From the Archives: The "Danger" of Copying

The other day, I stumbled across a post from January 21, 2013, almost exactly three years ago. as I read it, I relearned some things I'd forgotten. So I've decided to re-post it today both for readers who weren't following my blog back then, and for anyone like me who can use the reminder. 

The "Danger" of Copying

I've been going to the same medical clinic for our family's needs for over 18 years [ETA: now, make that over 21 years], so the staff know us pretty well. Our doctor and his long-time nurse especially have followed our family from the time I was expecting my first child, through all my subsequent pregnancies, kids' bouts with RSV and croup, and so much more.

As a result, Dr. S and Nurse T have also followed my writing career from almost the beginning, when I liked to write and tried to get publish, along the bumpy road of lots of rejections to finally being accepted, and today they always ask what's coming out next and when.

The last time we saw Nurse T, she asked something different that has stuck with me, and I realized it's a question many readers may have, so I thought it worth addressing in a post here.

Paraphrasing her, she asked, "Isn't it hard to find new things to write about so you're not copying other writers?" She added that it's probably hard to ever read much, because of the fear of copying someone else's style or story.

Is reading a danger for writers? And is it hard to find new ideas? The short answers: No and no.

The longer one: Writers by their nature tend to be curious people. We see a news report about a natural disaster and picture the victims or even put ourselves into the situation and wonder how we'd deal with it. We hear about a horrible crime and wonder what made the criminal do it, and what the victim was thinking. We get story and character ideas from places like songs, newspaper advice columns, and old cemeteries (check, check, and check on each of those for me).

So no, writers generally don't worry too much about being totally original. We're always seeing the world in new and interesting ways, and almost by definition, our perspective is original. On the other side, there's the old saying that there are no new stories, just new ways of telling them. That is what a good writer tries to go after: telling a story, familiar or not, in a new, fresh way. Think of how many great fairy tale re-tellings there are today. Take that number and multiply it by all the writers and stories out there.

The real meat of the issue is this: Nurse T was wrong in assuming that reading will cause a writer to be unoriginal, because the exact opposite is true.

Turns out that writers who don't read much are the ones who end up writing the same old hackneyed plots that have been done to death. I've seen such writers pump out book after book, not realizing that not only are their books cliche, but they're basically writing the same book over and over again. They write cliched characters and worlds and conflicts.

These writers are missing out on an amazing universe of creativity that's out there for the taking. It's almost as if the universe has layers of cool fiction, and we all tap into it on some level, and that the deeper you go, the broader the options become. So the more you open your mind to literature, the deeper into those layers you travel, and the broader your potential scope for story fodder. Stay in the shallow areas, and you stay where every other writer has waded at some point: in the totally unoriginal, cliched mass of washed-up stories.

I've also seen how reading a lot can teach a writer what has been done before, and that means both what's been done well, and what's been done poorly. A young fantasy writer unfamiliar with the tropes of the genre is far more likely to do a veiled copy of Tolkien (trolls and dwarfs and elves!) than someone who's been reading a wide range of fantasy for years.

It may sound counter intuitive, but the more literature you read, the more you fill your mind and imagination with images and ideas, and therefore the more likely your brain is to come up with brand new possibilities to throw together.

It's like taking apart several cool Lego creations and then dumping the pieces into a bag, shaking them up, and then removing the blocks one at a time to make something new. Sure, the blocks all came from other sources, but your creation is totally different and fresh.

So to answer Nurse T (I didn't give her this long of an answer at the time; I swear), I don't worry about copying other writers. Not at all. I worry about plateauing in my skill, about not out-doing myself with my next work. I worry about not staying fresh, about not reading enough, especially of the really good stuff out there, because I know good literature will get into my subconscious and make me a better writer.

Even when I read a book with my writer/editor hat on, it's a fantastic thing. I can read a powerful scene and analyze it: Why is this scene so effective? How did the author create that effect? What can I learn?

Did you read a book that knocked your socks off? Can you figure out why it knocked your socks off?

I remember my good friend Heather Moore saying that every time she reads Anne Perry, she notices an improvement in the quality of her own descriptions. I don't know too many writers who are so keenly aware of the effects of their reading, but whether you notice them or not, the effects are there.

Even reading bad books can be useful, so long as you use them as lessons to learn why a book isn't good, what the writer did wrong. And so long as bad books are the minority of what you read.

The fact is, writing is part talent, part art, and part science. Plus a bit of luck thrown into the mix. It's not some ethereal, unknowable thing (although I admit that it feels magical at times).

To be a better writer, I believe you must do two things, neither of which are ethereal and unknowable:

• Read often and broadly. 
• Write often.

I could add a lot of other things to the list: study the craft, attend writers conferences, find a critique group and other trusted readers. And all of those are important; all of those things can help immensely. But those two things—reading and writing—are the ones everything else hangs on. They are the cornerstones your writing house is built on.

As Stephen King has said, if you don't have time to read, you don't have time to be a good writer. 

I'd add that if you do have time to read a lot, then as long as you're also writing a lot, you're on your way to being a better writer. Not the kind that copies or create cliches.

Where I Get My Inspiration

Note: My Timeless Romance Anthology is now available! Get it HERE for Amazon or HERE for iTunes. Other purchase links below.

Inspiration is like a pile of Lego blocks.

Recently on Facebook, someone (I’m forgetting who, unfortunately) tagged me and several other writers to ask where we find our inspiration.

I wasn’t sure how to answer because the term inspiration can be defined in so many ways. Did she mean how do I find ideas? How do I find the inspired rush that drives me to the keyboard? Something else?

I never did get around to answering the question when it was posted, but it’s been tumbling around in my head for some time, so I thought I’d tackle it here from the perspective my 20+ years of writing seriously (plus another 15 of dabbling in it).

INSPIRATION AS AN IDEA GENERATOR

Finding things to write about is one type of inspiration. Finding ideas isn’t the hard part; they’re everywhere. Finding good ideas with a fresh angle that are interesting and worth pursuing is a big trickier. In my experience, the good ideas are the ones where at least two very different things suddenly come together in your head in a new way.

The trick is making yourself open to absorbing all kinds of input and then letting your brain play with the resulting stack of Lego idea bricks to see what kind of thing you can make with the new blocks you found.

The magic of a shiny new idea, at least for me, often happens when my brain takes two pieces of information that seem utterly unconnected, clicks them together like Lego pieces, and I suddenly have a shiny new “what if” scenario that gets me so excited I can’t stop thinking about it. 

