Thanks Giving

This year for Thanksgiving, not everyone will be home. Some of my family members will be with their in-laws, one brother will be in Afghanistan. We still pray for his safe return home. All sorts of people have asked me what my family and I will do this Thanksgiving with one brother in a war zone. "Not all of your family will be their!" My question is:

"What are we supposed to do?"

We cant change the circumstances; we will still have family, not all of us will be there. We are however, still going to calibrate how the Pilgrims survived starvation, and gave us the first building blocks of America. In Plymouth on December 22 1820 they have started a tradition called the "Five Kernels of Corn."I have also found a poem called the Five kernels of Corn

This year we are not going to do the bird. Turkey will still be on the menu. We are going to do something that my family loves. We are going to barbecue (sp?) turkey wrapped in bacon. Very good. I know it is November and we are going to barbecue. :)

Turkey breast
Smoked bacon
grill
kabob skewers

Method:
Cut the Turkey breast into bite size pieces. Cut the Bacon horizontally. Wrap the bacon around the turkey. Put through a Kabob skewer. Place on top of grill cook until done.

All month I have seen and herd people saying how they are thankful, and what they are thankful for. For some it is to sleep in, days off, family, friends, to have a job....still, to have a home to be living in, religion, and etc. Me I am thankful when I hear from my brother, it means of course that he is still alive. So this year this Thanksgiving to me means different then past years.

Rewriting another play

Writers are usually told to rewrite their work, for whatever reason. When it comes to plays it is different. You rewrite to fit the number the cast, the dialog; if it is a musical then it would be the songs, or choreography.

This particular of rewriting will be a play that I co-wrote for special needs. It is a very cute Christmas play called "Back to Bethlehem" It is about a boy who is special needs who want to be a "normal" boy with normal needs. He has given the task to prepare the hay to be made into a soft bead for the baby Jesus, at the end he is blessed. This play was put on by special needs 3 years ago. The way this play is written is so perfect for special needs. After the performance their wasn't a dry face anywhere to be seen. One amazing sister said to me, (her name shall stay anonymous)

"My husband and I went to see "The Savior of the World" last night. This was far more better."

My bishop wanted me to put this play on for the ward. I so didn't want to. This play is so dear to my heart, because it is written for special needs and they did an excellent performance. The question is how can a cast of non special needs put on the same quality of performance, with a very simplistic play and not be insulated, or bored?

So for the past year, yes year........I know. I have been thinking about this, and been putting it off, for reasons that were poor. You know like "I'm too busy." Truth was I just plane didn't want to do it. So now for the past week I have been thinking of how I can rewrite the play "Back to Bethlehem;" make it more of a challenge for the cast, as in something that would be much more interesting for the cast and audience to keep their attention, but keep the integrity of the original simplistic play.

I keep coming back to one truth. Every time we talk about the Savior and His role within our lives, the spirit will always come. So how am I going to do this? I think I have figured it out, and notes have been taken down. I plan to sit down after the Holidays, birthdays, parents anniversary, New Years and start writing. Then it should be ready for when I start directing it.

Conflict, Resolve

Today in the world of literature; typicality there is a conflict and then comes the resolve. We see love triangles, (gag :0), wars, spin offs, the most poplar in LDS chick lit is over coming sin and true love concurs all. But that doesn't happen until the end of the book and it is over and over gain and a gain.......:

"I can't marry you because_______."

Yes, I know annoying. Every time I read such a novel I want to scream.

"GET OVER YOURSELF, AND GROW UP!"

Then I remind myself that it is just a book. Thank heavens. I have notice that Covenant an LDS publisher, have been going through authors like Shakespeare went through charters in his tragedies. Yes he did, within his tragedies you know who ever comes on stage they will die. I could say that the reason why is mostly women will by the books, but that statistic have not been proven. If that statistic is right then, to all LDS authors, keep writing about over coming sin, love concurs all, and love triangles. That formula right now works, as sicking as that is.

Now the world of publishing is changing. Within a blog called "Story tellers unplugged" there is a post by Mur Lafferty. Mur says this in the blog post:

"A growing trend, started by Cory Doctorow, is to release a free PDF of a book when you launch the print version. Some, like Doctorow, release the whole book; others release a number of chapters. Still, it’s the concept of the free sample or teaser that works–check it out for free, if you like it, then buy."

Now most of you who are reading this, are probably are having raised eyebrows. For as long as we can remember, we have ether went to the library and rented books for a month, or we have paid with that hard earned money and bought that book. Why is this? Nathan Bransford found this link. "Advice to Aspiring Novelists: Don't shoot yourself". Thank you Nathan.

I am writing this post, I know that it is unusual for me to write something like this. The conflict is that new aspiring, talented writers are having a hard time getting notice by lit, agents and publishers. The most common response is: "The economy is way too shaky." This is true, publishers don't want to invest in an unknown. It is safer to go with tried and true authors.

So the resolve for new writers is, "think-out-side-the-box." If you want to get notice by a large audience in the world of literature; use the resources you have in your own home at your own desk. I am talking about your computer, utilize the internet, make book trailers, do a PDF format or ebook. So in a way you are self publishing. Something that I never recommend is, don't get desperate enough to go though a self publishing outfit.

So, think out side the box, utilize the internet. It will be interesting to see how the publishing business will grow, and evolve. The question is, are seasoned writers, publishers, technology, and the world ready for this type of "publishing".