I am happy to say that my entire time in quarantine and working from home hasn’t gone to waste. Truthfully, the first few weeks were difficult (as I mentioned in earlier posts), but after that I was able to spare some of my mental energy for writing and plotting. Speaking of plotting, I want to share a personal achievement. While working on The Lost Colony first draft, I have been simultaneously plotting, and a few weeks ago I finished—all 152 scenes! This plotting project has been quite the major undertaking, from buying and gluing the foam trifolds, painstakingly drawing and redrawing lines and boxes, to writing out all 152 scenes on individual 3×5 cards. Now, I know that I will be even more proud when the book is finished, but I couldn’t help but feel satisfaction seeing my plotting board completely filled in. For those who haven’t read my earlier posts, IRead More
June has followed suit with this year’s theme of chaos and uncertainty. Thankfully, life has found a way to continue. I am so grateful that the League of Utah Writers decided to hold its Spring Conference in a virtual format this past May. I wanted to share a few highlights shared by various authors during their presentations, starting with J. T. Moore’s Dos and Don’ts of Writing People of Color. I have always strived to be respectful in my writing in regards to race and representation, but Moore’s presentation made me realize that I needed to be more conscious in my choices and descriptions of people of color. She advised writers to indicate a character’s race early on, even if the character is White. This will help avoid the White default that many readers envision when first introduced to a character. However, when describing people of color, Moore explained thatRead More