Writing Workshop

I'm very excited to announce my participation in a brand new writing workshop.

Making a Scene, Telling a Story will be the first of what we hope turns into an annual writing event.

I'll be co-teaching this workshop with fellow writer Elizabeth Wagner at the Transfiguration Hermitage in Windsor.

Featuring a blend of lecture, discussion and readings, the workshop will provide a safe and nurturing environment for novice and seasoned writers alike.

The event is set for September 29 from 10am to 3pm. I'm excited to get things underway.  Keep your fingers crossed that this goes smoothly as I continue to work on this exciting project.  More information can be found at www. transfigurationhermitage.org

If "Who's at the Door?" were a movie....

Every once in a while, people say "Wouldn't it be cool if your book was made into a movie?"

Yes, that would be cool!  But it's never going to happen.  No sex. No drugs. No rock and roll.  It would have to be on the Hallmark channel or something.


But just for fun, I decided to put a cast together.  Keep in mind, this is just for kicks.



Michael Rosenbaum as me. I'm the main character after all!

Why I chose him
Rosenbaum could be pensive as Lex Luthor on Smallville, but also funny in his voice portrayal of The Flash in the Justice League cartoon. Most importantly, he can manage the right hair style.

Besides, hollywood makes everyone better looking than they are in real life.

Challenges
Rosenbaum will have to act slightly more goofy to be an accurate portrayal of myself.  Plus, he'll have to come off a little more naive, since I feel that way about many things whether dealing with religion or life. 



Jensen Ackles from Smallville as Elder Childs.

Why I chose him
Elder Childs was always popular with the ladies (He's married now so hold your horses) and so is Jensen Ackles on Supernatural.  On Supernatural, Ackles plays Dean Winchester, a character known for his social skills and leadership ability. Plus, no one will ever accuse either of them of breaking a camera lens. 


Challenges
Ackles will need to dye his hair blond, and he'll have to be more wholesome than his tough guy character on Supernatural.  Still, I think he could pull off the role.

Vin Diesel as Elder Dowling

Why I chose him

They've got the same hair style and similar stern expressions.  They are not guys you want to mess with.

Challenges

Vin is a little old to play Dowling.  He'll also have to pull back on the intimidation factor a bit.  The essence of Elder Dowling is "I'm a nice guy, but don't make me angry." 






Sally Fields as Sister Ruth.

Why I chose her

Every Catholic loves "The Flying Nun" and I even allude to the show in my book.  Sister Ruth was a prominent figure in the religious education of my childhood, and I want her portrayed correctly.
Plus, Sally is now about the age of the Sister Ruth I remember.

Challenges

Nun (or should I say none?).  Sally Field can fly! She can do anything!




Seth Green as Elder Kelsey.

Why I chose him
The red hair.  Plus, he could pull off the famous "donut incident."  He can be both serious and funny, a must for anyone portraying Elder Kelsey

Challenges
Green is too old and much too short for the role.  We'll have to use poetic license here.







WWE star Jack Swagger as Elder Bailey


Why I chose him
I used to call Elder Bailey the "Alaskan Mauler" because, although he had a very young face, he was a giant who could be in the WWE.  According to Swagger's stats: he's 6'6"  This is a hair taller than Bailey, but Hollywood always exaggerates.

Challenges

Swagger will have to come across as likable, and I hope he has some acting skill.







There are a lot more characters I could have picked from, but this list took a LONG time to create.  One notable exception is Elder Luke, who is a big character in the story.  After racking my brain, I just could not come up with an actor who could fulfill the stoic role.

Anyway, I got a kick out of making this list.  I hope you get a kick out of it too. Let's hope James Cameron is watching....

Looking for a great Veteran's Day movie?

Happy Veteran's Day to all the vets out there!

Last year, I wound up writing a story about the stars and creators of "The Way We Get By," an incredible documentary about troop greeters in Maine.  If you haven't seen this film, it's a perfect Veterans Day movie.

The cast and creators were wonderful people--unsung heroes who get little attention, and this documentary is brilliant all the way around.  It was such a blessing to meet and interview these people.


After I finished my interview, one of the creators said they "loved me" because I was such a sweet person. It was so touching that someone who had witnessed and documented such a caring story express similar appreciation for me. I certainly felt undeserving. Below is a preview of "The Way We Get By" from youtube. I highly recommend it. You can get the whole film on amazon here and here.

