Kansas City Writers Workshop

It's been a whirlwind weekend for me.

On Thursday, my wife discovered an all-day workshop being held on Saturday. She told me I needed to check it out and go. I'm not one for last-minute changes, and, to be honest, I wasn't all that excited. I trust her recommendations, so I checked it out online. A quick email to the coordinator confirmed that they still had an open spot, and my wife and I changed our weekend plans. That's how I found myself driving up to KC on Saturday morning for the Kansas City Writers Workshop.

The format was really interesting. They had one large room where Marissa Corvisiero taught most of the time. She talked about publishing options, querying, pitching, building a platform, and general author advice. The topics were basic, but she was willing to field any and all questions. After teaching 150 people for over 4 hours she was spent, but did a great job.

The main attraction for me were the seven agents taking pitches in the other room. I couldn't believe that so many of them were accepting Middle Grade. Normally, conferences have just one or maybe two people who represent MG, but this time there were four. They ran pitches every 10 minutes, and people constantly flowed in and out of the main session.

Because I signed up so late, I was only able to get an official pitch session with one agent at the very end of the day, but I was able to approach and talk to the other three. They were all interested in my work, so now I get to prepare a bunch of packages to send out this week.

There is no rest for the weary.

Many of you know that, up to now, I've been primarily a hobby writer. I have demanding, full-time job, and I wanted to be there for my kids. As they've gotten older they still need my support, but they need less of my time. I wasn't planning on making the transition from hobby to career until my youngest was in middle school, but this conference was too good of an opportunity to pass up. So, I'm starting my transition now. Wish me luck!

Pure Writing

What is writing? I'm glad you asked.

In life there are, what I like to call, pure activities. Activities that practically define themselves. For example, running--it's just you and a stretch of land. Or swimming--you and some water. Or meditation--you and the universe. Or my favorite, napping.

Writing is not one of these.

But there are activities that are so maddeningly close to pure that it's tempting to classify them as pure. The one that everyone can relate to is soccer. At its core, it's you, a field, and a ball. And by "ball" I mean any object you can kick. If you have a used food can, good enough. Or maybe you only have an old pair of pants and a roll of tape, no problem. It's not even particular about the size or shape of the field. A quiet street is just as good as an empty room.

In today's age of public education, writing is like this. It's you, something to write with, and some time. That's it. Society has come a long way in the past few hundred years. It wasn't always so easy to write. I love living today!

This is November and National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) is in full swing. I'm participating, and if you have any desire to write, I encourage you to participate, too. Nanowrimo isn't about being a sports star who can score the winning goal in the World Cup. Nanowrimo is about finding a pine cone or a crumpled up magazine and kicking it around.

Write. Just write.

You can work on grammar and characterization and pacing and all the other skills later. Or not. It can be fun just to write just for the purity of it.

* There is a great story in this photo. If you like this one, you should check out Danimurthi Mahendra's whole collection of Indonesian photos. It's great.

Popping the Question

In many endeavors there is the question. The one question that almost everyone asks. For example, if you were a Boy Scout people will ask, "Are you an Eagle scout?" If you answer No, then they will move on. It doesn't matter how many good turns you did, or merit badges you earned, or tents you accidentally set on fire there are no more questions.

When people find out you write novels they ask the question, "What have you published?" They don't always phrase it that way, "What have you written?" or "Where can I get your books?" are common ones. And if you answer that you haven't published anything, the conversation stalls and you find a new topic.

At first, I tried to explain why I love writing. How I've written multiple novels, but I wasn't interested in getting them published. Even now, I risk losing you, precious reader, with my reasons. And so, I learned to just let it slide. I write for my own reasons, and I have reasons for not seeking publication.

Until now.

As my kids grow older, I've started to feel like I should get a story published. I'm not sure if I will go traditional or self-publish--there are so many pros and cons to weigh. But either way, I'm working a story through the last few stages of editing and beta readers.

I'm excited for this next phase in my writing career. I've been writing for over 10 years, and I've learned a lot. Now it's time to share with the world. I'm sure that much of the world won't notice, some of the world won't like it, but I'm hoping there is a small slice of awesome people out there who will love it enough to buy it.

And I'm looking forward to being able to answer the question in a way that moves the conversation forward.

* Joshua Rothhaas either worked very hard or got very lucky to capture this image of a popping bubble--probably both. Either way, it's really cool.

Master of Bear-emonies

The Midwest Storymakers Conference is always a highlight of my year. I get to see old friends and meet wonderful new people. And this year was no exception.

