Chris Rogers's Blog, page 20

It’s Live!

It’s available now in print and e-book!

Plot is easy for some but tough for most of us. This little book puts forth 3 ways to do it. One is bound to make your life easier, whether you write novels, short fiction, memoir, or other narrative nonfiction. Quick to read, easy to apply steps enable you to save your creative energy for the actual writing.

Check it out today at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Plot+Your+Story+3+Easy+Ways+chris+rogers

A Quick Read with a Big Payoff

Information comes at us so fast these days. How can we absorb everything we want to learn and do everything we want to do? That’s the question I was pondering when I decided to put together this little book for writers.

Everyone has a story to tell, perhaps more than one. And we want to tell it so that people want to read it. Weak plotting is part that often stops the story cold, and it doesn’t have to be that way. As an author and ghostwriter of numerous novels, memoirs, business books, short stories and even screenplays, I’ve compiled 3 easy ways of plotting that appeal to our various needs and moods as writers.

I’ve presented these in workshops over the years with great success, and some are included in my writer’s manual, Goosing the Write Brain: A Storyteller’s Toolkit. But this tiny tome gets right to the point in a way that today’s writers appreciate.

Like many of you, I have an entire shelf of books on how to write. They’re all wonderful and each presents a slightly different aspect of the craft of plotting. Over the years I’ve absorbed these great ideas, but when I sit down to write sometimes I just need a quick jolt to get me on course. For me, this is it.

Plot Your Story 3 Easy Ways will be available in print and e-book formats. Look for it this week online.

My Interview with Blogger-Reviewer Andi Klemm

Andi Klemm reads more than a hundred books a year and reviews many of them on her amazing blog, Anakalian Whims. This week, I’m privileged to be in her spotlight.

We’re talking about my most recent book, Emissary, how it deviates from the Dixie Flannigan suspense series, and what spawned this science fiction-political thriller hybrid. Andi asked some excellent questions, several that set me scratching my head to answer.

Check out the interview here: https://anakalianwhims.wordpress.com/...

If You’re in Houston, Come Hang Out with Us

Six authors from Chart House Press will sign books for you at Houston Texans Grille

 6 to 9 pm on Tuesday, Feb. 24

 Here’s the lineup:

Science Fiction – Emissary, by Chris Rogers (that’s me, of course).
Romantic Fiction – Left to Forever, by Roe Valentine
Young Adult Fantasy - The Lilith Scroll, by B. L. Marsh
Middle Grade Fiction – Mishaps and Mayhem, by Artemis Withers
Nonfiction Business – The Most Successful Failure in the World, by Jeffrey Hastings
Nonfiction Christian Living – The Practice of the Presence of God: for Modern Day Moms, Megan LaFollett

 

Honest Abe Lincoln — Did You Know… ?

He was a politician, so that might say a lot in today’s world. But it was 1832 when around the age of 23 Lincoln first became know as Honest Abe.

One night outside Offutt’s store, where Abe helped out, a man boasted that his horse galloped nine miles without drawing a long breath. He told the story repeatedly then asked Abe what he thought about such a performance. “Well, now,” Abe said, “tell us how many short breaths he drew.”

That same year, Abe formed a volunteer regiment to augment the regular army in the fight of white man against red. At 6’4”, he walked with a slouch, being uncomfortably aware that he towered over most men, including his colonel, who was scarcely over five feet. One day the colonel ordered Abe to stand straight and tall, which he did.

“Am I always to remain so?” Abe asked.

“Certainly.”

“Then goodbye, Colonel. I shall never see you again.”

He did continue to fight, though, and some years later when supporters for his campaign opponent were bragging about the man’s “great military record,” Lincoln spoke up.

“By the way, Mr. Speaker, did you know I was a military hero? Yes sir, in the days of the Black Hawk war I fought, bled, and came away. General Cass’s career reminds me of my own. I was not at Stillman’s defeat, but I was about as near it as Cass to Hull’s surrender, and like him I saw the place pretty soon afterwards. It is quite certain that I did not break my sword, for I had none to break, but I bent my musket pretty badly on one occasion. If General Cass saw any live, fighting Indians, it was more than I did, but I had a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes, and although I never fainted from lack of blood, I can truly say that I was often very hungry.”

When the votes were counted in that precinct, it showed Lincoln getting 277 out of 300, but in the overall count, he lost the election.

