Saturday, June 30, 2007

My Day in Delta

My day trip down to the Delta area was very meaningful to me. My mom has never been there, so I dragged her along. Between the two of us, we got some pretty good pictures to share with you as I relate all that happened.


We left my house bright and early with every intention of driving straight to the Topaz site, which is pretty much what we did do, after wandering around some lovely fields and meeting three very friendly farmers. (The provided map was confusing.)After arriving at the site only a little bit late, we were treated to several speakers, including Governor Huntsman (pictured, in the blue shirt.) All the speeches were touching, focusing on the importance of this day as the Topaz Relocation Center received its status as a national landmark. A very nice plaque had been erected and stood off to the side of the podium.

The Governor also took a moment to recognize Jane Beckwith for all her hard work in rallying the community to preserve Topaz. Jane is an amazing lady and I've had the chance to speak with her on several occasions about Topaz and the work they are doing out there. It was wonderful to see her get some public recognition for everything she's done.


From there, we went to the Great Basin Museum, where a restored barrack is on display. This is me (from a very unattractive perspective) entering the barrack. The museum curators did everything they could to recreate the appearance of the building, which is essentially made from tar paper, sheetrock, and studs. No air conditioning at all -- it had to have been over a hundred degrees in there, and that is how the internees lived every day during the summer, in the sweltering heat.


Each of the barracks was divided up into six apartments, which would hold an entire family. Here is a picture of the basic room, also restored by curators. Yes, the apartments really were as small as they appear here. Can you imagine living in such a small space, with your spouse, children, and possibly your in-laws as well?


This is the other half of the room. Notice that the wall behind me is uncovered sheetrock. This is how the walls in the barracks really were at the time. No insulation, nothing. Even though I've been to the museum a few times before, showing it to my mom took on a whole new significance.


After leaving the museum, we went to the Delta City Park, where a wonderful lunch was held. This is a plaque that was placed on one of the tables under the pavilion, remarking on the national landmark status of the camp. With the induction of Topaz, there are now just thirteen national landmarks in the state. That's pretty amazing.



After lunch, we set up my table under the comforting arms of a shady tree. This is me, hiding my consternation at forgetting to bring a chair or any change. We managed, though, and met many wonderful people as they stopped by to chat.


As the day's planned activities were scheduled to go into the night, and I had to get back home, we made the library our last stop for the day. I felt the need for a breather, and Mark Twain was kind enough to read me a story while I relaxed.



Once inside the library, we took notice of the displays that had been created to memorialize the day.


I'm constantly amazed at the grace and dignity shown by the Japanese Americans during this time of trial in their lives. Even today, they show very little anger about what happened to them. They accepted it, did the very best they could with it, and refused to allow their circumstances dictate the people they would be. Oftentimes, historians speak of the internment as an act that stripped the Japanese Americans of their dignity and freedom. It did strip them of their freedom, but their dignity, they maintained. Their story is inspirational to me.


Right now, this is what the camp site looks like. You can see foundations as you study the ground, but everything that once was there, has been stripped away. The Topaz Museum is, as of yet, still a dream. Funds are being raised to create a building specifically for the commemoration of the camp and to rebuild a portion of the camp out on the actual site. This is such a worthy cause, and every little bit helps. Won't you please visit the Topaz Museum website and send in a donation, however small? Our children need to learn these stories. There are many adults who have yet to learn these stories, and the lessons that go along with them. I plan to be a live-long supporter of this great cause, speaking about it as often and to as many people as I can. Today was wonderful, eye-opening, heart-softening, as it always is when I go down there. I want my grandchildren to be able to have that experience too.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Topaz Internment Camp To Be Named National Monument


When the Topaz Internment Camp was shut down on October 31st, 1945, pieces of the land were sold off to farmers and home builders. Some of the land remained government property, and for the last several years, the Topaz Museum has been trying to buy back all the rest of the land. Once a certain percentage of the land was repurchased, the museum would then be able to apply to become a national monument. I had the privelege of using some of my limited influence to help raise money for this worthy cause, and I'm delighted to tell you that tomorrow, at a ceremony on the camp site, Topaz will be declared a national monument. It's about time.

I'll be there all day, dividing my time between the camp site and the Delta City Park. If you're going to be in the area, I encourage you to come out to the ceremony (10 am, at the site) and celebration afterward (noon, Delta City Park.) It's truly a piece of history and we should all be part of it if we can.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Bibbetty, Bloggity, Boo!

For your blog persual enjoyment, here are some links to my recent reviews on Families.com:


A Summer to Die -- Lois Lowry

Flubber

Multiple Choice -- Janet Tashjian

Holes

When the Road Ends -- Jean Thessman

Love Beyond Tomorrow -- Erin Klingler

Tiger Can't Sleep -- S. J. Fore

Bits, Chunks, and Pieces (sounds like dog food)

There are few authors who are so blessed as to be able to sit down for eight hours a day and just write. Most of us grab what we can in bits and snatches, often between four or five other demands, and are lucky to get ten minutes at a time. It can be hard to bounce back and forth between writing and “real life” and then back to writing. We lose our place in the story, we forget what we were about to write when we were called away, and we forget what words we may have already used.

This is why it’s so important that when we read our WIP, we do it straight through. If I sit down on Tuesday and write two paragraphs, and then on Thursday, I write two paragraphs, I may not remember using the word “ardently” both times. But when I read it straight through, I’ll see “ardently” in both sets of paragraphs and I can remove one of them. (I’d actually remove both, because I’d never use “ardently,” but you do understand by now that my examples are always over the top, right?)

Last night I discovered a major chronology problem in my current WIP. The difficulty I’m facing is that I had originally written the book A, B, C, D, E, F, G. On the advice of persons who know better than myself, I moved D up to the front, got rid of A, and am piecing it all back together. So now I’m working on D, B, C, E, F, G. Because I yanked D out and stuck it in the front, I have to tweak E, because E was dependent on D, and with D in a different place, E now needs to stand on its own two feet. (Deep breath) So while I was blithely trotting along last night, editing, I realized that E needs serious help. But I wouldn’t have even noticed this major problem had I not immersed myself in it for over an hour.

