Great Birthday and Great Conference

Hello! Sheesh, long time no blog, right? Sorry about that, but what with finals, then LDS Storymakers and other things I've just been too darn tired to write this long blog post. But here it goes.

Well, finals went well. I got all A's in my classes! Woot woot! So I am officially done with my first year of college! And I'm still trying to come up with my schedule for next fall, so if any of ya'll have suggestions on classes I could take let me know!

So, the day of my final final was also my birthday and also the day we went down to Provo to check into our hotel. Needless to say it was a busy day. But it was also very fun. We headed off to Provo when my parents got home from work. And guess who the first two people I saw were when we pulled into the hotel parking garage? J. Scott Savage and James Dashner! My two favorite Utah authors! It was a great way to start out the adventure. :)



My parents bought a birthday cake and brought it to the hotel. They sang to me and everything! I love my family!



The next morning I went to the opening ceremonies. There were over 450 people signed up for this years LDS Storymakers Conference.





After going to the first session (How to Avoid Common Mistakes of a Novice Writer By H.B. Moore), I was waiting around for the next session to start. This wonderful gentleman, Robert Johnson Almond, took my picture and told me about his book "Emery's Secret". So I got his picture. Check out his book and find out what Emery's secret is! :)

Then I went to "Sprinting to the Last Page or Savoring the Writing: Pacing Your Story Properly," taught by Candace Salima. It was great and I learned a lot about pacing. Then I went to "Vilainous: Creating Characters We Love to Hate," taught by my very favorite J. Scott Savage! That was awesome too. I had a front row seat and got some great tips on creating villains. And then the last session of the day I went to was "Weaving Chills and Thrills: Techniques for Mystery/Suspense Writers," by Stephanie Black. Now, I'm not technically a mystery or suspense writer, but every novel has elements of that in it, so I figured it would be good to go to.



And then after our keynote speaker (David Farland/Wolverton: He's a big time fantasy writer who has taught a lot of big time fantasy writers, such as Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Brandon Mull) we went to dinner. This is me and my daddy at dinner.

So the next day I went to "Dialogue is More Than Just Talking," by Rachel Ann Nunes, who has written about a gagillion books.



Then, it was off to Aprilynne Pikes "Faeries & Vampires & Werewolves, Oh My! Writing and Selling Fantasy for the Young Adult Market." She was nice enough to let me get a picture. But, you guys, she seriously reminded me of my friend Ash. It was uncanny. I think the two are long lost sisters.

So, then I went to "World Building: Can There Be Pink Trees?" by Jessica Day George. Her books are amazing, I highly recommend you all check them out. After that it was off to Nephele Tempest's "Writing a Synopsis." Nephele is an actual literary agent, which was very exciting. And then, the last class of the conference I attended was "The Dangerous Workshop for Writers: What Every Writer Should Know," taught by none other than J. Scott Savage and James Dashner! I just had to go to that one, obviously.



And after I got my picture with both of them! They're such great guys and such inspirations. It was a great way to end.

Then it was off to the National Agent/Editor Panel where I met this guy:



His name is Donald B. Anderson. He was really nice. His book "Hanging By the Thread" is coming out in May. Check out the book trailer on www.hangingbythethread.com. :)



And with that, it was back home. I didn't want to leave. But alas, I had to.

The LDS Storymakers Conference was amazing. One of the best times I've had for a long time. I met lots of great people and got lots of great advice on writing. Seriously, I feel just so inspired and rejuvinated after that conference. Writing is what I want to do with my life. That's hard for some people to comprehend and it was nice being surrounded by people who understood what I was going through. I can do this. I will do this.

Anyway, that's my adventures in Provo. Next post: Amazing Princess Tea Party surprise Birthday Spectacular! Have a great weekend everybody! :)

Update Before Finals

How is it already April 14th? How is it that finals are next week? How is it that I'm almost done with my first year of college? And how is that I have still not chosen a major?

Oh boy, so many things happening. So I figured I'd stop in and update you all before my finals and before my mind completely turns to mush.

Last week I gave my two presentations. For my English class I ultimately decided to do the Power Rangers. My friend Ash did Pokemon, so we got together and made sugar cookies to take to class.





Don't those just look so delicious? It took us like two hours to decorate them. But it was kind of therapeutic. Maybe if you're nice to me I will make you Power Ranger cookies sometime. :)

Then I gave my speech which went well. And guess what? Yesterday I gave my last speech of the semester!!!! Yay!!!! Jump up and down with me, it's fun! But, alas, I still have to take the final. Then there is my final for Sociology. I think that's all the finals I have. But I do have big long papers and other things due in my other two classes. *Sigh* I'm very ready for summer.

