From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #186 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 Monday, November 6 2000 Volume 01 : Number 186 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 11:06:27 -0800 From: Ruth Starkman Subject: Re: [AML] Introductions: Ruth Starkman Christopher Bigelow wrote: > Ruth, I am interested in your following offer, and it seems appropriate for AML-List: > > [MOD: Yes indeed.] > > << topics written for a national audience (Is anyone interested in what a couple > agents told me? It's not very scientific, anecdotal, for what it's worth, but > I'm happy to pass it on). >>> > > Thanks, > Chris Bigelow Well, here's the story, which may in fact simply highlight what many more experienced writers on this list may know, but I hope it'll be interesting anyway. Summer 1999 I'd finished a draft of my novel about the adventures of an LDS detective, and having no previous experience writing or publishing fiction, I decided to educate myself by attending the yearly conference for mystery writers at Book Passage in Marin county. [www.bookpassage.com] It's a very reputable conference, a bit steep in tuition, but the organizers and sessions are very helpful, it was nice to meet editors, agents and writers with one novel already under their belts, AND it takes place at a nice and relatively reasonably priced Best Western motel, where my family could splash in the 25 yrd pool, while I attended sessions. There I met two NYC agents from mid-sized agencies specializing in commercial literature, mystery, romance etc. and two local agents. I took all of their cards, picked one agent who seemed most interested, went home revised my MS and sent it in a couple months later. She rejected it saying she wasn't interest in the plot (which was based on a small-time political scandal in suburban CA) but found (I quote here from the letter) "the idea of a Mormon protagonist faced with challenges both within himself and the outside world is a great one. What a fascinating culture! " She ended with the suggestion that others may not have the same reservations about my plot and that the Mormon idea definitely deserved other agent readings. So I went to the next NYC agent , whose card I had. She responded that her client list was now full but that, "a character-driven novel about Mormon culture would be fascinating." hmmm, I thought.."fascinating" in what way? I wrote back and asked, but, as is typical with busy NY agents, I got no response. Next I queried the local agents who weren't interested at all. So I struck out on my own and decided why not query the top agents in New York and go from there. I got two readings from major houses, Samuel Greenberger ltd and Aaron Preist: both of whom rejected the MS saying the Mormon angle was "interesting," the novel itself wasn't "right for their markets." After that, I decided I needed a new plot, that maybe political plots are a hard-sell unless they have some wider resonance, and maybe also I just needed some more writerly practice. (Good thing I'm an academic and somewhat accustomed to ego-trampling.) For the next while I concentrated on my scholarly book projects which are now close to being finished (one on German unification and the other on the commercialization of the Holocaust in film) and had a baby in January 2000. That's where things stand for now with my novel project, I'm going to let the thing sit for a while, as I finish my more pressing scholarly work and play with my kids. It's probably a whole other thread to mention, that I as an outsider, found it ultimately very hard to write fiction about a culture other than my own. Not that it's not possible, there are many great literary examples, I'm saying, it's just _hard_. Given my own great obligations with family and career, I may just be happy to be a consumer rather than a producer of Mormon lit. In the end, it's been interesting and I've got some other ideas if anyone wants to hear: I think there is a national market for an LDS mystery, a "cozy" as they are called, the ones w/o too much graphic stuff with a plucky, but realistic female protagonist. Say, a Relief Society President who accidentally uncovers crime...does this already exist in local version? LDS detail just needs to be explained in a the way that the uninitiated (myself included) can understand, AND most importantly, that the representation, conflicts, results are human and believable. This last thing is just my own taste, but I think it also speaks for the perspective of an outside reader. LAST of all, I've some thoughts