BYU Honor Code and Brandon Davies

In all the hype regarding the dismissal of Brandon Davies from BYU's basketball team for honor code violations earlier this week, many people have commented on how they feel about the honor code, about what Davies might have done, and how much he did or didn't know about the honor code.

But in all their arguments, one thing seems glaringly absent: The fact of the matter is, Davies had a full knowledge of the honor code he violated. I think people believe there exists this sort of nebulous set of rules out there somewhere that are inconsistently enforced and which the students don't really understand or accept. They just bide by them inasmuch as it suits them for expediency.

But that grossly undervalues BYU's system. The reality is this: every student who attends BYU is required to read the honor code each year and sign their name to a form declaring that, on their honor, they will obey the rules prescribed in the honor code. What's more, each year they are also required to be interviewed by an ecclesiastical leader (or someone with equivalent respect and stature before the university), who asks them to declare that they have obeyed the honor code and will continue to obey it.

So it doesn't really matter whether you think BYU's honor code is draconian, outmoded, silly, or unnecessary. And it doesn't matter if you think Davies and other students shouldn't be held to such standards.

I feel terribly bad for Davies. He has a heavy weight to bear now, and as a member of the LDS Church, a heavy repentance process of some form or another to go through.

But one cannot deny him the responsibility and consequences of his actions. He knowingly violated the honor code. Many students, sadly enough, suffer the consequences of violating the honor code. It has nothing to do with race, religious beliefs (I attended BYU as a freshman as a Presbyterian--I since joined the Church), or otherwise. And each of them is given the full opportunity to understand the honor code and live by it.

There, I've pontificated enough.

Road to Publication

It's an interesting road, no matter how to take it, no matter how you get there. I've been submitting queries, writing synopses, writing new books, honing my craft, and a bunch of other activities. I even have serious interest from a publisher--Shadow Mountain. But nothing is set, and I'm beginning to wonder about the probability of success through the new epublishing models on Amazon.com. I'm even thinking of focusing this blog, or a new one, on adventures in publishing, or my road to publication.

How do you determine what to write about? What has your path to publication been like?

LTUE and ePublishing

I attended LTUE this weekend. That's a writing conference at BYU. I learned a ton about writing, spent time with some fantastic friends, including Lisa Mangum, author of the Hourglass Door trilogy, author and entrepreneur Dave Farland, Tracy Hickman, and a host of others.

Talked about how my book is in a positive holding pattern at Shadow Mountain.

And learned a great deal about how the publishing market, especially ePublishing, is changing. With Amanda Hawking selling 450,000 some-odd books online only in the last few months, I'm impressed and giving serious consideration to going that route myself. Thoughts on the road to self publishing?

Humbling (in a good way) reviews

As part of our great push to get my novel ready for second submission to the publisher, I leveraged my wife's Yahoo! groups and was able to target about 900 people to see if anyone was interested in reviewing the ms at a lickety-split pace. As an incentive, we offered $10 gift cards to Amazon.com to 10 reviewers who read the entire book and filled out a questionnaire. Close to 60 signed up. Now, they only had about 12 days, and a number of them did not make it in time.

However, we got excellent feedback (we here means me and my wife, who was a tremendous help). Helpful suggestions on a number of places to strengthen, clarify, expand, simplify, and such. A couple of readers had trouble--and that led to some important changes in the text as well.

Most gratifying to me was that most of the target audience kids--ages 9-13--loved the book. The boost to the ego was just extraordinary. The kids said things like, "It was amazing; I loved it; exciting, action-packed, fun!"

One 11-year-old boy answered the question, "Would you ask your parents to buy this?" said 'No--I'd buy it myself.' Wow. I just felt really grateful.

So, to all you reviewers out there, thanks a million. It's a much better book for your efforts. And I'm a much more excited writer as well.

So, the book went back to the publisher on Tuesday. Now they've asked to see it again, but they did tell me that this early in the game there are no promises and that I can still submit elsewhere. I'm querying agents now. Two out last night, and a number to go. We're on a roll!