From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #518 Reply-To: aml-list Sender: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk aml-list-digest Thursday, November 15 2001 Volume 01 : Number 518 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 00:50:27 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Will 9/11 Impact Arts? Nan McCulloch wrote: > > In a panel discussion on _The Arts during a Time of National Crisis_at = > Harvard University singer James Taylor said the Sept. 11 terrorist = > attacks should make people think about what in the American lifestyle is = > worth defending. He said that he has become more concerned about his = > audience's reaction and what state they are in. This coupled with the = > stunning meeting between government leaders and Hollywood concerning = > what Hollywood can do to help with the war effort, has caused me to = > wonder how 9/11 will change the way Mormon writers write. =20 I don't think it will change anything about the way I write, except to add to my repertoir of life experiences available for dipping into when I write. James Taylor and others may want to think about what in the American lifestyle is worth defending, but I have more or less already figured that out to my satisfaction. I don't think much happened on 9/11 that alters the grounding I have in the Gospel or my overall world view. But then I'm a feisty old coot set in my ways. Maybe younger people have more to think about. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com ================================== Check out Worldsmiths, the new online LDS writers group, at http://www.wwno.com/worldsmiths Sponsored by Worlds Without Number http://www.wwno.com ================================== - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 00:55:41 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Aliens in Mormon Lit. jltyner@postoffice.pacbell.net wrote: > One thing I've noticed is I've never run across a Sci-Fi > novel that has the aliens believing in the basic religions or God(s) > that the peoples on earth believe. There always seens to be an > assumption that beings on another planet would have their > own unique set beliefs and deities. Well, I wrote a short story that has a galaxy populated with humanoid species, and in which the basic tenets of LDS theology are true. One family of aliens has a run-in with a Mormon missionary. I submitted the story to Irreantum, but it was rejected. (I can't even give my stories away!) So I guess you won't be reading it any time soon. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com ================================== Check out Worldsmiths, the new online LDS writers group, at http://www.wwno.com/worldsmiths Sponsored by Worlds Without Number http://www.wwno.com ================================== - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 09:57:10 -0500 From: "Debra Brown" Subject: [AML] Fw: MN God's Army, The Book, Hits Stores on November 14: Excel Entertainment Press Release 10Nov001 US UT SLC A2 God's Army, The Book, Hits Stores on November 14 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- Just over a year after becoming one of the top 30 independent films of 2000, God's Army is conquering new territory. A novel of the acclaimed film will hit stores Nov. 14. Geoffrey Card, professional screenwriter and son of award-winning author Orson Scott Card, wrote the book based on the Richard Dutcher film about a group of young Mormon missionaries serving in Los Angeles. "At the time of the production of God's Army in Los Angeles, I was serving a mission near the area," said the first-time novelist. "When I started work on the novel, it wasn't much of a struggle for me to get inside the characters' heads. I had already been there for the past two years of my life." Card was a missionary for the Church of Jesus of Latter-day Saints in Anaheim, California from August 1997-99 and currently attends the Chapman University School of Film and Television where he writes feature-length screenplays and films amateur movies. The novel, which extends upon the detail and character depth of the movie, will be available in bookstores nationwide. "Geoff is a very good writer," Dutcher said. "Novelizations aren't easy. He was able to expand the movie's plot and characterizations, but still remain faithful to the film. He's written a very entertaining novel." Rachel Nunes, author of the best-selling Ariana series says that Card's novel provides "astonishing insight into the missionaries' minds and hearts. We see their burgeoning faith, understand their unique struggles and sympathize with their difficult choices. This story is REAL." God's Army the movie opened in theaters in 240 cities nationwide, grossing over $2.6 million at the box office, and is now available in video stores. Excel Entertainment Group, Inc. will distribute the novel. The Salt Lake City-based company also handles distribution for God's Army the movie, Brigham City and the up-and- coming feature film The Other Side of Heaven. ### Source: God's Army, The