Friday, September 28, 2007

LDS Authors in the National Market

As an LDS author, I've been very intrigued by the rise of national, although LDS, authors such as Stephenie Meyer and Shannon Hale. At the literacy fireside last night, my fellow authors and I answered a question that dealt with our take on the Meyer books. I find it very interesting that the books came up -- no other book series was specifically questioned. Why is that? Because they were written by a Mormon. That's what puts them on the radar.

Stephenie Meyer has done something phenomenal. She went out there, got her agent, got her publisher, is selling books like crazy, and is being talked about left and right. From a business standpoint, she has done everything right. There are few people in this country who don't know who she is. She also just happens to be a graduate of BYU.

When you look at her books and compare them to the national standard, they are very clean. The things being published for our consumption today run the gammut from slightly questionable to downright raunchy to outright erotica. Meyer's books would land on the innocent side of the equation.

When you look at her books from an LDS perspective, they are steamy. We would never allow our daughters to snuggle up in bed with their boyfriends. We certainly would never allow them to cavort with werewolves.

There are, however, a few points I would like to make.

The first is that while Meyer is Mormon, she didn't write these books specifically for the Mormon audience. She targeted the national market. She gave the national market something relatively clean to read. In addition, she's not writing about Mormon characters. A Mormon character will, of course, have stricter values. A non-Mormon character might not have been taught the same values. Perhaps they've been taught to wait until they're in love, rather than waiting until they're married. We can't judge a non-Mormon character by the same yardstick we would a Mormon character, any more than we would expect a non-Catholic to behave like a Catholic or a non-Protestant to behave like a Protestant.

Secondly, this is a fantasy. Be honest, now -- how many of us have daughters who are dating vampires? We can't say, "Well, my daughter would never be allowed to act like Bella," because no one can. Her situation is entirely made up and I find it a little bit funny that people keep saying, "If my daughter ..." Believe me, if my daughter was dating a vampire, a lot of things would be different. But this is fiction of the most imaginative kind. Trust me -- it's all pretend. You'll never have to face this in your own life.

Now, we do know that Mormons are reading these books like crazy. I'm going to give you my absolute honest opinion here -- and you all know that I don't prevaricate. Are these books too steamy?

I actually found Bella's advances toward Edward to be a little immature and embarrasing. He tells her no over and over again, and when she keeps pushing the issue, it becomes almost annoying. I didn't find those scenes to be particularly "steamy," I found them to be pushy.

Would I want my eleven-year-old daughter reading them? No. While they've been labeled as young adult, I would say these are books for an adult population. Just because the main character is a teen does not mean that the book is good for all teens. Take, for example, "To Kill a Mockingbird." The main character is a six-year-old girl, and yet I would never have a six-year-old read it. The age of the character does not always equate the age of the reader.

I've heard many parents say, and I completely agree, that the Meyer books present the perfect discussion platform for parents and their teen readers. You can talk to your daughters about why Bella's behavior is not appropriate and the consequences of her actions. You can discuss with them why they should be careful to avoid too much physical contact. Point of fact -- there are a great many bad young adult books out there, books that encourage mast*rbation, or*l s*x, abortion, and on and on. Our teenagers are picking up these books in their school libraries. They are reading them on their own time, and we don't know what is being introduced to their brains. We need open platforms to discuss what they are reading so we can help them make wise decisions.

This may sound like I'm 100% advocating these books for everyone. This brings me to the next point of discussion.

Every person has their own setpoint when it comes to reading. There are certain things that will offend me and won't offend you, and vice versa. I have seen LDS bloggers recommend books that I've picked up only to be shocked. You need to decide for yourself whether these books are appropriate for you. Again, I submit that they are cleaner than most everything else you'll find on the national market. I also remind you that they aren't written about LDS characters, and that has to be taken into consideration whenever you're reading a book by an LDS author.

I do know whereof I speak. In my first novel, my main character fathers a child out of wedlock. He was not LDS at the time and he was acting according to his teaching, which was that he should wait until he fell in love before he became intimate, and he did. Because of the limited light he had been given, he believed that he had behaved in a moral fashion. When he did join the church later in the book and came to understand the gravity of his sin, he went through a full repentance process and was baptized and then endowed. You cannot hold a person accountable for committing a sin they don't know they are committing.

I'd like to move this discussion on to "Austenland," by Shannon Hale. This book had a few steamy moments in it as well. For me, they were a little steamier even than the Meyer books. However, many of the same principles apply -- it was written for the national market, and Hale gave the national market something cleaner than it's used to seeing. The characters were not LDS and were not raised with LDS standards, and so we can't expect them to behave in an LDS fashion.

Many have argued that these authors have betrayed their beliefs by writing these books. I'd like to ask, how can we judge what these authors believe? We know that they are LDS, and so we know what the tenants of their religion are. But how can we say that they aren't living up to their beliefs when we can't ascertain their own unique way of looking at their religion? Each of us has our own special way of relating to God and of looking at the gospel. I can't say whether or not you're living up to your beliefs any more than you can say I'm not living up to mine. I can't judge your relationship with God and I wouldn't care to. I'm certainly not going to try to determine whether or not these ladies are still "good enough" to be Mormons. That's completely wrong and it's not my job. I would sure hate for someone to follow me around for the day and then proclaim my level of spirituality based on how I spread my peanut butter when they can't see what's going on inside me. That's invasive, insensitive, and holier-than-thou.

