictures.

Ode to the Dark Mother

This week I read LOVE AND LEFTOVERS by Sarah Tregay.

It was a great book comprised entirely of poems. I loved everything about it so I started thinking, as I usually do when I read someone elses great works, "Hey, maybe I could do that!?"

Have I mentioned I am delusional?

In order to write an entire novel of poetry, I figured I should start small.

But what to write about?

They say to write what you know.

But what if you don't know anything?

And then it hit me. Diet Pepsi! I have gone 72 very loooooong hours without my Dark Aspartame Mother in an effort to train for my half marathon so its been on my mind lately.

So, without further ado...

Ode to the Dark Mother:
Oh Dark Mother, how do I love you?
In ways I cannot count with fingers of five.
You served me well, like morning dew,
You kept me going, you kept my soul alive.
Though others have tempted, my love for you is true.
Alas, I have foresaken you to be a running-whore,
But do not doubt-
The days will run out-
And You and I will be reunited once more.


What say you? Do you think I have a shot at writing a Novel In Verse?

Maybe not.

On the WIFYR front, I received my pages for the conference. I have 173 pages to critique by next Monday. It's a good thing I am going to Canada again next week so I will have time in the evenings to work on them.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! See you Tuesday!

Dives and Diners of Lehi

We moved to Lehi about 6 months ago. We are only 20 miles from our old house but we may as well be half way around the world.

Nothing is the same around here. And I mean nothing. Sure, there is an Olive Garden but the bathrooms are on the left of the lobby instead of the right and their booths are green instead of brown. Its all very disorienting. It makes me homesick.

So, being a three-day weekend we decided to have a "Stay-cation" and visit a few new restraunts we have seen around town. We tried 3 places and all three were colossal disappointments. Our Dine Around Lehi felt a little something like this...

Delicious, right? I only wish I were joking.

Anyway, despite the bad food and ambiance we had a great time with our family.

I spent some time writing my synopsis and working on my 15 pages for the upcoming WIFYR Conference. My synopsis looks and feels a little like this...

But at least I got some words on the page and that is half the battle. Synopsis are hard. You have to give a summary of your entire book in 1 to 3 pages. Which wouldn't be that hard if you had already written the book and knew how it ended. But trying to work out the entire book in your head and write an interesting summary can be hard. But I managed.

Now...for the revisions! Revision is a glorious thing. Nothing is ever beyond fixing. There is always a chance to delete, improve and embellish. I only wish life were that forgiving!