I wasn’t sure what to call this post. Part of me finds it easy to justify my complete lack of attention to my blog. Another part of me insists that I shouldn’t let the other part of me which likes to come up with lame excuses get away with it. I am going to let the lamer win. At least for a moment.

My reasons:

1. The Holidays: I really enjoyed spending time with family through the Christmas season. We played games a lot, and ate way too much food. On New Year’s Eve, my son, son-in-law, and myself stayed up playing Settlers of Catan (with most of the expansion packs) until 5am. I regretted that later, but it was fun while I was awake.

2. A new addition: For the last 4 weeks I have been called Grandpa. My little granddaughter has been over almost every single day. I forgot what babies are like. They smell so good. They are fun to cuddle at nap time. One Sunday afternoon I fell asleep in the recliner with her resting in the crook of my arm. Slept for an hour. She never budged. Of course, my arm fell asleep, but it was worth it. Now that I think about it, this shouldn’t actually be a lame excuse. In fact, I am quite pleased with this one.

3. Twitter: I think social networking has become my bane. I am fascinated by it and repelled by it at the same time. Conflicting viewpoints abound. Some say an author should have twitter so fans can “connect”. Some say it is a waste of time. I am not yet sure. But my twitter activity certainly has outweighed my blogging.

4. Plotting: I did plot out the major arcs and characters for both book 2 and 3 in my series “The Chronicles of Gan”. I am very excited about what I came up with. But I am also quite worried about it too. I wonder if I can pull it off again. The first book was SO MUCH WORK. Yikes.

5. Preparing for signings: I have a ton of things going on right now in preparation for my book release. I have a training seminar I am going to on Friday and Saturday. I have been trying to figure out what I am going to do with my website. I have been wondering what to do about business cards and book marks and such. I have been trying to figure out if I can pull off a tour to promote my book since the publisher wants me to go for a longer time period than what I have vacation for… so unless I have a bunch of donations come in to cover the time-off-without-pay, I am not sure I can do the entire thing.

6. LDStorymakers Conference: I have been working with some friends who will be presenting with me at a “Website Design” class at the conference. We have a lot of work ahead of us. And we are not anywhere near ready.

7. Reading: I have been reading books in the late evening. Some books for enjoyment, other books because I promised the authors a review. And there are more to come. I have at least 3 more reviews I will be doing by March. A year ago if you would have told be I would be doing blurbs and reviews for books, I would have thought you were looney. Well, even today, I may still think you are looney, but that is beside the point.

8. Galleys: I did actually complete this one, but since it took a fair amount of my time, I am listing it. I need to take credit for getting at least one of these things completed!

9. The day job: This one pays the bills. Can’t get rid of this one yet. Somebody help me to sell 300,000 copies, and we’ll talk about this one again.

10. Google Reader: I think I have signed up to follow too many blogs. And that keeps me from maintaining my own. Or so goes the excuse.

11. FEAR:  I am nervous about what I have gotten myself into. I hear folks who are full-time authors talk about how hard it is to balance everything and get done what they need to get done in time for deadlines, etc. And I have a day job… AM I NUTS? What is wrong with me? I can’t believe that I am doing this, actually. I need to sleep. I need to work. I need to read. I need to write. I need to play games with my family. Gotta figure this one out or my family will disown me.

OK, so I admit that some of my problem… most of my problem… all of my problem… is that I have not yet figured out how to manage my time effectively. I wish I knew what the most important things were to be successful, then I could do those, and nothing else. Whew. This is going to be a very, very busy 6 months. I hope I make it through without going bonkers.

And for those of you who know James Dashner, don’t get on my case for not being able to count to ten. He does top-ten lists all the time, and can’t count either… and he used to be an ACCOUNTANT.  :P

Tags: Book Reviews, Manuscript, Miscellany

No, he didn’t die.

He’s still writing and still tweeting as of this morning.

But I need to let you all in on a secret. You see, whether he knows it or not, James has been a huge support to me over the last year. We have been all over the internet together. As my picture has been smiling at the world on facebook, twitter, my website, my publisher’s website… James has been there in the shadows. Always supportive. Always making me feel strong. He has been there with me ever since I first met him at a book signing over a year ago at a local library. He signed my copy of “The 13th Reality, The Journal of Curious Letters” on that day. He joked with my kids who were with me. And we took pictures.

