It's April 15th, tax day! This is what it looked like out the truck window this evening. Snow! We've had several days of snow/sleet/rain. Typical spring weather. I need to get back into blogging. Since I wrote my last blog post, I've finished the rough draft of my book and I've started writing the sequel. My friends at iwritenetwork.com have kept me motivated. I've recently joined an online critique group, so I'll finally get some feedback. Fun stuff!

Writing Tip #2
I've learned a lot since joining twitter. One writing tip that has helped me is called the pomodoro technique for time management. It's very simple. Set the kitchen timer for 25 minutes and write. When the dinger dings, set the timer for 5 minutes and do something different. Get out of the chair, put clothes in the washer, whatever. But after 5 minutes, get back to writing for another 25 minutes. It works! I've been able to stay on task for 25 minutes at a time and progress through the first edit of my WIP. This technique will work for anything you have to do. The 5 minute break makes all the difference. Here's a picture of my son with his horse, Sparky, taken last August in our back pasture. It has nothing to do with writing, but I like it. :-)  

Writing Tip #1

I've learned so much by reading other writers' blogs. Now it's my turn to post writing tips. My first tip has to do with my favorite writing tool: my Alphasmart. It's so convenient to use. I take it everywhere. One of my favorite places to write is in bed at night. I type with my eyes closed and ideas flow. When I'm writing a scene and need inspiration to write dialogue, I just grab the Alphasmart and get to work. The trick seems to be that I can't see more than four lines of type at one time so I'm not distracted by the whole page. I can't copy and paste--so I just write. Later, I download the file to my computer and edit what I've written. If you don't have an Alphasmart you could try typing with the monitor turned off or wear a cap pulled down over your eyes. Your fingers won't get lost on the keyboard because there are little bumps on the "j" and "f" keys. Try it for fun.

January 13, 2010

I finished the rough draft of my story for the LDS Publisher's contest. What a hoot! I never thought I'd write a story that takes place in a Book of Mormon setting. I enjoyed the challenge. My story has almost 6,000 words--I was having too much fun. I'll have to trim it down to 5,000. Here's Dave snowboarding on the slope behind our pasture last weekend.

January 13, 2010

I've come up with names for the characters in my Book of Mormon short story. They'll do for now. I can always change them later if I need to. :-) So I'm off and running with the first scene. This was the rosey sunrise this morning taken from my front porch.

I took this picture of the horses this morning. It was a foggy, frosty day in the Bear Lake Valley. I'm excited about the Book of Mormon short story contest on the LDS Publisher's blog. I already have a main character, a setting and a plot. Creating appropriate fictional names has been a challenge--and names are very important in defining character. I've never tried to write a story that takes place in a Book of Mormon setting. It makes studying the scriptures fun.

It's Thanksgiving and I have so much to be thankful for--including Stolen Christmas. My short story, "Christmas Joy Ride" is included in this anthology of LDS short stories. It's available at Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Christmas-Other-Stories-Season/dp/1931858160/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259034406&sr=8-12

What happens when you're so poor you have to steal your Christmas presents? Have you ever taken a punch in the face as your Christmas gift to the girl you love? Or saved Christmas while hunting were-weevils? These award-winning Christmas stories are the best of the best from the LDS Publisher Christmas Story Contests. From Christmases past, to present, to future; from sweet and inspirational, to zany and delightful-there's a story for everyone in this eclectic collection. Seventeen stories to celebrate the season, from Sarah M. Eden, Tristi Pinkston, Joyce DiPastena, Christine Thackeray, Don Carey, and more. Including me!