Another question to be posed. Let's say you've decided you'd like to go on a mission to the jungles of Africa. Can you do an effective job from your living room, or would it be best for you to go out into the jungles and find the people you're trying to reach? I'd like to plant the thought that perhaps Hale and Myers, by writing for the national market, are doing some missionary work in that market to introduce people to cleaner fiction. They couldn't do that sitting on their couches -- they had to go out there and find the people who needed reaching. That meant making a foray into the national market, playing with the big boys and showing them a whole new game.

If these books had been written by any other author, we'd be judging them based on the books themselves. If someone named, say, Jenny Smith, had written Twilight, Jenny Smith from Oshkosh who was perhaps Episcopalian or Baptist, we wouldn't even be sitting here having this discussion. But because Meyer is Mormon, suddenly she's under all this scrutiny. People are questioning her morals. They're wondering if she's a good Mormon or a bad Mormon. They're saying that she's trying to teach our youth questionable behavior. Isn't it just possible that she wanted to tell a story? Isn't it possible that all this hoo-hah has been created by us rather than by her?

**I'd like to draw your attention to the comment trail for this post. There are some great comments being made.**

Weight Loss Update

Seein' as how I'd decided to write about my weight loss journey on Mondays, I was going to wait to post this, but then I decided -- this was just too good to wait.



Boom, baby!

Literacy Fireside and Frisky Children (or, why I didn't post last night)


Last night I had the opportunity to go out to Eagle Mountain and present at a literacy fireside for a ward out there along with fellow authors Rachel Ann Nunes, Annette Lyon, Julie Wright, and Heather Moore. I take these opportunities wherever I find them because I truly believe in the importance of literacy and I love to share those feelings with as many people as I can. I also love to talk, and to talk about myself especially, so it's all good.

We had a great time and, getting lost in the wilds of Eagle Mountain notwithstanding, counted it as a really fun evening. We didn't get out of there until 10:00 -- I guess we were wildly popular, and there's nothing wrong with that at all -- and I didn't get home until 10:45.

At which time I was greeted by my mother, who told me that my ordinarily angelic six-year-old had decided to turn into the playground bully and had been put to bed early. He was still awake and I had a nice long talk with him.

By the time everyone was in bed and the grandma had been sent home, I was totally pooped beyond measure and went to bed.

So -- my writing total for yesterday was:



Annette, on the other hand, took her laptop along last night and finished her word count while we drove. Way cool.

Here's hoping for a better day today -- and thanks, everyone, who checked in last night.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Tristi's Weight Loss Journey Continues


I promised an update a lot sooner than this, but I got accidentally sidetracked. You can read all about it here.

After much wandering in the wilderness, I have lost the weight heretofore mentioned above, and here are my tickers today:





You know what's kind of cool -- these tickers are on a continuous feed. So in a year, when they're really impressive, you're not going to be able to go back in the archives and see just how much I used to weigh -- they'll all be lowered. It's sort of like repentance in a way, I guess, sort of. Maybe not. But it's still kind of cool.

Now, I want to hereby make a solemn pledge before all of you, my blogging buddies, my posse, my people -- that I will never again be 100 pounds overweight. I have to say that I'm so glad that I am at 100 pounds, because I used to be more, but I'm making this proclamation right now that I'm never going down this road again. I've been down this road. I don't like this road. This road is miserable, and I definitely won't be recommending it for any travel brochures in the near future, that's for sure.

So -- what am I doing to attain this weight loss, you ask?

1. I'm turning everything over to God every single day. My successes are because of Him and my failures are because I failed to trust Him. It was not until I understood complete reliance that I was able to give up the chocolate -- and I want you to notice, we're at over four weeks now. That's a personal miracle to me.

2. I'm exercising with my daughter for her Faith in God requirement. Exercise is so much easier when done with someone else, and when it's someone you want to set a good example for, all the better.

3. As mentioned, I've gone off chocolate and I'm cutting back on other sweets as well.

4. I'm increasing my fruit and vegetable intake and cutting down my bread intake.

Right now that's really all I'm doing. I'm slowly transitioning away from fast food and packaged foods and concentrating more on cooking from scratch, which I prefer to do anyway but you all know how time restraints go. The fast food thing is going to be pretty challenging -- I do enjoy fast food a bit more than I should.

I want to thank all of you for cheering me on -- I really appreciate it and I'll continue to post and tell you all how I'm doing. The accountability really is helping. Embarrasing, yes. Helping? Yes, very much.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Dang, Fetch, Oh My Heck!

I'm on Statcounter and I love seeing where all my blog visitors come from. I really like to pull up the recent visitor map and see red dots all over the globe -- that's pretty cool. The recent keyword search is pretty awesome, too -- it shows what keywords a searcher used to land on my site.

Strangely enough, I've had two people land on my blog while looking for the words to "Dang, Fetch, Oh My Heck," which, as we all know, is performed by Everclean in the movie "Sons of Provo." I mentioned this song in a blog a while back and apparently the search engine likes to land on me. Poor searchers, though -- they did not find what they came for.

I've decided to take compassion upon them, and I proudly present -- the lyrics!

Dang, Fetch, Oh, My Heck


Dang, fetch, oh, my heck,
What the holy scrud?
H-E- Double hockey sticks,
That's frickin', flippin' crud.

If ya cut off me off drivin', spill your Coke upon my shoes,
There's just no tellin' what my mouth might say.
I'll break out a string of non-profanities to make your ears curl,
In my religiously edited way.

