“Freeze ’em out” By Chad Robert Parker

Pranks & Practical Jokes, , , , ,

The prank I remember most as a kid was when my oldest brother rolled up the biggest snowball he could carry to my dad’s hot tub. My dad proclaimed that he wouldn’t dare. My brother says he didn’t intend to dump it into the tub at all, but between chuckling, my dad startling him, and gravity’s effect on the slippery ball of coldness it splashed in, created a wave, and left both my dad and my brother’s jaws on the floor. My brother ran for his life and my dad locked all of the doors, freezing him out in the cold hours of the night.

We grew up knowing that my dad did not like to be the butt of practical jokes. We also didn’t test others in the household much either, as it usually was taken as a show of disrespect. In college I discovered that others saw it quite the opposite, like more of a sign of respect, even interest, or love.

Some girls in a neighboring apartment complex played the best prank on us one time, when they packed our front door with snow in the middle of the night. They even had a good start on our back entry-way before we caught on. Whether it be a classic piece of cold ice down the back or having your car plowed in, ice sure can be just the trick to inconvenience anyone, enemy or friend.

My brothers and I took a lesson from our youth. We realized that we could go back and forth all year long trying to best each other or we could prank our pranksters by not pranking them at all. That’s the funny thing about pranking. You can stop someone in their tracks without even going through all of the hassle and effort of literally freezing them out. The mere threat of danger is often worse than the prank itself, and we made sure to mention every possible prank the girls could expect might be waiting for them at their door, or otherwise, on any given day. It was fun holding that proverbial bucket of water over their heads.

“Haunted Asylum” By Chad Robert Parker

Haunted House, , , ,

My first year in college I went to a haunted house that was closed down the next year for questions of safety. You see it was held on the grounds of the mental hospital and some of the patients were involved in participating as ghouls, ghosts, and spooks of all kinds. I remember it being much like any other haunted house where they were not allowed to actually touch you, but I also remember feeling some concern that the one with the chainsaw (even without it having a chain on) might be mentally ill rather than a staff member.

I was a freshman and my roommates were all upperclassmen. Good thing we brought a few girls to scream and hide or the attention of these masqueraders would have surely been directed on me. As it was I rather enjoyed watching the girls run from these certifiably insane people. I’m not sure what the political correct term is when you are being chased like that. My friend chose to yell, “get these crazies away from me,” which only seemed to increase their fervor. I wouldn’t say it was a traumatic event, but the event achieved its motive of terrifying the crowd. I wondered how many other instances like this occurred. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. Your mind runs wild when you think of what frightening behavior people might be capable of.

Like I said, they closed the draw down the next year. Yeah, I for one was disappointed I couldn’t go again. I heard they might open it up, again.

Readers are online: The making of a blog tour

Marketing

My learning curve to finding today’s vast online readership:

Most everything about being a first time author is a great learning experience. When I began writing “Sterling Bridge” some fifteen years ago, the internet was still in its infancy. Napster was still a big peer-to-peer file sharing enterprise on the verge of a landmark intellectual property lawsuit that would become one of the first to address the need to uphold copyright laws on the worldwide web, where possible. It made it a safer endeavor for artists and authors to share their work to the world, get credit, and keep earnings worthwhile. There would not be much incentive to create if the endeavor was not supported financially, after all. It was the era of the meteoric rise and also the catastrophic fall of many dotcom companies. Even the Internet required some substance behind the ethereal contributions. As we know the internet was far from dead. Google is still poised to take over the world. Okay, not really, but it does seem that the internet and a few key players, like Facebook, have an impact in our everyday lives. Today, during the explosion of the information age, eBooks are becoming all the rage.

