July Wrap-up 2025, and New Plans!

Hello all of you beautiful people!

Thank you for your patience on the newsletter! July was intense, as I wrapped up all of my PhD work (well, most of it. See below), and then moved back to the Pacific Northwest (thank you thank you thank you mom and dad for helping me move!!). We’re readjusting to the new no-labwork lifestyle. It currently feels surreal, and I sometimes just feel like I’m on a temporary vacation rather than an actual end to my graduate school work.

Next Blog Post?

I’m actually quite a ways through the post covering immunizations to snake venom. However, due to the whole moving situation and then needing to take a true break for a day or two from any work, it’s still needing some work. It’s actually the reason this newsletter is a bit late; I wanted to add the post to the newsletter. However, it’s taking a bit with life.

Sooooooo in order to put this newsletter out at a reasonable time, I decided to wait to publish the blog post. Expect to see two blog posts then during the next wrap up!

What’s Next?

Bad News: I still don’t have a job.

Good news: I got a gig to house-sit for a relative, which gives me a month to write away on my book and just rest! After that, I need to find a job and an apartment, but one step at a time!

I’m also working on my PhD lab’s website, which is involving me writing up easy-to-read summaries and figures for all of their major (it’s taking way longer than expected thanks to the move and all, but it’s going well!). After I finish the necessary figures, I’m then planning on making small animations for the lab.

I’m also working on making videos of my big protocols from the lab to then send back to the Petrey lab. I spent all of yesterday talking into my microphone because I’m not used to voice-over and I made SO many mistakes. The joys of self-teaching art: lots of mistakes = lots of time spent on the project. But it’s a safe project to practice voice-acting and video editing on!

(They are all works in progress, so I don’t have much else to show you all at the moment. Expect more of an update come the end of the month!)

I’m hoping to make this a freelance job come September. I think I can get some work doing at least the video editing. I’ll also need to start up my tutoring career again, and I’m looking at trying to get a gig at a bike shop. Not the position I thought I’d ever be in after 6 years of grad school. Thank you parents and family for helping me during this transition period.

Book Chat: Inspirations for The Book!

The inspirations for my little book are numerous, but they all have a theme.

The works of Diana Wynne Jones, such as “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Dark Lord of Derkholm” are what I consider my main book inspiration. If you’ve never had the chance to read any of her work, I highly recommend it. These books are beautiful satires of the fantasy genre while also being wonderful stories in their own right. “Dark Lord of Derkholm” is a whole exploration of the fantasy genre through fantasy tourism; it’s genius. These stories are unafraid to be comedies while still being able to bring a lot of heart and sincerity. Again, “Derkholm” has this amazing theme of families stepping up to help one another, and familial love, all against the backdrop of tourism chaos.

I also take inspiration from the video game series, Monkey Island. I don’t do the 4th wall breaking the games do, but a lot of my dialogue does have that same fast-paced quippy syntax to it. Also, just having a story that embraces the silly is really inspiring. Sometimes, the best art makes you fall out of your seat laughing.

I’d be lying if I said books like “Jurassic Park” didn’t shape my writing. Even though the tone is completely different and there are way more fantasy elements, my book focuses on scientists (dragon biologists) as the good guys, and has a lot of commentary on “science vs military” (if you’ve never read “Jurassic Park,” there’s a major theme of “science vs capitalism” baked into the setting. It’s not subtle).

I want to joke that “Fourth Wing” is an inspiration, but having never read the book and only using it as inspiration for a handful of jokes, I don’t think I can actually

And now the inspiration I’m not proud of… Harry Potter.

Disclaimer: I do not support JK Rowling. The short version is that she’s both extremely transphobic and acephobic, and I refuse to support anyone who aims to do that much harm to the queer community. But it is a series that was fundamental to my childhood reading, so I do acknowledge it. I will say that the inspiration is more of a “fixing” type of inspiration.

The initial inspiration is obvious: magical school setting (though mine’s a university with 18+ year olds everywhere). But you know how 12 year olds are forced to endure horrible situations and placed in abusive situations (looking at you, Dursleys and Snape) and all the while, you have to ask “where are the adults?” Well, I took my frustrations from that series and decided to ask, “What kind of plot would come from adults doing their actual jobs?”

And thus was a majority of my novel’s plot born! Realistically, a magical school would have a lot more safety regulations to ensure student survival. And what if those regulations proved a major hinderance to the main character? It doesn’t sound exciting on paper, but when you mix eccentric main character with dragons and rash decisions and magic and university red tape, suddenly you’re getting into fun uncharted territory!

Book Chat: Sneak Peak

I’ve gone back and forth about whether I should show some of my writing (especially since we’re in the drafting stage) but I figured since I’m spending this month to just write, it’s be fun to show a teeny-tiny peek at what I have:

Again, this is a draft! It’s already been rewritten entirely, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s rewritten once again!

Things to note: The narration is intentionally juvenile. The MC, Ruth, is highly immature while being sickeningly positive, and I, as the writer, know it. I think it’s going to be fascinating to have this be how most of the world will be introduced to my writing, as this is not my default tone or writing style.

Onward to August!

Time to drink some good tea and type out some fun words! Let’s go!

Cheers!

-Becca