Prove All Things: Test it and Review it

An unconventional view of buying cars and body styling

2012-01-11T18:09:00.000-08:00

Many people get snookered into buying a fancy-looking car without realizing one important thing. You only get to enjoy the snazzy body styling during one particular time—finding and getting into your car. All the rest of the time, you are in the car, or leaving the car. Can you enjoy the snazzy EXTERIOR styling from the INSIDE of it? No. Can you enjoy the snazzy exterior styling while walking away, back to the car? No—(unless you give yourself an uncomfortable crick in the neck and are willing to run the risk of colliding with hard objects and complete strangers while not watching where you are walking). Because of this, for me it is far more worthwhile to appreciate OTHER PEOPLE’S cars. Thus, when I see a new car model coming out with exceptionally attractive styling, I look forward to seeing it populating the roads because then I’ll get to see it often, and each sighting will give me a little thrill of surprise and delight.

On another matter, I believe that car designers need to understand the most important places for a car to have its best styling touches is the sides and back. I was looking at a picture of a new model car today and it struck me that all the appeal was concentrated on the front end, with the sporty shark-like shape of the hood and headlights. It was all in the nose. But the sides were lackluster, and I couldn’t see the back. I supposed that it was a PR photo that was playing up the best angle to drive sales, if you'll pardon the pun. But I realized that in the real world, drivers and passengers don’t spend much time looking at the front end. Drivers see the front ends of cars usually only in the rear-view mirror, and even then, not for very long, since they have to go back to watching the road in front. However, passengers get plenty of time to see the sides of a car and the back end of a car. And the driver sees the TAIL end of the cars in front of him/her for a good long time. It follows then, that if the styling of the back and the sides is excellent, the car will be a great advertisement for itself on the streets where it is driven every day.

8 necklaces I just can’t help drooling over

2011-08-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

I don’t know about you, but I get tired of looking over the necklaces for sale at Walmart and Target. Yes, that jewelry is inexpensive, but it usually doesn’t strike me as very creative or unique.

Now Etsy, on the other hand, has some talented jewelry designers selling some delightful wares, some spendy, others not so much.

This lemon jade flower choker can be found at HandHeadHeart at Etsy and comes from Thailand. I love the elaborate ribbon wrapping used to make the stems look like wood. Be sure to check out the other products in this shop; HandHeadHeart is a prolific and skilled beader!

This is a polymer clay rose necklace by Simply Chic Lily at Etsy. So feminine, it’s perfect for weddings, Valentine’s day, or just one of those days when you feel extra girly.

This linen and pearl necklace is made by Cynamonn at Etsy. There’s something about this necklace that just grabs me. I think it is the startling contrast of visual textures. Shiny versus matte, round versus long strings. The rhythm of those pearls, along with their asymmetrical placement paired with the rhythm of the linen threads twisting into a knot. This isn’t just jewelry, it’s also art. This necklace makes me think of a barefoot walk on the beach in the morning. It's dramatic, yet somehow informal.

This eye-catching necklace of bronze, copper, and silver grape leaves is made by Connie Colton and can be found at her Etsy shop “inspired by nature.” It’s rather spendy, so it may be a good birthday or Christmas gift. I think it would be perfect for those times that you’re channeling your inner elf. Someone’s Lord of the Rings costume would get a major lift from this.

Here is a “Larimar” necklace from kiwawa on Etsy made by Vlasim in the Czech Republic. It's also a bit spendy, but the workmanship is amazing. I find it fascinating that the stone was set without glue. When I look at all those rich brown textures, I just want to go eat some chocolate or weed my garden like an Earth Mother.

Twirled Treasures sells necklaces made of an unexpected material—paper. This is her “Glistening Honey” necklace and here’s what she writes:

“This exquisite pendant is reminiscent of sparkling drops of honey dripping from a comb. Shimmering loops cascade gracefully, encased in a blanket of tiny gold crimps which perfectly blend with the antique gold chain that houses it. Made entirely of paper, this lovely quilled piece measures 3/4 x 1-1/2 inches, hangs from an 18-inch antique gold-finished chain, has been meticulously hand varnished to make it water resistant, and comes in a gift box. What a unique treasure!”

Here is a necklace called “Moonlight of Saturn” by Lisa Zamcho, who runs BrightFireBeads at Etsy. Right now she is making fabulous “steampunk” necklaces with a lovely mix of gears and crystal sparkle. (You can't see the red crystal very well in this picture, so you'll have to go to the necklace page.)

This raspberry leather necklace is made by Jess Amity at Etsy, as part of her Modern Pocahontas Collection. She writes, “The Modern Pocahontas Collection is my interpretation of the question "If Pocahontas was transported through time to today (and had a killer sense of style), what would she wear?" The answer is jewelry, bags and accessories in leather with both traditional and modern adornments. So, Pocahontas would totally rock!”

Make sure you check out Jess Amity’s other jewelry as well. She does things with old drawer pulls that you never thought were possible.

I know this isn’t a necklace, but it is so “wow” that I just had to include it at the end. These is the "Le Printemps Pearl and Filigree Art Nouveau Head Piece Headdress" offered for sale by the Raven Eve Etsy shop. This would definitely be a neat piece to wear for high school formal dances, for weddings (both bride and bridesmaids), and for high class shindigs. I’m trying to decide what clothes era it would belong better with. These diadems certainly have an art deco element to them, but there’s also a distinct “barbarian princess” look to it too. It could nicely set off renaissance garb, if you don’t mind being a little bit anachronistic. Are they gothic like Raven Eve says? You decide.

Okay, so now that we're all excited and calculating what our Christmas presents are going to be, I'll just leave you with this little thought to remember when you're enjoying new jewelry: it doesn't matter how good you look on the outside if you're not as beautiful on the inside. Let's be beautifully good as well as beautifully accessorized.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Reflections on "Content is the only advertising left"

2011-08-03T14:07:00.000-07:00

Here’s a thought I ran across recently on the internet—“Content is the only advertising left.” What is this talking about? This is referring to the social media revolution and the explosion of blogging as a way to market a business.

I can see this explosion as I see the Craigslist ads that ask for highly skilled writers to write articles about ______ industry in 500 words for $20 or less per article. Businesses are hearing about how blogs can bring in business and they want that, but they may underestimate the time it takes a writer unfamiliar with the industry to gather all the needed information to make an article! They think it should be easy! Well, it would be easy, if the writer had all the expert knowledge of the industry. However, an industry insider is going to want to do their industry work business and may not have quite enough time to put together a witty blog post. (But if they were to take the time to start brainstorming some articles that represent their particular expertise, then they could probably improve over time.)

It’s pretty obvious when businesses don’t really want to put the resources into a quality blog. Firstly, the topics they choose are dumb. Secondly, the content is lifeless. Thirdly, the writing is bad.

What does it really take to have a quality blog for a business? The best blogs I’ve seen are ones that:

Give answers to common problems
Give away some trade secrets that help the customer help themselves, either with diagnosis or easy fixes.
Tell the customer how to spot unscrupulous businesses in the industry and explain exactly why the offending practice is wrong
Share a slice of life in a way that is both engaging and non-offensive (This is good for attracting people to the industry.)
Divulge useful details of that slice of life without compromising sensitive personal information

What do the worst business blogs do? They:

Make it seem like everything is a mystery--job security by obscurity
Make it seem that the customer is not smart enough or not careful enough to do anything and only an expert is qualified enough (Seriously? If the customer thought that, why would they be reading blogs? They are reading because they consider themselves smart enough to educate themselves about their problem as much as possible!)
Give the reader no real information that can help them help themselves
Only contain text that markets the business (too self-satisfied) as a badly disguised forum for disseminating press releases (You think readers can’t tell? What, are you stupid?) or trumpeting corporate goals (Why should the reader care?)
Burst with corporate rhetoric, jargon, and legalese disclaimers (permeated with covering-our-butt fear)
Make all their employees comment on the blog, whether they have anything good to say or not
Do not respond to real commenter questions and problems
Do not look outside their own business at what the competitors do (self-absorbed)
Bash their competitors (insulting)
Bash their customers (insulting)

Have I seen good business blogs complain and yet be successful? Yes. When I see these complaints, they usually come in a situation when the expert is having to redo correctly some job that a previous idiot has made a blazing mess of out of ignorance and incompetence. These kinds of posts succeed and build trust with the reader when they show pictures/diagrams of the badly done job before and explain exactly what is wrong with it and then tell what is needed to do it done right. The right amount of moral indignation is needed. Just enough to communicate the bad previous job, but not too much to turn off the reader and make them think the writer has a bad attitude. The writer must preserve a good attitude about their own work and pleasure (but not arrogance) about doing their best to fix things. (Good example: The Floor Elf website. After reading everything I could find on this guy's website, I trust him.)