For a writer, Amazon is a great distributor that has changed the industry. Yes, of course, there is still a place for libraries, newspapers, and physical bookstores, but here on the Internet is where every writer can best gain and interact with an audience and grow interest in quality work. It is becoming more and more the case. Some of us people today live in virtual worlds as much as we interact with people face to face. For a writer, it is becoming more effective to go on blog tours to reach people across a greater sphere than to sit across the room in readings or signing tours. Make no mistake, I still want the human interaction of sharing my book at a launch party celebration, reading to book lovers in city libraries, and/or enjoying the excitement of lines of fans or even just one on one opportunities to sign personal copies in packed stores for the holidays, but reading a book is usually a quiet moment between an individual and the pages of a book and the Internet can reach that person as well as any other way.

Recently, I caught the vision of what a blog tour can be. There are some great bloggers reviewing books and sharing their insights. I’m pleased with my book. I know it to be a great story regardless of the ability of the writer to tell it, but I didn’t spend these many years not to tell it well. And I didn’t take all of this time to not see it reach as many people as could be interested in it. The bloggers are catching on. I’m excited for their reviews. There will be lots of people looking for a good read as the weather gets colder and we gather indoors for the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. Maybe you are one of those persons. To wet your appetite, check out what bloggers have to say about my book, beginning November 10th, the release date of “Sterling Bridge.”

Meanwhile, there are some great blogs featured on my tour from November 10-25. Come here often and see what other blogs are out there. You might even find another book you will like to read.

Here’s my blog tour link: “Sterling Bridge” blog tour

My letter to blog reviewers of interest to me:

Greetings,

I am the author of “Sterling Bridge,” an historical fiction film novel (a short 140 page read) about a little known story of a true Utah hero during the Great Depression. It is being published by Cedar Fort in November. Although I am a first-time author, Cedar Fort tells me they anticipate a great family story like this, for all ages, will have wide appeal.

Your blog caught my attention and I would like to give you one of the first looks at my book by offering you a free copy in exchange for your honest review. We are looking for some great blogs like yours to feature as part of a blog tour. Would you be interested? Could you verify how many followers you have (blog+social media)?

The blog tour will run beginning November 10 through November 26 (Thanksgiving Day). Is there a day you prefer over another? We will hope to assign two blogs per day, and spots will fill up quickly.

Please respond by Monday. Cedar Fort will want to send you a pdf (or possibly print) copy of my book to you right away so you will have time to read it before the date assigned you.

Thank you much,

ChadRobertParker.com

“Sterling Bridge”

Submission to present at LTUE Conference

Marketing, , , , ,
Life, the Universe, & Everything Conference (Feb. 11-13, 2016)

LTUE registration Full Professional Bio (10,000 characters MAX)

Meet the owner of WritCreate, LLC, Anecdoting.com, and ChadRobertParker.com:

Chad Robert Parker is a newly published author of a historical fiction film novel, “Sterling Bridge,” as of November 10th, 2015. Chad loves to read and write books and screenplays, as well as watch movies in all genres. He studied the art of writing a film novel primarily under the tutelage of Dennis Packard while attaining his Bachelor of Arts degree in English at Brigham Young University in 2003.

Chad’s emphasis was in professional writing or business writing, but having not realized back then how well this suited him for studies in marketing communications, he continues to pick it up on the fly as he introduces his creations from games he played with five brothers growing up to making marketing advertisements to writing all forms of stories.

Chad always knew he was either going to be a professional baseball star, adopted into the Parker Brothers board game enterprise, or freelance as a Published Author/starving writer.

My Journey to Publication (Part Two)

Writing

On my family’s trip to Palmyra, New York, we passed over the Mackinac Bridge and I was intrigued to learn of Mackinac Island. Having just served the people of the Philippines for two years amidst several islands it was interesting to me to learn of an island in America, and it being so far inland. My parents remembered that a movie, “Forever Young” was filmed there and I started thinking of the timeless quality of the island and the blue collar history of Michigan. I could relate to from my experience living in Indiana. Since my imagination was already flowing I jotted down a few notes for what would soon become my idea for another novel, “The Whatever Plan.” That book is in the making. I think it will be my best novel to date. The concept still has so much literary potential. Since I had barely started on the first novel idea, however, I returned back to the concussed soccer player theme. Except the more I thought about it the more I envisioned it as a film, not as much literary. The genesis of my film novel expertise was forming.