James is right there with me in the profile picture which I have used the most often in all of these internet places:

 

See how supportive he is being? What a trooper.

I liked this picture because I was actually smiling. My family accuses me of never smiling correctly (my smile usually comes out more like a smirk on the camera). James made me smile. Because authors are cool. James is cool. And he has some really cool books coming out soon.

But it is now time for me to move on. I need to stand on my own two feet. I need to smile by myself. Why not? I have a lot to smile about. I have a wonderful wife and six great kids. AND… I am going to be published.

I am going to be an author! My only hope is to someday be as cool as James.

I recently had pictures done by a soon-to-be-professional photographer and friend of the family, Stephanie Haven. Here is her college blogsite:  Haven Photography. I thought I would give her some props because I am now going to be using all those professionally done shots for my profile pics, and send the best of them (or rather my favorites) to Valor Publishing so they can use the pictures everywhere and put it in the back of the book and make banners and flyers and internet ads and posters and t-shirts and logos and gigantic representations of them on the side of my own private corporate jet.

Delusions of grandeur, I assure you. Valor needs it for the book.

So, here’s to James: Thanks for a great year. I’ll miss you. Until we meet again. Maybe at lunch. Because I am plugging your books. You can buy.

I’m kidding!

Tags: Book Signings, Miscellany

I am not sure why I woke up at 4:30 this morning. May have had something to do with the noisy truck which went by.

Yesterday was a fun day. I took the family up American Fork Canyon for a picnic. Of course that means a car load of noisy kids. And teenagers can be SO LOUD.

In reflection I realized that there are some great calming influences available in the world. I was much calmer after I got out of the car.

Here are some of my favorites:

What are your favorites?

And to my wife, because it is her birthday today, and we will eat ice-cream-cake after we go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Tags: Miscellany, Spiritual Thoughts

I have never gotten a blogger award before. Today I was listed on C. LaRene Hall’s blog for the Kreativ Blogger award. Here it is:

And here is the list of people she mentioned for the award:

Darvell Hunt
Daron Farley
Marsha Ward
Joyce DiPastena
Cathy Witbeck
Gaynell Parker
Karen Hoover

Now I must say, that is a great group there. I have met most of them, and they are all outstanding examples of personality, talent, and fun… except for that Daron Farley guy. He is a shady character. In fact, if you all knew him a little better, you would be beating down his door to get written permission to use him as the villain in your next writing project.

That is what makes me REALLY glad I am not Daron Farley.

So here is my list of interesting (or not so interesting) facts about me according to the rules for the award:
1. I am Daron FRALEY. My wife’s maiden name is FARLEY. Freaky, eh? Yeah, it still freaks me out. So am I offended about the misspelling? Absolutely not. Them Farleys are good folk. Except for that one I already mentioned…
2. When I was a boy I practiced mental telepathy on people. Nobody ever noticed. I guess it never worked.
3. I heard Pope John Paul give an outdoor mass in France.
4. I tried fly fishing for the first time this summer. I almost got the hang of it. Except for the time I pulled the fish over my head and the fish landed on the bank, and I landed in the water.
5. I don’t have a favorite color.
6. I know what triboluminescence means. And I’ll bet you don’t.
7. Once again I had to reward myself with chocolate to get through this. I never have liked these chain type things (for myself that is, for others I am sure they are just fine). I prefer to be quiet and boring and unapproachable.

Now to the part I am going to break the rules on. Rather than pass this on to another 7 people, I would prefer to just say that Connie Hall is one of the sweetest gals I have met in a long time. I met her at a writers group, and we have traded emails, seen each other at book signings, and I got to talk to her at the LDS Storymakers conference in the spring. She has a new book out, “Martha’s Freedom Train”. I think you ought to check it out!

Tags: Miscellany, Silly Tag Games

Off to camp.

I will take my two sticks and bang them together so the cougars (and bears) stay away.

See you next week.

