July's Theme:
In the Service of Your Fellow Beings
Contents
Contents
From the Executive Committee | The Patriots Among Us by Donna Weaver
Good News & Book News | July Blogfest!
Serving Others with Our Words by Cheri Chesley
Member Spotlights: the Executive Committee
Writing tip: Stories are Linear by Robin Weeks
Tech Corner: Getting the most out of digest mode | Recipe: Cherry Squares
Good News & Book News | July Blogfest!
Serving Others with Our Words by Cheri Chesley
Member Spotlights: the Executive Committee
Writing tip: Stories are Linear by Robin Weeks
Tech Corner: Getting the most out of digest mode | Recipe: Cherry Squares
Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all around us. In the end, writers will write not to be outlaw heroes of some underculture but mainly to save themselves, to survive as individuals.
~Don DeLillo
Why We Must Give
There are many ways we can serve others, especially as writers. As a struggling artist, sometimes I lose sight of what being a writer is all about. Sure, I want to be published, but it's more than that. I want to be knowledgeable about my craft and have the confidence to reach out to others and teach them what I've learned. My road hasn't been easy. I didn't go to college or start taking my writing seriously at an early age. At forty . . . ahem . . . something, I feel way behind on the learning curve and wonder how much of a career I'll be able to enjoy before I'm rocking my golden years away on a porch somewhere. It would be so easy for me to be selfish and spend every waking moment working on ME, writing MY book, searching for MY agent and refusing to help others.
But that just isn't me.
For one thing, I LOVE helping others. Not because I feel I'm better or that I know more, but because I remember what it was like when I was at that stage of development and I craved for someone to give me their time and a little wisdom from their years of experience. I'd be the first to admit that when the time comes for my book to sit on a bookstore shelf, my name shouldn't be the only one on the front cover. There isn't enough room for all the writers who have helped me get where I am today.
So, next time someone asks for your advice or help, take a few moments from your busy day to pay it forward. You'll be glad you did.
by Donna Weaver
However, Mummy Dearest felt it appropriate to make her child pay some of her own expenses, and the colonies, as often happens with adolescents, decided to push back. Why pay without a say?
So began a series of events that did more than morph America from a dependent colony to a sovereign nation. It shaped our psyche as a people, gave us a love of—and demand for—freedom. Sacrifice, because of the dear price paid, became a building block of our nation.
When we consider the famous Founding Fathers, the names of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin come to mind, though there were many others. These were men of status and wealth, who risked much to take a stand. In the closing line of the Declaration of Independence they stated, "We pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
But many others also sacrificed, people whose names we don't know and cannot revere. The lowly farmers and merchantmen, the craftsmen and tailors, who took up arms to defend our fledgling country, who left behind their wives and children. Poorly trained and inadequately supplied, they fought and bled and died for an idea. They were the first, but they certainly weren't the last.
Thomas Jefferson said, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots." There is a new generation of men and women who, in the service of their fellow beings, will never be the same again. Another crop of widows and orphans, of crippled and emotionally scarred veterans is being created.
My friend, Bert (a Vietnam Vet), shared the following experience with me on Memorial Day via Skype:
Yesterday my wife and I went out shopping. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, a young man in a wheel chair, obviously a wounded veteran, dropped several small items on the ground. Before we could stop to help, and even before his wife or children could help, he leaned over with his one remaining arm, pushing himself with what was left of his two legs (not much), and grabbed his stuff. He dropped back down in his seat with a big smile of accomplishment, not with the scowl of frustration that so many of us would have had.
My God! Where do we get people like this?
I hope as we attend our 4th of July barbeques and fireworks shows that we'll take a moment and thank Heavenly Father for these patriots and their families. That we'll say a pray for their healing. It's unlikely their names will ever be repeated on the lips of school children, but it's their hardship, their pain, and their noble hearts that make our celebrations possible.
Donna Weaver joined Authors Incognito this year. She blogs at Weaving a Tale or Two.
(We heard it through the grape vine: A place to post warm-fuzzies on the cyber-fridge.)