Our little escapes

 It's been a while since my last blog post.  Sorry about that.  Time escapes me so quickly, and to that end, I post my next blog entry in honor of Halloween and haunted stories...


Many readers tell me that a good book should help them escape. They're usually pretty vague after that, as if the word "escape" covers it.

It's up to our imagination to guess what so many people want to escape from: their troubles, their cares, monotony itself.

But then I realize that for the writer, it doesn't matter what each person wants to leave behind, only that they want to leave something behind. It's my job to make whatever is on the page more introspective and interesting than the personal problems a reader may have at the moment.

This, I think, is also the essence of Halloween. It's a night to throw-off the mundane, to be less serious, to discard the ordinary.

It seems a little morbid that so many of us want to enter another person's reality in order to gain respite from our own. Whenever we pick up a book, it offers the chance to trade our problems for another person's.

Fortunately for writers most people are willing to make this bargain.

Why spend time on taxes, bills, the dishes, or taking out the trash? No. People would much rather run from Michael Meyers, hunt vampires, or try to survive a zombie apocalypse. Scary stories can make hearts race and palms sweat. When was the last time household chores ignited our need to survive?

So to the goal of escapism, I raise a toast of Halloween cider. For if a good story helps us escape, then what is an author but an escape artist?

Unlike Harry Houdini, us authors don't have to chain ourselves up and get in our underpants to do our job. We can do it from the safety of our keyboard.

For the writer, then, there's a little escapism too.

You didn't think the readers had all the fun, did you?

Something to make you smile

Can you listen to this song without smiling?  Take the challenge.

Quick update/Happy 4th!!!!

It's strange how quickly time goes by when you're blogging. 

I gave a public reading of "Who's at the Door?" at the Gardiner Public last week and had 25 people attend.  It was a great experience, and several LDS expressed gratitude for my willingness to write a human interest story about them.

Next up, I have a reading at the Bangor Public Library July 14.

Until then, I hope everyone has a chance to enjoy their Independence Day.

Mormons in the Media, but can the paper really tell us the "facts"?

It's being called "The Mormon Moment." 

Thanks to Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney, the media is covering Mormonism with a whole new gusto.  You can take the Mormon history quiz at the Huffington Post (which I aced because I'm that slick) or you can read the Newsweek article "Mormons Rock" or if you're in New York, you might even check out The Book of Mormon musical.

Mormon Times' writer Lane Williams isn't all that impressed with the attention.  His column at Mormon Times laments the recent coverage stating that "there seemed little new beyond recycled news frames of the last few decades."


But the larger question is, how much can the media really tell us?  Religion of any sort gets terse treatment in the news.  We can only get the overview in a two minute segment or even a ten page article.  There simply isn't space to get into the nitty-gritty.

And let's face it, with Mormonism, there's a lot of nitty-gritty.

There are a lot of "facts" that get disputed over and over.  As a church investigator, I looked into the history of the Book of Mormon people.  I wanted to know about the possible existence of the Nephites, but what I found was an endless debate over every detail.

Eventually everyone sounded like the adults in Charlie Brown.  "Wah Wah Wah Wah."

It seems that few (if any) non-Mormon scholars believe that the Nephites ever existed.  Why?  For one, the Book of Mormon mentions lots of things that were not known to be in America during pre-Columbian times. 

Perhaps the most famous example has to do with horses. The book mentions horses, but most scientists say there were no horses in the Americas at that time.

But don't say that too loud or apologists like Michael Ash will remind you of 100 reasons why a horse could be a tapir or a deer or another animal that you may have never considered to be what Joseph Smith translated as "a horse."

I doubt the media will ever cover debates like this. Why?  Because these stories don't sell papers.  It's a tempest in a teapot, and no one cares.

In fact, a single article on Mormonism could never do the topic justice. It's a richly layered subject that involves personal faith, archeology, DNA, and personal histories of men who didn't want everything they did blasted to the public (google Nauvoo Expositor). 

Expecting a newspaper to cover all that seems naive to me, especially when so many elements of Mormon history come with baggage.

The Virgin Mary...Surfing?

I don't love graffiti, but I do love the Surfing Madonna mosaic that has recently popped up in California.
(Actually, it's been there since Good Friday, but I just found out about it.)

