Somebody's Watching Me

Once again my son Chan is at it, directing film with his brother and his friends.

New Year's Day: A Time for Goals

The New Year has begun, so it's time for me to talk about accomplishments and set some new goals (or at least let all of you know where I'm heading.)

The biggest accomplishment the past few weeks has been that I finished the rough draft of Conjoined at the Heart: The True Story of the Herrin Family. I know there is much work to be done, but I wanted to be able to say I had finished the all the chapters that were on the outline I was given, and I did. This is a pretty good accomplishment since I started in August and wrote while teaching school and healing from my elbow replacement surgery!

I also wrote and retyped an entire screenplay for Seasons of Salvation at the same time. The last word I hear was that
production could begin in February.

Enough with the updates, here's what's happening in the next few months with my writing and editing careers:

I'll be writing books this year with both Alan and David Osmond. We've started the drafting on Alan's and have David's partially outlined.

I'll be editing Devin Davis's new book in the next weeks.

I'm drafting Fablehaven Teacher Guides for Shadow Mountain Publishers.

I've queried a couple of magazine articles and I'm just waiting to see.

I have future projects already lined up with Deborah Dennis and BookWise Publishers.

That's enough for now. It's wearing me out already just thinking about it!
Hope all of you had a great Christmas and and enjoyable New Year's. I'll be at work on these projects again tomorrow and Saturday, then Monday it's back to the grind of teaching school! (Although the year IS nearly half-way over.)

Will I See You at Book Camp?

Heather B. Moore and I will be teaching two classes at the WriteWise Book Camp this week. Here's the agenda. Hope to see some of you there. Location: Salt Lake Downtown Marriott

Monday
9-11 a.m. Richard Paul Evans
11-12 Meet Your Designers
12-12:30 Hall of Fame

2-2:45 p.m. Breakouts:
Rance Parker - Self-Publishing & How I Got into Cosco
Dian Thomas - Publicity
Meagen Bunten - Ins & Outs of Free Web Marketing
3-4 p.m. Breakouts:
Brandon Mull - The Road to Fablehaven
Dian Thomas - Book Proposals
Phil Davis - Self-Promotion with The Box

4-6 p.m. Richard Paul Evans & Robert G. Allen

Tuesday
9-12 Robert G. Allen
12-12:30 Hall of Fame

2:30-3:15 p.m. Breakouts:
Phil David - Self-Promotion
Heather Moore/Lu Ann Staheli - How to Work with Your Editors
Joycebelle Edelbrock - Out of the Box Marketing

3:30-4:30 Breakouts:
Mark Steele - The Importance of Your Website
Heather More/Lu Ann Staheli - How to Critique Your Own Book
Joycebelle Edelbrock - Out of the Box Marketing

4:30-5:30 Richard Paul Evans & Robert G. Allen

Wednesday
9-10:45 a.m. Richard Paul Evans & Robert G. Allen
11-12 Lyle Mortimer/Cedar Fort Publishing
12-12:30 Hall of Fame

2-2:45 Breakouts:
Joycebelle Edelbrock - Self-Publishing Checklist
Brandon Mull/Ranse Parker - Where Do We Go from Here? #1
WW Illustrators - Working with Illustrators
3-3:45 Breakouts:
Joycebelle Edelbrock - Self-Publishing Checklist
Brandon Mull/Ranse Parker - Where Do We Go from Here? #2
WW Illustrators - Panel Discussion with Illustrators

The Race Against Time is On!

As some of you know, I've been working lately on sample chapters for a memoir with Jake & Erin Herrin titled "Conjoined at the Heart" about their family's experience following the birth of Kendra and Maliyah, conjoined twins who were separated at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City on August 7, 2006.

As often happens in the world of publishing, unexpected deadlines can pop up, and what seemed like a leisurely amount of time to finish a book can suddenly turn into a harried race to cross the impossible deadline.

Well, that is certainly what is happening here. I had word this weekend that the Herrin's will not only be appearing on the Discovery Health channel in October, but also on Oprah! The air date for Oprah is October 23rd. That means the book has to be finished, and it has to be finished NOW!

A publication contract has been offered through BookWise Publishing, and I'm off to the races trying to take my 10 sample pages to a finished product in record time. Watch out critique group, here I come. Pages will be flying at you as fast as they come from the printer. It's a good thing I've always worked well when writing under a deadline.

But still, wish me luck!

Congratulations to Devin Davis - As Magic Shifts

"When the world is at war, even enemies will unite against the rising evil."

The Headmasters of a magical institution receive the prophecy that a demon threatens the peace in their land. The institution’s soldiers march onward with the aide of the magic of the forest, the energy of the mind, and the mystery of the dark arts. Just one army and one group of wizards go to fight the war of the century!

Congratulations to Devin Davis on the release of his first novel, As Magic Shifts. I had the opportunity to edit this manuscript, and Devin tells a great story. If you like fantasy, and you'd like to help launch a brand new author's career, you can order his book by visiting his website: The Works of Devin Davis

BEA for Booklovers

I had the best opportunity in the world for a bibliophile like me: FREE BOOKS! I spent a day in Los Angeles the end of May, meeting with agents, editors, booksellers and hundreds of authors who were at this annual trade show, ready and willing to give away and autograph copies of their books. You’ll be hearing more about some of these authors and books in the coming weeks, but I wanted to give you an overview that might make some of you salivate to attend the one scheduled next year in New York City.

BEA stands for Booksellers Expo America, and it is the place to be if you have anything to do with the book industry. In addition to the open trade show and author autographing areas there are workshop sessions, special breakfast and luncheon presentations, in-booth one-on-ones with authors, illustrators, editors, agents, book publishers, and others involved in the industry. Some of these opportunities are geared toward specific audience members such as librarians, educators, book buyers, booksellers, and those who are building and renewing contacts with others in the industry.

You’ll have the opportunity to meet just about anyone and everyone at BEA. While standing the line to meet Peter Walsh (Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?), I chatted with an agent who handles Middle Grade and Young Adult fiction, one of the many things I write. She handed me her card so I could send her sample chapters. Walking from the trade show to the autographing area, I ran into T.A. Barron (Merlin’s Dragon) who I had met several times at conferences in Utah. We talked about doing an interview for one of my blogs. Back at the autograph tables, I met George Hamilton (Don’t Mind if I Do) most recently of Dancing with the Stars fame, who was just as good-looking, tanned, and suave as ever.

Sometimes the encounters I had there were almost comical, like when I tried to find the end of the line to meet Slash, a member of the heavy metal group Guns and Roses who was there giving out copies of his forthcoming autobiography. The line wound out of the autograph area, and halfway around the building, yet I still hadn’t found the end! Then there was meeting Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn) and realizing as we talked that I had taught his wife at Payson Jr. High School. And I loved the moment when a publicist chased me through the line to get my card so she could add me onto her list of advance copy reviewers.

It’s easy to forget these people are famous or critical to my writing career when I have authors like R. A. Salvatore (The Orc King) stop in the middle of autographing my book to introduce me to Heather Graham (The Death Dealer) whom I had actually met last fall at the WriteWise conference in Salt Lake; the head of Roaring Press Books take a minute to introduce me to one of her favorite agents while we were discussing my review of one of their recent publications; And New York Times best-selling authors like Richard Paul Evans and Robert G. Allen giving me advice on how to pitch to an agent or editor while at the conference.

All in all, going to BEA was a great experience for me, as I’m sure it was for the rest of those who went from here in Utah. And it’s one I plan to have again, only this time I hope it’s me sitting at the table autographing copies of my book. Target date: Las Vegas 2010.