It was 1999. With my families help I was already enrolled in most of my classes for that semester at BYU. It was funny how I had signed up in 1997 by way of touch tone telephone. The world had changed while I was away. The internet was in full swing now. I had much to learn. That first week of school I was still trying to tie down a couple of classes. I remember I wanted to take a voice lessons class as a diversion for one. The other class I wanted to take was a screenwriting class, but I did not really have room on my schedule. I determined I would ask around to find a professor who could direct me in the right direction on the side, to learn and develop this talent on my own. My mission in the Philippines had given me more confidence and encouraged me to develop and use my talents. Singing classes did not turn out quite as encouraging. Voice teachers were too academic about it then I much cared for. They made me sing what they wanted and I had fun singing other more enjoyable tunes rather than practice the stuffy Shakespearean inspired song I was assigned to master. I never became a great academic singer.

I may have fallen into the same trap with my other course work. I certainly had a talent for writing. I was uncertain, however, if writing was an appreciable skill or that it could even be gained through academia. Now I realize there are many great academic articles and publications, but my love of writing was much more literary than that. Most authors of literature do not focus on academic writing as a career. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my school career, but I knew that writing was too fun to take as seriously as an academic would. Writing did not seem like it paid either. In fact, even after the validation of publication to know that your writing is good, there is still no guarantee of monetary success. But that’s beside the point. Point is, writing is a tough road a person must be committed to if he or she is going to get anywhere.

At this time I was still trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life and I was still strongly under the impression that I was in complete control of planning how my life would go. I opted to pursue a business major. Then I learned the hard way the hoops required to even be allowed to enter the business program. One guidance counselor even told me that “perhaps school wasn’t for everyone.” I thought he was crazy to think that an Academic Honors student in High School was not fit for college. It never occurred to him that the Humanities program could use some work if it wasn’t turning out students fit for employment. Although looking back now I would have to agree that there is most definitely an end to academia (It would not be for me indefinitely) but never an end to learning when it comes to practical knowledge and its application. Before I had  honestly thought that by being accepted to BYU I could study any field of interest that I chose. I was wrong about that. Perhaps, my greatest learning has come when I have been wrong about something. Throughout my college career I fought the urge to write for fun while learning to write for academic purposes. I tried extra hard to study principles of business, but I found I learned more from the entrepreneurs that visited who mostly admitted never completing business school either. In college I learned there is a balance between creativity and organization and a balance between learning, doing, and teaching others. There is a time and season for everything and everything must be done in its proper order if progression is to be had.

In the middle of my Sophomore year I made the decision to get back to the writing of that book that started on my vacation trip. I asked one of my English teachers if there were any professors in the department who knew the format for writing a screenplay. She did. That is when I visited Dennis Packard. That is when I shared some of my writing and he liked it. That is when he asked me to take on another project, which eventually became known as “Sterling Bridge.” That is when I decided that maybe writing fiction could take me somewhere. That is when I got in over my head and I am sure glad that I did.

See “My Journey to Publication (Part One)” here.

Categorizing Genres and Authors

Themes

To create you must be organized. Our minds are both analytical and creative. The trick is finding the proper balance. From what I see, most never find it.

In the library world we focus on categorizing and compartmentalizing everything, especially in the Cataloging Department. It makes sense. In order to have order, items must be classified, rules to house information in a database must be followed, and then materials must be lettered and shelved in an easy locate fashion. This is the editing side of the brain. It is an important and necessary function, but it is secondary, even tertiary; it must be silenced long enough to let the creative side originate new thoughts, ideas, and ultimately creations.