~by Wendy Swore
Stephanie Abney wrote a news article about an interesting all male LDS chorus that was posted on www.MomonTimes.com . When she was in Utah for LDStorymakers, she drove up to Ogden and attended one of their rehearsals and interviewed them in person. You can read all about these fun guys here.
Marsha Ward has some great news to share: she’s going home! She says, “I've been away almost three weeks now, what with the unplanned surgery and the stay in the nursing center. There's still a lot of strength-building to do, but I can do it in my own home.” We’re glad to hear that, Marsha. We wish you a speedy recovery.
Heather Justesen's most recent book, Blank Slate, is launched in Fillmore! Wahoo! Nichole reports that this book is one of her favorites Heather has written.
The tumor removed from Nichole Giles' daughter's neck came back benign, and she will need NO further treatment now that it's all gone. Yay! We are all happy to hear that!
Danyelle Ferguson reports that (dis)Abilities and the Gospel has a July Blog Tour!
July 6th - Danette @ Everyday Adventures
July 8th - Sheila Staley @ LDS Women's Book Review
Sheila Staley @ Why Not? Because I Said So!
July 11th - Kathy @ I Am a Reader, Not a Writer
July 13th - Jessica @ FringiesJuly 15th - Heather @ Fire and Ice by Little Red Reads
July 18th - Nichole Giles @ Star Crossed Book Reviews
Comments will to enter you to win a $25 Amazon gift card!
(dis)Abilities and the Gospel Kansas City Launch
AND Fundraiser for Christian Youth Theater's H.E.A.R.T. ProgramJuly 30th
Barnes & Noble
Oak Park Mall - Overland Park, KS
11-4 pm
Proceeds from all purchases at Barnes & Noble NATION-WIDE made with the Fundraiser ID # will help raise money for scholarships for kids with disabilities who want to be a part of Christian Youth Theater's classes (acting, dance, and singing) and theater productions. More information will be announced on Danyelle's website and blog.
Tristi Pinkston did her first signing at Costco and sold out the store! (That’s because you are awesome, Tristi.) Congratulations!
Her cookbook, titled "Bless Your Heart," is specifically designed to help lower your sodium while keeping your taste buds very happy. These are really delicious, family friendly recipes that are easy to make and inexpensive. Persons with high blood pressure will gobble them up - the typical low-sodium diet is so bland. And even if you don't have high blood pressure now, you'll appreciate these recipes to help stave off developing heart problems later. (10% discounts & sneak peeks for preorders.)And last but not least, many Authors Incognito members are getting good results on their query letters. Keep up the good work everyone, and next month we can share good news from you!
Authors Incognito Blogfest!
Our second blogfest is coming up this month! This time around, Media Director Ali Cross is hosting.
The blogfest will run Friday, July 15, 2011. This time around we'll be asking for a short piece of original flash fiction: 250 words.
Ali will announce the theme on her blog. Be sure to check out the announcement and sign up on Ali's blog on Monday!
by Cheri Chesley
Like most of us, I was breezing through the month of May like nobody's business. The last month of school. About two inches shy of finishing my first full-length ebook. Looking forward to my son's graduation from 8th grade, my daughter finishing her first semester of home school, and actually submitting my second novel to my publisher. Then, on May 11th, a friend of mine posted this on Facebook, "Hello Facebook Friends and Family. Got some news. Nope, not good news. Yeah, I really wish it was. Really, really wish it was. Trying to decide how to tell you all. So, here it is... I have breast cancer. Wow. That took 10 minutes to type."
Rebecca is 35 years old, has a husband and three young children. She home schools her two older kids and beads necklaces and other awesome things. She does crafts at home that somehow cover my fingers in sticky construction paper and glitter just thinking about. I can't do the great, clever things she does. I write stories. But I wanted to help.
Two days after her announcement, she went in for a mastectomy. Seriously. They'd caught it early, but she had an extremely aggressive form of cancer that needed to be eradicated quickly. Already she's had two rounds of chemotherapy.