And you can’t plan for the kind of sudden click (or collision, however you look at it) of ideas. It happens unexpectedly, unpredictably. That’s part of the magic of the creative process. 

So if you can’t pencil in that you’ll have a flash of brilliance at 1:34 PM on Tuesday when you need an idea, how exactly do you make sure you’ll have great ideas when you need them and that you won’t run out of them?

(1) Constantly Fill Your Well

Be aware of what’s around you. Soak it all in. Keep up with current events where you live and abroad. Read up on weird trivia. Read a lot: novels in your genre and outside it, nonfiction, magazines, and more. I’m not a fast reader, but I do read regularly and a wide variety of .

People watch then think of ways to describe that mannerism the man over there made. Or come up with a good (non-cliché) metaphor to describe the way the lake looks right now. This mental kind of game is especially big when I travel to a new place. I go out of my way to notice colors, smells, and sounds. I pay attention to how people behave. What the food is like. And so on. My creative inner child have fun with the building blocks. I have no way of knowing which details will eventually show up in a story, so I drink it all in. The more that’s in the well, the more variety of Lego blocks my mind has to play with and land on an unexpected combination.

When I’m in a new place, I take pictures to trigger my memory. I take notes that day but often after the fact rather than in the moment so I don’t miss noticing anything, and so I can immerse myself in an experience.

By filling your well up with outside stimuli, you’re giving your creative subconscious the Lego blocks it needs if it’s going to build something cool. Be sure to give it plenty of supplies for the job. 

Other ideas: Read and watch the news and imagine scenarios from the victims’ perspective and from the perpetrator’s. Law enforcement’s, too. Watch news magazine shows and imagine what really went on in those people’s lives. Sometimes I get ideas from songs, but that’s usually on road trips when I’m listening to the same album over and over because a child insists on it, and because the long hours of open road let my mind wander.

Mental wandering, I’ve found, is key to landing on great ideas. Mundane chores and activities are fabulous for letting the creative mind meander through the creative well so it will come back with ideas. That kind of wandering rarely yields fruit if you’re stressed out and trying to force it. 

I’ve had ideas (and even solutions to big plot problems) pop into my head while mowing the lawn, doing dishes, vacuuming, sorting laundry, drying my hair, taking a shower, and (as mentioned already) driving long distances. Note that in all of those activities, chances are, I am in a relaxed state, and in many of them I am physically moving. For me, those elements are often key for the best brainstorming.

In contrast, the more I try to force an idea to show up RIGHT NOW, the more likely my creative brain will panic and retreat. 

(2) Make Yourself a Small Box and Get Inside It.

A completely different way of being inspired with new ideas came about for me after I joined forces with Heather B. Moore and Sarah M. Eden with the Timeless Romance Anthology series. Each story I write for the series has a specific theme on top of being either historical or contemporary (very different animals themselves). We’ve consistently put out 3 to 4 collections a year for some time now, so I always have another novella deadline around the corner.

That sounds pretty terrifying, but as it turns out, the thematic requirements haven’t been restrictive; they’ve been utterly freeing. 

It reminds me of a board game that some family members were chosen to be beta testers for. They brought it to a family dinner, and we all played. The game had cards with abstract shapes and lines all over them, and depending on how things went, sometimes you could get points for finding any object on a card, or you had to find objects belonging to a specific category (fruits, vehicles, school supplies). At first, we assumed that the free-for-all turns would be easier because no object was off limits. But without exception, the free-for-all turns were when we all choked, unable to see much of anything. 

But give us a specific category, and we could spot pictures everywhere (Look! Grapes! That’s a pineapple. I found an apple, orange, and strawberry. Ooh, a pear!) And on it went. The more specific the requirement, the easier it was for our minds to see patterns.

My experience with the anthologies has been similar: If someone were to tell me to write a short story or novella about anything at all, in any genre, right now, that could be tricky. But give me clear parameters (e.g. a paranormal historical romance set during Halloween, like our next Timeless collection will be), and suddenly, ideas start popping up all over the place. 

Case in point: A few months ago, knowing I needed to write my All Hallows’ Eve story, I drove past a cool old church at night. I noticed a light on above a door, coming through the window above it. Immediately, I thought of how cool it would be if there were a ghost in the building, and I was seeing its light through the window. 

As I drove on (likely to pick up a child from some activity), I knew I’d landed on the seed of the story that will be in that collection. The story itself didn’t show up until later, after I toured the church and another local historic site, but I knew the story would involve a ghost and that church window. (See the news below about when to expect that collection!)

Quite often, the smaller the box you must work inside, the easier the ideas come to fill it. If you don’t have a box given to you from an outside source, create one. Look online for writing prompts to create a box. You may find a new book idea, or you may have fun with a writing exercise. Either way, it’s worth your time. 

INSPIRATION TO ACTUALLY WRITE

This is another way of defining inspiration, and it’s a different ball of wax entirely. I’d go so far as to say that for the most part, it’s a myth.

Sure, writers all have moments of feeling drawn to the keyboard, and those moments are probably what first lit the excitement inside us about writing in the first place. But those moments are usually fleeting and spaced far apart. 

Life gets in the way (so does the internet and so many other things), and then the writing doesn’t happen. If you write only when inspiration strikes, it’ll take you fifteen years (or more) to finish the first draft a project. Along the way, you’ll probably take several detours by starting ten other shiny new projects . . . without finishing any of them, either.

A truth: Often getting a writing session started is the hardest part. The muse, the inspiration, simply isn’t there. Even after writing for as long as I have, getting down to work can be a battle. I know that if I force myself to start pounding out words, and especially if I give myself permission to have those words be garbage instead of feeling the pressure to make them all perfect, then within fifteen minutes, I will almost certainly slip into the magic of flow. The inspiration will show up, and the writing session will become productive and even fun.

The order of those events is key: Before inspiration to write strikes, you have to start writing without it.

I have to work without out any inspiration or excitement, at least at first. I have to force myself to write, knowing that the only way out is through. Sometimes I’ve put in the work, and every word was dragged out of my fingers kicking and screaming. That can happens for days or weeks or months at a time, so I start thinking that I really do suck at this thing, and I’ll never feel the creative rush again.

But if I keep showing up and producing words, the inspiration eventually does show up, and suddenly, I never I remember why I do this crazy thing, and I never want to leave the keyboard.