If my football team is losing, if a brick falls on my head,
If you go, "BOO!" and you catch me unawares,
My reaction will display a certain G-rated tone,
So as to not offend the man upstairs. That's when I say...

Chorus

Dos años yo viví en Suramerica sirviendo El Señor en Guayaquil en Ecuador Comiendo platanos, guineos, verdes y maduros.
¡No me aguanta comer mas, no, por favor!
Y no querian escuchar el buen mensaje que trajemos nos echaron en la calle y nos pusimos
Bien enojados con la gente, con arroz, con los mosquitos, ya, y estas son las cosas que dijimos:

Chorus

Now, if you're looking for lyrics to Everclean's other songs, you can find them all here. Click on the 'album' button and you'll find all the lyrics.

I've done my good deed for the day.

Fall Into Reading 2007




Katrina over at Callapidder Days is hosting a fall reading challenge. I enjoyed Karlene's so much, I decided to do this one too, and if you're interested, you can head over and sign up as well. She's giving away free books -- this is a good thing!

Here is my list of books to read this fall. A lot of these have been on my shelf forever, and I just haven't gotten around to them yet. This fall will be the time for me to do it up right!

1. Brave Men, Gentle Heroes -- Michael Takiff (this one's a chunkster -- may take me most of the fall to finish it)

2. Skeleton Man -- Tony Hillerman

3. Until Proven Guilty -- Betsy Brannon Green

4. Meet Your Match -- Stephanie Fowers

5. Real Boys -- William Pollack

6. Parenting with Love -- Glenn Latham

7. Song in a Weary Throat -- Pauli Murray (another chunkster)

8. No Price Too High -- Madeleine A. Polland

9. To Dream Anew -- Tracie Peterson

10. Jud's Journey -- Fay Waldemar McCracken

11. Copycat -- Betsy Brannon Green

12. Pages from the Past -- JoAnn Arnold

I will update my progress and give you links to the reviews I do on Families.com.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

I Like It!

Here are links to some blogs I've read today that I really enjoyed:

Wordless Wednesday from So Grateful to Be a Mormon

Staying Brilliant from Writing on the Wall

Literacy ROCKS! from Six LDS Writers and a Frog

And then this one made me a little sad: Getting on My Links List -- Take Two I'm not on the links list anymore. Sniff! It's okay, though -- while I do post writing tips on a fairly regular basis, this blog is a whole lot more diverse than that and I understand the need for LDS Publisher to streamline. Her blog is a business blog and she needs to include blogs that are more focused in their content. But I was up there once. :)

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Boutique Season is Approaching

As many of you know and some of you don't, I have my own business. I make lotion, lip balm, bath salts and other like products. You can read about them here and order them here. As we head into fall, we're also heading into boutique season, and I thought I'd take a second to tell you where I'll be in case you'll be around too.

October 20th -- Elsinore, Utah Fall Boutique at the Elsinore Community Center

November 2nd and 3rd -- Gunnison, Utah Mistletoe Mall Boutique at the Gunnison High School

November 15th, 16th, and 17th -- Sandy, Utah Chocolate Show at the Expo Center

November 23rd - 26th -- Ephraim, Utah I'll have a table up at the Ephraim Co-op Building

As always, you can order off my website, or if you're more local to me, you can order through the e-mail address on the website. Just putting a bug in your ear for all your holiday gifting . . .

Monday, September 17, 2007

This Morning's Questions for Tristi

When I checked my mail this morning, I found some questions in my comment trail.

First was Anne, in reference to the doggy tongue picture: "LOL! Where DO you get these amazing pictures, Tristi??? Should I do some more Google Image searching?"


Anne, I have a couple of friends who like to send me e-mails with pictures in them. I save the ones I like and rotate them on my desktop -- I have to have something new to look at about every four days or I get bored. (Notice how often I change my blog color? Same thing.) The other pictures, the ones that match the topic of my blog, are found on Google Images.

Don said: "But tell me please, oh wise and experienced writers, how do you keep everything straight when writing out of order? Different files? Place holders? Crossed fingers? An idea this radical is going to require a plan."


There are a couple of different things you can do, and the ones I'm about to share are those that I've used myself. I'd like the other authors who read this to chime in with their techniques in the comment trail so we can gather even more ideas.

First one is probably the one I use the most often. Let's use Dick and Jane as an example. I know that Dick is going to get a bike for his birthday, and I know that later he's going to fall off the bike and break his arm. So I'm writing along and I realize that I really should make the birthday party a scene. So let's say I have scenes like this:


Dick gets bike

Dick falls off bike and breaks arm


I'll just page up to above him getting the bike and insert the birthday party scene.

But what if I realize that there's a long way to go before where I am and the "breaking of the arm" scene? And what if I don't know what should come in the middle?

I'll write the "getting the bike" scene, and then I'll just insert a sentence. "Put more here." And then I'll page down and keep writing. Then when I come back, I'll remember where I wanted to flesh out. This way, everything is in one document and I know right where it is.

Another idea is just what you said, Don, which is to use different files for the chapters that are out of sequence. Then just insert them when you're ready for them. I don't do that as much -- I generally just go back and insert things I think I missed or page down to put things at the end as I go, as described above.

One thing that really helps is a tip I got from James Dashner. He doesn't put in chapter headings and page breaks until almost the very end of his editing process. When he first said this, I couldn't believe it, but now I recognize the wisdom and leave them out myself. Then after you've written all you want to and have fleshed it out as much as you'd like, you go in and put them in. He says you can get too hung up on chapter length if you label them, and I agree.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

On My Desktop Right Now

Heading in to Week 2 -- BIAM Monday


Here we go, guys -- did you all have a restful Sunday? I tried, I really did, but I couldn't go to sleep until nearly 4:30 this morning and then my two-year-old woke me up by playing the harmonica. (Karlene, you know of which harmonica I speak.) My hubby put me down for a nap this afternoon, which was sorely needed.

