Transistions

Each week it feels like a little bit more of the dissertation stress melts away.  This is a good thing, although I'm still working through the transition.

While we always have fun creative projects on the list, I'm finally in a place to get some of them done!  And look at potential employment opportunities, think about getting the house ready to sell, wondering where we will end up...AND forcing myself to not get overwhelmed and enjoy the next downshift from doctoral candidate stress.

So, here are some of the fun creative things that have been going on in our house....

First....

Forever Mountain Publishing has inventory!!!!!

This is a box of Patrick's novel Johnson Farm.  It has been available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble as an ebook, but the paperbacks are actually here!!!

After the armed forces were put away...

...an aircraft carrier took their place.

Since dissertation is done...

...that means more time for knitting...














...which means more yarn!

And some creative endeavors are still related to work...

...like that would really stop.

Lastly...

Overhead in the Kidder house...

{Giggles}

What are you up to?

I just catapulted a fairy.

Why did you do that?

Look how far she went!  She wanted to fly!  See, doesn't she look like she wants to fly?

The way her legs are positioned, I think she wants to dance.

(I'm not saying who said/did what...)

The real reason Lisa prefers I go to conferences with her...

Yeah... We're going to get to what's in the title... But first...

Yesterday was the re-dedication of the Idaho Falls temple. We attended the first session via the broadcast to our stake center (and we were grateful for not having to deal with two and a half hours of meetings before church and choir practice after...). It was good, and we're glad to have the temple open again!

Lisa is working on developing articles from her dissertation and teaching (again). She's also got some interesting knitting projects going on and just went to a conference (which she can talk about if she wants to...)

Over on my side of the office I'm editing Going Home the Hard Way, a follow on novel to Johnson Farm.

And by the way...

The proof  for the novel is in and the production run started this morning... I should have actual books available late next week (No you can't have the first one... That one is staying on my shelf...)

Hard Way is going well. There is a lot of work going on with it, but I think that in the end the story will be stronger than the first one. Some of the subject matter is definitely proving more challenging to write...

Speaking of challenging...

There will be a third book in the series which technically is happening in parallel with the first two. This one will be the biggest challenge yet and is one of the reasons Hard Way is taking longer to write. As I've said it's a parallel story to Johnson Farm and Hard Way, which means I need to make sure things match up at some points. But that's not the hard part...

Johnson Farm and Hard Way are told from the point of view of a 14 year old boy. The third book, which currently has the working title of Jamie's Story (but that may not be the final title), has two point of view characters. That's still not the hard part...

One of the two points of view is that of Jamie, a 14 year old girl... This is going to make things really complicated. I've done the 14 year old boy thing (some people say I'm still doing the 14 year old boy thing...), but I've never been a 14 year old girl (or any kind of girl for that matter!). This means I've been doing a lot of thinking about how to write this.

One of the steps I've taken is calling in a little help to get me in the right mindset. I've had the daughter of a friend of ours do a little decorating on the notebooks I intend to use for notes and the actual writing of Jamie's part of the story...

Funny thing number one: This is the only blue one I gave her to work on... I never told her I was using blue for notes...

Nothing weird here. This one just fits the subject matter...

Funny thing number two: The footprints actually make sense with a couple things that happen in Johnson Farm... Again I never told her about them and she hasn't read the book yet... (And you're going to have to read it if you want to know what I'm talking about...)

 Again nothing weird here... Just a pretty flower (and you'll have to read all three books to disprove that...)

Once again a young artist does an extraordinary job for one of the books. This time it's something to help me write the book instead of a finisher, but it's still great and much appreciated.

Ok... So... What does any of this have to do with the title?

Well, I did say some people still think I'm a 14 year old boy at heart...

Well, I mentioned Lisa went to a conference (I had work that needed to be done here so I didn't go... )

Well, you may remember these guys from last post...

Well... They kind of did a little construction while Lisa was gone...

Yeah... I was busy even when I wasn't working...

The whole thing has been taken down now, but it would be feasible to do it again (and possibly better!). Of course I'm not planing on doing so (yeah... and I'm not building an aircraft carrier on the table instead...)

That's it for now. See you next post.

Postgrad Paradise?

Well, Lisa is getting de-stressed from the whole PhD program. It's quite a process as she has been working full time and going to school for several years...

This means she's doing a lot of knitting (as well as working, and teaching, and music for church, and...). But, you know Lisa... She finishes one project and starts another.

