2009

I’ve been thinking a lot about this past year and honestly can’t believe how much has happened in such a short time. Usually we say, “Wow, this year went by so fast!” but, really, I would have to say the opposite: “Wow, this was the longest year EVER.” This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; I just can’t believe how many changes have occurred in my life in just a year! I look back on last spring—or even last summer and fall—and it feels like ages ago.

But I have also grown in so many ways this past year. Honestly, I feel like a different person now than I was even four months ago. It’s amazing how we really don’t know what’s going to happen in our lives, but Heavenly Father does, and He guides us according to His will. What I would’ve planned to happen in 2009 is a lot different than what did happen, but everything has worked out for the better. Yes, there were times when I didn’t think I’d make it through another day, but I have had a lot of happy moments too that I would never replace.

So, I’ve come up with a list of 10 things I did this past year that greatly influenced my life:

1. I went to UVU Children’s Literature Conference. I know I talked about this in a previous post, but it really had a huge impact on my life! My desires to write were strengthened and it became clearer to me that writing for children is something I should and want to pursue. I only attended the conference for one day, but it really was one of the best days of my life!

2. I declared an editing minor. This hasn’t gone according to my plan, but I’m sure Heavenly Father has a reason for why I felt good about minoring in editing and why needed to stay at BYU another year (I don’t like editing as much as I had hoped). I’ve met a lot of amazing people and have learned a ton, which I know will be a big help in finding a job no matter what I end up doing.

3. I spent a long weekend at the Oregon Coast. This was not only the relaxing vacation that I needed, but it also had a huge influence on #4…



4. I “finished” my story!!! The first draft (thanks to my time at the beach) was completed after 5 long years of writing. Double-spaced, it is over 500 pages long! Now I’m working on revisions so I can further submit it to different agents and publishers (see #8)

5. I spent most of my spring/summer in Provo. This was honestly the best summer of my life. It was nice not having to worry about classes except for one Independent Study course, and I was able to work a few hours and play for the rest! It was a great break before a long Fall semester…



6. I went to the British Isles! This fulfilled one of my greatest dreams: to go to England. Even better was the fact that I got to fulfill my dream with my best friend, Laura, and we got to go to 4 European countries instead of just 1 (England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland)! It was honestly the best 2 weeks of my life.



7. I submitted my novel to a publishing house…and received my first rejection letter! The experience was more for practice than anything else since I knew my manuscript wasn’t going to be accepted, but it was an exciting step! Now I’m planning on editing my story to the best of my ability (it’s good to put my editing minor to use =)) and try submitting it again.



8. I started my final year at BYU. Like I said earlier, I still don’t know why I’m going to school for an extra year, but I do know it felt right not to graduate last April. These past 4 months have been more than tough, but I made it through! Now, only one semester to go…

9. I cut my hair. This may not seem like a big deal to some people, but for me it really was! I haven’t had my hair this short since 4th grade. I absolutely love it now, but it took some major adjusting. In some ways, I feel like I took on a new identity.



10. My best friend got engaged! Laura, my best friend since high school and my roommate for the past 5 years, got engaged on December 11th to a great guy, Dave Hackett. This has been quite a change in my life, but I’m extremely happy for both of them. Laura and I have a relationship that can’t be explained in words—we’re closer than close, and always will be. I am so happy to see her happy and in love! I even got to help Dave with the proposal, which was fun to be a part of. Now I get to help plan a wedding =).

Merry Christmas!

Joy to Everyone

I was trying to post this directly onto my blog, but it was too big. But here's the link to an amazing video (I LOVE the song!)

http://www.joytoeveryone.com/en/

Gratitude

So, as many of you have probably noticed, I haven't written on my blog for quite some time. It would be impossible to catch up on my life up to this point, so I won't even try. Summary of the past three months: basically, life has been really, really tough, but I'm doing better now. I know Heavenly Father gives you trials to make you stronger, and I have definitely felt His hand in my life these past few months. He has been there blessing me and strengthening me every step of the way. With His and my Savior's help, I know things will all work out in the end.

