Retro Typin' Gal

Merry Christmas everyone!

2011-12-25T22:56:00.001-05:00

I hope all of you had an awesome Christmas. Mine was ok. It ended up being mostly just another day for me. This year has really turned out to be a bust for me when it comes to writing. I’ve come up with MANY plots for stories, one just recently that I think will be two different kinds of novels in the end, and well I just really haven’t sat down to work on anything. I think it’s my lack of belief in myself when it comes to writing. I just worry I suck at it, and heck I probably do. And I know I need to suck before I can be good, but when I write the suckage just doesn’t seem to be getting any less suckier. So I guess that’s why this year I was disheartened. I didn’t win Nanowrimo, and I’m not upset by it. It just wasn’t in me. And honestly, I don’t know if I will do Nanowrimo again. I think I am beyond it now. I don’t need an event to write. I need good old fashioned butt in seat fingers on keyboard, or pen on paper as the case can be sometimes.

Next year I want to get back into writing again and writing more. I am thinking about going to school for English/Literature, but I’m not sure if that will help me more or be a waste of money. I have until the fall to figure it out. But for now I’m just going to squirrel away my plot bunnies and ride out the rest of this year.

I hope this Christmas found you all happy and well and gave you plenty of down time to write. I will talk to you all soon. Take care until then. Bye for now.

Longing to crawl into bed and call it a wrap on Christmas 2011,
Michelle

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T11:04:00.001-05:00

I hope you and yours are having a happy and safe Thanksgiving. And if you are thinking of going out into that mess tomorrow please be extra careful and safe. Talk to you all again soon. Be good until then. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Google Friend Connect Shutting Down

2011-11-23T16:37:00.001-05:00

I know this might not affect many of you, but some of you it will and I wanted to mention it. I was randomly looking at my Mozilla browser and noticed the headlines button. Clicked on it for the first time today and noticed a title mentioning Google was shutting down some things. I usually don’t pay attention to stuff like that, but today I did for some reason.

So from what I’ve read, if you do not have a Blogger account, and you have a Google Friend Connect gadget on your website or blog, come March 1, 2012 you will no longer have your followers gadget on your website. It doesn’t seem to affect Blogger though, just non-Blogger sites. They are encouraging people to instead make a Google+ account and use their gadget on there to drive traffic to your Google+ account. Yeah, don’t see how that works for people to stay connected and follow your blog or website, and I do see this as Google’s way of getting more traffic in an attempt to surpass Facebook, but I see them closing the service as lame. I have seen so many blogs out there using Google Friend Connect, so I call bull poo on this one not being a success. But I thought I’d mention it to those of you in danger of losing your followers gadget. If I’m on your non-Blogger Google Friend Connect, you have no worries of me not continuing to follow, I’ll still be there. But you might want to mention it to your readers who maybe only follow you through the service and might lose your website after it closes down.

And with that I make my return back to real life again. *sad sigh* I’ll be returning guys, I promise. After Monday some time for sure. I have things to share with you still. I might post about some of that tomorrow when I get a free moment. But I shall return soon. Until then, be good, and bye for now.

Sadly returning back to real life,
Michelle

Happy Veteran’s Day

2011-11-11T18:20:00.001-05:00

Thank you for your bravery and thank you for my freedom.

Writing away,
M.

Happy Halloween!!!

2011-10-31T20:53:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween to all of your freaks and ghouls out there! I hope you are all playing it safe and having a fun time tonight. I’m doing my usual Halloween thing of spending the night in. It’s raining something horrible out there so I don’t think there were any trick-or-treaters out tonight. My friend even took her kids to the mall because we got hit with one of the coldest and wettest Halloweens in a long time. I remember Halloweens just a few years back where you had to wear short sleeve shirts because it was hot an muggy. Don’t get me wrong, I love the cold, but the wind and rain make it extra brrrrrrr. So I hope you are staying warm tonight if your neck of the woods is unseasonably cold too tonight.

Right now I am currently counting down the hours to the start of Nanorwrimo. I am being a Nano Rebel this year by not writing a novel. I’m going to be finishing up a script for the photostory I’ve been trying to finish for a long time now. I think my time of Nanowrimo is coming to an end. I don’t know if I’ll be doing it next year. I do cherish the crazed writing during November, I just think I want to start making that an everyday thing than just a one month thing, so I don’t know about future Nanos. But this year is my first as a Rebel and I’m kind of excited about it. I don’t want to write a novel just to write a novel and waste time on something I’ll hate, so I will write the script which will hopefully help me write my story and get it done so I can start taking pictures in December and start putting it up next year. Fingers crossed.

As for other things I am doing right now, I’m focusing on my health right now. There are a lot of things I need to get done by the end of the year. I have something I am dreading coming up in 28 days, and I don’t really want to talk about it right now because I’m that nervous about it. It’s really silly to be nervous about it, but when I explain it…on the 28th or 29th of next month, then I’m sure it will be clearer why I dreaded it. I’m working on inventory for my shop. I finally found a place to put my shop. I think that was another problem for me, where to put my shop, but I found a nice place for it to be that a lot of other doll sellers are on so it works. And well, I guess that’s about it right now. So the goals for the end of the month is to work on the immediate health issues at hand, get through that situation I’m dreading at the end of next month, and get the shop open. I know I won’t make the Christmas rush with my shop, but that’s ok, as long as I get it open. Oh, and yes I am still working on emails, comments, etc., etc. etc., you get the point. I’m working on all that. Now that some stress has been taken off of me with my parents health either doing better or being looked at, my mom still worries me some with her heart issues, I’m getting a little more calmer and I can focus better. I’m hoping this next month will be busy and productive for me. I’m ending this year on a good note, no matter what. And NO Michelle, that isn’t jinxing it for you by saying it aloud.

And on that crazy note, I will bring this post to a close. I will talk to you lovelies soon. Be good until then. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

12 Years Ago Today

2011-10-12T20:39:00.001-04:00

January 5, 1997-October 12, 1999

And I still can’t believe you are gone forever. You are always in our hearts and thoughts. We love you.

Love always,
M.

Camp Nanowrimo Beta Anyone?

2011-07-01T22:22:00.001-04:00

So if you haven’t heard, Camp Nanowrimo Beta has started today. It’s a bit buggy, as to be expected, but it’s also working as well. I am joining in with just an idea for a story and no outline whatsoever. Ahhhh!!! My big word count as of day 1? 4. I’m off to a great start. Oh, and I plan to do the full Camp Nanowrimo in August as well…hehehe. Wish me luck, and be sure to join in the fun on the Camp Nanowrimo website, and find out information on camp at the main Nanowrimo website. See you there!

Writing away,
M.