The point I’m slowly getting to is this: when you’re editing, try to block out larger chunks of time. Maybe your spouse can hold the fort down with the kids for a few hours, or you can get up early or stay up late. If you edit in ten minute chunks, you’re going to miss a lot of the mistakes you made while you wrote in ten minute chunks.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Having Lunch with Friends


This last Saturday, I had the most fun. A group of writer friends from Tooele came over to see me, and we met at Mimi's. We talked about writing, plots, promotion -- it was great. Left to right: Karen, Michelle, Noble (isn't he cute?) me and Marcy. Shanna was taking the picture.

It's so much fun to get together, gain strength from each other, draw on the positive vibes that flow whenever a group of like-minded people meet with the purpose of helping each other. We often say that writing is a solitary profession, and it is -- it's just you and your computer, most of the time. Whenever you can get the chance to break away and share with friends, take it!

Frequently Asked Questions -- How Does Your Husband Feel About Your Writing?

I am asked this question frequently, hence, why I call it a "frequently asked question." Let's take it straight from the horse's -- er, husband's mouth, shall we?

Matt says: I like her writing. She tells stories much better than I could, and much more in depth, and even makes them more appealing to more people than I ever could. I certainly can't make myself cry with my own stories.

I'm proud of her. I'm glad that she writes, I approve of her writing, I like the fact that she's creative, and that she expresses herself. I also like that she's focused on something besides the home so she can be a person beyond the scope of the home.


Most often, the person asking me this question is a woman who wants to write but is worried that her husband won't like it. You would honestly be surprised how often I hear, "I have this dream, but my husband doesn't want me to pursue it." You may want to fasten your seatbelts because I have something to say.

1. Your husband does not control who you are or what your dreams are. If he's telling you that you can't pursue one of your dreams, he is exercising unrighteous dominion. It is not in God's plan for husbands to completely control every aspect of their wife's life.

2. You were given your dreams for a reason. God does not want us wasting our entire lives puttering around, dusting tables. Yes, housework is a necessary part of life, but it is not life. We are to look up and ahead, to have dreams and plans and aspirations. This is what makes life worth living.

3. Your job, as a spouse, is to not only encourage your loved one's ambition, but to support them in it. Years ago, a friend pointed me to the movie "Phenomenon." John Travolta's love interest made really uncomfortable chairs, and placed them for sale in various locations around town. He went around to those locations and bought the chairs, supporting her dream even though she had no idea he was doing it. If you love your wife, you will support her dreams.

4. What difference does it make if her passion does or does not make money? I have heard aspiring writers say, "My husband doesn't want me to write because it won't make any money." Is that what it all comes down to -- the almighty dollar? We should only do things if they make money? Well, how much money do you get for watching TV or playing computer games? It's not about money. It's about being fulfilled. It's about achieving something that will last. It's about validating that sparkle of life within that makes us unique in the first place. If everything came down to money in the end, we'd be no better than the money changers in the temple.

I would not thrive without writing. Writing makes me a better mother, better wife, better all-around person. My husband recognizes this and knows that if I don't get my writing time, I'm not content with my other roles. He gives me writing time. He supports me in my endeavors and is so proud of me. I would not be the woman I am without his support. And I say, if you want to write and your husband won't "let" you, it's time for him to get his head screwed on straight.

Monday, June 25, 2007

I Thought I Saw a Puddy Tat . . .

We have just had one of the craziest weeks of our lives.

It all began last Wednesday night. We were rustling up some dinner when we started to hear meowing under the house. My husband went outside and pulled back the skirting around the base of our trailer, and found three tiny little kittens, mewing their heads off. We wiped them off, dropper-fed them some milk, and put them in a box on the porch. We'd call animal control in the morning.

Next morning, we go out to check on the cats to find that the mama had returned, taken one of the kittens, and fled to the center of the crawl space. Darn it!

Borrowing a trap from our landlord, we managed to catch the mother, and waited for the third baby cat to start mewing again so we could locate it. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Finally, we decided that the mother must have relocated it.

But then last night, around six, (what's up with dinner time, anyway) we heard mewing coming from beneath the kitchen floor again. Yes! It was the missing kitty! But wait -- as I listened, I heard the sounds of more than one cat. I sent my son to tell my husband, who was halfway under the house at this point, that there were two cats. He sent back the message that there were three.

These kittens had burrowed into the insulation under the house and were periodicially sticking their heads out, but not coming out far enough to be grabbed. My handsome, wonderful, chivalrous husband spent scads of time sitting there patiently, just waiting. He even reached into the insulation and felt around, trying to grab them. I don't think anyone else would have done near what he did. Yep, he got major good husband points this week.

He also got up several times in the night to check on the situation. We had a dish of milk sitting out, but the kitties weren't coming down to investigate.

Finally, this morning, we got on the phone and started calling every agency we could think of. Police, fire department, animal control, humane society -- every one of them said that they'd come pick up the cats after we caught them, but no one would help us catch them. We called an animal removal service, and they wanted over $350.00. You can imagine our situation -- if the cats died up in there, not only would we be sad, but we'd have carcasses in our insulation, and the smell in this heat -- oh, my. We wanted them out, alive, unharmed, so we could reunite them with their mother, who was already at the shelter.

Feeling rather desperate, my husband took a knife and went back under, slitting the insulation and pulling it back. It wasn't ten minutes before he was able to grab the first one, and the other two followed within minutes. I was so relieved I almost cried -- I couldn't handle the thought of dead baby cats in our insulation. Poor little things.

We got the milk and dropper, fed them and wiped them down. Two of the three kitties had severe eye infections, and we soaked their eyes with warm water until we were able to wipe away the dried pus. If you're squeamish, you may want to leave off at this point, but one of the kitten's eyes were so pus-filled that the skin around the eye was bulged clear out, and I had to push a bit around the eye to get all the infection out. Yes, I am still a little nauseated. But finally, we got the eyes open and washed out, and they are looking so much better.

