MY STORY:

• Utah business, Burgess Orchards, remains family-owned and -operated since its inception

MY BLOG:

When tasked with finding a subject to write about, I had a hard time. I immediately turned inward and began asking myself questions like: what do I think is interesting? Surely if I am interested in what I write about, others will be too.

I received some peaches from an orchard where my mom buys peaches every year and then the idea hit me like a ton of bricks! I could write about this orchard. I was easily able to get the contact information of the man in charge, Clark Burgess, and from there, was able to find people to talk to.

I did not have any specific ideas about what direction I wanted to take my story in. When I would think about it, I just assumed I would write about the orchard and the history of it.

When it came to my interviews, I made the conscious decision to ask questions but not steer the interviews in any certain direction. Since I had no clear direction to take my story, I figured letting them steer the interview was the best tactic.

After the interviews were done, I noticed that they must have subconsciously steered the interview toward the future of the orchard. I thought, hey, that is perfect! Instead of focusing on right now, I will keep the readers focused on the future of the orchard.

Once I had decided how to focus my story, it seemed as though everything came together. Writing the actual story was not hard. The work I had to put in before the writing was the difficult part.

ABOUT ME:

Devin is currently a part-time student at the University of Utah. With the love of cinema that he has, Devin aspires to use his knowledge of writing and journalism to be a film critic or film reviewer. He also has a passion for live theater. As such, he would love to do reviewing and critiquing in the world of theater or live art.

Coming of age in Arizona and Utah, Devin decided to change his world entirely and move to Laie, Hawaii, to attend Brigham Young University–Hawaii Campus after high school. 

After being there just six months, Devin was diagnosed with an astrocytoma, a cancerous brain tumor that required immediate surgery to excise. Leaving him with the basic functioning abilities, the next eight years of Devin’s life were dedicated to doing the therapies and things necessary to regain any lost abilities.