Maybe I’m Not A Pantser

2011-05-24T13:40:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I am trying to work on my newest novel, and I’m on page 25 of it, and I’m just so frustrated with it. One, I’m still sucking, and two, it just seems like it isn’t flowing right. But the thing is, if I were to leave this alone and come back to it in a couple of months I would laugh my ass off at the things I wrote…that’s a good thing. So I guess I’m not that bad, just needing to figure out ahead of time what I want these people to do. I hate outlining, but if I could just have a general idea what I want to happen in each chapter that would be good I guess. I’m liking this story, just needing to know how to get to the end point. But I worry having an outline might take away from the writing for me. Ugh! Just not sure what to do. Ok, I’m going to try to do an outline for this current chapter and see how it turns out for me. More soon.

Writing away,
M.

I Give Myself Permission To Suck

2011-05-23T16:08:00.001-04:00

So I am hard at work on my new novel that I decided to pick up after I made peace with myself for putting “Jumper” on hold. This new novel is coming along, just I still have the stress of not knowing what’s going on in the novel and the stress over thinking that what I am writing sucks. This is when a video by Maureen Johnson popped into my head where she talked about sucking. I went back and watched it and it made me feel a little better about sucking. So for public knowledge, I give myself permission to suck! And now you can too.

Writing away,
M.

Jumper…

2011-05-19T00:30:00.001-04:00

So for those of you who don’t know, I’ve been working on my first Nanowrimo winning novel “Jumper” since 2008. I am currently in the process of rewriting it, but the story is just not there for me yet. So I am going to put it away for now and focus on something else. I feel the time I am wasting avoiding working on it because the story is still locked away in my head somewhere is wasted time that could be dedicated to a story that is brimming and ready to come out of me. So I am working on something new for now and will return to “Jumper” at a later time. *sigh* That is all.

Writing away,
M.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

2011-05-18T21:33:00.001-04:00

You know this movie is going to be so sad yet so exciting at the same time. I honestly can’t wait to see it, but I am also sad to see it. I was so sad when I finished the Deathly Hallows knowing that was it for the world of Harry Potter. Honestly thinking about it almost makes me want to get weepy. I’m sure those of you who have read the books can agree that you feel you have put an investment into this world. You “made friends”. You “made enemies”. You’ve “fallen in love”. This world was alive in the minds of so many and to see it end was so sad. I know all good things come to an end, but I am truly sad to see it end and I’m truly sad to see the last movie ready to roll out. I know we can always revisit the world, but we already know what happens. I’d like to know what happens after all was well. But alas, I suppose that I’ll just have to make assumptions and come up with my own story in my mind. *sigh*

But I am looking forward to the last movie. I haven’t been feeling well lately so I couldn’t go see the last one in the theater, so this one I have to go see. I plan to see the midnight showing even though I know it’s going to be super expensive, but oh well, it’s the last epic hoorah and that’s when everyone dresses up and whatnot.

But this does make me think about one thing. This was kind of like J. K. Rowling’s big Super Bowl win. The movies and whatnot were like her trip to Disney World. What now? I know she said she’d write under a different name, but does she have anything else to tell? I mean this was an epic story. What is left? What other ideas has she got? I’ve love to know what other worlds or people have formed in her mind since she bid farewell to Harry and his crew. It’s sad to know that if she does write under a different name we may not know for a while and may miss out on reading her new work. I know eventually the beans will spill and we will find out, but it could take a while. *sigh* Well I suppose I need to stop worry about what she’s writing now and worry more about what I’m writing now. I’ll make a new post about that in a second. Until then, enjoy this Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 trailer. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Script Frenzy

2011-05-14T18:55:00.001-04:00

I completely forgot to mention it here, but I took part in Script Frenzy this year. It was my second attempt at it. I tried to do it the first year it came out, but I dropped out early on. This year I started strong, then fizzled in the middle, then came out winning in the end. It was an interesting experience for me, but I do not think script writing is my thing except for personal fun. I’ll stick to novels. They are more fun to write for me.

I saw a debate one whether or not Script Frenzy was easier or harder than Nanowrimo. Here’s my take on it. I think it flows a lot faster because you are writing 100 pages and now 50,000 words. It just seems more doable in my mine. A lot of the page can be filled up with white space and/or dialogue so that speeds things up too. If you outlined, which I didn’t, I imagine things speed up for you. My experience, it was fun and fast and I wasn’t stressed when on the last day I was still finishing up my page count and came in with a mere few hours to spare. Now with Nanowrimo, I am so stressed near the end when I still have some words to write and it’s the last day. Not sure why there was such a difference for me, but I found Script Frenzy fun and light where I find Nanowrimo work and stressful. But I like both, I just don’t see myself do Script Frenzy again unless I want to have some fun or do something for a personal project related to a hobby of mine. That is what my script this year was for, a hobby comic/photostory of mine. So maybe it was easier because even though I didn’t outline I kind of knew where things were going. Don’t know.

But yeah, just wanted to tell you guys I won it this year and when I use the script in the near future for my comic/photostory you are more than welcomed to check it out. Well that’s all for now. Talk to you all later.

Writing away,
M.

The Blue Mirror

2011-05-14T18:40:00.001-04:00

The Blue Mirror by Kathe Koja

So my sister bought some discount books for a dollar each at Books-A-Million the other day, and one of them was The Blue Mirror.

Here is the book's synopsis: Some guys are more than bad news. Sixteen-year-old Maggy's life consists of trying to be invisible at school, taking care of her alcoholic mother, and spending all the time she can at the Blue Mirror, a downtown cafe. She can lose herself there for hours with a cappuccino and her sketchbook, in which she creates a paper world she calls "The Blue Mirror." But everything changes when she meets Cole, a charismatic runaway. Maggy is intrigued by Cole's risky life on the streets and by the girls who follow him, childlike Jouly and strange Marianne. And when Cole says that he loves her, Maggy comes alive. But as Maggy becomes more entwined with Cole and looks at him with all her heart, she sees something far more dangerous than she may be capable of handling…

In poetic and evocative language, Kathe Koja draws us into the haunting, passionate world of The Blue Mirror.

Ok, so this book starts off kind of like every lonely girl's fantasy. She is having trouble at home, hates school except for art since she loves to draw, and just feels out of place everywhere she goes. So she goes to a cafe called The Blue Mirror, where she is friends with a guy on staff there and she feels like she belongs there. She has a booth by the front window she always sits in to look out the window and uses what she calls her z-ray to seeing the world outside the window. She draws what she sees in her sketchbook and calls her sketchbook “The Blue Mirror”. Now this right here is where I got a little thrown off. Why call the sketchbook the same names as the cafe? I think this story might have gone a better way if the cafe was called something else, and she called the sketchbook The Blue Mirror because the glass had a blue hue to it to keep out sun rays or what have you, and looking through the window the saw a world that mirrored our own. It's just how she made it in the book, it just kind of seems cliché to me.