The day in between her announcement and her surgery, I went over to see Rebecca with another good friend. I burned with the desire to help her, but I just didn't know what to do. I'd fasted that day, hoping something would come to me, and it did. God is so amazing. He's right there when you need Him—always.
Before talking to Rebecca, I'd discussed the plan with my husband. He's okay with it. I told Karen, our mutual friend who went with me that day, and she thought it was a great idea. I absolutely KNEW it was the thing I should do, but I had my reservations about how successful I would be. Rebecca's a private person—sharing her life isn't easy for her. And she's the kind of person who has a difficult time accepting help, like a lot of us (me), even when she needs it.
Karen and I stayed firm. I told Rebecca I would take her kids to church every Sunday she needed me. Karen would help out any time she needed someone to take the kids. Then we dropped the big one. I said, "I'm going to donate all of my proceeds from my book sales through August 31st to help you pay your hospital bills. And you don't get to say no."
Rather than protesting (though that may have been the Valium), Becky teared up and said, "Thank you." We made announcements at church—the generic kind that the bishop approves because they can't be seen endorsing a particular product. The incomparable Tristi Pinkston is helping me spread the word through blogs and friends. This is my new plan; this is my work right now. It's not without sacrifice. I'd made secret plans for my very first royalty check ever, but I know this is what I need to do. I know it's the right thing.
Cheri Chesley, a member of Authors Incognito, is the author of The Peasant Queen. You can read more about her dedication to serving her friend in need at her blog, or see how you can help at allaboutthewhites.blogspot.com/.
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Education Director Jordan McCollum
Activities Director Danyelle Ferguson
As the Activity Director, Danyelle is in charge of coordinating all the fun activities and M&M party during the LDStorymakers conference. Each November, she organizes a totally awesome writers retreat. It's the perfect way to kick off the hellish month of NaNoWriMo. She also took on the job of moderator for the ChatterIncognito list—which seriously means she's going to need those reading glasses her optometrist recommended. Oh yeah, Danyelle is also the AI liaison with the Storymakers group. A little known fact is she was recruited as Christine’s personal slave.
Whenever the Queen Bee cracks her whip, Danyelle jumps and gets the job done. When asked about her role as the Executive Director's grunt worker, she said, "It's a tough and demanding job, resulting in hours of sweat and tears every week. But I guess someone's got to do it. I mean, it gets me out of housecleaning, laundry duty, and even cooking sometimes, so it’s totally worth it."
At home in Kansas, she's known as Isaac-MJ-Rob-Anna's mom or John's wife. She loves reading and getting her butt kicked at the gym. She's the author of (dis)Abilities and the Gospel, but has re-jumped into the awesome genre of romance – as the ladies in her head all search for their own modern-day Mr. Darcys.
Executive Director Christine Bryant
Rebecca is 35 years old, has a husband and three young children. She home schools her two older kids and beads necklaces and other awesome things. She does crafts at home that somehow cover my fingers in sticky construction paper and glitter just thinking about. I can't do the great, clever things she does. I write stories. But I wanted to help.
Two days after her announcement, she went in for a mastectomy. Seriously. They'd caught it early, but she had an extremely aggressive form of cancer that needed to be eradicated quickly. Already she's had two rounds of chemotherapy.
The day in between her announcement and her surgery, I went over to see Rebecca with another good friend. I burned with the desire to help her, but I just didn't know what to do. I'd fasted that day, hoping something would come to me, and it did. God is so amazing. He's right there when you need Him—always.
Before talking to Rebecca, I'd discussed the plan with my husband. He's okay with it. I told Karen, our mutual friend who went with me that day, and she thought it was a great idea. I absolutely KNEW it was the thing I should do, but I had my reservations about how successful I would be. Rebecca's a private person—sharing her life isn't easy for her. And she's the kind of person who has a difficult time accepting help, like a lot of us (me), even when she needs it.
