Queen of the Clan: Janette Rallison

I am absolutely thrilled to host an awesome teen writing workshop with the amazing Lisa Mangum and Janette Rallison! These ladies have not only incredible Young Adult authors, but are also genuinely fun, hilarious, and excellent teachers. If you have a teen who is addicted to books and writing, then this is a definite must-have experience.

Who's invited? Youth ages 12+ who want to learn more about writing

Price: $25, includes workshop, pizza and beverages.

When & Where: Thursday, Sept. 18th from 5-7:30 pm at Danyelle Ferguson's house. 15693 S. Blackfeather St. Olathe, KS

What you'll do: Enjoy a pizza dinner and spend 2 hours exploring plotting, creating great characters, dialogue, setting and other writing essentials. Lisa and Janette will have you laughing and brainstorming together as they share their expertise and stories from their own publishing experiences.

What to bring with you: A notebook and pens

About the Authors

Lisa Mangum has worked with books ever since elementary school, when she volunteered at the school library during recess. She attended the University of Utah, graduating with honors with a degree in English. She has worked in the publishing industry since 1997. In 2014 she was named the Editorial Manager for Shadow Mountain.

Besides books, Lisa loves movies, spending time with her family, trips to Disneyland, and vanilla ice cream topped with fresh raspberries. She lives in Taylorsville, Utah, with her husband, Tracy. She is the author of four award-winning YA novels (the Hourglass Door trilogy and After Hello) and the editor of One Horn to Rule Them All: A Purple Unicorn Anthology.

Janette Rallison writes books because writing is much more fun than cleaning bathrooms. Her avoidance of housework has led her to writing 23 novels that have sold over 1,000,000 copies. Her novels have been on many reading and state lists. Most of her books are romantic comedies or action because hey, there is enough angst in real life, but there’s a drastic shortage of humor, romance and hot guys who fight dragons. She lives in Chandler, Arizona with her husband, five kids, and enough cats to classify her as eccentric.

Winners . . .

The past few weeks have been chuck full of amazing and fun stuff. My blog tour response was beyond incredible. Thank you to everyone who purchased my book, left reviews and entered the blog tour giveaway. The giveaway ended with over 4,000 entries! So, let's kick this blog post off with the winners. Congrats to . . .

$25 iTunes GC - Ali F.

$20 Sports Authority GC - Hai K.

Awakening Avery by Laurie Lewis - Rachael S.

Fallen Angel by Lisa Swinton - Jessica H.

Choice of 1 DiCarlo Brides book by Heather Tullis - Laurie G.

Fortune Cookie by Josi S. Kilpack - Victoria A.

Chocolate Roses by Joan Sowards - Lyza Jo

Rebound by Heather Justesen - Loretta B.

Gated by Amy Christine Parker (audiobook) - Diana D.

Winners - watch for an email. You will have 48 hours to accept your prize or another will be drawn. =)

Writers . . .

I spent last weekend surrounded by 700 writers at the Utah Storymakers Writers Conference. There was so much excitement, brainstorming, new friendships being forged - the list could go on. It was inspiring. As part of the conference organization committee, I was a tad busy running registration and other stuff, but I did get to attend a 2 hour intensive workshop taught by Elana Johnson and Ali Cross on story structure based off the Save the Cat series. It was awesomesauce! (an Elana term). I loved their combined teaching style and how they used both a movie and a book to show the different beats a novel should have. I plan to pull out my Save the Cat book and add in all the notes I took during the class.

Here are some of my fave conference pictures (thank you to those who took pics and posted them on FB for me!):

2014 Storymakers Conference Book Signing

with authors (L to R) - Jordan McCollum, Rachelle Christensen,

Danyelle Ferguson, Connie Sokol, Stephanie Black, and Lisa Mangum.

Author J. Scott Savage won the 2013 Whitney Award

for Best Speculative Fiction - then totally made me

tear up when he took his wife on stage with him and talked about

how he couldn't have accomplished all he did with out the support

and encouragement his wife gave. Jeff & Jennifer are such a great example

of a couple taking care of each other and reaching for their dreams together.

My hubby (John Waverly) and I were honored to present

the 2013 Whitney Award for Best Middle Grade Fiction

to Jennifer A. Nielsen for her novel, The Runaway King.

A totally fun moment after the Whitney Gala when

Stephanie Black grabbed me for a photo and we were joined

by some incredible awesome chicks. (L to R)

Donna Hatch, Stephanie Black, Danyelle Ferguson,

Janette Rallison (aka CJ Hill), Heather Justsen (aka Heather Tullis),

Traci Hunter Abramson, and Julie Wright.

I adore these ladies!

And More - Oh My!

The next two weeks are going to be busy ones for my family. It's the end of the school year and we're moving as well. I'm going to do my best to continue posting on my blog, but just in case you see a week go by with no posts - you'll know why. =)

Also, today is the last day to enter the Goodreads Giveaway for Sweet Confections. Enjoy!