Drafts: Snow Glider!

It's finally done! I've finally completed a first draft of my arctic adventure book Snow Glider!

I honestly thought I was going to be working on this book forever. I first started it Freshman year at BYU, back in 2008. I clearly remember doodling during a boring Civilizations lecture. I drew a wolf running across a flat, snowy tundra. Then I decided it was a giant wolf, and I drew a girl riding on its back. From there it was, "Who is this girl? Why does she get to ride around a giant wolf? What are they running to? Or what are they running from?"

And a short story, "Nara and Kai" was born. I wrote it quickly my second semester, and left it alone. It wasn't great, but I liked it, and I wanted to do more.

I don't remember when I decided to turn this idea into a full-length novel. I don't remember starting to write it as such. But "Write Snow Glider!!" was suddenly at the top of all my New Year's resolutions, from 2009 to this year, 2015. I had several chapters finished before my mission, tackled it during two National Novel Writing Months after my mission (never finishing it, obviously), and just constantly had it on my mind. I didn't want to work on anything else until I had it done, but it just never got finished.

Not until I joined a writing group, that is.

I am so grateful for my writing buddies. We got together in February of this year, and I've been sending them Snow Glider chapters almost every week since then. Knowing that they expected me to send them a new chapter every weekend kept me writing when I normally would have given up.

It's been a crazy year. Old ideas were scrapped. New ideas, characters, and scenes popped up out of nowhere. I got worried that the NSA would think I was planning a murder because I researched weapons, hypothermia, villainous tendencies, and strangulation. And I got very, very stressed whenever I wrote myself into a corner or got frustrated with my characters.

Now, after five years of muddling with it and one year of really hard work, it's finally done! It's the most satisfying feeling, knowing I finally accomplished something that's been on my to-do list for so long. I can finally say that I've written a book. And I can start another one.

But first, I need to revise. Ugh.

This first draft of Snow Glider is way too long. Like 150,000 words and 500 Google Doc pages. But that's what happens with me and first drafts. I write too much just to get the story figured out. Now it's time to decide what's important enough to keep and then whittle it down. I'm hoping to knock off at least 50,000 words (an entire novel's worth!), and reformat it so it's a more manageable 250-300 pages.

I'm not going to do all of that right now. I'm SO DONE with this book. Am I proud of it? Yes. Am I still excited about it? No. It's just been on my mind way too much.

But I want to revise some important things while they're fresh on my mind. I'm going to try to get at least the major plot points redone before the end of this month. Then I'm going to finally set this thing aside for at least a year, and work on something else for NaNoWriMo. Yay!

I'm going to try to keep this next one under 50,000 words, so I can actually finish it by the end of NaNo, then send it chapter-by-chapter to my writing group and revise along the way.

What is my next project, you ask? The working title is Wash Maidlow (that's the protagonist's name). It's another adventure novel, but this one takes place in a fantastical, alternate universe Old West, where Wash has to deal with things like psuedo-centaurs and teleporting jackalopes while trying to rescue his estranged daughter.

That's all I know so far. It's going to be fun seeing where the story takes me once I sit down and write it for NaNo.

September 2015--A Recap

Well this last month was pretty awesome. I neglected to blog the entire time, but I don't want to forget what happened so I'm just going to give you a quick recap.

The month started with my roommates and I throwing our very first party. It was on a Tuesday night, and yet we managed to have at least a dozen people over. Probably because it was Harry Potter themed. Who doesn't love Harry Potter??

We pulled out all the stops. We had butterbeer floats, a life-size cut-out of Ron Weasley, and a "Ministry of Magic This Way" sign in our bathroom.

The party itself mostly consisted of us eating Harry Potter foods and watching our favorite silly Harry Potter videos on YouTube. It was great.

By the end of it, Roommates and I were pretty happy with ourselves.


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That weekend, Roommates and I had a leisurely Saturday where we went jogging around Liberty Park, then rewarded ourselves by playing with kittens at the animal shelter.

Kittens are therapeutic, but also heartbreaking when you can't take them all home.

Kittens also have very sharp claws, and when they take a fancy to your shoelaces you go home with shredded ankles.

Later that day, I watched the BYU football season opener at my aunt's house. I made the great decision/mistake to watch it with my dad, who is never as emotive as when he's watching BYU football. It was incredibly dramatic (as I'm sure you've heard), and my dad was basically depressed during that whole last minute. But then Mangum made that miracle pass, and it quickly became the best day of our lives.

And the worst day ever for Nebraska.


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That weekend was just one long string of awesomeness, culminating in a family outing to the Olympic Park. Since it was Labor Day, the place was pretty crowded, but we still ended up having a blast. It was the Jenkins family's first time being there, but they dominated the ropes course.

The awesomeness was dampened quite a bit that second week of them month when I was introduced me to the most annoying cold I've ever had. I actually had to take a sick day at work because my throat was so sore and my nose was so runny that I couldn't even talk. The worst thing about it, though, is that it's still not over!! As I write this two weeks after my sick day, I'm still sniffling a little, and I keep randomly getting these phlegmy coughing fits that disgust everyone around me. I gave it to my poor roommate, too, and for a week there I felt like a walking germ factory.


