“It’s not Leprosy” By Chad Robert Parker

Bad Sunburns

Her skin was peeling off her body. We kids scurried from her afraid of something more scary than the “cheese touch” as described in “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” The adults who asked her about it seemed completely satisfied with the explanation of a Florida vacation. I thought it was something akin to the show “Containment” and I wondered why anyone would let this girl be at school at all.

Then I experienced the desert heat of my favorite vacation at Lake Powell in Utah. Now I knew how a sunburn could appear like leprosy. I have never ever had a sunburn so bad, before or since. But let me just say it was worth it. I had layer upon layer of skin peeling off and burning again and yet I could not help but get back in the water and splash around until the day is long. We applied supposed water repellent sun screen lotion over and over our skin but everyone came away so red stained and body pained, nonetheless. Kids then avoided me at school.

Q&A with Brandon Mull

Publishing

Q&A with Brandon Mull: New York Time’s best-selling author of the Fablehaven Series

By Chad Robert Parker

As I anticipate publishing my own works, I like to network and ask questions of other authors. Brandon Mull, a friend of mine, allowed me to publish this Q & A we had over e-mail. He is candid and gives advice to be read over again and again through the writing process:

I met Brandon Mull while at college. He was devotedly giving of himself in his service in an unpaid church position. He was also known for his hilarity while writing for and acting in a comedy troupe that performed on campus. But he was not yet a discovered author. His first book published was Fablehaven and it was a New York Time’s bestseller, as were other books that followed. Three books in the Fablehaven series accompany another book in publication, The Candy Shop War. I will review three of his books following this article. I highly recommend all his works, knowing they would appeal to anyone who liked the Harry Potter novels, for instance.

Here is our Q & A from May 2007, in full:

1. Is there anything you would have done differently, if you could do it over?

Nope, I made some concessions with my first contract but getting published
is hard and I’m glad it happened.

2. What advice would you give a first time author, in general?

Polish your work. Research places to submit and submit everywhere it makes
sense. Pay attention when you get feedback. You never know how you’ll get
your start. Might be publishing short stories, might be landing an agent,
might be going straight to a big publisher, might be going straight to a
small publisher. I’ve heard of all those things working. Speaking broadly,
it usually takes a mix of a marketable piece of writing, persistence, and
luck. Sadly, sometimes it never happens, which is why only crazy people try
to become writers, and it certainly isn’t for everyone.

3. What advice would you give in looking for an agent or a publisher)? Which would you say is the best way to go about getting a novel noticed?

See above.

4. Do you have any tips in working out terms for contracts/royalties/etc?

I know some standard things. If you get a contract I could tell you if
things aren’t standard.

5. Are there areas of marketing or promoting that publishers leave up to you?

You can generally do as much marketing as you want. I think authors should
do what they can. The trick is getting marketing from your publisher, which
doesn’t happen much when you’re new, no matter who publishes you.

6. You have an excellent website. Did someone you know set that up?

I was very lucky. My publisher hired somebody to do the site.

7. How much pull do you have, with who works for you on tour? (I thought it was cool to see your sister Summer and your brother Bryce working with you).

My publisher wanted to tour me, but they were shorthanded, so I recommended
my siblings. Helps when you have siblings willing to work for pretty
mediocre pay.

8. Has writing become your full-time job? Is it different writing with a deadline? Do you get to write while on book tours, or are your days scheduled during that time (What is it like?)?

Writing is my day job. I waited until I was making more money writing than
at my day job to make that transition. I’m so booked that I don’t get much
writing done on tour, but I do a little. The deadlines add pressure, but I
write pretty fast.

9. Do you have to work on Sundays, for book tours, etc.?

I generally don’t work Sundays. Sometimes I have to catch a flight on
Sundays.

10. Is there anything you wish you would have known before about the process to getting published, from writing to successful two-time author?

It is hard to break in. I put in way more hours as a writer than I have at
any other job I’ve worked. It is consuming. Don’t do it unless you really,
really want it. For me, I’m glad to be insanely busy doing this.