If I had one suggestion for beginning writers it would be to write, write a lot, write some more, then keep writing. If I had two suggestions, the second one would be to go to a writers conference to meet other writers like you and learn from them.

Thanks to our conference partners this year, the Johnson County Public Library and their Read Local committee, we held the conference at the education center of the Antioch branch of the library. I never knew that the library did so many different things in the community. Three cheers for libraries!!!

This year, I wasn't in charge of the Audio/Visual equipment. It felt a little strange, at times, being able to attend classes and not worry about making the rounds to check if projectors were behaving, clickers working, or giving 5-minute warnings to the instructors. It was both refreshing and a bit awkward. I've been doing the A/V for several years, so I always had that aren't-you-forgetting-something-important feeling.

They didn't let me completely off the hook. I was the Master of Ceremonies, and it was a blast! I had so much fun finding humorous ways to make announcements or introduce the schedule. If you've seen me at a conference you know how much I like to interact with people, so MC was the perfect job. I got to meet everyone.

To be honest, it was also stressful to get everything together and figure out how to make a bunch of different things fit together. And there are always last-minute changes that got whispered to me right before I went on. That's just the job of MC. But it was so much less stressful than A/V.

This year, we had a power-packed lineup of instructors: 

Cathy Maxwell, Danyelle Ferguson, Don Carey, Gregg Luke, Heather Justesen, Janette Rallison, Jennifer Moore, Julie Ford, Laurie LC Lewis, Lisa Mangum, Lisa Swinton, Rebecca Bellison, Sarah Eden, Tamara Hart Heiner, Traci Hunter Abramson, Samantha Millburn, and Scott Slocum.

I know that's a lot of people in a dense list, but they are all awesome and I didn't want to forget anyone.

Now, another wonderful Midwest conference is done, and I'm already looking forward to next year. I don't know what my job will be, or if I will be given one--won't that be weird, to not have anything to do?

And I'll leave you with a bit of an inside joke. If you don't get it, don't worry. Enjoy.

Writing a NaNoWriMo Novel on My Phone

Did I mention that I won Nanowrimo this year? No? We'll then let me tell you. I won Nanowrimo this year! And, as usual, it means that I've written about half of the story, but I'll finish it off in the next few months.

This year I found motivation from the awesome Storywonk Nano podcast. And I also gave up my Ingress play time which is about half my morning exercise time. There were a few days when I wanted to go back to my normal routine, but the sacrifice paid off.

As I am want to do, I tried something new this year. I wrote my novel with my phone. (I'm sure that didn't come as much of a surprise, given the title of this post.) Before you imagine me hunched over with my phone inches from my face tapping out a novel with my thumbs-- You were imagining that weren't you? What you need to imagine is me sitting comfortably on a couch at a church or a bench in a restaurant typing on a keyboard that doesn't seem to be connected to anything.

The Keyboard

I while back, I bought a RockSoul bluetooth keyboard for my phone. It cost me less than $40. It's small and light, runs off of a couple AAA batteries, and I can take it anywhere.

I'm a touch typer, so I made sure it was large enough that I could rest it on my lap and type without looking at the keys. But even if you use the biblical method of typing (seek and ye shall find) you could make this work.

I do get some strange looks from people who wonder where my computer is. Then they see...

The Phone

I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 from Sprint. This phone happens to be at least 100 times more powerful that my first computer, and I could write a novel on that. Why not this?

The advantage of using the phone is that I always have it with me. Even without a keyboard I can jot down notes, leave myself recorded messages, read what I wrote the day before, and research bits and bobs needed for my story.

And unlike my computer, it has handy settings for turning off sound and notifications and for disconnecting from the world so I can focus on writing.

The downside is that you do have to deal with a small screen that is often setting next to you on the arm of a couch or a table, or balanced precariously on your knee while you wait for your daughter's play to begin. If you, hypothetically, had a daughter...who is in the school play...in November. It's much more fun to slip the phone into my shirt pocket, then people really wonder what I'm doing.

The Software
In order to make this happen, I downloaded some applications. There are lots of them out there, so I'd recommend you try several until you find one that works for you. Here's what I used:

Dropbox is the star of the show. This is what synchronized my draft files back to my computer at home. I didn't want to lose my novel if my phone was lost or stolen or broken during the month. Plus, there were some rare times when I was at home and typed on my computer, then the files were sync'd back to my phone. Beautiful.

