NEW October Author's Hall of Fame issue

Attitudes at Altitude promise to our readers …We celebrate the outstanding authors inducted into the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame ® (Hall) in 2019 and 2021. They are the first in the United States that only honors published authors exclusively. The next Induction will be on September 16, 2023. Put the date on your calendar.

Each month, past Inductees will be featured with their background and latest books.
One of our past Inductees will offer their sage advice on “how they do it”–whatever “it” is.
You will be the first to hear about the Hall Events that are planned. Nominations for 2023 Induction are open. The Gala Induction will be in the Metro-Denver area on Saturday, September 16, 2023.

WOW ... the inaugural awarding for the Aspiring Authors Scholarships at the University of Denver was inspirational, encouraging, and exciting for those who attended. The five Winners got checks for $2,000 each plus participate in the Authorship Mentoring program that starts in January of 2023. In addition, two Finalists were selected, each receiving $200 plus the opportunity to participate in three of the eighteen modules in the Mentorship program.

Emceed by Board member Mara Purl, the program flowed smoothly, starting and ending within 90 minutes. Winners were introduced and then shared their thoughts and hopes for their writing and careers going forward. Hall Inductee Patricia Raybon delivered an enlightening and presentation on the power of words and inspiration for authors and authors-to-be.

Meet the Winners and Finalists. You can read about them, their plans, and comments of what the Judges said about the submitted work. The Program book has been turned into a flipbook and can be found on the Hall’s Home page: https://issuu.com/fp.gd/docs/aspireauthors_program

Stephen King

is the recipient of The National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and the National Medal of Arts. In all, he has garnered over 100 book and writing awards including the Grand Horror Master and he has sold over 350 million copies of his books, several of which have transitioned from print to both television and film.

After living in Colorado for a year to create The Shining, bringing the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park to prominence, he returned to Maine, to finish The Stand set in Boulder. His first book received 30 rejections before Doubleday picked it up for $2,500—big money for the trailer-living family of four. It was the paperback deal that racked up a $400,000 advance, which propelled Carrie into the public’s eye and launched his career. Stephen quit his day job.

Carol Fenster

When major New York publishers rejected Colorado authors Carol Fenster’s pioneering work featuring gluten-free cooking strategies and how to eat healthy and happy, it didn’t stop her. In the 1990s, her health had deteriorated due to her gluten intolerance. She revised all her recipes to exclude gluten so she could eat and regain her health. From her kitchen, she realized that others needed this information. The results became the first gluten free cookbook. When no publishers would take a chance on publishing a cookbook where they deemed a buying audience was minimal, she birthed Savory Palate, LLC and independently published her book. Her first order from Amazon was in 1996 for 6 cookbooks and, believe it or not, the order came by way of a personal phone call from Amazon.

Carol has published gluten-free cookbooks for people with celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity and the pioneer in creating cookbooks for the millions who need it. Her efforts to bring gluten-free cooking information to the millions who need it led to her induction into the invitation-only Les Dames d’ Escoffier International. She taught gluten-free cooking classes at the famed Rancho La Puerta Spa and Resort in Mexico. She developed gluten-free products for industry leader Bob’s Red Mill, trained Disney parks and resorts chefs, and appears on PBS, and the Health Network as well as many radio, newspaper, and web sites.

She is the former associate food editor at Living Without (now Gluten-Free and More) magazine, and her articles, recipes, quotes, photos, and reviews of her books appear in USA Today, Saturday Evening Post, Reader’s Digest, Washington Post, Woman’s World, Vegetarian Times, Delicious Living, Today’s Dietitian, Living Without, Gluten-Free Living, Energy Times, Better Nutrition, Taste for Life, Women’s Health, Yoga Journal, and Edible Front Range.

Books of note: 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes and Gluten-Free Cooking for Two: 125 Favorites

FINDING MY VOICE

By Carol Fenster, Ph.D., author of Gluten-free Cooking for Two

Among the many pieces of advice given to new authors is “find your voice.” When I first started writing gluten-free cookbooks for celiac disease patients in the mid-1990’s, I had no idea what “voice” meant. But I did wonder how I would tell people how to eat safely, while maintaining my credibility--without overstepping any boundaries.

