One Day You'll Thank Me

LTUE, Life the Universe and Everything, writing convention was very exciting for me. Writing conventions have always been to expensive for me to even consider, however this one, put on at BYU, was very affordable and worth much more than the meager $25 they wanted to charge me for my visit.

After three full days of excellent panels and lecture I came away with a much better understanding of writing and a whole composition pad of notes to review. I have to admit, that I'll probably forget more than I'll remember about what was presented at LTUE.
One great experience, and bit funny for me was the Key Note address.
James Dashner, guest of honor, presented his Key Note on the third day of the event in February of 2011. I personally loved it's title: "The most boring Keynote Ever!" For which it was anything but boring.

Having attended the previous three hours of panel discussions in the same room I had managed to secure a seat right up front. Which for a fellow with long legs is extremely desirable.

Just before the key note one of the LTUE staff (and I believe she may have been a panelist as well) visited with me. She asked about the seat next to me. At the time there weren't a lot of other participants there so I placed my coat, bag and things on the seat next to me a few hours earlier. Realizing it was there and taking up a seat as the auditorium was filling I apologized and removed them and happily stated, yes, these two seats next to me are open.
The kind woman paused for a moment longer than expected. Not being the sharpest stick in the bunch I hadn't yet realized from the glowing pink badge around her neck that she was one of the LTUE members and was probably asking, without saying it, for me to move.
I later discovered the poor girl was trying to place some VIP's up front, and that I wasn't one of those. ;-)
Turns out she was trying to place Bree Despain and Brodi Ashton. Not being as savvy as I am now I recognized Bree because the day before she was on a panel that I attend and I managed to get a photo with her then.

So this kind woman brought the fine ladies to their seats and as she left she patted my knee and said, "One day you'll thank me for sitting you next to Brodi Ashton."

I said hi to Bree, and spoke briefly with Brodi who sat directly to my left. At the time all she said was that we was a writer (aren't we all, so I didn't press the point with questions) and she asked about myself. I told her in short about my current project and the keynote began.

As it ended I asked her again about her book (Everneath), but saw that they had paces to go so I excused my self, but I did learn that it is based on the Greek myth of Persephone. My memory fades from there, but link here to find out more about it. It comes out winter of 2012.



Thank you mystery lady!
p.s. I've got an idea who you were but didn't want to embarrass my self any further by getting it wrong.

Paths On Hold

I never explained this, but around mid-October, 2010, I decided to put my first novel (series) attempt 'Path Of The Immortals' on hold. I received some great advice that I was way to close to the story to write it. You know the reason, I'd been dying to write it my whole life, but didn't until now and now I'm not just good enough to do it justice so I risk quiting or spending years on one novel. I decided to start Nanowrimo with a new novel in November. So my first novel became, 'Lightning Child'. It was something that I could write, even if badly, and I wouldn't offend myself when I wrote it badly.

I've since moved on to my second novel which is nearly complete, 'Speaker of the Winds'. It's really great, a bit challenging and has some risky decisions. The kind that I hope I don't offend your sensibilities with, but it's just a fun emotional journey.

I'll be wrapping this up in a week or so, putting it aside and working on Lightning Child's first few rounds of edits, so that I can get it out to my Alpha readers. A.K.A. My loving wife and a few friends who dared me.

I've commit ed to write 4 novels this year. That's one written and edited every quarter. (I'm just beginning to grasp just how crazy that is. Oh well, I'm new I can get away with it.)

I'll pick up Paths later probably next year 2012 mid-year. I need to get some of the green out of my gills first.

Today I updated a few things to the blog. Progress trackers (that's cool!), celebrity photo's, and a new banner.
Here is the old one.



I'd like to shift the branding over to my name, since the blog is about me and my writing journey, not the one book, but I'm afraid of my url changing so I'll research that some more first.

Witch Song and Amber Argyle

Hey crew,
Amber Argyle is a local author who I met recently at LTUE (writers conference held at BYU in Provo, Ut yearly).
Her debut novel 'Witch Song' will come out soon. I suggest you check it out. It's available for pre-order and that would be cool for you to support her this early.
She was real lucky and had a publisher who realizes that you need awesome cover art, and she got it. (Linked here to full cover art.)

You can check it out here on Goodreads.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10400575-witch-song

I remember seeing her card around a lot and she's been active in the communities. She has her head on straight. So if she writes as well as she promotes you'll be in for a treat.
Give her a visit, pre-order or just check out some of her cool give aways.
Check them out here.
http://www.amberargyle.blogspot.com/

One million words

It is said that the beginning writer needs to develop his skills. The rule of thumb for most writers will be one million words. So on average 5 complete novels will be written before a writer will achieve the developed skills and quality of writing to produce their first published work.
Well then... I guess I best get writing.

Dedicated time

The good thing is that I have been able to dedicate 2 hours every evening monday through thursday and then what ever else I can manage in other days. Sadly it's still in the evenings at my least inspired and productive and most tired. But it is time. That is a plus.

I have found a very cool organization writing software that is completely free. Y writer. I've started using it and it is awesome. I'm starting with it and I'm still in the organizing outlining mode but I have hope and excitement for my progress.

So there I am. I hope to report back with more content later. Maybe sooner than two and a half months good luck writing!