I wrote in JotterPad X. It is a nice-looking editor with decent power under the hood. One of my first requirements was that it sync with Dropbox--which it does well. I also like to write my drafts in text format. I find that having the manuscript in such a simple format gives me a lot of options for editing later. I can use Word or Scrivener or, basically, any other editor on the planet. And text files are very small, size-wise, and that makes syncing easier.

I also bought Outliner Pro. It doesn't have the prettiest icon, which is a shame because it is very easy to use. I kept my story notes in here and it worked well. I had a section for characters, one for places, the magic system, notes on future plans, stuff like that. I didn't have a full outline for my story this year, but this program helped me keep my details straight when I needed to. I bought the Pro license to get Dropbox sync, but it was worth it.

The Outcome
I liked this setup so well for drafting that, even if I had a computer available, I would often slip off to a quiet place in my house (which sometimes wasn't located in my physical house, because kids) and write on my phone. I'm planning to continue drafting this way in the future. It was very handy to be able to write anywhere just by carrying around an 11oz keyboard.

I'm not sure if this setup will work for editing, The screen isn't quite big enough--then again if phones keep getting larger that might change. The biggest hurdle to editing, is that you have to see the screen and interact with it quite a bit. That's not easy to do with a phone, but there are possibilities. I like possibilities.

*Note: The device pictures are copyright of their respective manufacturers. I've linked to their pages in the article. And the NaNoWriMo Winner banner was used with enthusiastic encouragement as well as permission.

Sweet Confections Cover Reveal

I know I don't review a lot of romance around here, but I had to share the news. My wife's latest book is coming out soon and today she revealed the cover!

Don't I just look dashing? And so debonair?

Okay, it's not really me. I don't even remember the last time I had that much hair. And the woman in the picture isn't my wife, but the name at the top is. And that's what really matters, right?

If you're into romance or hockey or baking or freaky stalkers then you'll like this story. By the way, if you're into freaky stalkers remind me to take you off my mailing list . . . or not. I didn't mean that. I really do still like you. Really.

You should go over to my wife's blog for a more detailed story summary and the chance to win a $10 Redbox Gift card.

LDStorymakers Midwest Wrap Up

This is my favorite poster for the conference. I was going for a comic book cover look. I think it turned out quite nice. I'm sad to see it go into the history books, so I'm going to use it one more time for this post.

The conference was awesome. It ran smooth thanks to the planning of the committee, the expertise of the presenters, and the work of the hotel staff. Thanks everyone.

I met a lot of new people and of course got to hang out with old friends. After going to these conferences for so many years, they begin to fell like a family reunion . . . where you get to learn new skills.

This year, I was in charge of the A/V again. As with most things, the second time you do it is easier than the first. This is also why second drafts are better than first drafts. It's nice that I can put my technical skills to good use in the writing community instead of my usual job--which is ending conversations by using too much technical jargon or really bad puns.

Now that the conference is over I feel a sense of sadness knowing that I won't get to see everyone for many months, but that sadness isn't a sharp as it used to be. Not because I don't feel it, I do. It's mostly because there is so much work that goes into the conference that the sadness is tempered by a whew-it's-done-I need-a-break feeling.

We'll take a bit of time off and then start on next year's conference because meeting everyone, learning more about this craft of writing, and building a community of writers is well worth the effort. I hope to see you all there next year.

Nathan Hale's Calendar

If you're not reading Nathan Hale's blog you should be. He's a wonderful artist and all around creative guy. His posts aren't long and they usually involve a picture he's drawn.

He's also been known to publish whole stories on his blog. Lately, he hasn't done that as much because he's just so busy putting out books.

I'd like to have that problem.

Earlier this week, he shared his calendar. He uses it to track his work. It's simple, useful, and really cool to look at. Here's a quick explanation.

A line coming in from the bottom of a day means he started drawing a page. A line going out the top of a day, means he finished the page. Seriously, look at all those lines. For more details, you need to read and comment on his post.

Not only is it easy to see the work he got done, this feels like a sup'd up version of the Don't Break the Chain method. I love it.

In fact, I've been trying to think how I could adapt it for writing. I was thinking about tracking scenes.

I define a scene as a series of chronological events that happen in one location. This is how I write my stories--scene by scene. I don't put them together into chapters until later in the editing process.

So scenes might work. Of course, they vary in length quite a bit, some of my scenes are just 500 words while others are 5000 words. Still, I don't think that matters. What matters is moving the story forward, not how many words are in the story.

