Segullah

LDS women blogging about the peculiar and the treasured

The Year My Son and I Were Born

About two years ago, I started trolling around various LDS blogs.  Some were interesting, some were funny, and some were heavily doctrinal.  There was one author I came across a number of times, and I was impressed with a number of things about her:  she used her full name (a rarity in the world of [...]

Whitney Award Predictions

In the spirit of all those Oscar articles right before the big night, I’d like to offer a few Whitney Award predictions. I had a great time being on the Whitney Academy this year. I have read all the finalists, and I was tickled to discover some fabulous writing that I would not [...]

Can Creative Writing Be Taught?

Here’s your answer: yes, creative writing can be taught. Kind of. Except when it can’t.
I’ve asked myself whether or not writing can be taught many times over the years. I asked it when I was an undergraduate English major and couldn’t figure out how in the world to get my pioneer [...]

Enjoy It!

Ah, we Segullah girls always have something up our sleeves and this is a good one. Available for purchase, right now, right here is Enjoy It!

“This collection of 137 witty/sassy/sexy/crazy blog posts will convince even the crustiest of souls that Courtney Jane Kendrick delights in daily life. Even when she can’t ovulate, and Target is [...]

The Internet is Killing Me

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 [...]

The Best Books

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 [...]

It’s Nothing To Be Ashamed 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 You Want to Get Published?

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 [...]

Whitney Awards Recap

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 [...]

Award Season

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, [...]

Twilight. Discuss.

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 [...]

Are You a Book Groupie?

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 [...]

Writing with Charity

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 [...]

Do You Read LDS Lit??

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 [...]