Anyway, in the opening of this book, she sees a cute guy hanging out outside that was brought to her attention by a scene she saw when she first walked into the cafe. She thinks he is just amazing and rushes to draw him but he and his friends disappear before she can. This leads the story on to her coming back the next day to see him, sees him walking by with his friends, they come into the cafe and sit down with her. Here she learns they are homeless teens on the street, which in turn turns into a whole homeless community in the downtown area that this girl hangs out. She gets swept up by the attention her new guy friend is giving her and these leads her into a roller coaster of events she does and doesn't want to happen. In the end she is able to get away from Mr. Hunk by showing him who he really is and how everyone views him as.

Now this story is still very confusing to me because it is never really revealed who the guy is. He seems to be a normal guy who is homeless on the street just looking for the next girl he can use, but he also seems to have supernatural powers. But supernatural powers aren't really discussed in the book, she just kept focusing on how he held a sort of lusty power over her, but that made me think more of teen cravings than supernatural powers. So I'm not sure if the author meant for him to be supernatural or what. Another thing that made me wonder about the supernatural part is a lipstick he gives to all the girls he likes. It stains their lips blue, and it stays for a long time and has to wear off if you are with him and use it long enough. It just doesn't make sense.

I think this story has some good bones, but I feel like it was rushed and not thought out completely. The author is award winning for some young adult novels, so maybe I need to try reading some other ones before I decide completely if this author is not for me. Right now, it's standing at a no. But I'll try another book by her. Maybe this was just a one off.

So on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest I give this book a 4. It has some strong bones, but it just fizzled out in the middle and end of the book. Another reason for the 4 rating is I hated how the dialog was written. It just did not flow well and I had to sometimes pause to figure out who was speaking. That's not something I want in a book. I want smooth reading to keep me in the moment. So yeah, like I said, strong bones, not enough meat. I would say if you want to read this story, go to the library, or try to get it super cheap second hand or at Books-A-Million if they have it at yours for a dollar. I think you will feel cheated if you spend the 7 dollars it originally cost. Unless you are a fan of the author then you may feel differently. Both my sister and I felt that the plot was good but the story was seriously lacking. But I think I may try reading the author's novels Buddha Boy or straydog. I hear they both are good. So we'll see.

Writing away,
M.

Dead On Town Line

2011-05-14T18:23:00.001-04:00

So I’ve been trying to decide if I want to do my own personal book reviews anymore since I do want to eventually start actively looking for an agent and trying to become a published author. But right now since my life is at a point where I am focusing more on my health and still working on my manuscript, I feel I will go ahead and do my reviews. I might delete them later if it’s suggested to me when I do start looking for an agent, but for now I just want to get my thoughts out there for my own personal use to reflect on what I like about stories I read and what I don’t like.

Also I plan to make a page soon with cover pictures of the books I’ve read so I can keep a tab. I’d get one of those bookshelf widgets but some of my books are really old and a lot of those widget places don’t have cover pictures on file for them and I really want them all to have cover pictures because I will be getting rid of some of the books I don’t see myself ever reading again. I’m thinking about holding on to some of them and offering them as a giveaway on my blog in the future. Still deciding on that. But for now, on with the review. Enjoy.

Dead On Town Line by Leslie Connor

Here is another one of the novels my sister picked up for a dollar at Books-A-Million. So this story was written in a very interesting way. It's completely in prose, as in poem. Each poem is a new chapter of the story. This story reads super fast, like a hour tops for fast readers.

Here's it's synopsis: Of all the revelations her afterlife brings, perhaps the most startling thing Cassie Devlin discovers is that being dead isn't being done. Murdered by a classmate, Cassie finds herself stuck on the edges of the world she once knew and a realm whose tug she feels but can't quite find her way to. And . . . she is not alone.There's another like her, who arrived earlier and who, like Cassie, has some unfinished business.

Beautifully crafted in electrifying free verse, Dead on Town Line offers teens an emotionally provocative, can't-put-it-down reading experience that will linger long after the last page is turned.

So I like the plot of this story. It does become easy to figure out who killed the main character in the story pretty early on, but it's still worth sticking to the story to find out how the murder was pulled off. The main character starts off the story dead, retelling her story from a while back. She explains what happened to her and why she is currently dead. However, along the way in her story she jumps back to present time as she and her new friend, an also dead girl who's mystery is unsolved, try to find ways to get the living's attention so their bodies can be found and they can move on. They practice using ghost tricks to try to make this happen.

This story kind of read like a Lifetime or after school special movie for me. There's the drama of past events that leads up to the person wanting to kill the main character, to the assumed and expected ending. It really wasn't a bad story. I dare to say I might be tempted to read it again some day.

So on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being best I give this story an 8. It was a decent little story with an interesting plot and decent ending. It's not the best story out there, but I find a story being told in prose very interesting. It makes me want to experiment with my writing and perhaps try writing a novel in prose to see how it turns out. If you can find this book in your local library or used for super cheap or have a Books-A-Million close by, totally pick this one up. I think you will find it very interesting. I am curious to read more books by the author to see how I like them. The hunt is on.

Writing away,
M.

Monster High 2–The Ghoul Next Door

2011-03-30T05:26:00.001-04:00

Ok, so from reading another blog I learned about the 2 chapter sneak peek at the new Monster High novel. Granted I’ve yet to read the first one but I wanted to see how this one was. The blog owner said there wasn’t much brand name dropping in this book, but I found that that simply wasn’t the case. There are a lot of brand names in this sneak peek. I’ve sense found this to be kind of cute since reading the last book’s sneak peek. Not sure why really. I guess because I realize this is what the story called for and although I haven’t read Lisi Harrison’s other novels I feel this is her style of writing, and who am I to say anything about her style? It’s her vision and her way of telling the story, so more power to her. This sneak peak makes me want to hunt down the first novel and read it. I hope it’s at my library…which I still need to get a new card for. Oops. But yeah, it looks like it will be a cute novel. It seems to pick up from a cliffhanger from the last novel, so seems like some questions will be answered. If you are interested in reading the sneak peak for yourself, click here. Enjoy.

Writing away,
M.

Update on “Please Don’t Eat The Daisies”.

2011-03-15T04:02:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I am reading through the parts that gave me trouble and wanted to report back on them.