I'm also considering making writing and editing scenes look different somehow. I don't want to complicate things, so I was thinking about writing a "D" or "E" when a line comes in the bottom. In the end, it also doesn't matter if I'm writing or editing as long as the book is progressing, so I'm not sure if I'll need to do this.

The goal is to have a cool visual representation of my progress. Cool enough that the pattern I'm creating will provide motivation to continue the pattern.

So, I'm looking for other people's ideas. What do you think would make for a good calendar tracking system? Also, don't forget to check out Nathan's blog.

* Nathan's calendar image posted with permission.

Winning Nanowrimo

I won Nanowrimo. Hurray! (And there was much rejoicing . . . and ice cream.)

This is the second year I've participated, and it was both easier and harder than last year.

For those of your not familiar with Nano, it's a challenge to write 50K words in the month of November. If you do, you win. And there are tens of thousands of winners each year.

Like I was saying, this year was easier in some ways. For one, I already knew I could do it.

The second time you do something, your confidence is higher and you doubt yourself less. Of course, it's not all happiness and roses. Doing a difficult thing a second time, is still difficult--you just know more about what you're getting yourself into.

This year was also harder. On the 3rd day of the month, my writing ground to a halt. A problem at work required a lot of my attention. My team didn't cause the problem, but we had to help solve it. I ended up working over 90 hours that week, much of it in the middle of the night.

Playing catch up was hard. I constantly felt the pressure to crank out words, and I think it made me a little grumpy. Thank goodness I have a supportive family.

It took until the 24th to finally get caught up and pull ahead.

The story isn't finished yet. I think there is at least another 30-40K more words to go, but I have a solid start thanks to Nanowrimo.

True Colors

I've spent a prodigious amount of time on hold today.

You may be wondering why, but I'm not going to tell you. Neener-neener.

A-hem.

I got to hear a lot of so-so jazz and a fair amount of instrumental pop songs.

Funny enough, I heard "True Colors" three different times, with three different companies, and three different arrangements.

I wonder why that song?

* Can you guess what's in the picture? It's a long-exposure image of a fountain taken by epSos.de. Cool, huh?

Story Tug of War

As I'm preparing for Nanowrimo, I'm in the story planning and creation phase. It feels a lot like a big game of tug-of-war except with more than one team. Don't try to imagine how that would actually work, just go with me on this.

All stories have the big elements: Characters, Setting, Ideas and Progression. And they each pull against the others.

For example, When I come up with a great way to strengthen a character, that new strength tugs on the Setting, Ideas and Progression. Sometimes everything holds, but sometimes it pulls the Setting too hard and I have to give it some attention. Adding strength to the Setting dominoes into changing an Idea. You get the picture.

When I'm done, what I want is to see is 4 strong teams all pulling as hard as they can--putting as much tension as possible on the ropes.

Here's a real example. This is the story I'm working on right now. (Thank to everyone who voted.)

The Cepio is an advanced armor and weapons system designed to augment the most powerful soldiers in the galaxy. When a Cepio shipment is attacked by bandits, one accidentally crashes onto Earth and binds to seventeen-year old, Isaac Thomas. Isaac must learn to control the Cepio before it takes over his mind, all while keeping it out of the hands of the bandits and the galactic corporation that wants it back. Because once the Cepio binds to someone, the only way to repossess it is to kill the host.

And the breakdown:

• Characters: bandits, Isaac, galactic corporation
• Setting: Earth
• Ideas: Cepio weapons system, most powerful soldiers, Cepio tries to take over Isaac's mind, bandits and corporation want it, unbinding causes death
• Progression: Not a lot of progression details here. Isaac gets the Cepio and a lot of trouble too. We don't know what he does with it, how he uses it, how it changes him, or even the outcome of the story.

As with many of my story embryos, this one is heavy on Ideas. If I'm not careful the Ideas will overshadow everything else and my Characters will seem flat, the Setting will appear blank, and the Progression will feel haphazard and forced.

So, I spend a lot of time fleshing out Characters, planning how things could Progress, and filling out the Setting. What this often means is that my Ideas have to change.

In one of my previous stories, the embryonic Idea that started the whole thing ended up being dropped from the final story altogether. It just didn't work with everything else. But that's okay. I've already got another story that's building around that Idea, and I'll write it someday.

*This picture says to me, "Tug of war is hard, hard work." My muscles tighten just looking at it. And I can almost hear the fibers of the rope grinding and popping from the tension. You can check out other works by Scott Anderson on Flickr.

A Class by Brandon Sanderson

Hidden away at in the middle of a blog post by Brandon Sanderson, he said that the lectures from his creative writing class were all online.