However, I've had a nice mental break and I'm ready to hit writing again in the morning. Or afternoon, or night -- whenever it actually happens.

To get us all thinking about writing and ways to get it done, I invite you to scroll down my sidebar until you get to "labels," and click on "writing tips." I've written several blogs on the basics of writing and you can find them all there.

I need to spend some time thinking things through before I sit down to write tomorrow. I've got all my conflict scenes going great, but I need to figure out the best way to link them all together. I'm probably going to do a lot of skipping around, writing here and there rather than in order, and then go back to fill in. There's nothing wrong with that at all -- I always maintain that you should write the scene you're really in the mood to write at that moment before the passion is lost out of it.

So keep plugging away, everyone! I'm excited to see what wonderful stuff we come up with this week.

More Blog Links from Tristi

Here are some blogs I wrote for the LDS department at Families.com:

Organized Religion

What's In Your Food Storage?

1 Nephi 2:5-7

Obedience -- the Stories of Samson and Joshua

The Symbolism of Baptism

Hope -- A Gift From God

1 Nephi 2:8-14

Marking Your Scriptures

The Law of Chastity -- lesson by Spencer W. Kimball

1 Nephi 2:16-18

Accountability

1 Nephi 2:19-24

Putting Off the Natural Man

A Beautiful Family Home Evening

Happy Reading!

And if you want to check out the other blogs I've done this week in Media Reviews, click here.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Happy Sunday!

Traci commented: "Okay, I just have to ask this. Do most of you write on Sundays, or do you take the day off?"


Personally, I think Traci's clairvoyant because I was just getting ready to post a blog to this very effect this very evening. So here it goes.

I don't write on Sundays. I have a couple of reasons for this, the first being religious. I pray a lot over my writing and I feel that if I want to ask God for His help in my endeavors, I should do what He asks me to do, which is to keep the Sabbath day holy. I know other authors who feel differently, but for myself, this is what I feel the most comfortable doing.

Secondly, just like our bodies need to lie down and rest every so often, so does our brain. We can hit life hard and heavy for six days out of the week, but if we don't slow down and give ourselves a recharge, we're cruisin' for a breakdown. Sunday is my day to refuel spiritually and physically. I go to church, come home and take a long nap. By the time Monday morning rolls around, I'm rarin' to go again.

I do take an occasional note on a Sunday. If I have a really good idea (which I frequently do, because after the recharge, I'm ready to go) on a Sunday, I'll jot down the basics of it and then I leave it at that. I also do visit my favorite inspirational blog sites.

So that's how I handle writing on Sundays.

With that, please continue to leave your word counts over the weekend, and join me here Monday morning as we kick off week #2. Wow, already??

BIAM Update #3

We have just been joined by Keith. Welcome, Keith -- now Don's not the only guy anymore.

I added everyone's names to a list on my sidebar, about halfway down. Go check it out and tell me if I got your name on there. If I left you off, I'm not being passive aggressive, I'm just sleep deprived. Let me know if you're signed up and I forgot to put you on the list, and I'll add you forthwith and impressively.

When we're finished, I'd like a final count on how many words everyone got done so we can all post them and be mighty proud of ourselves. I'm estimating it will come in around 510,000 words, and I'm curious to see how close I am. But again, because of the sleep deprivation, that could be way, way off.

Additionally, I've decided to do this again in January. Spread the word far and wide, tell everyone you know who likes to write, and let's get back in the groove after the holidays.

Friday, September 14, 2007

End of BIAM Day 5. Are We Ready for Six?


Well, this is what I get for not posting the daily wrap-up until 10:45 at night. A lot of you have already checked in and I wasn't ready for you! Thanks for leaving your comments wherever you found room.

Now I didn't get this posted until right now because it's taken me this long to get anything written today. It's the aforementioned brain-not-working thing. But I did manage 1,281 words in the last 45 minutes, not that I'm sure they're any good, but I'm pretty sure they don't reek. That's good, isn't it?

Okay -- an assignment for tomorrow. I loved LeeAnn's comment the other day where she named her internal editor "Esmeralda." A couple of you have commented on how much you liked it, too. So, for tomorrow, everyone come up with a name for your internal editor. I choose "Edith." You don't have to post your name, you're just going to use it to tell your editor to go back to bed when he/she starts interfering too much.

Good night, everyone, and keep up the good work.

**One more thing, by the way -- some of you BIAM members don't have public profiles and some of you don't link back to your blogs. I can't come visit your blog if I don't know where you originated from! For those of you to whom I speak, and you know who you are, if you would like me to pay a return visit to your blog, and who knows, I might like it and visit it regularly and put it on my blog list, please drop a comment and tell me where you might be found.**

I Don't Want to Hear It!

Sticking fingers in my ears -- neah neah neah . . .

I couldn't help it -- this picture really cracked me up. But it only sort of goes with this blog post, so . . . pretend, okay?

Scouts was pretty wild this last week, with two new boys and different personalities clashing. Afterwards I made pizza and put a bit too much cheese on it, which I know I shouldn't have done, but I did it anyway because I was feeling a) sorry for myself and b) stupid and I woke up the next morning with the sniffles. It has sapped all my brain power and I haven't been capable of coherent thought ever since. What's worse is that I haven't been able to write a decent blog for Families.com since then, either, so I'm a day and a half behind. (Yikes!)

