YA Highway RTW: In the Future

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: What do you hope to be writing in one year? Three? Five?

I've actually thought about this a lot. Where do I see myself in five years writing wise. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

One Year: One year from now I hope to be doing the same thing. Yeah it would be nice to at least have a literary agent, but I'm being realistic. As for now I like where I am, I'm in no real rush. Maybe things will change when I actually have a novel finished. Since I am a creative writing minor I'll probably write a lot more than I am this semester. I can predict what I will be doing a year from today. Outlining my NaNo Novel. As of right now I'm defiantly doing NaNo next year.

Three Years: I really hope things are different. I'll be out of college, starting a career as a Stage Manager. I've never really thought this part out through. I want to be a published author. I want to be a Stage Manager. I can do both, right? Both jobs are so time consuming. Time management is one of those things I'm working on. I can have the best of both world. And yes that was a Hannah Montana reference. Deal with it.

Five Years: Wow I'll be twenty-five years old. Theatre and Writing is what I want to do. Who knows maybe I'll write a play. I think the big difference between three years from now and five years is I'll actually know what I'm doing. In three years I'll be in that awkward "fresh out of college" stage.

When I think too much about this stuff my head hurts. I just need to take this one day at a time. But the one thing I'm absolutely positively sure about is that I will be writing YA. No doubt about that. It's what I love to read and write. That won't be changing.

How about you where do you see yourself in the future?

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!

YA Highway RTW: The Changing Seasons

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: How does your writing (place, time, inspiration) change with the seasons?

I'm not routine enough to actually have a changes in my writing. However there are a few things that change.

FALL: For the past few years fall has been dedicated to NaNoWriMo. Although I have never actually finished a NaNo Novel. A lot of time and effort goes into planning it or thinking about planning it. It's pretty backwards I know. Once November hits I get pretty focused on working on that particular piece of work. (or thinking about working on it, then not really) Strangely all of my unfinished NaNo novels are set in the fall. Interesting. That might change for this one.

WINTER: Okay this is really weird but ever since my junior year in high school I've had this idea for a Christmas YA novel focused on Santa's daughter. Every year around Christmas time I write a few paragraphs or hand write a couple pages. I've never actually got around to actually writing it because once Christmas is over I lose the drive to continue working on it. Weird I know.

SPRING: This isn't really writing related, but usually in spring I run around like a chicken with its head cut off flailing my arms around screaming "I'M NEVER GOING TO PASS MY CLASSES!" True story. Though I do that year round.

SUMMER: Summer is the time where I get the most writing done. I'm usually back at home and more relaxed.

How does your writing change over the seasons? Also if you are doing NaNoWriMo this year do you want to be my writing buddy? Here's a link to my author page. CLICK ME!

Happy Reading!

YA Highway RTW: Leslie Reads Origin on Bus

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: What was the best book you read in September?


Okay before I start I just wanted to tell you that I had already planned out what book I was going to choose. But then I started reading my book for my Literary Interpretation class and I could not put it down. It's Room by Emma Donghue. It's not YA but it's fantastic.Here's the a link to it's page on amazon. Seriously though, I read over 300 pages in less than twelve hours.

Since this is YA Highway, the best YA book I read this month was Origin by Jessica Khoury.

"Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home--and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.
Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia's origin--a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever."


There was a lot of hype for this book. I saw it a Kroger (yes Kroger) and had an external debate with myself in front of the woman who was stoking the books. Eventually I caved in and sacrificed a few unnecessary things (like vegetables and eggs) from my grocery list to buy the book.
Origin exceeded every one of my expectation. The plot was riveting, the characters were (mostly) likable and there were a ton of surprises. Every chapter left me hanging and wanting more. I was up until three one night because I was waiting for the right place to stop reading. It was impossible put down. I was late to class that day.
I'm usually the reader who predicts how the story would end after the first few chapters. I was caught off guard multiple times. It was great. I did a lot of reading on the bus. I was quite vocal. I felt bad for the people who were on the bus with me. :D
I recommend Origin to anyone who enjoys a fast paced YA SyFi/Fantasy Thriller.
Have you red Origin? What did you think? What was the best book you read in September?

Vlog: College is Hard

Filmed a video today. It pretty much sums up my life struggles.

Happy Reading!

YA Highway RTW: Fairy Tale Retelling

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: In honor of this month's Bookmobile book, Marissa Meyer's CINDER, name a fable or story you'd like to see a retelling of. If you're feeling creative, come up with a premise of your own!

I'm back. Sorry I left. College and whatnot. So I love fairy tale retellings. Cinderella is my absolute favorite to be retold. That's why I loved Cinder so much. There are so many retellings out there, but there are thousands of concepts not even though of yet. To me the story can not be overdone.
I also like the other basics like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast and a lot more. But there are is one fairy tale that I adore that I have yet to see a retelling of is Snow White and Rose Red. 
If you don't know the story it's about two sisters, Snow White and Rose Red, who one winter help a bear out of the cold night and they become friends. When summer comes around he leaves to go protect his treasure. That summer the girls find a dwarf in the woods who is constantly in trouble so they help him out each time. He's ungrateful and mean to them instead of saying thanks. One day the see the dwarf being attacked the the bear. The bear kills him and he becomes a prince. As it turns out the dwarf turned him into a bear so he could steal his treasures. In the end Snow White marries the prince and Rose Red marries his brother. 
That's a basic summary of the story. I would love to see a modern retelling of Snow White and Rose Red where the bear is a homeless teenager who is taken in by Snow White and Rose Red's family during the winter and when he turns eighteen he revels himself to be the heir to a fortune. The dwarf could be someone close to the bear character who tries to steal his money from the inside or something. It's just an idea. Maybe I'll write it eventually.

Also this idea has been bouncing around in my head for years: An African American Rapunzel with magic weave. I'll write it someday...

I'll leave you at that. What fairy tales would you like to see retold?

Happy Reading!

P.S. Earlier this year I wrote a short play. It was produced for a 10 minute play festival. It's a dark story of what happens to fairy tale princesses after their happily ever after. For mature audiences only.

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!