Just Had To Say

I just had to say...

That I purchase my vinyl sticker quotes from Signz here in SLC.  They are seriously the most affordable place ever for printing!  Especially large format.  Any way, I'm so excited to put up my words of encouragment on my writing room wall.  I'll post pics once I've put them up.

Also I'm about 70% done reading my ARC of Legends Reborn: The Light of Epertase.  Thank you Rhemalda Publishing!

O.k. I'm not the fastest reader out there, but I do read.  ;-)

Utah Festival of Books Fun!

Did you miss it?  Then you missed out!

I attended The Utah Festival of Books this last weekend.  June, 4th 2011.  It was on the BYU campus in Provo, UT.

I've been looking forward to this for months.  Unfortunately a last minute family thing came up and we had to cut our visit short.  However I managed to get in an authors panel and I visited briefly with two of my favorite people.  ( I have a lot of favorite people!)

First was Aprilynne Pike.  She is the author of Wings as you see in my hands.  I followed up with her from her last visit at the Kings English, but stupidly forgot the question  had for her.  So I opened my mouth and said something really intelligent. 
"I have book.  Sign please."  Sorry, fan boy moment.  But I didn't want it to end there so I uttered another word in one syllable.  "Writer. Me."

My wife got a kick out of me going total pre-school IQ in front of the authors yesterday.  That said the police didn't get called and I walked away with a signed and personalized book with advice and inspiration I can look back on at 4am when I'm trying to put words of value to the splattering of words I like to call stories.

Click here for Aprilynne's site.

I also met with Kevin J. Anderson.  I've never met with him before so I wasn't sure what to expect.  Admittedly I was nervous.  However he's this really cool guy who's so willing to talk and answer questions.  I happened to catch him setting up early for his signing time so I got a few minutes with him.  He shared with me some valuable resources for new writers and even pitched me on the Superstars Writing Seminars.  Which sadly is not likely to be in my budget this decade.  If you can I agree, do so.  You'll never get brighter stars to shine on you.

Click here for what I believe to be Kevin J. Anderson's site.

The whole event was really nice.  Great for the family.  Sun was intense and finding shade or an indoor event was mandatory.  I crisped up a bit and resemble a lobster now.  The kids enjoyed the bounce house, hot dogs, icy flavored ice treats and other activities and prizes.  My sweet patient wife enjoyed meeting American Idol pop star David Archuleta, having him sign her CD and listen to the hundreds of screaming teen and pre-teen girls pitch their voices at new deafening levels.
Scary stuff.

This thing runs twice a year.  Don't miss the next one.  Check it out linked here.

Winner Announced - A New Cool

Congratulations to the winner of the giveaway for a brand new copy of The New Cool by Neal Bascomb.

Jonnie H

Thank you to Crown Publishing for supplying the free copy to giveaway on my blog.

Jonnie H, I'll reach out to you today for delivery info.

Thank you to everyone who showed interest in my blog and this giveaway.  This was a rough month for me and writing and I really appreciate the support you've shown for my writing.

I want to apologize briefly for the delay in announcing the winner.  There was suprise death in the family that took me out of state for the last few days of the month and then I returned ill.  But all is better now.

Relentless Persistence

I'm completely convinced that anything is possible with relentless persistence.  A person who persists while exercising the humanistic properties of learning and growing is bound to achieve any goal regardless of it's lofty level.  Only death or abandonment can stay humanity from a goal and even then depending on your perspective death is merely a temporary set back.  It's the quiting or abandoning a goal that makes a dream.

I recently heard an accomplished musician speak to me about skills and talents.  She spoke of singing masterfully as a skill that anyone could accomplish with enough effort and persistence.  Her point was that those with a natural born or inherited talent would learn more quickly and with greater ease, but anyone could develop the talent/skill with enough work.

I remember a talk I watched of Bob Proctor.  If you don't know the man or his teaching I highly recommend him.  I think everyone can learn from him.  One thing he spoke of is that everything mankind has learned and will learn has always existed.  Regardless of your belief in god or a higher power this must be true.  For example he said that the Internet and it's technology always existed, however we had not yet discovered it.  Man did not invent electricity or the laws by which it is governed.  This has always existed, it's just that through our persistence we discover these things.  We learn and grow.  We have always learned and grown.  We've have had our speed bumps, set backs and other 'dark ages', but we've never given up.  As a whole humanity has grown to what we are today.

I'm willing to say that if humanity can constantly learn and grow and accomplish great things, then so can I.  In terms of achieving something grand in scope in my life, such as becoming a full time author who can earn an excellent living for my family through writing, then I too can follow this human pattern if I choose to exert myself.

So, did humanity have set backs.  Yes.  Did humanity achieve greatness over night?  No. 

I also can not expect over night exceptional success.  However when humanity exercised wisdom, peace, and what I would call good old American (Memorial Weekend is coming up) Relentless Persistence, then they did grow, develop in leaps and bounds in such small periods of time.  Personally I'd add righteousness and the hand of god in blessings and fruitfulness, but regardless the facts are there to prove it.  I am not so genetically superior to my progenitors that I have greater potential to success, but I will because of the success of my ancestors and my personal dedication.

So I say to you:  Regardless to the immensity of your personal dreams.  Make them a goal and pursue that goal with a Relentless Persistence and one day that dream you had will be your reality.

The difference between a dream and a goal and then achieving the dream lies in quantifying the steps (goals) that it will take to reach your dream and then following the plan by acting upon them.  If you don't give up, you will succeed.

No matter your set backs or personal failures.  Don't give up.

A Charming Afternoon with My Boys and Aprilynne Pike

Saturday I took the boys out for a meet the author at The Kings English, a local independent bookstore.  Normally I go on my own to these things, but I'd been missing the little guys all week and mom needed a good pre-mothers day nap time.  So off we went.

The Kings English is located in a residential neighborhood south of Salt Lake City.  It's part of a small smattering of businesses.  If you haven't visited yet I suggest that you do.  The shop is full of charm and is anything but ordinary.  The store is built on different levels and rooms and is very fun just to be in.

LC Piper and Aprilynne Pike

Aprilynne is a New York Times best selling novelist.  She's written Wings, Spells and Illusions.
Aprilynne's reading and Q and A was held in the stores largest space which was very cramped even with only about 30 people visiting for the signing.  It didn't seem to bother anyone and we all enjoyed her company.  She spoke about her writing and the upcoming novels. She also commented briefly on her new series she has started as book 4, following illusions sometime in 2012, will be the last in the series. 

One of the questions answered that I like the best was about outlining.  She explained that she does outline.  Her plot points (in detail on this post linked here) are often just three words, but she adheres to her plot firmly and her characters have free range within those plot points. 

It was funny that there was so little space at the Q&A that the children sitting on the floor in front of the chairs very nearly came to Aprilynne's feet. 

When we met with her in line for signings my boys both had comments for her and were very proud to point out that dad was a writer also.  (Unprompted.)  She even gave them bookmarks and three temporary tattoo's to give to mom holding down the fort at home.  Mom was, of course, thrilled with the gift and is excited to meet her June 4th in Provo, Utah at the Utah Festival of Books.