Book, Hits Stores on November 14 Excel Entertainment Press Release 10Nov001 A2 >From Mormon-News: Mormon News and Events Forwarding is permitted as long as this footer is included Mormon News items may not be posted to the World Wide Web sites without permission. Please link to our pages instead. For more information see http://www.MormonsToday.com/ - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 09:27:42 -0700 From: margaret young Subject: [AML] Director for _I Am Jane_ I am so thankful to so many of you who have either volunteered yourselves or given me other names as possible directors for _I Am Jane_. Thom Duncan has graciously accepted the job, and I am thrilled. I have tremendous respect for his work as a playwright and a director. I know he'll do a great job. Thank you all so much for being so supportive of this project. [Margaret Young] - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 09:58:58 -0500 From: "Debra Brown" Subject: [AML] Fw: MN Internet: Mormon Pacific History, Music and Spoken Word: Kent Larsen 12Nov01 US NY NYC I4 Mormon Pacific History, Music and Spoken Word NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- Newly listed websites this week include the official sites for the Mormon Pacific Historical Society and for Music and the Spoken Word, the weekly broadcast by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. In addition to these websites, several personal web pages, email lists and a personal history provider are new this week. The Music and the Spoken Word website is well-designed and easy to use, but for an organization like Bonneville, curiously lacking in information. The site has little historical information on the Choir or its history and no links to where that information can be found. It also makes the major error of automatically playing a choir recording, and not bothering to even give the user controls to turn it off or adjust the volume. Newly Listed Mormon Websites: Gary's LDS Page http://plaza.powersurfr.com/gwhamon/LDS/lds.htm Gary Hamon's LDS resources include startup screens, LDS cursors and icons, a list of Palm resources and links to many LDS websites. Mormon Pacific Historical Society http://www.mormonpacific.org/ Home page for history group studying the expansion of Mormonism in the Pacific. Includes information about their upcoming conference, selected proceedings from past converences, information on books published about Mormon history in the Pacific, and links to related sites. Music and the Spoken Word http://www.musicandthespokenword.com/ Bonneville Communications website for the weekly Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcast. Includes background information about the Choir, where to hear the weekly broadcasts, the text of recent broadcasts, information for broadcasters and links to listen to the choir and to live broadcasts. Unfortunately, other pages about the choir have more background information, and this page automatically starts playing a recording of the choir, but doesn't give the user any way to stop the music. Page also doesn't seem to work in all browsers. The Ogden Family Web, Link Page http://members.home.net/notbob1/ Personal web page for the Ogden family including genealogy, family photos, the elder's quorum newsletter, etc. Includes music that automatically starts playing (and can't be turned off because the music controls are invisible). Bill & Vivian Rogers: Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar Mission http://www.proaxis.com/~jrogers/mongolia.htm Personal website with letters from senior missionary couple serving in Mongolia, along with information about Mongolia and the LDS Church. SOD-Ukraina http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SOD-Ukraina Ukranian-language e-mail discussion list about the LDS Church. Suite 101: Mormon (LDS) Literature http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/mormon_lds_literature Site about Mormon Literature using about.com-like Suite101.com. Includes links to Mormon sites on the Internet, articles about Mormon subjects and discussion boards. While not as heavily promoted as about.com, suite101.com is nicer, not as heavily coded and its subjects are better organized. Voices from the Dust http://www.voicesfromthedust.com/ Personal history service provider that helps consumers record and transcribe their personal histories. Includes information about their products and prices, contact information and frequently asked questions. Supports on-line ordering. >From Mormon-News: Mormon News and Events Forwarding is permitted as long as this footer is included Mormon News items may not be posted to the World Wide Web sites without permission. Please link to our pages instead. For more information see http://www.MormonsToday.com/ - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 10:25:04 -0700 From: Terry L Jeffress Subject: [AML] Clair POULSON, _I'll Find You_ (Review) Clair M. Poulson. _I'll Find You._ Covenant Communications, 2001. ISBN 1-57734-801-X. Trade paperback, 310 pp. $14.95. Clair Poulson's most recent