At first the mosaic seemed to spring up out of nowhere, and it was quite a mystery.  But it was the kind that California residents loved.  Apparently, the artist was so clever that he disguised himself as a construction worker doing maintenance.  Check out the news story this video:

The artist has more recently come forward.  His name is Mark Patterson, and he's not even Catholic.  Instead, he says he felt inspired to bring attention to the cause of saving the ocean. You can see it clearly says "Save the Ocean" on the side of the mosaic.

See an interview with the artist at this link: 

Despite the wonderful art this man crafted, the problem is that the city is calling it graffiti because he didn't get permission to do it first.  To me, that really was pretty stupid...or was it?

Had the piece gone in a museum, would anyone have talked about it? 

This man clearly wants to bring attention to his cause, but it's being overshadowed by the religious symbolism in the photo.  I've already read some comments from Catholics who say it's inappropriate, but I happen to like it.

The image of the virgin is clearly based off "The Virgin of Quadalupe."

 As the story goes, the Virgin Mary appeared to a Mexican man named Juan Diego in 1531 and told him to build a church.   The local bishop didn't believe the story, so Diego asked Mary for proof that he saw her.  She told him to place some roses in his cloak.  When the roses were removed, the above image on his cloak.

Now I actually prefer this image, which shows Juan Diego as well.

Now that I know about Morminism, I can't help but see the resemblance to Joseph Smith and the First Vision, which seems to be the most popular image among Latter-Day Saints.

Anyway, I hope the surfing Madonna stays, and I'll be interested to see what happens next.

I'm in the Salt Lake City Weekly

Well, not really me, but my book is!

The Salt Lake City Weekly justgave a positive review of "Who's at the Door?" stating:

Harrington is at his best when discussing how learning from the missionaries is similar to Catholic catechism classes with a nun named Sister Ruth he attended as a child...Who’s at the Door... demonstrate(s) the journey can be just as interesting to read about as the destination

Go Sister Ruth!   She's one of my favorite characters in my memoir but rarely ever gets a mention.  In fact, I wish I had written more about her.

I actually added Sister Ruth and the catechism scenes halfway into writing the book. I wanted an extra layer to change pace from all the missionary scenes.  I'm glad good ole Sister Ruth gets a mention.

This reviewer compares my book with another one about LDS Church Prophet Wilford Woodruff. 

Read the full review here.

Love those Libraries!

I've started scheduling a library tour around Maine, and I'll tell you a secret.  Maine librarians are awesome!

In very short order, I've already lined up public readings in Gardiner and Bangor.

I'll keep you posted on my progress, but right now I'm scheduled for the following:

Gardiner Public Library
June 29th 6:30 - 8pm

Bangor Public Library
July 14th 5:30 - 7pm

Portland Public Library
February 2012
(Yes, that's 2012)

I'll probably create a tab on the right as a more permanent place for my schedule. 

Keep your fingers crossed for me as I venture into the wild land of libraries!

Deadline: how an old enemy became a good friend

Deadline.

I've always hated that word.  It reminds me too much of words like "homework" and "chore."  You know, those really nasty concepts that could ruin entire weekends.

It took a long time for me to realize how important deadlines are.

Before I was published, back when I wrote only fiction, deadlines were a rather aloof topic.  People would ask when I would write a book or get a story out.  The truth was that I didn't know.  I always answered in vague timetables like "later" or "this year."

Finally, I got tired of my own procrastination and started working for a local newspaper.  That's where I learned how to write and how to write fast.

No longer could I tell someone "I'll write it later" or "this year."  Stories were due often a few hours after I interviewed someone.

At first, this terrified me.  I had always told myself that I could write a really good story if I were given more time.  I'll admit that sometimes that's true, but procrastination is never the answer.

In 2010, I pushed myself to the limit by signing up for what became a 22 part series for my newspaper.  I had always wanted to do a series, and I was thinking big--something that would really make me stick out.  I wanted to profile prominent Mainers for their success across the state.

This meant I would have to snag interviews with busy hard-to-reach people, write stories and turn them in well before my usual deadline.  My editor wanted it to be a front-page series, so there was no fudging the dates.  I agreed, and to this day, I surprised myself.