As a painstakingly accurate surveyor, Lincoln sometimes came up against hard decisions. Some thirty years after his survey of Petersburg, Illinois, property owners disputed the accuracy of their lines. It turned out that Lincoln had realized that the street would run through an owner’s land and cut three or four feet off his house.

“It’s all he’s got in the world,” Lincoln said, “and he’d never get another. I reckon it won’t hurt anything out here if I skew the line a little and miss him.”

During the political campaign of 1834, Lincoln, who had no carriage of his own, would often ride with his opponent. At one debate, he closed by saying:

“I am too poor to own a carriage, but my friend has generously invited me to ride with him. I want you to vote for me if you will, but if not then vote for my opponent, for he is a fine man.”

This time Lincoln was elected to the first of four consecutive terms in the Illinois House of Representatives.

Everything I know about Abraham Lincoln came by way of Keith W. Jennison, who wrote The Humorous Mr. Lincoln, published by Bonanza Books in 1965.

Aren’t books wonderful?

Happy Valentine Day

Yay! February 14th – and it’s Saturday. Whatever else is on your busy schedule, take time today to say I Love You.

Here are three little ways you might choose to make this day special:

Have a special meal together and do something different. Try a little cafe you’ve never visited before. Drive to a nearby park and take a picnic lunch – if it’s cold, pack hot cocoa. Call a friend you haven’t seen for a while and ask them to join you for dinner. Or just switch chairs at the dinner table and get a new perspective on the people you love most.
Rent a favorite old movie that tugs your heart strings a bit. My choice would be Enchanted April or As Good As It Gets. Make popcorn and hot chocolate, then take an afternoon break together to sit and enjoy the show with family or friends – or both.
Start a new Valentine tradition. Instead of treating this as just another holiday to fill the pockets of  florists and candy companies, fill a small box with loving memories of good things that happened since this time last year. A great report card, a favorite book you read, a greeting card that made you smile, a recipe that turned out perfect. A photo of someone who visited from afar or a new member of the family. Mark the box with the year, decorate it with hearts, and open it next year when you make a new one.

Let’s take back this holiday as a day of love, a day to mark the good things in life and to enjoy the people that make our life joyful.

 This acrylic collage, Love Blossoms in the Garden, resides in the collection of Kelly and Lorne Morris.

1-800-LOVE

Email, Facebook, Online Meet-Ups, they’re great, aren’t they? Fast. Efficient. Our fingers do the talking, and we feel so connected. But are we?

During these days leading up to Valentine’s Day, why not connect in a more loving way?

Dial a friend. Recently, while emptying my cell-phone’s message box, mostly telemarketers, I heard a voice from my past. A friend and fellow writer I hadn’t talked to in many years had called. We’d lost touch. Sure, I’d thought about her every so often, thought about looking her up online, but she was the one who made the effort, and hearing her voice was such a delight.We live in a busy, electronic world. It’s easy to forget the joy that can come from the sound of a friend’s voice. Who do you know that would get a lift from hearing yours?
Drop a line. Never underestimate the power of a handwritten note. Most of us over 40 have a shoebox tucked away filled with cards and letters that we can’t bear to part with. Occasionally, we might spend an hour or two curled up in a chair reacquainting with those treasured memories. Tell me you can do that with emails. The art of letter-writing is fast losing out to the immediacy of instagrams, and that’s a shame. Think about the joy that comes with even the briefest handwritten note, then take a few minutes and write to someone you care about. No stationery? Okay, pick up a greeting card – but choose one that’s blank and write a few simple, heartfelt lines. It may end up in someone’s treasure box.
Create a memory book. For a number of years, I taught a weekly writing class. When I “graduated” all of my students, they threw a party, which was great fun. The put together a basket of gifts, many handmade, and one gift in particular that holds a prominent place on my bookshelf. Each student contributed a page of “thank you” thoughts, complete with their own creative embellishments. It occurs to me that such a sweet idea doesn’t need to be reserved for “going away” gifts. Make a small book for someone you love “14 Reasons I Love You” and present it on February 14th. On each page, mention a little memory you hold dear or a reason you care so much. “Thank you for always cooking my favorite dinner on special days.” Or, “When I’m sick, you always make me feel better.” Or, “The toy boat you gave me is still a treasure twenty years later.”

Life will continue to move too fast, but we shouldn’t let every day escape without letting people know how much we care. As Mark Twain said, “”Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”

Let’s Teach Our Children Love

This may sound strange from someone who writes murder mysteries. There will always be dark forces at work in the world, and from oldest times sitting around a campfire we’ve told tales to entertain while also warning about things that go bump in the night.