Karen and I stayed firm. I told Rebecca I would take her kids to church every Sunday she needed me. Karen would help out any time she needed someone to take the kids. Then we dropped the big one. I said, "I'm going to donate all of my proceeds from my book sales through August 31st to help you pay your hospital bills. And you don't get to say no."
Rather than protesting (though that may have been the Valium), Becky teared up and said, "Thank you." We made announcements at church—the generic kind that the bishop approves because they can't be seen endorsing a particular product. The incomparable Tristi Pinkston is helping me spread the word through blogs and friends. This is my new plan; this is my work right now. It's not without sacrifice. I'd made secret plans for my very first royalty check ever, but I know this is what I need to do. I know it's the right thing.
Cheri Chesley, a member of Authors Incognito, is the author of The Peasant Queen. You can read more about her dedication to serving her friend in need at her blog, or see how you can help at allaboutthewhites.blogspot.com/.
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Member Spotlights
This month we're spotlighting our executive committee so that you know who to turn to with questions or issues!
Media Director Ali Cross
This month we're spotlighting our executive committee so that you know who to turn to with questions or issues!
Media Director Ali Cross
Ali Cross has always been a dreamer--probably a lot like you. When she would tell her family what new adventure she wanted to take on, they’d roll their eyes and say something like, “Oh yeah? Well let us know how that works out for you.” Meaning, of course, that no one expected her dreams to amount to much.
After all, she had wanted to be a pilot in the Canadian Air Force, a Royal Canadian Mounted Policewoman, and Prime Minister of Canada. She wanted to be a youth minister, an opera singer, and a ballet dancer.
The good news is . . . not all dreams stay relegated to dreamland forever.
She was an opera singer (five years with Opera Idaho) and tried ballet for one magical summer when she was thirty years old.
An she's discovered new dreams that are coming true even now. Yes, she's still a dreamer, but look where her dreams have taken her!
In addition to writing Young Adult and Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy, Ali keeps a kick-butt blog where writers become ninjas and everyone trains together for ultimate writing ninjAWESOMENESS.
Ali's currently serving as Authors Incognito's Media Director. She can help with questions relating to your blog, Twitter, Facebook, or other social networking issues. If it has to do with you reaching your audience, Ali's your go-to girl!
You can visit Ali at her blog: www.alicross.com, or on Twitter: @ali_cross.
Education Director Jordan McCollum
Jordan McCollum has studied writing craft since she was a teenager, and one of these days, that's really going to pay off. While she'll read almost anything, her favorite genres to write are mysteries and thrillers, with or without romance. Hard to beat a story where true love conquers all and good defeats evil!
As the education director, her job is to help us improve our writing craft. To do this, we've recently started online classes via email through the Writers Incognito list. In June, we learned about Microsoft Word from Abby Annis and critiquing from Josi S. Kilpack. We'll have more fun classes each month!
She's also in charge of this newsletter, and for this, we need your help. Each month, we'll send out an email assigning the various features. If you're assigned to a feature, please do it. If you're unavailable that month, please let her know ASAP.
If you have any writing questions or ideas for classes, please let her know!
She blog about writing craft at JordanMcCollum.com, and she occasionally Tweets @JordanMcCollum.
Activities Director Danyelle Ferguson
Whenever the Queen Bee cracks her whip, Danyelle jumps and gets the job done. When asked about her role as the Executive Director's grunt worker, she said, "It's a tough and demanding job, resulting in hours of sweat and tears every week. But I guess someone's got to do it. I mean, it gets me out of housecleaning, laundry duty, and even cooking sometimes, so it’s totally worth it."
At home in Kansas, she's known as Isaac-MJ-Rob-Anna's mom or John's wife. She loves reading and getting her butt kicked at the gym. She's the author of (dis)Abilities and the Gospel, but has re-jumped into the awesome genre of romance – as the ladies in her head all search for their own modern-day Mr. Darcys.
Executive Director Christine Bryant
Christine Bryant always been a writer. Even before she could compose a single word with a pen, she scribbled her version of cursive along the open page, just to see what it looked like. She spent my teenage years swiping her father's old Royal typewriter so her muse could breathe life into what her vivid imagination had created.She's a member of the Idaho League of Writers and a graduate of The Institute of Children’s Literature.