So, I've been trying to decide on my schedule for next fall. I've officially signed up for two classes. Both are just gen ed requirements, science requirements to be specific. But other than that I'm really not sure what to take. My problem? I don't officially have a major. Since I'm basically done with my gen ed requirements, what classes does that leave me to take without a major?

I'm torn between majoring in English Teaching and English with Creative Writing emphasis. Last night I even made a list of pros and cons for each. The pros list was longer for English Teaching, but then again so was the cons. Even though I love Creative Writing, there's just not much I could do with it that I enjoy. You all know I want to be an author. That's my dream job. It's what I love. But let's be realistic. What are the chances of me being published? Of being a full-time author? They're not very good and despite my wish to be optimistic I have to think about my future. With teaching I'd have a basically guaranteed career. But I don't think I have the chops to be a teacher. I love English. I love reading and writing. But disciplining kids who want nothing to do with reading or writing? I don't think I could do it.

So, I am torn. Gosh, I get so nervous just thinking about having to make this decision so soon. I only graduated high school last year and now I'm supposed to choose the field I want to go in to for the rest of my life? I can't buy alcohol, but I'm supposed to plan my whole future (not that I would buy alcohol, mind you)? Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous?

But on the up side school is almost over, the LDS Story Makers Conference is almost a week away as well as my birthday! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am! This will be the perfect ending to my first year of college. And I'll have so much time to read all the books I've been buying! :D

One book I just finished is called "Lemon Tart" by Josi Kilpack. It's a culinary murder mystery and has about 7 recipes in it. Tonight I made the alfredo and brownies that were in the book. They were so good. Just the kind of comfort food I needed to help me stay happy. :)

Another thing helping me make it through this last stretch of school? My friends. Staci made a spontanious visit this weekend. Here is a picture. :)



She's so great. She lets me rant to her about how I have no idea what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. I love her lots. :)

Then there are my other buddies- Ashley, Ashley, and Megan. Today we went to a park and played on the swings. It was so fun. I'd forgotten how much stress you could release by swinging. It feels like you're flying. I highly recommend you try it sometime.

Well, that's about all I've got. My brain is nearing mush state. I'm trying to not think about the papers I still have to write and should probably start tonight. Instead I think I'll watch NCIS or read. Maybe tomorrow my brain will have solidified. *Sigh* Goodnight blogosphere. :)

"Cheer up, the worst is yet to come."

Can you believe March is almost over already? Time sure does fly by when you do the same thing day in and day out. :)

First of all, the fifth and final Fablehaven book is out!



Second of all, I haven't finished it yet so don't tell me how it ends! ;)

So next week I have two presentations to get through. One is for my English 3080 class, in which I must (and I quote) "choose any 'text' (e.g., object, image, artwork, consumer good, food/drink, style, trend, hobby, etc.) and prepare a seven-minute presentation for the class." I have to interpret my "text" like I would a novel.

I'm still in between texts at the moment. There are a couple ideas I have floating around my head. What do y'all think?


.
-Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: I could do either a racial analysis or a feminist analysis. Did you ever notice how the yellow Power Ranger was Asian, the black Power Ranger was African American, and all of the white Power Rangers had red, white, and blue costumes except for the pink Power Ranger who was a stereotyped ditsy California girl? Fishy . . .



-Chocolate: I could do a feminist analysis of this probably. Talk about Dove's new campaign geared towards women or how pretty much any chocolate commercial is geared towards women. Then I could take in free samples for the class which can help hide the fact that my presentation wasn't very good! Haha! :)





-Ties: Why do men wear neck ties? What's the history behind them? Why can't women wear neck ties? Or, do you remember that fad with them back in the early 2000's? Like Avril Lavine? I'm still not sure what I could say about this, but it would be interesting right?



So, those are the three I'm stuck between. I'm leaning towards Power Rangers, but what do you think, my lovely anonymous blog readers?

Then I have a speech for my Communications 1020 class. It's the Speech to Persuade (sounds very intimidating, doesn't it?). You want to know what my topic is that I have to persuade people on?

Executive Compensation.

Want to know the position I'm supposed to take on the matter?

For it.

Yes, I have to argue FOR Executive Compensation. After doing a bit of research today I'm a bit down-hearted. Nobody seems to like the idea of executive compensation very much. There are not any positive facts and all the people I've found for it that I could quote all do finances for the CEO's. My professor says we're supposed to think like lawyers to defend our position. I'm not feeling too optimistic for my chances of winning my "case".