Escape from Hell

Crows perched like winged demons on the thatched rooftops. Rats scurried through the gutter and hordes of flies swarmed on the filth. It was the summer of 1665, the year of the Black Death, and London Towne reeked with the stink of rotting corpses. Panicked Londoners fled the city like ants from a flooded nest. James Moore, a cobbler by trade, fumbled with the harness as he hitched the shaggy pony to his two-wheel cart.
Lord, forgive me, he prayed. James blamed himself for waiting too long. Now the plague had reached his parish. Every night more bodies were abandoned in the street for the death cart to haul away. It was said that a man might eat a hearty breakfast at dawn, sneeze at noon and be dead before dark.
James heard sobs and glanced over his shoulder. The narrow lane was empty except for his neighbor, a tavern keeper. The man stood over the blackened, swollen body of his wife. He held a club to guard against the crows and the brigands who roamed the streets, stealing from the corpses. Like James, he’d been reluctant to leave his shop.
Now it was too late.
“Lord, have mercy,” James muttered, pulling his tunic up over his nose.
At that moment his Bess Moore appeared at the door, her arms full of linens and bedding. "Come, girls and be quick about it." She led a parade of four golden-haired little girls, each carrying a sack of their belongings.
"Get back,” James shouted and his fear exploded in anger. "What're you thinking, Wife?"
Bess shooed the little ones back inside and returned alone with the bedding. James stowed it on the cart. “Be brave, Bess,” he said, when he saw her tears. She cupped her hand over her nose and hurried back into the shop.
He had loaded a chest of his cobbler's tools and was securing it with a rope when Bess came out of the shop once again. This time she carried the wooden cradle. “There’s not room,” he said, knotting the rope.
“Such a stubborn man I married.” Bess set the cradle down at his feet. “There’s room for your things, not mine?”
“I have need of these tools.”
"I need this cradle too," she said, her arms folded across her chest.
James turned to his wife. "What are you telling me, Bess?"
"Your son will be here before the snow falls." She placed her hand on her stomach. "I felt him kick this morning."
James's face brightened. He loved his daughters, each blessed his heart. He'd given up hope of having a son. "My son?"
Bess grinned. "A boy as stubborn as his father." Then she returned to the shop without another word.
James clawed at the knotted rope, tugging it apart, and set the cradle on top of the load. Thoughts of the baby strengthened his will and flooded his heart with hope.
When he finished securing the load, James glanced at the sky to judge the time. He saw a black cloud billowing above the rooftops. The odor of burning flesh wafted on the breeze. "Wife," he called. "Bring the children now."
Bess and the girls came out of the house. Each held a flower to her nose to cover up the stench. James led the horse; Bess walked beside her husband. The children held hands walking behind their parents. They did not look back.
As they neared the river a strange sight came into view. “Who's that?” Bess asked. She pointed to a group of children, dancing in a circle before a bonfire. Garlic bulbs hung like jewels around their necks.
“The spice trader’s children,” James said. "The man claims garlic will ward off the plague.”
“Will it?” Bess still held the crumpled flower under her nose. “Better than posies?”
He muttered an oath. “I don’t have the money to buy the man’s garlic. He asks a fortune for it.” James saw a familiar cart next to the fire and he quickened his pace. “Turn away, Bess,” he whispered. “Don’t look. Girls, lower your heads. Mind your feet.” He didn’t want them to see the hooded men, dressed in black, throwing corpses into the flames.
As the family trudged past the macabre scene, they heard the spice trader's children sing a merry tune. “Ring a ring o’ roses, a pocketful of posies. Atch chew, Atch chew, we all fall down.”
By nightfall they were outside the city, sleeping in a farmer’s field. James held his wife in his arms. The girls huddled under a quilt nearby. James offered a silent prayer of thanksgiving. With the Lord’s help, James knew all would be well.

It's snowing today! It was sunny (but cool) yesterday when Erica and I explored Maple Canyon. I took lots of pictures of the Fall colors. One maple was so brilliant I called it "the burning bush." Erica and I were the only ones there in the magical forest. About writing: A few weeks ago, LDSPublisher posted a writing prompt on her blog about the plague. It caught my imagination and I liked the challenge.

I won again!

My name was drawn out of the hat at ldspublisher.blogspot.com, and I won a copy of Uncut Diamonds by Karen Jones Gowen. I'm looking forward to reading it!

I won!!!

I'm so thrilled and excited! I entered a Christmas short story in a contest at ldspublisher.blogspot.com and I won the publisher's "unpublished author" choice. My story, "Christmas Joy Ride" is a children's story about a twelve year-old boy who takes his grandfather's golf cart into the desert. Check it out: http://ldspublisher.blogspot.com/2009/08/28-christmas-joy-ride.html

I've been reading other LDS author's blogs--they're great! Very inspiring. I'm going to try to post on my blog regularly. I don't work at the library today, so I'll work on my novel. Fun stuff! And I'll check in later to "report."