about obtaining Mormon lit (Signature press gets my eyeballs b/c of its quality work, its fine range of perspectives and most importantly its WEBSITE and b/c it promotes titles on amazon.com. Other Mormon lit? How do I get it in San Francisco where I live? The nearest deseret bookstore, yahoo.com tells me, is 87 miles away! Okay, now I'm out of epistolary gas for today. Best, Ruth Starkman - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 11:16:53 -0800 From: Ruth Starkman Subject: Re: [AML] Introductions: Ruth Starkman - --------------0789EB5DC79626A5049D4772 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit thanks for your kind letter alan... Alan Mitchell wrote: > FIY, Barry Monroe is the unorthodox bedrockmormon protagonist in the book > Angel of the Danube, which won the AML MB award as the book Barry Monroe's > Missionary Journal. I just assumed he was a household name;) > Wow Ruth, what a story! I'm amazed at our Austrian connections although > I'm a little older than your time frame. I have an interesting Jewish/Mormon > story from my mission about entertaining a SoCal Jewish girl in Vienna. My > daughter took German at the U last year. You are at UCLA! In chapter 11, > Barry Monroe visits UCLA to confer with Herr Professor Smart Dude. The > connections keep going. I'm planning on going to a wedding in Santa Monica > in early December. WOW, this is amazing, these connections, I'm very excited to read your book, please feel free to connntact me at UCLA...only I'm only there between 8AM and 2PM Tu-Th, as I commmmute twice a week from San Francisco (insane I know, I'm visitng and will probably return to Cal next fall.) > > But Woody Allen as a Mormon? I loved Woody growing up. I think he is > absolutely the best at making fun of the new sexual mores--but after his > marriage to whatshername, I wondered if he wasn't caught in his own joke. yes, WA is a major chujckle and good to in crimes and misdeamers, but real life...well... you got it right here. > > I've got an idea for a movie--why not have Woody Allen play himself and try > to teach Donnie Osmond how to be funny in the home culture. Wouldn't > Donnie's blush just be great? What if Donnie were able to pull it off at > the end? Wouldn't that change everything? ( copyright ARMitchell, 2000). hip idea! > > And Angel is now at Deseret Bookstores everywhere (yes it made the grade) > and the Seagull catalog, and where ever great Mormon books are sold. > Alan Mitchell > forgive my brevity and bad typinghere..i'm typing with one hand, my baby just awoke... Best, Ruth - --------------0789EB5DC79626A5049D4772 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit thanks for your kind letter alan...
 

Alan Mitchell wrote:

FIY, Barry Monroe is the unorthodox bedrockmormon protagonist in the book
Angel of the Danube, which won the AML MB award as the book Barry Monroe's
Missionary Journal. I just assumed he was a household name;)
    Wow Ruth, what a story!  I'm amazed at our Austrian connections although
I'm a little older than your time frame. I have an interesting Jewish/Mormon
story from my mission about entertaining a SoCal Jewish girl in Vienna. My
daughter took German at the U last year. You are at UCLA!  In chapter 11,
Barry Monroe visits UCLA to confer with Herr Professor Smart Dude. The
connections keep going.   I'm planning on going to a wedding in Santa Monica
in early December.


WOW, this is amazing, these connections, I'm very excited to read your book, please feel free to connntact me at UCLA...only I'm only there between 8AM and 2PM Tu-Th, as I commmmute twice a week from San Francisco (insane I know, I'm visitng and will probably return to Cal next fall.)

 
    But Woody Allen as a Mormon? I loved Woody growing up.  I think he is
absolutely the best at making fun of the new sexual mores--but after his
marriage to whatshername, I wondered if he wasn't caught in his own joke.
yes,  WA is a major chujckle  and good to in crimes and misdeamers, but real life...well... you got it right here.
 
I've got an idea for a movie--why not have Woody Allen play himself and try
to teach Donnie Osmond how to be funny in the home culture.  Wouldn't
Donnie's blush just be great?  What if Donnie were able to pull it off at
the end?  Wouldn't that change everything?   ( copyright ARMitchell, 2000).
hip idea!
 
And Angel is now at Deseret Bookstores everywhere (yes it made the grade)
and the Seagull catalog, and where ever great Mormon books are sold.
Alan Mitchell
 
forgive my brevity  and bad typinghere..i'm typing with one hand, my baby just awoke...

