I’m back!

Sorry for the long hiatus. A lot happened and I had some things I had to work through and deal with, so the blog was something I felt like I could drop for a little while when I didn’t really have much energy to spare. But things are better now, so I’m back!

I know I promised you an LTUE post, so here it goes, two odd months later.

First off, it was great to see something I had helped plan go so well. Second, it was even more fun because my little sister came with me, so I didn’t have to do it alone this year. Third, I learned a lot, some of which I’m still processing and figuring out how it applies to my writing and myself.

Here’s some quotes from various panels and presentations!

“Give yourself permission to fail spectacularly.” ~Danyelle Leafty

“We are our own greatest adversity.” ~Loralee Leavitt, on a panel about overcoming adversity

“It’s important to base your parameters of success on things you can control.” ~Danyelle Leafty

“If it doesn’t have a very good reason to be in [your novel], then don’t put it in!” ~Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury

“Deciding you’re a writer is a mental decision.” ~ Julie Wright

“History and folklore are integral to any culture…and there should be references to it.” ~L.E. Modesitt

“When it comes to writing, most rules are suggestions.” ~David Farland/Dave Wolverton

“There are two ways to do research- at the time, in depth, or continually. I do continually.” ~L.E. Modesitt

“I realized I needed to become like a sponge and absorb information about [everything]… I’ve been called a landfill of useless information.” ~David Farland/Dave Wolverton

“Don’t give [the reader] information when they need to know it, but slightly before.” ~L.E. Modesitt

Then there was an amazing keynote speech by Megan Whalen Turner on the importance of not censoring books. Here’s some quotes from that:

“I think you shouldn’t restrict access to books because you shouldn’t restrict access to books.”

“If a teenager can’t [choose a “good” book] the problem is not with the books.”

“Saying at 16 they aren’t old enough to choose their own books but at 18 are old enough to choose to go to war is ridiculous.”

“The freedom not to read a book is as important as the freedom to read a book.”

“The children who take those books to their parents [books they aren’t comfortable with] are asserting the right to control what goes into his/her own head.”

“Your kids are going to make mistakes, but so did we. That doesn’t mean we should restrict access to books.”

Since my mom is a librarian and I’m both a writer and an avid reader, I was in complete agreement with Megan Whalen Tuner’s arguments against censoring books. It was a great speech. (This may be a topic I choose to dive into more at a later date.)

There is one other presentation that I want to write about, but that presentation, given by the amazing Sandra Tayler, has had so big an impact on my life that it deserves it’s own post. Expect that for next week.

So there you are! Two months late, but there’s my LTUE catch up.