We were blessed with a wet, cool spring that quickly turned 180 and shot us up to two weeks of 100 F weather. Living in Colorado, I’ve realized just how precious our water supply is. It’s easy to take water for granted, especially if it’s clean from the tap! In the last couple years, we’ve experienced horrendous wildfires that are only going to get worse. And we’re not the only ones who will suffer from that. My boyfriend shared an article with me the other day, how this year is forecast to be an especially bad season so much so that Colorado may be cutting off supply to Arizona and Nevada. It’s terrifying to think about running out of water. As we reach the summer of our second year in the Covid-19 pandemic, it feels as though we’re all running dry. We’ve put in so much stress, emotion, and anxiety over how to act, who to be around, and what the future will hold that there’s nothing left. Personally just taking care of mental health has been a constant exhausting endeavor. I offer support to everyone who is dealing with that. On that note, I’m thrilled to say that all of my close family and the majority of my friends are now fully vaccinated against the virus!

The Road So far

After our second vaccine shots, May was the beginning of the onslaught of “normal” social engagements that we’ve held off since the pandemic began. All of us were brushing off our social skills when my boyfriend Eric and I threw a party for the Kentucky Derby horse race with 16 of our friends (still remaining cautious). I have hopeful plans of making it a bigger annual party in the future.

We took a four-day trip to Kansas City where I caught up with old friends and put fresh flowers on my Grandma Margaret’s grave. The Friday before Memorial Day weekend, I had oral surgery to remove one of my back molars. For the past six years I’ve dealt with severe Nocturnal and Awake Bruxism and so my dentist and I have hopefully narrowed down part of the problem to be caused by the fact that my back molars are far enough out that they push my jaw out of its natural alignment. The majority of the problem is stress and anxiety related for which I have been trying to treat through exercise and counseling. It’s been an ongoing battle for the past three years.

And the reason for the late posting of this quarterly update is that at the end of June we took a spontaneous two-week vacation to Spain & Morocco! It was a whirlwind! It did not feel like we were able to see enough and yet tried to squeeze in too many things. We hit Seville and Málaga in Spain and then Tangier, Fes, and Marrakech in Morocco although I fell ill with a cold at the end of the trip (not Covid-19!) so I’m not going to count Marrakech in the books since we didn’t have a chance to see it. Despite that and a few other bumps, I came away from that trip with an overwhelming sense of blessings and gratitude for what I have. Spain was like a dream, the ocean so beautiful. Morocco had the warmest, friendliest people I’ve met while traveling by far. There was a genuine love that I felt connecting with our hosts and tour guides, even our cab driver. As more and more people begin to tour abroad again, I think that our experience in the empty cities will be something to honor in memory. We will never experience that again. Eric and I definitely plan to go back soon.

What I’ve Been writing

Reviewing feedback on The Tower from beta readers has been my top priority. A big THANK YOU to my Dad and my friends Ellen, Andrea, Jessica, Sean, and Samantha for looking it over and providing feedback! I’ve begun the final edits for the book and plan to finish them by end of July. I completed my query letter for The Tower (is a query letter ever truly “finished”?). I feel confident that it will do well to introduce myself and the book to agents, but we’ll see come autumn if anyone shows interest.

To improve myself, I signed up for a couple of virtual classes hosted by the Lighthouse Writers Workshop of Denver. The first class was: When is Your Book Ready to Query? It gave a balanced perspective that weighed further editing of your book against putting it out there in front of agents. It also stressed how important the query letter and the first page of the manuscript are which seems obvious, but going into detail about what agents looks for helped. My favorite part of the class was when the instructor went over a list of the ten major reasons why agents reject your book. It stressed that rejection is never a personal thing which is hard for any artist to remember when pushing forward.

The second class was: Bad to the Bone: Writing Villains. The class was interesting, but I don’t think I got as much out of it as I was hoping. The main theme was to give your villain a personal wound from which they become evil and the other theme was to examine their desire and goal in-depth. Which is to say that you really just need to do a thorough character study for your villain just like you do with all the other characters. I’m reminded of my favorite all-time villains: Sauron, The Witch King, Azula (ATLA), Hannible Lector, and Sephiroth (FFXIV).

What Else?

My violin has sat in its case now for several years. I took lessons for one year back in 2016 before stopping, but recently, I’ve felt the urge to pick it back up along with my flute that I’ve had since 5th grade. The flute definitely needs an overhaul before I can play it again: new pads, fixing a dent, polishing, the works. It’s old. I need to find a local place near our house that will be able to repair it. In the mean time, I picked up my violin for a couple days and tried again. It is going to take regular practice to get back to where I was at, but I’m going to attempt to play once or twice a week for now. I think the hardest thing for me is keeping my nails short. Seriously, it’s a weird issue to complain about in exchange for playing such a beautiful instrument, but I like them long

I have a large 24 x 36″ canvas that I plan to paint at some point this year and hang up in the house. There’s a couple places I have in mind for it, but painting takes time as well. If I didn’t have a day job and I was more disciplined, I could probably schedule my day in terms of violin, painting, and then writing! Insert exercise. That would be a dream!

Meanwhile, I’ve really been enjoying the old British murder mystery TV series called Midsommer Murders. There are 20 seasons, each is only between 4-8 episodes, and I just finished it! Ugh. I’m probably going to rewatch them because it’s nice to have it on in the background and I enjoy listening to British accents and slang! I also binged on a Chinese drama called The Rational Life. Loved it! I’m a sucker for good romance.

Three Favorite Reads

Next

My goal is to wrap up final edits to the Tower by end of July and then start querying agents in August.

I am on a mission to find critique partners to work with in Colorado. Ellen is the best editor/critique partner I could ask for, but she’s only one person and busy with her own life/writing. As it happens I met this girl, Maggie, through one of the Lighthouse classes and she holds a critique group twice a month. I wasn’t able to test the waters in July since we were out of the country, but I plan to attend next month. Fingers crossed. It feels good to meet new people!

And that’s it! Thanks for reading. Stay safe out there. Be kind to yourself and others. We are all doing the best we can each day.