Sunday, November 15, 2009

A Few Small Triumphs

I've thankful for some little triumphs that I've been able to achieve this week. Tuesday was my wedding anniversary. As my Eternal Companion left me eleven years ago to move on to a new sphere of existence, I've very happy to report that I got through the day without blubbering. A few days later, I celebrated my marriage by purchasing something I've had my mind on for a while: an iPod Touch. This is more than an MP3 player. It's also a personal digital assistant with wifi capabilities, and can function well as an eBook reader.

It took me a couple of days and lots of patience to get the thing operational. First, I had to update my version of iTunes, which is the synching and set-up mechanism for the Touch. After the 88 megabyte download failed through my dial-up (and I know it was close) after hours and hours of guarding my connection, I was almost in tears. However, I went into town again and successfully downloaded the software. Actually, it took two tries, because I got diverted into another project first. My download was at 98% when the library turned off their router and booted all us patrons out for closing. Ack ! I was determined to go sit in a hotel parking lot and hijack a signal when it dawned on me that another business in town that was open had freewifi.

I sat in the ice cream parlor for several hours, downloading the software, and yes, eating a scrumptious banana split, and setting up the Touch.

Then, I had to download some books. I was able to grab a few before the clientele became boisterous and dark started coming on. Then I hightailed it for home.

Well, actually, I went to Wal*Mart and got a few things first, like a pink "Tiki" protective case for the Touch, and a few groceries. Once home, I downloaded other software I needed to make some adjustments in the process, and got to bed at 4 a.m.

I found some awesome free classics on the Internet. Now I'm set to read several books in my waiting-in-line time: "Five Little Peppers and How They Grew," "A Girl of the Limberlost," and "The Scarlet Pimpernel," among them. I can hardly wait.

That "other project" was uploading my new eBook trailer to YouTube. This video is to publicize the eBook version of THE MAN FROM SHENANDOAH, and can be found here.

Another small triumph is that I submitted a very small humorous story to an anthology edited by Nichole Giles and Cindy Beck that will be printed this coming week. It's called MORMON MISHAPS AND MISCHIEF: Hilarious Stories for Saints, and can be pre-ordered at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com and other online booksellers. It will be in LDS bookstores around December 8.

It occurs to me that my small triumphs are analogous to writing. We plug along, having to be patient sometimes, until every element works together to produce a fine piece of writing. All the parts need to be there: the plot, the characters, the suspense, the dialogue, the romance, the setting, etc. When we finally have everything in place, we have a piece of work that will satisfy our readers. They can hardly wait.

Monday, November 09, 2009

Of One Heart: Being Single in the LDS World

One morning not so long ago, Valerie J. Steimle awoke to find that her husband had died in the night. Her life was changed in that instant, when she went from being a typical LDS wife and mom to a widow with children to raise by herself.

Been there, done that.

Out of her experience, Valerie has written a book designed to help singles of every stripe--widowed, never married, or divorced--cope in a religious culture where the ideal is a two-parent family with children.

Valerie says she wrote Of One Heart: Being Single in the LDS World "to help others understand what it is like to be single and included writings from other singles on how they feel about being single."

In the LDS world (or the world of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) it has only been in the last ten years that being single in the Church has become much more common, Valerie says. Whether a person is single by divorce, death of a spouse or never married at all, there are challenges to being single in a predominately married world, challenges most people don't realize until they are single themselves. In addition to helping singles, this book was written to help all those who have single friends, and all priesthood leaders (LDS ecclesiastical and lay leaders) with single members under their jurisdiction.

Before Valerie became widowed, she was already known as an author espousing the cause of strengthening families. Links for purchasing her previous books, Home is Where the Heart Is, and Home is Where the Learning Is, can be found at her website, StrengthenYourHome.com.

Now Valerie has turned to strengthening individuals, as well as families. Since I am a single of ten years standing, I look forward to getting and absorbing Valerie's book.