Tags: Miscellany

I have wondered for a while if anybody has actually seen a particular something on my blog. It has broken links. And the links have been broken for a long, long time. Not a single person has ever mentioned it. I suppose that means there is little interest. So, I may just leave it the way it is. But perhaps my mere mentioning it will act like an invitation to a treasure hunt . . .

If you figure out what it is, and you want to get your hands on “it”, here are the rules:

Become an official blog follower. Leave a comment and ask for “it”; tell me how to get in touch with you. Then I will send you the “treasure”, because obviously the links are broken. Or if you don’t want to put your email info in the comment, you can send me your address: lachishatgmaildotcom. You know what to do there…

Tags: Miscellany, Scripture Study

If you lurk and want to keep lurking, that is fine. If you would rather follow the blog and let me know that you do, I added a Followers area in the left pane. Join up!

Tags: Miscellany

The good: Finally satisfied with my manuscript, I sent it in to Covenant Communications. What a fantastic feeling. The writers conference a week ago was outstanding. While there, my pitch session with the editor went well, and although there is a chance the publisher still won’t take it after reading the entire book, at least I will get some great feedback. Do you have a list of “life goals” you wish to accomplish? This was one of mine. Since my goal said “write a book”, and not actually “become a published author”, I think it counts. I have added a new line though – To see the book on store shelves. To do a book signing. Those are the new goals.

The bad: Mexico. Right after the conference my wife and I participated in a company paid rewards trip to Cancun. We had an enjoyable and relaxing time. Until the last night there. Room service fajitas. I have been sick for 3 days now. No, it is not the swine flu. In light of the symptoms, I am pretty sure it is food poisoning. If not cleared up by tomorrow, I will have to pay a visit to the doctor and get some drugs to kill off the little parasites.

The ugly: The next couple of weeks are going to be nerve wracking and frightening in a life changing sort of way. I can’t say more than that at the moment. Stay tuned.

Congrats to all of the authors who won awards in the First Chapter Contest and the Whitney Awards. What an awesome group of people!

Tags: Manuscript, Miscellany, My Writing Life

Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh – Henry David Thoreau

I was just thinking about regrets and blessings. There are many examples of each in my life. Some regrets have even turned into blessings: blessings of wisdom.

To the little boy in Colorado Springs: I am so sorry I stole several of your favorite matchbox cars. My pockets were full when I got home. I remember my mommy got a phone call about it. I told a lie and said I didn’t have them. But I did. I moved away, and had those cars for many years. As a teenager I remember finding them amongst my treasures. They were a reminder of my evil deed. I never forgot it. Even now, 34 years later, I still remember what it felt like to steal and lie. Those memories have helped me to try my best to be honest.

To the boy at the bus stop in Cody who I punched in the nose: I am so sorry I hurt you. You need to know I had a bully which wouldn’t leave me alone. Every single day he would run up behind me, hit or kick me, and then run off. I decided I had taken enough. You just happened to have the exact same coat as him. When you turned around, it was already too late. I was swinging. But I remember the shock and guilt of that moment. I learned a great lesson that day: revenge is not a good thing. Please forgive me.

I don’t remember the name of the first boy with the cars, and I never knew the name of the other boy with the bleeding nose. I wish I did. I would make my apology personal. I would make it right.

There are other skeletons in that particular closet I would love to get out. But, the closet has been cleaned and painted, and doesn’t offend me any more. I keep the bones there to remind me. Those old bones are friends to me now. The skull has a wise brow, the toothy jaws wear a smile, the bony hand gives a cheerful wave. It’s OK.

I will someday have the chance to make those things right. I look forward to it.

To the boy who I called friend, who played with me in the apartment complex parking lot, who called me over to the sidewalk one day to see what you were doing: I forgive you for pee-ing all over me. At the time, I was devastated. You laughed loud and I cried hard. I forgive you just the same. It taught me to not be cruel to others. Thank you for that wonderful lesson. I also hope you have a blog. I hope you have shared some of your blessed regrets.

There is no couch here and I don’t charge by the quarter-hour, but what do you think? Are you grateful for the lessons you have learned, even the painful ones?

Tags: Memories of childhood, Miscellany