BUT!!!! But the good news is that the end is in sight! By April 22nd (which happens to be my birthday, ahem) I will be completely finished with my first full year of college and off to Provo for my first official overnighter writers conference! Woohoo! And then it's off to St. George with some of my girlies to bask in the sun. Doesn't it sound glorious?



Isn't that picture pretty? I can't wait until the sunshine and warmth! It's thoughts of birthdays and friends and writing that are getting me through this final stretch of the semester.

So, cheer up! The worst is yet to come! ;)

Spring Break, Thumbelina, & Golden Spiral

Hello anonymous/imaginary people who read this blog! :)

Just a quick update on how things are going for me. This week is Spring Break at Weber State. It's been nice sleeping in, getting lots of writing done and other things on my to-do list, but it doesn't really seem like Spring Break. This is for two reasons:

1) I've still had to go to work. Not that I don't like work. I love my job and the people I work with. They're all so fun and nice! And Julie (one of my coworkers) makes the cutest little gifts and the yummiest treats for everybody! Like for Saint Patrick's Day she made some cute leprachaun treasure treats. Very darling. But I still don't like spending my break working.

2) I have to take a test during Spring Break. What kind of professor does that? Makes you go up to campus the one week that semester you have off and make you take a test? So I spent most of today studying sociology and learning about how sex and gender are not biologically set in anybody (this course definitely has some values that do not coincide with gospel principles). Yeah, go figure that one out.

But I'm very super duper excited because I got something amazing in the mail today! I shall not tell you what it is . . . Okay, maybe I will. But you have to promise not to judge me too harshly . . . I bought the Thumbelina Soundtrack!!!!!! Yes, it may not be the most practical investment I've ever made. And yes, it may have cost me a little bit of money. But it's something that me and my friends will enjoy and hopefully will bring my children joy. I'm very happy with my decision. *Sigh* I really love it.

This cd has been out of print since 1994, so it's pretty hard to come across. Barry Manilow wrote all the music for Thumbelina, so that should tell you how absolutely amazing the cd is. I get chills all over everytime I listen to it. It's like I'm wrapped up in a cocoon of Manilowy goodness. And the fact that Jodi Benson does the voice of Thumbelina makes it even better. Then there's the nice little inside joke between me and my friends regarding almost every single character in Thumbelina that makes listening to the music particularly satisfying.

So, I got my Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Lisa Mangum's "The Golden Spiral", second book in the Hourglass Door series. Can I just say how AMAZING it was? I think I liked this one even better than the first just because everything was in place and explained so that I could enjoy the characters and the story. I really want an Italian time-traveling boyfriend. Is that too much to ask?

Anyway, that's pretty much all with me. But how are all of you, anonymous/imaginary blog readers? I really want to know.

Have a good weekend! :)

Good friends, good books, and good writing

Hi everybody! Apparently yesterday was national update your blog day. But since I'm an individual (and procrastinator) I am updating a day late. :)

This month has been full of many, many good things. First of all, it's been full of great and amazing friends! If you ever look at my Facebook page, you may notice it's pretty much dominated by three girls: Ashley L., Ashley R., and Megan D. They're some of my best friends in the whole world! I have so much fun with them and am so blessed to have them in my life.



This photo is from October, when we all went to the Institute dance as fairies. Our amazing make-up was done by Ash (or Ashley R. for those who care to know). She is awesome. From right to left: Megan, Ashley R., Ashley L., and me. Megan was the dark fairy, which is really funny and ironic if you know her at all.

The four of us have actually been talking about going on a trip to St. George this summer, to celebrate making it through our first year of college. I'm super excited. These girls are the best and make my life A LOT more interesting. :)

Next, I've been able to read a lot of good books lately. Let's bust out the list, shall we?

-Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George (She was one of the authors in my group at a writers conference I went to this summer. She's really funny and down to earth. Plus her stories are awesome.)

-The 13th Reality: The Hunt for Dark Infinity by James Dashner (This is the second book in his 13th Reality series. Have I ever talked about James on here before? No? I'll have to change that.)

-Farworld: Land Keep by J. Scott Savage (This, also, is the second in a series. Recognize him? He's the one who really gave me my drive, in an odd, roundabout sort of way.)

-Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George (Another Jessica Day George novel. She's great!)

-The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (I finally gave in and read it. But now I am bidding my time before reading the next book in the series, so I won't have so long of a wait for the last book.)

-Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (This book I got for Christmas from another of my best friends, Staci. It's kind of a gothy Twilight. But it was written by 2 people! How crazy is that? That right there takes a lot of talent from all involved.)

-The Secret Journal of Brett Colton by Kay Lynn Mangum (THE best LDS fiction I've ever read. EVER.)

-Graceling by Kristin Cashore (This was the book I had been so excited to read. After reading the synopsis and reviews, I desperately wanted to read this. But, alas . . . Not such a great read. I just couldn't agree with the value system set forth in the book and was extremely disappointed.)

-Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (They're making this into a movie you know. Check out the trailer.)

-The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball (Confession time. I haven't finished this book yet. But it's great and has really got me thinking about things.)

Well, I think that's about it for books. There are a couple more, but that's a pretty hefty list. If you see anything that sounds interesting, feel free to hit me up! I've decided to open my own library out of my bedroom.

So, between all this fun with good friends and reading of good books, what do I do? Work. What else? write.

I've been digging in a lot lately and doing some editing on The Elements. It's hard, but suprisingly fulfilling at the same time. I've also been doing a lot of writing for my classes. There have been a lot of papers due for my English 3080 class. And then there's my creative writing class, where, *gasp*, we've actually started WRITING! Go figure.

Well, I should probably wrap up this obscenely large post. And, technically, I still haven't completely finished my creative writing fiction project that's due tomorrow.

Have a great week! :D

P.S. Looking at the previw, this post isn't as obscenely long as I thought it would be. It only took me an obscenely long time to write. Haha. Yes, I am putting off my homework some more. But I'm really stopping now . . . really . . . right . . . . . . . . . . . . now.

. . . . Yeah . . .

Hello dear friends! I haven't blogged since 2009. I was hoping to save my first post of 2010 for something epic and major. But since nothing epic and major has happened yet and it's almost February I figured I'd better write something.

So . . . How have you all been? Is your year going well? . . .

I started a new semester of school, so for lack of something better to write about, you're going to now read all about it! :) Aren't you just so excited?

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I have English 3080 with my dear friend Ash. She's my soul sister. We have a Professor who is a tree hugger, who offered 4% extra credit in the class if we went to a lecture someone was giving on air pollution. Ash and I went and . . . well . . . It was not so much fun.

The class itself however is pretty fun. I get to talk with my best friend Ash about all the works we're reading. Right now we are in the middle of William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying". Ever read it? It's very confusing unless you know how to navigate Sparknotes (or have the patience to get halfway through it, where things start to turn up). Actually, you know I should probably be reading rather than blogging . . . Oh well. :)

So that is my only class on M/W/F, although I do have an institute class on Monday and Wednesday right after. I'm taking Women in the Scriptures. I love it so much! The teacher is just my kind of style and I'm learning a lot of new things. Also, I love the people in my class and am making a lot of new friends. (There are even a few cute boys who go to that class. Anybody want to venture a guess as to why?) ;)

Tuesday and Thursday I have my Communications 1020 (or in layman's terms: Public Speaking) and a English 2250 (Creative Writing). I like both of these classes okay. The only problem is how early Public Speaking is (9:00 is early for me, okay?) and how crazy and odd my Creative Writing professor is. I wrote down some examples of this craziness to post on the blog. Aren't I just so studious?

First crazy thing: He always drops a random word in a sentence and replaces it with "what".

Example: "We had to fight the civil what? . . . war."
"We had to see it to its what? . . . conclussion."
"And so that is what your what means? . . . Your name."

See how crazy that is?!

Also, you never quite know when the words coming out of his mouth are his own or if he's quoting a poem or something. And then there's the fact that he speaks so poetically . . . so poetically it's ridiculous! I can hardly take anything the man says seriously!

So, that's my tuesday/thursdays. I also have a new work schedule, so instead of working M/W/F I work T/Th/F. Same hours basically, different days. The good news is that now that I'm working Tuesday and Thursdays I'm here when the Weber State Football team is in working out. :) However, I get to see them spit into the garbage can, which is not very appealing. So I guess it sort of balances out.

I guess that's all . . . Oh wait! You say you want to know how the writing is going? Why on earth would you want to know that? Okay, fine. Stop begging, I'll tell you! Sheesh. ;)

The writing is going great, just a bit slowly. It's hard finding time between all the reading, eating, and sleeping I have to do in order to function and not die. I've currently got 5-ish projects in the works. That's a lot. I'm not sure if I like being able to switch between stories or not. Sometimes it's nice, like when one story just isn't getting the juices flowing, then I can switch to another story. But most of the time the writers block carries over between stories. Plus, I wonder if I'm ever going to finish a book with all those story lines.