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Thankfully, none of my coworkers are showing my same symptoms, and the other roommate remains unscathed. Lucky girl.

It was also pretty stressful because I was just starting a brand new job. That's right, I'm finally hired full-time at Deseret Book!


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(That was the exact gif my roommate texted me when she found out.)

I'm so glad my patience and hard work has paid off. Living on a part-time salary for over a year has been hard, but I honestly just didn't feel right about pursuing full-time work somewhere else. Deseret Book feels like family to me, and now I feel much more rooted. :)

Anyways, what else happened...

Oh yeah, BYU dominated AGAIN in their second game of the season. I fell asleep before the ending but waking up to the final score was very exciting.

I also discovered that my lawn mower has been crooked this whole time. All my frustration about my lawn looking crappy even right after mowing it is over now that I've evened out the stupid machine.

Sarah started at BYU and has been making me so happy by texting me all these questions about campus and classes and such. It's taking me back to those happy college days, and I'm so excited for her.

After my parents dropped her off at BYU, they came up to Salt Lake and had a nice casual dinner with my grandparents and me.

Then I had this really awesome FHE the next day, where one of my ward members' sisters came and demonstrated self-defense moves for us. I don't get to go to coed ward activities very often, so it was fun to get to know new guys, but a bit awkward being paired up with them. For me, it was great practice, but I think having me "attack" them was kind of silly. A lot of the instructor's advice was just, "Hit their hands away from you," which ended up looking like this most of the time.


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I dunno, though. This month I was pretty good about being social. On top of coed FHE, I went to a random movie night where guys were present. We watched RED and I got to play with a cockatiel. Good times.

I think I balanced my socializing well with my introverted geekiness, though. This was also a very geeky month for me.

Our house's internet was down for a full week and a half (the horror!!), so I ended up getting out my cross stitching for the first time in almost a year. Unable to watch anything geeky online, I ended up cross stitching something instead.

I'm sorry if you don't know what this is from.

Then we had a Relief Society activity where we all took our favorite children's book and read them to each other. It was such a pleasant, nostalgic activity! I kind of wish it had been open to anyone, but it was good to get to know more Relief Society sisters.

I brought the only children's book I own, "The Boy Who Spoke to the Earth." If you haven't ever heard of it, check it out. My ex-roommate's illustrator mentor is the author/illustrator, and it's amazing.

Then, just to prove how much of a geek I am, I went to Salt Lake Comic Con last weekend.

Before you write me off as one of those people, let me just say that Comic Con is not just for extreme geeks. Yes, there were crazies there, but the vast majority were people like me who just wanted to check out some cool stuff that you can't find anywhere else.

Like author panels.

JIM BUTCHER!!

David Farland! Ilima Todd! Nathan Shumate!!

Awesome, one-of-a-kind merchandise.

Only $5!

Spectacular home-made costumes.

And celebrities!!

Okay, this isn't ACTUALLY Colin O'Donoghue, but it could've been!

Basically, if you like any movie, TV show, book, or hobby, you will find something you'll love at Comic Con. It's not just for geeks. (Though it helps if you are one.)

The day after my epic Comic Con weekend, I found out about the latest BYU game. We will not speak of the latest BYU game.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that the women's session of General Conference was the same night as Comic Con. I tried to watch it from home but--alas!--no interent, so I had to stream it on my phone the next morning.

Women's conference is amazing. General Conference in general is amazing, and I'm so excited that it's coming up in just a few days! It will be sad to not have President Packer, Elder Perry, or Elder Scott there anymore. Elder Scott's passing this month was really devastating, but it made me happy to know that he's now reunited with his dear wife, who he always spoke about so lovingly.

It's not just Conference that brings the Spirit to my life. We also had a really amazing Family Night this last Sunday at my parent's house. After a delicious meal of my mom's famous cherry-glazed pork, we all crowded around Grandma in the living room while she gave us a little lesson on our family history.

I learned that all four of my grandma's grandparents were converts to the Church AND immigrants to the United States. Their stories were all so incredible and inspiring. It made me happy to know what kind of legacy I'm coming from, and what kind of legacy I need to continue for the sake of future generations.

We also talked about my grandma's parents, Grandma and Grandpa themselves, then my parents and their siblings, and then how my cousins and I are living. It was just a fantastic lesson.

Oh and then there was an epic lunar eclipse that night. As if you missed that.

The month ended with us finally getting our internet back at our house, which was beautiful.


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Okay...not THAT beautiful. It was actually kind of nice being disconnected for that long. I cross-stitched for crying out loud. But we do rely a lot on the internet, so it was nice to have it back.

And they filmed a Hallmark Christmas movie at City Creek, so when I walked to work yesterday there was snow everywhere and the Christmas lights were on, and people were wearing parkas. Even Santa was running around. It was bizarre.

And it got "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" stuck in my head all day.

This year is going by extremely fast, but I'm really glad that it's October now. October is my favorite month of the year.


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And that's my recap of September! Phew! This has been exhausting, writing about a whole month in one post. I'll try to be much better about posting as things happen in October.

