Authors Incognito
Newsletter
June 2010
Newsletter
June 2010
FROM THE MODERATOR
- Nichole Giles(aka Queen of Awesome)
I recently rented the movie Julie and Julia. There’s a part where Julie, the blogger, jumps up out of her chair in an office cubical shouting, “I have a comment!” Then she realizes it’s from her mother and decides it doesn’t count. I laughed because I can totally relate to that feeling. My husband didn’t laugh. He isn’t a writer, or a blogger, therefore, he couldn’t possibly understand the feeling of elation, of validation, that comes with the sure knowledge that someone, anyone, has read your work.
All I could think was, I have to blog about this. My writer friends know that feeling better than anyone else in the world. This is why we tend to flock together, and also why we become so close.
But this closeness can sometimes be a double-edged sword.
As we spend time with each other, watch each other grow, learn and become successful, we often fall into a trap. We look at our friends and compare ourselves to them, wondering why they are farther ahead in the journey, or why they aren’t as far, or how they’re able to find more writing time than us. We wonder how one friend is able to pump out four novels in a year, while we struggle to finish one novel in two or three.
This way of thinking is a sand-trap in the golf course of our writing lives. Jump out, now!
No two authors would write the exact same book. Why, then, do we expect to have the same—or similar—journey? We don’t. We won’t. We shouldn’t.
We are unique individuals with original stories to tell. We would never want to write someone else’s book, and we should never, ever want to live someone else’s journey. Your journey is your very own. Live it and be grateful. Because in the end, writers are made, not born.
I hope to see you all at the upcoming activity. Happy summer!
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
Have you ever wondered what the inside of a jail cell really looks like? What about a police car? Questions about how certain law enforcement weapons work? The real strength of a bullet-proof vest? Want to know what really goes into investigating a homicide or drug lab? What's it like to be handcuffed and thrown in the slammer?What do they really do when someone finds a dead body?
Now's your chance to find out the answers to all these questions and more at our 2010 June Authors Incognito activity. If you've ever written any kind of law enforcement scenario into a scene or story, or ever plan to do so, now's your chance to ask a cop, up close and in person how things would really go down. You never know when this information will come in handy. Or, if you really believe you'll never need this type of information, you could just come hang out with the rest of us. We'd love to see you there.
On June 30th, 2010, at 6:00 pm, we'll be meeting at the Orem Police Department where Lieutenant Gary Giles will take us "back stage" to give us a tour of the jail and other facilities and answer all your criminal-type questions.
This activity is free to AI members, though we may ask for a small donation to help cover the cost of snacks and thank you cards. If you have a specific request about this activity, email Nichole and she'll see about making it happen.
IN THE NEWS
- Jenn Wilks
Our group has grown so much over the years--and not just in numbers. Many of our members, who were once truly incognito, are now signing their books in bookstores, calling up their agents to chat, and standing on a stage as contest winners. Here are a few our our not-so-incognito-anymore members who have some great news to share this month:
Congratulations to Taffy Lovell and Connie Hall who both entered pages in the League of Utah Writers Absolute Write chapter's first page contest. Taffy won two third place spots, and Connie won a third and a second, each in their respective categories. Way to go, ladies!
Bill Tandy won FIRST PLACE for his first chapter at the Utah Valley LUW Workshop. Good Job!
And a HUGE congrats to AI members who received book deals this month!
Stephanie Humphreys just got a contract through Walnut Springs to publish her book, Finding Rose, this summer!
Elana Johnson's debut novel Control Issues is coming out in Summer 2011 with Simon Pulse.
If you want a signed copy of Trapped, Ronda Hinrichson will be signing at a Costco near you all through the month of June. (If you're near Bountiful, Ogden, or Orem, of course.) :o) Go here to see her schedule.
You can also get copies of Mormon Mishaps and Mischief and Sharp Edge of a Knife signed by Nichole Giles at the Sandy Barnes and Noble on June 3rd, 6-8 p.m.