Animal control came and took the kittens to join their mama. I'm so excited and relieved and feeling blessed that everything turned out the way it did. I wish we could have kept one of the kittens, but we just aren't able to juggle an animal in with everything else we've got going on.

Of course, now we've got slits in our insulation and we need to do some patching and repairing. Small price to pay, however.

And, wanna hear something funny? While we were trying to catch the mama cat, we caught another stray, a male. We gave it to animal control too, only to find out from a neighbor that he belongs to another one of our neighbors. We've got a little fessing up to do -- but we honestly thought it was a stray.

I haven't cleaned my house in two days, as we've been hunkered down by a hole, waiting for kittens to pop out. There's a lot to catch up on. I'm just, again, so grateful that we got them all. Phew!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Is Reading Fiction Righteous?

An article in Meridian Magazine, written by Davis Bitton, included the following quotes:


"Works of fiction have been sent forth like an overflowing flood, and the public taste has become so vitiated thereby that everything virtuous, truthful or heavenly is unpalatable, and is rejected with disgust." -- George Q. Cannon

Also from George Q. Cannon: "From the character of a man's reading one may tell just what he is full of. Is he filled with sickly sentiment, heated imaginings, dreamy unrealities — this condition being brought about by his reading? If so, he is more than likely to be a devourer of novels — love stories, exciting adventures, tales of impossible "heroes" and all that goes to make up the fanciful and the exaggerated in literature.

“The actual business of life — its everyday trials and victories, its experiences framed in joy or sorrow, its rebuffs and its welcomes, its frost and its warmth — all this seems to him commonplace, if not even vulgar. He either becomes a prey to disappointment — one of the large class who believe the world has some grudge against them and will not give them a chance — or he plods along without ambition because things are not such as his imagination has pictured them."




"Novels not regulated on the chaste principles of friendship, rational love, and connubial duty appear to me totally unfit to form the minds of women, of friends, of wives." -- Sarah Wentworth Morton

"The consciousness of virtue, the dignified pleasure of having performed one's duty, the serene remembrance of a useful life, the hopes of an interest in the Redeemer, and the promise of a glorious inheritance in the favor of God are never found in novels." –- Timothy Dwight



If you would like to read Davis Bitton’s conclusions based on these quotes, please do follow the link and read the article. But now I would like to present my thoughts and feelings about these statements.


I am a voracious reader and a media reviewer. I read over two hundred books a year, and skim probably twice that many for content. I will be among the first to tell you that novels can be destructive. If you spend your time reading books with a lot of violent or sexual content, it will degrade you and remove you from the higher purposes of life. Your relationship with God and with yourself will suffer. Even if you aren’t necessarily a religious person, you will find that reading such books pulls you away from your family and from regular responsibilities. The counsel given in these quotes, to avoid books that would give us a fractured view of reality, is wise and sound.


However, being a voracious reader and also being careful to avoid certain types of content, I will be among the first to tell you of the power of a novel designed to uplift. Leif Enger’s “Peace Like a River” instilled in me a strong desire to become more a woman of God so I might be able to work miracles in the lives of those around me. Rachel Ann Nunes’ “Where I Belong” helped me come to peace with the warring factions within me, mother vs. author. “Lifted Up” by Guy Morgan Galli intensified my testimony of the Savior. Yes, these are all lessons that are included in religious instruction, but for some reason, I hadn’t grasped them as fully as I should have, and it took the vehicle of fiction to drive the point home to me. To argue with the last quote above, yes, you can find Christ in a novel.

At Home in Mitford” by Jan Karon showed me the strength that comes from being a good neighbor. “Two Women of Galilee” by Mary Rourke helped me to understand the land and the politics at the time of Christ. Not every novel is designed to distract us from life’s most important lessons.

I thoroughly believe that we should be careful of what we read. I have noticed for myself, as I look for good books to review for Families.com, how even reading one questionable sentence before discarding the book can affect me. But there are so many wonderful, uplifting, inspiring books to be found in the world of fiction, and it would be a shame to discard the entire genre based on those that are less than respectable.

As I’ve spoken with many, many LDS authors over the years, I’ve heard countless stories that go something like this:

“I got a letter today from a girl who told me that my book helped her solve a problem with her mother/bring her back to church/decide to break up with a boyfriend who was pressuring her to have sex. She says if she hadn’t read my book, who knows where she’d be now.”

Fiction does have a place amongst God-fearing people. Use wisdom. Use judgment. But don’t automatically label all novels as questionable just because of the large majority of them that are.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Writer Tip #23 -- Keeping Your Characters Straight

I recently finished a book wherein the girl's hair kept changing from brown to blonde. No, she wasn't auditioning to be the new Clairol girl -- the author messed up and the editor didn't catch it. Mistakes like this have three effects:

1. It makes the author look like a doofus, which is never good.

2. It throws the reader out of the story.

3. It keeps the reader from forming an image in their mind of what the character looks like, and so the reader isn't able to bond with that character, and they don't get the full benefit of the story.


Here are some tips for keeping your characters straight:

A. Keep a notebook by your computer. Every time you add a new character, take a minute to jot down some vital statistics. Then, any time you refer to a trait of that character's, glance at your list to make sure you've got the right person. You can also do this on Post-it Notes and stick 'em on your monitor. I like doing that because it makes me look productive when someone glances at my computer.

B. Look through magazines and catalogs and find pictures of actors or models that resemble your characters. Cut out those pictures and keep them for reference. Anita Stansfield does this, but most of her pictures are of Kevin Costner. Hey, we're all entitled to have our dream men, aren't we?

C. Really envision your characters as you write. Get to know them like you would a new friend. Then, as you're writing about them, the descriptions will flow naturally, as they would if you were writing about a real person or a new friend.

You should know your characters better than anyone. After all, you've just spent how many months/years thinking about them all the time?

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Summer For This Homeschooling Family . . .