I took this picture in 2010 when I interviewed author and actress Victoria Rowell. It made the front page along with my story.  Everyone I knew was shocked that I got to meet her. In Maine, she's known from her roles in prime-time series like "Diagnosis Murder" and "Dumb and Dumber" with Jim Carey.



During that time, I interviewed people like Victoria Rowell from "The Young and the Restless,"  former Maine governor Angus King, UFC Fighters Marcus Davis and Tim Boetsch, and New York Times Bestselling author Tess Gerritsen, among many others.

I churned the stories out as fast as I could because half my time was spent scheduling interviews, some of which never worked out.
  



But more importantly, I learned more about myself and what I could accomplish.  I just needed a deadline to do it.


Here's a pic of UFC fighter Tim "The Barbarian" Boetsch (right) in action.  Due to his training schedule, I wasn't able to meet Tim, but he spoke to me over an hour on the phone.   His UFC record is an impressive 16-4.  He knocked this opponent, Mike Patt, out in the first round at UFC 88.


I learned that there are too many stories that need attention.  As a writer, each one is a step in improving your craft.

Writing is a lot like lifting weights.  If you want to see results, you don't start working out the night before your big date.  You have to do it consistently over time.

Sometimes you won't lift that much.  Sometimes you might drop the weights.  But what matters is that you're doing it.  Only by lifting weights do you see results, and only by writing do you finish a story.

The thing I hated most--the deadline--helped me finally become a writer.  Now with more than 200 articles published in various newspapers and magazines, I've come to recognize the deadline as an ally in the continuous battle against procrastination.

If you need to organize your ideas, make a deadline. Nothing will light a fire like that.

If you want to write fiction every week, create a writers group.  Nothing will make you write more than sharing your work with others on a regular basis.

Only writing will make you a writer, and if you're anything like me, you need a deadline to make you write.

New LDS review

I got another glowing review today from LDS writer Melissa Cunningham.

She writes "I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved [Who's at the Door?] It was fast paced, interesting and very funny. I busted up laughing numerous times. My kids gave me a lot of funny looks....
A special relationship grows between the missionaries and the people who investigate the church. Dan explains these feelings and emotions beautifully. He is easy to relate to as he tells this profound story."

You can read the full review here.


I am so thankful for all the great reviews I've gotten out of Utah and other places.  They seem to prove that you can write about another faith respectfully.

Another Book Review

LDS writer Angie Lofthouse recently praised my book on her blog, calling it "compelling, beautifully written and quite poignant."  Few compliments are higher than that.

You can read the full review here.

Mormon Times Book Review

Mormon Times, a prominent LDS publication, gave a short review of my book.  For some reason, the online review is shorter than the review in the paper, but I can't complain.  I was very excited to get this story in the paper. 

Check it out!

Sunday Song (on Monday): "A Heart Like Mine"

I heard this country song on the way home, and it's been in my head ever since.  The chorus emphasizes Jesus own humanity, which is juxtaposed with his divine miracles.

I recently heard a Franciscan priest say that one reason God became flesh was to share an intimate union with his creation.  By making Himself one of us, He became visible, thereby, a little easier for us to understand and reflect.  He experienced humanity and what it means to be human, and therefore knows our struggles and concerns in an intimate way.

The song also brought these scripture verses to mind:

Luke 5:30-32
³⁰ But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?”
 ³¹ Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. ³² I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”

Instead of writing a long blog, I'll let the song speak for itself.

Author Talk: The Hook

I spoke to a creative writing class this week at the University of Maine Augusta, and it was awesome.  I only prepared a 40 minute discussion, but the talk lasted 1.5 hours.  The students and instructor were enthusiastic and had a lot of questions about my writing and how I got published.

I spent part of my presentation talking about the hook.  The hook is the first sentence or two of the story, but in fiction, I will sometimes say it includes the entire first page.

The importance of the hook never caught me when I was younger.  Back then, I thought it was perfectly fine for my story to "get good" on page 20, 15, or even 50.  The reader was going to be patient, right?

Wrong.

Editors I met at workshops admitted that when they get an unsolicited manuscript from a newbie author, they give the story 3 pages or less.  If it doesn't catch them in that time, they stamp a "reject" on it.

We have to remember that editors get tons of manuscripts every month--affectionately referred to as the "slush pile."  

