Wreader Fun

I've been back from my travels for days now and still trying to get caught up. One of the things I'm working on is my workshop report for the Afictionado ezine for ACFW members. I volunteered to be a reporter for literary agent Natasha Kern's workshop entitled Sin + Virtue = Bestseller. I took notes of Natasha's workshop with my mini while at the conference. Natasha spoke very fast for an hour plus and I tried to keep up with her. I ended up with about 2200 words. But it was too much. My report has to be 500 words maximum. So, I whittled it down to 1500 words by taking out all the examples she used. Still not enough. Then I worked it down some more and am now sitting at 1100 words. Sheesh. I still have to shave 600 words off it! It wouldn't be so bad except that Natasha has some excellent stuff there. She talked about conflict and heroes and villains in a way that although it surely wasn't new, it was new to me. I'm excited to get back to Emma's Outlaw a...

It's Poetry Day at Inktropolis and I wrote a special poem as my first public offering. If you've been following my blog here, you'll know I visited the Oregon Trail Ruts this past Monday. A special friend had mentioned she'd wished she could make the journey with me and as I stood on the site in Guernsey, Wyoming this poem formulated in my mind. It's called, You Were By My Side . So if like history and/or poetry pop over there and leave a comment with an email address for a chance to win a Love Inspired Historical book as well as have your name entered in the big end of October Grand Prize giveaway. Although I'd love to hear from you here, you will only be entered in this draw if you leave a comment at Inkwell Inspirations during the next 3 days.

I'm blogging at Prairie Chicks today about my Wyoming recon for Emma's Outlaw . Go check it out for some inspiring, unique photos. If someone had told me there were natural land formations like these, I would have been hard pressed to believe. But now after seeing them for myself, I can only marvel at the imagination of our God. And here's a pic that didn't make the Prairie Chick cut: Enjoy!

Today was the day I followed Emma's ride in my Outlaw story. I'm not posting those photos here, however, because I need them for my Thurs Prairie Chick post. But I recorded many other photos for you. Here's a pic of the the Laramie Mountains from the local McDonald's parking lot. This is what you'd see if you looked south from the city of Casper. A typical sight in Wyoming are these piles of boulders just lying there in the middle of a field. It always makes me wonder what formation they were before they fell. Honestly, you can't go 2 miles without spotting a heard of a dozen or so pronghorn antelopes. They are a real menace on the Wyoming roads and I see them eating the farmer's fields which appears to be a luxury in this semi-arid state. Wyoming reminded me of the biblical wilderness. Forlorn windmills like this one dot the state: This memorial and an information sign are all that mark the route of the Bozeman trail. I thought a butte was a flat topped hi...

I awoke this morning in Wheatland, Wyoming, close to Fort Laramie along the North Platte River. I set my GPS for Register Cliff and headed for Guernsey. It didn't take long before I got off the interstate and headed east. It was very easy to follow the signs and soon I was parking my van. I'd expected the site to be in a state park with an entrance fee but I'd passed that on the west side of town. After grabbing a sweater, I started up the trail: It would've been a nice leisurely walk if not for the cold wind and 44F temps. I reached the top in just a couple minutes and tucked my hands in my pockets. It was the last day of summer. I alone stood at the top and read the sign. Not sure what to expect, I turned around and saw this: It reminded me of a film set. The rules at the start had said only foot traffic could leave the designated paths. I had feet . . . so I stepped off the path and saw this: I stared for a long time. All I had to do was take a step forward and I...

Since my last post, the conference just got better and better. The agent I went to see in the Friday night agent chat is interested in my historical novel, Emma's Outlaw . This is the same story the editor at lunch in my last post is interested in, so I'm very glad I'm taking time to do a recon in Wyoming to lend authenticity to Emma's journey. However, that's tomorrow since I'm still in Colorado. I didn't have time to blog yesterday on Sat but the conference is over now. I'm sitting in the hotel lobby and want to download these photos before I hit the road in case I don't have internet service tonight. Friday night after the Harp and Bowl worship session, I joined the Seekers for their nightly get together. Starting at the back row, left to right: Julie Lessman, Cheryl Wyatt, Audra Harders, Janet Dean, Mary Connealy, Camy Tang, Tina M. Russo and Pam Hillman. Front row: (L to R) Cara Slaughter, Debby Giusti, Ruth Logan Herne, Sandra Leesmith and Mis...

This was a bad day-good day for me in Denver. I've been suffering from lack of sleep but actually slept for 4 hrs in a stretch last night. That was good news. More good news was the Steeple Hill breakfast. I brought Gwen, my critique partner and roomie and we shared an enjoyable buffet with Margaret Daley, Missy Tippins, Cheryl Wyatt, Ginny Aiken, Laurie Kingery, Danica Favorite and Camy Tang. Unfortunately my camera batteries were dead and I didn't get photos. Eeep! After breakfast, I had a 'God' moment. It started when I realized I didn't feel like attending the morning session I'd signed up for because I would have to leave part way to make my agent appointment. Margaret Daley said she didn't mind if I went in and out of hers since everyone else was going to be going for appts as well. I needed to run off some papers in the business centre and by the time I finished, the morning sessions had started. I decided I should do some praying before my appt so I ...

I started working the reg'n desk at 7 am and stayed there most of the day. So many people to greet. It was fantastic putting 3D images to facebook photos. The highlight of my day was when I finally met Gwen, my critique partner of 2 yrs. :D We sat for our first large session (540 of us) for supper. Debbie Macomber then gave the keynote address. She's a terrific speaker and yes, I cried when she choked up. Her speech was on her writing journey. It was great! So inspiring. 9 pm saw me at the Steeple Hill chat. Then, I scurried down here to the lobby to post this. Breakfast tomorrow is with the Steeple Hill authors and on-line friends who go on the www.eharlequin.com Steeple Hill boards. My agent appt is tomorrow morning at 11:30. Yikes! Since we must be seated by 7:30 for breakfast, I'm heading up to bed now. More updates when I get the chance.

I made it to Denver to attend the ACFW conference. I'm blogging over at Prairie Chicks Write Romance today and I just uploaded a whole bunch of pictures of my adventure so far. But in case you don't make it over there, here are a couple more: Here's a land formation that's possibly broken apart: There were only a couple hills like this one which looked like it had some kind of formation on top and then it toppled. It may be a small hill, but those are huge, beautifully shaped pieces. Here's a draw similar to the kind my heroine and her captors will spend the night in so no one can spot their fire: And that's it for now. Go to http://prairiechickswriteromance.blogspot.com if you want to see some more.

My plan was to leave for Denver Monday morning but by the time I left, it was just after lunch. Then I ticked off my GPS because I headed north instead of south. But I’m sure glad I did because my Sony eReader was sitting at the post office. I headed west to Regina to pick up a couple things then turned south. This is the last photo I took of Saskatchewan looking north just before I crossed the Can/US border. In this next photo, the border crossing is right in the middle of the photo where those little buildings are and then the hills of Montana. This next one is Plentywood Montana. Darkness fell soon after. When flashing lights came up behind me, I would've pulled over but there wasn't a shoulder on the road. I was going right on the speed limit so they couldn't have been for me. They weren't. They passed me by. A few mins later another came up behind me and passed. By the time the 3rd one came, I was getting jittery but they passed, too. I saw them turn off to the eas...