Best,
Ruth - --------------0789EB5DC79626A5049D4772-- - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2000 11:34:06 -0800 (PST) From: Kathleen Meredith Subject: Re: [AML] MN Mormons Oppose "Godspell" To move from the hypothetical to the actual experience. I was part of a cast (in high school a million years ago) that put on "Fiddler on the Roof". There were no Jewish kids in the cast as far as I can recall. There were, however, a bunch of Mormon kids. As I'm sure many of you recall, there's a scene in the play that portrays the observance of Jewish Sabbath, as well as reference to the afterlife, a wedding - not to mention Tevye's casual conversation's with God (ie. prayers). Nobody ever questioned the appropriateness of putting on this play. It was a positive and wonderful experience and dare I say spiritual experience in reference to a public school. - -Kathleen Meredith __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? >From homework help to love advice, Yahoo! Experts has your answer. http://experts.yahoo.com/ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 19:37:00 GMT From: "Eric D. Snider" Subject: Re: [AML] MN Mormons Oppose "Godspell" > >Todd Robert Petersen wrote: > > > But how many Jewish, Native American, or Hindu kids would > > feel comfortable performing in a play about Jesus? We need to take that > > into consideration. That's what I'm saying and I'm sticking to it. > D. Michael Martindale: >I, a Christian, would feel very comfortable performing in a play about >Jewish, Hindu, or Native American religious concepts, as long as the >play wasn't promoting those concepts as the true religion. I don't >believe the play Godspell says anything about the divinity of Christ, >only his moral teachings. It's historical and cultural, and that sort of >thing is a valid part of--yes--even public education in America. Even if "Godspell" WERE proclaiming the divinity of Jesus Christ, I still don't see a problem. People play roles that aren't them, and perform in plays they don't agree with, all the time. It's called acting. Non-murderers appear in "Arsenic and Old Lace," and plenty of non-Hebrews have played the title role in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" (the title role being Joseph, not the dreamcoat) (though I've seen productions where the coast WAS the star). Many of the ancient Greek plays have various gods in them -- but if no one would perform in the play because they, personally, only believe in one God, you'd have a hard time getting it produced. Lots of Neil Simon comedies make reference to Judaism, at least in passing. Many, if not most, of Simon's characters are Jewish. Are non-Jewish actors "uncomfortable" playing the roles? Apparently not, because Simon's plays are performed all over Utah, where there is a decided lack of Jews. How many non-Mormons have appeared in church-produced films in which the truthfulness of the LDS Church was boldly asserted? If an actor, even a high-school student actor, doesn't want to perform in a play because it goes against his religious beliefs, that's fine. No one's going to make him. But I think those actors are few and far between. Most people would just consider it another role, and play it. Eric D. Snider _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2000 13:48:55 -0700 From: "Scott Tarbet" Subject: RE: [AML] MN Mormons Oppose "Godspell" > Todd Petersen wrote: > > Isn't there also a problem with being narrow-minded and judgemental about > narrow-minded and judgemental people? When that woman was called an > "offensive zealot," that doesn't strike me as what you're claiming for > yourself. I think that none of us should be shrill about any of the > positions. Circularity upon circularity. If I'm told I'm narrow-minded and judgemental for calling someone an "offensive zealot" (wasn't me, but that doesn't matter), then isn't the person who tells me I'm narrow-minded and judgemental also open to the same criticism? And don't I open myself to the same criticism again by pointing it out? Pardon me while I go swallow my tail. May I submit that nearly any statement anyone makes will offend someone or other, depending on whether they're looking to take offense. I don't think we can freeze ourselves into politically-correct immobility for the sake of not offending someone by pointing out that we're offended. > Scott again: > > >Not me. Nobody accuses me of being cool. I would be a lot > "cooler" in the > >Mormon culture I'm part of if I hewed to a more low key, "orthodox" > demeanor > >and set of opinions. > > I don't mean cool that way. I mean cool like Fonzie is cool, but > perhaps I > should have said "hipper than thou" or "liberaler than thou" or > "open-minded-er than thou." I understood. We can be "hip" to a lot of things. It's all a question of whose idea of correctness we want to be hip to. Again, I don't care to be hip to Mormondom, or hip to Liberaldom, or hip to Hipdom at all. Forming our opinions based on what anyone other than the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost think (including the Light of Christ in each of us) is a losing proposition. When the Spirit communicates that to me I'm fine. When my Priesthood leaders communicate it to me, ditto. Nobody else should presume. On a slightly different note, in Salt Lake yesterday, at West High School, 3 students were kicked out