Can a business blog complain about customers? No, not in the strict sense of complaining. It has to be done in an extremely sensitive and professional way. So perhaps “complain” is not the right word. How to share stories of difficult customers:

Withhold their name.
Explain what the customer wanted.
Explain what company policy is so that the reader understands what the rules are and why the writer resisted unreasonable customer demands. Readers may not know what is reasonable or unreasonable behavior.
Explain how customer reacted to refusal.
Explain how writer felt (keeping it clean and professional) and then how the writer responded.
Explain how the interaction continued, how the problem was resolved, how the situation ended.
Describe any doubts and questions the writer had about their own part, or any questions they had about the customer’s attitude/behavior.

When I worked as a writing tutor, sometimes I had difficult sessions with certain students that I needed to gain perspective about. So I would talk to my boss about the session afterward in a way that very closely followed the above steps. I did not use names, I explained what happened on both sides, and then we had very fascinating, productive discussions about what I could do better to professionally handle that in the future. When I became a more skilled tutor, the conversations helped me see that I did all I could do within policy. This kind of model works well for business blogging.

What "problem customer" posts are useful for:

adjusting future customer's expectations
educating other customer readers about permissible behavior,
educating customer readers about company policies and the reasons behind them (best when policies are rational and not merely company-serving)
educating customers about extra services the company can provide in the context of an interesting story
training future employees

Additional thought:
An internal business blog might be a good way for a business to create a corporate culture and spotlight various employees for the good they do. It might also be a good way for employees to communicate methods that worked or them. This ensures that valuable company knowledge base isn’t automatically lost when an employee leaves.

Is a home warranty right for you?

2011-07-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

It seems that out on the web you get opinions on two sides of the spectrum. Either home warranties are harbingers of peace of mind, or they neatly chew spam with big teeth. (“neatly chew spam” is my way of saying “they suck” but, I have always hated the expression “they suck”, so I take the liberty of coining an expression for greater comfort and humorous possibilities.)

I am here to bring some clarity to this decision, speaking as a thoughtful customer.

The fact is that home warranties have limits. They have advantages and disadvantages just like any other product or service. They are the red-headed stepchild of the insurance industry. And they are misunderstood by those who purchase them. The more you are aware of where misunderstandings are likely to occur and where the warranty limitations are, the better you will be prepared to decide whether a home warranty is right for you, and the less your frustrations will be if you buy it and then have to use it.

Misunderstanding #1 The home warranty will cover everything in my home.

No, it won’t. You are mistaking a home warranty for home insurance. This is when you have to look carefully at terms and conditions and pay very close attention to limitations. Take note of whether pre-existing conditions are covered or not.

Misunderstanding #2 The home warranty will cover all costs of repairing/replacing covered items.

No, it won’t. Unfortunately, this is one of the things that home warranty companies could be a little more up-front about. The fact is, home warranties (H.W.) have dollar coverage limits, just like other insurance companies do, and if the costs of repairing/replacing go over those limits, then you will have to foot the rest of the bill. It would be very nice if customers knew this before they need the warranty rather than during the stressful process of requesting service to fix/replace a failed appliance or system.

Here’s a recent example. I have a H.W. with a company that will remain nameless (I’m using them as a typical example, neither bad nor good). My air conditioning unit broke down and the H.W.-sent service person declared it needed replacement. When I spoke with someone from the H.W. authorization department, she told me that replacing the 25-year old AC unit would require making a lot of modifications to our home, depending on how codes for AC had changed over 25 years and that although the H.W. would pay for the replacement of the unit, there would be additional costs that might be over the warranty coverage limits, and we should be prepared for out-of-pocket expenses. This information about coverage limits was news to me. Being the realistic person that I am, I realized that it would be best for me to know what those limits were and what typical costs were so that I would not expect more from the home warranty than it was obligated to deliver. (I’m trying to save myself aggravation, you see.) I also wanted to know how high those out-of-pocket expenses could get so that I would not be surprised or resentful when it came time to pay them. If those expenses turned out less, then I could count myself fortunate. She shared those expenses with me, and I was very appreciative.

I would like to expect amazing things from every person, service, or product, but I know that is not realistic. People, service, and products can only do so much, so I have to learn to manage my expectations. In the case of home warranties, if the companies that offered them would communicate clearly the dollar amounts of coverage limits, that would go a long way towards managing customer expectations. People are happy when they know exactly what to expect and they get it. Trouble happens when they expect home warranties to cover everything and then they have to be disappointed. People will understandably feel gypped.

Misunderstanding #3 The home warranty company should, can, and will repair/replace my __________ today or tomorrow.

No, it shouldn’t, can’t, and won’t. This can be the most disappointing thing for people to discover, so understanding this ahead of time is very important. The trouble is, when people find out home warranty companies shouldn’t, can’t, and won’t fix their appliances/systems the same day or the next day, they jump to the conclusion that the home warranty company is deliberately cheating them and putting them through misery. This is not true.

They shouldn’t repair or replace your _____ today or tomorrow because it takes time to figure out what is wrong and what to do about it. Since they don’t live in your home, they require the service person to act as their agent and determine what is wrong and pass that information along. It is just as foolish for a company to act without the facts as it would be for you to act without the facts.

They can’t repair or replace your ________ today because they have many customers to help. You aren’t the only one. If you were the only one calling for service, they could devote all their time to you. They are taking calls all the time.

They won’t repair or replace your _______ today because their decisions have to go through channels and be rubberstamped by the proper people.

Here are the hard facts of the matter. With the purchase of a H.W., the task of choosing a service company, diagnosing the problem, determining what should be done, and how much to pay has been outsourced from you to the H.W. company. Essentially you have paid a fee to relinquish speed of resolution and control of the process to the H.W. company in the hopes that it will cost less to do so. Homeowners must realize that instead of being able to call a repair service immediately, they will have to call the H.W. company to request service (takes at least one day). Instead of being able to call the repair company of their choice, they will have to accept whoever is sent by the H.W. company to diagnose the problem. Instead of being able to make the decision themselves to fix or replace the appliance or system, the H.W. company will make it. Instead of being able to ask for the repair to proceed immediately while the repair person is there, the homeowners will have to wait for the repair person to communicate with the H.W. company and for the H.W. company to make the decision. (This can take several days.)

As you can see, there is a real tradeoff of freedom and speed involved in obtaining a H.W.

It is true that the homeowners can still do an end-run around the H.W. company and call the service person themselves and pay for it themselves, but they should not expect the H.W. company to automatically reimburse them. The H.W. company is very cost-conscious and are inclined to look with disfavor upon service companies who are not in their preferred network.

The issue of this tradeoff should be very carefully weighed. In theory, it sounds great to pass the risk of substantial repair/replacement costs on to a H.W. company. However, in practicality, the slow speed of resolution can cause real human suffering in proportion to the importance of the system that fails.

For example, it would be great if our air conditioning system failures could be detected in the wintertime when we aren’t depending on it, but such is not the case. Instead, failure of air conditioning systems occurs or is discovered at the times when it is most needed and during the time when a slow resolution of multiple days is the most uncomfortable and inconvenient. Not only this, but it may happen that a freak accident causes widespread failure in a locale and then the H.W. company is inundated with service requests, which delays resolution even further. As I type, the air conditioning in my home has been out for six days as I wait for my H.W. company to authorize my A.C. unit’s replacement. It took me five days to learn that an exploding transformer in the Mesa area led to a fire, which led to a number of other people losing their A.C. units. This is during the monsoon season with temperatures above 100 degrees. My H.W. company has been absolutely swamped with service calls. I am not miffed about this. This is just part of having a H.W. To expect the H.W. company to service ME immediately when so many others are in the same position of need would be rank selfishness.

In short, before you buy a home warranty, you need to think carefully about how you will cope for multiple days if:
• your air conditioner fails during a heat wave
• your heater fails during a cold snap
• your water pipes burst
• your roof leaks
• your toilets overflow
• your refrigerator fails
• your dishwasher fails
• your clothes washer or dryer fails

A home warranty is not for you if you can’t cope with the loss of functionality of these items and systems for more than a day. This applies to families with very small children (Small children may not understand why they are so uncomfortable and protest loudly and at length.) It may apply to families caring for elderly parents in their homes. It may also apply to landlords who have to meet tight deadlines.

Who might a home warranty help? A home warranty might be for you if you recently bought a house and are short on cash to pay for expensive repairs. That time just after purchase and before you can save a tidy sum for emergencies leaves you particularly vulnerable to discovering problems that didn’t show up during home inspection. A home warranty can bear a good portion of that risk for you. Just remember the tradeoff you are making and be prepared to cope for multiple days in the event of sudden loss.

Review: The Prophecy by Hilari Bell (contains spoilers at the end)

2011-07-01T14:27:00.000-07:00

The Prophecy, by Hilari Bell

Genre: fantasy fiction--contains unicorns, dragons, prophecies, and magic. Set in an undetermined kingdom somewhere in medieval times.

This appears to be the Hilari Bell’s fourth book. In a very broad sense, it is similar to Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown in that the misfit royal progeny goes out to save the kingdom from a gigantic dragon that is wreaking havoc upon the land.

