Westside Stories

The Westside Stories chapter worked hard to make their meeting happen this past month. It was certainly worth the effort. In attendance were Linda Whiting, Chalice Carpenter, Jill Laing, and Kari Pike. After the opening prayer, Linda provided the group with an update on who we are and where we can be found (something this member appreciated since I lose track of myself on a daily basis!). She also had some interesting quotes from Writers on Writing. One of them posed the question, "Would you sell your own mother to get published?"

We did a short review of some of the books written by several of our ANWA sisters. Linda brought a few to share and we committed to bring other books next month. These reviews led to a short discussion of polygamy. We determined there are reasons we are living at this time and not then.

The group moved on to discuss rejection by publishers, competition in the open market, particularly in the children's market, and "How in the world did THAT book get published in the first place?" "What makes a book great?"

Chalice set a goal to read more LDS novels, since that is the market for which she would like to write. She wants to write more uplifting and inspirational books. She has been putting a great deal of time into her BYU courses. She has put her novel aside while she digests the critiques from her instructor.

Jill has been working on an article about the need for young people to obtain a college education. The title is "Will You Grow Old Here?" It is a wonderful, thought-provoking piece. We suggested she send it to the "Arizona Republic" newspaper for their "My Turn" column. Kari and Linda had the opportunity to read Jill's manuscript for a novel she is working on. We had a great discussion about what the LDS market is ready to read (or not). Jill gives a great perspective on being single and a member of the church while she tells a touching, romantic story. Hang in there, Jill! We can't wait to see more of it!

Linda is working on another revision of chapter six in her Patten book. She committed to try to do more. Writing is hard work!

Kari's goal is to maintain sanity and try to make sense of this insane world we live in. She set a goal last year to have a journal entry every day. She met that goal. Her new goal is to improve the quality of those entries.

Westside Stories plans to meet March 5 at 7:30 p.m. at Kari Pike's home. You can call Kari to see if there has been a change. 602-xxx-xxxx.