When she's not with my family or tickling the computer keys, she loves camping, reading, scrapbooking, listening to all kinds of music, and making new friends.
She currently lives in the middle of sage brush and lava rock with a spectacular view of the Snake River Canyon in South Central Idaho.
When she's not with my family or tickling the computer keys, she loves camping, reading, scrapbooking, listening to all kinds of music, and making new friends.
She currently lives in the middle of sage brush and lava rock with a spectacular view of the Snake River Canyon in South Central Idaho.
As Executive Director, Christine heads up the Executive Committee, but unlike the other members, she doesn't have specifically-defined duties aside from moderating our lists. If you need something that doesn't fall under the responsibilities of the other members of the Executive Committee, please don't hesitate to contact her. You can visit her blog at christinebryant.blogspot.com.
~Tobyn DeGraw
Conferences, workshops & contests, as well as book signings & launches, have moved to Events page!
Conferences, workshops & contests, as well as book signings & launches, have moved to Events page!
by Robin Weeks
In my college stage combat class (yay future fight scenes!), I learned the story of the punch:
- Pull your fist back, broadcasting that you’re a-gonna hit someone.
- Throw your arm forward, toward the face of the person being punched.
- Slap noise (you clap your own hands or the victim claps theirs).
- The victim whips his head to the side (away from the punch).
- You continue your fist through the punch.
- The audience leans over and asks their neighbors if you really punched him.
Easy, right? Also easy to get wrong:
Wrong #1: With your back to the audience, you quick-jab your fist forward. The victim falls backward. Audience wonders if he tripped.
Wrong #2: You pull back, the victim (who isn’t paying close attention) falls down. Audience wonders why he’s so scared of your fist.
That’s theatre. Let’s explore how it can go horribly wrong in your writing.
The night was quiet and Jane was darning her socks when Henry fell into her lap. He’d just gotten up to answer the door a moment before when Bandit Ben had burst in and hit him. With a mace. Which had been handed to him by his shifty-eyed companion. After Ben’s gun had misfired. Jane had been so scared through the whole encounter, she’d been frozen, unable to even scream. Until Henry’s dead body landed in her lap.
With non-linear writing, the reader must constantly rewrite the scene in their head. Jane is startled out of her sock darning by Henry falling into her lap. No! She’s been scared for a while now. Did he have a heart attack? No! He’d answered the door and been punched. No! He’d been hit by a mace. But not at first—first he’d almost been shot. THEN he got hit.
As we’re writing, we often decide to up the stakes, and we write the ideas as they come. Then we think “Hey, how startling for my readers if Henry just lands in her lap like that!” And maybe we decide that just skimming over Henry’s demise to get to Jane’s kidnapping is okay. And often it is. But this scene can be even more compelling if told in the proper sequence:
A knock shattered the quiet night. Jane looked up from the socks she was darning as Henry opened the door. Suddenly, a huge fist pressed a gun to Henry’s head. Bandit Ben. The hammer fell with a click and Jane froze. Henry tried to push the door closed, but Ben grabbed a huge mace from the shifty-eyed man behind him and swung it at Henry’s head. When Henry’s body landed in her lap, Jane finally found her voice.
I made both 78 words for fairness. :)
David Farland said at Life, The Universe, and Everything, that the word THEN is very often cut-able, since fiction is supposed to be linear already. Make sure your sentences and paragraphs tell the story as it happens—without backtracking.
Robin Weeks recently joined Authors Incognito. She works with David Farland's Writers' Groups. You can read more about her take on writing at robinweeks.blogspot.com.
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Getting the Most out of Digest Mode
Our Yahoo Groups have a digest mode, which sends out emails in batches of 25, or early in the morning, whichever comes first. (For example, if 26 emails are sent in a day, the first 25 will be assembled into the digest, and the 26th will be sent at the appointed time.)
