Weekend Adventures (or: Taking a Week Off from #HIGP posts)

Yeah...no How I Got Published Post today, sorry folks! I was gone all weekend and I've had a lot to catch up on this week, including working on a new revision for Duskfall. But more on that later.

What was I up to this weekend, you ask? Let me tell you.

Raych and I ventured down to St. George for a friend's birthday, where we ate delicious food, went to an (outdoor, as you can see) concert, and stayed at a mediocre hotel. It was, all in all, a very fun weekend. The relaxation was much needed.

We also spent some time in Snow Canyon State Park, which was fun. Also, Raych is pregnant.*

Southern Utah has a very unique landscape. It's pretty cool to adventure around these parts.

Just keepin' it real.

So those are things I've been doing lately. But I'm not messing around when I say there's some stuff I need to get caught up on, so...back to work.


* ISN'T THAT AMAZING?! I am so excited about it. I suppose I'll have to tell you more about the whole preggo thing--I'll get to that once I'm caught up!

Sometimes we do fun things...

...like go to Arches National Park. To wit:

And it was awesome.

Here's what I've been up to:

Bryce Canyon National Park,

featuring hoodoos;

 Desolation Trail to the lookout over Salt Lake Valley,

featuring three of the coolest people you'll ever meet;

and the Subway canyon in Zion National Park,

featuring twelve more of the aforementioned coolest people you'll ever meet.

Also, I received an Honorable Mention from the Q2 Writers of the Future contest to go along with my Semi-finalist entry from Q4 of last year (Semi-finalist is in the top 1%-ish; Honorable Mention is in the top 10%-ish), and submitted another story for the Q3 contest.

Submitted a modified version of my Master's Thesis to the Utah Arts Contest in the Short Story Collection category.

Received feedback from my alpha readers on my current novel, and have now begun ROUND 2 of revisions on said novel.

So, all in all, it's been a fun time.  There are many more to come.

weekend hiatus (part 1).

It's been a few days since I've blogged.  That's because I've been doing some ridiculously awesome things, like this:

(thats me catching a tree that nearly fell on me while hiking in Zion National Park this weekend, and then heaving it off the trail.  true story.)

And also, this:

(thats me nearing the top of Angel's Landing and looking over one of its many heart-squashing cliffs.)


And hiking things like this:

(Angel's Landing is that giant cliff in the background . . .)


And through things like this:

(The Narrows)


. . . check out the next post for more . . .