And that means..

That's right!!!

Miniature siege artillery!!! (Seriously we built these as part of family home evening last night...

Over on his side of the house Editor in Chief (or was that Lord High Executioner?) Patrick's second book - Johnson Farm is officially on the market as an E-book! The physical edition is at the printer as we speak, so those copies are likely to start cropping up soon...

The next novel is Going Home the Hard Way. It's probably coming out next year (there's a smaller book in the works for the fall and another big book project in the works too).

In the mean time we also both survived birthdays, and had a good time doing it...

The knife in the center has an obsidian blade and those are Idaho opals in the handle. We picked it up in Spencer, Idaho on an opal hunting trip (there are other opals but we want somebody who's a little more of an opal specialist to work on them...).

The little soldier dudes were part of the birthday fun.
And they definitely seem to be up to something...

What are they up to? What new adventures are we going to find ourselves in? Will Patrick actually loose his mind working on this next book?

For the answers to these and other questions tune in to the next post at The Adventures of Patrick and Lisa (And some of you (you know who you are...) should also tune in at the family reunion...).

Well, I guess there's really not much else to say,
Except...

See you next post!

Graduation and new projects...

Ok, lets get the first one out the door (we  know it's what you came here to read about anyway...)

Lisa has officially graduated with her doctorate! Which is a real accomplishment (and gives her the right to wear a silly hat...)

In this pic she's on stage and about to get officially 'hooded' as a doctor...

Would someone explain to the camera person that I am smiling... (seriously... look at the other pics on this blog...)

Here's Lisa with her partners in crime (also graduates of the program).

I'm really proud of Lisa. And I'm going to let her tell her version of the story of this adventure before I say too much... So, on to other things...

What you are looking at here is the reason I got a really good deal on a rifle (it also happens to be the action of a Marlin model 60 I picked up to celebrate Johnson Farm being launched). Basically the guy who owned it previously didn't clean the action... That means it started jamming up on him, and after I cleaned it up it looks pretty new. Unfortunately thanks to the weather and our project load I haven't had a chance to test fire it yet (stay tuned for this and other fun!).

Yes, I did mention Johnson Farm being launched... The e-book version is ready for me to proof (it should be on sale on the 20th...) and a small run of physical books will be available fairly soon. I'm not going to talk about that too much right now (the focus really should be on Lisa's accomplishment...), but it's happening...

As a final item...

This is the best adaptation of Land of Confusion I've heard since the original video in the 1980's...
This is a great Rogue One tribute...
And...

There's a hint to what's special about the third Johnson Farm book  in there... (more than one maybe?)

See you next time...

Dissertation Defense...Check!

Well, it is done.

It still feels a bit surreal, but good.

I know we've usually been posting on Monday evening, but even last night words just didn't seem to work themselves together to give you a good description.

Sunday, I would tell people it was like a giant sigh.  I can still feel parts of my body releasing the tension.  I'm not sure some of those muscles have relaxed in a very long time.

The defense process is an interesting one.  You have this committee of 5, who have read, reread, and advised you through this entire process.  But the defense is that time to present the whole thing, in defense that you have done what it takes to complete the degree.  It felt very much like everyone there was a witness to my learning.  But I only had 30 minutes to present it all!

I'm not sure I could capture all that I have learned in this process.  There were definitely times of stress, and times of excitement.  But overall, I'm glad I took this journey.

If you'd like to know about my study you can watch my 3 Minute Thesis competition from 2015.  It doesn't include the results.  I ended up with a small sample size, but some very interesting differences between Time and Tool in feelings of disorientation.

I'm not sure what is next on the horizon.

But in many ways, I do...

Patrick's novel will come out in May.

He will continue to write.

I will continue with teaching, learning, and technology.

We will continue to share our adventures.

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Oh, and lots of knitting!

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First I want to congratulate Lisa and thank her for finishing her doctorate (Oh come on, you didn't really think I wasn't going to comment did you? ). In general I'm going to say, "Yeah, what she said...". In specific: "...will continue to write." That would imply it was possible for me to stop...
Take care everybody and see you in the next one...

The end is in fight??? (yes pun inteded people...)

Well, I missed posting last week (almost missed posting this week...).

On Patrick's side of the office the Johnson Farm Kickstarter closed Friday. It didn't fund the backup plan (you did realize there is  a backup plan right?) kicked in and we are somehow still on course for a May release! (Just not the way I'd initially planned...)

