Camp NaNo Chronicles 2016: Halfway There

This week in Leslie's writing adventures, she will share how determination, sprinting and a little muse helped her reach 25k in the first 10 days of camp.

Well, I've come a long way since last week. With the 10k slump behind me, I face a different challenge as I move forward: staying on track. I know the last chain of events in my novel, now I just have to figure out how to get there. Even though I'm a little less than a week ahead on my word count, I shouldn't get cocky. I can fall behind faster than I rose to the top.

In the end, this is a very sloppy first draft. My inner editor is screaming at me to go back and fix a few plot holes or expand on a  section. But I know if I did that, I would fall into a rabbit hole of editing. With NaNo, it's all about looking forward, not stepping back.

So I look forward to where my story will lead me. What my characters will do, and what they learn on their journey. I look forward to finishing this challenge and hopefully more in the future.

Here is today's teaser:

“How can you trust him, he’s a prince.”

“I don’t,” I muttered. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me Lillian. I know he’s the enemy, but what if he’s not? What if he hasn’t learned about the conspiracy? What if he’s just a pawn like us?”

“No,” Lillian shook her head. “He’s manipulating you. Clearly, he and your father are in on this. Think about it, he’s trying to make you fall in love with him. That’s the only way, he’ll get you back home and take over your kingdom. Snap out of it, Cordelia, you are falling prey to another fairy tale.”

Camp NaNo Chronicles 2016: First Week Thoughts

With every NaNoWriMo, I participate in, I always ask myself: What is it about this story that excites me? Every year it surprises me how much or how little I care about my story. Sometimes I get into NaNo with a great idea, but as I keep writing, I feel less and less enthused about the project. Other times, I have so much fun writing and putting my MC in outrageous situations then the next thing I

know I've hit 50,000 words. Granted, I've only won twice. Once in November 2012 and again in July 2014.
As I continue to write this year, I keep asking myself, what made those two years different? Will I burn bright and fast, only to fizzle out after hitting 10k, or will I push through and get to the 50k and have another completed manuscript. Every year, I thought I was in love with a project, only to disappoint myself at the end.
Honestly, if I get in my head too much, it would affect my performance. I have to remind myself why I love to write and why I choose to participate in such a challenge as NaNoWriMo. That's seems like to only way to keep the doubts at bay.
I'm a very busy person, but I have been fortunate enough to find time to write this new story. And I'm happy to report that I have passed the 10k mark. I know for me, it's not much of an accomplishment, because that's where I start fizzing out and losing momentum. But as long as I know where I want the story to go, and I remain excited every time I open the word document, I know I will be fine.
Who knows what's in store for me over the next month. I'm just excited to see where this project takes me.

Teaser Tuesday Time! I present to you, Damsels! (Please remember that this is a very very rough NaNo Draft)

The trapdoor creaked slowly, I jumped into my bed and shut my eyes. This was it, my moment of truth. “Princess Cordelia?” My prince said, gently tapping my. My eyes fluttered open, to see the face of my one true love.

Meh.

He wasn’t unattractive, I guess, just sweaty. He did kill a dragon after all. His black hair was either sweaty or greasy, I couldn’t tell. His teeth were far too big for his mouth, but other than that, he was okay I guess. He was a prince after all.

“My prince,” I smiled. He leaned in close, this was it, true love’s kiss, well a sweaty, gross true loves kiss, but my happily ever after was sealed.

Before his lip could touch mine, he coughed. Blood sprayed from his mouth onto my face, a hand grabbed his shoulder, pulled him back and impaled him with a sword. My prince dropped to his knees, revealing a tall masked figure in black, pulling their sword from his chest.

“Your tower is a bitch to climb, no wonder he walked up. Thanks for the rope.” 

Where I've Been

Wow, it's been a while hasn't it. I mean it's to be expected right? I start school saying I'm going to keep up with the blog, but the minute I get busy with school or theatre everything falls apart. But you might not have to worry about that any more. I'M ALMOST DONE WITH COLLEGE!