But it takes real effort to teach love, and there’s no better time than when a child is forming basic beliefs.

For Valentine’s week, show a child how to say I love you:

Encourage them to help a friend. Offer to run errands for a friend who’s down with a cold or burdened with unexpected problems or just so busy they’re going in circles. Ask a child to help with these errands, and explain why it’s important to help someone in a jam. No lectures, just a fun time together doing a good deed because you care.
Pack a surprise with love. Make a small, colorful coupon that promises: “Good for one movie together,” or “Good for one day making your favorite cookies,” and stuff it inside a balloon. Give the rubber a few stretches to make it easy to blow up, then give it to a child, with instructions to, “Blow it up until it breaks, and you’ll get a fun surprise.” The bang! followed by finding the promise note will be memorable.


Teach them to send hugs. On one hand I could probably count the times I’ve received a “thank you” note from one of my many grandchildren – not because they don’t love me or don’t appreciate the gift I sent, but because I never instilled the habit with my own children. It’s never too early to learn that writing a write a quick “I love you” and dropping it in the mail is not a burden and can send enormous cheer to someone far away.

There are plenty of books and films and video games that teach our children how to do battle, and those lessons are necessary. Let’s also teach them how to show love.

  A small detail from the acrylic collage, “Love Blossoms in the Garden,” now in the collection of Kelly and Lorne Morris.

Surprisingly, not every story in the Death Edge anthologies is as gory as the covers suggest. There’s always at least one that’s more about love than death.

 

Let Not the Sun Go Down on Your Wrath

When we think of the Brothers Grimm, nasty little tales of witches and trolls come to mind. But the Grimm brothers also wrote a story about love. Of course, it has its scary moments, but the basic thread in Tom Thumb is that no one is so incidental as not to have tremendous impact when the heart is keenly focused.

February is a month for sharing love, so here are 3 more little ways to say “I love you.”

Mend fences. Harsh words come so easily when we’re frustrated, and the person lambasted is often someone important to us. Take a long moment to think about it, then take the time to apologize. A simple but deeply felt, “I’m sorry for being a jerk” is often enough.
Focus on the details. One of my friends who stayed overnight brought me a little decorated box. Not a grand, expensive gift but a loving one, because she remembered that I like boxes. Make a list of what you know about a friend or loved one. Include: their favorite color, most sentimental possession, a favorite toy or game, what they like to collect, a favorite teacher or mentor, their highest achievement in school or in Scouts. When you’re stuck for an idea, this list will help you decide what to give or what to say.
Make a love date. Parties are great fun, being surrounded by friends and family. But sometimes an individual gets lost in a group. Make a habit of scheduling a “love date” with one friend, one child, one elderly neighbor. Have a meal together or just have tea and focus all your attention on learning more about the other person. Keep the attention on their interests, their accomplishments, their dreams. Remember the most powerful word in the English language: you.

Early in the movie Tom Thumb, Tom’s parents-to-be have an argument. The man goes over to a ceramic figure of two birds, clearly a prized possession in his humble home. Each bird has a candle on its back, and scribed below the birds is the sage advice, “Let not the sun go down on your wrath.” He lights a candle and turns the bird to face the other one. Seeing what he’s done, his irate wife smiles, lights the other candle, and turns her bird to face his.

Schmaltzy? Yeah, maybe, but also rather sweet for a story penned by the Brothers Grimm.

Little Ways to Say I Love You

Ramp up your love quotient this Valentine’s Day by starting new traditions. Here are 3 to get your ideas flowing:

List 7 ways you take your lover for granted. Then turn those around and think about 7 small things you might do to show how much you care. And put it out there: do one new thoughtful action each day, saving the best for February 14th.
Plan a cooking-in day. How long has it been since you spent a day making candy, cookies, or a special meal together? In these days of prepared foods and hurry-up dinners, it’s easy to forget how much joy can come from creating good things together in the kitchen.
Share your bounty. List 5 friends or neighbors who live alone and rarely enjoy a home-cooked meal or dessert. Plan to make enough each night this week to take a lovely plate of food to one person on your list. On Valentine’s Day, invite them all to your house.

The greatest gift anyone can receive is the gift of giving joy to others. February, and Valentine Day in particular, is traditionally for lovers, but where’s the law that says we can’t say “I love you” to everyone we care about?