AI members Karen Hoover and Ronda Hinrichson will be presenting at THE Teen Writer's Conference on June 5th.
Good luck!
In other news, AI member Joyce DiPastena is hosting a huge Summer Treasure Hunt on her blog. Check it out here. And lots of AI members are giving away some great treasure! Some of the prizes you might win include:
Cool prizes from Danyelle Ferguson and Lynn Parsons, co-authors of (dis)Abilities and the Gospel
Trapped by Ronda Hinrichson
Altared Plans by Rebecca Talley
Heroes of the Fallen by David J. West
Either The Ball's in Her Court or Rebound by Heather Justesen
The Sharp Edge of a Knife by Nichole Giles
Martha's Freedom Train by C. LaRene Hall
Illuminations of the Heart by Joyce DiPastena
Chase MaKay Didn't Get Up Today by Cindy Williams
Sapphire Flute by Karen E. Hoover
MEMBER SPOTLIGHTS
KEITH FISHER Born between two brothers, Keith grew up in
After serving his mission, Keith married Wendy, his high school sweetheart. Their only daughter came into their lives Eleven years later.
The Fishers do everything together, including a Dutch Oven cooking hobby. Keith and Wendy competed in Dutch oven cook offs for several years. They placed first in many of them, including the, IDOS world Championship in 2005.
Keith began to write fiction later in life. Escaping with his computer to tell stories from life experiences became a great way to relieve stress. His hobby became serious in the nineteen nineties, when he submitted a story for publication. Rejection taught him to work harder and seek out others with his writing affliction. He attended his first writer’s conference in 2006. Keith finds joy in helping characters learn valuable lessons. He claims to learn a little from them too.
In life, Keith has been a Carpenter, Milwright, Typesetter, Document preserver, and Truck Driver. He studied to be an architect, and even managed a bar. He also pumped gas, hauled hay, and designed houses. According to scripture, All of these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good. At least for Keith, The experiences inspire good fiction.
There was a time when Keith avoided writing, but he turned a stress relief method into his life’s work. He’s been re-learning lessons from high school, and getting much appreciated help from his critique group.
The journey through a million discoveries begins by turning one page. Won't you come along?
JOHN FERGUSON I was a writer before I was a geek, writing stories in elementary school. I even tried my hand at poems which were both creative and not very good. I know. I still have some of them. No, you can't read them. Ever.
GREAT BOOKS FOR FATHER'S DAY
UPCOMING CONFERENCES & WRITING CLASSES When I discovered logic, math, science, and computers I let my writing slide. Unlike most of the population, I really liked these subjects, which didn't do much for my popularity (except right before big tests and group projects). I lost track of my desire to write somewhere after this. I started to view writing as a task to be done to get a grade or to fulfill a requirement.
In college, I took a creative writing class. I had an awesome teacher and I enjoyed my classmates, but I still saw the class just as a GenEd requirement. Over the next several years, I became a computer programmer, a statistician, and a technical writer.
It wasn't until I attended an LDS Storymakers Conference that I rediscovered the joy of writing and met many wonderful writers who became my mentors and friends. I still kept up my technical writing, but I added journal writing, biographical writing, and the area I enjoy most, fantasy writing. I'm currently working on a YA contemporary fantasy.
These days, I'm still a geek, but I'm also a writer. And I enjoy bridging these two worlds through teaching writers about technology. I also enjoy reading, listening to podcasts, playing with toys in the aisles at Toys R Us, swing dancing, telling corny jokes, running, and being a husband and dad.
GREAT BOOKS FOR FATHER'S DAY
Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers
(Formerly held at BYU)
June 14 – 18 at the Waterford School in Sandy, Utah.
Registration is open until June 11th.
$475 full day tuition --Includes in-depth critiques of your work--excellent
$125 half day --Includes plenary and breakout sessions as well as banquet.
Click here for more information.