Holy crap, how the years have flown by. I started this blog at the end of my senior year in high school with

I closed my last  college production as stage manager.
.My parents took a picture my picture on the slideshow.

stars in my eyes. This started out as a column in my high school newspaper. I was then informed that nobody liked reading about me in the school newspaper, show I shifted to the internet. I was graduating anyway, and I always wanted to run a blog. I was revising my first novel after 50 rejections from agents. I wanted to find my place in this crazy world of publishing. It took a long time for me to find my place in the blog world. I intended to do book reviews and other reading and writing related stuff, but it didn't excited me. I did challenges and hosted contest with very little success. It took me a while to realize what I wanted this blog to be and I'm still not sure where it's going. Things change. I grow up and things that were important to me four years ago seem less so now. Don't get me wrong I have every intention to continue writing and trying to get published. It's just now I see what a huge time commitment it is to have other jobs and responsibilities while trying to write.

Honestly, I never will be a full time writer. I want a career in theatre and a writing career. I can have both right? There are a lot of young adult writers with other jobs and careers. What can't I be one of them. Writing has my heart, but theatre has my soul. I spoke with a professional stage manager about my future and expectations. He said, "Will you be happy doing anything other than theatre?" Without hesitation I said, "No." It was right then and there when I realized theatre will always be a part of me. I can't change it. As for writing, I can't shake that either. Even if I never get published, I will always be a writer.

Now What?
Since I'm graduating in a month, I've been getting this question a lot. Sure I have plan. I plan on working in theatre for as long as possible. It's funny that I ever thought I would have any control over this. My resume is out there with several theatre companies, but I am still in limbo. And it SUCKS. I'm not going to comment on the search anymore, be cause if you already go to school with me you know I will not shut up about my future.

EDITING!

I've found something that takes my mind off of this pesky job search. Suspension of Disbelief. My 2012 NaNo Novel. I think I mentioned before that I finished draft number 2/I finally wrote the ending over the summer. After a couple rewrites and months of opening the document and rereading the first few chapters over and over again, I'm finally giving the manuscript a good polish. I gave myself a deadline so I can stay on track. It's a good distraction.

Will things be different from now on? Who knows. The four years I've spent running this blog. Haven't been for nothing. I've meet a great community of bloggers and writers through YA Highways Road Trip Wednesday and What's Up Wednesday. I'm going to try to get back into the groove of things, but you know me, breaking promises and being inconsistent is kind of my thing. It shouldn't be, but I have a four year track record of it.

Happy Reading!

Busy Week: NaNoWriMo Chronicled pt. 4

So basically I have six zillion things to do this week so my post about what happened last week will be on Friday. What I can tell you now is that I reached 50,000 words and I have no ending.

Here is a teaser:

            I arrive at Grayson’s at seven on the dot. I knocked. There was no answer. I knocked again. Still no answer. I press my ear against the door, I could hear pots and pans rattling and the faint beep of a smoke detector. Without hesitation I pushed open the door using my powers. Grayson was trying to put out a small fire on the stove with a fire extinguisher. He was a mess. His hair was sticking up and flour was all over his face and apron. Once the fire was out he sighed in relief.

            I started laughing, he looked up and finally noticed me. “Susan,” he walked over to me, but slipped on something and landed right on his back. I kept laughing. He groaned. “I am so sorry. I tried to make chicken parmesan and everything turned out to be a disaster. And this day was going so well.”

            I went over to him and helped him up, being careful not to get flour on Darcy’s dress. “Grayson, you just made my day a thousand times better.”

            “How so?”

            “Do not get me wrong,” I said. “I really liked your whole romancing me throughout the day thing, but what I love is seeing you fall apart. You tired so hard to be Mr. Perfect for months. Nobody is that perfect. It is great to know that my boyfriend can make mistakes.”

Good luck to everyone finishing up NaNoWriMo. :D

Happy Writing!

50,000 words

So this happened...

 

I'm too much in shock to actually write about it, but I can assure you a post will be coming.

Happy Writing!

