A Doodle Doodle Doodle

Today was another day of writing and organizing, though I took a doodle break too:

Drawing this narcissistic child can be very calming. He's round and soft.

Outlines

A lot of today passed as I worked on story outlines. I have a lot of scenes nailed down, but there are a few I keep shifting. I'll get it someday soon.

Mom on Memorial Day

Mom's been feeling sick, which is no fun on Memorial Day! She loves having her kids home from school, but it's a shame she couldn't enjoy it as much as she might have liked to.

But, she did get to enjoy having Dad's family over for a pool party, though! He worked hard this weekend to get the pool cleaned and ready. I had the chance to talk to Erica a bit about writing and her summer plans. We roasted marshmallows together too. The fire was super hot. Not bad!

It's great to have family living so close to us! Strange to think that the Hodsons are about to move away.

Feather of Gold

Jorja gave a talk in church today! I think it was her second time in front of the congregation. She spoke on patriarchal blessings and how they've blessed her life. Tough thing to do when she hasn't had hers, but she did an excellent job!

Dad and I attended the other Gospel Doctrine class today. Mom has a class to teach, so she can't join us like she used to. I also snagged another of those cool spoons from relief society, so now we have one with zigzags and one with spots.

I went back to drawing after church... and I spent some time thinking.

Last year, I did a project called 52 Thursdays, and wrote a short piece each Thursday, though I only made it as far as 15 before AP tests called me away. During that time, I developed a story that I had started ten years ago. It's about a girl who is trapped in a repeating day - and decides to utterly milk it - and a boy who sold his soul in return for red hair.

I shelved it for several personal reasons, but I love these characters and I love thinking about them. I find their story fascinating, but I've been forcing myself not to work on it for years on end because breaking the Fourth Wall as immensely as this book would is simply Not Done.

But... maybe I want to anyway?

I talked to Mom about the possibility of me working on this story for awhile this summer. I'll have to think about it. On the one hand, it would be a fun and quirky story, and maybe this is the kind of author I want to present myself as. It might make a good first book to publish. Or, it wouldn't.

Anyway. I try to avoid talking about story details that aren't officially penned down, but a special place in my heart is growing for Carrie and Franny. I've always believed in learning from the mistakes of others. And I can think of a lot of mistakes a teenager girl who knows her day will reset would love to make. My whole thing is characters dealing with consequences of their actions. I think it's a story I'd be very interested in pursing someday.

I keep randomly remembering that Carrie is lactose intolerant and smirking about it, though. That rather limits the amount of ice cream she can consume.

Or does it?

Jorja Makes Cards

It was Saturday! Since my parents and I agreed that writing is my "summer job", that means I get weekends "off". Preston and I played some Wizard101, and I did a lot of drawing. Dad made homemade spaghetti for lunch, and Mom brought back pizza for dinner. It was a whole day of relaxing and eating food I like! That's how summers ought to be!

We had the pizza because Jorja had some friends come over tonight. Specifically, they were working on their school project: a card game about The Hobbit. Jorja has done A LOT of the work herself; I think she provided the art, and her friends helped to laminate and cut all the cards out.

She must have found some awesome references, because she told me she didn't trace! Impressive! I'm getting to be a better artist myself, but she's right up there with me, and maybe even beating me out.

Overstock Lagoon Day 2017

We went to Overstock Lagoon Day a little later than usual, since Preston had a school party he really wanted to attend. On our way there, we picked up a friend from Dad's work who hadn't been planning to come since he didn't have a ride. He seemed to enjoy it, though some rides were a bit too much for him.

Because the park gets rented out, the lines are a lot shorter for everything than they otherwise would be. Normally, we take advantage of this and ride all the little kid rides, even stuff like Puff the Magic Dragon and little boats and planes. I guess it was because we went late, but we didn't go for that this time. We just rode rides we really wanted to.

I had the chance to ride the Ferris Wheel! I think that now I've ridden every ride in the entire park! Except for the ones you have to pay for. Maybe I can ride those with my husband one day.

After another round on Wicked and Spider each, we ate some tasty BeaverTails. We'd had them once before and enjoyed them. Each of us paired up with a "BeaverTail buddy". Preston hoped to split a banana chocolate with me, but I rejected him hoping I could get cinnamon. Then I realized Stockton and I were together, and that he probably wouldn't go for cinnamon. We shared a banana chocolate and Preston feigned offense that I had ditched him for my other brother.

Lagoon also put in two new rides in the Kiddie area. Fortunately, adults could ride too, so I was still able to ride all the park's rides. One is called Flying Tigers, and is a bit like a merry-go-round with planes. It reminded me of the Baby Park course from Mario Kart Double Dash. It wasn't very exciting. I can't believe they made another kiddie plane ride when they had a name like Flying Tigers. I'll bet little kids would love to ride a little kiddie merry-go-round full of winged tigers!

The second ride is a safari-themed jeep ride, that we nicknamed Jumping Jeeps. We enjoyed this one a lot more! There's a ramp built into the lift, so each time the Jeeps circle, they spring really high into the air and bounce like springs. We went on it twice and made it our last ride of the night. Nice to take advantage of it when there were no lines!

Jorja, Preston, Stockton

 There's a lovely mural painted on the wall too

The rides were built where Bulgy the Whale used to be. Bulgy moved around the corner. Preston decided to ride it:

So, that was Overstock Lagoon Day for another year! It's fun that we get to do this! I guess if I still live in this area after I'm married, maybe Dad can pick up another ticket for my husband that we can buy off him. Hmm.

