Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Blog Tour - Interview with Devin D. Thorpe



Devin D. Thorpe, author of Building Wealth for Building the Kingdom: A Financial Planning Guide for Latter-day Saint Families, lives in China and teaches business at a local University on behalf of Brigham Young University.  Previously, Devin’s 25 year career in business included seven years running an investment banking firm as well as other corporate finance positions.  He served an LDS Mission in Argentina.  He earned an MBA from Cornell University after earning a BS in Finance from the University of Utah.  More information is available at Devin’s blog: bw4bk.tumblr.com; follow @devinthorpe on Twitter; like Building Wealth for Building the Kingdom on Facebook.


About the Book: 
Building Wealth for Building the Kingdom is a simple, practical guide to help LDS families organize their personal financial plans to meet their unique goals. The book provides simple answers to questions like:
  • How much should I be saving each month for my son's mission?
  • How much should I be saving each month for my children's college education?
  • How can I save enough to be able to retire while I'm healthy enough to serve a mission?
Avoiding tips on pinching pennies, the book focuses on opportunities to save thousands or tens of thousands of dollars by making smart moves with big decisions, like home and car purchases.
Mormon families will appreciate the gospel-centered, scripture-based focus on putting tithing at the center of a financial plan. Building Wealth for Building the Kingdom will help prepare families to enjoy the benefits of their labor while simultaneously contributing to the growth of Church.

Book Excerpt

This book has been written for those Latter-day Saints (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) who believe that it is more important to do good than to do well.  That is to say, it is written for you because you believe it is more important to raise a good family, attend to your Church duties, send your children on missions and pay tithing than it is for you to accumulate wealth.  You may, therefore, lack adequate financial planning.  The objective of this book is to help you to prepare financially to render any service that you may be called to give.

Brigham Young best expressed what has become the theme for this book.  He said, “If, by industrious habits and honorable dealings, you obtain thousands or millions, little or much, it is your duty to use all that is put in your possession, as judiciously as you have knowledge, to build up the Kingdom of God on the earth.”

What Brigham Young suggests is something akin to consecration.  The Church does not now require that we currently share all of our wealth directly with the Church or that we keep all things in common.  Instead, we live a preparatory law of tithing and the payment of offerings.  Beyond that, we give to the Church much of our free time.   We save and invest our money to prepare our children to enter life as contributing members of the Church.  We save and invest to send our children on missions and to serve missions ourselves.

This preparatory law is good preparation for living the higher law.  So much of our time, talents and resources are already dedicated directly to building the kingdom that to go to the next step of fully consecrating our assets and income to the Lord should become relatively simple.  It is not inappropriate to consider financial planning from the standpoint of preparing ourselves for living this higher law.

Self-reliance is a fundamental precept of our Latter-day religion.  President Hinckley explained this concept in an interview with the BBC in 1995, saying:

We teach emphatically the importance of self-reliance, the importance of education, of equipping our people so they can earn a living; the importance of saving and being prudent in the management of their affairs; the importance of setting something aside, a re-serve, to take care of their needs if there should come a rainy day in their lives. And it's amazing how many follow that teaching. That's basic with us.

This desire for self-reliance, therefore, further defines who we are as Latter-day Saints and how we approach the task of financial planning.  Our objective, therefore, is to be able to provide for ourselves and our family members all of the things we desire them to have—without reliance upon a government dole or help from the Church. 

Although you may never have thought about it before, your perspective on financial planning is likely somewhat different than other people’s.  The motivations you may have as a Latter-day Saint in accumulating wealth are likely associated with a desire to render service to others, to build up the Lord’s Kingdom, to prepare yourself to live the law of consecration and, finally, a desire to be self-reliant.

On Writing:

Q:  What motivated you to write the book?

My work on the book began 15 years ago, early in my business and financial career, because even with an MBA from Cornell University, I recognized that I had to research the answers to many of the questions that the book answers.  If MBAs working in finance needed these tips, I figured many people would.

Q:  What is the single most useful thing you have learned and how has it helped you as a writer?

Everyone has a desire to matter, to make a difference, to be significant.  Most of us lack the courage to do the hard things that matter, that make a difference and that allow us to become significant.  Find the courage to do the hard things that matter, that make a difference in the world and you will become significant.

Q:  What would you say are your main literary influences?

