Preorder "Season of Sacrifice," Get Free Shipping!

The year is 1879. President John Taylor of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has asked his intrepid members living in southwest Utah to travel across the state and set up a colony in southeast Utah. One hundred and eighty wagons are prepared and head out in October, the people sure that they'll arrive by Christmas. They didn't know what dangers they would face, from a passage through rock that seemed impossible, to the threat of starvation. Six weeks stretched into six months. Babies were born on the trail. Faith was tested but did not falter, and at last the group straggled in, their wagons tested to the limits, their horses on the brink of death.

This is the story of the Hole-in-the-Rock pioneers. I am descended from Benjamin Perkins, one of the most notable of these. He engineered the passage down the hole you see in the picture, giving the wagons a safe way down to the Colorado River. "Season of Sacrifice" is Ben's story, taken from family history books, texts written on the subject, and Ben's own life story. Written like a novel, yet historically accurate in every regard, you'll not only learn about this historic feat of courage and daring, but you'll feel what the pioneers felt and rejoice at their success.

This book will be available mid-to-late March. If you would like to preorder a copy, leave your name in the comment trail along with how many copies you would like. I will pay the shipping on every copy you purchase. I don't know the purchase price yet -- that will be determined within the next few weeks. I'll contact you and let you know.

This is my third published novel, and my favorite to date. I've loved every minute I spent writing this book and I feel sure you will enjoy it. The free shipping special ends at midnight, February 25th.

Why is Tristi Self-publishing?

A long, long time ago, Shanna asked why I was going to self-publish a book. I'm sorry I didn't answer for so long -- we're having a crazy week at my house and lots of things are going by the wayside. I was quite amazed to see that the last time I posted, it was Wednesday -- I think that's the longest I've ever gone without blogging.

The answer:

It's all Warren Jeffs' fault.

The explanation:

My book is the true story of my great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Perkins (pictured). He was a Welsh immigrant who participated in the Hole-in-the-Rock expedition in southern Utah in 1879-1880, and it was he who engineered their passage through the rock. He was an incredible man and left a legacy that I'm proud to call my own. He also happened to marry his wife's sister after settling in Bluff, making him a polygamist.

The book is well-written, emotional, and contains some of my best writing ever. But because of the Warren Jeffs brouhaha, the LDS publishers have become cautious about publishing stories that contain polygamy. The book was rejected by four LDS publishers for various reasons, but largely stating their concern about polygamy.

I don't want to let this book sit in the back of a closet somewhere, gathering dust. I strongly feel that I owe it to my progenitors to share their story of faith and courage. So I'm going to self-publish it, with the help of my good friend B.J. Rowley and his publishing imprint, Golden Wings. I'm so excited to be proceeding with this project. You'll hear more about it as we go along.

New Year Ramblings

2007 was pretty interesting. We baptized my oldest son in January, took a pay cut in the fall, had two funerals in February, I was a speaker at the League of Utah Writers Spring Workshop as well as the Conference Fairy at the LDStorymakers Conference, and my kids started karate. Other than that, it was pretty normal.

As I look ahead at 2008, I'm excited at the prospects. So much has finally fallen into place and I can't wait to see how it plays out.

I'm not going to make a list of resolutions or goals. Instead, I'm going to make a list of things I'm going to do. I'm also going to take Karlene's advice and write down the things I accomplish as I do them -- it's so much more motivating than thinking about the things I didn't do.

This year I'm going to --

1. Self-publish a book. This is already in progress.

2. Publish an additional book with a traditional publisher.

3. Lose 97 pounds.

4. Get my house weeded down to just the things we use and love.


There are a few other things in the offing that I can't really mention until they're more concrete, but this is a good start.

Happy New Year, and let's concentrate on making our goals happen, rather than waiting for them to happen to us.

When is Enough, Enough?

Shanna said:

Tristi,
I have a question for you. How do you know when you should stop revising and start submitting? Or how do you know when you should start submitting a novel that you know still needs some revising?

I'm going to answer the last part of the question first. If you know the book still needs some revising, I wouldn't submit it. If the editor reads it in an imperfect form, they'll think that's the best you can do. You can't include a letter that says, "I know this still needs work and I intend to do it, but I thought I'd see if you liked it first." They can't decide whether or not they like it until they see it in as perfect a form as you are able to get it. So, if you know it's not done, don't send it in.

The first part of the question is a little trickier. The LDStorymakers joke that when you're ready to throw it under a bus/throw up if you have to look at it again/kill yourself rather than go through another edit, you're ready to submit. That's true, in spades, but not the entire answer. Some questions to ask yourself are:

1. Is this book as good as you can possibly make it? When you read it, do you find places where you think, "I could have done that better?"

2. Have you asked others to read it? Have at least three people, with critical inclinations, read it and picked it apart for you? Have you taken their advice (when needed) and done what they said?

3. Have you checked every spelling on every word, every punctuation mark, every page break, to make sure that you haven't left out anything important and that all your words are spelled correctly?

Unfortunately, there are a lot of manuscripts submitted that look like rough drafts. They are poorly spelled, badly punctuated, and do not look professional. Your manuscript needs to look crisp and clean. Your plot needs to be seamless. Your dialogue needs to be engaging and interesting. Your characters need to resonate with the reader. If any of these elements are out of place, you are not ready to submit.

On the other hand, perhaps all these things are in place. And if they are, why are you sitting here reading this blog? You should be at the post office! Go! Go!