Summary without spoilers: Prince Perryndon (informally called Perryn) is a scholar-prince who is loved by the palace servants, but mocked and maligned by his father, the arms master, and the palace guards. Studying to find a way to help rid the kingdom of an enormous marauding dragon, he finds a prophecy listing three things that should defeat it—a unicorn, a true bard, and an ancient sword of power. But his father won’t listen and locks him in his room. When he discovers a plan has been laid to assassinate him and betray the kingdom to their enemies, Perryn must find the strength of will and act on his own to fulfill the terms of the prophecy.

The main character, Perryn, is a weakling that becomes irked when he finds out early in the story that his enemy considers him a weak-willed boy who can’t do anything on his own. The criticism goads him to exert himself in all cases, even when others might think of giving up.

Readers are also introduced to some fascinating characters who help Perryn along, once he has bargained them into cooperating. We meet the bard Lysander, a skeptical worldly wise song-spinner who doesn’t believe Perryn is really a prince, Prism, a dirt-averse unicorn with the tendency to faint when confronted with danger, and the Sword of Samhain, which has a penchant for reminiscing loudly about glorious past battles.

At the beginning of each chapter, Bell has a little blurb that summarizes the chapter’s events. As a reader, it was strangely refreshing to have a little hint of what was coming, and I suppose if her readers were nervous people, they might find it comforting to know what was going to happen before it did. (In a way, these blurbs acted like a prophecy for readers, leading them along through the book, just as the prophecy leads Perryn to his heroic destiny.) It must be noted that this also makes the author’s job that much harder to deliver an interesting story that holds the reader even when the reader knows what will happen. I think Bell succeeds. So while the book never became really suspenseful, it still aroused in me a feeling of pleasant curiosity. And there is just enough of the unexpected—plot twists and quirky characters—at the right time keep me engaged.

One of the refreshing things about this story to me as a reader was that its tone remained earnest and sincere, rather than depending upon snark and sassy dialogue to maintain engagement in the story.

Another of the ways Bell has made this slay-the-dragon story different is to by making it into a quest that glorifies brain and creative problem-solving more than raw brawn. There is a deep current of respect for science and learning behind this story, even with unicorns, legends, prophecies, fire-breathing dragons, enchanted forests, ghosts, and magic swords.

There are two things that irritated me about this story. The first was that it ended too soon without completing one of the story arcs. The second was that it diluted the power of the prophecy plot device in an attempt to add a twist. These two problems prevented me from completely enjoying the book. The first problem caused me to throw the book from me in annoyance after reading the last page. The second problem was sensed in my subconscious and gradually wormed its way to the top after a day of thinking about it. (I will discuss these problems more in depth in the spoiler section.)

In all other respects, this story is pleasant. Ultimately it is about discovering the ability to make things happen, using brains to solve difficult problems, and refusing to get discouraged. This book is for younger teens interested in fantasy fiction.

All in all, I give it a B.

WARNING! SPOILER ALERT!! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

Here I will more fully discuss the nature of the problems I found in this book. I do this for the benefit of the book’s author and any other authors who might stumble upon this post.

Incomplete Story Arc

As a reader, I wanted to see how relationship changed between the prince and his disappointed father after the dragon was slain, since the relationship was made into one of the important conflicts and motives in the story. I wanted to see the king’s initial disbelief, the slow trickle of proofs of Perryn’s valor coming in, and the king’s final acknowledgement that Perryn had something in him after all. The more messy and gradual it could be made, the more satisfying it would have been to me as a reader. It should have been in there. I was all set up for it. Near the beginning, on page 17, Perryn pleads with his father:

“How can I make you listen?”
“By making me,” said the king. “Come on. Give it a try.”

I wanted to see Perryn finally make the king listen, and when I didn’t get to see it, I felt cheated.

Prophecy Plot Device Diluted

As said before, I sensed this issue more on a subconscious level, but it gradually became clearer with thought that there was something wrong when the prophecy turned out to be false. It is a curious twist to be sure, but as a reader I felt betrayed. This is not a mere echo of the main character’s feeling of betrayal; it has basis in literature craft. Two of the literary purposes of prophecy are that it serves as motivation for great deeds, AND it intensifies the feelings of satisfaction (for both the book characters and the reader) upon achieving a difficult goal. There is deep satisfaction in fulfilling one’s purpose and destiny. Human beings deeply want to know that what they are doing is right, is meant to happen, and is part of a cosmic plan somehow. For a prophecy to accomplish its literary purpose as a satisfying plot device, the prophecy should not be found to be false and then be fulfilled anyway. This substantially dilutes the power of the device. Fake prophecies may be postmodern artistry, but it doesn’t satisfy the reader at the visceral level.

Parts I Liked

I don't believe in giving medicine without sugar, so here are some parts that I consider highlights of this story.

When the prince had his money stolen from him soon after his escape from the palace, I really started to get interested. I wanted to see how he would persevere without funds.

I was pleased when the prince bartered for the bard’s freedom by chopping wood. If the process of his learning to chop better had been stretched out a leeeeetle bit more, I would have been even more happy.

I appreciated the song the bard wrote for the prince. I was glad it wasn’t some stupid throw-away verse. It had really thought and sincerity in it, and the simple earthy truth of it touched me. “It’s the song of the ax/that’s the song of your soul.” Nice.

The fainting unicorn made me laugh out loud.

When the prince decides to go back to the palace to get more information, I was delighted. This renewed my interest substantially because it was the exact opposite of what was expected.

I liked that the book showed Lysander’s repeated exclamations of “I can’t believe you’re really Prince Perryndon!” when he realizes it really is true. This was so realistic and true to life it made me grin.

I enjoyed Perryn’s elaborate plan to kill the dragon after his friends are captured. I thought the actual method of killing the dragon was fitting and nicely scientific. I almost expected him to start singing the song Lysander had written for him as he did it.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: The Queen of Clean Conquers Clutter, by Linda Cobb

2011-03-18T14:57:00.000-07:00

The Queen of Clean Conquers Clutter, by Linda Cobb. Published by Pocket Books, New York. 2002.

The Queen is back and she’s at it again, this time with a book on conquering clutter. The domestic diva has her crown firmly on and goes from room to room with her duster.

In her introduction, Linda Cobb says that the key to get out from all the clutter is a matter of thoughtful elimination of time-wasting and space-wasting things, rather than adding things. She claims that the reader already has what it takes to conquer clutter and get organized.

In this book, Cobb goes through the most common areas of the house and uses a methodology to get organized, which focuses on five steps: Question, Unpack, Evaluate, Eliminate, and Neaten Up. This does a good job of breaking down the process of organizing for those who are unfamiliar with what happens mentally when organizing.

The most difficult part of the process for chronic clutterbugs is the Question and Evaluate stages, but Cobb doesn’t spend much time delving into the mental blocks that prevent people from successful overcoming their hoarding or accumulating habits.

Most of Cobb’s text consists of storage ideas and how to clean various locations and items. This is very helpful for people who need someone to question their need for possessions they've taken for granted are needed. Readers who have no problem staying organized will find a few more ideas of things they can get rid of. It is also helpful for people who want suggestions on more space-efficient ways to store things or more efficient ways to clean or organize. However there is not much help for people who need to learn the organizing principles and successful thought processes to use daily to maintain an organized lifestyle.

This book is more about organizing and less about decision-making processes for discarding. This book is for those who are looking for some inspiration to get started, but for those who truly need some of the psychological motive-exploring that is truly at the root of conquering clutter, look elsewhere.

I give this book a B-.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: The Quick-Fix Home Organizer, by Emilie Barnes.

2011-03-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

The Quick-Fix Home Organizer, by Emilie Barnes, published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon. 2008.

This book is an attempt to look at organizing from the perspective of Christianity and Bible teachings. It is structured as little self-contained paragraphs that are easy to get through and easy to understand.

My biggest beef about this book is that it seems scatterbrained. It is structure of little self-contained paragraphs makes it seem shallow. Some of the paragraphs have a whole bunch of advice all squished together. This means that none of the individual bits get to be explained and explored. While the title says the book is supposed to be “quick fix”, but it seems too much like the author didn’t work very hard to distill the strongest ideas into the smallest space. I admit that I couldn’t finish reading this book.

The thoughts are good, but some seem to repeat. Other ideas seem to be in the wrong place, which indicates that the author didn't use an outline during the writing process. For instance, p69 “design secrets” in the organizing half seems to belong better to the second half of the book about decorating. I would suggest that to prepare for her second edition, Emilie Barnes should try to make sure all the subtitles for her paragraphs exactly describe what’s in the paragraph and then organize those paragraphs by topic. This would go a long way toward getting rid of redundancy, and creating a logical flow.

Barnes also does not give enough attention to the consistency of her message. For example, on p62 she says not to worry about tomorrow. Yet this strikes me as contradictory in a book about quick organization fixes. Part of organizing means planning, which means we have to think about tomorrow, especially if we are quickly updating our calendars. This needs some deeper elaboration so that we as readers can see how these ideas fit together.

