Tuesday, May 10, 2011

A Tale of Two Laurels

by Tamara Passey

Remember that little saying (I learned it in Girl Scouts)? "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other is gold." Yep, that's right. Gold. Anyone who has lived a while on this earth (ahem) can tell you what a treasure it is to have an old friend. They are hard to come by. But, oh the comfort of spending time with someone "who knew you when. . . " Less explaining, more reminiscing.

You know what else is hard to come by? Writer friends. Which makes the upcoming point of my story all the more amazing. But you know what I'm talking about. Writers work mostly in the confines of their home and even if they are social and have lots of friends, what are the odds any of them will be writers, too? It is better for writers in this day and age of internet, critique groups and wonderful writing conferences, but any writer out there will tell you how nice it is to have a friend that also writes. Who else can understand you when you're crying over killing off one of your own characters?

So imagine my surprise at the LDS Storymaker's Conference last weekend, I had just walked into the ballroom when my friend Sally recognized me. A friend I hadn't seen in say, 20 years. And who happens to be writing books! How cool is that? We were Laurels together in the same ward in Massachusetts. And now? We are both living in the Southwest (read desert). Some of our children are the same age. We are both writing books and I suppose to top it off - we both married men with the same first name! (Sally, is there a book in this somewhere?)

This was the first of many highlights to this year's conference. And I will be blogging about the rest soon. Meanwhile, for more on the story, check out my friend's blog here. And have a great writing day!

12 comments:

  1. There's nothing quite as fun as being with an "old" friend. It always makes me feel younger. Thanks for sharing.

    Lois
    Life of Lois

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  2. How exciting. Totally a truth stranger than fiction moment.

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  3. I love it when I meet an old friend. Those memories just fly right back, don't they? How fun for you! :D

    Jenni

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  4. Nice post. Too bad we were always running to classes or something but it was good to chat for those few minutes. I'll always remember you from my very first Storymakers conference.

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  5. Thank you ladies.
    And Renae, I know, the conference schedule was tight so we were coming and going a lot of the time. I'm so glad we got to meet at bootcamp and I was cheering for you when they called your name!

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  6. Silly question? What goes on at these LDS Storymakers conferences that I keep hearing about? I live in Texas, so I can't go and I'm very jealous!

    www.sbniccum.com

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  7. Very cool! I'm going to add you on FB!

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  8. Good! We are already FB friends! (I thought so!)

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  9. Thanks, Kathleen.

    S.B - not a silly question. The conference is two-days jam packed with authors, editors and agents. Workshops, panels and mix-n-mingles. A first-chapter contest where you can win a lap-top but mainly bragging rights. And a chance to meet other awesome writers working on their 'craft'. I'll be blogging about all the fun on my personal blog, www.whyigetup.blogspot.com And I travel up from AZ, but TX would be a longer trip.

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  10. My favorite part of meeting an old friend? I don't worry about my age or how I look because they are the same age as me!

    The conference was THE BEST!

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