As much as I love to write—and I do love to write—I love to read more.  I make an effort to read a variety of genres and authors, from classics to contemporary fiction, and all kinds of non-fiction.  I guess everyone has his or her own approach, but I recently read a blog from an author who said she’d been working on her book for seven years and hadn’t read a single page of anyone else’s book in that time.  I’m absolutely certain I’m not good enough to write well without reading inspiring prose.

On Self-Publishing:

Q:  What are the biggest challenges you have faced with self-publishing?

The great thing about self-publishing in 2012 is how easy it is.  With just a bit of work, you can publish a book with absolutely no cost on Amazon’s Kindle publishing platform.  A few bucks with help from people I found at odesk.com got the book into even better shape, including a version for publication on the Create Space, which makes a print version of my book available immediately on virtually every on-line bookstore, including some international ones.  It is a great day to be an author—I feel sorry for publishers!

Q:  What surprised you about the self-publishing process?

Right now there is a stigma attached to self-published authors, that just because you can pay for the book to be published doesn’t mean you are a qualified author. Do you think self-publishing will ever become a respected industry?  

If the recent bankruptcy of Houghon-Mifflin doesn’t convince you that the publishing world has now completely changed, let me point out that Mark Cuban recently self-published his book, opting to avoid the artificial constraints, limitations and unfair division of profits inherent in the current publishing model.  Mark Cuban could have had almost any publisher he wanted.  Other well-known and well-respected people who have written great books have opted to self-publish their books.  In other words, I think we’re there.  The tables have turned and people are starting to ask, “Why did you need a publisher to help you get your book out when you could have done it all by yourself?”  The truth is, publishers have never sold books—authors always did and now we don’t have to share the profits!

Q:  What is your advice to authors who decide to self-publish?

Don’t ever apologize for self-publishing your work.  Ever.


Friday, June 08, 2012

Character Foreshadowing

Ah, there's so much to discuss when it comes to Star Wars. The intricacies of the plot are amazing. You ever want your mind to be totally blown? Ask a die-hard Star Wars fan to tell you the history of the Wookies. You'll find that every race has a history that goes back hundreds of years, things we never see in the films but that are revealed through the books that spun off from the series. Your eyes will glaze over after the first thirty seconds of explanation, but you'll come away amazed at the depth of character building and world building that have gone into the Star Wars product.

When I saw the first three films of the Star Wars saga (which is confusing, because they weren't really the first three - they were the second three, which came out chronologically after the first three, which in the story line, were really the second three ... um, yeah ...) I was interested to see how Darth Vader came into being. Weren't we all? We start out with a cute little boy who grows into a young man and then turns into Darth Vader. At first, it all seemed really sudden. Okay, it took three movies, but it still seemed really sudden. I wanted more foreshadowing. I wanted more insights into Anakin's head. (Oh, wait - should I have included a spoiler alert? Anakin turns into Darth Vader. Sorry if I ruined that for anyone.) I wanted more.

Then I watched those movies again, and I realized I was wrong. The foreshadowing had been there all the time.

The Phantom Menace - In this first episode, we see Anakin as a young boy. Oh, so cute, with those little cheeks! Right? But as I watched it the second time, I noticed several things. First, no one ever said "no" to him. He was justified in anything he wanted to do. Qui-Gon Jinn was so excited to meet this child possessed of so many awesome midi-chlorians that he let Anakin walk all over him. The child was developing seeds of pride, and no one reined him in.

Attack of the Clones - We see Anakin as a young man, and he's not so cute anymore. (No offense, Hayden Christensen.) He's arrogant and totally full of himself. He knows he's somethin' and isn't afraid to let anyone know it. Obi-wan tries to talk to him about it, but he's not listening. He demands that Padme love him ... and silly girl, she obeys him. Again, he's getting what he wants through fit-throwing, and no one gives him what he really needs - a sharp kick in the patootie. The pride grows and grows. And when he decides to slaughter an entire camp of people, what does Padme say? "You're only human." Um ... humans don't just slaughter entire camps of people, silly girl. There's something seriously wrong with this boy you've chosen.

Revenge of the Sith - And here we have the episode where the final transformation takes place. I won't go too deeply into how much I hate Padme's character in this episode - they took a perfectly self-sufficient woman and turned her into a whiny-helpless-chick when she got pregnant, and sheesh, why didn't she fall for Obi-wan, I 'd like to know - but anyway. Moving on. She's the only person who could have really told Anakin what was what, and she never did. He could slaughter a camp of people - no big. All the kids in the Jedi temple? A little disturbing, but not enough to really make her look at things. Every time his outrageous behavior was validated, he became more and more filled with pride, and that is what the emperor used to control him. He preyed on his pride, the pride that had been building since he was a little boy.