I have so many things to be grateful for this holiday season! I could probably make a never-ending list of all the things I'm grateful for, but that would be more than anyone else needs to read, and it would really only benefit me. For now, I want to say that even when times are tough, there is always something to be grateful for. I also know that the more grateful you are, the clearer perspective you have. At least, this has been true for me. When I keep my eyes focused on my Savior it's almost impossible not to be grateful for my life and all that Christ has done for me. It's amazing how no matter how hard you try to serve Him and do His will, you'll always be indebted to Him. His love has really helped me get through everything I've been experiencing.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and a happy holiday season! I have no idea when I'll have time to write again--probably not until after finals in three weeks--but I wanted to write a little something. I am grateful for all my family and friends! Thank you so much for everything! And don't forget to eat lots of turkey and mashed potatoes! =)

I love you all!

To Edit or Not To Edit...?

Ok, I really shouldn't be doing this right now, but I needed a break from the homework and stress of a new semester! So, this is my first semester as an official editing minor and it's already crazy. I love my classes (3 editing classes and 2 English classes), but the full submersion makes me feel like I'm really drowning at times--and it has only been a week and a half!

The real problem I'm facing right now is trying to get editing experience to put on a resume or for a possible internship next semester. After talking to classmates and professors, I've come to the conclusion that I need to start working on a student journal here at BYU. The problem? NO TIME. I would happily join the Inscape staff except they meet once a week as a 3-credit class, and 18 credits this semester plus work plus church callings would really put me in an institution. Last night I joined the staff of Leading Edge, who meet 3 times a week. It's all volunteer work, so anyone can come and help sort through the slush pile. The problem? I'm not a huge fan of sci-fi/fantasy (I like the fairytale fantasy, which I classify as different) and the people on the Leading Edge team are...interesting. I felt pretty out of place, but you get the idea.

So, you can probably see the dilemma I'm facing: I need experience in order to get an internship and a job after I graduate, but I have little time and I'm not sure that I want to spend my time that I do have reading sci-fi and hanging out with some very unique personalities.

My other fear: I have no time to write! My schedule is so full that I haven't had any time to do the thing I actually love: writing. I like editing, and it's probably best that I have the editing experience so I can get a job someday, but I'm afraid I'm losing my creative juices. After spending hours dissecting sentences, looking for spelling errors, replacing words, going over manuscript after manuscript, etc., it's hard to return to my own writing and actually enjoy myself. I really hope I'll be able to maintain a balance between me as a writer and me as an editor because it is hard to mix the two.

The dream: I'd get a letter back from the publisher saying how much they love my manuscript and how they want to offer me a contract to publish my book! Then I could become a real published author and focus on writing instead of anything else.

*sigh*

Goodreads

Hey everyone! I'm now on Goodreads, as well as Shelfari. I haven't done much with my Goodreads account yet--it was a requirement for my Literature for Adolescent class--but I know there are a ton of you who have accounts as well. I would love to have you as my friend and exchange favorite books! As soon as life slows down a bit, I'll also add my own favorites to the meek list I already have. But I'm excited to discuss books and get recommendations from you!

http://www.goodreads.com/
https://www.shelfari.com/

Submission Number One!

Today is another momentous day! (drum roll please)...



I sent my manuscript to a publisher!!!



My very first one. A cover letter, the first 30 pages of my novel, and a synopsis of the entire story. I'm surprisingly calm about the whole thing. Honestly, I'm not trying to be pessimistic but I don't think this publishing house will accept it just because they usually don't accept submissions without an agent representative. The only reason I submitted to them was because I met the editor at the UVU Children's Literature Conference I attended last March and she gave everyone a sticker for one free submission. I guess it's out of my hands now...literally. And I wouldn't mind a rejection letter: it will be good preparation for the future, as I know there will be many more ahead. But I'm so excted about finally sending it off! My goal was last July, and then I tried taking it to 3 different post offices last Saturday only to discover that they were all closed! Now my baby is off to New York. =) I'm glad I don't have to worry about it anymore, although I still have a ton of editing left to do on the rest of the story. But hooray! I've take the 2nd step to becoming a published author (the 1st step actually write a novel).