Personally, I love the digest mode. It makes it easy to follow the various conversations we have as well as manage the hundreds of messages that come from this group each month. One of the biggest benefits of digest is how it assembles the emails. It groups emails according to subject, or by what email you're replying to even if you change the subject.
Here's an example of how the digest mode groups emails (All email images from this post are from Gmail.):
Note that these are only grouped from among the 25 most recent emails to the group.
Each subject line is linked to the email clicking on the link will take you down to the email—most of the time.
Naturally, 25 messages pasted into a single email makes for one pretty long email. In the right-hand column, you'll see "Message clipped. View entire message."
If there are parts of the email you want to read, and the links won't work, find that message and click View entire message. (Depending on how long the email is, the message is sometimes posted at the end of the email.)
Emailing the group and responding to emails is easy, too. To begin a new subject, you can just address it to [the name of our group, no spaces or punctuation] at yahoogroups.com. To reply to an email in a digest, there are options below each message:
Reply to sender will send an email directly to the person who sent the message to the group. Reply to group will send an email to the entire group—but neither of these options will "quote" the email you're replying to. You'll have to enter the subject line, and none of the messages will appear in your email.
To quote the email I'm responding to (and make sure Yahoo recognizes that my message is part of that conversation), I use Reply via web post. This link takes you to the Yahoo Group website, ready to post a reply with the subject line and quoted email filled in (you may have to sign in with Yahoo to continue):
One note here, whether you're on digest or not—please remember to trim your emails! You probably don't need all twenty-seven emails in the conversation tacked on to the end of your message. Two or three is plenty.
It's kind of a mess when you're receiving individual emails, but on digest it's extremely unwieldy.
For example, here is ONE untrimmed message in a digest. Each column represents an entire screen with my browser font set as small as it will go:
Obviously, when you're on digest mode, you use the Back to Top and the table of contents to navigate quite a bit ;) .
There's one more option below each message in the digest that is also handy: Messages in this topic (5). The number indicates how many messages are in this topic. Clicking on this link also takes you to the group, but to the single message view:
There's a ton of information on this screen! The message itself is front and center (cut off on this image is the subject line, which is a large header at the top). In the blue column at right, the author of the email is listed, with an option to send a message to them. Below the email, there's the option to Reply to the email (directly to the group).
Below that, there's a list of the other messages on this subject, with date, time and author information. Each indent in this list means that the email is a reply to the one above it. Here, the second and third messages are both replies to the first message, while the fourth message is a reply to the third, and the fifth is a reply to the fourth. The message you're reading now is highlighted in blue in this list.
If you want to see this view, you can get to the group website from any (untrimmed) email from the group. At the right-hand side of the top of each email, there's a link to Visit Your Group:
And it's here that you can change your settings to digest mode. Above the group name on the group home page, you'll see a link called Edit Membership. Click on it.
Under Step 2, select Daily Digest:
Click Save Changes at the bottom, and you're done! Welcome to digest mode!
Note that when you switch to or from digest mode, Yahoo doesn't keep close enough track of this, so you might miss a few emails, or see them twice.
RECIPE
Cherry Squares
~ Karen Dupaix
1 1/2 cups sugar1 cup butter4 eggs2 cups flour1 Tablespoon lemon juice1 can cheery pie fillingPowdered sugar
Heat oven to 350. Gradually add sugar to butter, creaming at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. At low speed, add flour and lemon juice. Pour batter into a well-greased 15x10x1 inch (jelly roll) pan. Mark off batter into 20 squares, 5 rows by 4 rows. Place 1 tablespoon pie filing in center of each square. Bake about 30-40 minutes. While warm, dust with powdered sugar. Cool. Cut into squares. About 20 servings. This is a very festive looking dessert and goes well with the 4th of July celebrations.
This Independence Day (and always), may we all remember the price of freedom and treasure our heritage.
Thanks to this month's contributors and the newsletter staff: Wendy Swore, Tobyn DeGraw, James Blevins, Karen Dupaix and Jordan McCollum
Fireworks photo/art by Beverly