Ok, so the first part of the book that gave me trouble was the section called “Don Brown’s Body”. So in the book Kerr says that sitting through a dramatic reading of “John Brown’s Body” ,by Stephen Vincent Benét, one night made her come up with her own version she called “Don Brown’s Body”. Now what follows is a crazy mishmash of a play that is to be read dramatically. The play is based off of Mickey Spillane crime novels. So Kerr took his style of writing and made a play based on his stories in the way that “John Brown’s Body” was written, which honestly is a jumbled collection of words that kind of told the story of the civil war in the form of an epic poem. I tried reading it (John Brown’s Body), but it hopped around so much and it just did not read well or easily for me so I gave up a little over a 1/4th of the way in. But I got the gist of it and see what Kerr meant now by her version…I think. LOL! Still didn’t make me laugh, but I understood it a little bit better now. I find that as I age I understand things I read a little bit better with experience, so maybe in another couple of years I will fully understand this section of the book. Maybe not. Either way, at least I kind of feel a little clearer on the essay.

And the second section that gave me trouble called “Toujours tristesse” would have given me less trouble if I had paid attention to the first sentence of the chapter where she said basically that she had written the essay after reading “A Certain Smile” by Françoise Sagan. “A Certain Smile” is about a young woman in a relationship with a male classmate. The classmate takes her to meet his businessman uncle and his uncle’s wife. The young woman and uncle see they have an attraction to each other and go off the Cannes to spend a romantic time together because they are afraid of being bored and it seems they may be bored in their relationships and want to try someone new. However there is a rule of no falling in love so they don’t hurt her boyfriend and his wife. But when they get back from Cannes the woman sees she loves the uncle, but he does not love her. His wife finds out and the relationship ends. In Kerr’s essay, the young woman is still in a relationship with a classmate, but the uncle is now the guy’s grandfather and the grandfather’s wife. The young woman and grandfather fall for each other, but instead of being afraid of boredom they invite it and like being bored. They still go off to be alone, at the sea, but instead of the wife finding out, the grandfather tells the young woman that while he was bored with her he was more bored with his wife and he was going back to her. So their relationship ends and the woman is alone. Now it makes more sense to me, and even without reading “A Certain Smile” I find this essay funny now. LOL! Delayed understanding, you’ve gotta love it.

So there you have it, I am a little clearer, have learned about some interesting bits of literature and new authors I didn’t know about before, and am ready to move on to my next novel. Man, you’ve gotta love reading and the places it will take you. Oh and the internet too, gotta love it, because I doubt I would have found out this information or found it as easily without it. Ok, off to read some more, have a great day. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Please Don’t Eat The Daisies

2011-03-15T02:39:00.001-04:00

Jean Kerr’s “Please Don’t Eat The Daisies” is an interesting and fun read. It’s a collection of humorous articles about her life as a mother, wife, and playwright. While the book is dated and may lose younger readers like myself on some of the people or events mentioned in the book, for the most part the book is very relevant to modern times. Though I’m not a mother yet, I could still relate to Kerr from remembering my childhood and how I drove my mom crazy and how she dealt with me, my brother, and my sister. Kerr’s four boys clearly made life interesting for her and her husband, but mostly her. LOL! Tales about the house her and her family moved in are very interesting as well.

For the most part this book kept my attention, except for some essays that kind of went over my head. There was one essay about a play she’d write after a play she had just seen. I’m assuming her play was a parody of the play she’d just seen, and am kind of bummed I just didn’t get that part of the story. Nor the part of the story about a woman running off with her boyfriend’s father. I mean I “got” the story, but didn’t “get” the story. I plan to go back and reread both parts to see if I can understand both better. Sometimes when I read my mind will trail off in thought and then I will miss out on the context of a chapter of a story and have to reread, so I will be going back to reread and see how I come away from it. I’ll update you on my findings.

So I suggest if you can get a copy from the library or get a cheap copy of this book it’s so worth the read. It’s funny, it’s relatable no matter if you are a mom or former child, and it’s a quick read as well. I took a couple of days with it because I only read it while exercising, but avid readers will get through this book in a couple of hours easily. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did if you read it.

So what am I reading now, you may ask? I’m reading this:

“How I Stole Her Husband” by Liz Ireland. I’m going to be honest, I have NO idea what this book is about. I bought it on discount at Books-A-Million one day after reading the cover of the book and thought it sounded interesting. I’m assuming it’s going to be a silly romance novel along the lines of this one:

“Switcheroo” by Olivia Goldsmith. I read this novel and it was a pretty cute story about two women who look very similar and traded lives for a while. I don’t think the two stories will be along the same plot but along the same kind of “cuteness” level. I wish I could explain my version of “cuteness” level. Just kind of like one of those funny romance movies that end happily. That how I see the book being. I’ll let you know if I was right or wrong. Watch me be very wrong and it ends up being a murder mystery. LOL! Either way I’m excited to find out. I read all kinds of books, so anything that catches my attention gets me drooling to read it. So I’m off to start the first chapter and see how it starts out. Talk to you all soon. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

What I’ve read and am reading.

2011-03-13T00:57:00.001-05:00

So I have been trying to read a little each day. The best way for me to do that is to do it while I am on my exercise bike doing my miles. I haven’t been on my bike in forever since I’ve been sick, but now that I am feeling better I am slowly exercising with 5-6 miles a day. So I decided to get back to reading while I exercise, it makes the time go by seriously. So the first book I read on my return to the bike was Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones.

I know this is not the cover for newer copies of the book, but this is the copy that is on my copy. I am not sure how I got this book. I believe it may have been through way of my sister when she was a kid. Not sure. I know it came from the library at my old elementary school. I am guessing they were giving away the old books and this was the one my sister chose. Well anyway, I have wanted to read this book ever since I got it but just never did so it sat on my shelf for years. Last year I started it then I got ill and just stopped reading. Well I decided to start it over and finish it.

The book was an interesting read. Diana is a British writer, so the story is told with a British theme to it. It’s about a boarding school that takes all students as well as witch orphans. But no one knows who is a witch and it’s to stay that way because witches were burned if found out. Well some of the students start to figure out they are witches and start using their magic which causes some issues at school and starts people wondering about who was a witch in the school. All the witches seem to be in room 6B at the school.

The story goes on about the students that know they are different and their discovery of their magic, what they can do, and how to hide it. Eventually they are found out and they have to work together to protect themselves. They call up help that takes an odd approach to helping them, but help them he does and things change for the witches in one way or another.

I thought the book was interesting. I won’t say it’s my favorite book, but it got my attention and kept it. The ending was kind of “meh” to me, but it was kind of interesting how it unfolded and how things ended up. The story was really thought out and planned which I like when an author does that. I’m keeping the book to share with my hopefully future children. It’s a cute story that I think would be fine for any child. I would say between 5-12 would like this story. Depends on the reading level of your child, or their attention span and ability to understand what’s going on in the story. The book has it own version of cursing. They say “magick” as a way of cursing since that was feared in the story. So you may want to consider that before getting the book. I don’t think it would really register with a child that it’s considered a form of cursing in the story so I think the story would be fine. So all in all it was a cute story and I liked that it was a British story to get a different theme or way of telling a story. I think the new cover is kind of creepy for the story, but don’t let it cause you to judge the story before giving it a flip through. I’d like to read more Diana Wynne Jones stories, so I will be doing that hopefully this year.