When I first heard this information years ago, it seemed cruel. Three pages wasn't enough to tell if the story had potential, right?

Well, experience teaches us a lot.  As I've grown, my patience--like those editors--has thinned out.  I now realize how important the first page is.  Coming up with a good first sentence and paragraph for your story should be on the radar of any serious writer.

One thing writing for newspapers has taught me is how important the hook is.  It's the first impression for the reader.  They often read that and the headline to decide to read or skip your piece.  I spend more time on my hook than I do on most other sentences.

Here's the example I used in the class:

After interviewing pro-wrestler "The Franchise" Shane Douglas, whose real name is Troy Martin, for my newspaper article, I wanted to mention how he used to get in trouble with his mom for wrestling with his brothers and sisters.

So I wrote this:

Troy Martin used to get in trouble for being rowdy with his brothers and sisters.  Now he gets paid for the same behavior.

The hook was all right, but I took three issues with it.  1) His brothers and sisters were irrelevant to the rest of the story.  2) What was meant by "used to?"  Last week, last month?  3) The vernacular phrase "get in trouble" could mean "jail."

So I eventually re-shaped the sentence to read:

As a boy, Troy Martin was scolded by being rowdy.


This new hook added a descriptive verb "scolded" to highlight that the "trouble" he faced wasn't serious.  It was rambunctious play, not petty crimes.  I also added the "As a boy" clause to provide a clear time.


The second sentence still annoyed me because I didn't like ending with "the same behavior."  The phrase felt too technical, and I wanted it to be fluid.

This is the final version of the hook I created for the piece.

As a boy, Troy Martin was scolded for being rowdy.  Now he gets paid for it.

This felt like a fun, but narrow hook that focused on a single idea.

My only problem was that the first sentence was passive voice.  To make it active, I would have to include his mother in the sentence because she had performed the action of the verb: the "scolding."  I debated this back and forth, but in the end, I thought the passive voice read fine in this instance.

I was right.

My editor liked the hook and the story enough to put it on the front page of the newspaper.  As the lead story for the entire day, it took up most of the front page.

I shared this anecdote with the class to show the kind of thought process that goes into creating a hook.

It's something I do every time I write for the paper, but I've never shared it with anyone until now.

On a personal note, despite having nearly 200 articles published and making the front page of a weekly newspaper 22 weeks in a row, I had never been on the front of a daily.

So I reached a new milestone in my career where the front page of the daily was possible.

To commemorate this, The Franchise signed my article, and it's now framed in my home. 

Just in case you don't know who "The Franchise" is, he's worked in every major wrestling promotion in the U.S. including WWE, WCW, and ECW.

Encounter with a conversion story: she prayed to find the right church

Check out this video about a girl who converted to Catholicism.  It reminds me very much of all the stories I've heard about the LDS Church. 

The similarities are uncanny, especially when she, as a non Catholic, once thought of the church as "weird" and "a cult." 

If you removed the word "Catholic" and re-worded a belief or two, this story sounds exactly like some of the LDS testimonies I've heard over the years.  She even prayed to find the right church to belong to.

Mormons hear stories like this from members every Sunday.  I thought this was a nice take on something I rarely hear Catholics say.

My favorite place--the front page!

I haven't been doing as many freelance articles lately because I've had to concentrate on book promotion.

However, here's one notable exception.  I made the front page of a large daily paper with a story about pro-wrestling star "The Franchise" Shane Douglas.  Shane, whose real name is Troy Martin, has worked in every major U.S. wrestling promotion including ECW, WCW, TNA, and WWE.

Check my story out here. 

I'm in Provo's Daily Herald!

The Daily Herald of Provo Utah has a big feature story about me and my book in today's edition!!!

I was very excited when the reporter called me, but I had no idea how many other calls he would make.  Cody was very thorough, and I appreciate his hard work.

This is the first time I've been in a Utah newspaper, and it's truly an honor!

My favorite part about the story is that they included quotes from some of my own missionaries. (The two on the cover as a matter of fact!)  Cody asked me for their phone numbers, and I was excited that both Childs and Dowling got to speak with him.

You can see the story here.

When was the word "Catholic" first used?

I learned this a long time ago, but I just found this video.  Everything's more fun (and easier to recall) when you watch it as a video.