novel, _I'll Find You_ presents readers with an exercise in tedious exposition. I cannot think of another book that approaches the repetitious description of _I'll Find You_. The cover promises "a novel of suspense," and the plot could easily lead to a suspenseful situation, if Poulson would stop belaboring the details and allow the plot to move forward at a pace other than trudgingly slow. _I'll Find You_ starts out with five-year-old Jeri Satch witnessing the abduction of her best friend Rusty. Even at that young age, she felt she should have prevented the kidnapping, and she vows, "I'll find you." Seventeen years later, Jeri has completed a degree in accounting and follows the promptings of the spirit to take a job with a Sacramento firm. One of her accounts, a private prison, has terrible books, so she visits the prison. While there, she takes a tour and sees a well-muscled prisoner with blue eyes just like Rusty's. Jeri meets with the prisoner, now known as Randy Moore, and awakens in him the long-suppressed memory of his former family and abduction. Rusty's abductor had tried to sell Rusty, but when the deal fell through, the abductor kept Rusty, changed his name to Randy, and raised him in a life of crime and abuse. Rusty ran away from his abductor at age 15 and eventually got convicted for armed robbery. Rusty claims he lost the stolen half million dollars during the police pursuit, but the bank and the police think Rusty hid the money. Rusty knows that he cannot recover the money on his own, so he enlists the help of his cellmate, Chum. Later, Rusty regrets confiding in Chum when Chum starts giving Rusty a hard time about meeting with Jeri. Chum sees only competitor for the money. Rusty gets out on parole and he continues his friendship with Jeri. Jeri and Rusty both supress their romantic feelings toward each other. Jeri has promised herself that she will only marry a Temple-worthy Mormon man, and Rusty believes that a good girl like Jeri should have nothing to do with scum like himself. Jeri contacts Rusty's parents, who travel to California to meet him. Rusty has secret plans that would involve Jeri with recovering the hidden money, but he puts these aside after meeting his family. Chum gets out of prison several months later and wants all the money for himself. He abducts Jeri to force Rusty to reveal the location of the money. Now Rusty must take a turn as the devoted seeker who will never stop until he finds his lost friend. In the hands of a skilled storyteller, this plot could have forced you to the edge of your seat wondering if Rusty will find Jeri in time to save her from the evil murderer Chum. In the hands of Clair Poulson, you have to make a determined commitment that you will push forward through all the unnecessary verbiage, hoping that you won't fall asleep again. Poulson belabors every point, ad nauseum. He repeats even the simplest details as if he worries that you will somehow forget details presented only a few pages earlier. Two separate sections start "Randy Moore, Inmate #556770" (21, 38). This type of needless repetition also extends to the character's internal monologues. For example, Jeri considers that she should not continue her relationship with Rusty. As part of her argument, she rehearses in her head all the same points her boyfriend in Utah just gave her over the phone. In the next scene, Rusty thinks that he should disappear and never have a relationship with Jeri, using all the same arguments. When Jeri and Rusty next meet, they both vocalize all these same objections. The relationship has obvious problems, so why torture the reader with tiresome repetition that holds the story at a standstill rather than advancing the plot? Often, Poulson seems so driven by his need to overexplain that he allows chapters to ramble on long after the chapter's logical end. For 200 pages, Jeri follows through on her promise to find Rusty. Suddenly, Rusty has the tables turned when Chum kidnaps Jeri, and Rusty makes the promise, "I'll find you" (238). The chapter should end here. Poulson has already demonstrated the deep commitment associated with these words. Instead, Poulson blathers on with additional details that weaken the emotional impact of Rusty's determination: [Rusty] promised that he would do all he could to find Jeri. He would even take Chum's life if he had to. Yes, he would do _anything_ necessary in order to rescue her. He would not fail unless he died himself in his attempt to save her. If he did find her and if he came out of it alive, then he would get out of her life, for he was nothing but bad luck to her. He loved her, but she could never love him in return, nor should she, he thought. He was not good enough for her, and he never would be. (238) With this paragraph, Poulson not only diminishes the simple effectiveness of, "I'll find you," but he also perpetuates his characters' noxious self-abasing internal monologue. And still the chapter doesn't end there. You have to read another half page of unessential dialogue between Rusty and a police lieutenant