Now on to what I am reading now. I’m reading “Please Don’t Eat The Daisies”. Now I saw my mom had this book for years and I was always curious about it but never read it. Then I saw the movie and thought that was what the book was about. I was wrong.

When I started the book I thought it would be more of a novel, but as I read it I noticed it didn’t follow a plot and it was kind of a jumble of something I wasn’t quite sure about. So I googled to learn more about the story and found out the book is a collection of essays written by the author Jean Kerr who was a humorist and playwright. This cover is not the cover on the one I have. Mine is a really old copy.

From and Amazon listing, this is the book I actually have. I love older books that don’t have fancy covers. Just the book and the title on the bind. It just makes me feel like I am in for a vintage treat. I have several old books like that that I will be working through this year. But back to the book I am reading, so far it’s an interesting read. I’m not laughing like crazy, but I am smiling and chuckling every now and again. And how Jean Kerr writes it’s like she is talking to you and telling you a story. I loved the introduction to the book. It made me laugh and smile and I knew I’d like her writing. I like a good witty book and this one is giving me that so far. I love her dedication as well. She dedicated the book to her severest critic. LOL! Is it tacky to borrow another author’s dedication because I so LOVE hers and want to use it. LOL!

Well that’s about all for now. I have some other books I have read that I wanted to post about but that of course is for a later time. I’m back to reading and working on understanding Script Frenzy. So I will talk to you lovelies later. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Script Frenzy?

2011-03-12T21:48:00.001-05:00

Ok, so years when Script Frenzy started, I was all jazzed about it. I so wanted to try my hand at writing a script, and decided to give it go. However, when April 1st rolled around, haha the joke was on me, I couldn’t motivate myself enough to actually write a script. So I didn’t do it and figuring script writing wasn’t for me, even though I have written several plays and a movie script once, I gave up on it and never tried it again. Forward to 2011 and I got the email about Script Frenzy and thought, nah I just don’t write scripts and I’ll just wait for Nano. But I kept reading about it all month, and how it was so easy to log in with my Nano login and it couldn’t be easier to participate. Still I thought, nah not for me. Then tinkering around with some dolls I use in a webcomic/photostory I am trying to work out the idea for it hit me that I need a script, I want it written fairly quickly, but I don’t have the motivation to force myself to write it out fast. Humm…wait…Script Frenzy…in need of a script…no brainer anyone? So I am reattempting Script Frenzy with some gusto this time. The script I have mostly formed in my head, I just need to get it down and organized so I can “film” it all later this summer and get this project done so I can move on to another one. So yeah, you know what I’ll be doing this April. Should be fun. Anyone else doing Script Frenzy this year?

Writing away,
M.

Georgy Girl

2011-03-10T18:07:00.001-05:00

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So I have “known” of Georgy Girl since I was child. My mom has had this album by The Seekers for forever. She would let me borrow her records and along with the Mamas and Papas this record always came to my room with me. I don’t recall many of the other songs on this album except maybe one or two others, but Georgy Girl I would listen to over and over again. I would sing and dance along with this song and at my young age feel they were talking about me. Can you tell who didn’t have high self esteem as a kid? LOL! Here’s the song if you are interested.

Well when I grew older I learned from my mom the song was for a movie called Georgy Girl, that I found out when I grew even older was based off of a book called Georgy Girl. My mom told me about the movie and well, I had to watch it. It was from the 1960s, it was British, and it was that corny camp kind of movie I love, so I HAD to watch it. Speaking of watching, and totally off the topic, the other day I watched a video online of Soleil Moon Frye dressed up as Punky Brewster…as in at her age now, to say thanks to her million Twitter followers. It was a bit corny and camp as well. Don’t know why that came to mind. But moving back to Georgy Girl.

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*Warning, I am going to talk about the movie so there are spoilers ahead.* So in short this movie is a about a girl named Georgy, third person to the right in the picture, who lives with her best friend Meredith, second person to the right. Meredith dates Jos, first person on the left. Georgy’s parents work for James, guy on the right, because basically they fell on hard times and he hired them as help in his mansion, oh did I mention James was rich, and he helped raise Georgy by paying for schooling for her and making a studio for her in his house so she can give dance classes to children. So the going thing in the movie is Georgy is a fat ugly nobody while Meredith is a thin sexy somebody. Jos comes over to pick Meredith up for dates and sometimes has to wait while Meredith is out on another date. During this time Georgy keeps him company. They are friends even though he calls her names like Fat Face and constantly remarks on her large body…which is easily a 12-14 in US sizing. Well while all that is going on, James…the rich guy, is dealing with the fact that not only is his wife ill and refusing to go to the doctor for help but try to heal herself on her own but he also is seeing he cares for Georgy in more than a fatherly way. One night when she shows up for a party he gives her a shocking proposal that she avoids giving her answer on for a while. She avoids James as much as possible while she deals with new issues popping up in her life with a pregnancy, a marriage, a divorce, an adoption, a death, and then another marriage. Whew, girl is busy. In the end Georgy ends up kind of where she wanted. I feel she would have preferred a different outcome but it gave her what she wanted…kind of.

I know I left out some of the bits and pieces, but I figured I would just in case you want to watch the movie. And since I aim to please, here’s the movie. You can either watch it down below or click here for a slightly bigger screen or so you can watch it full screen. It’s a little over an hour and half. Enjoy. If you like old movies, British movies, or old British movies you’ll love Georgy Girl.

Yeah, I know the video window is big, but I didn’t want to mess up the viewing of the movie if you decided to watch it on my blog. So I sacrifice for all of you. Talk to you guys soon. Be good until then.

Writing away,
M.

Can they sell the color of her skin?

2011-01-27T13:47:00.001-05:00

Hey guys, this one’s going to be a long one. So I thought I would update you all on some interesting info. So I have still not cracked open the “Jumper” outline yet. Why? Because I got to reading writer’s blogs last night. But I’m so glad I did. I think in reading them I learned why I am having such a problem with “Jumper”.

In my novel, Andrea is a biracial female of both German and African American descents. She lives in a fairly diverse town and works at a café that is fairly diverse and is run by a woman who in my eyes resembles Paula Deen…love you Paula, and she kind of mothers her and she also has a biracial grandson that comes to work at the cafe. Well in this café Andrea meets Maxwell who is a white English man. Throughout the story Andrea and Max, what Maxwell prefers to be called, form a strong friendship that eventually turns into love. Seems ok, right? Well not really.