Stepping back and looking at it from this perspective, I can see that the foreshadowing was really perfect. I'm also seeing how an entire lifetime of never being told "no" can be bad for a person. The Jedi council tried to explain to Qui-Gon the consequences of his choice to train Anakin, but Qui-Gon didn't listen. If anyone along the way had really put their foot down, we wouldn't have ended up with Darth Vader. Of course, that would have really stunk for the movies. But you see what I'm saying - that increase of pride throughout the three movies was the foreshadowing we needed to understand how Anakin became Darth Vader.

As authors, we should pay attention to these types of things. We want our characters to live and breathe in the minds of our readers, just like Darth Vader. (And boy, does he ever breathe ... very distinctively.) We need to indicate why they are the way they are. Not necessarily over the course of three movies, but over the course of a few chapters, and to show how they emotionally reacted to the events of their lives to shape the perceptions they have today. This is especially important when someone is making a huge shift in their personalities, like going from Anakin to Darth Vader, but we now know from looking at it that it wasn't such a huge shift at all - he just hadn't found the perfect black cape yet.

Look at your characters. What actions will they be taking that might be confusing to the reader without the benefit of foreshadowing? You don't have to give everything away beforehand, but there should be enough little hints that afterward, the reader can go back and say, "Ah ... I see."

See also:

Writer Tip #22: Foreshadowing

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Release of Altercation by Tamara Hart Heiner

You might recall a book review I did about a year and a half ago for a book called Perilous by Tamara Hart Heiner. If that review doesn't automatically spring to mind, it's okay - just click this link and read all about it.  Tamara is a fresh new voice in the YA market, and her books are definitely worth your time even if you're slightly older than YA. Like me. Which is not to say that I'm old, because I'm not. 


Tamara has followed Perilous with a novel called Altercation, which was released just yesterday. It continues the story of the characters we met in the first novel, but it has been written to stand alone as well, in case you want to read it first. However, if you read one, you'll want the other one, so might as well just clear some time in your schedule this weekend to read them both. Put the phone to automatically head to voice mail and all that good stuff.


The FBI promises Jacinta Rivera and her friends that they are safe. Jaci wants desperately to believe them but weeks of hiding from their kidnapper, alias "The Hand", have left her wary. Hidden from the public eye in an FBI safe house, Jaci must reconcile both the mysterious disappearance of her father and the murder of her best friend.

A betrayal lands Jaci back in the grasp of The Hand, shattering her ability to trust and leaving her to wonder if she will ever piece together her broken life.

I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of the cover, but I am a fan of Tamara's, so it all comes out in the wash.

So ... I hear you right now asking me, "Tristi, how can we help Tamara celebrate her book release?"

And because you asked so nicely, I will tell you!

If you would like to purchase the book, you can get the hard copy here  and the Kindle version here.

And you can follow the blog tour by clicking here to see which blog is hosting on each day. Tamara explains in her own words why this is important:

Since this is a blog tour, EVERY DAY I will randomly select one person who made a comment on that day's blog. The winner will then get to decide if they would like an ebook copy of PERILOUS or ALTERCATION. That means I'm giving away 21 ebooks! And all you have to do is leave a comment! There's just one catch: there must be AT LEAST ten comments on that day for me to do the giveaway.

But if that's not enough, leaving a comment also gets you entered into the PRIZE DRAWINGS. This won't be random; it's cumulative. Every comment you leave counts as 1 point. If you are a follower on my blog, you get 1 point. Every time you tweet or share on Facebook about the tour, it's one point. I'll even add it up for you; just include me in on the tweet @tamaraheiner or on Facebook @tamarahartheiner (unless you don't trust my math, and then feel free to tally it up and send it to me).

THIRD PRIZE: 50-page critique of something of your choice (if you're not a writer, a $5 amazon.com gift card)
SECOND PRIZE: lot of five YA books
FIRST PRIZE: $20 gift card to Amazon.com

And there you have it - what a fun way to celebrate a new book's release!  So check out the book on Amazon, leave a comment here, visit the other blogs on the tour, and show Tamara some new-book love!