Keeping the Pace: NaNo Chronicles pt 3

Week three is upon us. Last week as predicted I fell behind. Not by a lot, but I was behind on the word count for a few days. Honestly it was school. I had papers and test and all that jazz. I knew it was going to happen. On Friday I left for Thanksgiving break. I spent the entire car ride home typing. In the end in about three and a half hours I got 2,500 words written. I was completely caught up. Saturday was my first free day in a while. I reached 30k which is amazing in itself. So I set a goal for the weekend to be at 32k and by Sunday night I made my goal.
Monday I set my goal a little higher. My plan was to reach 35k. I got to 37k. 37,000 words. That's the farthest I have gotten in years. Yep. I really want to finish early because I know next week will be hectic. If I keep up this pace I will be there in no time. The key for me this week is to keep going. If there is a muse just go with it. Even when I reached my goal I still had the urge to keep going.
Also if you are on twitter there are a lot of ways you could connect with other NaNoers and bump up your word count.@NaNoWordSprints constantly has different challenges and sprints to participate in. A sprint is when you write as much as you can nonstop until the time  runs out. Usually to keep your juices flowing they give you a prompt or a challenge to add to your novel like "Include something about mirrors, glass, and/or reflections" or "write a scene in a graveyard!".  It is optional but it is a lot of fun. Also authors Susan Dennerd (Something Strange and Deadly) and Sarah J. Maas (The Throne of Glass) Host a NaNoWriMoBattle everyday on twitter around 3pm. Three thirty minute rounds of continuous writing. It's tons of fun and it's awesome to know published authors are going through the same thing as you and are very supportive. I love NaNoWriMo.
All right it's teaser time.

            

            The Gray Eagle and the Vine Vixen were on the front page of every newspaper in Caperville the next day. This kiss was worse than the first. Now everyone knew we were dating. Susan and Grayson and the Gray Eagle and the Vine Vixen. Lovely.

            Darcy was in a very good mood the next day. Her outfit was mentioned in the article.

            “The Vine Vixen, wearing a fabulous new black suit…”

            That was all it said. But Darcy was ecstatic. “I can start a business you know. Making superhero costumes I mean. Not just for you, but anyone who wants to dress like a superhero. I have been thinking about this for a while. The fashion industry is so hard to get into I need a gimmick. Superhero couture, genius right?”

            “Genius,” I said halfheartedly. Other things were on my mind.

            “What is wrong?”

            “Nothing,” I lied.

            “You are lying. Tell me what’s up?”

            “I ducked out of the house this morning before I saw Aunt Lexie. She still does not know about Grayson. Well I guess she knows now.”

            “You two have been dating for over three months and you still have not told her?”

            “Aunt Lexie is not a fan of the Gray Eagle. Ever since the first kiss. Now that this happened, now that we are in the newspaper. I do not even know.”

            “Invite him over to dinner,” she said. “Let the two meet. Remember you were not a Gray Eagle fan when you first met. Grayson is a great guy. I am sure she will like him.”

So how is everybody else's writing going? What is your typical pacing? Have you participated in any sprints?

Happy Writing

NaNo Chronicles pt. 2

This week has defiantly been very slow. I stayed a day ahead up until Sunday. Everything is hectic. I'm making sure I get my 1,667 words in everyday, but I wish I could strive for more. I fear as if I'm going to fall behind this week. School stuff. I have a couple papers due this week. But after this Thanksgiving Break is coming up. I'll most likely finish up during that week if I keep pushing. My plan was to be finish before I start tech rehearsals for the show I'm working on. That's not going to happen.
One thing I can take away from this week though is writing everyday. Even when I was ahead and I felt like I could slack I didn't. Thank goodness or else I will be playing catch up until the end of the month. Keeping my head in the story is what helps me write everyday. Planning this out was a great decision. I fell in love with my story before I even wrote it and that passion is what drives me to finish it.

I still got a ways to go

Something that helps a lot is the Write-Ins it's so nice to actually meet and talk with other writers going through the same thing I am. My ML (Municipal Liaison) has beads for a charm bracelet for our region. With each different accomplishment/milestone we get a new bead. I won't be at any write ins for a while because of Thanksgiving break, but I'm grateful to be a part of a wonderful writing community.
As promised a teaser from "Suspension of Disbelief"

The ground shook furiously as the emotions poured out. I was sobbing. The robots were violently shaken off of me. The building began to crumble. I continued to sob as I fell to the ground. The building was falling apart, but I couldn’t will myself to get up.

