The benefit of warm-up pages

Some authors use warm-up pages before they begin working on their current projects. Many describe them as just that- a warm-up to get them into the writing flow.

I used to think that it was just wasting valuable time I could be using to write my novel, but as I've tried it, I've come to realize what a valuable tool it can be. It's like any exercise; you need to stretch a bit before you just dive in.

Something you might try: Get yourself a notebook or create a file on your computer that is strictly for warming up. Give yourself permission to write about nothing or everything for at least five minutes. Some people say fifteen minutes is better. Use one of the daily writing prompts found on this blog or make up your own- just do anything to get the writing juices flowing.

Try it, see what you think, and let me know how it works!

Conference and jumping right in!

THE Teen Writing Conference, held yesterday at Ogden, Utah's Weber State University, was absolutely so much fun. I had the best time! The authors were wonderful, the classes were so good, and the KIDS! I met so many great kids.

My daughter has the pics on her camera and I'm going to post some of them here, soon, but first of all, I wanted to post this link for you guys. It's a link to The BookEnds literary agency, (very cool), and they offer a publishing dictionary that really has useful info. You should read it if you want to write for publication. Maybe consider printing it for future reference or copying it to your hard drive. Good, good stuff.

So my thanks to the conference attendees and all the wonderful people who made it happen. It was so good!!

Teen Writers Conference

It's almost here! THE Teen Writers Conference at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, will be this Saturday, June 6. It's the first time we've done this conference and it's going to be really, really cool.

My daughter will be attending, so I'll have her taking a bunch of pictures and I'll post them when we're done. Registration is closed for this year, (because we filled up so fast, YES), but this is something you definitely won't want to miss next year.

As for the purpose of this blog, it's all about being a teen who likes to write. I'll post links to helpful sites, provide articles about the writing craft and offer any advice and help I can from my experiences as a published writer.

I'm creating this blog for a couple of reasons. I love to write, for one. Also, I'm a teacher and I can't think of anything better than to share something I love with kids. Reading was such a huge part of my life as a kid and I would have loved the chance to get some feedback from a published author, so hopefully some of what I have to offer will be of use to you.

Enjoy, and if you're registered for the conference, I'll see you on Saturday!