This Years Book Conference

Recently, I had a fantastic time at the UVU book academy in Orem Utah.  This is the second year that I’ve been able to attend. And just like last year, it was awesome. Simply the best thing about the conference is the fantastic staff that teaches, instructs, allowing for participation, and excites the writers who attend. 

This year, Dan Wells who was the keynote speaker.  His books are right up my alley – because his themes match my day job at the prison. He did a great job of talking about finding writing ideas from our daily lives.

The classes were equally as good. Mainly because in most cases, it was a hands-on experience. (Exactly what I need) We talked or thought about things that could actively pertain to our writing. Whether it was plot formats, query letters, or editing. 

I was especially fond of a class on creating mystery and intrigue.  It really broke down some of the things that are needed to sustain a mystery. Since this is my latest writing adventure, I really found this class to be helpful.

The class that I need most was – Query letter. Its funny, I took the same class last year and got five times more out of it this year.  I hadn’t yet finished my first draft last year. At the time, it was my first introduction to the query letter.  Since then, I’ve written four, all for my first fantasy ms.  This time, I could move along with them and inspect my query letter. It really helped me to look at it differently.

Writing conferences are always a chance to mix words with other writing talents and especially learn about some exciting changes and success of writing friends and twitter friends.  It was a great time – now I need to put into place what I learn.  Well….back to writing the query letter!!!