click here for review

click here and click here

Next we broke for lunch. I was on the food committee and the two other authors who were on the committee with me ended up not being there! I would have been dead if my wonderful daughter hadn’t come and basically prepared and set up the entire lunch while I was doing my group panels. Some wonderful women gave her a hand, but my daughter did a TON of work and the meal turned out fantastic.

The only bad part about lunch was when everyone else had eaten my daughter and I got our food and went outside to eat. We picked a shady spot under a tree and sat down. Five seconds later we both screamed and jumped to our feet. The grass was wet in the shade! We had to walk around for the next hour or so with big wet spots on our butts!

After lunch we broke into even smaller critique groups. I had two lovely ladies in my group and we had a really good discussion. At least I thought we did. I hope they did.

We finished the day with a book signing. A separate event was held in the evening. I brought my husband and my twelve-year-old son along so he could get autographs from two of his favorite authors–Brandon Mull and Brandon Sanderson. He did and he was thrilled. The evening was an entertainment event with a comedy group–hilarious–an author panel and a singer. It was all very good.

A silent auction was going on throughout the entire event. My good friend, Tess Hilmo, was superwoman putting it together. I’m sure it generated piles of money. Every penny we earned through this event is going to buy books for underprivileged kids in Utah. These are kids who probably have never owned a book of their own before. It’s a great cause that I’m proud to be a part of.

Can’t wait to do it all again next year!

Readers and Writers SAVE THE DATE!

August 21, 2010
The Waterford School
1700 East 9550 South
Sandy, UT 84093

The Children’s Literature Association of Utah (CLAU)
and
The ROCK CANYON CHILDREN’S AUTHORS AND ILLUSTRATORS of UTAH
PRESENT:

A BOOK FOR EVERY KID CHARITY EVENT
Help us put books in the hands of underprivileged kids in Utah!

DAYTIME WRITING WORKSHOP: (Pre-register by August 15 $60/Walk-in $70)
Love writing? Spend a fabulous day with award-winning Utah authors! Get hands-on writing advice and move your manuscript closer to publication! Author panel, critiques, book signing. Lunch provided.
(For adults and children 12 and older.)

EVENING EXTRAVAGANZA:(Pre-register by Aug. 15- $10/Walk-in $15, Family price $25)
Book-Lover but not a writer? Or, just looking for a fabulous night out? Come to an evening extravaganza with entertainment by singer Nancy Hanson, The Divine Comedy troupe, a celebrity author panel, and a raffle with prizes that will astound you! (Adults and children over 12.)

DAY AND NIGHT COMBINED PACKAGE: ($65 Pre-registration by August 15 price)
Love BOTH reading and writing? Attend the workshop , followed by the evening event! Have an experience you won’t forget, and all in the name of literacy! Remember, your purchase benefits Utah kids!

ALL PROCEEDS GO TOWARD PUTTING BOOKS IN THE HANDS OF UNDERPRIVILEDGED UTAH KIDS.

TO REGISTER visit: www.writingforcharity.com

See, the boys would not have appreciated what turned out to be our number one favorite activity of the trip–shopping. We did some other fun things as well, but we stumbled across a sale in the outlets at Park City that held our attention for hours! While my sisters were in differents stores, I wandered into Wilson’s Leathers–just to look around. I found a rack of amazingly discounted (I’m talking almost %85 off!) and jackets that were so, so cute! Before long the rest of my female family joined me, and we tried on practically every coat on that rack.

Now, if you’ve read THE LIMIT, you can probably guess what my positions on finances, debt and spending money are. (Rest assured, none of us went into debt during our shopping spree.) I also love to find a great deal. It’s sort of like  a treasure hunt, finding the best quailty items possible at the lowest price. Not much better!

It was so great, in fact, that even though we had bought so many coats and jackets that we could barely fit them into the back of our two vehicles, we found ourselves back in that very same store the next day. Over the nighttime hours we had each come up with a list of loved ones who deserved the gift of a great new coat that we could by at a fraction of the original price!

