writing workshop open to all, springville, ut

You’re Invited to:

6 – 7 - 8 Writer’s Conference

(if you sign up, tell them Janet Jensen sent you!)



When: 6 7 8! (June 7, 2008)

Where: Cedar Fort, Inc.
2373 W 700 S
Springville, UT 84663

What: Writers Conference

Motivational speaker and author Eloise Owens will headline the writing conference. She is the author of Get Off The Beach and has spoken to close to a million people in her career. I saw her in 2006 at the Utah Press Convention, and when my boss said I could bring in anyone I wanted to, I thought of her first.

Schedule of Events:

10 am -10:15 Welcome by Doug Johnston, Publicist, Cedar Fort.

10:15–10:30 Jeffery Marsh, acquisitions editor for Cedar Fort and BYU professor, tells what he wants in manuscripts, book submissions, and so forth.

10:30 - 11:00 Abel Keogh, author of A Room For Two, will teach each of you the importance of websites and blogs, even if you don’t have a book yet!

11:00 - 11:30 Janet Kay Jensen, author of Don’t You Marry The Mormon Boys, will teach on publicizing yourself and your books. Janet is very good at self-promotion and will teach each of you how to do the same.

11:30am - 12:15pm Doug Johnston, Publicist and former newspaper owner, will show writers what they need to know about being an author from a Publicists point of view.

12:15 - 1:00 Lunch

1:00 - 4:00 Eloise Owens will be the keynote speaker. Ms. Owens will make you think, make you better, and make you money through your writing. Like I said above, Ms. Owens is great. You will remember her for years to come and be a better author and self-promoter after listening to her.

During the conference, you can sit down with Jeffery Marsh. Bring him your manuscripts, book ideas, or questions. You will be allowed 15 minutes to talk with him about your ideas. Please call 801-489-4084 and tell the receptionist you want to be added for a time slot. There are a limited number of slots, so call today.

The cost for the conference is $25. You will receive Eloise Owen’s book Get Off The Beach and lunch.

To sign up, please do the following:
If paying by credit/debit card, call 801-489-4084 and tell them you are signing up for the 6 7 8 conference.

If you are paying by check, please make payment to
Cedar Fort
Attn 6 7 8
2373 W 700 S
Springville, Ut 84663

We are limited to 200 seats, so RSVP as soon as possible.

NOTE: After you sign up, you can make some money too. For every person that signs up and mentions they heard about it from you, you will get $5 back from us at the conference. They MUST mention you when they sign up for you to get the money.

If you have any questions, you can email me at djohnston@cedarfort.com or you can call me at 801-489-4084.

I look forward to this wonderful day full of learning!



Doug Johnston



Doug Johnston
Public Relations Director
Cedar Fort Inc.
(801) 489-4084
djohnston@cedarfort.com
See us online at cedarfort.com
Blog at www.atonofauthorsandawannabe.blogspot.com

"Mormon Boys" gets notice Down Under

Well. Last week CFI's publicist sent out emails about my book to a number of newspapers, thinking that the timing of the polygamous sect's news might increase interest in my novel.

Somehow one email landed in Australia, and the editor wrote back to me. Polygamy is quite rare in his country, he said, and his paper would be more interested in information than a review copy of my book. So I thought it over for a week and carefully formulated my reply. Only a few hours later it was a lead article in the Australian paper, with the headline: "Mormons aren't Polygamists and Polygamists aren't Mormons."

I am in shock, but very glad to have this exchange of information with the editor. Here is my entire email to him:


Thank you for your response. I am sure the subject of polygamy is foreign to you, so the publicist’s email must have been something of a puzzle.

A brief summary: During a period of about 40 years, early in its history, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (often called Mormons) did practice polygamy. Less than 10% of the members did so. The practice was seen as a way to accommodate the fact that there were more women than men who joined the church and participated in its western migration to the area now known as Utah. The LDS church officially discontinuied the practice in 1890, and at that point several splinter groups formed, believing that the church was in error for discontinuing polygamy. The LDS church does not practice polygamy now and excommunicates members who do.

The most notorious of the offshoot groups (at least in terms of recent news coverage) is the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, (FLDS) led by Warren Jeffs. They lived in a small community in southern Utah which he led, and most people would describe the lifestyle as a cult led by a power-hungry man. Jeff was recently convicted on several counts in Utah, the most serious being named as an accomplice to rape, in the case of a 13-year old girl he forced to marry an older man. It is believed that this practice of marrying underage girls to older men is common within the sect, and is of course illegal as well as immoral. Jeffs is also facing charges in the neighboring state of Arizona. Before his arrest, he established a new compound near Eldorado, Texas, where he moved his “most faithful” followers and young children “who hadn’t been contaminated by worldly influences.”

Several weeks ago a 16-year old girl from the Texas compound phoned Texas authorities and told them she was married to an older man, subjected to marital rape and physical abuse, was the mother of an 8- month old baby, and was pregnant again. She requested assistance as she could not leave the compound with her baby. The compound was then entered by law enforcement officers, and more than 400 children and many of their mothers were removed to a different location where they could be questioned to determine if abuse has occurred within their families.

