Draft 3 Edits

Writing update - I'm working on draft three additions and edits for another project I'm working on. I've also wrapped up a personal story for an anthology on miscarriages.  I still haven't forgotten about the Nedaran book. In fact, with all the things I'm learning as I study several writers videos on YouTube and reading Save the Cat I'm coming up with some ideas that I think will greatly improve on my regular story.  I'm thinking that I might be one of those writers that ends up having several things published at once, but a few years down the road.  Oh well, I will never give up. It is way too much fun being a writer.

Revitalizing Your Writing

I've been currently working on a new series, giving the Nedaran Prophecy a break to allow the juices to gel on a few problems we need to work out.  I finished the second draft of the first book a month a so ago and sent it out to my beta-readers. When I first got their reviews I had mixed feelings. I was grateful for new ideas, areas for improvement, and questions I had answered. But life got in the way and emotions made it hard for me to face the revisions that I needed to make.


So what do you do when you get like that? When you can't face working on your story, even when the story wants to break out and runaway with you.  Thanks to prodding from awesome critique partners, I did give in and took time to runaway with my story (sort of).  I went to the LDStorymakers conference this weekend. I made sure all of the classes that I took focused on writing instead of selling my story. I took classes on how to improve your sagging middle, the power of outlining, your author voice, and much more, from absolutely incredible presenters. 


Getting to spend time with like-minded crazy author people was just what I needed. Now I have motivation, ideas, and goals again. So if you ever find yourself struggling with your writing, I recommend giving yourself permission to runaway with your story -- straight to a writer's retreat or writer's conference. It might just be the medicine you need.

Life and Writing

Sometimes life just gets in the way and it becomes hard for a writer to write. When I moved to Utah almost 6 years ago I had one two month old daughter. Now I have a daughter and two sons and a mortgage. My incredible awesome husband who was laid off one month after we found out we were pregnant with our last child, then had to go through job hunting and temp jobs for a year and a half before being hired on permanently where he is now. We then learned that two of our children have special needs. Then I had back surgery, and and and and.

There were some moments that I wrote a lot during that time. There were others that I couldn't stand that the thought of creating a story. Luckily I have an amazing best friend, and two incredible writing groups that I'm apart of. I've also had three essays on motherhood, being a step mom, and marriage that have been published or are in the process of being published. I've also started a whole other series set in modern day Washington State that have periodically gotten the creative juices flowing.

This weekend I was able to go to LTUE (Life, The Universe, and Everything)Symposium held at the Provo Marriott. I could only go for one day, but that one day got me thinking of some intriguing ways to improve the Nedaran Prophecy story. For the first time in over a year I'm starting to get excited again. I finally know what was bothering me about the story, and how we can make it much stronger.

Now, if I could just get life to cooperate so that I can sit down and have dedicated writing time again, that would be awesome.

For any other writer out there. Don't give up. Have patience. And keep dreaming.