Candy Sushi and Honey Straight from the Hive

I had a really fun weekend. I didn't get nearly as much done as I did LAST weekend, but it was a great social weekend, and I'm content with that.

On Friday night, one of the girls in my ward sent out a Facebook invite to her house to make candy sushi and watch "Miss Congeniality." Liz and I took up the invitation even though we didn't know this girl, and we ended up having a blast.

Shelley (our hostess) had this huge spread to make candy sushi. I didn't actually make any because I'm still steering clear of sugar, but I had a great time watching the others make it. I'm totally going to do this for a party someday because it was a lot of fun. You use a fruit rollup for the seaweed, rice crispy treat for the rice base, and then she had Swedish fish, gummy octopus, licorice, sprinkles, and frosting for the filling and toppings. The end result actually looked a lot like sushi, and from what I saw as everyone was devouring them, they were delicious.

Our hostess, Shelley, showing us how it's done.

As you can see from the photos, there was a good-size group there. And it was one of those rare but wonderful occasions where I met a lot of people and we chatted a lot, and yet when it came time to sit down and watch the movie, everyone war respectful and quiet and we all got to enjoy it! I hadn't seen "Miss Congeniality" in ages, and I had a blast seeing it again and getting to know so many awesome girls in my ward.

Then, yesterday morning, Liz, our friend Shannon, and I went to the Salt Lake public library to watch them harvest the beehives they keep on the roof. It was fascinating! They took out a bunch of the frames to show us how loaded with honey they were, and where the baby bees are raised, and even where the queen bee was!

All these kids and their parents flooded into the library right as it opened and crowded onto this landing to watch, but the kids were really loud and got bored really fast. Most of them were gone long before the harvest was close to being done. 

Notice how you can't really see any bees flying around in this shot. That will change very soon.

Opening up the first hive...

Not all of the frames had honeycomb on them yet, so they got those ones out of the way first to show us the finished ones.

Like these! This hive was cool because all the beekeepers do is put that wooden beam across the barrel, and the bees build the entire comb themselves! No frames to help them! They said that each comb full of honey weighed about six pounds!

They actually didn't smoke the bees nearly as much as I thought they would. They didn't look like they were getting attacked or anything, either. They were very careful not to cause the bees too much stress.

This kid was one of three boy scouts who were there to get their beekeeping badge. This was one of those times when I really wished I could be a boy scout. 

See all the bees flying now?

They said this kind of beehive wasn't great for actual food production, but it looked really simple to maintain. I'd like to have one someday.

Then they got started on the industrial hives. 

This hive only stored enough honey for the winter and hadn't really gotten up to the spare frames, so they didn't harvest any from here, but they took the opportunity to show us how the frames look. 

See that screen over the top of the middle box? That's called a "queen screen." It keeps the queen from crawling up to the spare frames, because if she got up there, she would use the frames to lay eggs, not for storing honey. 

Then they got into the honey frames.

They were all LOADED with honey. Sometimes you could see it dripping off of the frames.

This frame didn't have honey, it had "brood." See the darker orangey part? Those cells are full of bee larvae. 

This is them getting into the final beehive, which had tons of extra honey for them to harvest. They brushed all the bees off of the frames, then loaded up the boxes to take to the beekeeper's house to actually put the honey into bottles to sell.

This last beehive was so full of honey that the bees had even started building comb onto the queen screen.

So many bees!!

Here the beekeeper is just checking to make sure that there's lots of baby bees and everything seems healthy in the center of the hive.

These middle frames are not to be messed with. He actually found the queen on this frame, and after showing her to the scouts, he put it back in super gently. If you upset the queen, she'll just fly away and start a hive somewhere else. Not good.

The scouts getting a look at the queen bee.

So that was all the beekeeping we saw. Fascinating stuff! I totally want to keep bees now.

The absolute best part about this whole event was that they took those combs from the first beehive (the barbecue looking one), brushed off all the bees, brought them inside, and chopped them up for us to eat!

I'd never eaten straight-up honeycomb before, and it was delicious! It was a little waxy (I found wax in my teeth hours later), but it was just so yummy--so much better than any processed honey I've ever tasted. If just watching the beekeeping wasn't enough to make me want bees, tasting their honey definitely won me over.

This was kind of a lame, waxy piece, but still delicious! And I got a much fuller piece later.

Look at that honeycomb in all its glory!!

Oh my gosh, just looking at these pictures again makes me want more. 

They probably only used like three combs, but there was tons of honey to go around!

These were just some of the leftover waxy bits, but look at how perfect those cells are! We're so used to seeing homemade frames that bees use, but this comb was made entirely from scratch! How do they make them so perfectly symmetrical??

Mmmmm!! See how the honey varies in color in different cells? They said that's because the honey came from different kinds of flowers, and each one has its own distinct color!

I learned so much about bees yesterday. Another little tidbit I forgot to mention is that they actually feed the bees sugar water when there aren't any more flowers to be had. For a bee, harvest ends in July, and if they don't have enough food after that, they might not have any spare honey for the beekeeper to take.

So that's enough beekeeping geekery. I'm sure you aren't nearly as fascinated by this as I am. But hey, you'll thank me later when I have fresh honeycomb to feed you in the future.