When writing there is a cognitive approach to organizing your work. Perhaps the toughest balance of them all is knowing how much credence to give to knowing your audience and outlining your work. The writer in you wants to be free flowing and allow the creativity to have a life of its own. The editor is constantly trying to chime in and make sure you don’t get too off track. Every writer must find their own balance in their schedule and in their heads. Writing is neither an exact science nor a complete art. I imagine most writers realize they and their work are easier to relate to if they are more readily quantifiable. In other words, most writers stick with one genre and find a basic formula for their story lines that work, in order for their readers to keep better track of them. If readers know what to expect and readers like that genre then they are more prone to keep reading from that author. J.K. Rowling found out how hard it is to switch genres on your adoring audience.

But what if creativity is more dynamic than can be classified? What if in all of us is the complexity to desire flavors, experiences, and customs beyond what we have tasted before?

For me I have a wide array of interests in life. It is not easy to fit me in a box. I suspect this is true for most people. If you are a wood worker who has made a great chair in the past, you don’t see yourself making that chair over and over again the rest of your life. And yet, if you want to make the most money you find the product your customer likes best and you recreate it again and again. I suppose I am going against all conventional wisdom.

I wrote a book that is historical fiction. “Sterling Bridge” has elements of popular fiction. It has every bit the same appeal and all of the drama. It is a story of courage and inspiration in the face of all odds. At the center of the story is central theme in all stories, with the struggle of good and evil. It is the epitome of a coming of age story where the characters learn and grow and the reader learns with them. The difference is that “Sterling Bridge” is a story based on lives that actually happened. Thus, it is in the history category, but it is written in a way that highlights all of the important moments that characterize a town and tell their story in a logical condensed form. It might not be what you get out of Science Fiction, Fantasy, or other Popular writing that you are used to reading. It’s not of the picture book mold to be read in 5-10 minutes, though it also isn’t of the lengthy Charles Dickens prose or “Lord of the Rings” series meant to be digested by course over several days. No, what it is is a great story. Place it in a genre as you will, but at the end of the day there is something for everyone in the pages of “Sterling Bridge” because we are all living our own stories with very similar challenges and natural themes that arise.

When someone asks me what genre “Sterling Bridge” is in and who the intended audience is naturally I am thinking that the story is for everyone, but not just because I want readership. Its main characters are teenage boys so it would appeal to them. Boys need more books to read when you think of how most books know boys don’t read as much and therefore most books are not written with them in mind. The story itself will draw in the most avid reader of fiction with its pacing, rise of conflict, and intrigue in resolution. But you will find it on the adult fiction shelves for its richness in historical value and for the adult’s typically more developed palette. Although I’m hoping to break the mold a little bit and make history interesting for everyone, make our daily lives as important in time as our lives truly are. If you like stories of triumph in life you will like “Sterling Bridge.”

It is a story for everyone even though I didn’t make it into the form that is most read. No, I stayed true to the story. I let the story decide what genre it fits in. For now the field of study will decide where I fit as an author, but I am determined to stay true to my works. The next book won’t be historical, but it will be true to life and fictionalized enough to make it interesting for the reader to escape from their own life for a while and take in a different set of circumstances. Hopefully I can break you out of your mold of your editing brain and organizing each day the same as the last. Have you ever read a film novel, for example? Let “Sterling Bridge” be your first offshoot genre experience with reading a book meant to become a film.

“School Daze” by Chad Robert Parker

Kindergarten

My family moved when I was five years old and I transferred schools in the middle of Kindergarten. The second program focused on the phonetic alphabet and the first program focused on whatever the opposite of that is called. I learned the letters in the first school, but the second school wanted to focus on the sounds. Confused? I was.

My new Kindergarten teacher would put me in a chair everyday and then place headphones on my ears. I had never interacted with a computer quite like that before. It didn’t register at first that I was supposed to be following along and writing something on a page rather than waiting for the audio story to begin.

First, the voice gave me an instruction to write my name at the top of the page. I was curious to see where this was going. Then it proceeded to instruction number two, three, and four about the sounds of letters. By this point I was yawning and my teacher would come by and wonder why I hadn’t completed the first step. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no dummy. I may not have known very many of the other answers even if I had tried, but I knew how to put my name on the page. I just didn’t see the point in it.

