WIFYR and Other Fun Stuff!

This past week was incredible! I wanted to blog, but I was so busy rewriting and editing that I had to wait. I went to WIFYR! I told myself that I would regret leaving Utah and not going to WIFYR this summer. Turns out that I was right.

I was a little nervous as the conference approached. Writers can be an insecure bunch, or maybe that's just me. I always do this to myself, though. I start thinking that my writing's not very good or that I shouldn't have signed up. But I went, and I am so glad that I did! I was in Ann Cannon's class--basically the best class ever! Anyone who was in there will agree with me. The feedback that I received on my writing was great, I got to read through the other students' writing and give my own critiques, and I got to meet a lot of new, fun people. Unless something big comes up next summer, I'm totally hopping on a plane and heading back to WIFYR.

Some of the prominent people who were there (aside from the faculty, which was composed of published authors) were Kristin Ostby (editor for Simon & Schuster), Michelle Witte (agent for Mansion Street Literary MGMT), John Cusick (agent for Greenhouse Literary), Amy Jameson (agent for (A+B Works), and James Dashner as the keynote speaker. And of course, Carol Lynch Williams is the main start-up-gal behind the scenes of WIFYR, though a lot of people make it happen. In short, WIFYR was amazing, so why weren't you there?

After WIFYR, I went to Lagoon with my parents, sister-in-law, and niece and nephews. I can't think of a better week right before I move to NYC. Books and family, that's where it's at. By the way, my niece has this weird thing about feeding me. Yesterday, she kept abandoning her food to sit by me, and then she kept picking up my fork and shoveling corn into my mouth. It takes a lot longer to eat when a three-year-old is feeding you, but it was more entertaining for sure!

Today will be full of doing all the necessary preparatory things that one does before moving to NYC. I think I'll start a new blog too, about all my NYC happenings. I'll still write on this one too though. I really just love the word hugger-mugger, though I'm admittedly more of a people-watcher than a hugger-mugger.

Yearly Bucket List

I had the coolest idea the other night. You know how people have bucket lists or just cool things that they want to do? I was wondering, how many people actually make those things happen?

I lived in Italy for 18 months as an LDS missionary (which was awesome!) and I've been back to visit once. Oh, and I speak Italian. When I tell people that I've lived in Italy and that I speak Italian, most of them tell me that they've always wanted to go there. Just today, I probably heard it from four different people. (Just FYI, I don't normally walk around telling people about Italy. I met a bunch of new people, and it just kind of came up).

I know that a lot of the people I encounter are young 20-something college students who have no money, but sometimes they're older. I was thinking last night, why don't more people just do it? If you want to do something, why not just go for it? This may be a side-effect of my moving to NYC. Sometimes it's a terrifying thought, but mostly I just get excited. 

Last night, I thought to myself, what if I made a goal to do something epic/awesome every year of my life? It's fun to think about living in Italy and all of the cool experiences I had. Then I think about moving to NYC, and I wonder about everything that I'll experience. It's bound to be epic and difficult, yet likely rewarding.

It doesn't have to be expensive, like traveling to Italy. It could be something that's mostly incredible to you. But I thought, what if I could do something like that every year? I could do more than one! I guess it's just the idea of living your bucket list while you've still got the strength in your legs to do it--make it exciting to live your own life.

And I also remembered that I still have not been to Harry Potter World. It's going on the list!

Zut alors! She has emerged!

Yes, I'm back! It's been quite a while. How long has it been since I last posted on here? Sheesh, it's kind of weird that I can feel guilty about not posting, but it's kind of true.

What have I got to say for myself? I graduated! And I worked! And I did a lot of sleeping/resting. I caught up on some tv shows too. It maybe wasn't the best use of my time, but it felt sooo good to relax!

I think I came out of my tv show binge faze yesterday when I needed to have 5,000 words ready for my WIFYR group. The conference is coming up! Two weeks! I had more than that written, but I think I'm kind of an eternal rewriter, which perhaps comes from me being a sort of "by the seat of your pants" kind of writer. Essentially, I hadn't worked much more on my story, and I wasn't too satisfied with the pages that I had--at least not enough to send them in to get critiqued by my group. So, yesterday, starting at about 4pm, I wrote. By 11:30pm, I had just under 5,000 words. Even though it's still kind of iffy, it's much better than what I had before. The submissions needed to be in by the end of yesterday. I don't think I realized just how inspiring deadlines can be.

Mostly, I can't stop thinking about my move to NYC! I may start a new blog that is all about the things I discover or don't discover. Or perhaps I'll just keep it all on here. I have a ticket though, did I mention that before? I did indeed buy a plane ticket. I'll be out of here on June 24th, so just a few weeks away. I have a place for a couple of months at least (on Manhattan!). Now I'm just waiting. Good thing I have a brother's wedding and WIFYR to keep me semi-busy until I leave.