That feeling is pretty darn amazing. But it’s not something I can sit around waiting for. It won’t come that way. You show up first. The muse will eventually see that you really do take your writing seriously. As a result, it will start to show up at a certain time because she knows she can count on you to already be there.

For more on inspiration and writing, I highly recommend Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk on the subject. I’ve watched it several times over the years, and I get something new from it every time.

  

THREE PIECES OF EXCITING NEWS! 

FIRST: On August 3, watch for the release of the All Hallows’ Eve collection from Timeless Romance Anthologies, featuring guest contributors Elana Johnson, Jordan McCollum, and Lisa Mangum, in addition the three of us who appear in each volume (Heather B. Moore, Sarah M. Eden, and yours truly). Find its beautiful and creepy cover HERE. This is where my ghost story will published!

SECOND: The next volume after that celebrates the Christmas season: Under the Mistletoe will be released mid-October, in time for readers to enjoy it in the weeks leading up to the holiday season. Here's the link to the cover reveal. We have some great guest authors on board for it!

THIRD, AND FOR THE MOMENT, MOST IMPORANTLY:

The Annette Lyon Collection from Timeless Romance Anthologies is LIVE, and the reviews are starting to come in. Snag it now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or iTunes, and watch for the blog tour later this month.

Writing Process Blog Hop

Many years ago, I crossed paths with fellow blogger Kimberly Vanderhorst, who turned out to be a fellow writer outside her awesome blog, and who has since become a dear friend. She's one of those rare people who cheers and celebrates for friends' achievements because she's genuinely thrilled on your behalf, and she's willing to help you out any way she can.

Kim tagged me on a fun and different blog hop that's going around. I'm egregiously late on following through, but better late than never!

Before I get to the meat of the post, be sure to check out her writing blog HERE.


Here's the gist of the hop: 

"We writers share these things, but informally during workshops and at conferences (and, for a handful of established writers, in printed interviews), but not so much through our open-forum blogs. With the hash tag #MyWritingProcess, you can learn how writers all over the world answer the same four questions. How long it takes one to write a novel, why romance is a fitting genre for another, how one’s play list grows as the draft grows, why one’s poems are often sparked by distress over news headlines or oddball facts learned on Facebook…"


Below are my answers to the same questions other writers who are participating get to answer. I'm excited to see theirs; every person and writers is different, and we can all learn from each other!


What am I currently working on? 
As always, I have a gazillion pots in the fire, but the biggest thing going on right now is continued revisions on Winter's Crucible, my Winter War novel, which is historical women's fiction about a little-known part of World War II. It's also part that factors heavily into my ancestry, so I'm passionate about it. See THIS POST for more about one of the main characters.

The book is fully drafted and pretty shiny, especially certain parts, but a few chapters are sort of yelling at me to come back and fix them again. Every scene deserves to be as shiny as I can get it. I hope to have it all polished very, very soon.


How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Interesting question in light of the fact that over the years, I've genre hopped to some extent. Not entirely, though; even my romance novels have a solid women's fiction component to them.

At this point, my women's fiction typically has no romantic thread, which seems to not be the norm in the genre. Winter's Crucible breaks that mold a bit, but even it is heavy on the WF and very light on the romantic element. And romance readers can't expect a typical romance arc in it, either.

My women's fiction is definitely driven by flawed characters put into hard circumstances. Sometimes that means external events (like the Winter War), and other times it means looking at hard issues (relationships, addiction, mental disorders, and so on).


Why do I write what I do?
Long-time readers will remember that I went through not all that long ago before finally feeling at home in women's fiction. And that's really the best answer I can give: this is where my heart is. The books that have had the greatest impact on me as a person and as a writer have all been women's fiction. And as much as I enjoy reading other genres, the fact that those books aren't the ones that stay with me, that they aren't the ones inspiring me to write my own stories, is telling.

The vast majority of my colleagues, especially in the very rich Utah writing community, write for Young Adult or Middle Grade audiences, or they write fun, lighthearted romance. I love reading all of that, but somehow, I write darker stuff. And a result, I feel a bit like an oddball at times.

They get to share agents and editors and publishers, and I'm out in the wings doing something totally different. But emotionally intense women's fiction is where my heart is.



How does my writing process work?
It's hard to describe, especially as it's evolved a lot over the years. (That's what happens when you're a mom; you adapt to your kids' ever-changing ages and schedules!)

I do a lot of brainstorming while doing brainless tasks like sorting laundry and putting myself together in the morning. I'll often jot down plot and character ideas in a notebook to refer to later so I won't forget them (or I will forget them; I've learned that the hard way). Often before a writing session, I'll jot down a few bullet points listing the gist of what I want to happen in the scene I'm about to write.

When I'm working on historical fiction, I have to do plenty of research before writing a word, because the plot and characters come from learning about the era, the events, etc. If I ever feel stuck, reading up on research will often slip me right back into the story world.

I often reread what I last wrote, revising and tweaking along the way, to get myself back into the world. I used to be able to write faster than I do now. Today, if I can eke out 1,000-2,000 words in a day, I consider it a success.

That doesn't happen every day, though; I have a ton of hats to wear besides "drafter." Revision takes a lot longer, and I often have to stop working on a project in favor of another one, as deadlines overlap and interrupt. And then I still do a little bit of freelance editing on the side.

(Don't ask to hire me, though; the answer will almost certainly be no. I've backed off a ton because my own work wasn't getting written.)


Now for my tags!

Luisa Perkins is my well-known accountability partner. We first connected online (as I did with Kim), and have since become close friends both in person and long distance. She's a fantastic writer, an excellent editor and critique partner, and one of the best friends a girl could hope for. Find her blog HERE. She's published several books, but my personal favorite (not counting her WIPs) is Dispirited. (Okay, truthfully, I also rely on several recipes from her cookbook.)

Krista Jensen is a pure delight. She began her publishing career with the same regional publisher I did, and she's become not only a good friend but a critique partner as well. She's published several fun contemporary romances, including Of Grace and Chocolate, which I loved because: chocolate and romance. Find her blog HERE.

Jordan McCollum and I first connected when she came to one of my book signings, and we ended up chatting about all kinds of things that would appear random to other people but are near and dear to my heart (like linguistics and the Kalevala. I mean seriously, how awesome?!). She's since published several books, including her Spy Another Day series.

TWO Super Secret Projects & a Cover Revealed!

Many friends and readers have known for some time that Luisa Perkins and I have been working on two super secret projects. We're ready to reveal what they are!

Here we are at the 2014 ANWA Conference in February.
Aren't we totes adorbs?
(As my teenagers would say.)

