Foto Fiction: Unmentionable Vacation

I'm trying a new thing. Taking photos of odd sights I run across then writing little stories or thoughts for them. Gets the creative juices flowing. I took this picture while in Yellowstone last week.

Have you ever noticed that a sock is mysteriously absent after a wash? Or maybe your favorite bra has taken a hike? Well perhaps it really has. Yellowstone national park now boasts an all inclusive vacation package for lingerie that's tired of the same old spin and rinse cycle. Activities include hiking, climbing flagpoles, swimming and sunbathing (as pictured below). No people necessary for the trip, your unmentionables can take the magical wormhole in the dryer. After they are rested and relaxed they will be ready to return to their daily duty. So if you come across that camisole you haven't seen in a few weeks, and it smells vaguely like s'mores, you'll know exactly where it's been.

Y is for You

The question I get asked the most by aspiring writers is this, There are a million books about (mourning, weight loss, parenting, etc). I'm just a nobody. What can I bring that's any different?


My answer is always the same... you.

So What if you're not a celebrity? You have something that nobody else has: your story, your voice, and your life experience. Don't let anybody tell you any different.

Yes, there have been lots of books about losing a loved one. But there have been no books about losing your loved one.
That doesn't just apply to non-fiction. How many times have we read boy meets girl, or girl meets vampire? What sells books is your unique narrative voice. What do you have to say and how can you say it differently from everyone else?

As a writing exercise, my teacher had us all go outside and look at the road. Then he had us go inside and write a paragraph about the road. As you can imagine, the six of us, though we all looked at the same road, had remarkably different things to say about it. One of my favorites said it looked like a meeting place for lost souls.

Point is, you bring something to the table that is awesome and unique and deserves to be written. So don't try to make your book like any other that's been written before. Don't model it after a best seller.
Model it after you.
Tell your story.

J is for Jarom

Jarom is my husband and my favorite person in the world...most of the time. We just celebrated our 12th anniversary.

My book is autobiographical, so my husband is a big part of it. In reading it, he was a little confused of my portrayal of him. He thought I made him out to be Superman. But isn't that what your spouse should do? See the piece of greatness that is hidden from yourself.

So this is my love letter to my husband. He champions my strengths, supports me through my weakness, and is the mirror in which only the best of myself is reflected.

I challenge you to write a love letter to your favorite someone: Mother, husband, father, child

I is for Invent

in·vent

 

[in-vent]

verb (used with object)

1.

to originate or create as a product of one's own ingenuity,experimentation, or contrivance: to invent the telegraph.

2.

to produce or create with the imagination: to invent a story.

3.

to make up or fabricate (something fictitious or false): to invent excuses.

If you are a writer, you should add inventor to your list of titles. Dictionary.com says so. Look at definition number 2. That is also the definition of what an author does. We are inventors of story, of worlds, of characters. 

With the right words we can change the world.

G is for Writing Guru Caleb Warnock

Welcome back everyone. If you haven’t already, make sure to read Part 1, G is for Gardening with Caleb Warnock. I’m still here with Caleb Warnock. I’ve been attending his writing classes locally for six months, since mid-October 2011, and I can honestly say that if I hadn’t, I would not have been picked up for publication. My writing would still be falling under the category of long lost word files. Caleb doesn’t believe in sugar coating, except on his chocolate. But his tell-it-like-it-is attitude is something that, for me at least, promotes growth once the dead weight is burned away.

Betsy: So Caleb, if you wouldn’t mind, give our online audience a quick breakdown of your writing credentials. As in why the heck should we listen to you, aside for the whole best-selling author bit?

Caleb: Well you can check out my blog at CalebWarnock.blogspot.com for my full curriculum vitae and see a full list of credentials. But here’s a few highlights. I’ve won over 20 awards for my writing, including the David O McKay Essay Contest. I’ve been nationally published for the past 13 years, including publication in The Writer magazine. As you’ve mentioned, I currently have a bestselling book and 7 more book contracts -- two of those co-authoring with you, Betsy. I’ve taught at UVU, and U of U, and I’ve owned my own writing school at WritingInDepth.com for the past 13 years as well.

