This weekend, author Kay Marshall Strom and I will team up to present a series of talks on fighting social injustice at her church, Valley Covenant in Eugene, OR. This Church and Culture event was organized after Kay and I discovered we each had published our debut novels with Abingdon Press and we live in the same town. Now Kay is what is known as a veteran author, with thirty-some-odd books out there. I am what is known as a nonveteran author, with four books, but Kay is a generous soul and I am thrilled to work with her. Both of us started in nonfiction work. To get the most out of our novels, we are using the nonfiction themes and motifs in our novels to attract attention and raise money for causes we champion. My book, The Fence My Father Built, deals with Native Americans and their challenges of poverty, substance abuse and racism. I’ll be raising money for the Lillian Vallely School, an Episcopal dayschool in Blackfoot, Idaho. Kay’s historical novel, The Call of Zulina, focuses on the African slave trade of the 1700s and her cause is Partners International, which fights human trafficking. We’ll be speaking Friday, October 9 at 7PM and Saturday October 10 at 10AM, followed by a reading and book signing party. Even if you can’t make it both times, feel free to drop in.
Writing Tip for Today: In my Tuesday Essay class, we’ll discuss how mining the emotions can contribute depth and meaning to any essay. You may start out writing about the time your father took you fishing, but after you’ve written a draft of the story, deeper meanings and a more universal theme may emerge. Maybe your essay will be about dad/fishing, but it’ll also be about how we all need a dad, we all need validation. Don’t try to force that deeper meaning into your first draft. Let it speak to you and you may be surprised at the depth of your own thoughts. See you in class!