. . . is pretty much the same as any other time of the year. We don't take the summer off, the way most people do. We've found that taking a whole summer off makes the children lose their momentum, their motivation, and they forget everything they learned the year before and we have to do a lot of review. Instead, we take our vacation here and there throughout the rest of the year. For instance, there are days when I just don't feel good. Or we have a lot of errands to run. Or we have dentist appointments. I tend to count those as vacation days, and resume school as normal the next day. This way, we're still getting in our 180 school days a year, but the vacation days are placed where we need them to be, not where other people think they ought to be.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

A Mormon for President?

I don’t get into politics much. You won’t often hear me debate them. But I have to say, some of the comments about Mitt Romney’s run for President have really cracked me up.

When Clinton was President and his whole affair with Monica Lewinski was discovered, he walked away pretty much unscathed. The general public opinion seemed to be – what he does in his spare time is none of our concern. Well, let’s look at the facts here – the affair took place in the Oval Office. He had the affair with a White House intern. That doesn’t sound like he was keeping his personal life and his Presidential life separate.

Now we’ve got a Mormon running for office and people from different religious factions are rising up to question his beliefs. Shouldn’t that fall under the “what he does in his spare time is none of our concern” policy? Let’s see – what do they do when they’re not on the clock? Clinton carries on with an intern. Romney will probably go to church (gasp) and say some prayers (gasp).

I’m not meaning to imply that Romney doesn’t have his weaknesses. I’m sure he has scads of them. But let’s get real here. The main objection to Romney running for President is the fact that he’s a Mormon. If the general public can simply forgive and forget what Clinton did, surely there’s room to overlook such a heinous crime as being Mormon.

Monday, June 18, 2007

LDS Fiction

I’m about to get myself into a whole lot of trouble with what I’m about to say, but I’m prepared to roll with the punches.

The LDS market has had its ups and downs. Some fabulous books have been published, and some not-so-fabulous books have been published.

I’ve spoken with many a reader who has told me they are disenchanted with the LDS market. “I tried such-and-such book,” they tell me. “It was so poorly done, I couldn’t read it.”

That, my dear bloggy friends, is a problem.

The LDS market is very small still. We need to be holding ourselves to a higher standard so that when people hear the words “LDS fiction,” they aren’t immediately fighting a gag reflex.

The main issues readers seem to have fall into these categories:

1. Predictable plots – girl meets guy, one or the other of them isn’t a member, so they join, and they live happily ever after.

2. Bad editing.

3. Lots of preaching.

4. Cheesy dialogue.

5. Too froo-froo – the books don’t address real-life issues.

6. Problems are solved too coincidentally.


Today’s readers want meat. They want to sink their teeth into a story, not nibble around the edges of the frosting. This is not to say that they don’t want entertainment – they do. But they want intelligent entertainment.

As I see the potential the LDS market has, I get all excited to think about the amazing books we can turn out in the future. We have already done a lot to increase the quality of what’s available. I mentioned in today’s earlier blog that LDS authors are researching more thoroughly, editing more meticulously, and stretching themselves farther than ever before. That’s what we’re going to have to do in order to stay competitive with the national market.

Now, to you readers – there are scads of good LDS books out there. We now have authors that compare with nearly every nationally bestselling author there is. If you’ve read an LDS novel and been totally disenchanted with the market because of it, please, give it another go. The bar is being raised. New authors are coming on to the scene all the time and the established ones are honing their talents like never before.

It’s important that we support the LDS market as much as we can. The publishers need to see that there’s an interest in quality fiction – they are already putting most of their money into nonfiction because that’s what’s selling. Now, don’t get me wrong – there’s nothing bad about nonfiction. But if we want to keep seeing LDS fiction published, thereby making a way for talented authors to continue to make it to the shelves, we’ve got to get out there and show the bookstores what we think. Buy LDS fiction. Talk to your friends about it. If you find an author you really like, pass the word along. We can build this up to where the funds are present and the motivation is flowing. LDS fiction is still relatively new, and every new endeavor needs time to grow and develop. I think it’s starting to come into its own, and I’m excited to see it happen and to be a part of it.

Introducing the Whitney Awards


If you're a mystery writer, you can win the Edgar Award. If you're a Christian author, you can win the Christy. If you're really lucky, you can win a Nobel (and I mean, really lucky). But up until now, there hasn't been an award to celebrate LDS fiction.

I say "up until now" because now there is.

Drumroll, please, as we proudly announce -- The Whitney Awards.

Sponsored by LDStorymakers, the Whitney Awards will celebrate the very best in LDS fiction, from new authors to those more established, in several different genres. You as the reading public will be able to nominate your favorite books. An Academy of publishers, bookstore owners, and authors has been selected to run the proceedings. The winners will be announced at the close of the 2008 LDStorymakers Writers Conference, and they will receive a beautiful statue that will make their friends and fellow authors jealous. Any book published in the year 2007 is eligible. (Man, I wish I had a book coming out this year . . . I'll just sit and enjoy the festivities.)

Why "The Whitney?" Orson F. Whitney, grandson of Newel K. Whitney and also a member of the Twelve, prophesied that we would yet have Miltons and Shakespeares of our own, referring to the LDS people. We thought it fitting to honor those authors who have worked hard at perfecting their craft with an award that carries the name of Whitney.

There are still some problems with LDS fiction. (Stay tuned for my blog on that later today.) But we are working harder, researching more, editing more carefully and using more imagination than ever before since the industry began. There are now books to fit nearly every reading style, and I'm excited at the direction LDS fiction is taking.

Won't you take a moment to jot down your favorite new releases and head on over to the Whitney site to nominate them? You can also read the rules and regulations on the site and find out who's involved. This is such a fabulous endeavor -- I'm thrilled that I sometimes get to go hang out with the people who thought this all up.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Some Cute Blog Layouts

While wandering around the Blogosphere this week, I found some blogs with particularly cute layouts:

Diary of the Nello

Dream Smiles at Me

I Love Flipflops

It's a Mad World

Kim's Candor

Take a peek -- aren't they cute?

