New Article Published

Hi everyone,

I publish articles all the time on a variety of subjects, but rarely do I get really excited about them. Tonight is one exception, since an article I worked on for a fairly long time, interviewing people around the globe, posted on the Internet. The article is about the hidden costs of reproductive technologies, and you can read it by clicking here. I found the subject fascinating and learned quite a bit while doing research and interviews. In the end, I found many of my preconceptions about the subjects altered as I really dug into things.

I've Just Begun to Write

I know some people only have a book or two, or maybe even three in them, but I am sincerely just getting started. I don't plan on just putting out a few books and then moving on with the next thing on my bucket list. Instead, I always have been and always will be a storyteller, and the amount of stories I have to tell will continue to grow.

Last I counted, I had a solid 13 book ideas in various stages, which should keep me busy for a while. I am sure more ideas will come to me while I work on those, and so I will continue to produce more books. I also have several short story ideas in store for the Shades of Night series, and even a couple of script ideas I am weighing what to do with.

I am hoping I become more efficient at producing books, because I love telling stories that move people, whether they cause people to dive behind their couch, cry or improve their life. 2012 should see at least two more books of mine come out, as well as at least a few more Shades of Night stories, and so it is with this excitement that I greet the new year.

This is going to be fun...

The Devil's Nightmare Cover Work Progress

Hello everyone!

One of the great pleasures I partake of when I put together a book is working on the cover concept. Despite the old saying, people do judge a book by its cover, and I have learned that an attractive, interesting and different cover can generate interest about the text behind the cover.

I have been working with a talented artist by the name of Mike Collins on a cover design for The Devil's Nightmare, my upcoming paranormal thriller novel. I want to give you all a sneak peak into the creative process that is going on with the cover, with this early sketch of the concept. Keep in mind this is very rough (we have moved beyond this), but this gives you a first look of the Purple Man character in the novel.

Once you see the finished product, I think you will be impressed with how far Mike has taken this rough concept and made it something beautiful, interesting and polished. What you see in the drawing is the mysterious Purple Man, who is the main villain in The Devil's Nightmare.

As the book nears publication, I will be letting everyone in on some more information about the Purple Man. I should mention that in the finished product, the Purple Man will be clothed, making him look quite different, but for now you're going to have to use your imagination.

Six Sentence Sunday!

This is my first time participating in Six Sentence Sunday. In case the name doesn't explain it, Six Sentence Sunday is a blog hop that posts every Sunday morning. Writers posts six sentences of their choosing. I have decided to use this as a chance to give people a six sentence sneak peak at my new story, Shades of Night: Perfect Village, before it publishes. Here it is:

As the garage door slowly rolled up, creaking with an incessant chatter, Flynn noticed the dark sedan’s lights were on. He fired up his car, which at first sputtered sickly and then began to roar with only a slight cough. Slowly at first, Flynn backed out of his driveway as he closed the creaking garage door. Flynn looked at the dark sedan in his mirror for a minute, and then he punched the gas and jerked the wheel, sending his car flying backwards into the road. Flynn switched gears and slammed on the gas again, jerking his car forward so hard it began to fishtail and a cloud of smoke kicked up behind it. The dark sedan spun around in pursuit of his car, smoke pouring from its tires as well.

Deja Vu Blogfest: Flashbacks

This post was originally put on the blog on July 29, 2010 but I am re-posting it as part of the Deja Vu Blogfest. This was one blog post where I opened up about something in my past I just don't talk that much about, and yet I felt the need to share. You can think I'm crazy for what I posted, and you would be right. Here you go, the original blog post, named "Flashbacks":

I'm about to get a little personal here, and I hope people do not take this wrong. I consider myself a pretty logical person, but I am also of the belief that science (at least current scientific understanding) cannot provide us with an explanation of all things.

