Ready to Roll

So, it's been a while since I've posted.

I've been an even longer while since I posted anything other than a book review.

It's also been a long time since I've written anything at all.

Until this past weekend. I went to the iWriteNetwork conference in American Fork, and it was awesome.

I even had the Simon Cowell of the writing world say he actually kind of liked my sentence. Woohoo! :o)

He wanted us to write a unique one-sentence description of a lake. Here was mine: "The morning sky paints orange and red streaks on the blank canvas of the water."

I was a little bit terrified as he tore apart almost every other sentence, but he actually kind of liked mine. *phew!*

The thing I loved absolutely most about the conference was that most of the classes were workshop-style. In other words, we learned for a while, and then we PRACTICED. Loved. It.

One of my favorite classes was Karen Hoover's class on poetry. I really need to write poetry more. It's so therapeutic, first of all. But secondly, it does help get me in the mindset of writing prose more beautifully - and powerfully.

Another great take-away was Cindy Hogan's brainstorming technique. She goes walking in the morning (slightly earlier than I'll be going walking, I can tell you that) ;o) and talks into a voice recorder about her story. She doesn't actually /write/, just brainstorms, talks through problems, etc. We tried it out for a few minutes, and I actually really liked it. Got the juices flowing.

Honestly, all the different presentations on brainstorming were great. And I think I know why brainstorming in the shower works so well - not only are you alone, without kids interrupting every thought as it flits through your brain, but there are no electronic devices to distract you from your purpose. I think we don't get enough time to just think. Don't you think? :o)

There were quite a few other things I found very helpful, but those are the ones that really stand out in my mind. I feel energized and ready to jump back into writing. Wish me luck!