Notes from League of Utah Writer's Conference

If you missed the League of Utah Conference held this past week, you really missed out!

There I am sitting next to my husband on the far left...
We had yummy food that I didn't have to cook!

Good news is that I took some notes on the classes I attended. Here are are few of my favorite insights:

1. You can fix anything but a blank page (Johnny Worthen).

2. Readers of middle grade books are much more loyal than any other age group (Peggy Eddleman).

3. For a picture book an author must have:

a. a compelling idea
b. know his/her audience
c. have the right cover for the book. If adults as well as children will be interested in reading the book, your illustration must reflect that

You must know the answers to the following questions:

d. is you book for girls? Boys? Both?
e. what age group?
f. is your book about education or fun?
g. is it fiction or non-fiction?

(Fay Klingler)

For Cheree Alsop's class we talked about using the 5 senses in writing. Here is a write-up I did for taste:

"His leathery face took me back to years ago when farm work encouraged sweat, and the taste of salt wetted my dry lips."

Here's the one I did for touch:

"The old spaghetti drew its slimy tentacles around the food container, part of it, sticky and unnaturally green. There was a time I'd leave those disgusting things in there--refrigerated--but still passing the mold around.

But not today. Today was a day of cleaning and renewal, of garbage cans dumped and disposals powered up."

For school presentations: Take photos at your presentation. Tell the kids if they come to your website they'll see pictures of themselves (Lehua Parker).