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Should You Have a Website or a Blog?

It’s important that you make your presence felt on the Internet as soon as possible. Even before you have a product available for purchase, you should let the world know who you are, so that when your product is available, your name is already familiar.

But should you get a website or a blog? Here are the advantages and disadvantages of both:

On a website, you can post sample chapters. You can separate your information onto pages, which is neat and organized. You can have a store included on the site, as well as reviews, links to articles, etc. You can hold a lot of information on a site and it can be as complex as you like. You can do any design, any color, any font, and upload any pictures.

Disadvantages to a site – if you don’t know how to set it up and maintain it, you will need to hire a webmaster. It takes a little bit longer to change things on a site – everything is done in html and that requires going in a layer. There is also a charge for the site and for the domain name -- you can pay as little as $6.95 a month all the way up the scale, depending on what company you go with.

With a blog, you don’t have quite the room you do with a site. It would be pretty hard to organize your sample chapters, reviews, etc. and while I imagine you could set up a store, it wouldn’t be as nicely laid-out.

However, the advantages of a blog are pretty good. You can change things around as much as you like. You don’t have to write code. You can interact with your readers through comments. If you don’t like a blog, just erase it. There’s no need to hire anyone to maintain it – it’s very user-friendly. And in most cases, it's free.

So what’s my advice? Should you get a site or a blog? Personally, I think you should have both. There are advantages to both, and you’ll find that some people don’t enjoy reading blogs, so send them to your site. Others prefer blogs, so communicate with them that way. And whatever you do, make sure to link them to each other.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Pride Goeth Before a Fall . . .

I’m entering an unpublished manuscript in the League of Utah Writers contest. I thought it would be fairly easy to prepare the entry, since the manuscript was ready, just sitting on my hard drive. Silly Tristi! Here is the story of everything I’ve gone through to get this thing ready to go.

First, I thought I had enough ink in the printer. Well, I was wrong – I recently printed out a whole ‘nuther manuscript (that one for submission) and it took most my ink, unbeknownst to me. So I sat down to print out the contest entry, and the top half of each sheet came out nice and dark, but by the time the printer got to the bottom, the words had faded out.

So I sent my husband to the store to get another ink cartridge, and I got all settled down in my chair to print out the book. I reached into my paper stash and came up empty handed. I’ve mentioned before that my children like to draw? Yeah, well, they do – on lots and lots of paper. I had ink, but nothing to print it out on.

Last night we all went to Costco and I grabbed a huge package of 900 sheets. I told my children that if they took that paper without asking, I’d make them rub my feet. The threat seemed to work – so far I haven’t had any paper thieves.

Okay! I’ve got ink and I’ve got paper! We’re set to go – no, we’re not. I had a root beer while out at Costco and I think there must have been caffeine in it – I went to bed sick as a dog.

Now it’s the 14th. The entry has to be postmarked no later than the 15th. I’m feeling nervous. I think about it all day. I get the book printed out, and then I realize I have to write a synopsis to go along with it, and I’m coming up blank. I can’t formulate what I want to say. How can I condense this book into two pages and make it sound interesting?

Just ten minutes ago, I carefully placed all the components in a box and closed the lid. My entry form and check, my synopsis, the required two copies of an excerpt, and the manuscript itself are all safely tucked away. It’s only 1 am on the morning of the 15th. As long as I mail it today, we’re good to go.

I don’t know if all this was a sign that entering was the right thing to do, or if it was a sign that I shouldn’t have entered at all. It definitely was a sign that I shouldn't be so cocky, thinking it would be a snap to prepare. Next year I'm going to start getting ready about a month before the deadline. If nothing else comes out of this, at least I'll have learned that lesson.

You Like Me! You Really Like Me!

I just took a peek at the statistics over on Families.com and jotted down my current numbers. With my Media Reviews and Movie Reviews combined, I am pulling in an average of 974.8 hits per day. And, since I began blogging in August of 2006, I have piled up a grand total of 141,962 hits. That's not too shabby, if you ask me!

I know I have a lot of you to thank for your continued patronage of my reviews. So -- thank you!! I really appreciate it.

And for those of you who haven't visited me there, I do reviews of family friendly books (mostly national, but a good helping of LDS) and movies. So swing by and check it out!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Urban Botanic


I had the most fun last Saturday!

I went over to Karlene Browning’s house, where she introduced me to Urban Botanic. Her daughter, McKenna Gordon, started the company when she was only twenty-three, and has built it up to the point to where there are now U.B. fragrance designers in nearly every state. That alone was enough to impress me, but then it just went on from there.

Urban Botanic uses pure scents that aren’t preserved with any kind of alcohol. Instead, they use silk amino acids, which I’d never heard of before. Then you put the scents into a base created from things like shea butter, coconut oil, and aloe vera. They’re all hypo-allergenic and natural.

I got to smell over sixty bottles of scent falling into six categories: woodsy, floral, fruity, spicy, leafy, and herby. I made a list of the ones that appealed to me, and then I got to play chemist for a little while. I took the two scents I liked the most (rose and lemon) and held them up to my nose at the same time, curious to see how they would smell together. It was fabulous! So I put a drop of each in a small cup. Yep, it smelled great. But I wanted to throw something else in there to perk it up even more. I put in a drop of lilac, and that was nice, but I wanted the rose and the lemon to be the main scent, with the lilac as an undertone. So I put in one more drop each of lemon and rose. Then to add a base note to the whole thing, I put in one drop of white musk. Voila! It was perfect! I had created a combination that spoke to me, individually. I now have a signature scent that’s all my own (I don’t know anyone else crazy enough to try lemon and rose together). I named the fragrance – are you ready for this – “Tristi.”

So then we took that formula (Rose, 2 drops. Lemon, 2 drops. Lilac, 1 drop. White musk, 1 drop) and multiplied it to get the right amount needed to make my own perfume. The spritz bottle was all ready – I just mixed the scents in the right amounts and then put them in the bottle. Again, with a voila!! “Tristi,” the designer fragrance worn only by Tristi, was born.