The other night I was watching the season 2 finale of the X-Files. I had not seen the episode, I think, since it originally aired, but something about it stirred up memories I have not thought about deeply for years. When I was about 14, I went with several Scouts and two leaders from our troop to a remote part of western New Mexico, around the area of Grants. If I remember correctly, we were at the edge of a wilderness preserve near El Malpais, which in Spanish means "The Bad Country."

The purpose of the trip was to help one of our fellow Scouts complete his Eagle project. We were going to be constructing "dams" out of chicken wire and cement in an arroyo at the edge of the wilderness preserve. We arrived in the area after driving quite some way from Grants, where we had stopped for dinner. The area was remote; it was not a place people normally camped in. We had to drive on a small dirt road for at least a couple of miles before we settled down in a stand of trees, just a short distance from the wilderness preserve.

After darkness fell, one of the Scouts started to tell me about how the area we were in used to have homesteads, and that he thought he saw the ruins of a house or barn near the dirt road we have traveled on, just outside the stand of trees where we had set up camp. With our leaders' permission, me, this Scout and one other boy set off with flashlights in hand. We talked excitedly about finding old coins, boot spurs or other interesting artifacts at the homestead site. The walk took several minutes, since the supposed location of the ruins was on the opposite side of the stand of trees from where we were camping.

When we arrived at the site, we began searching the ground for any indications of where the building had been. It was dark and the ruins were badly decayed and overgrown. We started to comb through the dirt and underbrush with our hands, hoping we would uncover something interesting to take back to camp.

A light appeared in the distance, in the middle of an open patch of desert about a mile from where we were. The light looked very similar to a car's headlights, only it was brighter and there was only one light instead of two. The light was shining directly at us, and so we stopped what we were doing and began to wonder what was going on.

A second light, much like the first one, appeared from behind the first light. The first light stood stationary, but the second light began to advance on our position. We turned off our flashlights, realizing they had probably given us away. The boy who had come along began to panic and say he was going to run off to the camp. The boy whose idea it was to come to the homestead site decided he would crouch behind a bush and wait to see who would show up. A sick feeling welled up in my stomach as the light quickly approached us. The one boy was already running down the dirt road. I was able to convince the other boy to go back to camp. By this time the light was very close. I listened intently, expecting to hear the roar of an engine, yet I heard absolutely nothing.

We took off running as fast as we could. When we were several hundred feet up the road from the homestead site, I looked over my shoulder and saw the light arriving at our original location. I ran faster, sure they would guess the direction we had gone and overtake us before we reached our camp. I'm not sure I have ever been so frightened in my life. Fortunately, the light did not come up the dirt road. I lost sight of it as we delved deeper into the stand of trees and finally arrived at the camp. We yelled to the leaders what happened, and at first they did not believe us. After we insisted someone was out there, they grabbed their guns and ran off to investigate. After a while the leaders showed back at camp, saying there was no sign of lights or anything else.

I am not claiming I saw a UFO, partly because the lights were at ground level and partly because I still have absolutely no idea what I saw. Unlike some people, I really don't like jumping to conclusions too quickly, since often in strange situations there is more than meets the eye. The fact I did not hear the roar of an engine does not mean the lights were paranormal. I could have simply not heard anything because I was panicking. I will say that the most disturbing fact about the incident came the following day, when we were driving back towards Grants. As we drove out of the stand of trees, I and the other two kids who were with me gasped as we realized the ground the light that advanced on us had to cover was chock full of rolling hills. The light did not bob up and down as it would have if it were attached to a land-bound vehicle. This single fact cast the greatest doubt in mind about who or what the light was.

I have considered the possibility that what we saw was a manifestation of the infamous ghost lights, but they moved as if they were attached to a vehicle of some sort. I have heard rumors, but have not found any authoritative sources, that say the Navajos absolutely refuse to enter the area, believing it has been cursed for generations. None of my sources cite why the area is supposedly cursed. I have found many, many accounts of other supposed paranormal activities around the Grants area. The area is down the road from Chaco Canyon, a site where an entire (and very advanced) group of Native Americans mysteriously disappeared, leaving behind tools, clothing and food on their tables. Some have theorized these people were part of a massive alien abduction. I say pretty much any theory is possible since nobody can seem to come up with any conclusive evidence about what happened at Chaco Canyon.