There is a lot of process-focused instruction, but not much discussion of general principles that can be used to guide in a variety of situations, and there is no working through the many mental blocks a disorganized person has to deal with to become more organized.

For a faith-based book, I think it could be bolder and use scripture to back more things up.

This book is for people who will read one page a day. People who read straight through a book all at once should look elsewhere. I give this book a C-.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Musical Performance Review: East Valley Mormon Choral Organization and the premier of the oratorio “Messiah in America”

2011-03-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

I attended the premier performance of the “Messiah in America” oratorio put on by the East Valley Mormon Choral Organization (EVMCO) at the Mesa Arts Center on March 5, 2011. I didn’t know what to expect, but at the end, I was extremely glad that I came and felt as though I had seen something that had the potential to become as famous and well-loved as Handel's "Messiah."

EVMCO is directed by Brandon Stewart, and “Messiah in America” was written by his brother, Brett Stewart, who is the director of a similar choral organization in Orange County, California.

Performance program

Brett Stewart made an interesting decision to prelude the oratorio with a selection of five hymn and primary song arrangements for choir and orchestra topically suggesting the history of the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Oh How Lovely was the Morning” was followed by a “The Story of a Boy,” which described the heroism of Joseph Smith in simple terms and which sounded like it would be perfectly at home in the primary songbook. Then came an arrangement of “Book of Mormon Stories,” in which child soloists sang all the extra verses, after which came “Jesus Is My Shepherd,” “Hope of Israel,” and “We’ll Bring the World His Truth (Army of Helaman).”

At first it seemed odd to prelude the oratorio in this way, but I realized that there were several purposes served by it. First, it located the oratorio in the context of the restoration of the gospel, in the same way that a jewel is displayed in the context of a gold ring. Second, hearing some of these well-known songs performed in interesting arrangements by skilled performers with such a spread of ages showed what church performances of sacred music had the potential to become. (This is one of the stated goals of EVMCO.) Third, it softened the audience and helped put them into the frame of mind to receive and appreciate the oratorio. Fourth, it also served the valuable purpose of starting the audience with musical material that would be accessible with a common level of exposure to music in order to build upon that foundation. It is evident that Brett and Brandon Stewart are intent upon musically educating not just the musicians under their charge, but also the aesthetic sensibilities of their audience. They do this not by shocking the audience with something completely different, but by preparing and training them.

After this prelude, Brandon Stewart, the conductor, took some time to explain the history of the oratorio musical form and what was required of an audience to appreciate it. For those who knew about oratorios, this may have been old news, but for those of us who didn’t know, this background was appreciated. We were told that oratorios were simple stories put to music and that it featured musicians on stage rather than hiding them in a pit as is done in opera. We were informed that we would have to take ourselves out of the modern frame of mind of rush and impatience, forget about cell phones and internet, and pretend that this is our main form of entertainment and relaxation, as it was for those in Handel’s time. For me as an audience member, this was very enlightening, and I didn’t feel talked down to; instead, I felt this prepared me to appreciate the oratorio more fully.

The oratorio itself consisted of thirty-four pieces divided among seven sections.
It begins with the righteousness of the people as they have conquered the Gadianton robbers, it takes them through their descent into awful wickedness, through the destruction of the land at the crucifixion of Christ, and through the appearance and ministry of Christ. It ends with Christ’s ascension into heaven and a meditation on watchmen lifting up the voice together and the imminent coming and reign of Christ on the earth.

“Messiah in America”

“Messiah in America” is a high-quality musical work. It demonstrates a great range of compositional ability, with variety everywhere. It ranges in tempo from fast to slow, it ranges in style from classical to contemporary, and it ranges in emotion from triumph to dismay to dread to grief to reverence to exhilaration. Brett Stewart seems to have used whatever musical tools he had in service of the message of the text, and he was not afraid of changing styles several times within the same song, which could have left the music feeling fragmented, but somehow did not. I didn’t notice any particular musical leitmotifs, but the triumphant “Hosanna” chorus becomes a unifying element in the story, and a motif in itself.

One of the wonderful things about this oratorio is that it seemed to present a whole new way of understanding the scriptures and studying them. Brett Stewart seems to have worked very hard to ensure that the music would convey the emotional atmosphere of the text in such a way as to heighten the meaning and to even suggest thoughts and feelings that the words alone could not express. Following along in the libretto with the singing made it seem as though I was there in Book of Mormon times, experiencing those events myself. When the Nephites descended into wickedness, the music truly communicated how horrifying it was, and when they were visited by the Savior, the music underlined what a glorious privilege that was. A number of times I got impressions from the Spirit about the meaning of phrases in ways that I had never thought of before and I found myself jotting scripture insights in my program.

It seemed to me that Brett Stewart also did a very good job of assigning the songs between the adult chorus, the soloists, and the child choir. In most of the oratorio, these choices contribute much to the meaning of the songs and to the sense that the audience was present in Nephite times. It is only at the beginning of the second half that some of the choices seem ill-considered. “Behold my Beloved Son” is sung by the chorus, but I felt that it should have been sung by the Bass soloist instead, so as to give the impression of coming from God. Similiarly, “Behold, I am Jesus Christ” is sung by the chorus, but should have been sung by the Bass (or the Tenor) and possibly accompanied by the chorus humming. The excellent artistic choices of the whole made these places stick out by the contrast.

Quality of the performance

EVMCO is made up of six musical ensembles. Four of them are choirs for children and youth aged 4-18, and the other two are a professional adult choir and a symphony orchestra. It numbers at 1200 participants.

The children’s chorus was excellent. This wasn’t like your usual sacrament primary program in which unstudied delivery becomes part of the charm. Their delivery was both strong and unified, and they produced a high-caliber sound. The child soloists were very young—4 years old—yet they showed the same restraint with microphones that a performer two decades older would show. My friend and I were dumbfounded by how good they sounded and how well they acted.

There was only one place where the child chorus fell apart with half a second lag between different groups on stage singing, and that was the last verse of “Book of Mormon Stories.” It was obvious, but it didn’t last long since the song was just about over, and they regrouped valiantly for the next piece. Out of a three-hour performance, only one mess-up like that is extraordinary.

The EVMCO orchestra seemed very vigorous. I have heard ASU’s orchestra in performance, and EVMCO’s orchestra is superior. Its attack was distinct, and the strings never sounded muddy, even in the very difficult runs in “Now the cause of this iniquity.”

The EVMCO choir was also very good. Pronunciation was excellent, and there were only a few times when I had difficulty picking out what they were saying, mostly in the second part of “There arose a great storm.” I’m not sure whether this was because word stresses fell in odd places in the music or whether words on pick-up notes were too rushed for the listener to catch them. It was astounding how much volume they were capable of sustaining for so long, and when it seemed like they couldn’t possibly muster anything more, they found extra to give. Their passion and enthusiasm was almost tangible.

It is evident that EVMCO is living up to its mission to provide a way for individuals to refine their musical talents with more training and provide professional performance opportunities.

To sum up, when I walked out of this concert, I really wanted a recording. (That's huge because a concert has to REALLY impress me for me to want to spend $15 for a cd.) Alas, there was no cd yet. They are recording in June up in Salt Lake this year though, and I can’t wait for it to come out. If you have a chance to hear this work in concert by the East Valley Mormon Choral Organization, make sure that you take that opportunity and clear your calendar! It is worth it.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The author wishes to thank her friend Jan Ackermann for inviting her to come to this performance and for paying for her ticket. Jan is not materially connected to EVMCO in any way.

Book Review: Leadership and Self-deception: Getting out of the Box, by Arbinger Institute

2011-01-05T11:19:00.000-08:00

All great self-help books have one thing in common—they are rooted in eternal principles and they provide incisive analysis and insight into the inner world of the mind, exposing errors, teaching true principles, and giving practical solutions, which are based in those true principles. This book is one of them.

It is written for a secular audience though, so it doesn’t use religious terms, but anyone who has a strong foundational understanding of certain principles--the dangers of hubris (pride), the need for humility in relationships, honesty in self-evaluation--will recognize them anywhere even when they appear under a different name.

In the case of this book, the major principle that it teaches is that of charity (Christian love). The condition of having charity or not having it is conveyed by the expressions “out of the box” or “in the box” respectively. (I suspect that this helps to market the idea to the business audience who are already familiar with the importance of “thinking out of the box,” and it does a great job reinforcing a moral value to being “out of the box”.)

One other term come in for the treatment too. The book uses “self-betrayal,” which is essentially “sins of omission.”

But if this book merely gave different names to eternal principles, it would not be a big deal. What makes it truly valuable is the psychological understanding that is brought to bear on how lack of charity toward others affects our attitudes toward them, then how it leads us to commit sins of omission against them—the book calls these acts of “self-betrayal”—and how we then seek for reasons to justify our acts and views and causes us to blame others.

