I am a serial blogger

For reals.

http://diaries-of-a-non-runner.blogspot.com/

I love Women's Conference

There is nothing like walking into the Wilk only to be overcome by a Cougareat teeming with middle-aged mormon moms.

It's a heart-warming sight. Where else can you find hordes of name-tag wearing ladies armed with subway sandwiches, ice cream, and halfway-crocheted periwinkle booties?

Every spring, approximately 15,000 women flock to Provo for a weekend of friends, service projects, and "sharpening the saw" (as Stephen Covey would call it). Groups of women wander around campus trying to find the "swicket" or the conference center. It's cute that they are so clueless.

Sometimes they gaggle around a headstrong leader and follow her, oblivious to where they are headed, like a flock of newly hatched chicks. (Speaking of newly hatched chicks, everyone should stop by the duck pond in the next few weeks--DOZENS of little puff balls are cheeping and following around their mom. It's adorable.)

Basically, Women's Conference is EFY for moms. But, as a veteran of many spring/summer semesters, I can testify that it's much more enjoyable to have thousands of wide-eyed mormon moms than hormonally crazed teenagers palling around campus. Plus, EFY histrionics just don't make me smile like a huddle of Relief Society sisters examining the hem on a pioneer-style bonnet in the bookstore.

Ice cream in hand, of course.

My new book

I am starting a new book today based on several recommendations from avid readers.

I have heard from some that it is a little slow, but a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize winner can't be that bad, eh?

Sometimes heroism is nothing more than patience, curiosity, and a refusal to panic

I finished Leif Enger's most recent book, "So Brave, Young, and Handsome" in just under 72 hours.

It took me a little longer to get into than "Peace Like a River," but it was well worth it once I was sucked in.

Something about this man's words just get me. I feel so much when I read his books. It's like he takes my thoughts and weaves them into a story about bandits and outlaws, hunting, or just plain youth.

To illustrate my point, here is the "Acknowledgments" from SBYH. Mind you, this is normally the dullest part of an entire novel. But again, Leif Enger wrote it in a way that touched me. His words are so precise and gentle. It's as simple as that.

I think you'll understand why.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

"I am surrounded by friends, kept safe by generous people. So it has been for as long as I can remember. Maybe being the youngest of four acclimated me early to a pattern of kindness; whatever the reasons, a surprising number of people have given me the benefit of the doubt.

"Therefore let me thank E., who saw instantly to the soul of this story, and whose questions, confidence, and wit helped me do the same; and M., who welcomed an outlaw tale and saved a spot for me in the lineup. Thanks also to P. and M., whose counsel is reliably clear-eyed and practical.

"Mom and Dad used to put me to bed accompanied by an album called Songs of the West, a loving thing to do. There is no sweeter sorrow that "The Cowboy's Lament." Moreover, Dad's friend Hood Roberts allowed me to borrow his name; I wish he was here to judge the result.

"T. and J. spent hundreds of hours in my writing loft, talking, listening, making me laugh--without their vigorous distraction, I might never have finished.

"Finally, thanks to Robin, for hearing my pages with persistent grace. Sometimes heroism is nothing more than patience, curiosity, and a refusal to panic."

Confessions

(1) One of my favorite things to do is floss. Seriously.

(2) Studying, sch-mudying. Have you SEEN what it looks like outside?

(3) A perennially favorite snack of mine is bread with melted cheese on it. (The type of cheese varies.)

(4) I cry very easily in movies. But I try very hard not to show it. And then I get a headache.

(5) I really like loading the dishwasher.