The Book Academy-Writer's Conference!

Thursday, September 24, Utah Valley University is hosting a Writer's conference, only better! Not only is this for writers, it's also for readers and book clubs!

Keynote speakers will be Brandon Sanderson (Author of the Mistborn series) and Maria Covey Cole (a frequent speaker BYU Education Week). Workshops for beginning writers, advanced writers, and readers/clubs will be taught by several names you may be familiar with - Jeff Savage, Tristi Pinkston, and more!

My husband actually brought this to my attention with an order that I was NOT allowed to miss it (he's awesome, ain't he?) I'm thrilled, and can't wait!

For more details, click here to be taken to the UVU Book Academy page!

Hope to see you there!

A Mormon Joke and a Free Book Contest!

One fine Sunday morning, a man woke up. His wife was getting ready for church, but he just sat on the end of the bed.

"Aren't you going to get ready?" his wife asked.

"I don't think I'll go today," he said, shaking his head.

"Why on earth not?"

"I don't really feel like it," he said.

"But you need to go to church," his wife answered.

"I don't want to go today," the man said. "I'm tired of wearing the same old suit. I'm not in the mood to sing. Besides, I go every week, and it doesn't do any good. I'm still not perfect. Everybody else is much better than I am. I don't think the people there like me very much, anyway."

"But, honey," his wife said, "You're the Bishop!"

I'm 100% sure we've all had days like that - and not just about church, about everything. Especially writing - being that most people that read this blog are writers.

I've spent my fair share of time in that spot. As a matter of fact, I'm in and out of it almost daily. Some days it's worse than others. Some days I can shake it off, other days it shakes me.

So what do you do in a case like that?

Hey, that's the words to a song:

"So what do you do in a case like that?
What can you do but stomp on your hat,
Or on your mother,
Or on your toothpaste,
Or anything else that's helpless?"

Okay, now THAT's obscure! I'll bet ten to one that nobody knows that song but me! If anyone CAN name that song, I'll be completely shocked! And impressed.

As a matter of fact, just because I feel the need to do something completely fun and random - the first person that correctly identifies the name of that song in the comments of this post will win a FREE copy of The Complete Novel Plotting Workbook! (to be mailed Aug 1st)

(If nobody gets it - I'll post another hint later. But I'm gonna make you work for it!)

BIG RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT!

I am so excited to finally announce

MY FIRST:

NEW RELEASE COMING AUGUST 1ST, 2009!

THE COMPLETE NOVEL PLOTTING WORKBOOK!

There may not be a magic formula for plotting your novel, but
THE COMPLETE NOVEL PLOTTING WORKBOOK
comes pretty darn close!

You supply the ideas, the characters, and the Workbook gives you a unique and great way to organize them!

A great tool designed for writers, by writers!

For more details, a look at some of the pages, and to preorder your copy (or copies!) CLICK HERE or visit:

http://weston-elliott.yolasite.com/tcnpworkbook.php

The CNPW will be on virtual blog tour the first week of August. Links to those reviews will be posted next week!

Greatest News Ever!

Yesterday, as we geared up to go to the George Strait concert (yes, it was fabulous!) I got a call from my husband. He and Buddy took the car in to the shop to get some work done on it, and left me home to sleep in (which was also fabulous!).

"Are you sitting down?" he asked.

"No." He didn't sound upset, so I wasn't too worried.

"Sit down right now," he told me.I sat down to humor him, and expected a punchline.

"Okay, I'm sitting."

"I just got off the phone with the attorney's office." My heart sank. "She signed the papers this morning."

"What??""That woman signed the papers this morning! Mr. H just got out of court and told his assistant to call me and let me know."

- there was no punchline!Excuse me a moment while I scream...

SHE SIGNED THE RELINQUISHMENT PAPERS!!!!!WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

The court date on August 4th has just gone from an evidentiary hearing to a request for finalization on our adoption! Buddy is free and clear to be adopted

-AND OURS FOREVER!!!!!

Thank you to all those who have prayed and hoped for this with us over the past year. Our prayers have been answered!

An Answer, Simple and Direct

Someone asked me a question about a previous post, and it dawned on me that everyone who reads this doesn't already know everything about me - so I figured I'd answer it for anyone else that may be wondering.

I suffer from Panic Disorder. I have since I was a itty bitty kid. Someday I'll write a book about it, so that I can help others who may not know that they aren't the only ones going through something like this.

It's not fun - but there are medications that treat it. I went for a long time without anything to help me deal with it. There are several different treatments, and prescription Zoloft works best for me. I do take an occasional Xanax when things get really bad - but those tend to be addictive, so I only take them as a last resort. The Zoloft was the medication that I mentioned in the previous post that puts a big dent in my imagination. It's a lousy side effect, but better than life without it by a long shot, trust me.

I struggled for a long time with the concept of being "mentally ill" - those words have such a horrid connotation to them. I am not psycho, I do not talk to myself - and generally when I'm in the middle of a raging panic attack, no one around me will ever know it.

In April, I left the LDStorymakers conference halfway through Saturday. I missed a couple of workshops that I really wanted to attend (by the way, Mr. J. Scott Savage, if you read this - I'd love the notes from your Character Bible workshop!). I try very hard not to let the disorder rule my life, but there are times I have to cut and run for my own well-being.

So now you know - probably much more than you ever wanted to about this lady. But please, my lovely readers - never worry about asking me questions about myself (it's my favorite subject, by far!) If I don't feel like answering, I'll tell you so - but more than likely, I'll be happy to!

Coming Soon!!!

More details coming next week!

I can't type it twice...

so to see today's big news, you'll have to swing over to my other blog!

www.wendsdayschild.blogspot.com

Networked to Death

Okay, I'm all for getting my name out there, brand recognition and all that, but seriously...

I actually heard on the radio news the other day that a man went jogging and ended up in the hospital with a fairly serious concussion - because he was "Twittering" from his cell phone while he ran, and ran his own forehead into a low-hanging tree branch.

Come on, now... There are perks to being connected, but aren't we getting a little excessive?

It made me think of Wall-E, when the two guys were talking to each other over the computer screen, while they were within two feet of each other.

Is human physical contact in danger of completely disappearing, all while we are tied so tightly together with this silken thread we call networking that we can't get away for even 15 minutes to go jogging?

Heaven help us all.

TradeMarked

Wendword is now a TradeMark - and I've got a logo to go with it. It all feels terribly official - for whatever that's worth. *grin!*

So here's my new, official Wendword TradeMarked Logo!

Whaddaya think?