I do have a point here . . .

Taking care of our bodies isn't just good for us physically, it's good for us mentally as well. If I want to stay in top writing condition, I need to avoid the temptation of cheese. (Here would be where I stick my fingers in my ears.) I love cheese. Cheese is delicious. But cheese is not my friend. Cheese does not love me, despite my feelings of devotion toward it. Food never can love you back -- it's very selfish that way.

So, if I want to write my best, I need to limit the cheese. Hey, I'm getting off chocolate (did y'all see my ticker? We're sneaking up on three weeks! Bwaaahaaahaa!)

Now, back to what I was doing, which was putting my kids to bed, which I'm procrastinating because it's a dreadful process, but I sure do like the results . . .

Bending the Rules of History

Don asked: "Tristi, I have a question about the subject of diverging from history.

"As a writer of Historical Fiction, how do you decide when to stick to the facts, and when to make stuff up?

"I know there are no hard and fast rules, but what guidelines do you follow?"


Anything I say from here on out must be understood in the context that I don't do things the way normal people do, because I am not normal. But that's part of my charm.

I always stick to a timeline on the overall historical event. I try to have everything happen as sequentially and factually as possible, but there are some times where I have diverged. Let me share some examples:

1. My first book, "Nothing to Regret," featured my character parachuting into Japan to carry out an espionage mission. At that time in the war, they had only sent parachutes into Europe, and parachuting into Japan wasn't done. But I wanted my character to do it, so I played a little "what if" and did it anyway. We don't really know what the military does on those top secret missions they're always pulling off, so I thought it would be fun to conjecture a little bit. Of course, I have had some students of history tell me that wasn't done, and I smile politely and say, "I know. But this is historical fiction, and that means I can use some creative license." Those same people hardly ever mention that 99% of the book is historically accurate -- they just like to point out the part that's not.

2. My second novel, "Strength to Endure," features a young lady who was pregnant during her incarceration in a concentration camp. Because the prisoners' stomachs would often swell because of malnutrition, I thought she'd be able to hide the pregnancy fairly well. Now, this actually turned out kind of funky. I thought I was going against history and I came up with a great scenario for how she hid her pregnancy and how she smuggled the baby out of the camp -- and then someone told me they had read a nonfiction account of a woman who did hide her pregnancy in the camps. Oh, well -- here I was trying to flaunt history and I didn't get to.

3. In my WIP, I have a character who is a POW in the Hanoi Hilton. In real life, there was a man by the name of Mike Christian who scrounged together some scraps and created an American flag with a scrap of fabric he found in the shower. That flag gave the other POWs a lot of strength, but when the guards discovered it, they hauled Mike off and beat him practically to death. It took him about two weeks to recover, but the very first thing he did when he could sit up again was to start making another flag. I wanted to tell that story in my book, but the timing didn't work out -- I needed to place it about a year and a half later. So I did, but I will include an author's note saying, "In actuality this event occurred on such and such date but for the purposes of this book, I placed it here yada yada yada." This way, the reader is aware that I know the timing is wrong and they also learn when it really did happen.

For the most part, I really am a stickler. I try to get everything as accurate as possible, but there are times when you do have to tweak a little bit. When you tweak, it's a good idea to include that author note like I mentioned. It saves lots of condescending letters and e-mails later.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Outlining

Ronda asked: "I'm curious. Do you outline first, or start writing as it comes?"


Well, it really all depends.

When I'm writing a historical, I always have a timeline in front of me so I can keep track of when the war started and when the certain battle took place, etc. That is the only thing that's set in stone, because you can't diverge too far from actual history. (Although I keep trying.) I have never sat down and done a complete outline because things just don't go the way I first envision them. Characters behave in ways I never thought they would -- ornery things! I tried for three weeks to make one character fall in love with the other guy, and she simply would not do it. Finally I had to rewrite the whole book, and then she was happy.

As I'm thinking things through, I make notes to remind myself what I decided to do. But as far as a chapter-by-chapter outline, no, I never have.

There are a lot of authors who find that an outline really works for them. But I'm more of what is known as an "organic" writer, which means that I feel my way through with my gut. I always know basically how I want the story to go, but then I have to sit back and watch as it takes on a life of its own. I can either fight it or go with the flow, and I've learned that if I fight, it's just a waste of time. I'll end up losing anyway.

BIAM -- Sayonara, Day 4 -- Now Bring on Day 5!


How'd it go, everyone? I came to a conclusion on when to kill my character (I sound so cold-blooded) and am now happily leading up to the demise. I got 1,661 words done today, which actually was a bit of a surprise because I was sick most of the day and didn't think I'd be up to writing.

I've left a few gaps that I'll go back and fill in later, but for now I'm getting everything down that's outlined in my brain. The main problem now is that I have all of the big climax moments figured out, but need to work on getting from here to there.

Thanks to those who have checked in for the day, and those who are about to. Keep forging ahead and plugging away (and any other over-used motivational cliches you can think of) -- it's pretty thrilling to think of all this creativity percolating and I'm glad that I get to be a part of it in some way.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

BIAM -- End of Day 3, Hello, Day 4!