Luisa and I have a long-time love of the English language. Long-time readers of this blog know my love, as evidenced by my Word Nerd Wednesday series.

We're now teaming up, creating a podcast about all of the language issues that frustrate so many people: Grammar, Usage and Mechanics.

I capitalized those words on purpose, because they are where the name of our podcast comes from: Luisa and I are your GUM Shoes! (Get it? Grammar, Usage, Mechanics? GUM!) Go like the Facebook page at that link so you can stay up to date. The first episode will be posted on Tuesday, March 11, and we'll be sure to share the link to the website when it's live.

Here's the badge you'll look for on iTunes. (Look carefully at the words in the shoe. Isn't the logo awesome?!)

Each episode will be short: a bite-sized tip to help improve your speech and writing. If you have specific questions for us, leave a comment on the GUM Shoes Facebook page!



Our other project won't be live until late April, but we're in the final stages of getting it ready. Many people have asked about our accountability partnership, and we've even blogged about it before. But those posts didn't cover everything we've learned over the years of working together, and people had many more questions, too.

We pitched the idea of teaching a class at the annual Storymakers Writers Conference about accountability partnerships, and we are teaching it!

But not everyone can attend that, and even for those who will, a 50-minute workshop isn't enough to cover the subject entirely.

So here's the second big project: We'll soon have a book released about how to create an accountability partnership to meet your goals. Check out the cover:

Again, awesome, right?! (And no, we didn't plan for both the GUM logo and the cover to be red and black, but it works!)

We'll be sure to link over when it's live. Exciting stuff, people! I'm thrilled to finally share the news!

Why Kindle?

I got a question over on Twitter the other day.

(Note: If you want to follow me, I'm HERE.)

The question came from Zina over at My Imaginary Blog. Readers here may remember her as the blogger I borrowed the malapropism post from. (She's got a lot more where that come from.)

When I posted the first chapter of my middle-grade fantasy novel, The Golden Cup of Kardak, she was curious as to why I decided to go straight to the Kindle with it.

Since the answer doesn't fit into a 140-character tweet, and because I'm guessing other readers may have the same question, I felt a blog post coming on. So Zina, here's the answer.

But some history first. I now have four e-book titles. I traditionally published seven novels with Covenant. My first two went out of print years ago, and the rights reverted back to me. And then I sat on them, because self-publishing a hard-copy novel is crazy expensive. If you go inexpensive and do the print-on-demand thing, you're unlikely to sell much, and it wasn't worth doing to me.

But when e-books started taking off, I decided to get those books back into reader hands.

So just over a year ago, I did a spit-polish on Lost Without You and made it an e-book.

Note to readers: I always liked my original version of the final scene, so I changed it back (in case readers of the original are wondering, yes, it's different).

It had slow sales at first, but every month increased significantly from the month before.

Then around the first of this year, I put up At the Water's Edge, and shortly after that, my grammar guide, There, Their, They're, both of which I updated a bit. I priced the novels nice and low at $2.99, and the grammar guide at only 99 cents, since it's a small book.

At the urging of colleagues, I'd originally self-published the grammar guide in softback with print-on-demand technology about two years prior. I never had any plans for it to go really big; it was more a labor of love than anything, something to offer to friends, colleagues, conference attendees, and the like. I'd been told many times that I can explain language stuff in a way that's easy to understand. When e-readers became mainstream, it made sense to put it onto the Kindle too.

A bit of NEWS: All three novels are now also available at Smashwords HERE, which supports virtually all e-book readers. You should be able to find them through Barnes & Noble, too. The grammar book will on Smashwords soon as well. If you're a Kindle person, they're all HERE on Amazon.

When I had multiple books out, sales took off significantly. While I'm not getting rich, it's certainly been worth doing.

So back to the question regarding the fantasy: Why did I go straight to Kindle with The Golden Cup of Kardak?

1) As I said above, I've had pretty good success (by my definition; I'm no Amanda Hocking) selling my books online myself. It made good business sense to put it out there and see how it does.

2) While I have every intention of going the traditional route with other books, this one is sort of like my grammar guide. It's a labor of love, something I really like that I want to get to the world and let my kids (and other kids) read. Now.

3) I feel confident in its quality without going through the industry vetting process. It's been through my critique group. I've had kids in the target age range read it and offer honest feedback. I gave it to my editor at Covenant, and he loved it, but as I mentioned a week ago, the company wasn't publishing fantasy. So I think the book's good, and it's fun. If I say so myself.

4) But it's probably not what's "hot" in agent and editor minds right now. It doesn't follow any current market trend, and it's more like the fantasies I read as a teen. (I have no delusions of being in their league, but for the sake of categorizing, it's more Robin McKinley, less Suzanne Collins, if that makes sense.) So it's not urban fantasy. It's not paranormal or dystopian or post-apocalyptic. There's no romance. Sure, it might sell if I were to pitch it nationally. It might not. It's a softer fantasy, not a The Forest of Hands and Teeth or a Percy Jackson.

5) Because of that, I believe the book's audience may be a niche. But I do believe an audience for it exists. However, niche audiences aren't really what publishers are about. They don't have the luxury of spending the time finding and cultivating a niche. Sales are sink or swim in the first weeks or months after release. But I do have the luxury of time, and I don't have to invest thousands to do it. I can slowly find readers and build my audience. (Here's where the whole short tail/long tail theory comes in.)

Like I said, I have future plans for traditional publishing (both in the LDS and the national markets). For this book, right now, going self e-pubbed simply made sense.

Getting Kids Psyched About Books

Today I'm making good on my promise (from, ahem, more than two months ago) to talk about some of the things I've done to help my kids love reading. So here goes:

I got lucky with my first child. When he started reading aloud billboards as we drove along the freeway, I had no idea that doing such things at age three wasn't normal. I'd like to take credit for his insane reading skillz (and I can take credit for the things I did to expose him to reading and words and books), but truly, he just came wired ready to soak it up.

He didn't learn much in kindergarten, as he was already reading at a fourth-grade level. Comprehension, inference, and some other accompanying reading skills weren't quite that high, but he could decode like a pro.

While I was pregnant with him, I was finishing my English degree, and I spent literally hours reading aloud as I paced our apartment so I could finish the assignments and not fall asleep from pregnancy fatigue. He literally heard volumes of classic literature in utero. I can't help but wonder if that helped form some brain connections or something.

(The other kids heard plenty of books read aloud in utero, but those were Dr. Seuss and other kids books. Link? We'll never know.)

