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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]