Karlene tells me her customers can sit and tweak their scents as much as they’d like until they find the combination that really works for them, and they’ll often make several that they just love.

Now, once you create your scent, you can put it in the following U.B. products:

Parfum spray -- $24.95
Lotion -- $14.95
Shower gel -- $12.50
Bubble bath -- $12.50

You can also buy kits of your favorite scents so you can play with them at home. You can go to a party and experiment with the fragrances as much as you like with no obligation, but if I were you I’d definitely get a product with your own scent! What’s the point of making it if you don’t get to wear it?

I confess I’m not much of a perfume wearer. Part of the turn-off has been that I haven’t been able to find a scent that really worked for me. That problem was solved on Saturday. Another turn-off is that a cheap perfume will lose its scent pretty quickly and ends up smelling like a tin can, and a high-quality perfume will cost $70 and more. That problem was also solved – my parfum spray bottle is two ounces! That’s going to last me a while, at a third the price of a high-end bottle that’s teeny-tiny.

Why don’t you head on over to the site and check it out. You can take a personality test to see which category you fall in. My test said I was a woodsy personality, and that’s true, but I didn’t care for any of the woodsy scents. It’s just a place to start, though – you’re not locked into one set of scents just because your personality leans one way or the other.

Now, because Karlene’s so cool, she’s giving a great special. If you click on this link and sign up for her Summer Special, which is that you have a party, do a one-on-one with Karlene, or come to an Open House, and mention Tristi (the person, not the designer fragrance which also bears my name) you can buy a parfum spray at full price, and then receive any other product for only $1.99. That’s a savings of up to $12.96. This Summer Special ends August 31, 2007.

If you don’t live in the Utah area, contact Karlene anyway. There are fragrance designers all over the country, and there might even be one near you. They offer their own specials and discounts, and I’m sure you’ll find one that works for you.

One of the great things about Urban Botanic is that while there is some overlap between Scentiments and U.B. (we both do lotion and sprays) we’re also different enough that we aren’t competing. (U.B. parfum spray is more of a perfume, while mine is an all-over body spritz. I do lip balm, bath salts, and facial care, which U.B. doesn’t do, but U.B. does shower gel and jetted tub-safe bubble bath, which I don’t.) We share many of the same goals – we want to offer the best quality, natural products we can.

So, swing on by, drop my name conspicuously, and go sniff some pretty smells. It’s just too dang much fun!

Monday, June 11, 2007

Self-Promotion -- Your Way

I’ve always been a little bit of a ham. Take a look at this picture from the recent LDStorymaker Writers Conference.
This is me as the Pretty Pink Present Pixie. Our theme was “The Magic of Writing,” and I was in charge of door prizes. It all makes sense now, doesn’t it?

I love going out to do book signings. I love giving firesides and speaking to book clubs, appearing at libraries and festivals – you name it, I love to do it. And, as a published author, it’s expected that you get out there and meet the public. However, how you do it can be as individual as you are.

Some of us love to put on wings and prance around. Okay, I’ve never done that at a book signing, but I still have the wings and it’s not totally out of the question. But some of us feel more reticent about “being on display.” Here are some suggestions:


1. If you don’t feel comfortable talking about your own book, take another author with you and then talk about their book. They’ll in turn talk about yours. It’s so much easier to gush over someone else’s book, isn’t it? Some of my most successful sales have come from the traveling I do with Candace Salima and Shirley Bahlmann. We talk each other up, we share what we enjoyed about each other’s books, and we feel comfortable doing it because it’s not our own book we’re gushing over. (Okay, so I do gush over my own books as well. We’ve already established I’m a ham.)


2. If you feel uncomfortable approaching people, you can make them come to you with a cute table display. Kerry Blair has to be the queen of this – when “Mummy’s the Word” came out, she even had a stuffed crow on her table. I went to Michele Paige Holmes’ booksigning just this last Saturday, and she had created a darling display with star-shaped magnets on a metal board. If you picked the right star, you won a free book. If you didn’t win the book, you still got a candy bar. (Hold on! My candy bar is still in my purse. I’m gonna go get it. Yum!) She took a quote about the candy bar from the book and tied it to the candy, so even if you didn’t win the book, you still took home a snippet from the book. How clever is that? She even had a table cloth with stars on it, made by running a seam around some fabric. Her book is called “Counting Stars,” and she carried the theme through in everything she did. “I’m comfortable with the homemaking approach,” she told me. Well, it was cute and eye-catching, so I say it worked.


3. What if you just don’t like interacting with the public at all? You are going to have to get over that, you know. You can’t stay in your house forever. Okay, I guess you could, but then they’d do a TV show about you. But with the way the Internet is taking over the world, you could do a whole lot of promoting online. You can set up a website, you can start a blog (although only nerds blog – oh, wait . . . ) you can advertise in online magazines – there are so many things you can do from your own home that don’t require public interaction. You can’t escape it forever, but you can get your name out there.

So, do you have to be willing to wear costumes? No, that’s just me. But there is a way for you to tap into your own comfort zone and get out there and have some fun. That’s the main thing about interacting with the public – you have to have fun. If they feel like you’re there only because your dentist didn’t have any openings for root canals, they won’t be interested in talking with you. And it’s talking with you that makes them want to buy your book.

Something Pretty

Saturday, June 09, 2007

More Self-Humiliation -- I mean, Virtual Editing Workshop

I console myself with the fact that this was four years ago, before I was wiser and so much more experienced . . .

Here are some examples from my Work in Progress.

"I'm not sure I can do this," Shannon said nervously.

"I'm sorry you're having to go through this," Glenn said sympathetically.

Okay, what's wrong with these sentences?

The words the characters are speaking already imply the emotions. We know Shannon's feeling unsure, which indicates that she's nervous. Glenn said he was sorry, which indicates sympathy. By tacking the words "nervously" and "sympathetically" onto the speech attribution, I'm bogging down the sentence, I'm being repetitive, and I'm also not trusting the reader to figure out for themselves how the characters feel.