Writing From Bed

I'm still surprised at how quickly this day seemed to go by since I was up relatively early and stayed up relatively late. That time passed with writing, and I guess it just flew by.

I stayed in bed for most of the day, writing from my laptop. That was pretty nice. I got a lot done. This evening, Stockton caught me up to date on his final projects in school, like the hydraulic model rowboat he 3D printed, and his presentations in theater class. Kind of a nice and simple day of work.

Their Personalities

Today was a day spent on character development. I took personality quizzes for various characters I like and finished some drawings I'd started the night before too.

I found it interesting to read about their different personality types in depth and analyze why I thought they worked so well in their respective environments and around other characters. It's also funny how Mikey has three letters different than my INTJ personality type, and yet I find him to be super relatable. Probably because most INTJ types are written to be firmly logical villains, robots, or heroes who are major jerks. It's nice to see yourself not portrayed in a negative light sometimes.

I have my own characters too, of course, but I didn't get them drawn and polished yet. Another time, perhaps.

Additionally, Mom came home from Virginia tonight! We managed fine without her, but it'll be nice to have her back again.

That's My Personality

I did a lot of research about the Myers-Briggs personality types today. I found a nice site that, along with offering their personality test, explains each type in a lot of detail and is very well-written. I've known since about 4th grade that I'm an INTJ, but I didn't realize that this is a super rare personality type for women- possibly the rarest of all. INTJ women make up only .8% of the population. Oh.

Anyway, so I did that. Preston and I played some Wizard101 this evening too. It's been a long time since I've played that game! We enjoyed that.

Temple in Paris

A bit of a busier day today, at least in the sense of completing many different tasks instead of focusing on one all day. This morning, I did some drawing while I watched a strange movie about snakes called "Sahara" and wrote part of a scene that I wanted to. I skipped breakfast and had macaroni and cheese for early lunch instead. Then I cleaned my room a bit. I can actually walk up and down the side of the bed nearest the closet now! There were suitcases and boxes there before.

Dad texted me after awhile and warned me that I might need to pick up Jorja from school, unless she was ready to be picked up closer to 6:00 when he'd be coming home. Apparently she'd tried to text me, but the messages hadn't gone through; Dad said her phone had been acting a little flaky. She borrowed a friend's phone and asked me to pick her up around 4:15. Not very close to 6:00. So, I got in the car and headed down to Indian Hills. It's crazy how the air conditioning system in the van doesn't work! I had hot air blowing at my face for most of the ride, and then it got pretty stuffy when I turned it off. I cracked the window, which I've never really done before. Our car is getting old.

We had spaghetti for dinner tonight- on the train again, of course. Dad is pretty proud of the little nozzle he 3D printed that attaches to the milk dispenser. It swivels so that if a cup on the train doesn't stop exactly underneath the spout, he can swivel the nozzle towards it. It's funny, because he could also push or pull the train, or pick up the cup and move it himself. He likes his toys.

Tonight for family home evening, Dad had us watch a video about temple clothes. My Institute teacher had recommended it to us, but I'd forgotten to look it up. We looked at pictures of the Paris, France temple that is having its open house right now. I think it's the only temple not to have a spire or Angel Moroni on it. It's crazy to think that in a year and a half, Preston will be old enough to do baptisms for the dead! Our family is growing up.

Full Train

Dad made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then we were off to church. Classes were nice. In relief society, Sister Rasmussen handed out spoons with a packet of Sixlets attached to each because they were "spoonfuls of sugar", so now I have a cool spoon.

Dad was excited to get the train up and running for dinner:

He 3D printed this tower and he loves it

He also 3D printed the yellow "braces" that hold the food bins in place

We didn't have taco shells, so we paired taco ingredients with chips and sent them around on the full train (which struggled to handle that much weight). A fun meal to have!

Letting Go

Well, today was the day! I cleaned up my chapter and emailed it in! Now I have to read through the first twenty pages of the pieces the other members in my WIFYR group submitted. I'm far from happy with my work since it doesn't feel like it's my best, but I was able to let it go.

In other news, I had my family home for the day, except for Mom. We did lots of chores and got the kitchen cleaned. Mom should be happy about that when she gets back. I also tried out the Spore DS game we got from the Hodsons (specifically the creator where you build your own creatures), and Preston, Dad, and I played Rise of Nations together too.

Things are going okay.

Driving Jorja

Jorja came home to get me today and told me that her bus hadn't come. She said she left early so she wouldn't be late, but they've been having substitute drivers and this one came fifteen minutes early. She had late-start, and everyone else had already left for school/work. So, I drove her to Indian Hills. I had to navigate the drop-off area for I guess the first time. A bit crowded, but I made it out intact.

Back at home, I went back to writing. I more or less finished my Worth of Ink chapter tonight! It's still rough, but maybe I can get some polishing done in the morning.

Alone Today

Everyone was gone by the time I left my room. Work, school... Mom of course is away. What was there to do but take the day for myself and write? I had the run of the place to myself and got a lot of work done. Coming up on the finish!

Mom's Away!

I wrote all day, and finalized some magic system stuff that involves color. So, each color of magic functions like a different material (For example, orange is wood. Constructs made from orange magic float, burn, and if the particles are left in the ground, they'll grow).

