Alloy of Law Launch

If you're a fan of Brandon Sanderson, you probably already know about his latest release Alloy of Law.

It came out early last week and as usual he held the launch party at the BYU bookstore.  I had to go!

Unfortunately I couldn't camp out early (what turned out to be a full week in advance) to get a single digit number so I picked up a number by 7:30 am the morning before.  It was 104.  I actually got book #204 because books numbered 101 - 200 were being held for his next signing in another city.

Brandon's book launch parties are very fun and fan-dom rich.  It proves for an interesting and sometimes odd night.  This one was no exception.  This time because the book store choose a better layout, I managed to get video of the Q&A.  I decided to edit it and post the video up for everyone to see if they wished.  I broke it up into 5 posts to keep it YouTube friendly.

Don't forget.  If you're interested in my give away of Peter Orullian's The Unremembered, you need to enter by December 5th, 2011.  Right now your odds of winning are very good.
Details are linked here!

Here they are:

The Unremembered Give-Away

The Unremembered, by Peter Orullian, a Give Away.

It's O.k.  Get excited!

TOR has graciously donated this copy of The Unremembered for me to give away.  I'll be taking submissions for the give away from now until December 5th, 2011.  (So that if you want to gift this for Christmas you'll have time to do so.)

The point system will be simple and allow you extra opportunities if you'd like to expend a bit more effort for a better chance to win.  (I'll only be shipping to United States addresses for this give away.)

To enter the give away:  Post a comment saying that you're interested in the give away.  This is worth one point.  Bonus points available below.  Share with me your total points in your comment please.

• One Bonus Point:  Share point.  Use the tags (Twitter, Facebook, etc) below this blog post to tell everyone about this give away.  You can also use any other social network on your own.
• One Bonus Point:  Referral point.  Did you refer someone who joined in the give away?  Post a comment after their comment to claim a referral point. 
• One Bonus Point: Bloggers Pet Point.  You can follow my blog or twitter for one point each.  (This is really easy.  Use the 'Join this site' link over on the right sidebar under Followers or 'follow me on twitter' at the bottom of the Twitter Updates panel in the right sidebar.)

*Please be sure to comment about your points if you have any updates so I won't miss them.  

I do need to contact you if you win.  Please click here to fill out the contact form.  If you win I'll contact you for your address.  The winner will need to reply to their award contact with a postal address within 3 days of the award notification.

That's it!  See, really easy.

If you want to know more about Peter, you can click here to visit his awesome website.  Or here to read about when I met him this last summer.  Even if you don't win, I hope you check his book out or buy a copy.

Have you heard of The Unremembered yet?  Let me tell you a little about it.
The Unremembered is an epic fantasy.  Epic fantasy doesn't have to mean big fat fantasy book, but this time it does.  Hooray!  The Unremembered is 669 pages in this hard bound First Edition, that I'm giving away.  It takes place in an original world (Aeshau Vaal).  You'll discover it has it's own powerful life and mood.  It is full of great histories and powerful legends.  If you visit Peter's website, linked above, you'll find teaser videos that will introduce you to the characters in the novel, some history and some vital plot points.
The story begins as a great threat rises through rumor.  The people who would fight that threat pull themselves out of their simple lives, some at a significant cost, to quell it.
Take a journey with me into a world that can swallow you whole and spit you out at 3am in the morning wondering where the night went.  Open the pages of The Unremembered today.

October's Advice

I was able to sit in on the West Valley Library author panel Wednesday, October 19th.  Authors Emily Wing Smith, Bree Despain, and Sara Zarr answered questions and had some great advice.

Sorry about this poor photo.  I showed up late having gone to the wrong library and end up with a seat in the back.

They all shared their 'How I Got Published' stories and they were remarkably similar, which hasn't been the case most times I hear panels answer this question.

Sara Zarr published her 4th novel she wrote.  This was after 10 years of writing with the intent to be published. She thought the whole time she had to know someone to get her in... but really it just turned out she needed to work hard, improve her craft, get an agent, submit and keep working hard.

Bree Despain published her first novel after 9 years of writing.  She decided to be a writer and took all kinds of classes in college.  In one of these classes she met Emily Wing Smith, became fast friends and here they are today.