The hardest part about writing historical fiction is that you are dependent on research for everything. I'm running into some snags with the BIAM because I'm fighting the urge to hit the Internet to find a date or to clarify a point, and I'm just writing around those holes, planning to fill them in on my second pass. Another problem I'm having is that I can't decide when to kill off this character I'm planning to kill. See, there are advantages to killing them sooner, but there are other advantages to killing them later. I am going to have to put this in the back of my brain and let it simmer for a while. There's no doubt in my mind that I'm going to have to go through and rearrange scenes once I decide where they're all going to go. Thank goodness for computers.

In the meanwhile, I had Scouts today and didn't have a lot of time to write, so I came in at 1,045. That's still above my goal, but I would have liked to squeak a few more words on there. Maybe if I can't sleep later tonight.

Several of you have commented that you love how it feels to just get in the groove. Some have said that they can feel the story coming together, and others have had to overcome some pretty fierce opposition to get to the computer. I have no doubt that we'll all have days that seek to keep us from creating -- the important thing is to keep forging ahead. Even if you only manage one sentence, that's one sentence in the right direction.

You guys are awesome -- and I'll see if I can't decide when to kill my person before I sit down to write tomorrow. It sure would make everything easier.

BIAM Update #2

We have just been joined by Luisa and Tami. Welcome aboard, ladies!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The End of Day 2, the Beginning of Day 3 -- BIAM

How did you all do today? Did you meet your goal? No?

I came in at 1,234, bringing my total to 3,704. Not too shabby -- but I have to say, getting that 1,234 done today was hard.

Which brings me to my motivational thought as we head into Day 3. Have you ever noticed that when you sit down to write, everything in the world will crop up to distract you? Today it was my publisher calling me on the phone to tell me that an e-mail I sent him yesterday has shown up in his inbox over 500 times. He blocked my address so it would stop appearing in queue, but he wondered if there was anything I could do about that. I spent some time online with Comcast trying to get it straightened up. Honestly, let's do some cyber-stalking -- how professional is that?
Aside from that, my kids were extra frisky and it was just one of those days.

So what do we do to combat those interruptions? I tell you what we don't do -- we don't give in. We put out the fire and we keep writing. We stop the bloody nose and then we keep writing. We kill the black widow, pay the pizza guy, chase off the door-to-door salesman, and we keep writing. If we let those distractions pull us out of the groove, we'll never get done.

Now, there are some interruptions that we must deal with. I think broken bones fall into that category. But by and large, they're just small things that we can deal with practically one-handed while we keep typing with the other. Click here to read some of my other thoughts on this: Tips for the Writing Mommy

What it all comes down to is your desire. How badly do you want to get this book done? Then make it happen. Click here to read my thoughts on that: Desire


So, back to me now, because I'm so much fun to talk about -- see, this book I'm writing is the third installment in a trilogy. My published novel "Nothing to Regret" is the first, then the second is "Forgive, Not Forget," and it's being evaluated for publication right now. The third is the one I started yesterday, but book 2 and book 3 used to be one volume. I split them in half, really changed a whole lot in the first half, beefed it up (it's really not the same book at all anymore) and now I'm working on that second half that I hacked off. But I ended up spending half an hour today looking for that second half. I know there's a lot in it that really stinks, but I need some of it, too (the non-stinky parts). I'm wishing that I'd gotten myself more organized before I started this, because I could have spent that half hour writing. But -- it's been found, finally, and I'm ready to forge ahead. The point to this long ramble -- take better care of your stuff than I have of mine.

We'll see you in the morning -- keep those updates coming in.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Day Two, BIAM Challenge

It's late on Monday night and I'm climbing in to bed, but wanted to post this so it would be up when you got up and were ready to write.

First off, thanks to everyone who reported their count last night. I'm proud of all of you! I notice that some of you seem a little glum -- "I only got X amount done" -- but let me point out that it's X more than you had done yesterday. Don't discount any amount of progress, because all progress is good. Every word you write brings you closer to that eventual goal of "doneness." So be proud of your seven-and-a-half words!

For your writing inspiration today, think of how good it's going to feel when this book is done and you're holding the finished manuscript in your hands. Let me just say -- there's really nothing in the world like it. Don't be afraid of fear -- fear is normal. Today when I started, I felt a little apprehensive, thinking, "What if I can't write anymore? What if I can't construct the story the way I want to?" This is my seventh book, and I'm still nervous. So don't worry if you're feeling fearful, but don't let the fear win. You're bigger than it is.

Okay, get going -- I'm rooting for you all the way and look forward to your check-in tonight.

BIAM Update

We've just been joined by Jaime and Michelle (welcome aboard!) and that brings our numbers up to 19. Wow -- that's pretty impressive!

Many of you are starting this morning -- way to go!! I'm excited to hear how much you've gotten done. I won't be able to really sink my teeth in until around ten o'clock at night, so I'll be posting my daily counts reallllly late. It doesn't matter what time you write, just write!

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Start Your Engines!

It is just after 12:00 on Monday morning, September 10th. This is the first day of our Book in a Month Challenge.

Our registered participants are:

Candace, Annette, Traci, Jewel, Cindy, Stephanie, Josi, Mandi, Don, Alison, Heather, Katie, Paulette, Marta, LeeAnn, and Ali. Oh, and me! (Duh!) That gives us 17 -- that's pretty spanky.

So, starting today -- you know what you're working on and you've set your own personal goal. It doesn't matter if you've decided on 25 words or 2500 -- whatever works for you. Whatever will be a stretch, but not so much of a stretch that you're hating life. It needs to be doable.