The second thing that makes it so great is that the authors structured the book in the best possible way that would help the reader to recognize their own problems with self-deception and take responsibility for changing. They did this by structuring the whole book as a story written in first person. Tom Callum is newly hired at the company called Zagrum into a senior management position, and he goes into a one-on-one meeting with the executive vice president, Bud, knowing that these meetings are an institution in and of themselves and that he will learn how to solve “people problems.” Tom learns that he has a problem that he doesn’t know about and that he will have to solve it if he is going to make it at the company. Naturally, this is a bit of a shock to Tom, but he feels he has to learn what it is if he is going to do anything about it. The problem of being “in the box” is explained to him, and to his relief, Bud admits his own difficulty with the very same problem. The story is one of transformation as Tom learns the principles in great depth and tries to practice them.

The tone is very kind. This effect is created as Tom’s mentors show true concern for him and open themselves up to him by sharing with him how they had been “in the box” (uncharitable), the way that they had succeeded in getting out, and their continuing struggles to stay out. (In this way, they act as righteous leaders who do not endeavor to cover their sins or gratify their pride.) Other virtuous characteristics can be detected in the dialogue, such as humility, persuasion, meekness, and forgiveness. All of this encourages readers to examine themselves and apply what is learned to their experiences and relationships. It does this all without ever becoming preachy, a rare feat.

If you read this book, you may find one or two of the stories familiar. A few religion teachers and speakers in my church have used one of the stories told in this book. You may have heard of it. It is the story of a husband lying in bed with his wife. The husband hears the baby in the next room begin to cry and has the impulse to go take care of it for his wife and then proceeds to talk himself out of it and then tries to justify his choice by blaming his wife. When I first encountered it in this book, I thought, “Ah! That’s where it came from.” And as I continued to read, I could see why. It was very influential; various aspects of self-deception are exposed throughout the book using this story.

But just to give you an idea of the penetration this book has, my father-in-law told me as he handed the book to me that the LDS church had ordered one of these books for all the staff at BYU Idaho and said merely, “We hope you will find this book as interesting as we have.”

This book had an immediate positive effect on me, and as I finished it, I immediately started trying to change the way that I related to the people around me, which happened to be my husband, my 10 year-old brother-in-law, and my parents-in-law. I feel that I was able to be kinder and more thoughtful.

After a few weeks, however, my memory faded a bit and I think I slipped back into old ways, so it seems that this book and its contents will need to be reviewed regularly (at least once every two weeks) to make the change more lasting.

This book is for all leaders and teachers who want to learn what they can change about themselves to create an environment that will encourage those around them to do their best. Since it focuses on relationships, it will have immediate effect of making relationships more genuine and more fulfilling, which leads to improved performance. This book is not about manipulating others into improvement; it is about self-improvement to become a better leader. I give it an A+.

Review of six church books

2010-08-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

So… about a month ago, I got the fabulous opportunity of getting a whole bunch of church books FOR FREE! (much rejoicing in all the land) So I’ve been slowly working my way through them and I discovered some interesting. It seems like the quality of writing in church books has gone up tremendously in the last few years because the books that were more than 30 years old… well, let’s just say that they committed the literary sin of having contents with an emphasis that seemed different from the emphasis promised by the title.

How about The Spirit of the Old Testament by Sidney B. Sperry? What you expect to be in a book with that title? I thought it could be a careful description of cases in the Old Testament when the Holy Ghost was manifested in the lives of the people and maybe pointing out instances of manifestations of spiritual gifts. Or, looking at it from the writer’s perspective, it might be a careful analysis of the tone of the writing in the Old Testament and how it varied across the individual books and how it changed according to the purpose of the writer.

Was this what it was? No. It is a literary survey of the Old Testament from the lofty scholar’s view. For example, from a randomly chosen page, we get this sample:

“Few stories in all the history of the race can compare in beauty and conception with the stories of Joseph who was sold into Egypt. In these stories it is possible for the author of Genesis to point out in an appealing form the way in which Israel as a body came into contact with the world. Joseph is pictured as an individual who unwaveringly sought after righteousness and to whom character was paramount.”

About one other page is spent on Joseph, but only to tell in a most general way how his character is portrayed (one paragraph) and to mention his two sons as becoming their own tribes (one paragraph).

The writing ranges between giving brief summaries of what happens to what the stories imply. He skims over some things and points out why the writer of the scriptures seemed to focus on particular subjects.

This book, as a survey of the Old Testament, seems too brief to be scholarly, but too “literary criticism-y” to be for the layman. I really feel like Sperry was trying to do too much in a too-small space or that he didn’t have enough time to develop his ideas.

How about the book Stories of Our Mormon Hymns by J. Spencer Cornwall? What would you expect from this book? When I picked this book up, I thought it was going to be a bunch of stories about how the composers and lyricists went through the creative process writing the music and words for the hymns.

Well, sometimes it is that, like when it comes to the hymn “O My Father” by Eliza R. Snow and James McGranahan. But most of the time we are given a short description of the hymn that describes the musical aspects that make it unusual, and then we are given a biography of the writer and composer. I found the descriptions of the hymns of much greater interest than the biographies, so I didn’t read much of the book.

How about the book The Doctrine and Covenants and the Future by Roy W. Doxy? What would you expect of this book, based on its title? I would expect a discussion of various prophecies from the D&C along with an attempt to group them together so that they would inform each other and give greater light on the events described (since we all know that prophecy comes out whenever and wherever it wants, line upon line).

In the chapter “Look forward for signs” the signs of Christ’s second coming are summarized, and the scripture references are stuck at the bottom as footnotes for the reader to look up. Now, I may be especially picky, but as a reader, I’ve developed a particular appreciation for the exact language of scripture, so I really want those applicable scriptures quoted in the text. There is a special power there.

Also, it seems as if the book’s organization could use some work. The chapters are well-organized with relation to each other, but the contents of those chapters seem fragmented which makes it very difficult for the reader to really learn, as they can when subtopic follows subtopic logically. (But I suppose I must remember with mercy that this was published back in 1969 before there were word processors that would allow you to cut and paste chunks of text in different places.)

Now, we will consider the book Anxiously Engaged by Paul H. Dunn. As a reader, when I see that title, I would expect that it be about different ways that we can be more active in the church and its programs. But that is not what this book is about. It is a collection of short essays filled with stories and object lessons and thought experiments devoted to certain human virtues. For instance, the chapter “The Plus Sign” seems to be about not giving up, but it has a strange story to introduce it relating to superstition and luck.

I can happily say that this book is a very easy and pleasurable read with many interesting stories and illustrative examples. This is very good. But I lost sight of how all of this related to the title “Anxiously Engaged.” The chapter “On Time” is devoted to illustrating the importance of being prompt and on time to appointments. It is possible now for me to see how the virtue of promptness could be part of being anxiously engaged, but as I was reading the text itself, I couldn’t see it, nor did Brother Dunn explain the connection himself. It would have been an easy matter for Brother Dunn to end each chapter with a little blurb about how the chapter’s topic related to being anxiously engaged. Because that didn’t happen, it felt as if this book was a fragmented collection of lectures Brother Dunn gave (or wanted to give people) and the title was an attempt to pull it all together into a book. If blogging had existed back in 1976, these chapters would have been on a blog instead of in a book.

Also, I think the organization inside the chapters seemed to wander. The transitions were there, but I could never tell where he was going to go and when the chapter was finished, I couldn’t tell you were we had been, even in that short chapter. This could probably have been fixed by making and using a reverse outline in the end writing stages. Likewise the organization of the chapters in relation to each other could have been improved the same way.

How about the book Spiritual Survival in the Last Days by Blaine and Brenton Yorgason? As a reader, I would expect this book to tell about the physical and spiritual dangers of the last days and then describe how those dangers may be avoided.

Well, this book has a ton of material about physical and spiritual dangers in the last days. Then it discusses certain principles that will help the saints survive, but it never goes into enough detail about how those principles contribute to survival. One chapter that it does well is the one about listening to prophets, but most of the chapters on spiritual principles are merely recapping things that an active Mormon will have learned at church and at the very end of the chapter there is a mere paragraph about how that principle will enable the saints to survive the last days. This is a shame. I really think that with a title like “Spiritual Survival in the Last Days” the reader deserves to have the “spiritual survival” perspective dominate the rhetorical approach of the book instead of being tacked on as an afterthought.

One chapter that it does well is chapter 6 “A Land of Desolation” in which it presents a number of prophecies of various modern prophets about the last days. This is very interesting material and it is nice to have it brought together in one place.