            “Susan,” Grayson shouted. He was still in the cage. I was paralyzed on the floor. I couldn’t move. “Susan!” The bricks of the building started falling in chunks. I continued to sob. I hand grabbed my shoulder. It was Grayson. He picked me up and walked me out of the crumbling building. Once we were far enough from the building, he sat me down. “Calm down, calm down,” he stroked my hair with the side of his hands. I took several deep breaths. The earthquake had settled, along with my nerves. I sat there for a moment taking in the damage I had done.

How's NaNoWriMo going for you?

Happy Writing!

P.S. what else has been going on in my life? Well one the plays I wrote was selected for The Student Play Festival at my school. It went up on Sunday. Check it out!

Daring to Suck: NaNo Chronicles Pt 1

So I've decide to keep a log of my progress on the blog to go a long with Teaser Tuesday. Kind of like a NaNo journal only shorter.

Day 1: I started writing at midnight in a Google Hangout with a few people from my region. I clocked off after an hour into it to get ready for bed. After my nightly preparations I continued to write until I reached 2k words. I wrote more in-between classes and during free time. By the end of the day I reached 3,775 words. Good First day.

Day 2: I only write a little after midnight. After class I wrote a little more. Later I went out to see a show a other things then I headed to a Write-In. This was my first Write-In ever. It was so much fun. I got a nice chunk of words done and chatted with other writers. It's nice to actually talk to a NaNoer in person rather than online. It makes everything so much more real. By the end of the night I reached 6,667 words. Great second day.

Day 3: Saturday! I slept good. But I have work in the afternoon. No writing done before then. I get back to writing around 9:30 pm. It took a long time to get back into it but in the end I got out 1,667 words before midnight. I ended the third day with 8,333 words Monday's word count. Still a day ahead. Homework time.

Day 4: Daylight savings time. I got an extra hour of sleep. However my phone didn't change time zones automatically like I thought. So my 8:30 am alarm wakes me up at 7:30 am. I write a couple hundred words before I get ready for rehearsal. After rehearsal I go to a Write-In. by the end of it I reached 10k. This is a personal milestone for me because my last NaNo novel didn't quite make it there. I only hope to keep moving forward from there.

Day 5: Monday. It was defiantly slower getting into things. I wrote myself in a pickle the day before and I hadn't quite thought of a way to solve it. That's what I love about NaNoWriMo, I can be completely stuck at a scene and BS my way though it. All I'm really focused on is getting to the end. Since today was super busy I didn't get many words in. By the end of the day I reach 11,136 words.

Now it's Tuesday, as of right now I haven't written anything yet but I've been wanting to post this for a while along with my teaser. While I have some funny lines and nice parts to share. I think this is one of my funnier snippets. Remember this is just a rough draft. it still sucks.

           “So Grayson, right, or do you prefer to be called the Gray Eagle when we are alone.”

            “Grayson is fine,” he said.

            “What the hell are you doing here?”

            “I was just as surprised as you,” he began to chuckle. “I figured since I would be here longer than expected I should enroll for the rest of the semester.” His laugh grew louder.

            “What’s so funny?” I asked.

            “I’m sorry, but this is hilarious. Really, do you know how funny you are?”

            “Explain,” I said, not finding his tone amusing.

            “Come on, the glasses, the hat, the baggy clothes, oh this is just too rich.”

            “Are you making fun of my alter ego?”

            “You don’t find this the least bit cliché?” he continued to laugh.

“It is called suspension of disbelief.” I said. He continued to laugh. Annoyed that this conversation was going nowhere, I brought up roots from under the ground. They wrapped around Grayson’s feet. When he tried to break free I would tighten them.

            “Think I’m funny still?”

            “I thought you only threw rocks,” he said.

            “I’m multitalented,” I smirked. “I am called the Vine Vixen.”

            “I thought that was just a sexy alliteration. I be completely honest, your name sounds like a name for a villain.”

            “This is coming from the ‘Gray Eagle.’ Your real name is literally in your superhero persona’s name.”

            “Do not judge me,” he said.