Mom also left for Virginia today, and she'll be gone for a week. Should be interesting to see how we get along without her! Especially since I stayed up for a bit talking to Stockton, and Jorja snuck upstairs to filch brownies and join in. Dad eventually sent us to bed, but it was good to talk with my siblings. I didn't get to do a lot of that while I was off at college.

That's a Lot of Chocolate

Today I enjoyed the giant chocolate bar I got from LDStorymakers while I worked on my writing.

A good day.

Worth

And now we enter a series of blog posts titled, "These days won't sound very exciting". I stayed home and wrote a lot. Mom and I talked a bit about mountains and how they're formed, and I did some more research about planets. For dinner, I made Preston and I some macaroni and cheese for the first time since I came back from college, so that was pretty nice.

Additionally, on Mom's old iPhone we were able to locate the recording that I had made of Great-Grandpa Parry, when I had interviewed him to talk about life back when he was younger, and World War II. It's an hour long, and Mom was pretty happy that we hadn't lost it. We'll have to make sure the file gets uploaded to a computer so we can hold onto it.

"Stars and Finches" has been making good progress. I played with some different title ideas, such as "Patterns of Ink", but apparently some people have run a blog since 2004 using that name, so it seems wrong to take it. I also considered "The Taste of Ink", but it turns out that there's a song called that, and I didn't want people to think my story was based off that song.

So after some thought, I ended up with the title "The Worth of Ink". I'm not completely certain if it will stick yet, but I feel a bit better having a relevant, solid title that I can refer to my book with. About time!

A Day For Moms

I try to avoid playing computer games on Sunday unless it's considered family bonding, so today Preston and I played a game of Rise of Nations before church. Church was nice, and since I'm over eighteen, I was given some nice Mother's day chocolates. Plus, we had yummy chocolate strawberries:

Dad taught a lesson about Edward Partridge being tarred and feathered, and brought his class some people-shaped cookies to "tar and feather" with frosting and sprinkles. I'll bet they liked that!

Mom opened some Mother's Day presents too, of course. I'd picked her out a pair of food scissors made up of a blade and cutting board together, which she enjoyed a lot. Nice!

We watched an episode of Doctor Who tonight called "The Unicorn and the Wasp". We got some large beanbags from the Hodsons, and I was able to try them out for the first time (especially the giant red one). Then we watched the season finale of "Bruno the Kid". Mostly, it was a nice and simple Sunday. I'm grateful that I have a Mom whom I can spend it with.

Making Stories

Today was the third and final day of writers' conference. After opening ceremonies, we split into our workshops again. I'd printed out a schedule in advance and marked the classes I hoped to attend. My first one of the day was about writing middle-grade novels. Now that I'm more familiar with the definitions for YA and middle grade, I didn't think this class would be necessary. I tried to go to the contemporary worldbuilding class instead, but got mixed up and ended up in the middle grade room anyway. I'm glad I did- it was a very good class, and possibly the most helpful of the entire conference. It was sort of a tips and trick class, and I'm glad I went.

I had a double-length workshop with Ally Condie after that. It was about setting. I was really hoping I'd like it, because since it was double-length, I was missing my chance to attend a class called "CPR For a Mostly-Dead Middle" that seemed like it would help me. However, Ally's class turned out to be really great. She read us passages from some books and had us write about setting with some different prompts. One prompt was to write about a place we are familiar with. Although I'm not too familiar with the location, I chose to write about Lava Hot Springs. My last Youth Conference was held there, and I remember going to a pizza restaurant that had its tables in a grassy lot between two buildings. The grass was soft under our feet and I thought it was an interesting design. I also remembered how several of us had driven down the street while hanging onto the back of a truck, and that it was such a small town, we could get away with something like that. I thought about the cabin we'd stayed at. Anyway, while thinking about all those things, I really think I'm on track for a good first chapter now.

Jennifer Nielson was the keynote speaker today. She talked about writing motivation and how all of us are climbing a mountain to one of its many summits, and that even though a lot of us will be competing in the job market together, we're never really competing or stealing chances from each other. II thought it relevant, and she talked to us rather than at us, I sort of thought. That's how you do a keynote!

Not all my classes were winners. Some others I attended were "Outlining and Synopsis Writing" (which was not helpful because the lady rambled in circles the entire time, and even made a comment that whoever had written her presentation wasn't organized, implying that she hadn't written or even read through her presentation, since she'd described herself as someone who "had to-do lists for her to-do lists), and another class was about "Deepening characters' emotional arcs". You'd think that would be an easy class to teach. As an attendee, you'd think you knew what you're in for by the class title. But the two ladies teaching it introduced themselves as "women's fiction writers", and said that women's fiction is "any genre where the main character has an emotional arc".

Um. Okay. Isn't that... just about every book that exists? They spent quite awhile discussing what women's fiction was, putting up movie titles and having us say which sub-category of women's fiction each one fell into, and discussing that it's okay for men to read and write women's fiction. Remember that the class was called "Heightening and Deepening Your Characters' Emotional Arcs". Not, "What Is Women's Fiction and How to Write It". They talked briefly about characters, but it wasn't very helpful, and at the end they urged us to sign up for the Women's Fiction Writers Association for $48 a year. It seemed very out of place at the conference, and was a bit disappointing.