Yeah. Right.

My weeks have been full of driving kids to camps, lessons and activities. We’ve had some house-guests, and we’ve also had a couple of fun family vacations. We went camping and hiking in some really cool places in south-east Utah that I’ve never been before. I live in an amazing state. One of the hikes was in a slot canyon–which was so narrow in places we had to walk sideways. Extremely cool, though. We spent this past weekend boating and beaching at Bear Lake–which straddles the Utah and Idaho boarder. The water is a bit chillier than I prefer, but it is the most gorgeous blue water you’ll see that’s not in the ocean.

A couple of weeks ago I had the unpleasant surprise of receiving notice that I’d been called up for jury duty. Ugh! The letter said to call in after 5:00 on Tuesday evening to see if I’d really have to go. A lot of time cases are postponed or settled and you don’t have to go in. (I know this because this is the third time I’ve been called in for jury duty in the 9-plus years I’ve lived in Utah. They say it’s a random selection, but I don’t believe it!) So on Tuesday at 5:05 I called in. There was a recorded message–but it was for the previous day! Nobody updated the message. By this time the office with real live people had closed for the day. Augh! I was so mad. I kept calling back all evening, hoping someone would realize they’d forgotten to update the message and would run back to the courthouse to do it. No luck. It wasn’t until 8:10 the next morning–five minutes before I would have to leave home to get there in time–that someone came into the office and picked up the phone. They told me yes, I did have to come in. At least my kids are old enough I could just leave them home without worrying about finding a babysitter. Every prospective juror had the same story to tell–and we were all pretty mad. They let us cool off by making us wait about an hour. Sheesh!

When I was given the randomly selected juror number of three, I knew I was in trouble. The lower the number, the greater chance you have of being chosen. I told #1 and #2 that we were in for it and–yep–we all got picked. The judge assured us this was an easy criminal case that should only take one day. Right. It lasted two full days, and we weren’t released until 2 AM after the second day. Let me note that we, the jury, only deliberated for one hour–and we had five counts to decide on. The lawers and judge needed to take a lesson from us on efficiency.

Overall, the experience was interesting. I’m glad I got to serve, but I would have been much happier if the case had only lasted that one day the judge promised.

So after all this busyness, I haven’t been able to do quite as much writing as I’d hoped I would by this point in the summer. I’ve done a decent amount, though, so I feel okay.

I’m making a goal to update my blog every week–especially as we draw near the publication date of THE LIMIT. I did get my Kirkus review–and it’s pretty good! Now that I’ve published this goal, life is going to hit me with a few surprises, I’m sure. But, hey, that’s what makes life interesting!

This month has been crazy busy. I’ll write an update soon about some of the things that have been occupying my summer so far–some have been fun, some have been not so fun. I also have a few exciting announcements I’ll be posting soon. So stay tuned!

Welcome to my blog and the June 21, Chasing Twilight daily contest! This blog focuses mainly on things connected to my writing life. As a nod toward the contest, I’m including a link to my most favorite thing I’ve seen or read connected to Twilight. Click here  (It takes a few seconds to load, but it’s totally worth it!)

On to today’s question: What is the name of the photographer whose heartbreaking depiction of child laborers Kristen Landon found while doing research for The Limit?

hint: look under my books/The Limit/Behind the Scenes

Answer under the comments section of this blog or else at Inksplasher by midnight June 22.

Winner will be chosen from those with the correct answer, using Random.com Winner must live in or have a ship-to address in the U.S. [or wherever youre willing to ship to]. (If you live out of the country, you’re welcome to have me send it to someone stateside as a gift from you.)

Missed the deadline? You can still win the Grand Prize. Leave your answer in the comments section here to earn your points, then go to http://inksplasher.blogspot.com/2010/05/grand-prize.html to sign up for the Grand Prize.