There you have it. I still have a long way to go but at least I'm making progress. I know this school week is going to be slower than before because I have to work on papers and projects. But as long as I get my 1,667 words in I'll be fine.

How is NaNo going for you?

Happy Writing!

It's Coming...NaNo 2012

NaNoWriMo starts in less than 2 days. Holy crap. With all the plotting and outlining I've worked on this month I am still terrified. I'm all talk. I've never completed one. What if this year is no different? Quite Honestly NaNo is coming third on my list of priorities right behind School and the production I'm working on. (Notice that sleep is not in the top three.) I'll find time and when I do I'll sprint it out but still it's very terrifying.
This morning I received an email form the NaNoWriMo team. Basically they sent all the participants a road map for November. Today's instructions are to tell everyone you're writing a novel. This way they can constantly ask you how that novel's going and whatnot. So here goes.

Internet. I'm writing a novel. 

Well I knew you already knew that, but it's just for reassurance. Next month I'll be throwing myself into 30 days of literary abandonment. Obviously, I won't be checking up on the internet a lot and my other NaNo friends will probably be working hard on there novel to keep tabs with me. I'll be keeping you up to date with the word count daily on Twitter as well as having a "Teaser Tuesday" (and this time only a sentence or a paragraph)
I'm relying on a lot of support from friends, family and hopefully other NaNoer's from my region. Having a Thanksgiving break will help a lot. Sure I'll have other projects and reading to do, but I'm sure someone can keep me on track **cough** mom **cough**. As I stated before, while it would be great to actually finish, if I don't hit the 50,000 by midnight on the 30th it won't be the end of the world. My smaller goal is to write as much as I can everyday. If I can do that I'll be fine so even if don't finish I'll at least get far enough to actually finish the story completely after November. I'm just going to try.
NaNo friends, don't forget to buddy me. If you're game we could also do word wars and writing sprints.

Happy Writing!

P.S. Happy Halloween/50% Candy Day.

Love List 2.0

A few months for YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesday I started a love list for my WIP. The idea was inspired by on Stephanie Perkins' post on Natalie Whipple's blog. I briefly touched on my plans for this years NaNoWriMo. Well NaNo is in less than two weeks away and I've added quite a bit. My list started out like this.

Superheros

Love

A not so mild mannered secret identity

a dramatic origin story

An evil pool playing shark mob boss

From there a lot happened. I started outlining, and working out the relationships and whatnot and my list got bigger. I even thought of a title. "Suspension of Disbelief" is going to be about the evolving relationship between two superheroes and how their pasts connect. There is a (somewhat) better synopsis on my "What I'm Working On"  or my author profile. I love the title because it is a recurring theme with most superheroes. For example, the fact that all Superman has to do is put on glasses and act mild mannered to become Clark Kent. NO ONE recognizes him. It's a hilarious concept I hope to with in the novel.

Love List 2.0
Lava Monster
robot army
mad scientist
a crazy stalker fangirl
earth powers (I put a lot of thought into this)
a very awkward "meet the legal guardian" scene
a surprise picnic
a utility belt filled with rocks
SALAD EXPLOSION!
terrible first kisses
floating second kisses
betrayal
deception
secrets
reunions
death (hee hee hee)

That's what I got so far. It will most likely grow. These are just random scenes and themes that go through my head. Whenever I get a thought for a scene I immediately have to write down the idea so I can get back to it later. I almost never leave the house without a notebook. I'm weird like that. 

Blogging might slow down in November. I might be able to do Road Trip Wednesday depending on my schedule. I'm thinking about doing another Teaser Tuesday. I don't know last time I did that someone got very attached to the unfinished story...you know who you are. ;) 

So friends who's doing NaNoWriMo this year? What do you love about your future project so far? 

Happy Reading!