I hate to say it, but I'm finding a lot of these types of instances throughout this book. I'm so grateful I decided to go through and rewrite it.

And please, if you'd like to send me any snippets to be looked over, send 'em on over through my website. 500 words or less.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Grace and Works

I didn't start up this blog with the intent to use it as a forum to preach doctrine, but rather to share my thoughts and also writing tips. Well, today I've been thinking about doctrine, so you get a two-fer, I guess.

I read a lot of Christian fiction. It has an uplifting message and I know I can trust it to be clean. There are a few minor doctrinal differences between the subjects in the book and what I personally believe, but they are so minor, it's really not an issue.

One thing that does concern me, though, is that when I go online to learn more about Christian fiction or authors, etc, I inevitably stumble across websites that explain, from a Christian point of view, what Mormons believe. This concerns me because in many instances, the information being given is incorrect.

Take, for instance, grace vs. works. There are some Christians who feel that Mormons believe that our works will save us. I'd like to take a moment to address this, not because I'm trying to start an argument or to preach, but because I'd like to clear up some of the misunderstandings, and to gain better grounds of communication with my Christian friends.

Mormons do not believe that our works alone save us. We very much believe that it is through Christ that we are saved. When we talk about doing good works, it's not because we are picturing a huge tallyboard in the sky, with points for every good thing we do, and when we hit a million points, we go to Heaven. That's just not how it is.

We believe in performing good works because:

1. We want to be like Christ, and Christ did good works.

2. When we do good works, we feel closer to Christ.

3. We believe that those who believe in Christ are His hands on the earth, and that by doing good works, we can help Him reach out to those who need Him.

4. Doing good works makes us happy.

Now, as far as the good works getting us into Heaven, I do pose a few questions. We've been taught that no unclean thing can enter the Kingdom of God. Wouldn't we all agree that doing good works helps to keep us clean, and so therefore, doing good works would help us feel more at home in the Kingdom of God, where everything is so clean, we would feel ashamed if we were dirty?

Additionally, there is the scripture that says it is by grace we are saved, after all we can do. Doesn't "all we can do" mean that we should be striving to do our best, and then grace will take the the rest of the way?

So to summarize, Mormons do believe that it is through the Atonement of Christ that all mankind is saved. We also believe that it is through obedience, because as we are obedient, we show Him how grateful we are for that Atonement. He couldn't have an ungrateful person live with Him forever. But we do not believe that we get brownie points for our actions and that we can "buy" our way into Heaven with enough casseroles.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Frequently Asked Questions -- Why Wasn't Nothing To Regret More about Topaz?

For those of you who haven't read Nothing to Regret (well, first of all, go get a copy! What are you still sitting there for?) the story begins with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent internment of the Japanese Americans living on the west coast at the time. My characters were living in Berkeley and were sent to live at Topaz, the internment camp just outside of Delta, Utah. From there, my character goes on an espionage mission to Japan, and his time in Topaz only takes up the first quarter of the book. Readers have told me that they would have liked to see more about Topaz and were disappointed that I skimmed over that part.

I can understand the frustration -- whenever I am reading a historical novel, I like to learn as much as I can about whatever I'm reading. But I do need to set my readers' minds to rest on this concern -- I did not make the Topaz segment longer because to do so would require a whole lot of repetition.

You see, the lives of the internees were very mundane, which is part of the tragedy of the story. They woke up, had breakfast, bathed, did laundry, ate lunch and dinner, and basically that was all. The children could go to school, but if you weren't a child, there was very little for you to do, and precious little opportunity to create things to do. There were a few sports teams for the young men. The older men got together and played checkers. But every day life was tedious.

In the book, I did mention what entertainment there was to be had. I also mention some of the other happenings in the camp, such as the shooting of Mr. Wakasa and the pipes that kept breaking. But it was not possible for me to make the Topaz segment of the book longer and still maintain reader interest, as it would be a lot of repetition of what I said before. And now I'm starting to repeat myself.

So it's not that I wanted to skip over Topaz or to cheat my reader out of history. It's simply that I told everything there really was to tell.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Update on Previous Blogs

I just thought I'd let you know how things have progressed around here.

Nothing to Snicker About: I'm sitting here eating peanut M&M's that I got for free. The Master Foods company sent me four coupons worth up to $5.00 each for any of their products and I cashed in the first one tonight. Parrrrty!

And, when I blogged about getting hair splinters in my feet, Danyelle left a comment and suggested that I cut hair outside. Well, that was a really brilliant idea. I hadn't done it before because I use clippers and need electricity, but I found a handy dandy outlet outside and we moved the whole kit and caboodle out there. I am proud to announce that it's been twelve hours and nary a hair in my foot. The best part is, one of the requirements for the World Conservation Badge is to leave nesting materials outside for the birds. Well, what is hair but a nesting material? This was one of the best bribes ever to get my son to let me cut his hair!

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Virtual Editing Workshop Part Four

I promised you guys some more installments of the Virtual Editing Workshop. Are you just so excited?

All of these bits and pieces are taken from my current WIP.

1. How often should you use the characters' names? If you are handling a scene with a large group of people, you should use names frequently so the reader always knows who's talking. But when you've got just one man and one woman in the scene, it's perfectly all right, and in fact, desirable, to use "he" and "she" more often than names.

While reading through my WIP, I found:

Mark yada yada yada. Shannon yada yada yada. Mark yada yada yada. Then Mark yada yada.

Unfortunately, a lot of books are written this way, and it's not only not needed, but it's really distracting to the reader as well. How much better is it to say:

Mark yada yada. He then yada. Shannon yada yada. She yada yada. He yada yada.

Until another person comes on the scene, you can get away with "he" and "she" quite happily for some time. Although, I do hope they do a little more than just yada yada; that will make for a boring book.