League of Utah Writers presents
$475 full day tuition --Includes in-depth critiques of your work--excellent
$125 half day --Includes plenary and breakout sessions as well as banquet.
Click here for more information.
League of Utah Writers presents
“Diamonds in the Rough”
Airport Hilton and Convention Center
5151 Wiley Post Way – Salt Lake City, Utah
September 17 - 18, 2010
Airport Hilton and Convention Center
5151 Wiley Post Way – Salt Lake City, Utah
September 17 - 18, 2010
Mark you calendars and we'll let you know as soon as registration opens. To find out more about the League of Utah Writers, click here.
Mistake-Free Grammar & Proofreading
workshops, various summer dates in UT, AZ, NM, OK, and TX. More info at www.careertrack.com or 1-800-556-3009 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-800-556-3009 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-800-556-3009 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
Mistake-Free Grammar & Proofreading
workshops, various summer dates in UT, AZ, NM, OK, and TX. More info at www.careertrack.com or 1-800-556-3009 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-800-556-3009 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-800-556-3009 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
Professional Novel Writer’s Workshop
in Dallas, Texas on July 6-11.
Taught by David Wolverton / Farland. For more information, click here.
Back by popular demand, Dave will also host 2 Writer’s Death Camp sessions in Saint George, Utah from November 1-6, and 15-20 at the Ramada Inn, 1440 East Saint George Boulevard Saint George, UT 84790 (435) 628-2828 . The price will be $500. This is the ultimate self-challenge for someone serious about writing. See www.DavidFarland.net for details.
NEW BOOKS BEING RELEASED
Rebound
by Heather Justesen
Launch party: Thursday, June 3rd
6:00-8:00 pm
Barnes and Noble, Sandy, UT.
For more signing information, visit Heather's Website.
Lost Children, Coping with Miscarriage
by Rachelle Christensen
Trapped
by Ronda Gibb Hinrichsen
For Launch Party info click HERE!
CONTESTS YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS
The League of Utah Writers 2010 Creative Writing contest
Open now! The deadline is June 15th, so hurry and enter while you still can. Click here for category information, and here for more contest related info.
2nd Annual Summer Treasure Hunt: Dig for Clues and Win Contest!
Click here for more information, and be sure to follow through to all participating blogs in order to optimize your chances at winning. We're talking a prize a day for more than a month. Don't miss out!
The Awakening Avery Blog tour and giveaway,
sponsored by Walnut Springs Press. Check out their blog, or another participating tour blog for more information.
100 Words = Any Book You Want
Go to Wendy Swore's blog and enter your 100-word entry by June 13th for a chance to win any book up to $25 on Amazon. Check out the details ather blog
Pre-Eclipse Road Trip Extravaganza!
If you're as excited as us about the upcoming release of Eclipse, be sure to check out all the fantabulous Eclipse-themed prizes being given away in June. Take a virtual road trip between Pleasant Grove, UT and Forks Washington for many chances to win cool stuff. The trip starts here.
The League of Utah Writers 2010 Creative Writing contest
Open now! The deadline is June 15th, so hurry and enter while you still can. Click here for category information, and here for more contest related info.
2nd Annual Summer Treasure Hunt: Dig for Clues and Win Contest!
Click here for more information, and be sure to follow through to all participating blogs in order to optimize your chances at winning. We're talking a prize a day for more than a month. Don't miss out!
The Awakening Avery Blog tour and giveaway,
sponsored by Walnut Springs Press. Check out their blog, or another participating tour blog for more information.
100 Words = Any Book You Want
Go to Wendy Swore's blog and enter your 100-word entry by June 13th for a chance to win any book up to $25 on Amazon. Check out the details ather blog
Pre-Eclipse Road Trip Extravaganza!
If you're as excited as us about the upcoming release of Eclipse, be sure to check out all the fantabulous Eclipse-themed prizes being given away in June. Take a virtual road trip between Pleasant Grove, UT and Forks Washington for many chances to win cool stuff. The trip starts here.