before the chapter finally gives up the ghost. Poulson's writing threw me out of the story so many times, that I never really had an opportunity to suspend disbelief. His characters speak a strange combination of formal English and 1950s slang. At one point Rusty says to Chum "Why, good grief man" (22). I understand Poulson's desire to avoid foul prison language, but "good grief" does not belong in a modern-day, youthful prison inmate's mouth. Somewhere about the middle of the book, the narrator suddenly editorializes about how coincidences don't really exist and everything has a purpose. I don't mind an editorializing narrator. The movie _Magnolia_ uses this effect particularly well, but it starts out with the narrator using this voice. Poulson sets no precedents for the narrator jumping into editorial mode, but by this point Poulson had forced me so far outside the story that no stylistic gaffe could have made my experience much worse. I don't think I can recommend _I'll Find You_ for much more than a sleeping aide. - -- Terry L. Jeffress | Only talent interests me in paintings and South Jordan, Utah | books. Not general ideas, but the individual | contribution. -- Vladimir Nabokov - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 12:28:22 -0800 From: jltyner@postoffice.pacbell.net Subject: [AML] Re: Market for Complex Fiction While I might agree that too many Church members have the inability to see themselves as others do; I cannot agree that this stops us from writing realistically about such things as conversion. There are a lot of us who are converts so we had a life before we found the LDS Church. And while there are often commonalties in each of our stories there are things unique as well. I have read some very cliched conversions, as in Jack Weyland's "Charlie" and some very gripping ones too. I suppose this begs the question of whether people born in the Church, especially in Utah, can write as realistic conversion stories as those of us who were not. I think the my Utah born, California raised husband's story is great, but I haven't really seen anything like it in Mormon fiction or nonfiction, but I think there's an audience for it. The problem might be that Church audiences/editors like to read about quick "bolt of lighting" type of conversions rather than ones that are quiet or take time to come to fruition. Not very exciting those, but deeply felt nonetheless. I went back and reread the Newsweek article again and I didn't have a negative reaction to it, but I don't think it's an excellent article either. As is usual in any treatment about the Church there always seems to be some thing they get wrong. Referring to "The Mother" and calling the plates "tablets" for instance. These are minor, but for someone who is supposed to have covered the religious beat for twenty-five years I expect less sloppiness, more care. What probably got most Church members upset is one; the cover where they DO look like automatrons who belong to a cult and two; the tone of the article itself. Granted, if anything written about the Church isn't glowing in it's coverage that will outrage a great many LDS people right off the bat. But while I found a lot of things to be factual, some of the tone still struck me as condescending. Yes most of the politicians are Mormon-duh, that's who settled the place! You'll also find places back east where most of the politicians are white and Catholic, because, well, duh- that's who settled the place! You can be factual in writing but greatly change the message by the adjectives, punctuation and general tone of a piece. Putting on my nonLDS memory hat I would have come away from this article thinking that Mormons are weirdos and who do they think they are believing all those nutty things. I certainly felt that from coverage of the Church before I joined. The difference for me was the family I knew and the love they obviously showed one another. The one part of the article that I thought was dead on was the irony that a lot of the men are so busy with their Church duties and full-time jobs that they rarely see the families. That's sooo true sometimes. As far others see us I have the sometime blessing of being the only LDS member of my side of the family, so I get plenty of feedback sometimes when I ask and sometimes when I don't. My Dad put it pretty succinctly, (which I have not), when he gave me permission to be baptized-he told me the best man he ever knew was Mormon, also the worst man he ever knew was Mormon too; I was to show him which was the kind of person the influence of the Church produced. I have tried to be a good person. As trite as it sounds, trust me we are being watched for good or ill. Kathy Tyner, Orange County, CA - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 13:31:17 -0700 From: "Jacob Proffitt" Subject: [AML] Free the Birdies (was: Fluff) - ---Original Message From: Debra Brown > I'm going to ask a dumb question, which is, what is _Free the > Birdies_? Debbie Brown p.s. The title of the song with the > line "I take some paper in my