Say what?

So, I went to check them out. And sure enough, there they were. Each lecture is broken into multiple videos separated more-or-less by topic. Many of the videos also have the notes for the class. In a word, it's awesome! (Thanks to WriteAboutDragons for doing all the hard work.)

Want to know how Brandon plots his books? Go here.

How about advice on participating in a writers group? Got that.

Creating sympathetic characters. Meeting agents. World building. Fight scenes. And more and more. In fact, there are over 15 hours of lectures all online for your learning pleasure.

And if you're like me and don't want to click the next lecture each time, I've got you covered.

I created one, massive playlist that will start at the beginning and play all the way through to the end. Of course, you can start anywhere in the playlist and it will happily load the next video and the next. So you can  sit back and enjoy for as long as you want.

You can find the playlist here.

Personally, I'm going through the lectures as I prepare for Nano next month. I'm just past the class where he talks about creating characters and I'm going through the exercises. If your a video learner, and like Brandon's style of writing, you might like his classes, too.

Go ahead and give them a try. It's free.

* They say a picture is worth a thousand words--this picture surely is. It's titled Secrets by Sarah Horrigan. I got sucked into all the wonderful images on her photo stream, it's well worth your time. In fact, I may contact her and see if she'll let me do a whole blog post on her work. It's great.

Decisions, Decisions

Nanowrimo is just around the corner! Time to start planning.

Last year I tried something new. I wrote in a new genre. I even had you guys pick which one.

It was so fun that I'm doing the same thing this year.

This time I have three, count 'em three, story ideas all in genres I've never written in. Let me know in the comments which one you prefer.

---

First up, murder mystery. This one intimidates me the most.

The working title is Re: Murder (Solved). Here's the pitch:

@ChicStauff: My boss's wife was killed today! #omg I think she was murdered.

The wife of Jerry McCormick, CEO of Grayson Security, is accidentally killed in a robbery attempt. At least that's what the police say. Anya Stauffer knows different, and is going to prove it. She turns to her friends for help: a lawyer in California, a pre-med student in Utah, and a reporter in South Carolina. Using texts, picture mail, video chat, GPS and a little hacking the group puts the pieces together. When someone else dies, Anya must work fast before the killer strikes again. This time, it might be Anya who's the target.

---

Next up, SciFi. I've written a lot of fantasy, so I'm excited to try some SciFi. They share a lot, but there are differences as well.

The working title is Cepio. Here's the pitch:

The Cepio is an advanced armor and weapons system designed to augment the most powerful soldiers in the galaxy. When a Cepio shipment is attacked by bandits, one accidentally crashes onto Earth and binds to seventeen-year old, Isaac Thomas. Isaac must learn to control the Cepio before it takes over his mind, all while keeping it out of the hands of the bandits and the galactic corporation that wants it back. Because once the Cepio binds to someone, the only way to repossess it is to kill the host.

---

And last but not least, Romance. You might think this would intimidate me the most, but it doesn't. See, I don't have any delusions that I'll be good at it, but being able to write a romantic subplot is a very important skill to have. I did cheat a little and decided to write Romantic Suspense.

The working title is Deputized Heart. Here's the pitch:

Sheriff Rosalynn Banks has everything under control in the small town of Larson until ex-Marine, Garrett Browning, moves in, and his surprisingly sweet advances make her doubt how much control she really has. When a routine domestic dispute call goes terribly wrong, Ros finds herself out-manned, out-gunned, and the target of a well-funded drug cartel. She deputizes Garrett and together they must figure out who's behind the attacks and bring them to justice before anyone else dies and before Ros loses the thing most dear to her--her heart.

Those are your choices.

Let me know which story sounds the most interesting to you in the comments. You are welcome to vote for more than one if you want. I'm not picky.

But you can't vote for all three. As it turns out, I am picky.

Book Review: Case File 13 - Zombie Kid by J. Scott Savage

It's been awhile since I've reviewed a middle-grade book, so I was excited when an ARC of Case File 13 Zombie Kid by J. Scott Savage arrived in the mail.

The awesome cover stared at me for days, tempting me to ignore the writers conference. You'll be happy to know I didn't succumb to the temptation, but it was hard.

The summer is over and there's a chill in the morning air. Halloween is just around the corner. It's a perfect time to read a monster book, so when I sat down to read I had high expectations.

I enjoyed Zombie Kid. And I'm not just saying that because I have mashed potatoes on my head.

