Renewed Resolve

This semester I'm taking a Children's Publishing class from a published picture book writer, Rick Walton. It's a fantastic class, especially for keeping me excited about getting published. On Tuesday we had a panel of authors to answer our questions about their experience, etc. One of them was Carol Lynch Williams, who I had a class from last semester. (She's also published middle grade novels and has a book coming out in May that you should get really excited about :) Anyway...

So I started a novel in her class that has fallen by the wayside since then. It's a fantasy novel about a girl who hikes up Stone Mountain, meets a boy named Coda, and gets transported to the world of Melisma where magic is done through music. Not to mention the fact that I have very little time to write this semester, I also think I got stuck and discouraged that this story was no good.

But on Tuesday night I got to talk to Carol, and she said a few times that it was a very good story and she hopes I keep writing it. I didn't know I needed the boost until I got it...Amazing what encouragement from a published author will do for your self-esteem. :)

Now I have a goal. I'm going to the BYU Young Readers and Illustrators Conference this summer; it's a week-long conference with writer's groups in the mornings and seminars in the afternoons. By then I WILL be finished with my novel. Done. Completed. Whew. And now it's official because I put it in writing.

So if ever you think of it, ask me how my book is going. Because then if I'm slacking, I'll feel really guilty. :)