Local Authors & You, November 5

On November 5th, The Viridian will be hosting Local Authors and You, where many authors including me, will be signing books, and teaching workshops. I'm really excited! 

Check out the information below, 

then take a look at the Facebook link for Local Authors and You:

What if the Earth had Two Moons?

I've often wondered this, since I'm a writer, and I like to think about these things. Especially since I've been working on a fantasy book with a planet that has two luna sized moons, and I needed to do research to even see if that's possible. Anyway, I found this really interesting article which I recommend you check out on Universe Today, about the possibilities of two moons orbiting a planet our size. 

The Earth and Moon as seen from Mariner 10 en route to Venus.
Image credit: NASA/courtesy of nasaimages.org

Reading the article, I discovered, as I expected that life would be very different. Two moons, for one thing, would create a massive difference in high and low tides, measured, according to the article, in thousands of feet. I'm assuming that's vertical feet, not thousands of feet in and out on a slightly tilted shoreline. If I'm right, that's a whole lot! 

Personally, though it's interesting to speculate about what life would be like somewhere else, I'm perfectly happy to live on this little, mostly blue, planet, with a chunk of a moon that's a whole 1/81st the size of this planet, which helps give us the lovely seasons that we have. 
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http://www.universetoday.com/92148/what-if-the-earth-had-two-moons/http://www.universetoday.com/92148/what-if-the-earth-had-two-moons/

History of Halloween

With Halloween coming up, I thought it would be fun to do a little research on the history of the holiday. Long ago, November 1st was known to the ancient Celts as Samhain (pronounced SAH-win)
. The day before Samhain, Oct. 31, so the people believed, the ghosts of the dead would come back. If people had to go out, they would dress up in like ghosts as well, to fool the other ghosts. Later, the day was changed by Christians to All Saint's Day, or All Hallow's Eve. It wasn't until just this past century that the child centered, family friendly Halloween that we have now, came into its present form.  If you're interested in learning more details, watch the fun video on The History Channel!  It's great!

Kimberly Loth--It's Not About Luck Part II

Author Kimberly Loth

I was very pleased to find another blog post by Kimberly Loth, continuing her three part series about how writing well isn't about luck. This time, It's Not About Luck Part II in  she talks about her great support system. I'm glad she did. Writers need those. If a writer doesn't have a good support crew immediately handy, then they should go out and find one! Writing groups are made up of authors eager to help other authors, and I'm lucky enough that I belong to a few of them. Support systems are great to have. Like Kimberly said herself, "Support is important. If you don’t have supportive people in your life, go find them." I agree!

Anna del C. Dye--Writing a Book Review

Author Anna del C. Dye

A few days ago, I wrote a post here about Kimberly Loth, and her blog post on Indieauthorhub.com about how writing well has more to do with hard work than luck, Today, I'd like to mention another blog post by a talented author, Anna del C. Dye about writing book reviews.
She shared a lot of useful ideas, and opinions, and I think the two main ideas of her blog post, was, 'be helpful' and 'be positive.' I think those are great ideas. A five star review that says something along the lines of "I loved it!" is nice, but doesn't help potential readers know what it is about the book that you loved. Give the reader something about the characters, the plot, the writing style (preferrably no spoilers, though) to let them know what stood out to you. Conversely, leaving a one star review with "I hated it!" is equally unhelpful. In almost every story I've read, there's something that's redeemable, and even if you leave a negative review, try to find something to mention that is positive about the book. After all, while one person may dislike a certain book, another person may like it very much.

Kimberly Loth--It's not About Luck

Kimberly Loth

I just recently read a blog post written by one of my fellow writers in a writing group I belong to, the Indie Author Hub, and I really enjoyed her post about how writers don't find success simply because they happen to be luckier than other people. To be a truly successful writer, Kimberly attributes three things, and I agree with her. These three things are: hard work, support, and faith. I'd like to expound on these three things, and say what exactly about them, in my opinion, helps authors become successful. (And really, this applies to all professions, not just writers.)

1. Hard Work: In her post, Kimberly gave an outline of a usual day for her. I could see that she's a busy lady, and she could use that as an excuse not to write, but she, like all people who achieve sucess, doesn't make excuses. Instead, she makes time for the things that are important to her, and that includes writing. All people who achieve success know that it isn't a one time thing. You need to work hard at it every day; develop habits that will lead you to success, and keep pushing yourself.

2. Support: It's great to have people around you to support you, and who believe in your dreams, but what if there aren't such people? Does that mean you can't do it? Goodness, no! If you support yourself, that's enough! If you believe you can do it, and you work hard, you can achieve it! Still, support from others is massive help, and if you can find others who are like-minded, other writers, for example, having their support is so amazingly helpful.

3. Faith: To be successful, you need to believe in yourself. Your opinion matters more in your success and progress than any one else's. It is also helpful to believe in a higher power that is looking out for you, and wants to see you succeed. I personally believe in God, and believe that he gave me the ability to write for a reason. Therefore, I feel, I need to use my talent in positive ways to make the world a better place.

Anyway, I was very glad to read that blog post, and I'm very grateful to Kimberly Loth for having written it!

To read more about what Kimberly herself wrote, follow this link to the blog.

Son's First Letter from MTC

My son sent his first letter from the MTC (missionary training center). He is learning Tagolog, his companion's name is Elder Knight, and he seems to be doing well. I'm sure it's not easy for him. It wasn't for me. But I sure hope he loves the MTC, and the experiences he's having. I did, when I went there. One thing he mentioned, is his great view of the mountains. That's one thing, of the many things, I loved about the MTC. The beautiful mountains that are right close. Anyone who has trained as a missionary at the Provo MTC knows what I'm talking about. It was always inspiring to look up and see those gorgeous cliffs towering up into the sky.

Spotting A Sociopath

In my recent personal studies, I discovered some interesting tips on how to spot (and hopefully avoid) a sociopath. (A person with Antisocial Personality Disorder.) I found this information on wikihow. This includes tips on how to spot a sociopath, as well as how to avoid one. Follow the link to learn more information, which is very useful to know.

Spotting a Sociopath:

1. Look for a lack of shame.

2. See if the person is constantly lying.

3. See if they are able to stay eerily calm in spite of circumstances.

4. See if they are extremely charming--at first.

5. See if the person is exceptionally intelligent. (Of course, not all intelligent people are sociopaths.)

6. See if the person is manipulative.

7. Look for signs of instigating violent behavior.

8. See if the person has a huge ego.

9. See if the person cannot hold eye contact. (Or, oppositely, stare with strange energy.)

10. Read their faces.

11. See if the person has few real friends.

12. See if the person likes to isolate you or others.

13. See if the person is immature.

Getting Away

1. Don't give them anything they want.

2. Stay away if you can.

3. Be immune to the sociopath's charms.

4. If you're dating the person, get out as quickly as possible.

5. Warn others.

6. Think for yourself.

7. Give up fear of the sociopath.

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How to Spot a Sociopath. Wikihow. Mediawiki. 7 October 2016. http://www.wikihow.com/Spot-a-Sociopath