The chapters that deal with gospel principles are very thorough in their treatment, and there are appropriate subtitles. However, I felt as a reader was that the subtitled sections seemed to jump about and some material seemed to stray from the topic of the chapter. For instance, the following subsections were in the chapter “Sincere and Humble Repentance”:

A Knowledge of Unworthiness
Vain Things of the World
The “Little Sins”
Where Much is Given
Flaxen Cords
The Guilty Taketh the Truth to be Hard
Satan Is As Real As Christ
Satan’s Ambition
Satan’s Laughter
How Evil Spirits Act upon Mortals
Avoiding Satanic Afflictions
The Law Governing Satan and His Host
By the Priesthood
Diligently Fulfilling Callings
Children in Zion Greedy
The Precious Blood of Christ
According to Our Desires

Examining each subsection, there is a quote in “By the Priesthood” that would go better in “The Law Governing Satan and His Host”, and the material in that section could be merged with the section “Avoiding Satanic Afflictions.” Quite frankly, it is as if the authors collected so many good quotes that they wanted to use them all and tried to work them all in, one way or another. Also, what seems to be the main points of the quotes in certain subsections are either repeated in other places or would belong better elsewhere. I can recognize this problem because I’ve found it in my own writing and I’ve learned how to curb it.

Again, this was a book that I finished reading feeling a vague confusion. It’s a sort of a feeling like, “There was a reason why I picked up this book, there was something I really wanted to know and I forget what it is, but I don’t feel satisfied some how.” And it is when I look again at the title of the book and compare it to the content that I realize that I hardly remembered anything of what I really wanted to know. There’s lots of material on “the last days” but “spiritual survival” is kind of lacking.

It was published in 1990, and I’m not sure just how far word processing software had progressed at that time, so maybe the authors had yet to adapt their revision techniques.

Here is a more recent book that I CAN highly recommend—Hearing the Voice of the Lord: Principles and Patterns of Personal Revelation by Gerald N. Lund. (2007) A careful examination of the table of contents shows that the book focuses on “principles and patterns” and Lund has very carefully organized his chapters and subsections so that they build carefully on each other. This becomes very important because the ideas Lund presents are weighty and solid.

The beginning section defines revelation, why it is important, and what makes it possible. The next section covers how revelation comes, including direct and indirect forms of many types—voices, visions, feelings, burnings of the bosom, and much more. After this it describes ten principles that govern the giving and receiving of revelation. The principles described were broad enough for them to be universally applicable. For instance, the first one is “God determines all aspects of revelation.” The next section discusses false revelation and how to recognize it, and the last section discusses how we increase our likelihood of receiving and recognizing revelation.

One of the things that I love about this book is that after it presents a principles or a pattern, it explores common errors we make in relation to the principle just discussed. I’ve had a number of my own errors nicely skewered like a shish kabob in this way and because Lund wrote an attitude of love, it actually felt… good.

Lund is not afraid of exploring difficult questions such as how to become spiritual self-reliant while still trusting and depending upon the Lord. He discusses feelings as both vehicles of revelation and obstacles to revelation.

Another thing that makes this book excellent is that Lund includes many stories and experiences in it to help illustrate the principles he points out. This gives it extra interest.

Because of the depth, breadth, careful organization, and the strong focus on principles of this book, I really think that it is a definitive and timeless work. It will be an excellent guide for anyone who has to give a talk or lesson on revelation.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

How to Pick Out Successful Mormon Fiction

2010-06-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

As the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grows in population, the culture of the church has grown with it until a locus of Mormon writers has coalesced. It was only a matter of time before the unique genre of Mormon fiction developed to satisfy the demand for reading entertainment that is both well-crafted and consistent with the distinctive features and beliefs of the Latter-day Saints.

My goal this semester was to discover what makes a written work good Mormon fiction. In order to determine this, I first had to settle on what constituted “Mormon fiction.” I found that the presence of several factors usually determined whether a work of fiction could be considered “Mormon” or not.

Firstly, “Mormon fiction” is usually written by a Mormon writer specifically for a Mormon readership. Mormon culture has its own jargon and phraseology for its institutions and beliefs, even the ones that are shared by other Christian denominations. If there was no explanation of unique Mormon terminology or beliefs and no attempt to convince the reader of the validity of the underlying assumptions inherent in those beliefs, then the work could be considered as written specifically for a Mormon audience. Explanation of doctrine and principles can be included in dialogue if it is directly related to the concerns of the characters.

Secondly, Mormon fiction has at least one major Mormon character or an equivalent. Mormon audiences hunger for a character they can identify with morally and ideologically, and Mormon characters are the most likely to satisfy that craving. The Mormon character then becomes a way for the Mormon audience to explore a plethora of situations vicariously and learn about choices in a sort of sandbox.

Thirdly, Mormon fiction incorporates gospel principles and practices into the plot as characters are shown to follow them or rebel against them. Characters pray, receive personal revelation, talk about the gospel, talk about the scriptures, give priesthood blessings, woo with the goal of eternal marriage in the temple, go to church, and live as Mormons do in real life. Secularism is usually not present except for in the story antagonists.

Lastly, in the end, the law of the harvest is followed; characters reap a reward according to their works—good for good and evil for evil—in the form of realistic consequences. (The consequences need not be immediate, but they must be there.) These factors are essential for fiction to be “good Mormon” fiction.

In my reading, I found that just because an author was Mormon didn’t necessarily mean that they were writing for a Mormon audience.   Examples of this are Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game and Seventh Son. Ender’s Game doesn’t incorporate any Mormon characters and only mentions Mormonism in passing. Further, it doesn’t incorporate religious experience into the narrative. Seventh Son is harder to classify for several reasons. It is hard to tell whether it was written specifically for a Mormon audience because Mormon readers would recognize many elements from LDS church history woven into the story and would say that it is loosely based on the life of Joseph Smith Jr., while non-Mormon readers would not notice those elements. The story doesn’t have any Mormon characters in it, although it contains religious figures and religious experiences. It also incorporates some secularism, skepticism, and folk magic. In my opinion, these factors disqualify Seventh Son from being considered Mormon fiction. We can say that the above books qualify for the label “fiction by Mormons.”

However, it is not enough for fiction to have “good Mormon” qualities. It must also have “good fiction” qualities. This paper will compare and contrast a number of books by Mormon authors to determine what makes a piece of Mormon fiction into successful fiction.

Added Upon

Added Upon, by Nephi Anderson, takes as its overriding theme the entire gospel plan of salvation and seems to have all four elements of Mormon fiction. It has main characters who become Mormon, it incorporates gospel principles and practices, it follows the law of the harvest, and though it does a significant amount of explaining beliefs through the dialogue, it does this as part of scenes of missionary work.

However, a few things that prevented the book from becoming successful fiction for me were the artificiality of the missionary work, the distant treatment of the characters, the muting of conflict in some important places, the absence of conflict in others, and the lack of setting.

One of the things that makes the gospel preaching in Added Upon feel artificial is that Anderson has not established the deep need of the listening characters for the doctrine shared by the preaching characters. In real life, preaching occurs often without quite knowing ahead of time what the listeners need and can only be known by the Spirit. But in fiction, an author has the luxury of being able to create the need in his characters. Though doctrine about pre-mortality fits well into the book’s theme about the plan of salvation, Anderson fails to create the need for the gospel in his characters, so when they hear the gospel from other characters, their instant curiosity and acceptance of it seems contrived. This makes the missionary-type dialogue seem as if it is trying to convert the reader, rather than specifically addressing questions that the characters might legitimately have in their particular situation. Compared to the scripture discussions in Orson Scott Card’s Rachel and Leah and in Robison Wells’ Wake Me When It’s Over, the discussions in Added Upon don’t fit with the characters.

To Anderson’s credit, he successfully meshed the stories of the main characters, taking them from pre-mortality to post-mortality, but his character development leaves much to be desired, and this is probably due to the epic scope of his book. Since the pre-mortal section of the book is the first part, the distant and nearly anonymous treatment of the characters makes it very difficult for me as a reader to care about them. During the mortality section of the book, the most interesting descriptions are reserved for scenes that become life turning points, which give it the feeling of a family history narrative. Unfortunately, a number of traits of the characters seem undeveloped, and when they come into play, they are a total surprise to me. Rupert Ames is presented as a sturdy and upright character, and when he suffers complete financial downfall, it seems unbelievable. If this were successful modern fiction, Anderson would have sprinkled in little foreshadowing signs of this coming collapse.   (In Rachel and Leah, by contrast, Rachel’s reluctance about her upcoming marriage is appropriately built up so that her sudden fearful tantrums on her marriage night are totally believable.)

Even more odd, however, is the fourth part of the story in which the characters of the previous three parts only seem to play a very nominal part and are not directly identified. Anderson expects me as a reader to figure out who is who. This literary “Where’s Waldo” becomes tiresome and gives it the feeling of Hindu reincarnation rather than Mormon knowledge and intelligence rising with the reader into the next life with the same associations that existed in this life.