Josi and Heather will both be editing as they go, and hey, they've both published more books than I have, so I'm not going to interrupt their groove. What I've found, though, is that as we write, we tend to second-guess ourselves, and that second-guessing keeps us from moving forward. This is why, when you're doing the BIAM in the way that ANWA does it, they recommend that you just write and don't edit until the end.

Another thing -- don't worry that what you're writing is rotten. Just plow through it and you can come back later and substitute the word you really were looking for. If you're on a roll and get hung up on a bit of dialogue, just skip it and come back. Don't interrupt the roll.

Now, one more thing -- this is not a competition. I'm not grading each of you on how much you got done. I'm going to cheer you on as you go, but I'm not comparing you to each other. Hence, there is no winner but you, and the prize - a really good start on your book.

Remember, we're not trying to finish the book this month unless you really feel you can do it. The goal is to get as much done as you can, not to hurt yourself or to set up unrealistic expectations for yourself that will only lead to disappointment. You know what your limits are -- exceed them, but don't hurt yourself in the process.

Motivating thought for today: Only you can write your book. If you don't write it, it will never get written, and that would be a shame.

Don't forget to check in tonight and comment on your progress.

Okay -- get off this blog and open your word processing program. Start your engines -- on your mark, get set -- write!

Saturday, September 08, 2007

A Moment of Silence, Please


I'm feeling a little bit sorry for myself tonight. And it's kind of a long story, but hey, you're used to that by now, so here we go.

My baby boy is turning three in November, and I'm having a hard time with that. He's the one I had the hardest recovery with -- he was an emergency c-section and may I never have to have another c-section as long as I live. Because of all I went through with him, he's very dear to me, not that he wouldn't be anyway because of just the cute, sweet spirit that he is.

Well, about a month ago, his crib broke. The screw that held the springs up stripped its threads and the springs fell down in that corner. My husband fixed it, and then the fix job broke. So he fixed it again, and night before last, it broke again. We knew we couldn't keep this up forever, so we decided it was time to replace the bed. But given that he's nearly three, we decided there wasn't a point in buying a new crib just to turn around and put him in a bed five minutes later.

So last night, we went looking for bunk beds and found a nice set at Big Lots. However, upon going to purchase, we found that they didn't have any in stock -- the one they had was a floor model only. They called up to the American Fork store and found that they had some in stock. At this point it was 8:30 and they closed at 9, so we hit the freeway and zoomed up there. We bought the bed and asked to pick it up the next day, as we were in the Prizm and everyone knows you can't put a bunk bed set in a Prizm. We also didn't want to buy it the next morning because the card we were putting it on only has my name on it, and I would have to send Matt by himself to pick it up, because we wouldn't have a babysitter the next morning, although we did that night. Capice?

Anyway -- we bought the bed and arranged to pick it up the next morning. We came home, measured the door of the van to make sure it would fit, and then Matt went to pick it up this morning. He gets home, unloads, and discovers that one of the pieces is broken. Well, we've dismantled the crib and thrown it in the Dumpster, so we really need that bed for tonight, right? He calls the store, they said come back and we'll replace it, so he takes off for American Fork (again -- this is three times, folks) He comes home with the right piece, starts assembling it. It's now 2:30 in the afternoon.

I left at 4:30 for some family functions, and got home around 8. He had just finished putting the beds together -- they led him a merry chase all afternoon. He went to bed just plain exhausted.

Now we get to why I'm sad (if all that isn't enough). The time came to put my baby to bed. I laid him down and got him all snuggled up with his blankets, and walked out and shut the door. Suddenly it hit me -- no one was in a crib. My baby, my baby!

Then he started to come out, and I ended up putting him back in around 25 times or so. He cried his little heart out there toward the end, but finally settled down to sleep. I'm sure that tomorrow night, it won't be as many as 25, but still, it will be a little sad.

So we've come to the end of an era at the Pinkston's. The crib is in the Dumpster. Now, don't get me wrong -- we are planning to have another one, but not for a little while. I'm mourning that this particular child is growing up. They all do that, you know -- and it stinks. It really, really stinks.

Oh, but one last thing -- in a couple of months we're going to get a bunkbed set to go in the other room. This time, we'll go to American Fork first, in the van, and we'll know exactly how to set it up. There's a lot to be said for experience.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Is My Tetanus Shot Current?

I am heading down the hall to clean my children's bedrooms. If I'm not back in two hours, call out Search and Rescue.

Update #1: The first bedroom is done. I started it yesterday, so no need to think I'm remarkably speedy or anything. My 11-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son share that room -- I used to have my daughter sharing with the baby, and my 8-and-6-year-old sons sharing, but the two boys kept trying to kill each other. There's less bloodshed this way. At any rate, after cleaning up about six million beads (and purposely vacuuming up most of them) off my daughter's side, and a whole bunch of orange peels (whatever) and paper scraps from my son's side, I can now breathe a sigh of relief in that newly vacuumed, toys put away, potential-mold-making-disaster-averted room.

Now, for the other room -- the baby's crib broke this morning and DH is fixing it. As soon as he's done, I'll go in there and clean. I hope it takes him a long, long time . . .

Update #2: Done! (Insert fiendish laugh) I wrangled my husband into helping me. The crib is sort of beyond help, so for our romantic anniversary date tonight (which we're finally getting, a full week late) we're going to go look at bunk beds. Let me just say, nothing says "twelve years of marriage" like thinking shopping for bunk beds is romantic.