Why do a boring assignment when not doing it would result in me being sent to the coloring table every day.

I spent my Kindergarten class time becoming an artist.

“My Turn to Drive” by Chad Robert Parker

Driver's Education

Driver’s Ed was a comedy of errors. Most high school students in my car had driven on a farm many times over. For me Driving School was my first chance behind the wheel, so most of the errors were mine.

My instructor had many quirks I had heard about. I knew he did not believe in deodorant and his odor accelerated with the stress of teaching driving. He had a habit of picking his nose and flicking the boogers out the window. What I didn’t know is he took it for granted that some kids had never paid much attention to driving. Coming from a large family, and usually avoiding the drama of fighting over the front seat, I was a back seat learner.

My first mistake was asking how to turn the turn signal off. My instructor showed me by jerking the steering wheel just to change lanes. I figured out later that the steering wheel was not the only way to get the turn signal to turn off.

My mimicry of one of my peers didn’t go unnoticed. He squealed tires pulling into a parking spot but parked perfectly within the lines. My attempt was not so good. I was practically sideways.

My friends describe the time I came to a “T” in the road. The instructor did not say “right” or “left” when I asked for his directions. I ended up going straight, only I skidded to a stop just before launching off the road. They tell me they were afraid every time it was my turn to drive. Luckily for them I was better than my older brother who literally jumped railroad tracks when he failed to slow down for a hill. Luckily for small town Indiana the Parker boys escaped Driver’s Ed without greater incident.

 

“Sleep Driving” By Chad Robert Parker

Driving Hours

I could not conceive how real the danger of sleeping at the wheel was until I nearly drove off of the road. My dad was in the passenger side. We were making the 24 hour trek from Indiana to Utah. I think we were somewhere in Nebraska.

My dad can shell a mouthful of sunflower seeds with his tongue to keep his mind awake, a trick he learned from trucking. We don’t drink coffee considering how caffeine leaves you lower than before the brief high. I’m personally not as fond of sunflower seeds and they say turning up the radio among other things is not very effective for most. I watched entranced as the middle lines went by on an endless stretch of well-paved road ahead. The sun blurred waves sat on the horizon. The rumble strip got my attention. “Are you all right?” My dad asked. I looked at him groggily and nodded. It was embarrassing. There wasn’t any reason for me to be tired already. I had been napping a few times in route before getting in the driver’s seat. I had only been driving an hour. The rumble strip sounded again. “Are you sure you are all right?”

“Yeah, I just got out of my lane a little.” I felt a little more self aware now. I was tired but I wouldn’t fall asleep would I? I went a good distance farther. The next time I went over the rumble strip I had half of the car over the outside line. My dad placed his hand on the wheel. He instructed me to pull over. It scared me to think how easily I could have veered off into a ditch. I apologized and he assured me that it was okay to let someone else drive even though I hadn’t given anyone much relief time. I was asleep in the passenger side within a few minutes of that conversation.

“A Waterfall of Fish” by Chad Robert Parker

Gone Fishing, , ,

In my family the running joke is that we don’t want to go fishing, we want to go catching. I’m not the best fisherman. Usually it is a good activity for reading a book or pondering the great mysteries of existence. I have spent many trips not catching one fish. I have also had a few trips, usually to the ocean, where the trip was more geared for success. My favorite trip was very much the latter.

My family made a trip to Yosemite National Park. We enjoyed fishing in the pools along the little streams trickling down the mountain. The water was so cold and clear and the air so crisp. The fish would group into the larger pools and hide under the ledge of the banks. We caught some fish throughout the day this way. And then we found the gold mine. Every day the Park would stock not just the streams but the fish pond. Yes, we parked ourselves right outside the stocking truck. Those fish came out acting like it was feeding time and we reeled them in one after the other. While I was very young at the time and would cherish more of a challenge now, that trip still stands out as my best fishing trip.