hand" is _Paper Dream_ Free the Birdies began as a Sacrament Meeting talk given in California in, I believe, 1991. In it, the speaker essentially takes a deeply personal spiritual experience and perverts it into a mandate to attend the temple (their son was crushed by a garage door, had a vision of angels freeing "birdies" from prison in LDS temples). For a while, it was handed out unofficially as a flyer at various church functions. Eventually, some enterprising soul typed it into the computer and sent it out as an email to friends. The original version did the rounds for a while. I haven't seen it in about two years, though. Also about two years ago, a born-again friend sent me a version that had all the LDS references cut out and it was perverted into a feel-good, isn't-it-nice-we-have-angels-around-us message. This coincides with the time I stopped seeing the original, but I don't know if there is any causal relationship there. I consider the whole episode to be a good example of when not to share a personal spiritual experience and the dangers of generalizing a personal message to, er, motivate others to do what you want them to do. Jacob Proffitt - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 14:23:33 -0700 From: kathy_f@juno.com Subject: [AML] Free the Birdies (was: Fluff) On Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:17:33 -0500 "Debra Brown" writes: > I'm going to ask a dumb question, which is, what is _Free the > Birdies_? > Debbie Brown _Free the Birdies_ is the name given to a story that went around the internet and back (more than once) about 5 years ago. It's a 3 yr old boy's near-death-experience as told by his father, Lloyd Glenn, in which the boy is killed when he is caught underneath his family's garage door, sees angels (birdies) who take him to visit several temples where he sees the spirits that are in prison waiting for their temple work to be done. He is then told by these angels to testify of what he saw. The text itself was a sacrament meeting talk which Br. Glenn gave in his ward, and then subsequently mailed to just a few close family members and friends. And some of them sent it to others, and so on, and so on, until everyone who had an email address saw it at least once. It was read by temple presidents in temples to temple workers; it was read in sacrament meetings; and it was posted at many LDS websites. It sent many church members back to the temples. It made a lot of AML listers gag. I was fascinated by it because it had many common characteristics of documented near-death experiences (by documented, I mean ones in which the person was declared dead, and later revived), and testified of eternal truths. The first time I read it I was sobbing by the end. Big surprise! ;-) Then, after about a year or two, the Glenns began to suffer persecution from other LDS members who became angry with the story of their son. The text itself was taken without permission by someone who was not LDS and every reference to the temple and anything specifically mormon-related was removed from it, then sent around again. (It's been mutilated almost beyond recognition. Regardless of anything else, I am highly offended by this kind of violation of someone else's writing.) Their son struggled greatly with depression and just not wanting to be here on earth -- a common experience with NDErs. The Glenns told LauraMaery Gold, who had tracked them down to find out the story behind the story, so to speak, that they wanted to story taken out of circulation, taken off websites, and allowed to die away. Essentially they wanted the persecution to stop. It is still up at one website that I know of in its original version, and I have a copy still in my files. Kathy Fowkes Mesa, AZ ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 15:20:21 -0700 From: "Todd Petersen" Subject: Re: [AML] Repenting of Stories I response (a good response I might add) to my questions about being = responsible for something like the film NATURAL BORN KILLERS, Rob Lauer = wrote: "But as for the acts of violence that individuals committed after seeing = the=20 film--those individuals are solely responsible for these;not those = people=20 who created the film." I would like to think that this is true, but the scriptures teach a person = is responsible for the sins of people who were taught to do evil. This is = commonly connected to the Lamanites or the corrupted Nephites, but has = been extended to those saints, for example, who were in the German Army = during WWII. Rob, how does that work within your answer? - -- Todd Robert Petersen - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 14:27:06 -0800 (PST) From: Ed Snow Subject: [AML] Re: Writing Groups I recall the LDSVA ("Latter-day Saint Virtual Authors") writing group experiment--I headed it up under Benson's permission. We had 2-3 groups going. I personally got a lot of feedback, but, I confess, I gave other people some really stupid comments. In fact, I remember now, it was you, Scott, who gave me some really excellent ideas and responses to a story