The book is full of hair raising situations, sandwich loving ghosts, talking cats, arch-enemy girls, evil curses, alligators, voodoo queens, zombies . . . and fart jokes. Yep, it has it all.

The story starts off with three monster-obsessed boys who quickly find themselves in the middle of a voodoo war, and one of them is turned into a zombie. Cool, huh? It's not all fun and games though as they struggle to reverse the curse.

I especially like how Jeff brings zombies back to their roots. These aren't some mamby-pamby-virus-zombies or glowing-radiation-zombies or high-tech-genetically-modified zombies. These are true voodoo zombies controlled by an evil Bokor. Oh, yeah!

Case File 13 Zombie Kid is creepy, quirky, and cool. It's scary enough to keep your attention, but not so much to give you nightmares. Oh, and try not to get too grossed out.

I've known Jeff for many years. He's written so many different things from a fantasy series and a mystery series to technological thriller and more and more, so I was especially curious what made this book so special to him. Here's what he said:

This is probably the closest story I’ve ever written to what I was like as a kid. I never turned into a zombie (although I might have seemed like it in my early teen years), but I loved monsters, explored all kinds of creepy places, and Halloween really was my favorite holiday. I attended Pleasant Hill Elementary and played on Dinosaur Hill. So writing Zombie Kid was a lot like recapturing my youth.

I never thought anyone would want to publish the Case File 13 series. It was too much my own twisted sense of humor, my own loves, my own story. Even when I sent it to my agent, I did so with lots of disclaimers. When he told me how much he loved it, I was still apologizing for even sending it to him. And then, when Harper snatched it up in a three book deal, I was floored. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who experienced those kinds of things as a kid, and still enjoys these types of stories.

Don't worry Jeff. If it turns out that you're crazy, then I'm right there with you. Bring on more monster books.

Case File 13 Zombie Kid comes out in December 2012, so you don't have long to wait to get yourself a copy.

Just Quit

Since the conference, I've spent a lot of time writing. I love creating stories in my mind and crafting words to convey them.

I'm reminded of a piece of advice I heard somewhere. It's advice given from an experienced author to someone just starting out. And it goes like this:

"Quit. And if that doesn't work, roll up your sleeves and pay the price for success."

While that advice seems harsh, there's a lot of truth there. Over the years, I've given up a lot of things. Some things I gave up because I didn't have the money to afford it. Others I gave up because I didn't have the time. Many things I gave up, because I wanted to do something different.

And over the years, I've quit writing. I've put it on the shelf in order to do other things. But every time, I come back to it. I like it. It makes me happy.

So, I've made a pact with myself. I'm going to finish the second draft of my Thor story and finish the first draft of a to-be-started story before the end of the year. And if I have time, I'll finish the second draft of my Dreamer story as well.

That's a lot of stuff to do, but since quitting hasn't worked for me. I might as well roll up my sleeves and pay the price.

So, what's the best writing advice you've heard? Not the advice that sounds the best, I want to know what advice caused you to increase the quality or quantity of your writing the most.

* This picture of a Go game taken by Luis de Bethencourt looked so good, it made me want to learn how to play. You should check out his other photos.

The First Storymakers Midwest Conference

It's done.

It feel so good and so sad to say that.

The LDStorymakers Midwest conference is over. I had a wonderful time. It's always a pleasure to get together with fellow writers to learn from each other and strengthen our friendships.

The conference wasn't too big which was nice. We had about 40 people and an awesome group of presenters, so everyone got to rub shoulders with some very talented authors. Just take a look at this list of awesomeness: Traci Abramson, Don Carey, Karen Hoover, Heather Justesen, Josi Kilpack, Laurie Lewis, Lisa Mangum and Steve Westover. The whole thing was organized by Danyelle Ferguson and Lynn Parsons, and it was . . . well . . . awesome!

I'm still gathering my thoughts, but here are a few things I learned:

My view of dialog was too narrow. I need to open my mind to a new way of thinking to take my writing to the next level. Thanks Traci.

Authors can be great role models for children. Even when they do teach your daughter how to disrupt an entire class from the back of the room and supply the laser pointer to do it. Thanks Karen.

It's awesome to have friends who inspire you to be better, celebrate with you when you succeed, support you through the hard times, and are willing to tell you how it is when you need them.

Being a Tech Guy isn't so bad when you get great advice and work with good equipment. Thanks BJ.

Music brings people together and can be used to teach writing techniques. Thanks Don & Karen.

Average results require average effort. Good results require double-average effort. Great results require double-good efforts. This conference was great. Thanks, Danyelle, Heather, Don, and Lynn.

