Hey! I learned Something

Sometimes a project just needs to sit. The problem is that you're likely not going to know that at the time.

A few months ago, I sent my "finished" manuscript to the publisher. And they sent it back. The acquisitions editor had a few suggestions that would make it better. At the time, I was disappointed. I thought it was done. I'd been over the manuscript several times, and even though it was shorter than my first book, I couldn't find things to add or where to add them where they wouldn't sound forced or trite.

Life happens, and though I worked on improving the story initially, I admit I haven't done much with it in the last weeks. School let out, for one. That about stops all my writing in its tracks. But that doesn't mean the project has been far from my thoughts, and the suggestions I got from the editor have been lurking there as well. A week or so ago I even opened up the Word file and realized I'd left out an important plot point. Sigh.

Late Saturday night I had the epiphany I didn't even know I'd been waiting for. Suddenly, the sub-plots I needed and the characterization that would flesh out the story just hit me. Mind you--I don't take credit for any of that. I know where my inspiration comes, and the fact that it was the evening I was preparing for church the next day is no coincidence.

Now, I'm really looking forward to working on the story. I know what it needs to make it better, and I know what I'm going to do. That's the greatest feeling.

Patience and Learning

by Cheri Chesley

Last Tuesday, my book club reviewed James Dashner's The Maze Runner. I just want to say, I hang with a keen group of ladies. These women are smart, and savvy, and--as Mr Dashner will learn if The Death Cure doesn't have a satisfying ending--dangerous when crossed. Hey, most church ladies are.

What I love is, like they did with These Is My Words and The Hunger Games, our conversations became deep and introspective. And I love how 8-12 women can get together in a room to discuss the same thing, differ in opinions and reasoning, but still have a great time doing it. I just may live for book club.

The best part about these monthly meetings--for me--is that I feel I come away with a better understanding of what makes a good book. I love getting so many different perspectives and ideals about the same thing. It's incredible what readers can get from the things we write down. And if all this tallies up to making me a better writer, then it's time well spent.

And let's hope, for Mr Dashner's sake, that my book club is satisfied with how he ends his trilogy. If not, I just may bring them to his next local book signing. ;)

Knowledge is power...and free!

                                                                    By Trina Boice
                                                                 http://www.boicebox.com/

Can you believe it’s BACK TO SCHOOL time already? While some parents are celebrating the idea of a quiet, clean house during school hours, others are sad to leave behind the carefree fun of summer spent with their children. My kids think I’m crazy because I absolutely love the smell and anticipation of opening up a new textbook.


For parents who are just a bit envious of their children’s opportunity to learn new things at school, I have a goldmine of resources for you! The following web sites include thousands of video lectures from some of the world’s top scholars! Knowledge nirvana! And they’re all FREE!

One of my favorite quotes, and one worth teaching your children, is:
“The more you read, the more you know.
The more you know, the smarter you grow.
The smarter you grow, the stronger your voice
When speaking your mind or making your choice!”

Enjoy!

http://academicearth.org/
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/av/index.htm
http://worldlibrary.net/Collections.htm
http://freevideolectures.com/
http://videolectures.net/
http://lecturefox.com/
http://www.ted.com/
http://ocw.nd.edu/
Courses include detailed lecture notes, a calendar of teading assigned for each class and a description of major assignments.

http://ocw.tufts.edu/
Offers student-made documentaries about social issues as well as a list of weekly readings.

http://itunes.stanford.edu/
Professors Martin Evans and Marsh McCall lecture on great works by Virgil to Voltaire.

http://itunes.berkeley.edu/
Berkeley's lectures online
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/
Alternate site of Berkeley's lectures.

http://scholarspot.com/

http://www.varsitynotes.com/

http://www.learnerstv.com/

If anyone is interested in Entrepreneurship and learning more about what it takes to own or run a business, I highly recommend the Standford eCorner ( http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1554 ) or the Harvard business school ( http://www.hbs.edu/entrepreneurs/ ) podcasts. Both are great resources that provide outstanding insight into running your own business.   Others include:
http://oedb.org/library/features/236-open-courseware-collections
http://www.careervoyages.gov/education-videos.cfm
http://www.sba.gov/training/index.html
http://www.sba.gov/tools/audiovideo/Podcasts/index.html
http://www.openculture.com/2007/07/freeonlinecourses.html
http://www.videomd.com/featured_videos.aspx
http://freesciencelectures.com/
http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/
http://education.usgs.gov/common/video_animation.htm
http://www.nachi.org/advancedcourses.htm
http://education-portal.com/video_library/index.html
http://www.serve.org/nche/ibt/aw_video.php
http://www.practisinc.com/interactive/patient-education-videos.php
http://scholarspot.com/
http://www.varsitynotes.com/
http://www.learnerstv.com/
http://www.stumbleupon.com/
http://www.ovguide.com/education.html