I had also planned to attend a class called "Three Harmful Habits Standing Between You and Publication", but when the time came, I chose to attend an agent-author panel instead, to learn more about agents. I hope I don't regret that, but the panel turned out to be great. Five authors who shared the same agent were there, as was the agent. I really liked the set-up- the lady "teaching" the class asked questions to the panel for the first 2/3 or so of class, and she asked really good questions I wouldn't have thought of, especially on short notice. Then we were still given the last third of the class to ask if we had additional questions. I think I learned a lot.

After I'd sat down for dinner, Sam texted me asking if I could sit by her so we could leave earlier. She was taking me home after dinner so she could say hi to her kids and pick up Matt. They were going to the Whitney Awards together, like a date. We got back a lot earlier today than yesterday! Mom picked me up from their house and took me home from there. After we'd arrived, Dad opened his birthday presents (the main one being a deep fryer (or air fryer) that uses only a tablespoon of oil instead of tons of it, and supposedly makes healthier things).

After some cake, we were swept off to dinner. We went out for Chinese food at Mulan's. I had fried dumplings, and some fried sugar donuts too. Once we came home, we played a game called Code Names, but this time we used the version that had pictures instead of words, which Dad had gotten for his birthday. It was a pretty good day for me, and I hope that he enjoyed it too.

James, Sarah, and a Pitch

I had a crazy long and busy day today! Mom dropped me off at Sam's house this morning, and Sam and I drove an hour to reach the writers' conference. First, there was the opening ceremony to attend. As I was looking to find a seat around one of the tables near the stage, someone called my name. It was Erin Hall (Rowan Hall to use her pen name), who I'd sat beside in my magic systems workshop with Charlie yesterday. She invited me to sit at the table with all her adult friends, which I thought was pretty nice.

The MCs at the conference this year were James Dashner and Sarah Eden. They playfully roasted each other all through the conference, and handed out Team James and Team Sarah ribbons that attached to the name tags on our lanyards. James would bribe someone in the crowd with money to pass out his ribbons, then say, "I want to be fair" and ask someone to come up and pass out Team Sarah ribbons. But as that person took the ribbons, he said, "You can have that money if you'll throw those in the trash" and such.

I attended a class called "The Difference Between Selling and Slushing" first. It was taught by an editor, so it was nice to get that sort of view. Then I went to the language workshop. It wasn't nearly as helpful as I'd hoped, even though the lady who taught it was very nice and knowledgeable. She ended up spending too long discussing real-world languages, though, and didn't get to the second half of her presentation on constructing fantasy languages. Although I'd learned some cool things, it was a bit disappointing not to hear the things I'd come to the class for. One of the people who had sat with Erin and I at the opening ceremony said to someone as we were leaving that room, "I feel bad for everyone who wanted to learn about conlangs" (constructed languages), "but what she talked about was exactly what I needed." Well, at least someone got what they were looking for! That's good.

I joined my new friends for lunch. James and Sarah reenacted a script that some children had written in response to being given a book title. They did this a few times during the conference, with titles of their own books and books of keynote speakers, but the first one they did was my favorite. The title they'd given the kids was "Drops of Gold", which is one of Sarah's books. The resulting script went roughly along the lines of:

Boy: It's raining drops of gold.

Girl: Oh, they are so pretty. I very like it.

Boy: I'm glad you like it, because it is a metaphor for how much I like you. Flirty flirt, flirt flirt ... I am not just a miner, but I am also a robber. And I took the drops of gold and made them into one million dollars.

Girl: I very love you.

Boy: Because of the drops of gold?

Girl: Because of the one million dollars.

Boy: That doesn't sound like real love, but that's okay, because that's robber love.

It was funny to see James and Sarah read and act out the scene in costume.

After lunch, I went to a class on "revising your novel with your agent". There, I met an author and her agent, who was pretty nice, and it was good to learn more about what agents actually do, since I haven't done much research in that area yet. Then I went to a class on Worldbuilding Government & Politics, and Luke Peterson made a joke about how it's a boring subject, and yet his room was full. Well, yep! Welcome to the life of a fantasy writer.

I attended a workshop called "How to Compile a Story Bible and Why You Need One", and then a workshop by Jennifer Nielson (who wrote The False Prince series, and some others) called "The Series Writer". She told us that the magical phrase we were looking for when talking to editors about maybe writing a series is, "I've written a standalone with series potential". That's kind of what "Stars and Finches" is right now, so it was good to learn that kind of phrase.

We had dinner, and Ally Condie was the keynote speaker. I'd read her Matched series, and it was okay, but I didn't really like it. I thought she was a bit strange for a keynote- she rambled on about her childhood a lot. She didn't really say anything relevant to us, it seemed. I don't know. She told a cool story about how her grandma gave her a drawer in her desk as a child and how she'd always felt safe going to her grandma's house, but I didn't really get why she was telling the story. Maybe this was a normal way to speak to us during dinner and my definition of "keynote speaker" wasn't quite right.

There was supposed to be a mix and mingle event with publishers upstairs after the workshops. I went up there, but was surprised not to see a lot of people. Especially not publishers. However, I did sign up to put my name in a drawing bowl, and had someone tape a paper with my name and the genres I write on my back. We were supposed to talk with ten people, learn something new about them, and write it on their back. When we got ten, we received some candy. I also saw Erica, so that was fun. Shame I didn't get a picture.