On Lisa's side of the office... Lisa is doing her dissertation defense this Friday (which means you can start calling  her Dr. Kidder on Saturday... ( Don't worry you won't have to call me doctor... yet...). So, she's pretty busy and I'm going to let her tell you all about it next week.

Tonight we just had a major meeting on getting books printed (you know since we both have books to print and such...) and will have more news to share soon. In the mean time...

I'd like to thank Drwhoforever96, the BBC, and Guns and Roses for summing up this month so far pretty well...

See you next week...

Johnson Farm - ONLY Available via Kickstarter until April 7th!

Writing is something Patrick has wanted to do for a long time.  We have worked together to make sure he has the time and the space to write.

His first novel is ready!

You now need to contribute to the Kickstarter project to...

1) Get a copy of the book for you,
2) Get some extra swag (who doesn't like extras?)

and

3) Support Patrick (and me)

Click the image to get your copy!

What is Kickstarter?

In order to publish Johnson Farm in hard copy - we need the money to pay the bookbinder.  (For those of you who know the story...remember when Joseph Smith needed to find the money to publish the Book of Mormon?  The process has not changed too much - you need money to get the books to sell the books.  Once everyone likes his stories and keeps buying them, then a company will take interest and offer to do some of this work for him.)

Kickstarter is a way to crowd source the funding to get Johnson Farm in hard copy.

The way is works is people commit to the project, and IF the project is funded, then the money comes out of your bank and your reward is sent out.

If the project does not get FULLY funded, then you have lost no money.  But that means Johnson Farm will not be available in hard copy in May. 😢😞

Yes, you will need to create an account on Kickstarter.
Yes, you will need to pick a pledge option.
No - your money will not be taken out of your account today.  It will come out in the middle of April - but only if the project is fully funded.

Why Should You Get a Book Now?

If the Kickstarter project does not fully fund, we will have to go to plan B or C or D.  (There are back-up plans).  But that means the book will not be available in hard copy this year, and maybe not even next year.

Many of you have expressed a desire to read Patrick's writing - now is the time to support him for all the hard work he has done.  The Kickstarter page has some insights into the story behind the story. (You might also want to follow me on instagram for other insights.) 

Writing is Hard Work

I ran across the image below on twitter today.  I just want to same that this has seldom been the case with Patrick.  He has a plan every day and writes every day.  Sure he has had some days when the writing was more difficult, but he has consistently written everyday (except Sundays, well, sometimes you can't control when ideas come, so they get quickly jotted down to get added to the plan for Monday.)  I am so proud of the work he has accomplished and know that you will enjoy this story (and the others to come).

Kafka's diaries show the real fun side of writing. pic.twitter.com/h7UWC7UFVR

— Matt Haig (@matthaig1) March 19, 2017

If you've reached this far - your next step is: Go to the Kickstarter: Johnson Farm page and put your order in!

The clock is ticking...

T minus 32 (or was that 39...)

Yep, me again posting a little earlier than usual because things are brewing...

First, Lisa's dissertation defense is scheduled for April 14th at 9:00 AM! (That means that after about noon on the 14th people need to start calling her Doctor Kidder (Patrick will be maintaining his title as Lord High Executioner...)). So, um, yeah... She's a little busy right now...

On the other side of the house we are now taking pre-orders for my novel Johnson Farm...
And this time I did make the video...




When you go to the Kickstarter page (where you can preorder the book...) you will notice there are a lot of options to get some extra swag in addition to the book. Now, here for readers of this blog, I'm putting in an added bonus!

Added bonus!

There are two $500 pledge slots on the Kickstarter page. The two lucky people who choose them have the opportunity to name something (a school, hospital or teacher) in the second book. If someone who reads this blog, were to make one of those pledges (or get a family member to (hint hint...) in addition to the school, hospital or teacher there is an entire town in Northern Idaho which goes unnamed in the first book that will be named in the third book! That means a reader of this blog who makes one of those pledges (or successfully motivates someone to make that pledge) could be naming a town in Northern Idaho! (Note: if two people who are readers of this blog make $500 pledges the first one will have the choice of naming the town or a character in the third book! The other reader/pledger will then get to name which ever the first didn't choose).  If these criteria apply to you - add a comment below stating the date you put in your pledge (and use a name/email so we can connect you with the pledge in kickstarter, or send me or Lisa a text - those in the know, know the digits to use.)

