Other Books

on Wednesday, July 29, 2015
    In my last post, I shared a picture of all the books I collected for my birthday and mentioned the bag of books I got to take from the library I volunteered at before summer began. Here's a picture of those books. I was going to take more, but was worried about having room for them all in the car on the way back to Utah at the end of the summer. 



    Here's the list-

I'm Ba-a-ack!

on Monday, July 27, 2015
    Yes, that's right! It is me! The wonderful and completely flaky Alyson who promised two blog posts a week and has maybe delivered once this whole summer. *hangs head in shame*
    Thank you to my readers who are patiently waiting for me to keep posting when my time is not my own this summer. Only a few weeks left until the trek back to Utah when I'll actually be on a schedule and can keep posting regularly.
    Anyway, the Road Show is over and the kids were amazing. I wish I had a video or a photo to share with you, but I don't. I was too busy. The kids chose to use Toy Story as their inspiration, and it was amazing. Out of all the groups, our was the best (obviously), but ours was definitely the hardest because we had 28 kids participating and everyone else had under 18 kids. The kids are all aged 12-18 (one of ours turned twelve last week, so she was technically 11 when it started). The hardest part was having enough parts for every kid. That's where Toy Story came in. We had a Woody, Buzz, Small Fry, Jessie, Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head, Hamm, Aliens, Rex, Army Men, and we also used Bonnie's Toys from the 3rd movie so we had Dolly, Mr. Pricklepants, Buttercup, Trixie, Barbie, Ken, and the barrel of monkeys. It was insane.


    Some other ideas people used were Guardians of the Galaxy and Inside Out. The kids had such a blast writing their script, songs, and choreography. There was also a group of kids who didn't want to be on stage so they did lights, sound, sets, and props. I'm so proud of everyone who participated.

My Life This Week

on Monday, July 20, 2015
    I've had a very busy past week, and I'm gearing up for another one this week. I've had ZERO time for blogging or writing, which I hate, but it is what it is.
    I set a goal for myself for July, and I'm still working on fulfilling that. My goal was to write 5 chapters this month. So far I've got two and a half. I'm halfway there, so I'm making progress, but I wanted to be done with this chapter before too long. I've also been working with a few people on their novels, and I've had a few more people look into Powerful to get some feedback on my edits and my new stuff. It's been going good, and I'm happy with the feedback I've received. It helps me set up a distinct direction I need to go with my edits, and it reminds me that my book is still awesome. I'm pumped for it, as long as I have the energy and the caffeine to keep writing. I'm also excited for one of my close friends to start sending out queries on her book. It's amazing.
    All of my time has disappeared from me since my last post. Since then I've been writing my butt off (I'm at 28,000 words!), and I've done my fair share of reading. I'm racing my 13 year old brother in law through the Kingdom Keepers series (which I read part of when I was his age), but I only get to do that in my spare time which is almost none.


Writer's Sketchbook 14

on Sunday, July 5, 2015
    I know, a writer's sketchbook post! Something that actually has to do with my writing! Yay! 
    So this week I got 2 chapters done. That's right, 2. In 1 day. I'm so proud of myself. Too bad the rest of the month will be ridiculously crazy and I will be super busy. I set a goal for myself to write 3 more chapters this month so I'll have written 5 total. 
    Anyway, as I was working on chapter 9, I realized that I forgot one minor detail on my blog. I missed one character. He doesn't show up until chapter 9, but I stopped posting chapters on my blog so I didn't get to do a big intro for him. So here's my big intro for him.

Burk Lon

And Now It's July!

on Thursday, July 2, 2015
    I love July. July means hot days and cool pools. It means smoothies and s'mores. It says prepare for fireworks, watermelon, and ice cream. But most importantly, July means my birthday, and my birthday means a whole slew of new books! Remember last year? You can understand my excitement.
    So while I'm excitedly writing and reading the days away, I figured I'd share some inspiration with you.