I was up there for quite awhile, but it became obvious that no editors or publishers were going to show up. People continued coming up the escalators as the night drew on, so I suspected the publisher's mix and mingle was downstairs; I think Sam had said something like that. I wanted to leave and check it out, but I'd been eyeing a giant milk chocolate Hershey's bar on the prize table all night. I didn't understand why, but people who had gotten their names called were only taking things like small pink notebooks and chattering teeth. The huge chocolate bar hadn't been touched. I thought, "Please just call my name, and then I can feel okay to leave and look for the editors". Shortly after that, they actually did, and I got my giant chocolate! 

I quickly left and went all the way to the bottom floor. That's where the exhibit halls were. Sure enough, the publishers were there. I paused in the doorway to the exhibit hall in question, because it was very empty. Everyone was sitting; it didn't look like much of a mix and mingle. The sign by the door said, "Publishers". Were authors supposed to be here? Or was this just a place for publishers to talk to each other? What would be the point of that?

The room looked like a cultural hall at the church, but without basketball hoops and with some sort of concrete-like material rather than carpet. Kind of cold and intimidating. I went in. Covenant Communications had their set-up at a table in the back, so I snuck over and asked Sam if I could leave my backpack with her, and checked to be sure authors were supposed to be here. She said yes to both questions. Now I just needed to figure out who to talk to. Covenant doesn't really publish fantasy. I wanted to know if Shadow Mountain was here, or if there were any other names I recognized. 

Figuring that I'd start with the table nearest the door, I headed back over there. I'd just wanted to look at the yellow name card on the table, but when I strayed close, two women jumped from their seats. One asked me, "Are you looking for an interview, sweetie?" I found her tone slightly demeaning, but I let it go. I tried to explain that I was just trying to look, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings, so I said something like, "What do they publish?" that fumbled into, "Who is this?" I saw the label "Jolly Fish" then. The woman grabbed my shoulders and whispered in my ear, "They're probably the most prestigious ones here."

That surprised me a little, because I'd never heard of them before. I asked, "And do they publish fantasy?" She said yes, that they were great about it, and then stood up, stared towards the back of the room, and murmured something like, "Or maybe Shadow Mountain would be better..."

Now, Shadow Mountain I know. And I'm pretty sure they're more prestigious than these Jolly Fish people. I guess it makes sense that the more prestigious names that everyone wants to talk to would be in the back, and the ones that draw a smaller crowd near the door. But, I didn't have a chance to go anywhere. The lady literally took my shoulders and pushed me into a seat beside the woman. She was still talking with the man in front of her, but the lady who had pushed me tapped his shoulder and said, "Once you're finished, this girl is waiting for an interview", or something along those lines. So when he left, I awkwardly got up and moved over to sit across from the woman, and began.

Even though I'd had a synopsis in my mind, I got a little paralyzed sitting in front of her. I stuttered some, and asked her what exactly she was looking for right now (I wasn't clear on if I was supposed to dive straight into my pitch, or do any sort of small talk first to give her a chance to breathe after this guy, and wait for her to ask me what I was writing). She was nice to me, and urged me to introduce myself. Oh, yeah. I guess that's important. Anyway, I gave a somewhat clumsy pitch and talked to her about some things, like what she as an editor likes to see, and what turns her away from a manuscript. 

I tried to stall a bit so I could gather my thoughts, and I was panicking because I didn't know what to expect- Was I taking too much time? No one was waiting for me, but I would assume it would be selfish to hog someone like this, especially when I was using her to ask questions, and wasn't pitching anymore. Anyway, we ended when I said, "I had another question on the tip of my tongue, but I can't remember it", or something. She gave me her card with her email and number. I guess in the future, the graceful way to bow out of this conversation would be, "May I have your card so I can contact you if I have any more questions?" Maybe next year. I'd like to talk to Lisa Mangum at Shadow Mountain.

I didn't tonight, though, because I'd come in so late, and she was very busy. Unlike the Jolly Fish lady, who met with people one at a time at the table, Lisa sat in a circle of chairs with about six other people. I suppose I should have joined in, but I felt like I'd be intruding, and a guy had announced that we were supposed to be wrapping up so he and the editors could leave. Anyway, I wanted to grab my laptop and write down the advice the editor had given me before I forgot it. And, I wanted to look up Jolly Fish and see if they actually were prestigious.

As I was doing so, Sam began gathering her things to go, so I packed up my stuff too. Another woman came to talk to her straight after though, followed by Traci Abramsom (one of her authors), so she had to sit down again.

While Sam talked, I saw a woman finish talking to the Jolly Fish lady, so I went back and talked to her. I said, "Actually, I do have a question." I questioned her a bit about the plot for my story, and asked her for advice from an editor's perspective in certain areas. It was nice of her to talk to me, and honestly she may have been more help than Traci's workshop yesterday, if for no other reason than because I felt comfortable taking some time to talk one-on-one. Either way, it was good. I spoke more confidently (probably because I had my backpack on and was standing for most of the conversation, rather than being pushed down into a seat), and even if she never remembers me, I felt redeemed having talked to her again without stumbling all over my words.

Sam and I eventually were able to get out of there- we and Traci were the very last people to leave. We had a ways to walk to the parking lot, and at a stoplight, Traci asked what the policy was for jaywalking in Utah. Sam advised her not to do it if there was a cop. Sam and I crossed the other way from her because we had a walk signal. Then we waited to cross the street again, so I joked to Sam that we had told Traci she could cross if there were no cars and the signal was red, but we were waiting.