I wrote that eventually ended up in Irreantum (one comment stuck with me for no apparent reason, reflecting my insect ignorance: You recommended I avoid having flies fly around a dumpster in the dead of winter in Boston). In exchange for his ideas, I remember suggesting he rephrase something in an excellent story he had written about someone who felt something cold deep in his ribs (it was written a lot better than that and needed no further revisions) and I felt impressed to suggest the ribs should be icicles--not a simile, but a metaphor--the ribs were icicles! You know, ribs are kind of shaped like icicles. I was insistent. And Scott was even gracious enough to thank me for saying something as stupid as that. But, as Scott said, the groups eventually pooped out, but they helped me a lot. No doubt Scott had been praying for God to grant him more patience with fools, and God obliged him with ample opportunities for practice from me. [Ed Snow] ===== Read free excerpts from _Of Curious Workmanship: Musings on Things Mormon_, a Signature Books Bestseller at http://www.signaturebooks.com/bestsell.htm __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 15:57:56 -0600 From: Linda Adams Subject: Re: [AML] Created Spiritually? At 03:46 PM 11/9/01, you wrote: >Have you had that experience? I keep thinking of how, when the world was >created, it was 'created spiritually' first. I feel like I haven't so >much written Hannah as discovered her. I feel like she already existed, >wholly formed, and that I've just been describing her to people. Okay, >this is weird, but I think she exists, in some kind of reality with Hamlet >and Nora Helmer and Holden Caulfield. (Not, of course, that I can even >approach Shakespeare, Ibsen or Salinger as writers). I think that there's >something sort of Platonically real about characters. YES. I know *exactly* what you're talking about. Glad I'm not alone--thanks for posting about it and expressing the experience so well. It doesn't happen with everything I write. I love the process... except when the characters won't leave me alone and I don't get around to writing them and they keep begging me to get to it. (Once they're written, they do fade back into the background and leave me alone.) I'll talk about the ones that "live in my head" as though they were my friends, to my husband. He says, "Hey, how many people do you have IN there?" :-) --Just me. Honest. But it is the oddest thing. It's also extremely difficult to translate these characters from my head to the paper sufficiently well. Much of what I write plays in my head, like someone else said, like I'm watching a movie. I let my fingers type and my eyes close and zoom in on the scene playing in my mind. It's also been interesting to hear others talk about my protagonist Alyssa Stark (as Alan Mitchell mentioned about his book), and find those who understand her motivations and know her like I do. (...Then there's the ones who ask me, "Is Alyssa still a twit in the next volume or does she shape up?" A twit? Hey! Oh well...) People have asked why I had to have her do drugs (read: why did you make me read something that hard and unpleasant). I didn't make her. It's what she did. To have her choose otherwise would have been equal to lying. I didn't like several of her choices either--but that's who she is. I sat down once during a period of writer's block with my second novel with a notebook and "interviewed" my characters. "So, what _were_ you doing when X happened...?" They answered (for the most part), I got the clues I needed to continue, and broke through the block. (It's probably time to do that again, come to think of it.) Yes, I *do* frequently think I must be insane. Besides just plain weird. (The nice thing about insane rather than nearly-crazy is, once you go over the edge, people are much more forgiving of eccentric behavior...) Linda =========== Linda Adams adamszoo@sprintmail.com http://home.sprintmail.com/~adamszoo - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 17:09:54 -0600 From: Linda Adams Subject: Re: [AML] Writing Rant I'm compiling several thoughts into one post here. I also have had similar feelings to Chris' and would like to add he's hardly alone in his love/hate relationship with his writing. (It's especially "hate" after bad or hard critiques come in that make you realize EVERYTHING is wrong with the manuscript... I can't count how many times I was tempted to trash my whole novel and cursed myself wasting the time working on it. I still wonder, even though it did get published and I have yet to read a completely scathing review. Most are surprisingly more positive than I expected.) >Funny how we writers don't seem to want to write. I may have told this >list about the time my daughter came home and said, "You must have a >deadline--the house is spotless." Amazing how attractive a task like >unplugging the sink becomes when you have a writing deadline. I wonder if >artists or actors or other creative people behave in this manner? > >Barbara R. Hume Amen. Me too. Give me anything else, any