We spent the next two (very early) mornings doing Boot Camp, which was basically an intense critique of our manuscripts (well, a chapter of our WIPs). I didn't get any pictures of my critique group, although I really meant to. Our fearless leader was Elana Johnson, a blogger extraordinaire and YA author (I believe her first book is coming out in 2011). Including her, there were six of us in the group. Everyone was so sweet and complimentary about the very, very rough draft I toted along (the one I frantically hammered out on Wednesday night). Boot Camp actually left me feeling much more encouraged than I thought it would. It was, by far, the most helpful part of the conference. I highly, highly recommend the experience.

We spent the rest of Friday and Saturday attending classes, panel discussions and other events.

Since I couldn't scribble fast enough to keep up, here are paraphrasings of some of the things that were said in classes, panels, etc.:

"Readers are a diverse bunch, including a lot of people who are basically easy to please, and a smaller number of people who are basically impossible to please." - Aprilynne Pike

"You should nver marry yourself to a book and stay with it until it's perfect. It will never be perfect." - Dan Wells

"Sometimes you have to make writing a priority and catch up on life later." - Aprilynne Pike

"Sometimes family is the priority. When my son set the house on fire, I did get out of my chair." - David Farland

"Sacrificing your wife, children and friends is the first step in becoming a writer." - David Farland

"Write a paragraph. Change a diaper. Write a paragraph. Make lunch." - Anita Stansfield

"If you want me to willingly suspend my belief, you have to make me believe in something." - Jessica Day George

And, my personal favorite, which is a direct quote (Aprilynne was kind enough to email me a copy of her PowerPoint presentation):

"Thanks to blogs, you will get to hear every tiny thing someone hated about your book, and why they think that probably makes you a worthless person. This will be very hard!"

Every step I took around the Marriott provided opportunity to meet authors, bloggers and aspiring writers. So fun! I met the very talented bookbinder Paulette, the very fun ladies behind LDS Women's Book Review, the knowledgable Emily from Segullah, sweet Terresa Wellborn, and the very likeable and down-to-earth Janette Rallison, among many, many others.

In the next couple of weeks, you can expect to see reviews of all the books I bought, received and won because of my fabulous writing weekend.

I'm already saving my pennies for next year's conference. That's how much I enjoyed myself!