of an English class for having copies of the Book of Mormon on their desks for reading during their free reading time. According to the radio interview I just heard with one of the students, the teacher told her the BofM is "offensive religious literature" and had the three of them escorted from the classroom by security. I'm pretty sure I haven't heard the whole story, but I bring it up for this one reason: why in the world would I want to be hip to that sort of fascism?? Am I wrong in thinking (and saying) that that teacher acted as an offensive zealot of the liberal sort? - -- Scott Tarbet - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 13:10:17 -0600 From: Ronn Blankenship Subject: Re: [AML] Value of Literature At 02:17 03-11-00 -0700, D. Michael Martindale wrote: >I know this isn't what you meant, but what you could be doing that would >be a better use of your time is to stop beating yourself up over your >desire to write. What a waste of energy! Use that energy to read and >write. It's okay, honest. Or, as Robert A. Heinlein said: "Writing is nothing to be ashamed of if you do it in private and wash your hands afterwards." - -- Ronn! :) - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 14:57:40 -0700 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: [AML] Utah Bulwer-Lytton Ann Cannon, a columnist for the Salt Lake paper, the Deseret News, = recently decided to sponsor a local version of the Bulwer-Lytton contest. = That contest, you may recall, honors the memory of the Victorian novelist = and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who actually began a novel with the = phrase "it was a dark and stormy night." The purpose of the contest is to = write the first sentence of the worst novel imaginable, and that was = likewise the task Ann Cannon urged on us for the Deseret News version of = the contest. Well. I am very proud to announce that I won the Deseret News contest for = worst first sentence. Here is my winning entry: "The sun set over Utah Lake like a giant orange Jello-O mold, with a Cool = Whip layer of clouds above the pineapple chunk mountains, the lake itself = like a wavy bed of lettuce, only bluer, and as Heber stared soulfully into = Velmina's Peanut-Butter-Cup eyes, in the back of his mind, not for the = first time, he reflected how very long Fast Sundays seemed when you were = young, and in love." It is, I hope you'll all agree, a thoroughly atrocious sentence, and one = with definite LDS lit connotations. Thank you very much. Eric Samuelsen - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2000 15:12:10 -0800 From: harlowclark@juno.com Subject: Re: [AML] Florence Child BROWN, _I Cannot Tell a Life_ [MOD: Apologies, but my work schedule made it impossible for me to get this out yesterday. I guess the rest of us can contemplate the kinds of discussions that could have taken place today at the conference, if this had been posted...] Back on Sept 19, I posted some comments about Florence Child Brown's rhetorical stance in _I Cannot Tell a Life_. I was hoping to follow it shortly with my review, but other things intervened. I'm still working on the review, but wanted to say something about the book before the conference tomorrow, because the book as an object raises some questions that might be worth discussing at the conference. (I think I've finally found the right approach to the book as a story. Brown's childrens' strong negative reaction tempts me to concentrate on how remarkable the book is rhetorically, and how her rhetorical stance answers her childrens' concerns, but it's a story first, and before I get into the theory I need to talk about the story.) Shortly after I posted my comments, probably 20 Sept., Marilyn Brown (whose e-mail client apparently can't handle dates past 12/31/99) wrote: >Harlow! Thank you! I am SO GLAD that someone of your expertise has seen the value in this book! (I CANNOT TELL A LIFE by Florence Child Brown) Thank you so much for giving us this peek, and thank you for promising to follow it with a review. The strange thing is that I thought it was remarkable, too. Marilyn ended her gracious reply by saying, "And your words are a perfect example of how valuable a literary critic can be in the life of a piece of work." Those words remind me of the controversy over Godspell, and how a well written story about Godspell could help people better understand it. I think the time is ripe for a good discussion of the critic's role in a culture (of course we've been discussing "What Should the Critic Critique," but there's a lot more to be said about how critics and criticism function in a society). But I'm more interested in Marilyn's final comment: > (P.S. If I had time I'd have you read WINE-DARK SEA > OF GRASS before I printed it--but I don't have six months [grin]) Ten months, you mean. (Twelve, now.) Although it only took me about 6 to read. You might be interested in some of the reasons the book took so long to read, besides the fact I'm a careful reader and make lots of notes. (Val-pak ads make wonderful bookmarks/notecards.) One reason might affect how you print Wine-Dark Sea of Grass. The book is poorly bound--every bad example you can remember about perfect binding fits this book, and it's difficult to feel comfortable holding a book that's going to fall apart, or whose cover is coming off. I'd like to see some discussion of self-publishing. I don't know if it's going to be a topic at the conference, but I'd like to know other peoples' experiences with self-published books as objects, how well the bindings hold up, choosing a cover, things like that. I can see a lot of advantages to self-publishing, but if the books don't hold up that's a big drawback. Harlow S. Clark P. S. There's another reason (of several) _I Cannot Tell a Life_ took me a long time to read. It's an intense book. I'm not able to read something of that intensity at great length. (Part of the reason I didn't finish Rilke's _Letters to a Young Poet_ when a friend in the stake presidency leant it to me for a week. Gotta go back to that book, and PG lib actually has a copy.) I suppose the intensity shows how much the book has to offer. ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2000 16:31:43 -0600 From: Jonathan Langford Subject: Re: [AML] (Andrew's Poll) Favorite Mormon Essays I welcome Andrew's Poll on this topic. The best of personal essays are astonishing things that can change our entire view of how the world works. My favorite devotional essay--using this term I think more or less the way Andrew meant it--has to be the Hugh Nibley essay, "Work We Must, but the Lunch Is Free," which I first encountered (I believe) in _BYU Today_ magazine. I've heard a rumor that the essay sufficiently upset some people that the editor lost his job over it... though frankly, I have my doubts that it actually happened (it sounds too much like the sort of rumor people would have fun repeating, whether true or not--notice how I'm repeating it here?), and frankly there's a lot Hugh Nibley has written that's way more controversial than this. But it literally made me think about my life and work in an entirely different way. The right message at the right time, for me. I've also been struck by some of Neal Maxwell's talks, particularly on patience, faith, and agency. It's hard for me to isolate individual talks of his, because they tend to run together in my mind, being all stylistically, and in many ways thematically, similar. I'm also, of course, fond of his general conference talk on faith (I believe) of a couple of years ago in which he quoted Gandalf from _The Lord of the Rings_. I personally would split off memoirs as a somewhat different category from personal essay. That said, I greatly enjoy Ed Geary's _Goodbye to Poplarhaven_. I had the experience of teaching it as one of five texts for a freshman English class at BYU. The other texts included Chaim Potok's _The Chosen_ and Frank Waters's _The Man Who Killed the Deer_. I have to say that I thought Geary's book stood up very well in that company. I'm not one of the rural-Utah contingent--I'm not from pioneer stock, and I was raised in western Oregon--but there was still something very comfortably familiar about his tales of growing up in rural Utah. An exceptionally good book. Also in the category of memoirs, though more definitively autobiographical, I have to say that I found much of Leonard Arrington's _Memoirs of a Church Historian_ very moving, in terms of an actively trained but faithful intellect working both in service to and often in tension with aspects of the institutional Church. I also have to put humorous essays in a different category. And here, I think Ed Snow is the winner for me. My favorite so far: probably Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do, publishing in _Of Curious Workmanship_, about the old songbook _Recreational Songs_. This one left me literally gasping for breath at several points. I notice that I keep defining things out of the category of personal essay, which I haven't really tackled yet. I'm not sure what my favorites are here. I recall an odd, very personal talk Pres. Kimball gave in priesthood session of General Conference several years into his tenure, when I was a teenager--unfortunately I can't recall when it was, or even clearly what was the topic, though I think that's partly because it wandered a bit. But I think it gave me, more clearly than I had ever realized before, a sense of God working through people who are very much individuals, just like me. Both Richard Poll's essay "What the Church Means to People Like Me" and Tom Rogers's "On the Importance of Doing Certain Mundane Things" (which I think of as, in some ways and across decades of time, as companion pieces) are very good, in their own way, at crystallizing a particular point of view, and its tension with/submission to the dictates and demands of the institutional Church. I know I've written in criticism of Poll's essay on this List, but that doesn't change the fact that I think it says some useful things and says them very well. I have the disquieting feeling that I'm forgetting some personally important ones in this category. To some degree, that's a result of the way I process these things, if they're important to me, which is to read them, think about them, make them part of the way I look at life, but not necessarily remember where I got them from. I remember being touched by many of the stories in _No More Strangers_, a collection of conversion stories edited (I believe) by Hartman and Connie Rector. It's hard to say if those count as personal essays, but they're certainly a distinctive--and important--Mormon form. Andrew also included some selections of Mormon-oriented literary criticism. There have been some good works published in this area (possibly the subject for its own future poll?), but the ones I find most personally revelatory/suggestive are our own Harlow Clark's speculations about modern literature, the pouring forth of the spirit after 1820, and alternative ways of viewing and constituting our relationship to literature. Sorry, I've picked these up in bits and pieces as he's posted various comments to the List, so I can't give any specific titles, although I know he's also formulated some of these in more formal essays. Sorry. That's all for now. (Or perhaps I should be sorry that there's been so much already...) Jonathan Langford Speaking solely for myself jlangfor@pressenter.