Another little writing tidbit, I'm going to another writer's conference! It's a big league writer's conference. We had to book a hotel room and everything. It's the LDS Story Maker's conference, held down in Provo at the Marriott hotel. That's where they used to hold all of our FCCLA conferences in high school. I'm very excited to be going back there. The conference is in April, the weekend of my birthday! So as to save those of you who don't know when my birthday is the embarassment of admiting it, my birthday is on April 22nd. Earth Day! And writer's conference day! This conference, I've decided, is my birthday present to myself. :D

Well, really, that's all. See, my life is so exciting. But how are you doing, all you anonymous blog readers out there?

Have a great week! :D

P.S. Psych comes on tomorrow at 10/9 central. WATCH IT!

All I want for Christmas . . .

Hello all! I'm back. Actually, I never left, but sorry that I haven't blogged for a month. You all must have missed me so much, right? Right? *pokes your arm*

Well, this last month has been kind of crazy for me. I had finals up to the second week of December and passed all of my classes. Can you believe I survived my first semester of college? Yeah, me neither.

And then, my life changed dramatically one night. I was typing away on my laptop, working on a new story I'd thought of. It was one of those things where I just had to get it down on paper (or laptop, in my case). So when I was finished writing about the first-ish chapter of this new book I went to save my work and guess what? It wouldn't save. My flash drive was dead. Dead. Kaput. No more. I didn't really think much of it at the time. I thought maybe it was tired of being plugged into my computer. So I went to sleep, thinking it would be all better in the morning. But it wasn't. This is when I started freaking out a bit. All of my books, stories, ideas, characters, outlines, EVERYTHING, was on that flash drive. All of it. And then it was suddenly gone.

So, I went to the geek squad. They told me it was dead, was getting no power to it whatsover. The nice geeky guy I talked to told me he could send it off to a special lab to recover my data for a minimum of $699.99. Did you catch that? MINIMUM of SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS! I'm a college student. I can't afford to pay seven hundred dollars for anything, even if it is my life.

Thus I went home and sulked. Hundreds of hours of my life gone. The Elements, gone. Slim or Bust, gone. Elora, gone. Ideas, gone. Gone. . . :(

But! After sulking I decided it wasn't so bad. I had the Elements saved on a cd that I'd given to my mom and sister. It just wasn't as edited and nice as the one on my flash drive. Slim or Bust was saved on my laptop from when I had switched over from the home computer to my laptop. It wasn't as far along as the one on my flash drive, but I could work from where it had been left off. Elora . . . Well, that just sucked. Elora is my new project that I'm absolutely in love with. It's like fire just struck with that idea. But I only had that saved on my flash drive. So it was gone for good. And as for my ideas, I have plenty of ideas.

So, being my optimistic self, I got back to work. I began editing the Elements that was on my computer, working from where I'd left off on my other stories, writing scenes from books to come. It felt good to get back into the Elements again. But I still never gave up hope that my information on my flash drive might be recovered. If I saved the flash drive, some sort of technology would eventually be invented to enable people to get my information back for less than seven hundred dollars, right?

One day when I was searching on Google, I came across an add for A+ Perfect Computers. You should check out their website. It's pretty awesome.

This guy would get my information back for $145 and I would only have to pay him IF he got my stuff back. I had a really good feeling about this guy. He had great reviews, was a legitimate business, had success stories. So I decided to give it a shot. I sent my flash drive off to Connecticut and about four days later I got the call. They were able to recover all of my data! I was so happy! Honestly, I couldn't stop smiling and I think I must have thanked the secretary who called me about three or four hundred times.

All in all, it cost me a little less than $200 to get my information back. But that is a price I gladly paid. To have all my hard work back in my hands and be able to work on it again makes me so grateful. I did learn my lesson though. Flash drives are not where you save important documents. That's what your hard drive is for and that's why you back-up your files. (And, can I just say, I still don't know how to back-up my files. Ryan, a little help?) Flash drives are for transportation only. And I will never make that mistake again.

So, since we're all so happy I got my stuff back, I'm going to give you all a little taste of my work. Aren't you so excited?! No, I don't blame you for not being. But I just felt like showing you a little bit of what I've been doing with my life. So, here is the first chapter of Elora. :)

One Chapter for Blog