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Children's Sacrament Meeting Presentation

Every year, children in the LDS Church's Primary have a different gospel theme upon which their singing and sharing times revolve. During one hour of their two-hour Sunday meeting, youngsters from ages three through twelve learn songs, give talks, and receive messages about that theme. Then, towards the end of the year, they share what they have learned with their parents and other members of the congregation in what is known as the "Children's Sacrament Meeting Presentation," or CSMP, for short. The 2009 theme is "My Eternal Family."

Even though my children are all grown, it never ceases to thrill me when my congregation's children put on their program. Their small but sturdy testimonies, their sweet voices, and their steadfast determination to do their very best bring a lump to my throat every year.

Having served many past years in the Primary, I find myself mouthing the words to familiar songs, as though I could help the children with a little boost of memory when they falter. I listen to new songs, giving heed to the gospel message in a song possibly created just for this year's theme. I thrill to hear the well-loved hymn, "How Firm a Foundation" coming with fervor and belief through young lips. The year's theme was summed up very nicely in the final song: "Families Can Be Together Forever."

Members of my church believe God has ordained that temples be built upon the earth where sacred ordinances can be performed to link individuals in eternal bonds to their ancestors, their earthly families, and to their descendants, as well.

Questions? Go to www.mormon.org for answers.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Feeling Misty-Eyed

I'm working on the original manuscript of Ride to Raton to prepare it for becoming an electronic or e-book. The instructions for doing this suggest putting the manuscript through a particular process that clears out extraneous coding. This will prevent the conversion software from going haywire.

I hesitated to do this, because it clears out the italics from the manuscript. I use italics to indicate interior thought and foreign words. Ride to Raton has a lot of both.

However, because of a problem that crept in because I didn't do the suggested process with The Man from Shenandoah, I decided the work would be worth it to upload a completely clean manuscript.

This process is requiring me to read carefully certain sections with lots of Spanish in them. I'm having a peculiar reaction to this. Not because of the language. Not because of the mild irritation of needing to do the process. Instead, I'm singularly moved by the awful situations in which I put my characters. When the cold winds blew and chilled the bodies of my leads, I felt the cold. When they tenderly shared their family composition with each other, I was touched. When something really bad happened, I felt the pain and I cried.

Wow! Words are so powerful. Even though I wrote them all those years ago, they are still potent enough to shake me.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

The Man from Shenandoah Promotion Over


I had a great time watching the numbers move upward. The final count was 169 books "sold." Happy reading, everyone!

Now I'm working on Ride to Raton for an eBook edition. I've come up with a tentative cover. What do you think of it?

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Today's Song

Most mornings, I wake up "with a song in my heart," and often it's a sacred hymn. Those mornings are delightful.

Some mornings, I wake up with a sing endlessly repeating in my brain, just like an earwig put it there. That's today.

"Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday; are the days, are the days, are the days of the week." Repeat.

Then repeat some more.

What is that anyway? Sesame Street? The Electric Company?

Sheesh!

Sunday, November 01, 2009

The Man from Shenandoah is a Big Hit!

In fewer than 24 hours, 70 people have downloaded a free copy of The Man from Shenandoah in various ebook formats from Smashwords.com. Actually, one person paid for the book. I don't know if it was a mistake or a genuine desire to give me money.

Thanks to the power of Twitter and Facebook, and with a little boost from email, I am on my way to having 1,000 True Fans.

No, I'm not making money with my Halloween Weekend Special promotion--except for the three-odd dollars I'll receive from the person who paid for The Man from Shenandoah--but I expect to hook people on my novels, and that's the end goal.

Incidently, while I've been writing this, I've "sold" two more books. There is a market for ebooks, and for Westerns.

In case you missed the Special, here's a reminder:

Halloween Weekend Special - get an eBook version of The Man from Shenandoah for free at http://bit.ly/2h9c5E - Use coupon code: ZM42L - Expires Nov. 3
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