Monday, April 11, 2011

Write Here in Ephraim - Highlights of the Conference

I'm sorry I missed posting a Mormon Message yesterday - I thought I had scheduled it in, but I ended up scheduling two for next Sunday and nothing for yesterday. Doh!

But what an awesome weekend!  I had the pleasure of traveling down to Ephraim to spend the day with some of my good friends and fellow authors, and met some great up-and-coming authors while there.  Here are some of the highlights of the day:

* I drove down with Karen Hoover, Abel Keogh, Michael Young, and Cheri Chesley.  What a talented group of fun people.

*We drove through a snowstorm on the way down and a hailstorm on the way back.  And saw a dead deer and a dead cat.  (I promise things got better after that.)

* I arrived home to find that my family was gone and I didn't have a house key.  So Karen, Cheri, and I went out to dinner.  That's pretty good compensation for not being able to go home.

*Angie Lofthouse brought me cookies.

* I got to see Chantelle and Kylie Nay, good friends from my old ward.

* I got to play with Rachelle Christensen's darling baby.

* Clint Johnson ran a really fun game show at the end, which I would have won, if I'd been a contestant, but I wasn't a contestant, so the fact that I knew all the answers but one is just going to go by the wayside.  Sniff ...

* And I got to run the cash register for a little while ... and hopefully didn't mess it up too badly.  It's been a long time since my days on a cash register.

And here are some pictorial highlights (no, I do not have pictures of the dead cat or deer).

Jewel Adams teaching about e-books.

Abel Keogh teaching about memoirs.

Shirley Bahlmann teaching about writing motivation.
With her son Bron Bahlmann on PowerPoint.

Julie Coulter Bellon taught about finding time for our talents. 

Berin Stephens taught writing humor.

Gregg Luke taught about writing suspense.

Joan Sowards taught writing mystery.

Rachelle Christensen taught about blog tours.

Cheri Chesley shared her journey to publication.

Rebecca Talley taught Storytelling 101.

Linda Garner taught picture books and then another class on writing difficult
subjects, such as child abuse, addictions, etc.

Michael Young taught about writing short fiction.

Michael Knudsen taught self-editing.

Karen Hoover taught us how to become idea factories.

Karen Hoover and Heather Justesen, being adorable

And here we are all together, L-R back row: Clint Johnson,
Cory Poulson, Berin Stephens, Cheri Chesley, Michael Young, 
Bron Bahlmann, Jewel Adams, Heather Justesen, Abel Keogh,
Rebecca Talley, Tristi Pinkston
Front row: Linda Garner, Shirley Bahlmann, Joan Sowards, 
Karen Hoover

Michelle Jeffries brought me my very own Darth Vader ... er,
Darth Editus helmet.  I need to work on a coordinating
outfit. 

The entire day was a lot of fun.  It was educational, it was uplifting, and I came home ready to hit the keyboard and start churning out ideas.  Major kudos to Shirley Bahlmann for putting it together, and if you get a chance to attend next year's event, by George, you should do it!

4 comments:

Stephanie Black said...

Sounds like a fantastic conference! Thanks for posting the pictures! Now I can live vicariously through you :)

David P. King said...

Awesome! I quite like Ephraim. Quiet little college town with a fabulous pizza joint. I'm jealous, but glad you had a good time.

Angie said...

I had such a great time! It was good to see you. Glad you liked the cookies!

Shirley Bahlmann said...

Yes! Tristi, you are so "with it," running around with your trusty camera clicking when I didn't even think of taking pictures! I love your blog. You are so cool. Or hot. Whatever you want to be, there you are!

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