We drove home again. Sam dropped me off, and I told Mom briefly about my day before I headed to bed. It was a late, long day, and my forehead felt warm as though my brain was overheating. Hopefully tomorrow is a great day too.

Belated Crepes and Workshops

I forgot to mention that on Tuesday, Mom and I went out to The Original Pancake House for breakfast with Grandpa. I even took a picture!

It was fun to have him along, and while we were out we sent back my rented textbooks in the mail, and checked out Best Buy too. Mom wanted to pick up a flashdrive. I looked quite awhile for a cool gift that I could get Dad for his birthday, but nothing really called to me. Oh well. I'll have to think harder.

Okay, back to Thursday. I signed up for a writers' conference called LDStorymakers. Today was an optional day, with two workshops you could register for and attend if you so desired to. I had Worldbuilding and Magic Systems taught by Charlie Holmes. It was pretty neat. There were only three people at my table, along with Charlie, and we were able to share stories and talk. She brought us Oreos too!

After a snack of M&Ms, I met with Traci Abramson for Plot Chat. Our table was more crowded this time. It was nice enough, but I made the mistake of going first, so my fellows didn't want to weigh in on my problems much. When I would explain something I was struggling with, they would look down or shrug and say, "I don't know. Good luck." Not all the time - I did get some good advice, even though in my mind Traci seemed a bit resistant to my idea that I didn't want my main characters to end up together romantically - but it was annoying enough that I regretted going first. I was very involved in the projects of the other five people. I guess I was just expecting a little more feedback than, "Make sure there's lots of tension between them". Oh, well.

Still, I was able to spend three hours in each workshop and meet some people, so that was pretty nice. The rest of the conference should be enjoyable too!

What a Nerd

I spent all day working on planet design for "Stars and Finches". There's a lot to do! I had the idea of setting my planet around a dimmer star than our sun, so that "daylight" was basically twilight. That's what I was trying to research when I stumbled onto tidally-locked and hot eyeball planets, several of which we've found in the universe and seem to have some potential for hosting life.

So, my day was spent researching these planets and trying to determine how far mine should be from the sun to sustain lifeforms, what sorts of lifeforms these would be, if they have seasons, what length the years would be, and how large the sun would be in the sky, and what color. These planets tend to be blistering on one side and freezing on the other, with a band of hospitable water and land running between them. I learned some neat details too, like that water always runs from the cold side to the hot. Now, this sounds like it has potential for a fantasy world!

I researched them for a long time, because I'd really like the two extreme poles of the planet to have more livable temperatures. Apparently the hot side is constantly ravaged with wind and cyclones, and not much grows there. Not much grows on the icy side either. This would of course affect what creatures live there- you wouldn't have herbivores, so you wouldn't have creatures that eat herbivores, or wood to build houses or fires.

I think I can design flora and fauna that can withstand some conditions (such as plants with intense root systems that keep them ingrained in the harsh winds). Still, I'd like to find science to back up my decisions (I'm sure if the planet is at a certain distance, the sun wouldn't be so devastating, even if it makes the cold side more bitter. I just want to know what happens if I place the planet at different lengths- is that so hard?) I always try to be as accurate as I can when writing, and I'd prefer not to just say, "It's because magic" as an explanation if I don't have to.

Of course, as it was getting late, I stumbled across someone who said tidally-locked planets are something of a cliche. Strange, because I don't remember ever reading about a tidally-locked planet before. So I looked into that. I think this guy meant that they're a cliche in science fiction. I'm writing fantasy, so it shouldn't be such a big deal. Also, there were only five or six examples of tidally-locked planets in fiction that I could find (such as Remus from "Star Trek", which I tried to research but rgR didn't seem helpful from pictures I found on Google, so I'm not sure if it's actually shown as being tidally-locked in the movie). I wouldn't say five or six planets in popular media is much of a cliche. Not like, say, romance. Lots of cliches to be had there.

I also watched "Planet 51" this morning. You know, for research. It's a movie that came out some time ago and that I've always wanted to see, but never have. Their planet is Earth-like, but has rings, and like some planets in the universe, it rains rocks. That's a good thing to know- I probably shouldn't deliberately design a planet that rains rocks if I know it's already been done.

Mom made grilled cheeses for the two of us, and in the afternoon, I searched for something I could turn into a model globe of my world. We used to have this Leapster globe, but Mom said we'd just donated it as they were cleaning the house to get ready for me coming back from the summer. Of course, after ten years, I only need it the week after it's gone. I texted Dad and asked if he wanted to turn a shopping trip into a daddy-daughter date after he dropped Jorja off at softball, but he found a small soccer ball once he came home and suggested we cover it in paper mache. Fun, but first I need to figure out where the mountains go so we can build the rises on my globe.

I worked on writing for a bit longer and played some Rise of Nations with Preston. Towards the end, we paused because Mom and Jorja had gotten the ice cream out. After that, we watched some "Bruno the Kid", until Mom and Dad came home. Oops. I guess we should have gotten Preston off to bed. He's gotten in his pajamas before we watched "Bruno" and for some reason I guess I assumed that meant he'd done all his pre-bed chores, like practice piano.