I think this calls for ice cream...

You Know You're A Writer When...

...when you take pictures of books and then post them all over your blog! I decided it would be fun to show more of the literary side of my trip to the British Isles, since literature plays a huge part of their culture and history, and because I'm an English major and freaked out every time we saw a famous author-based landmark or piece of work. I felt sorry for Laura a couple times when I asked her to take a picture of me sitting on a book or whenever I went crazy over an old house (keep reading and you'll see what I'm talking about), but being the good friend that she is, she definitely humored me and my English-major ways!

So here are more pictures from my trip to the United Kingdom, this time focused around famous authors and books I was able to see. This is also an opportunity for me to show off more photos. =) Enjoy!

The British Library, the largest library in the British Isles. It is also a museum of some of the most important pieces of literature ever. It's where I...

sat on a large metal book,

and saw Jane Austen's writing desk and original manuscript of Persuasion. I also got to see original works by Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Lewis Carroll, and many many more.


A room in the British Museum. I almost died at the sight of so many books! (It was also a very pretty ceiling.)

Oxford! This university had a tremendous impact on hundreds of famous writers, poets, scientist, etc. we read about and study today.

One out of hundreds of libraries at Oxford. No, the statue is not of Shakespeare, although it certainly looks like him.

In Oxford: this is where JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis used to meet and edit each others' manuscripts! They called it "The Bird and the Baby."

Christ's Church at Oxford, where Harry Potter was filmed. The walls are covered with portraits of every famous graduate from Oxford, including Lewis Carroll, Tolkien, etc.

Bath! We only drove through it, but I had to include it on this post. Jane Austen fans will know why.

Tintern Abbey! William Wordsworth made these ruins famous through his poem. In fact, we actually sat on the grass and listened to our educator, Michael S Wilcox, read "Tintern Abbey" to us as we looked at it! This was definitely a highlight for me.





The library at Warwick Castle. Are you drooling yet?

Medieval Writing.

Me trying to pull the sword from the stone at Warwick Castle. I'm not sure what the connection was between the castle and the legend, but it was fun to try!

This is where William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon

Trinity Church in Stratford, where Shakespeare was christened...

...and buried. But isn't this amazing!? I got to see Shakespeare's grave!!!

Anne Hathaway's cottage. All these sights in Stratford-upon-Avon made reading Loving Will Shakespeare even more real (see old blog).

One statue among many of Shakespeare's famous plays

This was really neat! It's a wishing tree we stood under in Stratford. There were the cutest wishes written from children...one almost made me cry!

Conwy castle, which is somehow tide into the legend of King Arthur

A fun shop in York! We also met some of Peter Rabbit's friends, including...

...Jemima Puddle-duck (or so we called her)!

A bookshop along The Shambles


These are both old printing shop statues. The first one is of Minerva, Greek god of wisdom, holding a bunch of books. It was a meeting place for one of the earliest book groups in Britain. The second one is of the red Printer's Devil over Stonegate, a printing shop. Whenever something went wrong with printing or the press, they blamed it on him!

The Lake District, home of William Wordsworth and vacation spot for Beatrix Potter


The Beatrix Potter Museum in the Lake District. I love her books!

I got to see William Wordsworth's grave and the house where he grew up!


John Knox's House on the Royal Mile in Edinbourgh, Scotland

This is the cafe where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. After a walk along the Royal Mile, Laura and I had lunch there!

Still in use today

The house where Robert Louis Stevenson grew up

Fun pub

I really wanted to go inside the Dublin Writers Museum, but it cost too much. Instead, I got some beautiful pictures from the outside. =)

Trinity College in Dublin, where the Book of Kells and other old books hand-written by the monks are kept.


This was the most AMAZING library I have ever been in! It's located at Trinity College and is two floors filled with old books. It also had busts of famous writers and large spiral staircases like in My Fair Lady. No, I didn't actually take these pictures--cameras weren't allowed--so I had to find these photos online. So beautiful.

Oscar Wilde in Dublin. This statue portrays his personality perfectly.