Another aspect that prevents Added Upon from becoming successful fiction is the dampening and muting of conflict. For instance, in the pre-mortal section, the war in heaven is depicted in such a tame way that it seems like a discussion instead of a war. All is quiet and reasoned conversation--no shouting, no arguing, no barbed testimonies flying back and forth, no fear-mongering, no pleading, no propaganda-izing, no mudslinging. There is none of the viciousness amongst the rebellious spirits that would be part of a war for souls. I thought it could be depicted more successfully if it were modeled after modern political campaigns. The conflict in Rachel and Leah between the sisters, though set in mortality, is much more realistic, exasperating as it is.

Similarly, there is a lack of meaningful conflict in the characters’ mortal lives after they accept the gospel. I don’t find this to be realistic Mormon life. If anything, struggles and opposition increases after a person joins the church as they must try to stay true to what they know. Rachel and Leah seems to successfully portray this as Leah becomes a calmer and less easily offended person yet still struggles with her handicap and with her feelings for Jacob on the eve of his marriage to Rachel.

Another factor that prevents Added Upon from becoming successful fiction is its lack of setting in the pre-mortal and post-mortal sections. This gives it an ethereal and unreal feeling. I wanted to be able to have a mental picture of the character in a particular place, so I was rather disappointed by this. I think that this story could have been made more successful by including strong settings for all the sections.

The lack of character development, meaningful and deep conflict, and the sporadic treatment of setting prevents Added Upon from being a successful work of fiction, and its sermonizing without corresponding character need prevents it from being effective Mormon fiction.

Dating: No Guts No Glory

Dating: No Guts, No Glory, by Joni Hilton, has a strong Mormon character that lives gospel principles and follows the law of the harvest as the protagonist finds a good Mormon man to marry after keeping her standards through harrowing dating experiences. Most of the Mormon aspects in this book come from the character’s faithful involvement in church activity, internal dialogue shared with the reader, and conversations between characters applying the gospel to dating. The question of whether it is written for Mormon readership is a little more complex, however. There is a lot of explaining and justifying of various careful dating practices, but there are no attempts to explain or justify most gospel principles, so it seems to be written for Mormon readers.

One of the cleverest things about this book is that for the most part, it teaches dating principles through its scenes in fun ways. An outstanding example of this is the church-sponsored dating panel scene in which girls ask a few guys a number of questions about dating. The dialogue expresses many bits of helpful advice about dating in a down-to-earth way, and it is interspersed with plentiful humor and careful attention to descriptive non-dialogue elements that make it easy to visualize the scene. The dating action of the story is also advanced in this scene, so it does work for the plot of the story. This is very successful.

Unfortunately, toward the end of the book, Hilton seems to have run out of ways to disguise dating advice and there are sections where the story action seems to take a backseat to the sermon. However, since these places are far fewer than other places where it is done successfully, and since the author built up strong street credibility with the humorous voice of the writing, I as a reader am able to overlook it.

Other elements that only serve to enhance this book are the strong humorous voice and first person point of view, which engages me from the first page. This allows the narrator to speak to the reader and share opinions and commentary (and advice) about the things that happen. The humorous tone makes it seem very down-to-earth and prevents the advice from seeming out-of-place. I also liked that as the story progresses, the main character progresses in knowledge and wisdom as well, learning from previous mistakes and being careful to not repeat them. This makes the main character seem very realistic to me.

In both Dating: No Guts, No Glory and Rachel and Leah, there is a lot of reflection. Dating consists of the narrator talking to the reader, while Rachel and Leah has a lot of internal dialogue with the characters talking to themselves. In the end, Rachel and Leah seems more successful because the internal dialogue only lasts as long as the character can stand it, whereas in Dating, the narrator easily can overdo dishing out the advice to the reader, causing the story to take a backseat.

Both Rachel and Leah and Dating have characters with the goal of trying to get married in the new and everlasting covenant. It is interesting to compare the different approaches. In Rachel and Leah, the characters don’t really date and have their eventual spouse in front of them most of the time and it is only a question of how they will get together. The outcome is already known. In Dating, the main character has no idea who she is going to marry and dates a whole bunch of guys until she settles on a guy that she previously wouldn’t have anything to do with. Unfortunately, the getting-to-know-you part of the story is not as satisfying because of its relative shortness in comparison to the rest of the book.   In Rachel and Leah it is a lot more satisfying because the characters are getting to know each other and learning to trust each other through most of the book.

Rachel & Leah

In Rachel and Leah, it is a little bit difficult to tell whether Orson Scott Card meant this book just for a Mormon audience or for a wider one. Writing about the matriarchs of the house of Israel as part of a narrative that is generally available and accepted by the world means that it could probably be appreciated by Mormons, other Christian denominations, and Jews. Mormon readers, however, are likely to be a little more comfortable with the impending prospect of Jacob’s polygamous marriage to Rachel and Leah (and eventually Bilhah and Zilpah).

Next we must consider whether Rachel and Leah fills the requirement that at least one of the characters be a Mormon or the equivalent. Since the significant characters are part of the everlasting covenant, which is a necessary part of Mormon beliefs, they can be considered a Mormon equivalent, even if the label “Mormon” wouldn’t exist for thousands of years.

Rachel and Leah incorporates a number of gospel principles into the story, such as things to look for in a spouse in order to have a good marriage, ways to read and interpret scripture, and how actions can lead to morality or immorality. The reader can see how these principles are followed (and sometimes not followed) and observe the consequences, which are realistic. The realistic consequences satisfy the Mormon fiction requirement of following the law of the harvest, so we can finally say that it fulfills the four requirements of Mormon fiction.

The main thing that made this story highly successful to me was the very close third person point of view that allowed the narrator to get right into the heads of the main characters. There is a lot of internal dialogue and thinking that I found very interesting. The reflective philosophical aspect creates a strong psychological effect that I personally would put in the same class as Shakespeare and Jane Austen. One could easily imagine translating the internal dialogue into a stage soliloquy. This is very understandable, considering Card first got his start writing plays.

Some other elements made this book successful as well. One of the difficulties with this story is that the reader already knows how the end turns out, so the reader’s interest has to be held by everything that happens in the middle. The book succeeds at this. Card crafts a unique character for each of the future wives of Jacob and gives each of them a strong voice and strong needs and desires. He does this by splitting the story between each of their viewpoints. He also sets up a number of different conflicts based upon those characters, and the effect of this was that I as a reader was eager to see how everything would work itself out. The best thing was that I was not disappointed; the resolution was wonderfully satisfying even though it was bitter-sweet.

Not only this, but I loved how Card incorporated ideas about good marriage, scripture reading, and moral living into the story and made them part of the characters’ conversations. The characters ask difficult questions of each other—like why people are born with handicaps and how to tell if a scripture applies to you or not—and really explore the options in a way that is both spiritually challenging and faith-promoting. The effect was inspiring and enlightening without being preachy because the characters were struggling with those issues and felt the need to think, learn, and discuss them with others.

One thing that I had trouble with in the story was how Card made Zilpah’s character so incredibly determined to flaunt her body at every opportunity with an attitude of scorn and derision for the men she distracts. It was made so blatant and malicious that it actually became as distracting from the story as her actions were to other characters. It is possible that Card was trying to make a point to women about dress standards. (Likely he has had to avoid looking at too many plunging necklines, and he was so tired of that that he decided to try and get the message out using his fiction.) It is interesting to contrast this with The Secret Journal of Brett Colton in which the main character (non-Mormon) seems innocently gleeful about wearing “hot” dresses and getting attention from guys because of it, but is not scornful of the guys she attracts. In this respect, it seems that The Secret Journal of Brett Colton is more of a reflection of actual female attitudes and thus is more successful in this particular respect.

The Secret Journal of Brett Colton

In The Secret Journal of Brett Colton, Kay Mangum incorporates the four factors of Mormon fiction, one of which manifests itself in a surprising way. One of the factors requires that a main character be Mormon or an equivalent. Secret Journal fulfills this with a non-Mormon main character that eventually converts because of the efforts of a Mormon supporting character. (Also, the Mormon supporting character features in a significant portion of the story so that the non-Mormon parts are balanced.) This looking into Mormonism from the outside in is a fascinating twist for a story written by a Mormon. Mangum succeeded in making the main character seem believably non-Mormon in that when she has religious ideas and teachings directed at her, she is moderately respectful, but not immediately convinced. The main character can be sarcastic and occasionally irreverent, but never so much that a conversion seems impossible. Rather, we can see that conversion is gradually coming.

Secret Journal also fulfills in an interesting way the requirement that Mormon jargon and principles be taken for granted and only explained in response to a character’s need. The Mormon supporting character is always looking at things through a religious perspective and sharing what he sees just because that’s the way he is. He spouts Book of Mormon stories and doctrine from time to time in the story, and the reader gets the impression that he does it because he has to and he’s happy about it. It’s his need that is satisfied by it. Somehow this doesn’t come off sounding preachy because these sections are kept brief and the dialogue ends in realistic ways with an interruption of some sort (as often happens in real life, just when you think you are getting somewhere).