Some things we did to expose him (and his siblings) to reading early:

• Read aloud. A lot. He got several books read to him before every nap, before bed, and at lots of other times.
• Point out easy words and have him learn them. I started with the classic sight words, although I didn't know that's what they were called. (A similar list is HERE.) As a toddler, he knew to expect Mom to point to about one word per page for him to read, whether a simple the, you, or car, or something a bit more complicated.
• Let them help with shopping. Kids love finding "apples" on the list and crossing it out.They enjoy searching for words on labels. Even little kids can learn to identify the signs for the bakery and deli and eventually figure out what the sounds in the letters mean. (The store is another great spot for practicing numbers and easy math.)
• Cook together and point out ingredients, labels, and instructions.

I had a couple of challenges getting him to actually read. One was that most books on his age level were too easy for him. The first books he really took to, thanks to their humor, were the Captain Underpants books. I know some parents cringe at those (potty humor, intentional misspellings, etc.), but to me, hey, he was reading. Those books hooked him. He read them all so much they fell apart. I got a few comb-bound, but eventually, we had to buy a new set.

Which led to my second challenge with him: He didn't like trying new books. Around 4th or 5th grade, he had two series he loved . . . and read them over and over. And read nothing else. Boys are particularly hard to find books for at that age; it seems like there are far more girl titles for the in-between reading ages than for boys.

Finding new books that sparked his interest took time and effort (including asking just about every mom of boys I could find what their kids liked and spending hours trolling the Internet for ideas), but it was worth it; eventually we broke through the block, and he discovered a bunch of other writers and books.

Child #2 learned to read well, and pretty early, if not as fast as her brother. She was always ahead of her grade on decoding, comprehension, and fluency.

But she hated reading.

Which about killed me. Getting the required 15 or 20 minutes of reading per day for school was pure torture (for both us), especially as she got older. By fourth grade, I could get her to read a stack of picture books, but she refused to try a novel, even an easy chapter book.

I was terrified that she'd never enjoy reading. Aside from the joy that reading can be, I was afraid she'd lose out on the skills literacy provides.

Two things finally solved the problem:

• We used audio books along with the hard-copy book. So she read the text as she listened to the book. I got this idea from my teacher-writer friend (and critique group member) Lu Ann Staheli. This technique helped take away some of the intimidation factor. After reading a few books this way, she was no longer afraid of chapter books.
• I noticed that she complained of headaches in her forehead after reading. I remembered that when my dad was young, reading always felt like work because of eye issues. When reading is physically painful, of course you don't enjoy it. A trip to the eye doctor with her confirmed it: while she had 20/20 vision for distance, she had significant astigmatism, which made her eye muscles work extra hard to keep the text in focus. That led to headaches from eye-muscle fatigue, right on her forehead, where her pain was centered. She got reading glasses, and a few days later, I found her curled up on her bed with a novel. I walked away with tears in my eyes.

Child #3 is a perfectionist. When she first started reading, if she couldn't sound out a word the first time around, she fell apart. "I'll never get it! Waaah!" Tears and meltdown.

No amount of explaining that everyone makes mistakes made any difference. We had to back up, go to easier levels that she'd already mastered, and let her have lots of success with those easier books. Then, when she felt ready, we worked up to harder ones.

She didn't like doing that, because she's also an over achiever, and she wanted to be on the higher levels, faster. She eventually managed to jump ahead, but I think it was because of the confidence she developed early on.

When she struggled with the transition to chapter books, I spent time reading aloud with her. I read one page, and she read the next. This helped her get through harder books with support at her side (and reading only half the text). But it also helped me hear what words and concepts she struggled with, so I could help her over some of those hurdles.

This year, her sixth-grade teacher required the students to read 35 books each, in a variety of genres. My daughter's goal is to double that number. With about 6 weeks left in the school year, she's going to make it pretty easily. (And these aren't small books; most are quite thick, in the 300-page range.)

Child #4 falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. She's been surrounded by reading all her life, so it was a natural thing to pick up and strive for. I admit that as the youngest, she got read to least of all the siblings (she got maybe one book at nap time instead of four like her brother), but she got something else: instead of only picture books for bedtime, she heard a lot of novels, since I began reading to everyone at night, and her siblings were past the picture-book stage.

So while I'd still read her picture books, at a pretty young age, she was also listening to much longer, more complex books. She didn't always follow the stories or understand them (and often spent that time on the floor next to us, doodling with paper and crayons), but I really think it's helped in her comprehension, vocabulary, prediction skills, and more.

In fact, I have friends who crack up at her vocabulary because it's so advanced for her age. I think her ability to think, speak, and process at a high level is a direct result of being the youngest and being surrounded by bigger words at a younger age.

Other things we've done:

Participate in library story times for toddlers and preschoolers.

Participate in library summer reading programs.

Have family reading parties.

Nearly always buy something from book orders and the school book fairs. The only rule is that it must be a BOOK, not a toy or game. (This rule is getting harder to keep as book orders veer away from books more and more. Drives me batty.)

The kids are guaranteed to get at least 3 books as gifts during the year: at Christmas, birthdays, and in their Easter baskets. One year, when #3 was a toddler, on seeing her Easter basket, she cried out, "Oh, cool! A book!" Not, "Oh, cool! Candy!" I cheered inside. They save their gift books and treasure them.

They see Mom reading and know that Dad listens to lots of books.

We often talk about books: what we like; what we don't like. Ideas. Recommendations. Predictions. And so much more.

Sometimes we read the same books (like last summer, with the Hunger Games series), which allows for great discussion.

I let them borrow my Kindle. I make this into a very big deal, so they know it's a treat.

Every child is different, and every child will have his or her own challenges (and I'm not touching the category of learning disabilities).

Bottom line:

• Never, ever give up.
• Find out what the underlying reason might be for not liking books.
• Search out the right book (because boredom might be the problem).
• Make reading FUN and something to look forward to.
• Make books and reading valuable, something kids can own.

More on Books and Clean Reads

We had lots of great discussion with my post about books and ratings. Thanks for all the comments!

As I mentioned, I'm all for sites that provide guidelines to books. They give us a heads-up on the actual content rather than slapping a one-size-fits-all rating. I'm not for ratings themselves because they're too subjective too be truly helpful.