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 16:48:35 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Introductions: Ruth Starkman Alan Mitchell wrote: > I've got an idea for a movie--why not have Woody Allen play himself and try > to teach Donnie Osmond how to be funny in the home culture. Wouldn't > Donnie's blush just be great? What if Donnie were able to pull it off at > the end? Wouldn't that change everything? ( copyright ARMitchell, 2000). Sorry, A.R., you can't copyright ideas. Anyone got Woody and Donnie's e-mail address? - -- 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 http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 4 Nov 2000 03:52:48 -0700 From: Maxine Hanks Subject: [AML] Kimball Book Signing Sat. 2 pm [MOD: Again, apologies for not getting this out yesterday. It does underscore the fact, however, that you can't always count on a post going out the same day you send it in. So if you have something time-sensitive, please try go get it in a day in advance, or send it directly to my e-mail address jlang2@pressenter.com instead of to the List. (Due to the way the List server bounces posts, I don't see subject lines, so it does no good to say "time-sensitive" or anything else in the subject line unless you send it directly to my own e-mail address.)] Try to attend. Stan Kimball will be here with Violet tomorrow. [Maxine Hanks] - --------------------------------------------------- AUTHOR READING AND SIGNING Title: STORIES OF YOUNG PIONEERS IN THEIR WORDS Author: Violet T. Kimball Mountain Press Publishing $14.00 paper back. 225pp. Date: Saturday, November 4, 2000 Time: 2:00 p.m. Location: Sam Weller's Books 254 South Main Salt Lake City, Utah 84101 This book recounts American pioneer experiences as recorded by the children and young people who made those long treks. Violet Kimball allows the reader to follow the heartaches, hardships, joys, and victories of life on the Emigrant Trail with the unsung heroes of STORIES OF YOUNG PIONEERS: IN THEIR OWN WORDS. Violet Kimball has collected memoirs, letters, and journal entries of emigrants who were six to nineteen years old when they made the overland journey. Young historians will find STORIES OF YOUNG PIONEERS not only entertaining reading but also a through and well- researched tool to learn more about life on the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails. This book is a wonderful opportunity for families to read together and open conversation about this aspect of western history. A "Teacher's Study Guide" is available for teachers who are interested in using this book as a teaching tool. About the author: Violet Kimball is a free-lance writer/photographer who has published feature stories in national and local magazines. Kimball says her book was ten years in the making. She read over 500 primary sources and visited many archives in California, Utah, Illinois, and Missouri collecting material. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 23:38:34 EST From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] MN Fred Adams to address BYU Women Nov. 4: BYU Press Release From: BYU Press Release To: Mormon News Subject: MN Fred Adams to address BYU Women Nov. 4: BYU Press Release 31Oct00 A2 Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2000 19:00:00 -0400 [MOD: Apologies for exceeding the usual 10-12 posts for a Saturday, but I keep finding these time-sensitive posts in the in-box... Also, it doesn't say so explicitly here, but I assume this is open to the public?] [From Mormon-News] Fred Adams to address BYU Women Nov. 4 PROVO, UTAH -- Director of the Utah Shakespearean Festival Fred Adams will present a lecture hosted by BYU Women, "Drama in the Church," on Saturday (Nov. 4) at 2 p.m. in 2660 Conference Center. "The more we are informed about drama and acting, the more we will be excited about these events," said Jo Scofield, BYU Women president. In keeping with BYU Women's year-long theme, "Embracing the Arts," Adams will share his perspective on why some drama, acting and art pieces are and are not acceptable to the LDS community. BYU Women is an organization comprised of BYU female employees and spouses of BYU employees. The organization hosts a speaker monthly during the academic year. >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/ Send join and remove commands to: majordomo@MormonsToday.com Put appropriate commands in body of the message: To join: subscribe mormon-news To leave: unsubscribe mormon-news To join digest: subscribe mormon-news-digest - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 23:38:34 EST