I’ve had some things reaffirmed that I already knew basically. For one, it is hard to sell a story with a protagonist that is non-white. I knew that, and I understood it. I didn’t see a problem with that since I planned on trying to tell the story where it hints at Andrea’s racial background, but doesn’t out right say “SHE’S BIRACIAL!!!”. However, that’s not even where my problem lies. See, I feel that if my work does get published, it should live on the shelves with the other YA novels. Mainstream YA at that. I don’t want it put in urban just because of Andrea’s racial mix. I also have two other main characters that are biracial in the novel, and none of which are urban. See I based these characters more off myself. *sigh* So I guess I’ll go ahead and admit that I got Andrea’s German and African American mixture from myself as well as some of her personality. And this is where I get a little irritated by automatically placing books with non-white characters in other sections.

I’m so far from being urban it’s crazy. The definition of urban is: emerging and developing in densely populated areas of large cities, especially those populated by people of African or Caribbean origin. Umm yeah, no, so not me. Until recently my city was more of a town. We weren’t even legally part of the city where I live until a couple of years back. We were basically just county land out here. I mean we had horse ranches on either side of our neighborhood and famer’s field surrounding the neighborhood. Then they started building up the area, and now most of the field is sold, one big ranch was closed to make apartments, and while the one small field still has horses, the world of yesteryear is long gone. Heck the thick woods behind out house as been rezoned and it will now become apartments in a couple of years. Meh.

But the main thing I was trying to get at is that I do not live in an urban area. My city is very diverse and it’s kind of like a little melting pot here. You can find all kinds of races and nationalities here. So, can you guess where Andrea’s town is based off of? Yep. My town. So she’s not urban. Then coming back to me and Andrea’s similarities, I’m oddly enough more valley girl than most of my Caucasian friends. No, seriously. Think Lisa Turtle from “Saved By The Bell” and you’ve got a close picture of my personality with about half of the spoiled brat she loved to use to get her way. I have a love of all things and all cultures and I don’t see color in my world and neither does Andrea.

So where was I going with this big explanation? Well I’ve been noticing in Walmart that if the main character is of color and the author is of color, then the novel was not placed on the main shelves but on the works of color shelves. The shelves tend to be tucked away in the back of the book section and I NEVER see anyone standing there looking them over. For one thing I don’t think that it’s fair to just have a section for the “black” books. A good story is a good story no matter the color of the character’s skin. Now I understand why there is a section for Spanish language books. It makes it easier for those who want those kinds of books or can only read Spanish to have easy access. But, do you notice there is no actual Latino section in Walmart? The books in the Spanish section tend to be mainstream books written in Spanish rather than being novels about Latinos written by Latinos. Now I know there are not a lot of books about minorities out there so that may be why the Spanish section doesn’t have more books with Latino characters, but do you kind of see where I am going with this? Why have a section just for African American when those books should just be in with the mainstream romance novels or whichever genre they fall under? That’s where my fear comes in.

I don’t want my work to be placed on a certain shelf just because my characters and I have a darker tint to our skin than other writers. I mean a Caucasian can write a novel with non-white characters and be placed in mainstream. Would I get that same respect or would my work be destined to be placed on an hidden urban shelf that is neglected and quickly passed by because my “tan” is a little darker than another author’s? And the thing is I don’t want to conform and have all my characters be white. Nothing against those novels, just the world isn’t like that. I’ve always had problems with novels, tv shows, and movies where everyone in it is white. That’s not how the world is. I read somewhere last night where a blogger wondered if our novels are destined to be like the show “Friends” where all the characters were white and lived and worked in a completely white New York City. I just don’t want to see the world like that. I think that’s why I got attached to things like the “Babysitters Club” books, and really loved the ones with the Asian character Claudia Kishi. My sister and I both loved the books with her because while she wasn’t our nationality or race she was a minority. And I loved “Saved By The Bell” because of Lisa Turtle. It made me feel more like I belonged and could be accepted anywhere to see these main characters accepted for just being them and awesome.

But now we’ve gotten so PC where someone is so quick to yell racism over the simplest of things and it is just a pain. Then you run into the expected stereotypes that I really don’t fall into when it comes to my races. I know that these issues should once again not keep my from writing the story, and if I believe in it, my future potential agent believes in it, and my publishers believe it then it doesn’t matter what shelf the book ends up on, it will sell. Ok, I don’t know if I fully believe that. I still want any potential works I sell to be on a main shelf with all the other mainstream YA writers out there and not be destined for a shelf just because I have “coffee colored” skin. Read up on “coffee colored” skin if you are confused by that. I think that’s why working with the other novels seemed more inviting because in those novels my main characters are actually white. Not because I’m conforming, but just because they popped up in my head and started “telling me their story”. There was no need to go into what race they were, I could just tell their story. So it just seemed easier to work with them than try to do this awkward dance of subtly telling the world about Andrea without being so in your face about it that she automatically gets put on a different shelf. And I’m not the only one worried about this. I’ve talked to other gals like me that feel the same way about their writing and the destine location of their works. Sure, maybe I don’t need to tell the world about Andrea’s race, but I want the world to know about her beautiful naturally curly hair, and her smooth warm burnt sienna skin.

In another blog I read last night, one of the bloggers who is also an author mentioned how whenever we read a book, for the most part, we assume the characters are white. At first I didn’t think so, but then I decided to check Amazon for one of the author’s books and started reading the excerpt and automatically I pictured the characters white. But here’s the thing, I had just read on her blog that none of the main characters in that novel where white. And it wasn’t until I read a single line the novel that read that the character was not like the wide-eyed, small nosed salesgirls at the shop they were at that I remembered the characters are not white. Now I’m not sure what race the characters are. I believe I read they were black and Hispanic, but I’m not sure. But I found it so interesting that I did automatically assumed that they were white. It was just my instant reaction.

I read an article last night that went into a lot of detail about this and it just all made sense to me. Check it out if you are interested: Straight Talk on Race: Challenging the Stereotypes in Kids' Books, by Mitali Perkins. Now how I ended up at this article was because I found my way to a blog post about the YA novel “Liar” and the controversy over the original cover on the ARC copy. The character in the story is clearly biracial but the woman on the cover is clearly not. It sparked this whole debate that non-white characters on a cover do not sell and especially if the character is black then they can’t even give the books away. Yeah. You see why I have been torn over my novel? I’m still going to write it. And I’m going to write it good. And hopefully by the time I am ready to submit it and by the time it gets published the world will be a tiny bit more accepting. Hey, weirder things have happened.

Writing away,
M.

What am I reading?

2011-01-26T16:14:00.001-05:00

So I thought I would start telling you guys what I am currently feeding my brain. Right now I am currently feeding it “As You Wish” by Jackson Pearce.