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Utah Valley Writers Workshop

Hmmm ... this flyer might be hard to see on the blog, so I shall sum up.

July 27th and 28th, iWriteNetwork is hosting a writers workshop at the Alpine School District offices in American Fork, Utah. Guest speakers include Lisa Mangum, Eric Patten, Jennie Hansen, Caleb Warnock, and others, including me.  :)

You are invited to attend - only $50 for two days' of classes, and lunch is included each day.

Here's the schedule:


Preliminary Schedule
Friday: Keynote and Breakouts

8:00                Pick up workshop materials

8:30                Eric Patten: Character-driven Plotting, room 315 & 316

11:30              Lunch

12:00              Tristi Pinkston: Genre & Audience, room 315
                        Cindy Hogan: Indie Publishing Part 1, room 316
                        Karen Hoover: Poetry, room 317
                        Ali Cross: Beginning Blogging, room 310
                       
1:20                Break

1:30                Jennie Hansen: Scene Structure, room 315
                        Karen Hoover: Outlining, room 316
                        Ali Cross, Advanced Blogging, room 310
                        Jordan McCollum: HTML, room 311
                       
2:50                Break

3:00                Brainstorming Panel

4:15                Day 1 Concludes
                       


Saturday Sessions


8:30                Lisa Mangum: Characters

10:30              Break

10:45              Caleb Warnock: Narrative Voice

12:15              Lunch

12:45              Lisa Mangum: Your First Chapter

2:00                Break

2:15                Carolyn Campbell: Writing for Magazines, room 315
                        Cindy Hogan; Indie Publishing Part 2, room 316
                        Canda Mortensen; Presenting, room 317
                        Jamie Theler, Twitter, room 311

3:15    Workshop Concludes



Register now before the conference is full!  Click here, select Language Arts, and Utah Valley Writers Workshop. If you have any questions, just ask.

Monday, June 04, 2012

Ability vs. Desire

My seven-year-old son is a total hoot. The other day he came up to me and said, "Mom, people are always asking the question, 'How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?' I think the real question is, 'How much does he want to chuck?'"

Like any good mother, of course I immediately put that on my Facebook status, but I've been thinking about it ever since. Out of the mouths of babes, they say. His innocent little question got my brain spinning in a million different directions.

Let's think about this woodchuck for a minute. Let's say that he can chuck two trees' worth of wood in one day. That is his capability. If he works consistently for eight hours, taking a half-hour lunch break, he can chuck two trees.

But how much does he want to chuck?

If he decides that one tree a day is just fine by him, he may only ever chuck one a day. That's what all the other woodchucks (possessed of similar inclinations) are doing. If he decides to be like all the other woodchucks and produce one a day, no one will think any the less of him. A wood-chucking woodchuck is an awesome thing all by itself. He can get away with living below his potential.

But what if he decides he wants more?

If that woodchuck had enough desire, and he was committed and dedicated and focused, and maybe even skipped his lunch break because he was excited to be chucking wood, he might find himself exceeding his wildest dreams and chucking three or four trees a day. He might have believed his ability only extended to two trees, but when his desire was brought into the picture, suddenly his ability didn't matter anymore. His desire took his ability and magnified it and expanded it until it was a non-issue.

When you want something badly enough, the facts don't matter.

Of course I'm going to tie this in to writing. It's very like me to do that.

As authors, when we think about our writing journey, we shouldn't think in terms of what we're "able" to do. We should think in terms of what we "want" to do. If I set a goal to write a book this summer because I want to, it shouldn't matter in the slightest that I've never done it before. I have the desire, and so I can achieve it. If I say, "You know, it's awesome that I'm an author to begin with. It's okay if I don't push myself," my productivity might slacken and my quality might decline because I'm making excuses and resting on my laurels. I'm like the complacent woodchuck who doesn't care that he could be chucking more trees.

And what if I don't want to write a book this summer? That's okay - if I forced myself to do it anyway, it would probably be a stupid book because my heart wouldn't be in it. Only I can determine my desires.

In summary, your level of ability doesn't matter. It's all about your level of your desire. Desire will take you further than any other determining factor. It doesn't matter how fast you type. It doesn't matter how little time you have to write each day. Desire makes things possible. Are you ready to listen to yourself, to your hopes, dreams, and deepest desires, and follow them?
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