One of my favorite parts of the Brandon Sanderson fandom is his yearly State of the Sanderson post, which gives an overview of his year and sets out what projects he’s working on next. So I decided I should start doing my own. I haven’t yet come up with a clever alliterative title using my last name, so for now, Writer in Review it is.
And yes, it’s February and I’m writing a year in a review post. I blame omicron. Hopefully in future years I can post these on my birthday in January instead.
Publications
I had three major publications this year, one in each of my genres, which I regard as pretty good for a year with a pandemic and an interstate move.
First, my short story “The 37th Ward Relief Society Leftovers Exchange” won the audience vote and the judges’ choice award in the “Saints, Spells, and Spaceships” contest run by the Mormon Lit Blitz. Even though most of my other short story writing efforts this year were a total failure, I am really proud of this little piece that could. (Check out the author’s notes here.)
On the creative non-fiction front, I had a personal essay titled “Buyers, Renters, and Belonging” in the “Building Zion” special issue of Irreantum, which is about my experiences in church playgroups and the crazy housing market. (Author’s notes here.) Everything in this issue was really spectacular and I was glad to be a part of it.
And finally in academic writing, my essay “The Most Mormon Magic System: How Brandon Sanderson Turned Agency into Fantasy” was part of the Science Fiction Research Association Review’s Symposium on Mormons and SF. It’s been a long time since I did any academic writing, and this piece gave me the chance to remember how much I love crafting an argument.
Minor publications include some pieces on parental controls, kids, and tech for Defend Young Minds and some short book reviews for the Association for Mormon Letters.
Presentations & Podcasts
I had the wonderful opportunity to present on the panel on 21st Century Mormon literature at the online AML Conference in the spring. You can watch my presentation “Magic & Mormons, Saints & Starships,” and all the other presenters, on YouTube (one of the great things about virtual conferences).
This year I was also on three podcasts. I appeared on the Boy Mom podcast to talk about making video games a positive part of your family. I was on Dialogue Book Report talking about Mormon novels in 2021. And my friend Ben Pacini had me on his Radical Civility podcast to discuss General Conference.
Personal Life
This year was a crazy year. We started out by selling our house in Washington and moving to a rental home in Utah while we frantically searched for a house (along with everyone else in the country). We were able to get a home in the spring and then move in by summer.
I was also wrapping up homeschooling with our kids. After doing it for a full year, I can definitely say hats off to anyone who chooses this path full time. It’s a lot of work but also a lot of fun. I will definitely carry some of the practices we learned while homeschooling into the rest of our family’s life.
In the fall I was happy to send my kids back to public school, and they were all happy to start making new friends and have someone besides Mom nag them about homework. However, with lingering waves of the Delta and omicron variant, they have been bouncing back home for weeks at a time, so it’s been an interesting year and not quite the respite I needed after homeschooling full time.
Due to the political situation surrounding the pandemic in Utah, this fall I also helped found a nonprofit called Concerned Coalition. I do most of their website and email work as well as some editing and other things. I’ve learned a lot about political action from my involvement with them and hope to continue to be active on the political scene. It’s been an interesting time to move to Utah, that’s for certain.
Goals for 2022
Decide whether I want to go for an MFA. I’m hoping to take a class during BYU’s spring term to give me an idea of whether I really want to go to grad school. It’ll also give me a good idea of how grad school might fit into my life.
Join or start a regular critique group. This is probably more of a fall goal, but I want to find a group of writers to start regularly exchanging work with. Right now I have regular “spitball sessions” with one friend to discuss our writing, plus people I reach out to in a panic right before deadlines. But to improve my writing, I think I need the deadline of a regular group critique. Not sure if this will be one group or maybe two groups (SFF and creative nonfiction), but I am going to work hard to find a group this year.
Attend three conferences related to my interests. I’ve already got two lined up: Life, the Universe, and Everything and the Mormon History Association. I’m hoping I can do some networking at these events to help with getting a critique group.
Write at least 4 short stories and 4 personal essays. I’m setting the bar low because much of last year was me learning that when I push myself too hard, I tend to start avoiding writing. This is two complete pieces and quarter, a reasonable amount to accomplish no matter was craziness the year throws at me.
Start a podcast. Watch for some rumblings about this soon!