11. Do you aim for a certain amount of words, or pages per chapter? Does the publisher have guidelines for their expectations on the length of a book and its chapters?

Yeah. Depends on the genre. Maybe 70,000-110,000 words for YA books.

12. Do you work on more than one book at a time? Does the industry expect you to stick with one genre? Do you contract an advance toward each next book? Are you committed to one publisher with your time and efforts? (I guess I am just curious, but really wouldn’t know what to expect or even what to ask about this).

I work on one at a time. It is wise to carve out a niche for yourself so
an audience can find you. I would recommend sticking to a particular genre
at least at first. If a book does well you can get an advance on the next
one. If a big publisher picks you up, you’ll probably get an advance right off the bat.

13. What is the Editing process like for you? Do you expect significant changes in content or otherwise, as a part of that process? Do you schedule for it?

You have to schedule for it. I’ve edited my stuff tons, including
collecting feedback from trusted sources and rewriting, before my editors
sees a thing. Still expect changes. Usually when they ask you to change
stuff, they’re right.

14. Is it still the dream you had hoped for?

It is pretty close. Even with good success on my first couple of things, I
don’t feel I have truly arrived. It is an unstable career. But I do love
it. I’ll be happiest when I know things are going well enough for this to
actually be my lifelong career. Right now it looks like I may be on that
path.

Hope that helped!

Brandon

Publisher’s note: this article was originally published by Associated Content in 2007, which was subsequently acquired by Yahoo! Contributer’s network. Yahoo has since dissolved that branch. All rights remain with its author, Chad Robert Parker, and all previous articles he has written were posted on his company website at WritCreate, LLC in July 2015, and may also be made available on other affiliate blogs of interest.

Writing while in Academia

Writing

I started out pursuing a business degree. I freely admit that this was still a very general approach to my college career. Brigham Young University has a great business program. But who knew on top of general education classes, I would have to take–and do well in–several business courses before even being accepted to the program? I certainly didn’t know where the hoops ended and the real applicable learning began.

Don’t get me wrong. I know college has its place. If nothing else it teaches students how to learn. In today’s world of information and innovation a person will undergo several changes in jobs, if not careers. Learning is at the center of excelling in any field. A person should gain as many skills and understanding as they can. That is the experiment of life. How much can we learn? How much knowledge will we be able to live up to? Learning if not applied to living is of no use otherwise.

That’s my point. My professors mostly taught me their path of understanding. In other words, completing assignments for them mostly engaged my mind on how to become whatever they had become. Some had gained experience outside of the classroom, but most of their academic knowledge had come from within the classroom. Much of it made a lot of sense in theory but had little practicality beyond learning how to test well or write a research paper to my teacher’s liking. Since I had no intention of becoming a teacher I had no desire to learn the English Teaching profession. And although that is a separate degree at BYU the fact of the matter is that my degree was geared toward that end. The other thing most teachers teach their students to become is an Editor. Thankfully I found a couple professors who may not have given me the best grade, but they did point me on a path toward learning how to write in whatever creative way I could imagine success.

I was writing one night per week through the night. I had publisher’s interested in Sterling Bridge back in 2003. I was failing out of my college classes. I’m not sure how I made it through. My parents taught me to never give up on something I started. Thankfully I did get my degree and it has served me well. But after taking a break from the starving-writing-sleepless-nights routine, this writer is happy to be publishing a project I started a longtime ago. I am so thankful for the opportunities to learn academic writing, but more thankful to have learned how to work on all of my other writing. It will take me to higher heights than higher education ever did. No disrespect to faculty publications, but creative writing outside the confines of a university is the means that worked for me, for which I am now able to call myself a Published Author. In order to become something we all must take the learning we have gained and apply it beyond the training grounds. I am forever learning, an essential part of becoming a professional writer, but the key to being a writer is writing. I work at an academic library. It keeps my research sharp. But at the end of the day I am a writer!