Since that post, a few sites like that have come to my attention. I'm sure there are others, but here's a few to start out with:

Good Clean Reads

A great site mentioned in the comments by its creator, Kim, is Good Clean Reads. She's developed her own system to "rate" books. I put that in quotes, because it's not so much a rating system as it is a way to clue in readers on content. (This brings me all kinds of joy. It's just what we need!)

Each "rating" consists of three numbers, from 1-5. The numbers represent sexual content, violence, and profanity. Put the numbers together, and a rating could look like this: 2.1.3.

Kim herself is careful to point out that even this system is subjective, but her system is just about as good as it gets.

Rated Reads

This site uses a simpler rating system (very easy, but probably not quite as effective as Kim's), that rates the level of content from "None" to "Dirt." I didn't know until I found Rated Reads and poked around that my good friend Heather Moore is one of their reviewers. One thing they have going for them is that they have a pretty decent-sized archive.

Parental Book Reviews

This site falls between the other two on how complex their rating system is. Parental Book Reviews uses a 7-level scale from "none" to "extreme," giving a rating on four content areas each: sexual content, profanity, violence, and "other notables," which I appreciated, and which includes things like underage drinking or other elements not covered in the other categories.

Reading Teen

This is a sister site to Parental Book Reviews, and it's aimed specifically at young adults. Fellow writer Braden Bell pointed me toward a brave and insightful post there, written by a mom, about sex in youth fiction.

It's long, but worth the read. Read it and discuss it with your teens.

Ratings for Books?

I recently received an e-mail asking my opinion about the idea of creating a ratings system for books, like the one we already have for movies, TV shows, and video games. About two days later, the same issue came up in an online forum. Seems to be a hot topic right now.

I have rather strong opinions about this (I know, jaw-dropping news, right?). After I wrote a long letter in reply, I realized it was practically a blog post, so this post is pretty much what I sent back.

Feel free to agree or disagree with me.

First off, as a mother, I can totally empathize with the desire to have a rating system. I absolutely see where parents demanding one are coming from. It's getting harder all the time to find clean youth literature. To make matters worse, publishers are quite happy to put out books with "content." A lot of people think that talking about drugs, sex, violence, language, and more is not only "real" but good for kids. Others say it's a great way to reach youth because parents are clueless and won't realize what's in the books their kids read.

Scary? You bet.

Another issue is clueless librarians who aren't educated on their own job. Neil Gaiman (who was mentioned in the e-mail) is a great example of this problem because he doesn't write just for kids. He writes for adults, too. So just because one of his books (like his Newbery-winning The Graveyard Book) might be suitable for kids, you can't assume they all will be. A librarian should know better than to shelve all books by one author blindly in the same area.

A librarian should also be savvy enough to know the difference between children's (or MG in my genre primer in THIS post) and YA. Hunger Games (also mentioned in the e-mail I received) is definitely YA, not MG.

In our library, you'll find stuff like Harry Potter in both the children's section and the YA section, so there is some overlap, but many books belong strictly in one or the other. I think the author of Hunger Games did some MG in the past, so we may be looking at a Neil Gaiman situation where the librarian is assuming that all of an author's books fall under the same category.

I also totally get that there's no way for parents to read everything their kids do—a common argument parents are given. But that's impossible if you have avid readers and more than one child. (Check and check, in our family.) Parents do need to keep tabs on what their kids are reading, in whatever way they can.

All that said, I'm very much opposed to a ratings system for books.

The movie rating system we already have is horribly flawed to the point of being almost useless. Some movies that I would never let my kids see because the content, for me, is absolute trash, are labeled PG-13 while others, which are otherwise wonderful films, get an R-rating for one extra use of the F-word but absolutely no other content at all.

The LDS film Saints and Soldiers was originally given an R rating. The producers knew, of course, that their target audience would never watch it. They did some minor editing, taking out, if memory serves, a few seconds' worth of blood on a wound or whatever—and got their PG-13 rating. Seriously. That was the difference between R and PG-13. Then I find movies with "good" ratings like PG that I find offensive. I can't trust a rating to be a no-fail, safe guide, especially when my kids are on the line.

I also really hate the idea of putting my decisions into someone else's hands, especially when the chance of being able to truly trust a ratings system is pretty small. I also think it's the wrong thing to do.

Think of the Young Women Choice & Accountability value. The whole idea is that we are accountable for the choices we make. But if we go strictly by ratings, we're letting someone else choose for us, which makes us what, feel less accountable for seeing bad stuff?

I think this is precisely why not a single general authority has mentioned any movie ratings—including R—in 25 or so years, not since the mid-80s, and why the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet doesn't either. I believe the Brethren know full well that going by ratings isn't the best compass, that we need to be selective on our own, to make informed choices, which means not blindly following ratings someone else has slapped on.

There's simply no way to know if some else's values match ours. Following ratings can even lead us to watching garbage when it's in a film with a lower rating (so we can justify watching it . . . it's okay, because it's not R . . .).

Another issue is something I've learned working with the Whitney Awards: everyone has their own definition of what's appropriate and what's not, even among active Mormons. Opinions vary widely. Some Whitney academy members have complained that anything with violence shouldn't be a nominee. (Good luck finding an epic fantasy without war of some kind, and second, have you ever read, oh, Alma?) The fact is, everyone's sensibilities are different.

What I find okay—or offensive—will not match someone else's definitions of okay or offensive.

I believe that the minute we have a rating system for books, we'll end up with all kinds of problems that already plague the film industry.

That said, the one thing I would be in favor of is something like those movie sites that list specifically what is in a movie (such as which swear words are used & how many times, if there's nudity it says what kind it is, if there's violence it says specifically what happens, and so on).

That way I can make an informed decision knowing exactly what the content is without someone else interpreting the content by their standard.

Problem: That's not something the book industry could take on (pretending for a minute they'd be willing to). It would have to be a private enterprise, like those movie sites are.

So what can we do as readers and parents?
Talk to other parents and get recommendations about what their kids are reading. Talk to other librarians. School librarians often have a better pulse on the youth fiction market than public librarians, and they're often pickier about what is in their libraries. They also listen to parents more, but not if a parent is constantly in their face, and not if the parent complains about small stuff or about books they have only heard rumors about and haven't actually read. Before bringing in a complaint, be informed and pick your battles.

One thing I've found very useful is to visit Amazon and look up books you already know are good. Then click on the button for recommendations for books similar to it. Then read the reviews. You'll often get a good feel for content from them.

You can also find lists of "clean reads" for youth online, but be aware that there is really no way to concretely define "clean" or "offensive."

