New eBook Published: SEARCHING ISAIAH

Searching Isaiah: Line Upon Line

I'm pleased to announce the publication of my first non-fiction book. At this time it is in eBook format only. It is currently available from the publisher Smashwords.com, but it will shortly be available through other channels, such as Barnes and Noble. I am offering it for free to anyone who would like to read it. I would love to get feedback on it.

The Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament strikes fear into the hearts of many readers of the Bible. It is impenetrable, enigmatic, and indecipherable. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints get a double dose of the scary enigma because nearly twenty chapters of Isaiah's writings are quoted in the Book of Mormon. The most often skipped chapters in the Book of Mormon are 2 Nephi Chapters 12 through 25. It can be difficult reading.

Like a mountaineer looking at the peak of Mount Everest, I had wanted to scale the chapters of Isaiah for many years but assumed it was impossible. Then one day I decided I was going to do it. I grabbed some metaphorical ropes, slipped a couple of tanks of oxygen into my backpack, tied on my crampons, and started at base camp of chapter 1. With guides and Sherpas to help along the way, I began to scramble over up the rocky slopes. Most importantly, however, I tethered myself to Jesus Christ and took courage from the words of a prophet who had already made the assent: "My soul delighteth in [Isaiah's] words," wrote the Prophet Nephi, and "I write some of the words of Isaiah, that whoso of my people shall see these words may lift up their hearts and rejoice" (See Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 11:2, 8). I wanted to rejoice with Nephi and delight in the words he thought were so profound.

As I read, I took notes of things I learned, impressions I had, ideas that came to mind, and doctrines that stood out. The deeper I got into my study, the sweeter, more hopeful, and more joyful the messages of Isaiah became to me. After a year of careful, verse-by-verse pondering and studying, I compiled this book to capture my thoughts and the marvelous pearls I had found. I learned for myself to delight in Isaiah's words and to lift up my heart and rejoice in his writings.I want to share what I have learned with others in the hope that my readers will see the vistas I saw from the summit and will want to make to make the assent themselves.

The joy is not in watching another climb, but in making one's own trek and to see the magnificent scenery along the way. I invite all students of the scriptures to read Isaiah. Find your own path, learn your own way, and see what Isaiah has to say to you. My words are not the answer of all answers but merely encouragement to strike out on your own and see how marvelous the journey is.

Battery Charger: League of Utah Writers Spring Workshop

Twice a year I get my writing batteries charged by attending League of Utah Writers writing events. This past weekend I spent a marvelous afternoon at the Spring workshop, which was held on the Taylorsville campus of Salt Lake Community College. The excellent sessions I attended included POW!, which was a stimulating presentation on how to write effective, fast-paced action scenes. This was a particularly useful class for me because my second novel will include a number of fight scenes and battle scenes. It is, after all, about the war between the Nephites and the Gadiantons. What is a war without some good fight scenes, right?

I also attended a wonderful presentation on Voice. "Voice" is the term for how a writer says something. Facts have no voice. "It rained on Tuesday" is a fact that has no voice. "The gloomy skies poured like Niagra Falls on the second Monday of the longest week of my life" not only provides the facts but tells the reader how the writer feels about the facts. That is Voice.

The third session I sat in on was a lively presentation by J. Scott Savage on Pacing. Plot is what happens in the story. Pacing is when it happens. He showed that many popular stories and movies all follow a standard pace that breaks up the story into four parts. Part One introduces the characters and sets up the rest of the story with a minor conflict that isn't really the story but hooks the reader anyway. Part Two sets the characters on a quest, but it is the wrong quest. At the end of Part Two the characters learn something that tells them they are on the wrong path. Part Three sets the characters on the true quest. Tensions build and pressures mount. This part ends with the Aha! moment when the characters finally figure out what is really going on. Part Four is the climax and resolution. It is amazing how common this four-part pacing is in popular fiction and drama.

The last session I attended was a panel discussion about Revising. This was the best session of all for me. I listened to six professional authors debate over processes, such as whether to use "beta readers". It was fascinating to see successful authors disagree about how they go about their craft, which says that no one way is best. They all agreed on one principle, however: the fastest way to improve one's own writing is to critique others' writing. Their suggestions gave me a whole new perspective on my local League chapter. None of us are qualified to critique another writer's work, but we are all trying to learn together, and that makes it valuable.

So now that my batteries are charged, I am plunging with new vigor into writing In the Days of Lachoneus: Book 2 The Battle. The first order of business is to revise the very first scene of the first chapter, which is a fight to the death between two hated enemies. POW!