U is for Utah!!

Happy Monday, Everyone!!  Well, I've gotta give it up for the home state today.  So, U is for UTAH!

We're known for a few things:

Snow

(source)
Is it sad I've lived here ALL my life and never gone skiing??  It seems very wrong, somehow...

 National Parks



Gorgeous, no?  :)  (source)

 A certain religion:

(pic source)    (LDS religion resource)


It's FANTASTIC for me to know that Utah is also home to some very talented writers!!  Perhaps you've heard of them?


Brandon Mull!!

Shannon Hale!!!!! 

James Dashner!!!!



Elana Johnson!!!!



Jessica Day George!!!

Pretty Awesome, right??  I stalk run into them from time to time...(ok, so I've seen a few of them from afar once or twice...)  But, I'm quite excited to get my copy of Possession SIGNED in June!!!  Woot Woot!!  And who knows...maybe I'll pick up a signed copy for one of you, too....  :)  

Happy Reading out there today!!

My "Be Jolly by Golly Blogfest" Post(est) with the Most(est)!!



Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Merriest of ALL Merry Christmases to each and every one of you!! 
Christmas, to me, is THE most magical of holidays in the year.  It brings families together, it brings joy to many, it frees the hearts and pocketbooks of people and promotes charity and well wishes to all.  I wish a piece of its magic to touch everyone, everywhere and in all walks of life.  Who can't use a little magic now and then?  :)

For me, Christmas started with a story:

or two:

It's never quite the same for me with out a little of this:

And when it comes to snow balls...



Recipe:  INGREDIENTS 1 cup butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup chopped walnuts (I use pecans, which I put in the blender to chop pretty fine),  1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration
 
DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, cream butter and vanilla until smooth. Combine the 6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar and flour; stir into the butter mixture until just blended. Mix in the chopped walnuts. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, and place them 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. When cool, roll in remaining confectioners' sugar. I also like to roll mine in the sugar a second time.



...I'd rather eat them.

And as my hodge-podge little-tree-that-could looks like this:

I'm happy to rely on other people's holiday decor:

On Christmas morning, I'm hoping that these are filled:



and that I get to eat some of this...


Recipe!!  INGREDIENTS:  1 bag shredded hashbrowns, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 16oz carton sour cream, half stick of butter, 1 small onion (diced), bag of shredded cheddar, salt & pepper to taste  (if you like it a little soupier, also mix in small can of evaporated milk)
DIRECTIONS:  lightly grease 13x9 inch pan, thaw shredded hashbrown in microwave, melt butter and mix with hashbrowns, mix in soup and sourcream, diced onion and 1-2 cups shredded cheddar.  Mix well, put in pan.  Top with more shredded cheddar.  Bake 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.


...with my ham! 

I'll be happy to spend the day with my family and just relax and be jolly, by golly!  It will be a great few days!  And I wish the same for ALL of you. :)  Merry Christmas ~ from Donea Lee

(P.S.  you can read more about my holiday traditions "here" and don't forget to also check out yesterday's GNO post!  AND don't forget to check out other Be Jolly By Golly Blogfest posts!!  You can find a list of all participants "here"!)

Writer's Conference Info request and ....SNOW!!

Happy Hump Day, wonderful followers!! I’m in the double digits, now! *smiles A LOT*  I sooo appreciate your support and for all of you new to my blog that I haven’t visited yet, I’ll be by soon. :)

First of all….SNOW!! Yes, here in UT (at least the part I’m in) we’ve been enjoying our first snow of the season. I love when it paints the mountains white. What do you think?

 

 
Pretty awesome, right?

But, what I really want to focus on today is Writer’s conferences. I’m not necessarily organized about too much in my life. However, I’m kind of a psychotic pre-planner with my vacation time. I’ve generally got the whole of it divvied out for the entire year by the end of January. And this year, I’d really like to fit in an awesome writer’s conference. I’ve only been to two….(is that bad?) A brief history:

Algonkian Writer’s workshop in San Francisco. I attended in July 2007 for five days. The group was small – maybe 20 of us. We actually stayed in a place called Point Montara, which is south of SF. It was a hostel (not mentioned in brochure) and I shared a small room and bunk beds with 4 other women. Intimate. :)  But, it was on the beach. There was a beautiful lighthouse on the property, and there was a focus on craft and pitching to agents that was really quite good. Agents Elizabeth Pomada and her husband/partner Michael Larsen were there. We group pitched to both of them. I just looked at the website for Algonkian and it looks like they’ve added even more venues. I would say “worth it” for the serious-about-publishing author. I, at the time, fancied myself “serious”. But, honestly - I was so intimidated by the talent of my fellow writers and so unsure about myself and my writing that I didn’t make the best of it. A regret, for sure.

The only other conference I’ve been to is the League of UT Writer’s Fall Roundup, which was in Sept. of this year. What I liked about this one is that it offered several different workshops and lunch/dinner opportunities for networking. It also had a panel of agents, publishers and authors for questions and you could sign up for agent pitches to one or all or none. Your choice! You could be a bit more anonymous here. More my style, but not necessarily better for my writing career.

So – I pose this question to all of you. What’s better? The big, anonymous writer’s conference with 100+ attendees? Or a private, one-on-one intimate conference with limited attendees? Have any of you been to a conference – either private or huge – that you really LOVED?

Have you checked out Shaw Guides list of writer’s conferences? Any good ones for 2011? Maybe, I’ll see you there.  :)