I stayed up a bit longer, reading Stockton some stats questions to help him study for his AP test tomorrow. I did some drawing as I waited for him to think through his answers. Today, Butch revealed a sneak peek at an upcoming character from "Bunsen Is a Beast". This was pretty exciting for me because this kid looks like he could be related to Mikey, and I love seeing family relationships in shows. Neither Timmy Turner or Danny Fenton have any confirmed cousins, so if this is Mikey's cousin, I just think that would be fun. Especially because Mikey has an uncle in the state penitentiary and I'd love to see that detail come back in this kiddo's life.

So, I drew him because I thought he looked neat. That hair was just as fun to draw as it looked.

This kid looks like a snob, but he's also cheering for the 

same thing Mikey and Bunsen are. I am intrigued.

Cops and Psychologists

I did lots of writing today, too, though mainly it was note gathering and research, so there's not much interesting to say about it on this blog. I did learn the other night that Audible has had an update for their app that lets me access audiobooks from the Cloud- a huge step up from the position I was in where half my books were on dad's account and half on mine, and I often couldn't remember which were which or what the passwords were. Preston and I played two games of Rise of Nations tonight, which was fun.

"After work hours", I also finished up a drawing I've had around for a bit of a potential future for Mikey and Amanda.

"Bunsen Is a Beast" is such a simple show, but I just think it's really interesting and has some strong, lovable, fun characters. Plus, one of our last lectures in my abnormal psychology class was about ethics and the court. My teacher explained what to do if we were psychologists and had information about a client that had been arrested. The police can't demand you hand over a client's file (or rather, you shouldn't hand them to the police) because that's breaking client confidentiality. Only a judge has the power to overrule client confidentiality.

So if you've been summoned to court, you're supposed to make a copy of your files, which you bring with you. When the judge asks to see them, you say, "I don't want to hand over this client's information." Then the judge looks at you and says, "You have to." Then you do. This protects the psychologist from being sued for breaking client confidentiality, because he did say he didn't want to, and the judge used her power to overrule that.

That's what I was thinking of as I was drawing Mikey and Amanda here. I want these two rivals to attempt to go separate ways in life, only to keep butting heads in the courtroom. And I want the courthouse to be in the neighboring town and Amanda to have to keep Mikey from honking her squad car's horn as she drives him over there.

These two were super fun to design and draw in their older years, but I think I'm going to try going back to drawing my own characters for awhile. They're exciting for me too- it's just, it's fun to fawn over someone else's characters, unravel their personalities, design their futures... stuff like that. It feels more self-conscious to be praising your own cleverness or what not. I wonder if someday anyone will get excited about my works, too.

A Writing Day

My parents and I made a deal that they wouldn't pressure me to get a summer job this year if I spent my time treating writing as though it were my job, and essentially working on it all day as though I were in an office.

So of course, I spent the day writing, and that's probably how a lot of my summer blog posts will go. To be more specific, I combed through my old writing and gathered up all my worldbuilding notes.

This afternoon, I took a break and asked Mom if she wanted to go for a walk so I could get some fresh air and move around. It turned out to be a nice long walk. We went up past the neighborhood pool a ways and followed a bike path to a street that looped back behind the pool and basketball court.

But like I said, mostly I wrote. My siblings and I also watched some "Bruno the Kid" tonight (namely the big three-part episode). I looked the episode up myself later to get this screenshot:

There are only a few left before we finish the series. Just a little one-season Saturday morning cartoon. An amusing one full of sass and puns, though.

Spaghetti on a String

There was a lot of house cleaning done this morning, because we had dinner with Mom's family today. Since it was my first time now that I'm back for the summer, Mom had asked me earlier if I had suggestions for the meal. I'd told her spaghetti. So today, Dad made a bunch of spaghetti noodles in advance and hung them on a string in the kitchen to dry.

Family came over this evening and Dad cooked the noodles. They were delicious, and we got to hang out with little cousins. It was a pretty great Sunday dinner.

Simple Summer Saturday

My Saturday was a simple one; mostly, I just stayed home all day and worked on my writing. My siblings and I also watched several episodes of "Bruno the Kid", and I did a bit of drawing. Just one of those lighter summer days.

Edible Food Coloring

Tonight, Preston treated me to his school's carnival. There were plenty of bounce houses and little carnival games. Preston racked up a few prizes, and he bought a giant sticky hand for a dollar.

The first lady we passed as we were coming into the carnival had a cupcake walk set up. For a dollar, you could walk around the circle of numbers. When the music stopped, if the lady called your number, you could pick out a cupcake. Preston was a little skeptical, saying that "A 1 in 12 chance doesn't seem like very good odds". I was pretty sure that her bowl of numbers was really a bowl of folded blank papers, and that she would call out whatever number someone is standing on when the music stops. It made sense that when you pay, you're in until your number gets called.

At one point, Preston also showed me the Lone Peak Nature Trail, and we walked along it. It's this little path at the top of the hill overlooking the school grounds:

The hot toy of the evening was disappearing ink in a little bottle that sprayed. Kids went nuts over it. They ran about spraying each other, and many, many empty bottles ended up on the ground. I tried to get a picture of all of them, but the picture below doesn't really do it justice.

Preston and I speculated about what might be in the bottles. I suggested food coloring, then corrected myself to say, "Edible food coloring so it won't stain clothes". He got quite a kick out of "edible food coloring". I'd actually been thinking of those colored pictures that you can take from paper and put on sugar cookies. I think those are a thing- I had them once in kindergarten and have never seen them since. Ah, well.