LDS Women's Book Review
is again hosting their Countdown to Summer promotion. Watch their blog for more information, as they will be giving away books, gift cards and other fun prizes. Keep an eye on the Querytracker blog.
They have agent / editor judged writing contests sometimes once a month. This is a great resource for researching agents and publishers and what they're looking for in a client.
Bookish Sites to Follow
Star Crossed Book Reviews--Different than an author blog, and the brainchild of Nichole Giles, this is a hot place to learn more about books, contests, and authors in general. If you're a reader (and what author isn't) stop by and follow. You'll be glad you did.
LDS Women's Book Review--run by our own Shanda, Sheila, and Hillary where they talk about all things bookish or authorish.They also have contests and do podcasts, which are way, way fun. Check them out.
LDS Publisher--run by an anonymous publisher of LDS works. This is a great place for advice and other bookish things. Plus, they have regular contests.
LDS Fiction--also run by the mysterious LDS publisher, with many of the same promotions and contests as the other site, and many fun book reviews.
Clean Books for LDS Families--Separate from an author blog, run by Heather Justesen. This is another great place to read about all the latest and greatest LDS books available to fans.
TECH CORNER
- John Ferguson
#1) If you are looking to setup a website or wanting a new web host you should check out Bluehost. If you decide to go with them and use the link on the following site, then all the kickback proceeds will be donated to the Whitney Awards.
http://www.jndservices.com/learning/websiteworkshop/
#2) If you decide to change a character's name from Mia to Gertrude. Then Search and Replace is your friend. In Word, make sure you check out the "More" or "Advanced" options. A useful option is "Find whole words only". That way your main character won't be driving a Gertrudeta instead of a Miata (does anyone drive these anymore) and she won't go vising Gertrudemi instead of Miami. There are other options you can try in different situations like searching for words that sound similar and finding all the forms of a word (like lay, laid, lays, and lain). Happy searching and replacing.
QUOTE ON WRITING~Provided by Elizabeth Mueller
"So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key."
Lyrics from Already Gone, performed by the Eagles for their 1974 On the Border album
And we never even know we have the key."
Lyrics from Already Gone, performed by the Eagles for their 1974 On the Border album
WRITING TIP
By Jordan McCollum
Ratcheting up the tension in your writing:
Let's face it: we writers will probably always care more about our characters than our readers will. We might happily follow our characters through every aspect of their lives, but our readers probably won't. So how can we compel our readers to, you know, read?
Tension on a scene-level (and suspense on a story-level) compels our readers to keep reading. Humans can't stand to leave something unresolved, and injecting tension into every scene—or, as renowned literary agent Donald Maass says, every page—makes readers search for resolution. "The presence of suspense," agent Noah Lukeman says, "is . . . a feat and shows promise, since it indicates that the writer is writing more for the reader than for himself" (The Plot Thickens, 120).
So how do we make sure that tension is there? The two basic answers are context and subtext.
In this usage, context means setting up a scene for tension. It's using established conflicts to create tension. If you've already established that Contessatina will stop at nothing to murder Rodrigo, for example, this context adds more tension to the scene at the masquerade ball where a masked Rodrigo meets Contessatina (in Rodrigo's POV, of course).
You may have already created a tense situation for your character. Great! That's where subtext comes into play. Subtext helps to create tension by using the character's inner conflict to heighten the tension. So we have to be careful not to leave the subtext too subtle. For example, we've put our character into a situation we know is tense for her—Contessatina is in close quarters with Rodrigo. But if we're in her POV and we don't bring out her inner conflict—;if we don't show those thoughts and inner struggles—they won't be there for the reader, either.
Bringing out the inherent tension in your story with context and subtext can help compel your readers to keep reading long into the night!
The staff would like to thank all those that contributed to this edition of the Author's Incognito Newsletter. We feel blessed to have such a rich pool of writers and friends to choose from to help us. You're all awesome.
