Q is for Quark

If it takes a village to raise a child, does it take a group of like-minded creative souls to raise a writer? I don’t know, but in my case, having a writing community around me really helped.  That community was Quark, BYU’s Science Fiction & Fantasy club. I joined Quark my second semester of college. … Continue reading Q is for Quark

B is for Space Battles

If you fell in love with science fiction when you were twelve, chances were it was because of the awesome space battles.  That was certainly the case with me.  When I saw Star Wars for the first time, I spent hours running around the house pretending I was flying my own starfighter.  In some ways,… Continue reading B is for Space Battles

LTUE 2013

Man, LTUE 2013 was this weekend, and it was AWESOME.  One of the best conventions I’ve ever attended.  I spoke on my first panel, attended my first book signing event as an author, and got to meet up with some old friends, as well as some amazing new people. Since I live tweeted most of… Continue reading LTUE 2013

Wolfhound by Kindal Debenham

Jacob Hull may be just a spacer’s son, but he’s not afraid to dream big.  As an ensign in the Celostian Navy, his biggest dream is to pilot a destroyer like the Wolfhound, the brand new ship on which he receives his first assignment.  But when pirates attack on their training exercises and drive them… Continue reading Wolfhound by Kindal Debenham

Quick update and Star Wanderers cover previews

First off, I’m happy to say that Stars of Blood and Glory is coming along quite nicely.  I’m currently finishing up with the last couple of chapters, and should have the first draft done by the middle of next week.  Hopefully by then I’ll know if and when I’m starting my TEFL job overseas, but I’m… Continue reading Quick update and Star Wanderers cover previews

Trope Tuesday: Space pirates with Kindal Debenham

For today’s Trope Tuesday post, I thought it would be fun to bring on my friend Kindal Debenham to speak about one of the tropes in his new book, Wolfhound. Kindal and I were in the same writing group in college, and attended Brandon Sanderson’s English 318 class together.  I just picked up a copy… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Space pirates with Kindal Debenham

Tag and such

So my cousin Angela tagged me in this cross-linking truth-or-dare blog game, and it looks fun so I figured I’d participate.  Here goes: Do you think you’re hot? I suffer from no illusions as to my ability (or rather, lack thereof) to carnally attract the opposite sex.  That’s not to say I’m ugly, but when… Continue reading Tag and such

Story Notebook #3 (part 1)

I’m not sure whether this notebook is #3 or #2. There’s a lot of notes from English 318, which would put it in the winter, but I don’t know if it’s from ’08 or ’09. Not that that matters; ideas are ideas.  And here they are! An empty parking garage with no exit. Covered this… Continue reading Story Notebook #3 (part 1)

Chomping at the bit

It’s 1:30 am where I am, and I just finished reading through the second draft of Bringing Stella Home and all of my first readers’ comments.  I don’t know how to describe what I’m feeling right now, but I am so ready to make this story shine! First of all, the story itself is incredibly… Continue reading Chomping at the bit

The end of an era

Today was my last writing meeting as Quark writing vp. :'( It’s been a good run, two years as leader of the Quark Writing Group at BYU. I remember how it was when I started–I was still just a hobby writer, with a nebulous interest in getting published someday but without any real goals or… Continue reading The end of an era