Why was it important to write gluten-free cookbooks? Celiac disease, an autoimmune condition in which gluten (a protein found mainly in wheat but also in related grains like barley or spelt) inhibits the body’s ability to absorb nutrients. This can lead to malnutrition, anemia, osteoporosis, infertility, and even death. It affects about 1 in 100 people and there is no cure. The only treatment is a gluten-free diet for life, so that’s why my cookbooks are important.

But back to choosing my voice. Today’s marketing experts would tell me to choose one of these three voices:

1. A cooking expert who provides a food solution to a medical diagnosis.
2. A lifestyle expert (e.g., Martha Stewart) who shares her own lifestyle, including food preparation.
3. A food science expert who explains the chemistry behind gluten-free cooking.

As it turned out, circumstances chose option #1 for me. Back in the 1990s, there was no social media, no easy way to reach a gluten-free audience or develop any lifestyle followers. Instead, I focused on the community of celiac support groups across the US. They were medically focused, advised by a gastroenterologist, and often affiliated with hospitals. Many of these groups also held annual conferences which were attended by celiac patients from across the US. And they wanted guest speakers.

So, I became a guest speaker at celiac support group meetings and conferences alongside physicians, dietitians, nutritionists, and nurses. They spoke about the medical aspects of celiac disease while I demonstrated how to prepare safe food without gluten. My credibility was enhanced by my association with these medical authorities. In keeping with the medical tone of these meetings, the “voice” I used was a food solution to a medical diagnosis, delivered in a tone with no hype or exaggeration—just the facts.

In my cookbooks, I wrote as an authority on gluten-free cooking but used “blurbs” of support from my medical colleagues to lend credibility to my cookbooks, which in turn increased my book sales. In a way, my recipes for safe food were the “medicine” prescribed by physicians. My audience didn’t care about the chemistry behind gluten-free cooking, just how to make it safe and taste good.

The moral of my story? Sometimes the right “voice” becomes obvious if you listen to what the marketplace tells you. If you fully understand your audience and how to get your message to them, the right voice becomes clear.

The democratization of knowledge and information has been a key theme for me as an educator over the past three decades. Having independent authors serve as effective voices in an increasingly concentrated and commoditized literary world is absolutely necessary now more than ever. The Hall of Fame can provide a platform for the tools, techniques, and knowhow to allow independent authors to meet the demands of this important role. Their voices need to be heard, and I hope to be a part of the solution of guiding aspiring authors to be impactful and effective role as independent voices.

Dr. Doug Gilbert is a highly experienced international entrepreneur, academic, and business professional. His current focus includes serving as the CEO of Lone Tree Academics LLC, an academic services provider serving higher education, and a recent startup of EduPartner.Solutions, a Data Analytics as a Service (DAaaS) venture assisting higher education institutions with student success strategies. He also serves as doctoral faculty for Walden University (USA), a visiting professor at Vilnius University (Lithuania), and doctoral faculty for UBIS University (Switzerland).

He holds a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, a Juris Doctorate from the University of Iowa, and an M.B.A. from the Unversité de Genève (IMD) in Switzerland.

Doug’s past experiences include serving in senior management roles at several academic institutions, delivering strategy and transformation consulting to biotech companies in a Big 4 consultancy, leading international transformation projects for Novartis—a Swiss multinational, and co-founding Colorado’s newest city—the City of Castle Pines.

Support the Hall

The Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame celebrates the accomplishments of living and passed authors who have been connected to Colorado—their words, wisdom, accomplishments, and the life-changing impact their works create. The result: their legacy lives on.

The Hall is an all-volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that honors and celebrates authors connected with Colorado by birth, residence, temporary residency for writing encouragement and support, writing about elements within Colorado, or placing storylines in or about Colorado.

Authors’ words have immense power and impact on changing others’ lives. They solve problems, bring awareness to a topic, and provide hours of pleasurable reading. It’s the power of their words.

Your financial assistance through donations and participation at events supports the bi-annual Induction Gala in odd-numbered years, the Aspiring Author Scholarships, and the general operation to bring these events to the public.

Support the Hall for this year going forward.