Betsy: Haha. Ok ok, we’ll trust you. What the biggest difference you see in newbie authors writings as opposed to experienced authors?

Caleb: Hmm, I was having a conversation just the other day about this actually. I see a huge difference in the writers that write for fun and the writers that write to put food on the table. I belong to the latter group. I tell people I’m a retired farmer. I grew up digging ditches on a farm and retired at 19. Writing is what I love to do, and I’ve learned that when you’re forced to produce or starve, the writing improves dramatically. It has to be good to sell. There is a difference between being a writer and simply wanting to be a writer because you get excited to hang out with authors and talk about writing.

Betsy: What’s the biggest hurdle for an unpublished writer to overcome?

Caleb: Fear of failure. Giving in to all the voices, both in your head and not. Giving in to the discouragement because you didn’t get picked up by an agent on your first try. People don’t often realize that it takes blood, sweat, and tears. Most authors don’t just plunk down a story and wham, you’re a bestseller. It’s like being a concert pianist. There may be a virtuoso once in a blue moon, but most musicians have to practice and hone their craft for years and years before they even consider playing to sold out crowds. Being a bestselling author is the equivalent to selling out Carnegie Hall. You have to work for it.

Betsy: What advice would you give to someone who has five partial manuscripts in their drawer and dreams of becoming an author, but is afraid of rejection. (This was me).

Caleb: Go to a writing class with a teacher who will tell you the truth, and not just tell you what you want to hear. If your story is collapsing, help is out there. I had a teacher at BYU, and when she died, her obituary said she had three manuscripts in her drawers. And she had never been published. If that happened to me, I would be so mad I would come from the grave. Don’t let anyone write that in your obituary. Go find some help.

Betsy: In a previous post, I mentioned that a friend has nicknamed me the Voice Doctor. Well, I would have to nickname you the Plot Doctor. Everyone comes to you because their stories have collapsed in the middle. Why does that happen, what’s the diagnosis?

Caleb: Because no one has ever taught them how to structure a story, fiction or nonfiction. People think writing is creative, organic...art. To not plan out your story would be akin to picking up a brush, putting it in some paint, then putting it directly on the canvas-- with no idea of what you’re going to paint. That’s the fastest way to ruin a canvas and a story. Artists sketch and plan. Writers plan and plot. You have to know where your story is going before you put pen to paper. I teach people the bones of plotting and structuring stories.

Betsy: You have taught a weekly writing class for writers of all skill levels for the past four years. But not everybody lives in a place so easily accessible to a mentor such as yourself. How can someone in the sticks find their own Guru. (hint hint...shameless plug).

Caleb: Well, I have online writing workshops for $50 a month. If people are interested they can email me at calebwarnock@yahoo.com. I’ve been teaching those online workshops for 13 years, and those classes got bigger after Becca Fitzpatrick, author of the national bestseller Hush, Hush was a student and thanked me in the acknowledgements of her fantastic book. The class has also helped published authors like yourself, Nebula award winner Eric James Stone, and many more. Just this year, I put all of my writing workshop lessons on Kindle and Nook. There are eleven booklets in all, part of my What Every Writer Should Know series. Each is $9.99, which far cheaper than you can get them through me, mostly because that’s as much as Amazon would let me charge. I think is a tremendous value, but I’m biased. The lessons cover just about everything. Marketing, Query Letters, PlotShop, Narrative Voice, and more. I think the first two lessons anyone should pick up are PlotShop and Creating Narrative Voice. These can save your stories.
   

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Thank you to all my readers from both Mormon Mommy Writers and this blog for stopping by. And thank you to Caleb Warnock for taking a few minutes out of his insanely busy schedule to sit down and chat with me. Below I will list the places once again where you can find Caleb and his books. Also please feel free to leave comments. Even if they’re about chickens.

The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency Used by the Mormon Pioneers

The Art of Baking with Natural Yeast: Breads, Pancakes, Waffles, Cinnamon Rolls and Muffins

What Every Writer Should Know Series

calebwarnock.blogspot.com