I am thinking about other goodies for blog readers who pledge or advertise the Kickstarter and I will entertain suggestions in the comments. (Note that if I come up with additional goodies priority goes to those who have already contributed...)

The actual book copies will go out in May.

Now the funny part...

According to the last plan the Kickstarter was supposed to open today, but the KS team actually pushed it through on Friday and we got our first backer Saturday morning! So, I was going to ask who was going to be first to back it, but somebody already did...

Well, that's it for this week...
I'll leave you with a little Smash Mouth (and a video that hopefully represents my adventure with Kickstarter!)

We'll assume the Mystery Men are potential Kickstarter backers...
See you next week (I hope!)...

I thought we were done with this...

It's been a busy couple of weeks around here...

Lisa is analyzing the data for her dissertation, again...
Within the last 48 hours she's finished one version of the analysis; been asked to do another test (which someone thought would work better...); and gone back to the first test with some modified pre-analysis. But, progress is being made.

In terms of weather we had finally gotten the snow melted off the road and house and then it hit again...

This icicle got started since our last post and...

grew and...

grew. It's currently over two feet long!

On my side of the house I have been mostly working on the launch for Johnson Farm (Which I wanted to have done a week and a half ago...). With both of us getting sick and all, it's taking time, but things are going. Pre-orders are expected to start via Kickstarter on Monday March 6th!

Speaking of the pre-orders...

Here's a sample of the swag that's going to some of the pre-order people! There are even more exciting things that I will be telling you about in the next couple of weeks!

After I get the novel launched I'm working on a major non-fiction book and I will be doing the first draft for the third Johnson Farm book. For a couple of reasons, I want the first draft of the third one done before I do too much editing on the second one. So the first draft of the third is next up on the fiction program.

There are some major differences in the third book.

For those who I haven't told about it here's a hint. If you remember this video from my last post...

This would be the version that works for book three...

And no I'm not saying the book is going to be animated! (geezo... animated... It's a novel!)

Well, that's it for this one. Hopefully we'll be back next week and if not, see you in two!

a very musical episode...

Believe it or not we're actually doing a post on schedule!

Lisa is getting over her pneumonia and I'm getting the sinus infection under control, so we're feeling better and making progress.

Lisa has just sent off the first draft of chapter four of her dissertation. So, she is moving forward on getting her dissertation done.

On my side of the house, the release date for Johnson Farm is moving back a week or two but it's still happening. Most of my attention right now is on projects surrounding the release (stay tuned in the next few weeks to find out how you can get a copy and some other premium goodies!).

So, there's lots going on, but it's stuff that can be challenging to understand if you've never been there... so...

Here is my musical attempt at explaining the writing process (thanks to the original creators of the music and videos!!!)

1. First comes the pre-writing research...

This is that first step where you're trying to figure out what to write...
This is where the third Johnson Farm book is right now...

2. Next comes the first draft...
It always takes a little longer than you expected and ends up a little rough,,,

This is where the last chapters of Lisa dissertation are right now...

3. Next comes the initial edit...
This one is always tough to do...
We can truly call it a hard fight...

But it has to happen...
This is where Johnson Farm's second book and Lisa's chapter four are right now...

4. The 'copy' and finish editing....
At this point there is still work to do,
but you feel like you're in pretty good shape...

Definitely at this point you are winning, but you have to go all the way...
Lisa's chapters 1-3 and the first Johnson Farm book are here...

5. This is the step we're looking for...
For Lisa it's the dissertation defense...
For me...?

Um... Publication Party!!!
Note: we would also accept book signing as an answer here...

Aand then we go back to step one and do it all again!

That's my musical interpretation of how the writing process works...

Until next time those of you who are going to the Layne family reunion (you know who you are) do what you've got to do for the reunion;
and...
Be there or be unpopular!

Hopefully Lisa posts next week, and if not I'll see you in two (this time for sure!).

Don't read this post!!!

Well you little rebel you...
I intended this post to prove my theory that nobody would read this post, but you did...
So, I guess I should actually write something.

We've been missing a few posts here. The truth is there has been stuff going on...

Lisa is on her second round of antibiotics... She was sick for about a week before I went in for my six month checkup, when I left my checkup Lisa had a prescription for antibiotics and a diagnosis of walking pneumonia...

A couple of days after my appointment I had a prescription for antibiotics, because I got a fairly nasty sinus infection... With a diabetes diagnosis I get pneumonia vaccinations, but the sinuses still got me...