“Water Fights or War Games” By Chad Robert Parker

Public Pools

Public pools are cesspools. Even worse they are often no fun. Watching 30 kids wade shoulder to shoulder in a 10 x 15 foot condo pool yesterday reminded me why I never even liked a packed hotel pool on vacation as a kid. Forget about the sanitation trucks parked outside the city pool multiple times every year. In fact, Giardia doesn’t deter most. Besides the germs with the apropos sign announcing that there should be no “p” in this “ool,” I simply don’t care for standing room only in a puddle of water. Where is the “swimming” in a swimming pool like that?

With that in mind I set out to join my cousin at the city park pool. My mom urged me to get out of the house and go have fun. She knows I would only like the pool if it was rented out for a smaller private party, so I’m sure she wasn’t surprised when we never made it there. I know, it sounds a little prissy. But really, this was about war.

As we were walking to the park we saw a line of determined red ants attempting to cross the street. A car would pass and disperse the troops and then they would gather again and continue their march. We wondered where they were going with such urgency. Up ahead we found some black ant hills. They never suspected what was coming.

We had to stick around to watch. The red ants suffered most of their casualties from cars. They stormed the ant hills and were killing five black ants to every one red ant. At least that was the ratio on the outside. When they burst forth from their conquest with eggs in hands and only black queen ants in pursuit I assume they had a similar rate of success on the inside.

I was amazed at how interesting it was. I think a couple hours passed by. Before I knew it my brothers were back from their trip to the pool. At any rate, it was the best experience I had going to the public pool.

The Work of Writing

Writing

My first year of college came and went without a clear decision for my future. General education courses reiterated a couple things I already knew: 1) I am not the smartest student in any one field, and 2) I don’t have enough interest in any one field to devote my life to solely mastering that one field. Did I say, “one field” enough to make my point?

Writing requires versatility that only comes from exposure in a wide array of life experience. It takes time and perseverance. I know it is the last thing you want to hear if you are an aspiring writer. At least it was for me, a difficult lesson to accept. I knew I loved writing but I was afraid to commit to it. Writing takes more work than anything I know of before seeing the payoff. Writing is a release, a past-time, fun, and hard, all in one. To write you have to love it, but, make no mistake, writing is work, lots and lots of work.

Even this post started out as a different idea altogether. As I re-evaluated my thesis statement I realized that this post would take another path. I would explain the work of writing as I see it. (Hence, the title). See, I did learn something from getting my English degree in college.

The more creative the writing, however, the more it is nothing like academic writing (More on that in my next post):

Even every form of writing takes a different expertise: There is marketing writing with all of the forms of digital marketing: website content, blogging, and online advertising; There is print advertising: billboards, magazines, and all types of collateral material; There are short stories, novels, and everywhere in between. Each requires an understanding in the delicate intricacies of melding the art of creativity and the functions of applied Science. In every field of work it is desirable to find the best way to do something and then to do it better than anyone else, but the reality in a continually changing world is that our customer desires the same versatility that I crave. I think you crave it, too!

We want to be entertained. We want new ideas. We want creative writing. And that takes a lot of thinking, a lot of planning, a lot of living, and a lot of writing about it. Some things I write will fall flat, but other writings will soar, if I put in the work. Sterling Bridge took about 15 years, on and off, before it was where it needs to be. It is ready! It took a long time and a lot of work before I am where I need to be. I am there!

“Smell of the fresh outdoors” by Chad Robert Parker

Camping Out

I went on lots of campouts with my parents. My dad was my Scout Leader for many years. My youngest brother is several years younger than me. I’m not sure how often he went camping before our skunk sighting. But the way he reacted had me wondering if he had too much of the California city life.

He was jumping up and down trying to say something to get our attention. Our backs were to him while we were enjoying conversation and the warmth of the fire. At first we ignored him, but then he got louder. I think he was shocked to find that the animal he thought was a cat was indeed a skunk. I was shocked to find him freaking out. I thought we were going to get sprayed for sure. The skunk scurried off without incidence. My brother finally got the words out, “skunk, skunk, skunk.”

We had a good long laugh over that one. Many campouts have followed. I trust my brother knows what to do if there is another skunk, or at least what not to do. Maybe we just had to get the city out of him.