Janette Rallison, who is LDS and a national YA author (and a good friend of mine) has been added to lists of clean teen reads, and she's rather proud of that. She's fighting the fight to have good, clean books out there for teens. My girls adore her books; they're great, laugh-out-loud funny, and (by my definition) safe.

One fascinating thing happening right now in the national market is the huge influx of LDS novelists writing for youth. Some people, especially in the NY publishing scene, have talked about how there must be some kind of conspiracy (you may have heard about the supposed "Mormon Mafia") because so many Mormons are publishing youth fiction now and being wildly successful at it.

That's great news for those of us looking for cleaner reads. Although those books may still have violence, a swear word or two, or maybe some other mild content, you can bet they will downright squeaky compared to 90% of whatever else is on the shelves.

(Note from THIS POST: I'll still write up my tips for getting kids reading. I will, I will!)

21st-Century Literacy: Or, Why Kids GOTTA Read

I've had a lot of people ask how I managed to get my kids to be good readers. My experience won't be the same as any other parent's, because every child is different. Each of my four children had a different path toward reading, and we lucked out in that we don't have anyone with dyslexia or similar learning challenge. (Not that we didn't have our challenges, but I'll talk about that another time.)

Before sharing parts of our family's literacy journey, I want to establish why reading is so important to begin with, why I did a jig in the hall the first time I caught my son sneaking a book under his covers past bedtime.

I'm an avid reader, so of course as soon as I became a mom, I wanted to pass along my love of books to my children. That desire increased as I studied literacy statistics and learned just how important those skills are—far more important than they were even one generation ago.

Back then, the majority of jobs didn't even require a high school diploma and many jobs required little, if any, skills related to reading and writing. (Common sense, a solid work ethic, and a bit of brawn did the trick.)

In the 1950s, 60% of jobs were unskilled labor.* Today, unskilled labor accounts for only 20% of jobs. But there's a caveat: today, even blue-collar jobs require some level of literacy, and when the workers don't have it, entire industries suffer.

In a survey of the National Association of Manufacturers, 40% said they couldn't implement productivity improvements because their work force didn't have the reading, math, or communication skills the upgrades would require.

The modern world requires that we know how to read and write. Those aren't just a nice skills to have; they're vital for success. Consider that just about every job requires some kind of written communication, whether it's e-mail, reading a memo taped to a wall, or (more likely) something far more involved.

I have several friends (and this includes my husband) who, at times, do more writing at work than their job description implies. This includes stuff like writing reports, proposals, memos, team messages, e-mails (to superiors as well as team members), preparing presentations, and more. Two of my friends who are lawyers spend 12-hour work days, yep, writing.

(Side note: one of those lawyers is such a good writer that he's now the go-to guy at his firm for writing briefs and reports. Pain in the neck on the one hand, but it also means his mortgage will be paid off just before his 40th birthday.)

Aside from benefits like getting, oh, a job, literacy has huge effects on individuals and society.

It's not a surprise that children of mothers with poor literacy skills are likely to have poor literacy skills themselves. We know that parental involvement is big for students.

What we don't always realize is that when such support is lacking at home, it leads to a vicious cycle of poverty: an illiterate teen, possibly living in poverty herself, gets involved in drugs and other risky behavior, drops out of school, has a teen pregnancy, raises the child in poverty . . .

And the cycle continues with the next generation.

But get this: literacy skills even affect things like children's health. Studies have shown that kids with illiterate mothers tend to have poor nutrition, don't get to the doctor when they need to, and don't always get the care they need when they are at the doctor (hard to know what to ask when you don't understand basic health issues). These same children are less likely to ride in car seats or even have smoke detectors and fire extinguishers in the home.

At first some of that didn't make sense to me, until I realized that literacy has fingers in just about every pie of life. How did I learn about toddler nutrition, when to take my kidlets to the doctor, or how to install a car seat?

Oh, yeah. I read about those things. Even knowing what questions to ask of a doctor or pharmacist (or even being able to read a medicine label) is something those with poor literacy skills can't do.

A lot of problems go away when the mother in the home is educated: kids' grades go up, their chances for at-risk behavior drops, their health improves, and more.

Yes, I'm aiming this at moms, because we really do have so much power. (No pressure, right? Oy.) This means that yes, educating a woman is critical, even if she's "just" going to be a stay-at-home mom.

Aside from family-level issues, illiteracy has a huge price tag on the community. Consider a few numbers from 2003:

47% of adult welfare recipients have not graduated from high school.

70% of adult welfare recipients are not literate.

High-school drop-outs are 3X more likely to need public assistance than high-school graduates.

Illiterate adults are 6X times more likely to be hospitalized and are more likely to have heart disease, prostate cancer, and diabetes. (Again, if you can read, you're more likely to know about preventative care, treatments, and more.)

Prison inmates are often illiterate, and after release, they often return to prison. In one study, inmates who receive literacy training had a return rate of 20% instead of the 49% of their fellow inmates who did not receive similar training.

The conclusion of the study was that every dollar spent on education in prison is worth at least two dollars in the future reduction of crime. (You'd think that education would be a no-brainer, but only about 9% of inmates get literacy training.)

You could say I'm a tiny bit passionate about the topic, which is why I got somewhat panicky when my children didn't take to reading like fish to water. I did a lot of asking for advice, digging around, and I put on my detective cap to find some solutions. So far, the efforts have paid off.

Next week, I'll share some of our struggles and the tips I gleaned along the way for getting my kids to read.

*Literacy stats in this post are from the ProLiteracy America Report, 2003

Whitney Awards: Behind the Scenes

The reading is done, and the ballots are in. I'm writing this the night before the finalists are announced, and by the time you're reading this, we should be within a couple of hours of knowing who the finalists are.

Being part of the awards has been a fascinating and rewarding experience, especially since I was able to part of the growth of the program from early on. Robison Wells, the founder of the awards, bounced the idea off me the day he came up with it (I consider myself lucky to have been in the right place at the right time). I landed on a name for the program that he liked. The second year of the awards I served on the committee, and I've been a judge for three years.

At the first gala, I felt overwhelmed with the potential for the program and where it was headed, and honored that I'd been part of something so amazing. (You can read more on that and my teary reaction HERE.)

Enough people ask about the Whitney Awards that I thought I'd explain a bit about how they work. This post will already be long enough without explaining my personal judging philosophy and process, so those things may have to wait for another post.

I will say, though, that I try hard to judge each book by the same criteria and to judge as objectively as possible, so that even if a particular novel isn't my personal taste, I can still acknowledge whether it is well-crafted and accomplishes what the author set out to do.