When you get writers around a dinner table, you'd be suprised at the mind-boggling variety of conversation topics that come up. From science to history to teenager's habits to the best place to hide a body.

I'm not quite ready to buy a Lamborghini. There are still a few things I need to do to keep my house in order. But there are things I can do today to get ready for that adventure someday. Thanks Lisa.

Great friends are worth their weight in gold. Great writer friends are worth their weight plus three-or-four-boxes-of-books weight in gold.

For everyone who went to the conference. It was so much fun to meet you. For those who weren't there, I hope to see you next year.

You Gotta Love Your Neighbors

I've been on vacation, but when I saw this sign I had to snap a picture and share it with you. Enjoy.

Book Review: My Body Fell Off by BJ Rowley

Let's jump to the chase. If you're reading this on Friday the 13th, then you need to go here and download a free Kindle edition of this book. Right now. Then come back and read the review. It's only free for one day, so if it's not Friday you can still go and buy the book. Just sayin'.

I read My Body Fell Off by BJ Rowley several years ago. In fact, I've read all three Light Traveler books. They are exciting, funny, creative, and intense. It's great to see the series make its ebook debut.

This is a story about a teenage boy who can leave his body and transport himself to other places. That would be weird, right? But then he gets used to it and it becomes way cool. Imagine what you could do. Until he stumbles into big trouble when he overhears the plans of some dangerous criminals. That's where the flames and the airplane from the cover come in. Very exciting.

I've known BJ for a long time. He's a great guy and a good friend. He's always willing to help others, so when I asked him what made this book special, he shared several great tidbits.

"This was my first book. My family thought I was nuts for even thinking about writing a book, and pretty much dismissed my craziness out of hand. But I cranked it out submitted it. AND IT WAS ACCEPTED!! Of course, my editor immediately showed me several things that needed fixing--which greatly improved the story. I was vindicated. I proved that I could do it. I became a published author. It was an incredible few months."

I can confirm that BJ is crazy. I think all writers have to be, after all we talk to ourselves all day. Crazy in a good way.

"This story is great fun from start to finish. It's set in my high school. I attended Payson High School. I lived on the highway on West Mountain. I know exactly where Bart's locker is. I've sat on that couch up inthe light control room in the ceiling of the auditorium. The story is set in my own backyard with really fun fantasy at the same time. Who hasn't wished for that?"

I attended a much smaller high school, but I could still relate. It was the way he wove the fantasy and real life together than made this book fun.

"I remember one night writing and writing away. All of a sudden I realized I had to get up and work in 5 hours! But it was SO hard to walk away from that computer because I could hardly wait to see what was going to happen next! That's how the whole book came together. Those darn characters just kept getting themselves into trouble all over the place. Teenagers!! Before I knew it, they were bound and gagged, soaked in gas, and waiting for a bomb to go off . . . and I had NO idea how they were going to get out of there alive. It never occurred to me that I (the author) could back up and rewrite the scene and make it easier. They got themselves into that mess, and they were going to have to get themselves out of it. I stewed on that problem for several days before a solution finally presented itself. Then they got it done!"

If that doesn't hook you, then here's a bit of the prologue to whet your appetite.

The first time it happened, I was in third grade. I had been recuperating in the hospital after having my appendix removed. They had me all drugged up on painkillers, and I was feeling really goofy, so I just passed it off as a weird dream. I thought about the “dream” on and off for several weeks after that, but eventually it slipped into oblivion and was pretty much forgotten.

* * *

The second time it happened was two years later. Our school class was on an overnight camping trip for fifth graders. We were hiking in the dark, around midnight—no flashlights allowed and no talking. Our leaders thought it would give us a better appreciation for nature or something—I’m not sure. Anyway, I lost my footing climbing down a little hill and slipped several feet into a steep ravine. I landed headfirst against a big rock and was knocked cold for a couple of minutes. My friends told me that when I finally got up, I babbled and carried on, saying all kinds of stupid things. I don’t remember any of that.

The weirdness happened later, while I was lying in the back of the ambulance. It was like . . . floating and drifting and moving up and down. And I distinctly remember seeing myself strapped to the stretcher, with paramedics leaning over and doing things. It was like I was watching the whole event through a ceiling-mounted camera.
. . .
But eventually the headaches went away, and I came to realize that I was still the same old me.
. . .

* * *

The third time it happened, I still didn’t recognize the remarkable gift for what it really was.