Secret Journal incorporates priesthood blessings, Relief Society compassionate service meals, seeking forgiveness, and ideas about faith into the story in a way that they become necessary to the plot. We also see how actions from many years ago can still bear fruit. The whole idea of Brett Colton keeping a secret journal for the little sister he loves for her to read on her sixteenth birthday is a very creative way to show the reader an example of the law of harvest.

The thing that makes this book so appealing to me is the underlying theme that runs throughout the book of how loving voices from the dust can change lives. The main character changes as she finds out from her dead older brother’s journal how much he loved her and she changes even more when she reads The Book of Mormon, which he marked up for her to read. Mangum constructs the plot in such a way as to give this theme the greatest possible impact and it is very moving.

Another notable thing was the visceral almost instinctive way that the main character reacts to the religious things she is told. The reader can tell that the main character is thinking about what she has heard, although it would have been nice to see more rumination. In comparison to this, Leah in Rachel and Leah is more reflective, and the reader sees all of the thoughts that go through her mind so that when there is a sudden change as Leah tries to be better, it seems a little more believable. (In order for a character’s change to seem believable, the most successful fiction seems to have a lot of thinking and questioning and struggling and even misery that is visible to the reader to the point that it becomes obvious that it is better for the character to change than stay the same.)

The Secret Journal of Brett Colton is similar to Dating: No Guts, No Glory in that the main characters end up with guys that they previously disliked. I felt that Secret Journal was the more believable and satisfying of the two because the interactions between the girl and the guy were depicted throughout the book, whereas in Dating, the interactions between the girl and guy were traced out only in a general way in the very last chapter. The relational depth in Secret Journal compared to the shallow treatment in Dating shows Secret Journal to be more successful.

Wake Me When It’s Over

Wake Me When It’s Over, by Robison Wells, is another story that satisfies the four factors of Mormon fiction. The two main characters are Mormon, understanding of Mormon phraseology and institutions is taken for granted, the characters incorporate gospel principles and practices (such as giving priesthood blessings, singing hymns, going to church, and discussing scriptures) in their lives as they deal with their challenges, and in the end we see that good comes of their determination to do what is right, so the law of the harvest is followed.

The main thing that got me excited about this book as I was reading was that Wells had two of his main characters discuss a passage of Isaiah and one of the characters explained what it meant to the other. Why was I so excited by this? Several reasons. The explanation was nearly word for word of part of a lecture I listened to in a BYU religion class on Isaiah given by Victor Ludlow.   I felt an immediate connection with the author; we had had the same experience. Secondly, it pleased me to run across it unexpectedly in a work of fiction. Thirdly, it pleased me because the dialogue fit perfectly into the theme of the book and the action in the plot and satisfied the spiritual need of the character who listened to it. Something that also makes this stand out as special is that at least two other books—Seventh Son and On Second Thought—actually mentioned the Book of Isaiah and referred to it as confusing. Only Wake Me When It’s Over plunged into Isaiah, quoted it, and actually explained the quotation, and all in a way that wasn’t just a nod to the Mormon cultural confusion over Isaiah, but tried to alleviate it and apply it to the story!

There were some other aspects that pleased me and that seemed successful. Firstly, the characterization of the main character as self-deprecating and somewhat inadequate adds a lot of suspense to the story since it made me wonder how he is going to escape the difficult situations he is put into. Secondly, the antagonists of the story are very believable. All the things they do are consistent with trying to manipulate and intimidate the protagonists. Third, the beginning makes use of a braiding technique, jumping between tense scenes of kidnapping and scenes of back-story, and this moves the story quickly and also builds my knowledge of the characters. The contrast between the scenes is also skillful as it alternates between a dark, snowy night with physical discomfort and bright warm classrooms and secret crushes. I also liked how certain props and characteristics—pepper spray and double-jointedness—were set up early on and then cleverly incorporated into the story.

Unfortunately, there were also some aspects that I felt were not successful. I felt the description of scene was pretty sporadic. I didn’t get a very clear picture of where the characters were in their surroundings. Yet the author was always careful to describe the temperature. Warm or cold, I always knew it. The lack of scene caused the logistics of the action to seem confusing to me, so I couldn’t quite visualize what was happening in a way that made it seem believable. Further, toward the end of the story, I began to lose my grasp on why they were always running to and fro and what they were looking for. It changed from a “running-from-everybody” into a “searching-for-something” type of story.

I also did not find myself engaged by two of the main characters. I didn’t particularly care for the character of Rebekah. At times she aroused my pity, but I didn’t find her very compelling, probably because she always seemed so serious. The few times that she was laughing I didn’t find very funny. Also, the character of Isabella seemed to be both pretentious and self-defeating, even though Wells made her (accidently) the most powerful character in the book. Powerful and annoying. (In Rachel and Leah, Leah was an annoying character too, but over the course of the book she changed and became more lovable. Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for Isabella in Wake Me When It’s Over.)

Both Wake Me When It’s Over and The Secret Journal of Brett Colton had braided narratives. Wake Me mainly had it at the beginning to work back-story into the narrative while developing the plot, while Secret Journal had it in the middle over an extensive part of the book. The braiding of Wake Me seemed less successful because it seemed like it was contrived for the reader’s benefit for plot exposition, whereas the braided narrative in Secret Journal mimicked what the main character experienced as she read her older brother’s journal.

Even though there were some shining moments in this story, on the whole I didn’t find it quite as successful as a piece of fiction because of the plot, character, and setting problems.

Conclusion

To sum up, I found that Mormon fiction must incorporate four elements: it is written specifically for a Mormon audience who will understand the terminology, underlying principles, and institutions and not need an explanation, it contains at least one major Mormon character or an equivalent, it incorporates gospel principles as a necessary part of the plot, and it follows the law of the harvest with realistic consequences for the characters’ actions. Successful Mormon fiction tends to work those elements into the plot so deeply that the removal of one element unbalances the story.

Further, the literary elements must remain in balance. For instance, characters can puzzle over their problems and talk about them in depth with other characters, but reflection cannot be allowed to upstage the story, nor can the story be allowed to preclude reflection. As another example, character development must be consistent and engaging, and major character change must be sufficiently foreshadowed and built up. Impending marriages should be sufficiently built up with strong relationship exposition, and impending conversion should be built up, first with strong needs for truth and then with teaching that addresses those needs.   Finally, conflict can be meaningful, even when involving good characters, and conflict solution cannot be allowed to solve all a character’s problems forever. Based on the many good things I found in the books I read, I have great hopes for the future of Mormon fiction; it promises to become a lively movement and is just beginning to come into its own.

Book Review: Baptists at Our Barbeque, by Robert F. Smith

2010-05-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

Baptists at Our Barbeque, by Robert F. Smith

The plot (and tone) is almost identical to Robison Wells’ On Second Thought.
Similarities:

Protagonist goes to small town and discovers the quirkiness of the towns people
Protagonist meets beautiful girl there
Protagonist has total inferiority complex
A mystery occurs but is not the main focus of the book.

Things the book does very well:

Characterization is very strong and very amusing. The variety of quirks is astounding and intriguing. It definitely passes the Would-I-read-this-out-loud-to-my-husband Test.
Smith does a great job of using motifs at appropriate times.

Problems with the book:

The denouement of the mystery of the missing trailer half is confusing and the reader does not see how the clues fit together.
The policeman who solves the mystery reveals it all at the end with such excitement, except there is hardly any indication elsewhere in the story that the mystery was bothering him or that he was thinking about it. (There is lots of dialogue from other characters, but hardly anything from him.)
The clues the policeman reveals seem like they came out of nowhere, since the reader didn’t know that information. All the reader knew was that Mary hated the church. Perhaps if Rich had been seen several times hanging around Mary’s place at unexpected times, it might give a better idea that he was involved.
As a reader, I was somewhat disturbed by the idea of Rich’s body left out in the wilderness with such unconcern. This felt like a loose end that was left dangling.
The character Rich is a significant source of persecution in the book, yet the protagonist does not seem bothered psychologically by this. Yet visiting recalcitrant members seems to evoke a lot more fear and dread. This does not seem quite emotionally consistent.

These problems are so small though, that it did not interfere my enjoyment of the book.

Does this book fit my requirements for Mormon literature?

The book seems written specifically for the Mormon audience.
The protagonist and the love interest are faithful Mormons. As a reader I was able to identify with them through both their good choices and mistakes. We get to see Mormon culture with a significant number of warts, but without mean-spiritedness or cynicism. It exposes a good bit of hypocritical attitudes and off-base thinking through humor and absurdity.
Gospel principles are discussed in relation to the story events. The protagonist speculates freely about what God has in store for their life. The characters have spiritual experiences, pray, give priesthood blessings, baptism, home teach, and have church meetings and counsel. (These incidents seem predominantly intended to create the Mormon atmosphere of the book, but they do move the story along in a very subtle way.) Much of the heavy lifting is done with humor. The characters are even able to joke about their spiritual standing and the spiritual standing of those around them.
The law of the harvest is followed. Justice is done and evil is not glorified.

Do I recommend this book?
Yes. It was a fun read.