Emily Wing Smith published her book after 6 years from finishing her first novel.  She went to Vermont college to study writing.  There she wrote her first novel that would later be published.  She met Sara Zarr there who suggested she speak to her agent, she did and after that things started to move more quickly to her becoming a published author.

Sara said that writing is like a sport. You have to work hard at it to develop skills that are valuable enough to market.

Bree commented on choices. Your characters will make them. There are consequences to these choices and pursuing them in your plot will bring out the human story and condition. Depth is in the humanity of choices, rather than injected with some secret writing formula.

Emily said she likes to avoid moral statements, but rather let the whole story tell any lesson learned, else a preachy character will come off sounding cheesy. They all agreed one of the best perks of becoming a published author is meeting with the authors you read and followed as a reader and to be accepted by them as a colleague.

 I did take a few moments to speak to Bree Despain. I asked about writing warm up practices that help ensure her precious writing time was successful.

• She shared with me that she enjoys a small daily allowance of chocolate to enjoy while writing. 
•  She keeps a writing space. 
• A musical sound track to listen to while in certain moods/scenes. 
• She also uses 15 minutes to get started where she has to be dedicated and writing. However as promised to herself if she's just not feeling it after that time then she stops for a while. Mostly by the time 15 minutes are up she's well on her way and doesn't need to stop. 

The library event was nice and I hope to see more authors again soon. Mean time I'm off to a solid start on my current work. It's taken the longest to write. I've had my struggles and this one is my most challenging story yet. I'm over 60,000 words into it. I absolutely must finish it this year! Wish me luck.

Another book give away!

Coming soon, I'll be giving away The Unremembered by the amazing 2011 debut author Peter Orullian.

The winner will enjoy this fantasy mood rich novel in time for Christmas.

Details to come.

Hiking Mt. Timpanogos Doesn't = Writing

Labor Day weekend (Sept. 5th) I joined hundreds, maybe even thousands on one of the several trails leading to the Mt. Timpanogos Summit.  My intention was to hike the trail and use the non-mental time to work out my plots and make some real progress on my current novel.

Insert wammy buzzer here.


New realization.  Hiking such an intense trail requires all my available mental prowess.  Evidently, it's not that much.  Turns out that thinking of my plot when my heart is racing, lungs are heaving and I'm dizzy from the altitude doesn't really work out.  Hiking was such a mental game for me that I rarely even managed the thought process.  Although I promise I tried diligently for hours off and on.

Regardless, I did have a great hike!  It was gorgeous when the sun came up (I started the hike at 2am) and I had some amazing views.  The high meadow was the most photogenic with all the blooming flowers.  The lake (emerald lake I think) was extra blue from all the dye they use on the snow pack.

I also learned a few things.  For one... Kevin J. Anderson is an insanely genius fit superhero to manage to not only hike much higher peaks, but also plot out entire books on these similar adventures.  Not only could I not manage to keep a forward thought, my knees and feet are killing me and my legs are so sore I can barely walk three days later.

I did also learn something more about my self.  Two years ago I tried to summit Mt. Timp as well, but I failed.  I reached the saddle and a tiny bit more, but I couldn't go any further.  I hit my wall.  I had horrid foot wear that tore my feet up.  It took 2 years to heal physically and mentally to be ready to do it again.  But I did.  I learned from my previous experience.  I left earlier.  I got better shoes.  (I still packed in way too much water, a.k.a. weight.)  I tried a longer but more gradual trail.  I pushed past my limits and found success.

I often repeated my mantra on the hike: Relentless Persistence.

Each time I was wore out I pushed on.  Even if it was just a few hundred feet before I had to rest again.  I kept my rests short and under 1 minute.  Just long enough to catch my breath and for my heart to settle down.  Then back on the trail.

I relate this to my writing, because sometimes I'm not very successful, but I never really fail, because I learn from my mistakes.  I get better.  I keep trying and sooner or later I will reach that summit.  I might still be in the lower meadows right now and have one heck of a trail ahead of me, but I know I can make it.  Even if it is one step at a time.

This weekend is the next session of the Festival of Books, held this time at the U of U.  I'll be going to meet Ally Condie, Brandon Mull, Obert Sky and whom ever else plans on coming.  Some times we don't hear about them until it's too late and we're there, but usually more come than the website lists.  I'll see you all there.