2. We've talked about this a little before, but whenever possible, have the words the characters speak indicate how they are spoken, or have them perform an action that indicates the emotion. For instance, my character has hurt her leg. My sentence read:

Right, she thought sarcastically. I’m really going to walk on this knee.

If you have to tell the reader that the character is being sarcastic, it's probably not written well enough to come across. I changed it to:

Right, she thought. Like I’m really going to walk on this knee.

Adding the "like" in there, while not grammatically stellar, helps to indicate that she's being sarcastic without my having to say that she is.

Then I realized that this sounded like she'd literally be walking on her knee. (Ouch!) So with one more tweak . . .

Right, she thought. Like I'm really going to walk with this knee.


3. Finally he gave up . . . ah, here we have one of those dreaded point of view problems. The entire book is written from Shannon's POV. She can't know he gave up -- he has to give her some indication that he has done so. A simple "I give up" sometimes doesn't hurt. But the narrative can't just say, Finally he gave up. She's not a mind-reader.

4. Shannon found an ace bandage . . . This is a good thing for me to point out. Some common terms are not just the name of the item -- it's a brand name. An ace bandage isn't just any old bandage -- Ace is the brand name. In a case like this, you must capitalize the Ace. Same goes for Band-Aid. You need to spell it exactly like it's spelled on the package. It's eBay, it's Jell-O, and it's Ace.

5. We've talked about overusing words and about substituting tired old cliches for something new and different. I found this:

Slowly, she made her way . . .

Not only is that pretty boring, but I really need someone to do something slowly in the very next paragraph. So I had to go back and change this one. Let's see, she's hurt her knee and she's wrapped it up in an Ace bandage. So I changed it to:

Feeling like a peg-legged pirate, she made her way . . .

There now! That's much more interesting!

I hope that this little discussion of some of my foibles has been helpful. Believe me, I will be sharing more -- I've got nearly this whole book left to edit.

Frequently Asked Questions -- Why Didn't You Go National?

I have a page on my website with some of my most frequently asked questions. But I'd like to address more than I've addressed on the site, and think this is a pretty good place to do it until I get around to asking my webmaster to update the page for me.

The question I'm answering today has been asked many times, by readers and by fellow authors. My fiction is based on world history, and so has a world-wide appeal. Why, then, didn't I choose to go national with my books?

I love the LDS market. I love being able to speak freely about the things I believe and to incorporate those beliefs into the lives of my characters. It's true that there are Mormons mentioned in national literature, but never with the freedom we have in this market to just let it all hang out, as it were.

Furthermore, I strongly and truly feel that the power in my writing comes from following my gut, and when my gut is writing about something I believe to be true, it translates into a better book.

So, in a nutshell, that is why I chose to write for the LDS market instead of going national. I might, at some point, go national, but this is where I belong for now. I want the freedom to share my testimony of Christ, and until the national market is ready for Mormon stories, this is where I'll be.

Are You a Passive Writer?

When I first started writing, I was what you might call an organic writer. I did everything according to instinct, with very little formal training in . . . well, anything at all, really. I'm still very much that way. I write according to my gut. My guts are very overworked, overburdened, and overtaxed, but hey, that's the way I write. That's where the passion comes from.

But being untrained as I was, I made a lot of booboos. You know all those things they tell you not to do? I was doing them. A lot.

Now that I'm sooooo much older and wiser and all that, and have taken writing classes and listened to what my peers and my critics are telling me, I'm more aware of my failings and have spent a lot of time over the last year correcting those failings. One of those failings is my tendency to use the passive voice.

So, what's that? I always thought it had to do with passive aggressive, you know -- you just take it and take it and take it until someday you strangle someone. Or sabotage them behind their backs, all the while looking like sweetness and light. Well, while that's awfully fun and leads to some great novel ideas, that's not what it means.

Check this out:

1. She was sitting on the porch.
She sat on the porch.


The first sentence is passive. The second sentence is not.

2. He had been wishing for a pony for Christmas.
He wished for a pony for Christmas.

Again, the first sentence is passive.

I'm now going to very organically, without any formal training, explain why we don't want passive.

You notice, with both those two passive sentences, that the reader is a step removed from the action. It's like a comfy barrier has been put up between them and the character. By taking the passive voice out and putting the reader front and center in the action, they can partake of the emotions and the undercurrents of the story more completely, becoming part of it rather than looking at it through a window.

Additionally, by taking out the "was" and the "had been," you're tightening up your writing, making it crisper and cleaner.

There are times when you'll want "was" and "had been" and their brothers and sisters -- that's when you're writing in past tense, such as in expository narrative. But I do hope you're not using a lot of that -- show us, don't tell us.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Movie Recommendations

As you know, because I've hammered you over the head with it so many times, I review movies as well as books over on Families.com. Being a family-oriented site, I only review G and PG-rated films. But what if I've seen a couple of really good PG-13's lately and want to tell someone about them?

I'll tell you!

The first one is "Stranger Than Fiction." It stars Emma Thompson as a bestselling novelist and Will Farrell as her main character. One day he starts hearing her voice in his head, narrating everything he does. He's the only one who can hear it, and it's driving him crazy and even encouraging him to do things that aren't in his nature to do. When he finally figures out that he's a novelist's character, he manages to track her down (with the help of Dustin Hoffman) and together they solve the problem. I had expected this movie to be 100% comedy, but it was a think piece as well, and I found it deeply moving as well as hysterical.

The other is "Music and Lyrics," with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. Hugh is one half of an old 80's pop music duo and is considered a has-been who now performs at places like Knottsberry Farm. Drew is a plant girl who comes in to take care of his plants, but she's just filling in for a friend and can't tell the difference between real and silk plants. When Hugh is hired by a teenage singer to write her a hit song, he discovers that Drew has talent with lyrics and he asks her to write the words for the song. But when the singer decides to ruin the song with her own "special additions," they have to find a balance between fame and artistic integrity. The dialogue in this film is fabulous. I would recommend renting it and then fast-forwarding all the parts when the young singer performs -- she's the element that makes it a PG-13 and it's much more enjoyable without her.
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