chore at all, but finishing my sequel. <> This is basically what Barbara said and I still agree. I've found one solution is to enforce writing _time_ at least and sometimes work on a less-essential project, but keep the creativity flowing. Maybe it's an "artist" thing. Don't force my work. Don't force my muse. But if you don't give it a set, specific time slot (which I personally hate doing), you *won't* accomplish anything. <> I hope this isn't too personal to go out over the List, but I don't mind sharing this. I have struggled with the exact same issues, as I believe every parent does who suffers from/is gifted with an artistic muse, drive, whatever you want to call it. First, you must MAKE the time without guilt or pray your gift folds itself into oblivion and withdraws from you forever. (You don't want that.) Yes, when the kids are little (my five are ages 11 to 14 months) you have to squeeze it in like that, sacrificing eating, sleeping, and chores but not sacrificing the *children.* I still struggle with this, but am at the point now where I know that (whatever the quality of what I turn out) it is right for me to spend time writing, and it is something God encourages me through spiritual promptings and witnesses to keep doing. This didn't come until after a lot of prayer and struggling over it. I can't guarantee you'll get the same answers; we're all individuals. Mine was to keep going in spite of the quantity and tiny-ness of my children and work to publish, and not to underestimate myself. In a recent blessing (this is the personal part; apologies, but I appreciated this insight) I was told that my children were given to ME to be their mother because I could provide what THEY needed to develop and grow. Not to worry about other mothers who do X and Y with their kids that I may not do. Their kids need different things. I will be able to bless my children's lives sufficiently, and spend time writing, and I don't have to be the same as everybody else. I take this to mean that God knew I'd be a writer and a mother, and sent me children who could work with that type of lifestyle. He knows us all intimately, does He not? It only makes sense he would match us together appropriately. There *is* a line to be drawn where you must make sure you are not guilty of neglect, abuse, putting your work completely before nurturing the children, etc; but as Kristen Randle advised me once, when it comes to chores--"avoid disease"--meaning it's okay to let the clutter fall where it may, kill the germs at least, and that's good enough for a while. Make sure the kids have food and clothes on (if you have 2-year olds, that's a tough chore) and you hug them and tuck them in and they know you love them. You know? I know from experience that praying to discover the place writing should take in your life _will_ bring answers to direct what is right for you and your family. That said, my house is *much* cleaner now that I am working with deadlines. :-) Linda ========== Linda Adams adamszoo@sprintmail.com http://home.sprintmail.com/~adamszoo - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 18:36:45 -0700 From: Barbara Hume Subject: RE: [AML] Fluff > I think our discussion has been a prime example of what Ben Franklin > meant when he said, "A man convinced against his will/Is of the same > opinion still." [MOD: Actually, it was Alexander Pope...] Are you sure? It isn't iambic pentameter . [MOD: I thought I was. But now I'm not! Help, someone?] Anyhow, there were no international copyright laws in those days, so it might have showed up in Poor Richard! barbara hume, never gracious in being caught out - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 18:39:18 -0700 From: Barbara Hume Subject: Re: [AML] Repenting of Stories I'm not a fan of King's writing, but if he was more concerned about putting deadly ideas into otherwise empty young brains than in whether or not it was his fault, more power to him. barbara hume - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 19:09:26 -0700 From: "K.D. Enos" Subject: Re: [AML] Writing Groups I don't know if e-mail writing groups will work or not but I got six or seven people who offered to read my manuscript and I read one for Paris, which by the way I throughly enjoyed and read so quickly that I suprised him with my responce. Point is it is working for me. Someone that doesn't have the time to commit to a group like Mr. Martindale's WorLDSmiths but wants to write and could use some input from others like those on this list. I don't expect everyone that offered to read my manuscript will ask me to read one of theirs but I will if they ask and I'm willing to read a manuscript offered by someone else. It's not a complete solution, I'm finding others outside of this list to read it, but it just may help me improve my writting. Anyway I think we need all the forms of writting groups because some met the needs of the writer better then others and all of us are different. Konnie Enos - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #518 ******************************