The Corner of Bitter & Sweet

This last weekend was absolutely amazing. Those of you who have not been to an LDStorymakers conference absolutely need to put it at the top of your must do list next year. It was an incredible time. So many great classes, wonderful teachers, and just plain good people. Both those who have published and those who soon will publish, rubbing shoulders, and talking everything from writing to families.

I have made so many good friends over the years through this conference. Then my wonderful wife and I had the chance to attend the Whitney Awards dinner. Again, just awesome people. Rick Walton is a stud, and I’d love to be able to say at some point in my career that I’ve helped a tenth of the writers he has. Susan Evans McCloud was so inspiring. In fact even before she came up to accept her award, I was in awe just from the incredible intro Michele Holmes gave.

I didn’t win any awards this year. But it was okay, because A) I had already told my wife I knew who would win in both of my categories and I was right. And B) The people who won were so deserving. It was such a thrill to see Annette Lyon, who I have known nearly as long as I have been writing, and who has been such an awesome friend win. Julie Wright, who is a pure sweetheart, and an awesome friend too, totally, totally, earned her award. And our very own Stephanie Black won for Cold as Ice, which is an absolutely incredible book. And she is the nicest person ever.

And in case anyone thought the Whitney Awards would only go to LDS publishers, or longtime Storymaker, or even only inspirational religious books, a 900 page epic fantasy published by TOR and a book about a serial killer tied for best novels of the year. Quote of the night goes to Dan Wells, who walked up to the podium after hearing his novel, Mr. Monster had tied for best novel of the year, and said, “What’s wrong with you people?!”

And that doesn’t even include my good friend Ally Condie’s novel Matched that won for best YA speculative. Or the many, many other incredible winners.

I am truly honored and inspired to see how many LDS authors are out there and all the great things they are doing. And to put icing on the cake, the very same Julie Wright who won for best romance talked up my horror novel so much, that an editor at the conference gave me her card and asked if I would send it to her. “UM, yeah.”

It was such a wonderful night that the next thing I have to say is so hard. If you haven’t noticed, the Frog Blog has become more and more hit and miss over time. Of course Stephanie and Julie have been total studettes, posting regularly and well. But we recently got together and decided that maybe after five years, we are starting to struggle for new things to say.

I personally have found myself searching old posts, sure I am repeating myself, or posting not because I have something exciting and new to say, but because I feel so guilty for not posting the previous week, or two, or three.

So after much discussion and soul-searching, we at the Frog Blog have decided to wish our readers goodbye. Oh we’ll still be around, twittering and posting on our personal blogs. But this week will be the last week of the Frog Blog.

I’ve loved being part of this, and I hope I’ve made you smile, or laugh, or think. I’m positive the others here have. And I’m proud to have joined them here. There are lots of other great LDS author blogs around, but this one will always be closest to my heart.

So farewell and ribbet. I hope all of your dreams, writing related or otherwise come true.