So far I like it. I have already heard a little about it from going to her live show last week and reading a little of what people have said about it since then. It hasn’t taken away from the reading experience because there is a lot to the story that wasn't mentioned. To give it to you quick, it’s about a young girl who conjures up a genie and has three wishes. She doesn’t want them to be “bad” wishes so she is taking her time making them. The genie gives her tips on how to get a good wish, even though he knows helping her take her time on the wish making is aging him and keeping him from his beloved home. He doesn’t know why he’s helping her take her time, but he just can’t bring himself to trick her to wish. She’s already made her first wish in the part of the novel I am at, and so far she is liking the wish, but for some reason the genie is not so happy. I’ll be reading more today to find out what happens when she makes her second wish. I’ll do a full book review later when I finish the novel. I haven’t been doing book reviews lately, but I have several that need one, and I like sharing my thoughts on the books I read. So expect more of those to come here as well. I need to bring some over to this blog from my other blog so some may be showing up sooner than you think. Ok, back to outlining. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Choices, choices, choices…

2011-01-26T15:51:00.001-05:00

Ok, so I want to get back to writing, like as of yesterday, but I have one tiny little problem. See while I was waiting to get the inspiration to work on “Jumper”, I would of course get other novel ideas and write them all down and tinker on some of them. I’m still not ready to work on “Jumper”, and thought I’d try a contemporary novel idea I had. Problem is, “Jumper” is still screaming at me and forming in my mind as I try to work on other stuff. Why am I not working on it? Why do I keep pushing it to the back burner? I guess because the story is still cooking in my mind. But then what do I work on now?

I had a novel I was working on for last year’s Nano, but decided to quit because it needed an outline and I had no time to work on one. So I am thinking of working on it now that I’ve found a way to make it work where I can tell the point of view of both characters from a book I am currently reading. But that is not the contemporary novel I was thinking of working on. I started outlining that one the other day and finding character names and whatnot.

Then I went through my writing folder, big mistake, and found all the other work I’d started on and didn’t carry through. “Jumper” is the only one I carried through and finished the first draft, only to see that it wasn’t the right story my characters were trying to tell. So I am restarting it. Keeping the skeleton of the story, but changing it around. Even my main character Andrea has change some. So it still needs to be outlined. Maybe I need to focus on “Jumper” and leave these other novels alone until I finish it. “Jumper” won’t let me rest until it is written.

So maybe I already have the answer in front of me? Just work on “Jumper” and get that story out of me since my characters are now being so talkative and I don’t have the deadline stress of Nano to tell me when to finish it by. Of course I want to give myself only 3 months to finish it so it won’t be something I am still working on 5 years from now. I mean it’s already something that I’ve been working on for a little over 2 years. So maybe its time to get this novel done. I really want to actively try to become an author. Writing is just something that I find so fascinating and I have so many stories to tell. So I’m deciding that this year is the year I am going to get serious about it. I think I doubted myself before, but not anyone. I’m still worried people won’t like me and any published works will be destined for lone dark shelves at discount liquidator stores and dollar stores, but I can’t let that fear stop me. Because who knows, maybe one day my book will be reviewed by some of the awesome reviewers out there and be read by the awesome readers out there on their suggestions. Maybe my book will be on a bookstore shelf one day and someone “will just have to have it”. I can’t tell the future, and I shouldn’t act like I can. I should just believe in myself, my work, and the fact that I’m pretty dang awesome.

So…(takes a deep breath)…“Jumper” it is then. I’m actually nervous about it. I keep thinking it’s not ready to be written, but then when will it ever be ready? So I guess me and my characters are going to be having a chat now. Wish us luck. This is going to be the year I finish this novel, and by my calculations, by the time May starts. I am going to work on the outline for another couple of days, and since Feb. is short a few days I will be starting the actual novel writing on Jan. 30th. So I have 4 days to get this outline done. Busy bee mode is on. I’ll keep you updated. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

I don’t think I read enough.

2011-01-19T20:26:00.001-05:00

So I’m sitting here watching Jackson Pearce’s live show for the first time, yay!, and she’s asking questions about authors and books I either haven’t heard of or haven’t read yet. I so need to read more about the genre that I want to write for…and no offense to anyone but Twilight is not cutting it. I guess I need to go ahead and get to the library and update my card and soon. Stop by the show if you get a chance. It’s still going. She’s doing trivia.

Watch live streaming video from jacksonpearce at livestream.com

See you there.

Writing away,
M.

New work in the works.

2011-01-18T19:31:00.001-05:00

So I’ve started on my new novel now. Thank everything. I was going to work more on my 2008 Nanowrimo novel, but something just keeps forcing me to avoid it. I think about it non-stop, but I just can’t do it. I don’t know what it is. I think I’m afraid of facing that story I’m trying to tell. I don’t want to do Andrea, my main female character, any unjust by not telling her story right and getting it all out there. So I want to take my time outlining. So instead I choose to work on a contemporary piece that should hopefully come together nicely. So far the outlining is coming together ok. It’s taking some time to piece together my characters and the plot, but it’s coming along. If this story works out how I see it in my head, does it ever work out the way we see it, then it should be a cute little novel. Fingers crossed. Well I’m going back to outlining. I so need to come and work on this layout soon. It’s so dated. I’ll do that soon. Writing takes priority now. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Coming back to this poor forgotten blog.

2011-01-18T16:28:00.001-05:00

Hi all, I know it’s been a while. I have not been writing as much, but planned to do so in the new year and well the new year is here, I’m serious about becoming a serious writer and learning more about the writing business, and so I bring my lazy but back to the community. So expect some updates soon on what I’ve been working on, maybe a book review or two, and just getting more involved with the writing community. Hi to all my followers, glad you are along for the ride. Be back soon, promise.

Writing away,
M.

Barnes & Noble: A surprise.

2010-09-18T14:53:00.001-04:00

So today I got a surprise in the mail from Barnes & Noble. A 5 dollar gift certificate. I was confused on why I got it until I saw in small letters that it was from their refund department for the e-book that I mentioned about a few posts back. I was in shock. I didn’t think they would actually do anything to sort the situation out and I am completely shocked that they did. I am allowed to use the card at an actual store and online as well as for e-books. I am not sure which I will do. My mom says I shouldn’t use it online, but I’m not scared off of using their online store just nervous that I will be paying the right price or getting the right book or what have you. I see through this experience that online things can go wrong, but I’m willing to try again.

I think I will go to the store and get a book in person. I haven’t bought a tangible book in a while, but I don’t know which book to get. There isn’t really any out that I really want. But I will head down there in the next few weeks to take a peek and see what they have. Haven’t been in B&N in forever, but I love going in there. Maybe I will get Nook cover instead of a book. I need one and 5 dollars off would be nice. Hummm, I’ve got time to think about it.