I believe I've now handled roughly 47,000 Bionicle pieces and 30,000 pieces of paper, not to mention the aforementioned orange peels and beads. But -- those two rooms are clean!! Tomorrow I'll hit my room and the kitchen, and then on Monday I can attack the BIAM with less guilt.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Confessions of a Tristi

Time for me to get a little bit serious, if there really is such a thing for me.

I'm currently working through a book called "He Did Deliver Me from Bondage," at Karlene's suggestion. It's a wonderful workbook designed to go along with an LDS-style 12-step program, using scriptures from the Book of Mormon to illustrate the steps. The step I finished this last week talks about the importance of being honest about your situation. Well, okay -- I'm going to get honest about my situation.

I'm a food addict.

Now, when you read that, you might think, "Yeah, well, who isn't? What's the big deal about that?"

I'd like to share with you just what the big deal is, and some of the things I've learned along the way.

1. I thought it wasn't a big deal either. I mean, I'm only hurting myself, right? Wrong. By having this addiction, I'm setting a bad example for my children, especially my daughter, who has inherited my metabolism. I need to learn to work with my metabolism so I can teach her how to work with hers, so she can have a healthy life.

2. I didn't think it was a sin. Well, I was wrong on that, too. It's not murder, certainly, but:

a) when I turn to food for comfort, I am essentially making food my idol.
b) I am breaking the spirit of the Word of Wisdom.
c) we are told repeatedly that our bodies are temples. We generally think of this in terms of chastity, but it's equally as true for the overall care and nourishment of our bodies. By not taking care of my body, I have been defiling a temple.
d) when I try to deal with my issues myself (with food) I am rejecting the healing power of the Atonement in my life.

This all sounds a little harsh, but when I looked at it in this light and recognized the truth of it, it brought me a lot of peace at finally acknowledging the seriousness of the problem.

3. By letting my physical appetites control me, I'm numbing my spiritual appetites and consequently numbing my relationship to my Savior. It's only as I turn away from food as my comfort and turn toward Him instead that I can really overcome my problems.

4. I don't just want a mediocre relationship with God. I want to be worthy to walk with Him every day, and in order to do that, I need to let Him more fully into my life, in every aspect. President Faust once said that we have to be completely free from addiction in order to merit the Celestial Kingdom.

Now, I know that there's a difference between being willing to admit something and then being willing to blog about it, and I know I've chosen a pretty public forum to talk about this. I'm doing it here because I believe that the things I'm learning might be of benefit to others, and so I want to share them. I also believe in accountability -- if I chart my progress here, I'm less likely to backslide. Believe me, I really thought about keeping my journey a secret and then just walking into the Storymaker Conference in 2008 all skinny and suprising everyone. And then if I failed, no one would know any different. But that's the problem right there -- I gave myself an out. "No one will know if I don't really do it." What a cop-out!

So, every week I'm going to tell you how I'm doing. I'm also a contributing blogger to the Families.com weight loss blog every Monday, and I'll link you to that blog as well.

Okay, and here's the hardest part for me: here's my weight loss ticker. Deep breath . . . deep breath . . .




It was up higher, so I really shouldn't feel too bad, but I do, you know?

On the other hand . . .



I'm really rather proud of this one.

Okay, that's enough full disclosure for now. I'll check back in with my progress on Monday.

Monday, September 03, 2007

As Promised: The Story of the Hairless Cat

My mom is allergic to cats, and is a frequent visitor in our home. Over the last couple of years, I've discovered that my lungs feel tight when I'm around certain animals, as well. My kids want a cat (and so does my husband) but I really dislike having cat hair all over the house, plus the allergies. We've discussed an outdoor cat, but it gets below zero during the winter on a regular basis, and I'd feel guilty making the poor thing stay outside.

My children, ever creative, decided that we should get a cat and shave all its hair off.

My husband, seeking a solution that didn't involve the terrorizing of small animals, told them that there are such things in the world as hairless cats.

This is a picture of a hairless cat. Isn't this the freakiest looking thing you've ever seen? Yet, in light of the fact that it "seems" to be the perfect solution to the dilemma, my children have decided they want one.

They've even discussed making it clothes to wear so it won't get cold.

I've been willing to make all sorts of compromises with them. I've even told them they could have a pet rat. Is that ideal -- well, of course not, it's a rat. But I'd rather go there than the hairless cat route.

No dice.

Right now a pet really isn't an option anyway. We're in a trailer, plus I just don't have time to add one more thing to our plates. The goal, however, is to buy a house within the next two years and when that time comes, we're going to have to have a serious talk. No, not the birds and bees -- the no hairless cat talk. I think I might even prefer the birds and bees to the dismay I'm sure the no hairless cat talk will bring.

But a mom's got to do what a mom's got to do.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Wanna Buy a Trained Guppy?


I do not know where I got my children. And now that I have them, I don't know what to do with them. They just . . . amaze me.

My daughter has a bowl full of guppies that reproduce like . . . well, like guppies. We give a bunch away from time to time, never as many as I'd like to. In an effort to raise money to buy a hairless cat, which is a blog all by itself, my daughter decided to sell some of her guppies. She spent about half an hour this morning on a price chart. You can buy a regular guppy for twenty-five cents, but you can get a trained guppy for just a little bit more. If you want a highly-trained guppy, however, that will cost you $21.00.

Now, let me just say, I'm not sure what a highly-trained guppy does, or how one would even go about training one. When I saw my daughter standing by the bowl, holding a sock in one hand and telling me that she would now proceed to train the guppies, I had to flee the room lest my maniacal laughter injure her self-esteem.
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