Technically, this is supposed to be a post about Mormon Lit. I even had a post ready to go on whether or not writing can be taught. (Well, almost ready to go. And yes, writing can be taught. Kind of.) But over the last few days I’ve been thinking and thinking about Sarah Palin and [...]

Six months ago, I decided it was about time to start my new novel. I had some ideas, some characters, some themes to explore. I was excited about it, even. Ready to dive in! And after six months I am thrilled to report I have written a grand total of [...]

In yesterday’s wonderful post by Emily, she spoke about her mother-in-law who spent her life quietly serving her family. As I read how Emily honored this woman in her life, it brought to mind the last sentence of a novel I read years ago–Middlemarch by George Eliot:
.”. . . For the growing good of [...]

My great-grandmother, Mary Leona Johnson Jolley, was born in 1888. She lived to be 95 years old, and although she died when I was only eleven, I remember her well. She was a mother of nine from a small town in southern Utah, and even without the benefit of much formal education she [...]

So say you’re one of the amazing writers I’ve run across out there in blogland. You’re insightful, you’re witty, you’re good with language and imagery. Every once in a while, you write a really kickin’ post and think to yourself (secretly, because it’s too scary to say it out loud to anyone) “I [...]

So by the end of last week I was too pooped to pop, as they say. The week had been crazy–Easter preparations, a one year old with a mysterious rash, baseball practices galore, throwing a birthday party for my daughter involving 12 giggling girls, body glitter, and silly string–when what to my wondering eyes [...]

March is the month for celebrating excellence in LDS lit. Not only did the Association for Mormon Letters recently hand out citations in multiple categories, but the Whitneys, a great new awards program sponsored by LDStorymakers, will take place this weekend. I want to highlight the 2007 nominees and award winners here on Segullah, [...]

I am female. I am Mormon. I have read Twilight.
Okay, so maybe not every single LDS woman has read Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling teenage vampire romance, but I think there’s a chance that a higher percentage of Mormon women discussed Twilight at their last visiting teaching appointment than discussed the Visiting Teaching Message from [...]

So . . . are you a member of a book group?
Are you in a ward group? A neighborhood group? Are you a member of a book group that has been meeting for years and years (even before Oprah made it cool)? Are you in a new book group that’s still [...]

Before you start reading this post, I have to apologize for its length. I’m new to the blogging world, and I’m pretty sure I’ve committed a breach of blogging etiquette. I got started, though, and couldn’t stop, and I still don’t feel like I’ve made myself entirely clear. But I had to [...]

I’m a Mormon who reads and a Mormon who writes, but I haven’t purchased LDS fiction from a bricks-and-mortar bookstore in almost a decade. Of course, I moved to Minnesota in 1998 and didn’t move back to Utah until 2006, so that’s one explanation. And I haven’t stayed away [...]