I have  no idea if what I saw was connected to the Chaco Canyon mystery, or any other mystery. I do wonder what would have happened had we not run away from the homestead site, had we stayed to see what the lights really were all about. When it comes right down to it, I am glad we ran, because something deep inside of me told me if we hadn't I wouldn't be writing this today.

The Importance of Sources in Writing

When you are writing about factual things, your article or book is only as good as the sources you use to back up what you say. If you are an expert in a field (like a master plumber with 18 years experience) and are leaning on your own experience, then you need to explicitly say so either in the body or at the byline. If you are not an expert in the subject, you must couch any controversial points with references that are verifiable and reputable.

Case in point: take a look at this article on KSL.com about whether alcohol cooks out of food. This piece has stirred up quite a bit of controversy, if you look at the comments on KSL's Facebook page and the story's comment board. Whether or not your agree or disagree with what the article has to say is not what I am focusing on here. My beef is with the source cited in the article.

If I were to use a source like Ochef.com when writing a food or nutrition article, the editors I work with would gleefully send the article back for a rewrite. Who writes the content for Ochef.com? Good question. Go to the website yourself and try to figure it out, because there is no information about who runs the site, let alone that person's credentials.

In all fairness, the Ochef article that talks about cooking with alcohol does cite a source, a book called The New Making of a Cook, which the unnamed author on Ochef.com claims is "as authoritative a source as you can find." Christopher Miller, the contributor who wrote the piece for KSL.com, calls the article on Ochef.com a "study." Ochef.com, which is arguably not an authoritative site, cites a book that was published in 1997, not a scientific study (if you don't believe me, check out the book on Amazon right here).

Is this agenda writing, or just plain ol' laziness? Christopher Miller, with a byline that says he is a member of The League of Utah Writers, cites an unreliable source, which in turn cites a book that was published 14 years ago. A quick Google search, which is the laziest way to research, yields results from universities and research hospitals on the subject of cooking with alcohol, such as this gem from Clemson University. Not surprisingly, Clemson's facts vary from the "study" published in 1997.

If Christopher Miller had done more digging, he would have also run across more authoritative information to put into his article, such as Whole Foods' recommendations on what to add to food if people are concerned about using alcohol. Such sources certainly would have rounded out the article and made it more informative and useful to readers. 

In case you were wondering what it takes to join The League of Utah Writers, you only need to click on their home page to find out. Spelled out on the bottom of the page are the membership requirements. Adults need  to pay $25 a year, and that is all. You do not need to apply, be published or even (obviously) need to be a good writer. Perhaps at their next conference, The League should school its members on sources and how to use the right ones properly.

Your Rough Draft Sucks

Your rough draft sucks. This is bad news for all of you who participated in NaNoWriMo, but I can't let everyone live a lie. It is a well-known fact in the writing world that everybody's rough draft--no matter if it is for a 400 word article or a 140,000 word novel--sucks big time.

Cry, stomp your feet, scream, etc.

There, now don't you feel better?

But your rough draft still sucks. When Shakespeare first penned Hamlet... you guessed it: his rough draft sucked. Thankfully, the Bard realized what other great writers have realized: the real writing starts after the rough draft is complete. It's great to get a rough draft hammered out, but it's... rough. You must polish something that is rough, and the polishing process takes time and a considerable amount of effort.

In fact, I would argue that the "real" writing starts with the first revision of your rough draft. I can't tell you how many of my rough drafts I have hated, even despised. I make it my personal mission to morph these sucky drafts into something great, and I feel kind of like a mad scientist working in the laboratory. If you don't enjoy rewriting what you have already written, you don't have what it takes to be a writer. It's just that simple.