Get Ready

It's officially October. Less than a month until NaNoWriMo begins. If you don't know what that is check it out here. Basically at the start of Novmber you have thirty days to complete a 50,000 word novel.
I this will be my third year participating. Hopefully this year I'll actually win.
I'll try to do a few more post when it comes closer to the date. When November hits I will not be posting as much. Possibly a couple "Teaser Tuesdays."
Also I started a tumblr based on the #whatshouldwecallme trend called "#lifeduringnano. If anybody has emotions about NaNo that could only be explained through GIFs there is a submit page. Mostly likely I'll be busy or run out of ideas and I want to keep this going through NaNo.  If you submit something will be so grateful.
http://lifeduringnano.tumblr.com/
Lastly I was on the forums trying to find a superhero name for one of my characters. Based on my description of his personality and powers, a guy DREW ME A COSTUME DESIGN!!! I hadn't given much though about costumes yet, but as soon as I saw it I was like "That is exactly what Greyson would wear." I'm not going to post it yet without his permission, but rest assure it's awesome.
Here is my participant page.  You can check out my novel synopsis and send me a writing buddy request.
Is anybody doing NaNo this year? If you are doing NaNo on a scale of 1 to 10 how excited are you?

Happy Writing!

More Life Updates

Sorry I haven't been around. I promised that I would do YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesday regularly, but  For some reason I keep getting the days mixed up and by the time I realized it's Wednesday I don't have time to write a post. Ugh. I said I wouldn't do this when I started school, but it did. I'm not super busy right now. I'm just sleepy. Really really sleepy. 

In Reading: I'm currently reading Jessica Khoury's Origin. I'm halfway though it and I can't put it down. I suggest you all check it out. 

In Writing: Oh, yeah writing, I said a long time ago that I don't believe in writers block. I take that back. I am seriously blocked. I've tried almost every trick I know to get writing again, but I'm at a stand still. I'm sure I'll get through it soon though.

In Chocolate: Mmm Chocolate. Yeah. 

So that's my life. Questions for  you. What are you reading? Do you have any trick/advice for writers block? What is your current chocolate obsession?

Happy Reading! 

And So It Begins

I'm back at school. Another year of balancing classes, theatre, a social life and trying to write. In the last couple years I slacked on one or two of those, mostly it was writing. I want to do so much this year, but the question that keeps running through my head is "can I have it all?"
Classes and theatre are set in stone. Without classes, I technically wouldn't be in college. Also theatre and classes sort of mix. Theatre is my major and it's what I want to do in the future (and writing of course). So I can't give that up.

My new desk!

I just got a social life. Seriously. It took a long time to get one, but I got it and I'm not letting it go. I've only been to a hand full of parties. Technically I've only been to cast parties. But those still count. Right? Anyway I also have a few circles of friends I hang out with at during the day or in the evening. It's fun just being around people. If I become a hermit again I would miss so many of my friends and the opportunity to make new ones.
 Then there's writing, which for two years got the short end of the stick. I've tried so hard over the summer to get my first draft finished. But life decided to be a douche and punch me in the stomach saying "Not on my watch." So now I have a first draft that is halfway to my goal and I start classes and the crazy madness of college in the next few days.
So what am I going to do? Well at WriteOnCon I found a whole group of college students in my predicament. Some were further than me, like on their third and fourth draft others were in the same boat. They all shared how they find time to write and trying to be well rounded in school. Honestly I don't know how these kids do it, but I know it can be done.
It will be. I'll have it all. Maybe not at the same time. I'm positive I can do it this year.

Bookshelf. I could only bring unread books.

Now usually with the new school year I fail at blogging. This will not be the case this year. I'll be doing YA Highway Road Trip Wednesdays and I'll attempt to get in a few post a month. Also the vlog is still a thing. 30 Days of Vlogging might have ended but I'll have "Morphinominal Monday" and maybe another video in the week. I might cheat and put the video up on the blog. Vlog on the blog. That's fun to say.
This has been a great summer and I'm thrilled to start the school year.
Happy Reading!

Life Update

So this week I started a Vlog. Here's the video I made today. There are more. If you want to watch them all in order go here

I'm not getting as much writing in as I want to. But I did get a nice start. This week I am dedicating myself 100% to get 1000+ words in a day. I'll keep you updated.

Still haven't finished reading any books. Life's crazy like that.

I think I need to be on the internet less. That will solve 95% of my problems.

Skinny Cow Caramel Truffle=perfection

Too much math for one day.

Happy Reading!