 

 

The puzzle of writing

Uncategorized

The main question I get asked as a novelist is: How does the creative process work for me?

It is a great question. It is a very open-ended musing. And there is an interesting story behind it . . .

For me it comes together like a puzzle, only the first piece is the most interesting part of the story and is usually smack dab in the center. You know how you usually work on a puzzle from the side pieces all around the edges before you get a good idea of what the central image is? Ideally you have a starting point and it spreads one step at a time from beginning to end. Unfortunately, novels in my mind do not naturally unravel to my view in this way. Neither do puzzles for most. It is a little different for each person. Can you picture how it works for you?

My first novel attempt was complete fiction and started with one poignant scene. I immediately wondered why I could not think of ever seeing that moment in a movie or the pages of a book. As I thought about it I decided it was too good not to write down. The problem is that this was only one piece of the puzzle. But I am a problem solver. All writers are. We create problems to solve. Our lives are the story within the story and we are constantly in conflict with how to resolve whatever story we are working on.

My second novel attempt had more of an outline. I feared this would take away from the creative process. Could I even stay interested in my own writing long enough to make it interesting for someone else? I realized there was a balance of seeing the whole picture but not too much to eliminate the intrigue of the connecting details.

If you have ever put together a puzzle you can probably guess where I am going with this blog post. Puzzles have structure, and patterns, and pictures, and they all come together in a certain order, but not a consecutive order. Writing is like that. You try to find pieces that connect one to another. It all should fit within the same framework. You create a skeletal outline, you group together like parts, and you write everything down. Soon the grand picture starts forming and sections, or chapters, take shape. This is how it comes together for me. If I have a great idea I write it down and then I let my mind think of how to use all the important parts or elements of novel writing: beginning, middle, end, point of view, setting, plot, conflict, resolution and what not. The ideas get drawn out in panoramic detail. I outline it and separate the ideas accordingly. I dedicate time specifically to writing it down and manipulating it until everything fits just right. The details take plenty of finesse and fine tuning. All and all, the puzzle comes together.

Amazon Author Central

Marketing

Marketing Sterling Bridge is in full swing. I’ve got to get the word out about a great read to anyone interested. I wouldn’t want anyone who could benefit from this story to miss out. BYU Magazine will be mentioning me in its alumni section this Summer. The next few days I will post other outlets I have submitted to that might want to share my breakthrough:

Amazon Author Central*

Chad Robert Parker (born July 7, 1978) loves reading and writing in various genres and formats. “Sterling Bridge” is his first published novel. He also provides creative marketing and writing services as the owner of WritCreate, LLC.

Chad grew up with six brothers. He loves staying active with sports and entertainment. Chad was an Eagle Scout, has served as a Venture Crew Leader, and has developed many interests outdoors. But he is a home-body at heart. Chad is newly married, and of course, spending time with his love is his favorite past-time. Chad doesn’t have time to get bored. If he has a spare moment he can be found curling up with a good book on a rainy day or letting the imagination go wild in writing an adventure to vicariously live through.

Chad is a stalwart, faith-filled member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is a central part of who he is and how he lives his life. He loves family and considers the titles of husband and father greater than any other.

His first book takes on the difficulties of an interfaith community from the standpoint of a boy whose father is Catholic and mother is Mormon. It is based on a true story where a larger-than-life football coach, Sterling Harris, comes to town and overcomes the bias between the international workers of a mining community and the pioneer descendants who settled Tooele, Utah, amidst greater tensions brought on by the scarcity of jobs experienced throughout America during the Great Depression.

*Anyone interested, as it turns out, can already find my author page at Amazon.com

“Birthday Alert” by Heidi

Unforgettable Birthdays, , , ,

I remember the year my husband decided to have his family over to celebrate my birthday. He took our son out of his high chair and put him in his walker. Then proceeded to take the gate off the stairs to go down and grab the paper goods. Of course our son followed him all the way down his stairs in his walker. We spent that birthday in the ER with a 6 month old getting a cat scan.