The girl who called for help has not yet been identified, and now the state of Texas has the daunting responsibility to determine the fate of these children, many of whom have given multiple names to authorities or have refused to name their parents at all. It is turning into a legal nightmare at this point, with so many young children and their parents facing separation due to a lifestyle which is not only illegal, but may have abused some of its weakest members, women and children.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5712603.html

The above URL chronicles some of the recent events in regard to this case and has some related articles.

My book, which was released in November, is about the relationship of two individuals from two opposing cultures – a girl raised in polygamy, in a large and harmonious family, and a boy raised in an LDS family - who meet at medical school. Though they have feelings for each other, they know that polygamy presents an impossible barrier to their future. She is expected to return home to take care of her people, and will eventually become a plural wife, and he cannot embrace that lifestyle. How they continue to develop in their practices after medical school, and how they reconcile their differences after a chance encounter gives them another opportunity to be together, is one major theme of the story.

One of my other purposes in writing the book was to clarify that Mormons are not polygamists and polygamists aren’t Mormons, and that abuse and mistreatment can be found in any culture. In the end, the families of both young people must learn about tolerance and acceptance, and discover that what they have in common is much more important than their differences.

I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have about this current situation as I have described it, or my book, which does not seek to sensationalize polygamy, but to provide a compassionate look at individuals from both cultures. You are welcome to quote any of the above statements in your publication.


Best wishes,

Janet Kay Jensen

Advice, plz

I will be signing copies of my book, Don't You Marry the Mormon Boys, at the BYU Womens Conference on May 1, 4-6 p.m. Anybody else going? I'd love to see a friendly face. Any advice on how to navigate the campus, parking, signing hints? I plan to have bowls of Hershey hugs and kisses (well, my book is about marriage) and bookmarks with little wedding rings (if I can figure out how to attach them) and . . . I don't know . . maybe set a timer, and when it goes off, someone in reach of me gets a prize such as a package of johnnycake (cornbread mix) in a lovely, decorated brown paper bag . . . (the book's title is from a song, and the clincher is that if you marry a Mormon boy, johnnycake and babies is all you'll see. I do have a video trailer and I do have an mp3 recording of the song . . and I do have a small DVD player . . would you advise taking those, or do you know if there is space? Any suggestions would be more than welcome. I'm thrilled at the opportunity. Just not sure what to expect.

Thank you!
Janet

Snarklights in the blogosphere

Some of you may be familiar with Miss Snark's blog. http://misssnark.blogspot.com/. She gave fantastic advice on writing and submitting to agents -- and she was irreverent and funny and just a joy to read. She retired the blog last year, leaving behind thousands of devoted snarklings. I was one of them! Many agents, editors, and writers still keep links up to her blog, which can still be viewed.

I'm trying to get the word out to all of Miss Snark's snarklings about a blogosphere candlelight vigil to take place May 20, the first anniversary of Miss Snark's retirement. The link is here: http://snarklights.blogspot.com/. It has an image for all snarklings to post on their blog or website that day, and the blog will be open for comments from well-wishers to Miss Snark for one day only. There's no catch to it. I have no advertising on the snarklights blog and the image has no backtracking links or anything like that. I'm also not trying to convince her to start blogging again. I'm just doing this to let Miss Snark know that although her blog is dark, to those of us who were faithful readers of her blog her influence on why and how we write still shines.

Back when Miss Snark was blogging, her posts were a great kick in the rear on days when I wanted to smash my pc with a hammer.

Feel free to pass the info along to any snarklings you know.

Mamas, here's the right url if you don't want your babies to grow up to be writers:

Try this url for the essay on country music/writer parallels. It's really very clever! Sorry I had the wrong one in the previous article!

http://www.independentpublisher.com/department.php?page=1213&urltitle=Much%20Ado%20About%20Publishing

And thanks for the kind words, Cindy, (though my novel was a Whitney nominee, not a finalist).

A future post will cover some of the highlights of the recent Erma Bombeck Humor Writers Conference I attended April 3-5. Needless to say, it was hilarious....

Congratulations to Janet Jensen

Our own sweet Janet Jensen continues to rack up attention with her gifted writing and with her most recent book, Don't You Marry the Mormon Boys. Her newest award is the 2007 AML Marilyn Brown Novel Award, Honorable Mention!

Some of the other awards she has won are:

• Finalist, USA Best Books 2007 (Religious Fiction)
  
• Finalist, Foreward Magazine's Book of the Year Award (Religious Fiction)
  
• Finalist, Whitney Award (Reader Views Literary Awards 2007 Fiction: Religion/Spiritual)
  

We'll be featuring an interview with Janet in the future about her writing experiences, including tips for new and old authors alike. Until then, congratulations Janet!

For more information, feel free to visit Janet Jensen's website.

J. Scott Savage

J. Scott Savage is one of the nicest guys I've met. But more importantly, he is an amazing writer. He's prepping for his summer book tour and is inviting all to come along for the ride. Visit J. Scott Savage's blog for more information!