Tag: science fiction

What I Read: January 2023

January was full throttle around here. My kids are finally getting back into the after-school activities that we hadn’t really been doing since the pandemic, so I feel like mom-Uber most evenings. And I’ve been working on my last PTA obligation of the year, the school read-a-thon. I’m keeping it pretty low-key, but it’s still going to be a lot of work. It’s all for the kids, right?

pink rose flower on blue hardbound books
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I nearly hit my word count goal this month, 7242/8000, despite starting a week late due to recovery from the holidays. A lot of those words went into a new personal essay that that the muses dumped into my head right before the BYU Studies contest deadline. I think it turned out really well and my beta readers had good things to say about it. It’s already been submitted to the contest, so wish me luck! I’ve also been working on a fairy tale codenamed “Cats with Footnotes,” though the footnote aspect has yet to appear, so it may just end up being “Cats.” The idea was to write a fairy tale with some elements from my childhood and then have semi-fictional footnotes explaining some of the background. I liked fiction with footnotes (such as Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell), and the idea of combining speculative fiction with creative nonfiction was intriguing, so we’ll see if it turns out. I’ve committed to my writing group to get a draft to them by next week.

In February I’m heading Life, the Universe, and Everything in Provo. I’m especially excited to hear “Could The Way of Kings have saved the Nephites?” by Nick Fredrick. Always happy for more literary engagement with Brandon Sanderson! I’m also going to focus on marketing the podcast and taking some classes about plotting, which is my weakness as a fiction writer. If you’re coming to LTUE this year, drop a comment below or send me an email and let’s do lunch!

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What I Read: November 2022

Taken after the 5K, as I never smile while running

A lower intensity reading month. I finished wrapping up my dad’s campaign for Salt Lake County Auditor. He didn’t win but did manage to get over 40% of the vote as a third-party candidate which is impressive. I also ran my traditional Thanksgiving 5K, shaving about :20 seconds off my most recent time even though the course was full of hills.

I managed to finally smash my word count goal this month, writing 6240/4000 words. Most of this was on a new short story which has the codename of “Robot Nanny” but I think will probably be called “Memory” or “Memories.” I can’t decide about the plural, but the story turned out great. I’m sending it in to Writers of the Future this quarter.

What does it say about us as parents that this is the pose we automatically went for?

Part of November was spent attending Dragonsteel Con 2022 to celebrate the release of The Lost Metal with my family. Bonus that I got to record a special episode of Pop Culture on the Apricot Tree talking about the echoes of Mormonism in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series. The recording turned out super well and was released on Thanksgiving. We also released an episode on Howl’s Moving Castle with author William Morris (whose new short story collection is reviewed below). We also have a very fun Christmas special talking about A Christmas Carol, why it’s so popular, and lightning reviewing several adaptations.

Live podcast recording at Dragonsteel

I also spent time this month learning to use Descript for podcast editing, and after some wrestling, I got it to work with our Zencastr recordings. I’m hoping to make some quick video tutorials on our process so that others don’t have to struggle as much as I did. I think it’s really going to boost editing efficiency on the podcast, which has been my biggest complaint about the process.

For December, I’m polishing up the “Robot Nanny” story and starting a new creative nonfiction piece whose codename is “Landscapes of Faith,” comparing and contrasting the landscape and church experience in Seattle and Utah. I’m also brainstorming ideas to submit for the Association for Mormon Letter’s virtual conference this spring. The theme is genre fiction, so I obviously have to be there! We’re also wrapping up season one of PCAT with an episode on Rings of Power.

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What I Read: October 2022

If I told you that I was sewing Halloween costumes at 9 pm on October 30th, you’d get a good picture of the kind of month I had. Lots of work on my dad’s campaign and getting the Reflections contest up and running, plus all the craziness of Halloween with four kids. All of it good work, but lots of time away from the writing I’d like to be doing.

Word count for October fell short again (3770/4000) but not surprising. I missed about a week of time attending the LDSPMA Conference. I learned a lot at the conference (I focused this time on podcasting rather than writing) and met some great people who I hope to work with in the future.

white and black skull figurine on brown wooden table
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This month’s writing was mostly focused on academic projects. I finished a book review of Into the Headwinds which is going to be published by Dialogue. But the more exciting piece was finishing my statement of intent to apply for the English MA program at BYU. I’ve got everything all rounded up, just waiting on letters of recommendation. I did begin a new short story at the end of the month called “Memories” focusing on a robot nanny. First draft has already gotten some good feedback from my writing group this week, though lots of changes to make of course. I’m really enthusiastic about the prospects for this story.

Pop Culture on the Apricot Tree released two episodes last month, one on Top Gun Maverick (I didn’t think we’d get so many moral lessons out of a summer blockbuster!) and a Halloween special on Midnight Mass.

During November, I’m going to continue polishing “Memories” and start a creative nonfiction piece about the culture shock of moving from Utah to Seattle and back again. If you’re reading this on the day it’s published, you can catch me tonight at 7 pm MT at the launch party for the Mormon Lit Blitz’s second anthology. I’ll be reading “The 37th Ward Relief Society Leftovers Exchange,” and just basking in all the other really interesting authors who’ll be there. Next week, I’m attending Dragonsteel 2022 for the release of The Lost Metal. At the con, I’ll be recording a special episode of Pop Culture on the Apricot Tree talking about Mormonism in the Mistborn series, which is something I’ve always planning to write about. Come and listen in if you’re at Dragonsteel! Due to all this busy-ness, I won’t be attempting NaNo this month, but I’m already eye-ing Camp Nano in April for a return to longform writing.

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What I Read: September 2022

This month has flown by, my friends! I feel like it’s impossible that I actually read the 12 books reviewed below because I’ve been so busy this month with back-to school and things. I’m volunteering the equivalent of a part time job running my dad’s campaign for county auditor and as the PTA council Reflections specialist.

My word count for September was 400 words short of my 4,000 word goal, but not too terrible overall, considering. I ended up writing 2-3 days a week instead of 4 and making up the word count by writing slightly longer. I need to drill into my head that 250 words doesn’t actually take that long, so I’ll just sit down and actually do it.

branches of tree with yellow leaves in autumn
Photo by Julia Volk on Pexels.com

I finished one story whose working name is “Reclaiming the Desert” but is also known as Solar Punk Utah in my file system. It’s a story about the ecological restoration of Utah and the mending of family relationships divided by a gulf of faith. Hopefully I’ll find a good home for it soon. Submissions are happening, though who knows if they are going well. 7 submissions out this fall, but no bites yet.

We released three episodes of Pop Culture on the Apricot Tree last month: one on Netflix’s The Adam Project, one on the anime film Mirai, and one on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

For October, I’m going to continue writing short stories and start work on my grad school applications. So crazy that this is really happening. Book reviews after the jump!

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What I Read: August 2022

opened book on tree root
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School’s back in session and I’m working to get back on the writing horse. My goal for the fall is to write 250 words at least 4 days a week. And I restarted up my critique group after our summer break, which feels like a feat unto itself given how many critique groups dissolve and fall apart. Hopefully they’ll keep me accountable. I also plan to submit something every Friday. Not all of these will be fiction, but I figure getting myself out there is a good habit to get into. I’m also running social media my dad’s political campaign for the next two months, so I’m keeping myself quite busy.

My reading life is also busy! I finally signed up for Netgalley and found some books I’m really excited to take a look at. Plus the internet seems to be dropping recommendations left and right that I can’t wait to pick up. Does anyone else feel like there’s a book avalanche right now?

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