There was also this hot air balloon ride. From the outside, it looked like a tiny bounce house. One attendant would be inside, helping kids onto the seat. The other would hold the flap of the "bounce house" shut to keep the hot air in, which would lift the balloon through the roof and bring the seat to the plastic window. When he released the flap, the air would whoosh out.

Preston at the top window

just before his seat dropped

The line for it was long all night, and moved slowly, but I'd never seen this type of ride before and I really wanted to go. Towards the end, Preston relented. He was a good sport, even though he had to wait in line for ages with nothing much to do.

Afterwards, I bought some nachos for myself, and then relented for snocones as well. It had been pretty hot out the whole time and something cold sounded nice (Preston had brought two water bottles, but they were warm even before we left the house). The pump on the tiger's blood flavoring stopped working, so the woman was pouring it out onto the snocones. We sat in a shady corner near the cupcake walk to eat.

I ended up giving my snocone to Preston, since I was more interested in my nachos. I'm just not a big snocone fan. He was quite happy with that, and I grabbed myself a cupcake from the cupcake walk instead (the lady said I could buy one). It was vanilla with chocolate frosting. Nice.

When we finished eating, I called Mom and asked if she could pick us up from the carnival. Preston and I walked around to the front of the school where the kindergarten playground was, and we sat on the seesaw (which Preston says is the only thing he misses about kindergarten). It was pretty fun to spend one of my first summer days at a carnival with my little brother!

Coming This Summer

I woke up in the guest room today and my summer began! While the kids went to school, I stayed home in pajamas, wrote, chatted with online friends, ate candy (like the chocolate bunny I'd picked up for General Conference and/or Easter but had never eaten, along with some Candy Blox that Mom grabbed for me at the grocery store), and looked at a bunch of old Nintendo DS and GameBoy Advance games that we'd apparently gotten from the Hodsons, since the Hodsons are moving and giving things away. In one of them, I found this, and thought it was entertaining:

My family also adopted the Hodson's couch, which has made a snug home for itself in the basement. We've had our green couch for twenty years, and it's pretty beaten. Having this new couch should be pretty nice.

Dad hooked up my computer, scanner and all, so it looks like I'm pretty much moved in for the summer now! Now there are just clothes to wash and fold.

Mostly, I wrote today! It was great to ease back into the routine of being home. Summer adventures, here I come!

Let's Move It Out

I spent the day cleaning and cleaning. In the early afternoon, Mom and Dad came by to help out. In all the commotion, I forgot to take any pictures.

Lots of vacuuming, carting boxes down to the car, and surface-wiping was done. We realized after awhile that we didn't have anything to clean the bathroom mirror or windows with, so Dad ran to the store to grab some. Then he mopped while Mom wiped down several of the fridge shelves and I cleaned all the windows. While we were finishing up, the RA came by to check me out. I passed inspection without incurring any fees. I'm very grateful to have a family who supports me and is willing to help me work hard, clean up, and move out like this. Dad even used the steam mop to clean the stove.

I said my last good-bye to Demetria and loaded into the car with my parents. Our first stop was at a frozen yogurt place appropriately called Yogurtland. I'd received a coupon at the beginning of the school year entitling me to the first three ounces of frozen yogurt free. It's due to expire in June. I had a bit of "double cookies and cream", topped off with some small balls of cookie dough and rainbow sprinkles.

After that, the three of us had an early dinner at Bluebird, where I again forgot to take pictures. I had a tasty grilled cheese, and snitched a bit of Mom's mint ice cream too.

Then we headed home! I kept myself entertained with the Google Docs app on my phone and held my frogs' tank between my knees. When we arrived, Matt and Sam were just inside with their kids, checking through a box of stuff that I guess my parents are planning to send to DI. We tried to interest Anne in a My Little Pony toy, but she was more interesting in watching "The Secret Life of Pets", and even said that she didn't need Rainbow Dash because she "already has ponies". Ha! A kid who says they already have enough toys is the best kind to have! Jeff found himself enraptured with a Rubix cube, no matter what Matt tried to entice him with.

Dad was very excited to show me all the updates he'd made to the guest room in my absence. It's jungle-themed, and one of its new features was a large tank for my frogs. We spent some time preparing it and then moved my frogs in. I think they'll like having all that space, and I'm excited to have a tank filter that works more consistently than my old one. I'm glad my dad thought of me while I was away, and was willing and happy to help me get it set up. I think I'll like it!

Sudden Last Night

I got a call from Mom today. Something had come up involving Stockton and Preston's diving schedules. To sum it up, she was wondering if she and Dad could take me home on Wednesday rather than on Thursday. I think we can manage to make that work.

Demetria and I did some cleaning today, preparing to move out. I also submitted my interior design final. I worked hard and I think I should receive a good grade. When I nestled into bed, I thought about how it was my last night in this room. Well, I'll get to see it again come fall semester!

Pizza Pi[l]e

The Institute was offering free pizza today in celebration of finals week. I waited until I was hungry (towards the end of the time period they were offering the pizza) before I headed up to campus. First, I stopped by the student computer lab so I could print off the colored pictures for my interior design swatch board. Then I went to check out the pizza situation for myself.

It's a little blurry, but it's the only one I got.

Yes, those are empty boxes against the wall.

While I was there, one girl mentioned that she had a final at 8:00 at night. Yikes! I can't imagine that. Especially with only the evening bus running then.

I filled up on pizza, then headed home and worked on my interior design project. It's the last assignment of the school year for me. Nearly there!