YA Highway Road Trip Wednesday

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This Week's Topic: When you need creative inspiration, where do you go?

Since I am home for the summer I have limited transportation to go where I want to go when I write. So most of the time I am stuck at home. Sometimes I'm desperate for a change of scenery so I move around my house. Sometimes I go to the kitchen. Other times I go to the living room. I rarely write in my bedroom. I'm boring I know.

One thing that really got my creative juices flowing was walking around the block with my mom. I talk a lot, but when I am at home no one wants to listen to me rambling about my WIP. When I am walking with my mom I finally have a chance to explain to someone what I'm writing, new ideas and how excited I am to finish. And she listens! That's all I ask for. Once I'm back in the house I can crank out about 1k. 

Sometimes for creative inspiration I go to my best friend. My current WIP is about two best friends and I basically take elements from our friendship (the good and the bad) and put it in my story. Whether it's through text, tweets or I have the rare chance to hang out with her, she always inspires new ideas for my WIP. 

Reading also inspires me. It reminds me of what I my ultimate goal is when I write. Sometimes I lose sight of that. 

So tell me readers, where do do you for creative inspiration? Who inspires you to write? Leave a comment below.

Happy Reading!

P.S. If you want to learn more about YA Highway and Road Trip Wednesday go here.

As 2011 ends...

Looking back on my year I kinda epically failed on the blogging part of my resolution as well as my reading and writing goals. Also my vlogging failed in the most epic way possible. That didn’t last long. I actually tired to make a vlog several times and I was going to post all of the bloopers up on YouTube this break, but my laptop crashed and I lost almost all of my files. However this year wasn’t entirely an epic fail on my part. I READ THE HUNGERS GAMES.


I READ THE HUNGER GAMES.

It was peer pressure mostly. I was working on a show and the dressing room chatter was all about the Hungers Games. I hate spoilers so started again and finished within days. I’m still on Catching Fire so no spoilers. It took me a long time to get into it. But after I got through with part one I could not stop reading. (This was a problem because it was midnight and I had class at nine the next morning.) All I could say now is I’m hooked. Peer pressure is bad.

In writing I have epically failed upon epic failure. I’ve dabbled with a few story ideas but they never fell through. Since my laptop crashed I’ve had more time to sit down at my desk at home and write. And the creative juice kept flowing. Maybe the main problem was that I could not just sit on my bed and try to write with my laptop because it’s too distracting. I’ve written more this past week without my laptop than I written this year. I defiantly have to take this into consideration when I go back to school.

This year had its ups and downs, but I think through all of this chaos I’ve found clarity. I learned from my mistakes and when next year rolls along I could better myself as a reader, writer, and person.

Happy Reading!

Nano, Memoirs and Cookies

Three things:

1. I will not be doing Nanowrimo this year. I know, I was determined to finish this year, but things came up. It's pretty much the reason why my posts are so irregular. College, extracurricular, procrastination.  I also want to focus on my current WIP and it’s going really slow. I half outlined and wrote out some in my notebooks during class. It’s pretty messy. It’s seriously the only way to keep me from not working on it at all. If any of my twitter followers want to start a word war I’m totally up for it. Especially for you who are doing Nano.

2. I started getting into Memoirs, well mainly by comdeians. I’m reading Chelsea Handler's "Are you there Vodka, It’s me Chelsea?” and it is hilarious. I’m defiantly looking forward to reading more of her work. I also bought Tina Fey’s memoir this summer and I haven’t started it yet but I will soon. Do any of you know any hilarious memoirs I could check out?

3. What is your favorite kind of cookie? My favorite is tied between Chocolate Chocolate Chip and M&M’s. It know this is random but I have cookies on the brain.

Happy Reading!

YA Rebels audition tape

So I audition to be the a part of the YA Rebels. Yeah, there's chocolate involved. Bet.

Summertime

It’s summertime and you know that that means. School’s out!!! I’ve actually been out of school for a while, but for all you high school students yay for summer!!! Congratulation class of 2011, you made it!!!


