J. K. Rowling's Harvard Commencement Speech

This was a few years ago, but I didn't discover it until recently. It's a very inspiring (and funny) speech and worth the 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Book Review

Public transportation has it's pros and cons. I'm grateful for a discounted bus/train pass through work, and for the fact that I don't have to use my gas and fight for a parking spot every day. I don't like waiting outside in the cold for my bus or train to arrive, and I certainly don't always appreciate the people I have to share a seat with. But despite longer commutes and less sleep, I'm glad I take the bus and train to and from work for one big reason: reading time! In the last month or two, I've finished multiple books that I want to share:

A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine

This is about a young girl named Elodie who travels to the City of Two Castles in hopes to be a Mansioner (an actress). However, in arrival to the large city, things don't go as planned. I felt the story clever and charming and pure Levine, despite it not being my favorite novel of hers. I recommend it!

The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum

I work with Lisa Mangum at Deseret Book and began to feel guilty about not reading her series. Then I realized I had a free copy of this book sitting on my shelf from one of my publishing classes! Honestly, I wish I had read it earlier. This is the kind of book that would appeal to Twilight fans, only written way better. And it plays with the idea of time travel, mixed with historical figures and literature like Leonardo da Vinci and Shakespeare. Warning: it does end abruptly, so you may want to have the second book on hand when you finish!

 The Golden Spiral by Lisa Mangum

As the second book in the series, it kind of feels like the bridge between the first and third book (which I'm still trying to get a copy of...). It's good, but a little slower than the first one--probably because you relate more with the main character, Abby, who has to wait a lot for things to happen. And again, the ending leaves you longing to read the next!

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 Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson

Oh. My. Word.

This book is AMAZING! All you Jane Austen lovers out their: beware! You may find yourself falling in love with a new Mr. Darcy and admiring a heroine that isn't Elizabeth Bennet. This book is witty and elegant and a very "proper romance," as the subtitle says. The only catch: it isn't available in stores until this spring. Lucky me, I got to read an advance reader copy because I work for Deseret Book and it's being published with our imprint, Shadow Mountain. But I promise you it's worth the wait! And you will read it in one day because it's impossible to put down once you start.

Crossed by Ally Condie

Confession: I'm not quite done reading this one yet, but I'm super closer. And because it's on my mind and it's too good not to include on my book post, I'm going to write about it now. The second book in a series, Crossed is never ceases to thrill! Cassia is off to the Outer Provinces looking for Ky, the boy she loves, and runs into quite a few adventures on the way. This is quite the page turner, and I'm eager to see how it ends!

Slush Pile

My main job at work is to go through every manuscript submission that gets sent to Deseret Book, whether by mail or email. We call these stacks and stacks of manuscripts the "slush" pile. When I first started working, I inherited the slush pile from my co-worker, and my new cubicle area started drowning in unopened envelopes in less than a week. At one point, I could hardly get to my chair! Luckily, I found some time to go through the piles and get the submission under control (some what).

These are the piles I inherited, before they got too out of control. Believe me, the slush piles got worse.

It sometimes amazes people when I tell them I only spend about 3 minutes on each manuscript submission, but it's the truth. Every manuscript gets logged, and then I read over the first page or two (or skim over the entire manuscript if it's a children's story). And yes--I really CAN tell if the manuscript is worth publishing or not after 3 minutes. Not that I have the final say. I'm the first eyes on everything we receive, and I say, "Yes, this has potential," or "No, send a rejection." But anything I pass on goes through a lot of hoops before the final decision of publication is made.

I'm amazed by what people send in to get published sometimes! I'm constantly entertained or bewildered. And looking over so many submission makes me even more paranoid as a writer. I want my manuscript to be as close to perfect as possible when I submit in the future so other editors/product developers like myself won't have obvious reasons to add my story to the rejection pile.