I had just started my sophomore year in high school . . . and I thought for sure I was dead . . .

BJ has a few more chapters online if you want to keep reading.

The Best Writing Investment I Ever Made

In 2005 I attended my first writers conference.

It was a small LDStorymakers conference, held in a little, brown theater in Springville, Utah. In fact, it was held in the Little Brown Theater. Less than a hundred people attended, which was good because if there were any more, I don't think we'd all fit.

At that time, I didn't have aspirations of becoming a writer or an author, but that changed.

I learned about the craft of writing, the business of writing, and the joys (and pains) of writing. That was interesting and all, but mostly I met people--kindred spirits. I formed relationships at that conference that changed my life for the better.

Now's the part where I drop a bunch of names. Just remember, back then many of these people were just starting their careers. And even today, there are still a few undiscovered gems. BJ Rowley (who is releasing an awesome ebook later this week), Darvell Hunt, Heather Justesen, Josi S. Kilpack, Julie Wright, James Dashner (he wasn't a NYT Bestseller back then), J. Scott Savage, the award-winning Marta Smith, Anita Stansfield, Rachel Ann Nunes, Candace Salima, Rebecca Shelley, and Tristi Pinkston. (I'm sure I forgot someone. I'm sorry.)

I'm not just name dropping. Each of these people have personally impacted my life. They aren't just names or acquaintances, they're friends and cohorts in storytelling.

The people I met and the things I learned at that small, one day conference nudged the course of my life ever so slightly. Because of that shift back in 2005, I'm a writer today, and I have some of the best, quirkiest, awesomest friends in the world.

I tell you this because on September 15th, LDStorymakers Midwest conference is happening in Kansas City. There will be less than 100 people, so it will be more intimate than the main conference in Utah. It's just one Saturday, so no huge time commitment. It's not as expensive as the multi-day, main conference. And some of my friends are teaching and speaking.

There are still slots open, so tell all your friends and family. Especially pass the word to people who aren't writers. You never know what might happen. I'm excited to read someone else's story in 7 years.

Here's the link to the registration page.

* Isn't this a great picture of two friends? And I really want to see what they're looking at off camera. RAM shared this photo on Flickr. He has more beautiful shots from Lebanon you should check out.

Freedom Isn't Free

Freedom isn't free,

Freedom isn't free,

You've got to pay a price, 

You've got to sacrifice,

For your liberty.

- Paul Colwell

Every time I hear these lyrics they make me stop, think . . . and thank.

It's funny that on Independence Day my thoughts often dwell on dependence. As an American, I like to think of myself as self-made. I am the product of my labors. But that's not altogether true. I'm the product of much more than that.

Great men and women with vision, courage, and strength spent their lives to lay the foundation I stand on today.

We often look back on the founding fathers who thought and fought to form the United States. They were amazing people who did incredible things, yet even they built on a previous foundation. The foundation laid by the pioneering families who journeyed from Europe to settle in America, the deep thinking of philosophers and religious figures, and the careful work of historians to preserve the stories of other civilizations.

We stand, today, not on the shoulders of giants. We stand on the shoulders of the shoulders of the shoulders of the shoulders . . . in one giant pyramid of ideas, inventions, laws, societies, and civilizations. Except this is an upside-down pyramid. It doesn't get smaller at the top, instead it expands outward and upward. Our reach is so much greater than our forefathers.

And we don't have to look to history. Just look around us: the soldiers who defend us; the police who protect us; the firefighters and medical staff who save us; the engineers and technicians who bring electricity and water and communication to our homes; the farmers, ranchers, and fishermen who provide our food; the drivers and planners and workers who deliver goods to the stores; the parents and teachers who raise up the next generation; and I can't forget the writers and  publishers who help us see the world in different ways. To the vast army of men and women who make it possible for me to sit here in my home with my kids and write this blog post, I say "Thank You".

Thank you for your sacrifice--for the price you've paid to keep us free. Yes, I know that many of the people I mentioned are just doing their job and getting paid for it. But how much is a human life worth? $10 an hour? $100? $1000? I submit that every one of these people sacrifice to perform a duty that benefits us all. And because of this Dependence, we can enjoy our Independence.

Happy Independence Day.

* I loved these pictures so much, I had to include both of them. The amazing photo of the construction worker was taken by Saad Ahktar. It portrayed so much of what I wanted to say in this post. And the freight train photo was taken by Hunter Desportes. It reminded me of the apocryphal story about the width of the space shuttle being based on Roman chariots. The story isn't true, but it's still a good story.