I’m going to try to perfect my blogging skills too. I feel as if my lack of blogging might have to do with my lack of followers page views. So this summer I’m going to try to blog once or twice a week. Whether it’s about reading, writing, chocolate or whatever I feel like writing about. Once I get into a grove maybe things will pick up.

What’s new for me? Well I’m working on some new projects. Hopefully I’ll be done with one of them this summer. Right now I’m debating if I should continue the revisions on my current manuscript. I’ve been working on it for years, but I feel like it’s not going anywhere. To be honest I wrote it when I was fifteen. I’m nineteen and much smarter now and a better writer. We’ll see. Nothing’s set in stone. I might come back to it some other time. I just don’t know.

I will also be trying to get through The Hunger Games this summer. I started the first one last August, but stopped at page forty. I’ll restart it, but I just never had the time to just sit down and read it. I have avoided all spoilers for years and right now I’m afraid that since the movie is coming out I might stumble upon some spoilers. So my summer goal is to finish all three books. I’m pretty sure I’ll like them, it’s not hard to make me not like a book. And this one had so many good reviews. So we’ll see.

Okay so there are also a lot of summer 2011 releases I would like to obtain this summer. I noticed that most of them a sequels. Anyway here’s my list of books I’m looking forward too.

Fins Are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs

Trial By Fire by Jennifer Lynn Barns

Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer

Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter

Passion by Lauren Kate (a third book)

Supernaturally By Kiersten White

Twisted by Gena Showalter (another third book)

Ripple by Mandy Hubbard (not a sequel)

I’m super excited for these books. There are also a few that just came out that I’m excited for. This summer’s going to be awesome!!! If there are any more summer 2011 releases that I didn’t mention post a comment and I’ll check it out.

And in chocolate news I’m looking for a recipe for brownies for my little brother. He’s allergic to eggs and nuts. If anybody can post a link to a website with the best eggless brownies I will shower you with emoticon kisses :* :* okay those need a little work. Please and thank you.

Happy Reading!

Procrastination vs. Writer’s Block

I am procrastinating. Right now I should be doing something, but I’m choosing to write this post instead. Honestly I started this post two weeks ago. I just never got around to finishing it. Procrastinators UNITE…tomorrow.


A lot of people confuse procrastination with writer’s block. Procrastination is just pure laziness. You know you are procrastinating when you say to yourself multiple “I have time.” Reality is you don’t. The more you say it the less time you have. Aspiring writers, like me, don’t have the pressure of a deadline. Without the pressure the saying “I have more time” is more frequent. All you need is that big push to finish that manuscript or those tedious revisions. Sometimes we blame writer’s block, when it’s really just procrastination. Writer’s block is when you are stuck and have no idea what to write or what comes next in your story. That’s it.
Here are some tips to help with writer’s block

1. Go outside. You’ve been inside at the computer all day, get some air. Go for a walk or drive. Get some ice cream, chocolate ice cream. While you’re out clear your head. You never know where inspiration will hit. Taking a small break will take away some of the stress.

2. If it’s late, turn off the computer and go to sleep.

3. Start writing a completely different scene. After you are done with that think about how you want to get there from where you left off.

4. Try a change of scenery. Take your notebook and write freehand someplace different. Like I said earlier getting writers need some air. If it’s nice outside write at the park or in your backyard. If it’s cold try going a nice quite spot away from your house. (I personally think it’s funny whenever I see writers with their laptops at Starbucks)

5. Beware of social media sites. Yeah it’s okay to check your Facebook and tweet once and a while writing. But if you spend more than ten minutes on the internet then your writer’s block might turn into procrastination.

Sometimes when I have writer’s block I tend to go back and read what I have written in the previous scene. Try not to read the whole thing over again or else your inner editor might take over and you’ll end up procrastinating. I don’t believe in outlines but I do believe in knowing how you want your story to end. I like write the ending or scenes out of order and then piece them together. When you write scenes out of order you can piece it together later where you want those scenes to go. Then just fill in the holes. Who knows, you might get a few ideas for the scene you were working on.

When it comes to writer’s block sometimes you just have to suck it up and get to work. It’s very easy to turn writer’s block into procrastination.

On a fun note I don’t know why, but I just discovered this video via Facebook and thought it was hilarious