On a Writing Holiday in Arizona

I hope you guys are all having a terrific summer! I wanted to post a quick update on what I've been doing this summer.

My husband and I went on a beautiful Alaska cruise to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. It also served as a research trip for my post-apocalyptic series, which takes place on a souped-up cruise ship. I disembarked with a phone full of inspirational photos and a notebook full of ideas (and new vocabulary) to use in my final revision of SEABOUND and in the later books in the series. Plus, Alaska was super pretty. Highlights included seeing humpback whales, cruising through Glacier Bay and taking a historic mining train into the mountains from Skagway.

Next, we drove from Seattle to Bandon, Oregon to spend a week at my grandparents' farm. Highlights included a post-crabbing BBQ, blueberry and blackberry picking and hanging out with a bunch of my relatives.

Now, I'm in my hometown: Gilbert, Arizona. I'll spend August with my family before heading back to Hong Kong. As I've shared before, I recently quit my day job to write full-time for six months. My mom is also concluding her day job in her own way this fall. Over the past 27 years, she has raised and homeschooled nine children. Next week, my youngest sister will start full-time school (7th grade). For the first time, my mom will be free for eight hours a day. And she wants to write! So for the month of August we'll be writing together and helping each other build good habits as full-time writers. I'm incredibly excited about this, and I'll keep you posted on how it's going.

If you happen to be in Arizona and want to meet up this month, please email me! snyoung88@gmail.com. We'll be checking out a few writing workshops and meet-ups, and investigating the local writing scene.

What are you up to this summer? Have you read any good books lately?