Inklings
pretending
My genius daughter made me a book cover for The So Called Novel. I love it overmuch.
I know it’s cheating, but I’m going to have one–maybe two– copies printed. I got a coupon for a free copy when I entered ABNA, and then another for doing NaNoWriMo.
Do I care if it’s cheating? Let’s see. Hmmm. Nope.
look, don’t interrupt me when I’m reading.
another way to tell a story
Made by Ryan Woodward–one of my daughter’s mentors at BYU. This video has gone viral and no wonder.
It required over 200,000 drawings.
diagnosing my book
Diagnosing my book:
From storyfix.com:
One or more of the four elemental core competencies – concept, character, theme or story structure – must be exceptionally compelling, original and mind-blowing. If all four are simply good, that probably isn’t enough to get you published, it merely blends you in the crowd. Agents and publishers aren’t looking to add to the crowd, they’re looking for a home run to emerge from it.
And… both of the two execution-driven core competencies – scene execution and writing voice – need to be rendered at a professional level of excellence. Doesn’t need to be John Updike, but it can’t have a amateur moment anywhere on the pages.
That’s the ante-in. The bar you must reach. Now that the clouds have parted, you can see how high it is and what it will take to get there.
Unquote.
Now to figure out how to write “mind-blowing.”
Merry Christmas 2010–a virtual greeting
First, I want to apologize for being lame and not mailing cards this year. We took some pictures a few weeks ago for that purpose, but they didn’t turn out fit to print. I’ll throw one up here:
Back row: Gama, Tricia, Danny, Art, Kenny, Nefi, Rosalie, Joseph.
Front row: Chloe, Xavier, Shanna, Margot, Max. (Paul’s on a mission in Michigan)
2010! What a whirlwind. Our family faced hard challenges and shared many happy times. Perhaps our biggest challenge came in January, when Rosalie and Nefi’s firstborn, son Jonathan, came to bless our family but was only able to stay for one brief hour. How grateful we are for knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to know we will be with Jonathan again.
This year we had the joy of adding a son-in-law to the family when Tricia was married. We love Gama! And then the intense happy-sad of sending off a missionary: Paul, to the Lansing Michigan mission. So proud!
Margot was thrilled to receive word that her novel has been accepted for publication, tentatively scheduled for next summer–a long time dream coming true.
And now, if we may, we’d like to ask for your prayers. Rosalie and Nefi have another baby on the way now, and face the same complications as last time. Rosalie is under a great doctor’s care and will be on strict bed rest for the next couple of months at least. It’s in God’s hands now, and we’d be so grateful for your prayers in their behalf.
Our relationships with family and friends mean everything to us. Thank you so much.
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