From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] MN LDS Author Coke Newell at "Tea with Coke" in New York City: Kent Larsen From: Kent Larsen To: Mormon News Subject: MN LDS Author Coke Newell at "Tea with Coke" in New York City: Kent Larsen 3Nov00 A2 Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2000 18:45:00 -0400 [From Mormon-News] LDS Author Coke Newell at "Tea with Coke" in New York City NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- LDS Author and Church media spokesman Coke Newell will speak at a meeting of the New York Metro LDS Professionals Society on Saturday, November 4th at 5:30 pm in the New York, New York Stake Center. The event, dubbed "Tea with Coke" will feature the author speaking on "Using Your Talents in Communication." Newell is the author of "Latter Days: A Guided Tour Through Six Billion Years of Mormonism," a nationally published book about the LDS Church, its origins and its beliefs, taught from a perspective that is more accessible for non-Mormons. The book got generally positive reviews from the major US media. The New York Metro LDS Professionals Society is the combined New York chapters of the J. Reuben Clarke Law Society and the BYU Management Society. This is the Society's second event this month, after an earlier event featuring Sheri Dew of the LDS Church's General Relief Society Presidency and a vice president at Church-owned Deseret Book. See also: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312241089/mormonnews More about Coke Newell's "Latter Days: A Guided Tour through Six Billion Years of Mormonism" at Amazon.com >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/ Send join and remove commands to: majordomo@MormonsToday.com Put appropriate commands in body of the message: To join: subscribe mormon-news To leave: unsubscribe mormon-news To join digest: subscribe mormon-news-digest - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 22:26:04 -0700 From: Barbara@techvoice.com (Barbara R. Hume) Subject: Re: [AML] Attention All Freelance Writers >Ok, folks, I need to pick your collective brains. Being married to an >actor, I have a hard time keeping a job because we move around considerably. > There are all sorts of jobs I qualify for but nobody wants to hire me >because I'm not going to be around for very long. My bright idea was to do >some freelance writing for magazines etc. I have been dutifully researching >and querying and submitting and brainstorming but have not been successful. >Not even one little greeting card submission was accepted. I know there are >writers on this list who make their living through such freelance work so my >question for you is: how did you do it? It helps to have a specific area of expertise in which to write. You then become familiar with the trade publications or other types of reading material that appeal to people with that interest. For example, I was fortunate enough to spend a few years employed at a software company. It was heck (I do remember that this is a Mormon list, but try hard to imagine a word stronger than heck), but I learned about computer software and about the computer industry, and I learned how to write marketing hype and PR fluff and software documentation and sales collateral. Blaugh, you say--but those skills have kept me out of an employer's clutches for lo these many years, and I get to write. What do you like to read about? What magazines and books do you get excited about? Write that stuff. Find out who the editors are. Start pitching ideas for articles to them. If you don't know how to pitch ideas, read one of those books from Writer's Digest Book Club about it. (I'm so glad for e-mail, since I HATE HATE HATE to call editors. I can e-mail an impressive pitch--of course, first I find out whether the editor likes to get pitches via e-mail.) One hard thing is to impress the editor ahead of time that you know what you're doing. Do you have a portfolio of published work that shows that you know what you're doing? Editors like to see this sort of thing. If you haven't actually sold articles, write a few for free, and get some tear sheets that way. I write free book reviews for a Web site. I therefore had a slew of samples I could show when an editor recently was looking for someone to write PAID book reviews for her site. Another good thing is to know a lot of people who either need your skills or who know people who need your skills. Most of my work comes through word of mouth. Recently I hooked up with a young woman who likes to pitch, sell, and manage projects--the part I hate--but hates to actually write stuff--the part I like. Maybe you can set up a similar relationship that builds to the strengths of both people. A scattergun approach is just too hard, IMHO. Find a few subjects that you want to focus on, and start to build a reputation in those fields. I recently tried pitching articles in a different industry entirely, and found that it would be too hard to build up the network of editorial contacts, knowledge of the trades, contacts at the companies involved--I went back to writing for the high-tech industry. It's weird and stupid and frustrating, but so, I learned, is any endeavor that involves human beings. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it. barbara hume - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #186 ******************************