LIBRARY AUTHOR EVENT

This just might be a bit of blatant advertising.

Come see me and forty or so other authors this coming Saturday, September 27, between one and five in the afternoon at the West Jordan Library, 8030 South 1825 West.  We'll be in the Viridian Event Center.  I don't have a new book out, but I do have a short story in Christmas Treasures, Covenant's newest compilation of short, true Christmas stories by a dozen different authors.  Deseret Book and King's English will be there with copies of many of my books for sale along with those of the other authors. I'd love to meet readers who have checked out my books or borrowed them from friends over the years as well as those who have purchased them. 

This will be a new experience for me since it will be the first time (I hope not the last) that my daughter Janice Sperry and I have been invited to sign our books at the same event. I'm also looking forward to seeing many of my fellow local authors. 

Here's a list of most of the authors who will be there: 

Ken Baker, Laura Bastian,             

Anne Bowen, Mikey Brooks, DJ Butler, Juli Caldwell, Stacy Lynn Carroll,Cindy Christiansen, Jaleta Clegg, Angela Corbett, Kristyn Crow,             

Julie Daines, Kristyn Decker,Peggy Eddleman, Bonnie Glee, Josh Hanagarne,

Ka Hancock, Jennie Hansen, Cindy Hogan, Marion Jensen, JR Johanssen, Kim Justeson,

Fay Klingler, Alysia S. Knight, Wendy Knight, Caren Liebelt, Dene Low, Lisa Mangum,

Carol Masheter, Shallee McArthur, Mark Minson, Andrea Pearson, Bobbie Pyron, Jess Smiley,

Janice Sperry, Joy Spraycar, Carolyn Steele, Sherry Taylor, Jaclyn Weist, Robison Wells, David West, Martha Sears West, Lance Why, Camron Wright, Michael Young

STOP

Don't you hate it when you're reading and something happens to grind the story to a halt?  I don't mean those annoying phone calls, household interruptions, or any kind of external demand that has the reader reluctantly setting the book down. The stop I'm referring to is something in the book that diverts the reader's attention from the story. 

The most common stops these days are caused by poor or no copy editing.  Self published books  have a bad reputation for spelling, grammar, and other assorted copy errors, but they're not alone.  Most of us can skim over an occasional such error, but more than a few and the spell  is broken, the story loses its luster.  Concentration is broken. 

The success of a book is measured to a great extent by how well it can maintain an illusory world, an alternate reality for the reader. When the illusion is broken and the reader's attention is diverted to something else the story becomes less satisfactory. 

Typos and writing errors are not the only stops that diminish the reading experience.  Poor research is a killer.  Facts concerning history or geography matter.  I recently read a book that placed a particular group of buildings I happen to know well, in the wrong town.  

Lately there seems to be a competition to see who can invent the most weird names for their characters.  That's fine if the names are pronounceable, but if they're just cutesy versions of better known names, or words I have to stumble over each time they appear in print, there goes the alternate reality while I stumble over how to pronounce the jumble of letters. It's understandable that writers want to give their characters distinctive names, but there's a difference between distinctive and mumbo jumbo. 

While we're reading through our manuscripts for a final check before submission, it would be wise to check for stops.  If beta readers have to ask how to pronounce a name, it's the wrong name.  Beta readers should make note of anything that causes their minds to wander or distracts from the flow of the story.  It's important to keep errors to a minimum, but it's also important to just plain eliminate those annoyances that bring our stories to a crashing halt.