CENTSerely,

Sister Thrifty a/k/a Trina Boice
http://www.sisterthrifty.com/

Visions of farm accidents

For those who didn't know, in addition to being a writer, I'm also an EMT in my hometown. The last week of every month we have training where we learn new skills or review things we know (and quarterly we also have pass-offs of all our skills and the drugs we carry so we can stay current on them). Tonight we were told we were working with the fire department--which usually means we're doing car extrication practice. We work with the guys on the fire department a lot--anytime there's a car accident dispatch calls both departments out together. If there's a structure fire (house, barn, etc), the ambulance goes out to the scene to monitor the firemen between their runs into the house to rip out ceilings and douse flames. And sometimes we even end up treating people who live in the house--but usually we're just badgering the firemen to wait until their blood pressure comes back to a normal range, and forcing them to drink more electrolytes. =)

Tonight, however, we drove out to some farms and learned about extricating people from accidents with tractors and balers and other large equipment. I still couldn't tell you what all of the machines are called, but I got a crash course on what could go wrong on farm equipment. One of the EMTs and her husband--who runs a farm--got some volunteers to get bloodied (with fake blood) up as victims, and put together some fake bodies to take the place of victims who probably wouldn't survive the accidents (no actual people were harmed in the scenarios, though several were really cold from lying on the ground, and any number of clothes were damaged beyond repair).

We went through each scenario discussing what the EMTs injury concerns would be, what the firemen could do to help us, to extricate the patients and solve problems while we cared for the patient. After it was all over, I heard one of the EMTs saying to Lindsey, who put it all together, "Wow, you must have a really twisted brain to come up with all of those situations." I kept the fact that I had been wondering about how I could use one of the scenarios in a story to myself. She didn't need to know how seriously twisted I was, after all.

After Jeff told us that he and three other farmers stood around the baling machine that morning discussion how someone might have an accident with it and not end up dead, I realized farms are a magnet for danger. I could write a real horrific suspense story on one of those places!

Okay, now to the point of all of this (besides the fact that it was just plain fascinating). EMTs have to learn new skills and keep their current skills up to date. In the same way, I need to keep my writing skills honed, and learn new ones all the time. I read Lisa Mangum's new book The Golden Spiral this week and she said in her acknowledgments that in writing her second book, she learned every new book is different. They have to be treated like a different book because what works for one doesn't work for the next one.

Just because I've been to ten or eleven conferences now doesn't mean I've learned everything there is to learn about writing (I learned plenty at the LUW spring workshop last weekend). This is an ongoing process and I can't afford to become comfortable with the same kinds of skills that I've used in the past.

What worked for my first couple of books isn't going to be enough for the next one, and though I can use the skills I've already learned, I need to keep improving, keep searching for better ways to work my craft, better ways to express myself, new and unique ways to kill people off (If there are so many on a farm, just imagine where else you could find a few!).

Writer's conference fun!

Today I've been at the Marriot at a conference in Provo. This is the seventh year for the LDStorymaker's writer's conference, and it's by far the largest ever, topping off over 450 attendees! I love conferences because not only do I get to learn more about my craft, focus on the problems in my writing and learn new things about publicity, but I get to visit with friends. Lots of friends. And make tons of new ones. And since this conference is 200 people larger than last year, there are oodles of new people to meet.

Writers are a funny lot. We spend hours researching odd topics, discuss situations, and get jealous when we find out someone has a chance to attend specialized classes like S.W.A.T. training. At lunch I was sitting with a bunch of ladies I either didn't know, or had only briefly met before. Three particular women were seated together and talking about someone. Now, I hadn't really been paying attention to their chatter, but I knew that they had co-written several books together, so I turned to them and asked--are you talking about a real person, or one of your characters. I shouldn't have bothered--of course they were talking about someone they had made up.

When you meet people in other ways the typical question would include what one does for a living, how many kids, they have, etc. The most common first question at the conference today among people meeting for the first time seemed to be "What genre do you write?" Real jobs and kids came way later in the conversation, if ever.

And can I just say how fabulous it is to go to a conference where a fantasy writer actually comes out and says that our writing needs to uplift, to teach and lead others to live better lives--even if that teaching takes place subtly, in a way that can't be considered preachy? Nowhere else could he say that, and it's unlikely that it would have been received with complete agreement anywhere else.

I love conferences!

Writing Necessitates Learning

If there is one thing I've learned since becoming an author, it's that I'm always learning something new.

For one, just the very nature of writing necessitates learning, whether it's researching a certain topic, location, or human nature for a new book, or re-learning all the things I was taught in English about punctuation and grammar.

Another thing I've learned, and am continuing to learn, is how to be a better author; how to (and how not to) market a book, how to write and edit more efficiently, how to organize my time better so that I can devote more time to writing, etc.

And lastly, I must say I have learned so much from other authors, which includes reading the posts on this blog. I can't tell you how many times I have struggled with some problem or another in my writing and have found answers, suggestions, and solutions, when I need them most. What a wonderful thing it is to learn from others who have experience and wisdom in areas that I lack.

Thank you!