I'll probably be more regular about posts now--no more two-month gaps.

By the way, did anyone pick up on the Beauty and the Beast quote??? Extra points if you did!

Hear Ye!

I've been wishing for another Nanowrimo because I feel like my Novembers are always super packed with nasty school business. Needless to say, I didn't make it very far in my attempt to write a novel in a month.

But now . . . I find myself suddenly with time to spare. I do this thing though, where I get super busy (like the first couple of months of the semester) and my days are seriously packed! Saturdays were pretty much my only day to do grocery shopping, homework, and laundry. I got tired of getting up at 6:30am to go to the grocery store on my Saturday. Once I get past that initial busy streak (or drop an unnecessary class) I have some spare time and want to spend that relaxing. So then I get into this mode of relaxing in all of this spare time because my body and my mind don't want to get that busy and stressed again.

Well, I think I've done enough relaxing, and now I'm looking at the upcoming WIFYR and thinking about how much I just don't have written. I'm ahead on my assignments, and the last day of school is just 3 weeks away! It would seem that the timing is just right, except it's not November.

I was thinking of calling April "Bethany's Novel Writing Month" so it would be Benowrimo. Yeah, maybe I'll try to think of something cooler to call it, but I am declaring it my novel writing month! And I would really love to do the same in May! I mean, when else am I going to be just graduated from school with a lot of free time?

Also, I just came up a plan B for NYC as I was talking about things with some people in my building. Here's the deal: If things don't go well at all in NYC, I will buy a motorcycle, shave my head, and bike all the way to Seattle where I will start new! I don't know that I'd shave my whole head. Maybe I'd do that half-shaved look. I don't know how to describe it, but it looks better than just plain shaved. I'll make a documentary. How does that sound? You know, it's kind of exciting. I guess it's good to have a plan B that's pretty cool.

My heart is set on NYC

Well, it's official, my heart is set on NYC. You know when you make a decision, but its kind of flimsy? And then as time goes on, you have to really decide? I've been toying with the idea going to NYC since I got back from Italy. I think I acquired a taste for big city life after living in Milan for a while. But last week was a big decision moment.

I keep getting more and more settled on the matter. It's kind of weird to think about leaving everything behind, but it's exciting too. Plus, it's the city where Ingrid Michaelson lives, so that makes it one of the coolest places. I never realized just how much there is in a big city before I lived in one. They're pretty exciting, and there's always something new to find. Plus, think of all of the food! Oh, I can't wait to see what Little Italy is like! If they have real mozzarella, I might just die!

LTUE

Yes, that's right, it's time for LTUE 32: Life, the Universe, and Everything. Ah, I wish I didn't have class or work or homework and could just spend all day over there. I was only able to go for about an hour today, but I saw some friends of mine there. I ran in to Joe Vasicek first. He's a self-published author and does a lot of space opera novellas. His blog is at http://www.onelowerlight.com/writing/ if you want to check out his stuff.

Then I ran into Sarah Seeley. I know her from Leading Edge Magazine, the good ol' days! I know Joe from there too. Her blog is at http://slithersofthought.com/ and you should all totally check it out. I've actually never visited her blog, so I'm going to check it out too! But she recently self-published her first novel, called Maladaptive Bind. Check it!

And then, of course, I ran into my supervisor! I don't mean from my BYU job, I mean my Cedar Fort internship. His name is Daniel Friend, and yes, he is my supervisor for all of my work at Cedar Fort. Even though we were at a sci fi, fantasy symposium, it doesn't mean that nobody will have a non-fiction book that they want to publish.

Oh, and I ran into my first college English teacher. How random is that? He's a cool guy though, and he taught a rockin' class--I mean, I'm an English major, so that says something, right?

If you're into the sci fi, fantasy scene, you should totally go to LTUE. Registration is free for students, so why not! And I think Annie Sowards (I think she also goes by Anne) is still here for LTUE. She came to my class yesterday and gave us some great info.

I've been thinking about New York a lot lately, trying to figure out what to do when I graduate (just about two months away). I keep oscillating back and forth between wanting to stay here and then wanting to go somewhere else, but last night helped me make an important decision. Annie said that a lot of the publishing houses want you to start at the entry-level positions and move up within the company, so it would actually be the perfect time to go. I'll never be more "entry-level" than I am now, so why the heck not? It was reassuring to hear from somebody that you can move to New York and find a job (probably not right away, but eventually you can get one in editing) and do what you want. 

Therefore, after going to my brother's wedding in June and then WIFYR right after, I think I will hop a plane to New York with a one-way ticket!