If it kills me

I will finish this novel if it kills me. At the rate things are going, it just might. Things are kind of tough for me right now.  I desperately need a new job–the one I’ve got is slowly sucking away my soul without even paying enough to get by–and job rejections are way worse than… Continue reading If it kills me

Wolverton interview and more

The interview with Dave Wolverton was a resounding success!  We had a fascinating conversation about science fiction and the gospel, his latest book In The Company of Angels, self-publishing, the English 318 class at BYU and the profound impact it’s had on the LDS writing community, and much, much more. On that, I suppose I… Continue reading Wolverton interview and more

Slogging through to the bitter happy ending

Oh man.  I was hoping to hit 5k words today, and even though I must have spent five or six hours writing, I only managed half of that.  It’s progress, I know, but it’s not as much progress as I’d like; the words just aren’t coming, no matter what I do.  Blarg. The worst part… Continue reading Slogging through to the bitter happy ending

Looking for work (and possibly an adventure)

Ever since graduation in May, I’ve been doing my best to support myself and be 100% financially independent.  I haven’t gotten a steady, well-paying day job yet, but fortunately summers in Utah are cheap and I’ve more or less been able to make ends meet. That’s not to say it’s been easy, though.  I’m operating… Continue reading Looking for work (and possibly an adventure)

Story notebook #2

A while ago I rediscovered my first story notebook and wrote a few posts on it.  I promised I’d do the same for my other story notebooks, so here’s the next one. For those of you who may be surprised that I’m sharing all my story ideas, let me explain why I’m doing this.  First,… Continue reading Story notebook #2

Forward to new ground

A couple days ago, I finished writing through the material I’d written for Worlds Away From Home back in 2008 before I dropped the project.  For the first time since March, I find myself drafting entirely new material. It’s a little bit unnerving; I’m a much better reviser, I feel, than straight up writer.  Revising… Continue reading Forward to new ground

Thoughts on the convolutions of discovery writing

It’s been forever since I posted, so I figured I’d put something up and let you guys know what I’ve been up to. I’m happy to say that Worlds Away From Home is going well; I wrote just under 20k this week, which is more than I’ve written in a long time.  I hope to… Continue reading Thoughts on the convolutions of discovery writing

Falling back into the groove

Today I surprised myself and wrote nearly 4k words, some of which might actually be good enough to keep.  Huzzah! The novel is coming along very nicely, and I’m starting to get really excited with where it’s going.  That’s huge, because up to this point, the nagging “this is crap, what are you doing with… Continue reading Falling back into the groove

Second Quarter 2010 report

As you may or may not know, I keep a spreadsheet of my daily word counts.  Nerdy, I know, but you’d be surprised how helpful it can be with keeping goals and staying motivated.  As part of that, I’ve decided to do a quarterly report here on my blog.  Here’s my report for April 2010… Continue reading Second Quarter 2010 report

The need to change

I picked up this sign at institute last Wednesday. The lesson was on our desires; specifically, how the thing that we truly desire deep down is often the thing that we get. The main reason I posted this sign on the door was to motivate me to get a better job than my current one. … Continue reading The need to change