Spring is springing!

The snow is melting in the pasture and there's a creek running across the front lawn. Temperatures have gone up. Yesterday it was 60! The weatherman said it's supposed to snow tomorrow though. We'll see. I worked at the library today for five hours. Now I'm sitting at the computer reading writers' blogs. Very interesting. About my own novel--I've printed the first 6 chapters and finally feel like I'm "off and running." Instead of constantly re-writing the beginning and re-creating the characters and their motivations. Each of the six chapters is about 3,000 words. That's 18,000 words so far. The book is going to be too long. Dang! I've already written the next 7 chapters, but I need to tweak them. I'd like to get the first draft completely finished this year. If I can write 3 chapters a month, I'll do it. Wow! I've attached a snowy scene from earlier this month. March is supposed to go out like a lamb. We'll see.

Early Thanksgiving in Rexburg

We have so much to be thankful for! Today Murray and I drove to Rexburg to visit with Brooke, Jon, and Kyla. They'll be going to Arizona for Thanksgiving, so we had an early celebration. We went out to lunch and then shopping at Wal-Mart. It was fun to be together. Brooke will be graduating on December 12th. Wow! Another reason to be thankful. I haven't been writing very much on my blog, naughty me. I'll try to do better.

Kyla's early birthday celebration

Kyla will be one year old on Thursday, October 30th. Brooke, Jon, and Kyla came to visit last weekend and we celebrated her birthday. Kyla's so adorable! She walks everywhere already. We took her to town and she picked out a yellow cake for her party. Brooke and Jon had taught her to blow out a candle when they celebrated Jon's birthday on the 20th--but Kyla just wanted to watch the candle burn. We had so much fun!

A fun weekend

Saturday was warm, sunny and beautiful! I thought it would be fun to drive to Logan and meet Erica there, and it was! I wanted to see the fall colors in the canyons too. Although some of the color has dulled already, there were still plenty of yellow aspen. As we drove through the Cache Valley we saw a truck with a snow plow for sale. Murray and Dave took it for a test drive and decided to buy it. Now we're ready for winter. It was fun shopping with Erica and Dave in the Cache Valley Mall and other stores. Dave wanted to find a cool baseball cap--but no luck. He did buy a motorcycle jacket though. Erica found a beautiful "ball" skirt on sale. It's silver/gray, floor-length and fancy. I hope we'll get together in Logan more often---it's a 90 minute drive for us from Idaho and Erica from Salt Lake.

Full moon tonight

It's beautiful up there, swimming in the clouds. Dave had fun last weekend riding his four-wheeler in eight inches of snow! We had an early snowstorm that was more typical of December, not October.

Happy Columbus Day everyone!

Christopher Columbus discovered the New World on October 12, 1492. As a result, the Bear Lake County library is closed today. I'm celebrating at home by doing laundry and brainstorming ideas for my first and second grade art classes tomorrow. I think they're going to paint pictures of a haunted house. That sounds like fun, doesn't it? I found an art teacher's website chock full of great ideas. She says the children can use instant coffee to paint their pictures. I want to try it--but I'm afraid the coffee will smell strange to the kids. Perhaps I should just use brown poster paint. I hope you're enjoying your Columbus Day wherever you are.

Me again

This has been a slow day at the library. It's cold and windy outside which may explain why more people aren't here. Usually Friday's are busy The computer program failed for a while, which made things "interesting." Thankfully, it's up and running now. Laurie and I are manning the desk. I hope you're having a great day, wherever you are!

First day on the blog

It was cold this morning in Bennington, Idaho. The thermometer said 10 degrees. We were cozy and warm inside, thanks to our new electric heater. It looks like a woodstove complete with flickering flames. Murray and Dave are going to set up our actual-factual woodstove in the back room. There's an old monster back there now--a woodstove that's too big for the room. The weatherman said it's going to snow this weekend. Possibly tonight. Yippeee!