Michele Paige Holmes blogged about her job as a Romance judge this year in two posts, HERE and HERE. Read them. They're excellent and insightful . . . and good lessons on writing, too.

How the Whitney Awards Work

For the full list of rules and such, see the site's ABOUT page, but this post should give you the basics.

In essence, the Whitneys aim to recognize the best LDS fiction writers, regardless of genre or market. They're named after Orson F. Whitney, an early apostle who gave an inspiring talk about the arts and literature, saying that one day we'll have "Miltons and Shakespeares of our own." We're seeking to move toward greater and greater excellence, to one day fulfill that prophesy.

For a book to win a Whitney, it goes through three phases:

1) Reader Nomination

To be an official nominee, a book must be nominated by at least 5 people who do not have a financial interest in the book (such as the publisher, the author, etc.). Nominations are accepted throughout the year for books published during that calendar year, so the upcoming awards will honor books published in 2010. Nominations closed on December 31.

(Note: Keep in mind that you can already nominate 2011 titles. Nominations for the current year are open all the time.)

2) Genre Judging

The Whitneys include 7 genre categories: General, Historical, Romance, Mystery/Suspense, Speculative (Sci-Fi/Fantasy), YA General, and YA Speculative (a new category this year). Each genre category has 5 judges assigned to it by the Whitney president and committee. Judges are selected based on their qualifications, and while they are often writers in the field, sometimes they're editors or other industry professionals. Judges read every nominee in their category/categories.

The current Whitney president and committee are not eligible for awards (too bad, really, for current president Josi S. Kilpack, who has won a Whitney in the past but also has two books out this year that could have easily been finalists). Writers serving as judges are eligible for an award; they just can't judge a category in which they're eligible. For example, one year I judged General and Romance when I had a Historical novel eligible.

When they've read all the nominees assigned in their genre, the judges cast a complex ballot online that uses a point system to give each book the fairest rank possible. It's a Condorcet-style ballot, where every book is pitted against every other book in its category.

So instead of just ranking the books a judge liked ("this one is my favorite"), the ballot creates every possible pairing of titles and asks the judges, one pair at a time, to say which book of the two is most deserving of the award. Each vote for a book in any pairing creates a specific weight in that book's favor.

This is where we are right now. The judges' ballots were due yesterday at midnight, January 31. The points have been tallied (using some fancy computer formula that's beyond me).

Now 5 titles in each genre are finalists.

(The list should be up on the Whitney site by noon today.)

3) Academy Votes

Where do we go from here? Once the finalists are announced, the Whitney Academy members will get busy reading them. The Academy is made up of literally hundreds of industry professionals: writers, editors, reviewers, publishers, and so on. The Academy keeps growing. Just the LDStorymakers guild itself has doubled in membership since the inception of the awards four years ago.

Academy members will cast their ballots a week or two before the Whitney Gala, which takes place immediately following the annual LDStorymakers conference. In the past the Academy has had about 2 months to read finalists; this year, the conference and gala will be held a bit later, giving us almost 3 months. Yay!

Voting rules for Academy members are simple: Vote in as many, or as few, genre categories as you wish, provided you have read all of the finalists in any category you're voting in.

In other words, an Academy member could read just the Historical finalists and cast a ballot for only that award. Or a member could read finalists in two or three categories and vote in just those areas. They cannot vote in any category where they haven't read every finalist.

To cast a vote for the two overall awards (Best Novel by a New Author and Best Novel of the Year), the Academy member must read every book eligible for those awards. That means reading several titles to vote for Best Novel by a New Author and reading every single finalist to vote for Best Novel of the Year.

(That's a lot of books, but I did it last year. Barely, but I did it.)

The Whitney Gala

The genre and overall awards are announced at the Whitney Gala, as well as special awards that the committee decides on, given to people who have had big achievements in their work and/or been instrumental in serving LDS writers. Previous award-winners include Orson Scott Card, Gerald Lund, Kerry Blair, Dean Hughes, and Dave Wolverton, among others.

One rule change this year could be fun to see unfold: In the past, one book could win one award. If it won in its genre (say, Speculative) but and also won New Author and Best Novel, it would take just the highest award (Best Novel). The next highest-ranking book in New Author would take that award, and the same with the genre award. Spreading the love, acknowledging more books.

Now, a book can win any award it's eligible for. That means one book could take its genre award as well as Best Novel.

Or we could see a 3-award sweep with 1 book taking its genre award, New Author, and Best Novel. (Wouldn't that be wild?)

I make a point to read widely during the year, especially writers who I know are good at what they do and who have been previous finalists or winners. That way when the finalists are announced, there's a decent chance I've read at least a few of them and don't have 35 books to read in a short span.

Of course, I can't predict every finalist; there are always surprises: underdogs I've never heard of, self-published books that are gems, and so on. It's exciting to see the list each year. I really hope I've made some decent guesses.

After all, I must have read every finalist if I'm going to vote for Best Novel again.

And I plan to.

WNW: Homophones Edition

Another edition of Word Nerd Wednesday with homophones brought to my attention by my trusty readers.

Lightning/Lightening

When a bolt of bright electricity shoots through the sky during a storm, that is lightning.

When dawn comes, the darkness is going away and the room may be lightening.

Lead/Led

I see these two words used interchangeably, both as the past tense form of what a follower does with a leader. The confusion likely happens because the past tense of the verb lead is led, which happens to rhyme with the metal lead.

Present tense: I walk through the forest and lead the way for those behind me.

Past tense: I walked through the forest; I led the way for those behind me.

Anyway/Any Way

If something happens in spite of someone's efforts, it takes place anyway.

If you wonder whether something is possible, you may ask if there is any way it could come about.

Throws/Throes

When Mark pitches a baseball, he throws it.

When Janet is dealing with emotional turmoil, she could be in the throes of depression. Someone else could be in the last throes of death, or in the throes of passion.

Threw/Through/Thru

First word here is simply the past tense of the one above: Mark threw the ball.

Something or someone passes through something else, such as a train through a tunnel.

An old-fashioned version of through is thru.

Peak/Peek/Pique

The top of a gable roof has a peak.

If you're peering around a corner, you may catch a peek at something secret.

The first page of a book may pique your interest.

All Together/Altogether

If something is very complicated, it could be altogether confusing. (In other words, completely.)

The family went to the store all together. (In a group.)

Have more homophones that confuse you? Send 'em in!