Yeah, it's been a fun couple of weeks...

In other news Lisa is running her data for her dissertation. Its a big step toward getting it done. I'm not giving away what she's finding because that's her thing.

On my side of the house I'm getting ready to Launch Johnson Farm and the website for my publishing company it's a lot of work but it's a good thing.

And...

It keeps me from turning into this...



Yeah, I know there is stuff I need to do on the house...
But I'm going to wait until my yard is full of mud and white stuff...

Tune in Monday for more of a real post, and hopefully some good news!!!

Getting down to buisness

Lots going on at the moment and most of it is good!

This week is the last week Lisa's planning on collecting data for her dissertation. She could really use at least eight more people but she'll go with what she has either way because she really wants to be done and moving on to new things. Hopefully we're seeing a graduation at the end of the semester.

Lisa and her brother Chad are also hard at work figuring out this year's family reunion (On the one hand we will hopefully have a newly minted doctor to deal with... on the other hand umm... good food, fireworks, shiny things... be there or be unpopular!).

I'm sure Lisa has more to say but I'll let her talk about it when she gets the chance.

On the other side of the house Patrick's first novel (first to be released anyway...) is well on it's way to being released at the end of March/beginning of April. I've solicited some help putting together cover art for the book and am finishing content editing and moving into copy editing  (That's the part where you spend hours on end stressing about correct spelling and punctuation (Trust me several hundred gallons of Dr Pepper were harmed in the completion of this part of the project...)).

This brings me to...

Talking about team-ups!
One of the first people to sign on to do cover art is a young woman who was in our ward until they split the ward last year. Sariah is a pretty recent high school graduate who is doing some mental health/support services work and dreaming about making a serious go of it with her art work. I think some of her stuff is good and I really wanted to give her a shot at doing something that will get a little wider attention. Hopefully I can say more on how this is going (and talk a bit about some of the other people I'm working with) in weeks to come.

If things go really well Patrick will be doing book signings about the same time as the family reunion...

With all the work on the dissertation and books and such we've had to depend on our minions to do some of the work around the house including reorganizing the office a bit. And when I say our minions...

I do in fact mean Minions!

And they are helping with the project!

The crane was a Christmas present (as were the Minions). It's four feet high and is actually in the home office (and we really are reorganizing the books and such in between other projects).

There's more going on and I'd like to tell you about it but I'd better get going for this week. (Lisa stop the Minions before they get to the half track!!!)

Hopefully Lisa will post next week, and if not I'll see you in two...

Continuing and starting new...

It's a new year and new things are in the works...
and we're working on finishing some of the old big projects too.

Lisa has about half the data she needs for her dissertation and really wants to get the rest of it in the next couple of weeks so she can finish and graduate in May. This isn't an easy process, but she's getting through.

Lisa is also experimenting with dyeing yarn and knitting stuff (she's turning things purple as I write this...). This is one of those things that she's wanted to do for a while and is just getting to now.

She is also starting classes as a teacher and as a student tomorrow (so she's going to be busy...)

Meanwhile on the other side of the office...
Patrick finished the first draft for his second novel in the Johnson farm series in December and will be releasing the first book to the public later this year (hopefully around the end of March but that may slip...). The second book is going to take a little longer to get to print because I actually need to get a first draft of the third book written before I can finish the second. I need to make sure a few things will match up...

The first book is starting the last phases of completion this month so stay tuned...

I am also starting a new project this week, a book on personal finance... This one adds a new wrinkle in that I've actually got a team that I'm working with for the writing part, not just reader/reviewers and art people. So, in addition to being an author I'm project manager on this one. (I'll be introducing my co-authors and the other members of the Forever Mountain team in the near future).

New shiny stuff is coming, but it's a little lower on the priority list at the moment. I really want to get the books going...

Besides...

We seem to have been invaded! Don't (I mean really don't) ask how the half track got up there...

As some of you might have seen, Lisa had fun creating a whole story with the advent calendar this year. On my other blog I've been experimenting with using toys to create pictures to go with my posts. Lisa knew I wanted to use some Lego stuff, but hadn't gotten around to expanding the collection. And as a result my wife bought me toys and played with the first!

So, now that she did, and made a fun story with them, I've got no excuse...

At least they don't eat much...

And they're not too hard to clean up after...

Well, that's about it for this one...
Last year was quite a year and there's a lot of adventures to come!!!