But I just wanted to update to let you know that B&N did make things better, and I have nothing but respect for companies that will admit they made a mistake want to make amends. Like I said I am not one to make a big huff about things businesses do to me, I know I’m not the only one that is screwed by companies, but the last two issues I’ve had with companies just got my feathers all fluffed up. But both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble have renewed my faith in them. Now I’m not encouraging people to go out there an make a stink about every single thing a company does bad because not all things are worth the dust you’ll kick up, but if it’s something you feel strongly about then you should say something and if a company respects their customers then they will try to work things out for you, and if they don’t then you don’t need to deal with them any more, there is to much competition out there to let one company stress you out. And that is all there is to say about that. ;-)

Well I’m off, just wanted to update you about what happened. Can’t wait to go shopping, I’m really thinking about getting a Nook cover, see B&N was smart. They send me a 5 dollar gift card and I will end up spending more. But I want to because the renewed my faith in them. I know, I’m sad. LOL! Ok, talk to you all later. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

In Wil Wheaton’s Words

2010-09-10T02:47:00.001-04:00

So a friend of mine recently went to PAX in Seattle, WA, and while on the phone with him on one of the days he mentioned he was on the way to the Wil Wheaton panel. Now I hadn’t become very interested in Wil Wheaton until he showed up on The Guild. But I loved his character he protrayed so much I grew a fangirl crush on him. So I was jealous my friend got the breathe the same air he did. LOL! Anyway, Wil did a reading at the panel that someone got on camera and posted on Youtube. This story he wrote about him and his wife just tugged at my heart strings and it’s just a wonderful story. The way he wrote and spoke just had me in awe. I’d love to be able to write that way. Though there were curse words in what he wrote it was still elegant. Hard to explain really, so why don’t I just show you instead.

So I just had to share this. I love the way he talked about his wife. You could just feel the love he has for her through his words. To me, that’s what good writing is. You can feel your character’s/writer’s emotions without them really having to say it. Hope you enjoyed. Oh and if you haven’t checked out The Guild, I highly advise you do. If you are a gamer you will love it. And I’m off now.

Writing away,
M.

Barnes and Noble: E-Buyer Beware!

2010-09-07T16:45:00.002-04:00

Ok, so last Friday I was on the Barnes and Nobel website looking for some free e-books to download to my Nook. I got one a couple of months back and I am still trying it out. I hadn’t bought a book until recently because I was nervous on how the whole thing worked. The transaction on the site worked nicely and I had planned to purchase another book that was coming out this month to my Nook from the site. Now my funds are budgeted so I can’t go buying a ton of books. I have to pick and choose what I order or buy. So the event that happened on Friday got me ticked off.

I am a “fan” of Nook on Facebook and they mentioned free classical book downloads. So I went to check them out and downloaded them. Then I went to look at the other classical book downloads and saw some of them where free. I saw Sleepy Hollow was free so I clicked on the link for it. The page came up and it said to click for the free download. I clicked it, downloaded it, and then it went to the next page where it said I’d bought the book. I was confused on this. It said it was free everywhere, so why was I charged?

From the email I got from Barnes and Noble, there is a Sleepy Hollow sketch book that is free to download and not the Sleepy Hollow novel. Well the webmasters must have accidentally listed Sleepy Hollow as free and then caught it and fixed it after I downloaded and made my complaint to B&N. They sent me an email basically saying I was wrong and had the wrong book. Umm, no, I had the right book. I just feel like I was being called a liar in this situation. Usually I try not to make a stink about things and just assume it was my stupidity, but here lately I am just tired of companies getting one over on me. I sent B&N and email backing telling them that I was not in the wrong and I was furious at being called a liar by them and that I won’t be using their website again. I will use my local store still for tangible books since I can talk to actual people, but I won’t use the website for buying e-books. I learned of another place that I can get e-books for cheaper so I will use them. I wanted to use B&N to support the company because I saw them as a quality company. But I’m one to like things simple and I like good customer service. Even if they had given me an online gift card for 10% off a future purchase instead of a refund, it would have been “something” to let me know they understood me and were sorry for the situation. I hate companies that put the blame on the customer when the company is to blame. In all fairness I know they have tons of people trying to rip them off in similar situations and they ruin it for everyone else, but it doesn’t make me feel better when they are in the wrong and basically called me a liar.

I’m just lucky the money wasn’t much, but when you are on a budget every little bit counts, even what is considered pocket change to big corporations. I hope the book is good and worth the money and irritation it put me through. So word of the wise, if you purchase from the B&N website, make sure the item you are downloading is the right price or you may be seriously paying for it in the end. I am really let down by them, and I had plans to get some Nook accessories from them for my Nook since it needs a cover and some other things, but I will go to Amazon for that and call it day. I don’t know, I guess I’m just sad that I wanted to support the company even though they cost more than most places and in the end it feels like they don’t care about those who do want to support them. Meh, I’m just being a hormonal so and so today. I’ve had all weekend to calm down about the money and it’s gone now so I will deal. Just think their customer service sucks old musty book pages. Maybe that’s why they are so bitter. Oh well. I just wanted to tell you guys about my situation and what happened and how it turned out. I expect it to turn out this way too, but at least my piece was heard…kind of.

On a good note, I had a problem with Amazon sending me a book with a deeply cut cover and they are in the process of fixing the situation. I had posted this on craft blog I had, since it was a craft book, but since I closed it I will post about it here. I need to go double check to make sure it still going as it should. But the funny thing is the money I saved on that book I ended up spending a book that was suppose to be free. Irony, eh? *sigh* Oh well. Ok, I’m off. I need to relax my elbow, I believe I banged it in my sleep and now it’s in pain. I do have another post to make about my novel Jumper…I wonder what it would be called if it was published? But yeah, I have decided something big on it. But I want to work on it a little more before I make my final choice. More to come later on that.

Writing away,
M.

Reading Habits

2010-09-06T01:07:00.001-04:00

So I’ve been reading some author blogs, again instead of working on my own novel, and found this meme, that was started here, that I decided to try. Feel free to do the same. :-) Let me know in the comments if you do and I will stop by your blog and take a peek. :-)

Do you snack while you read?
No, never. Don’t know why, just never craved a snack while reading.

What is your favorite drink while reading?
If I drink anything it’s usually either water, tea, cocoa, coffee, milk, soda, or jucie. Just whatever is on hand at the moment. Don’t usually drink while reading either though.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
I did highlight Stephen King’s “On Writing” but other than textbooks I don’t mark in my books.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
If there was something on the page I really wanted to look up later then I will dog-ear the page, but other than that it’s bookmarks, paper, or laying flat.

Fiction, non-fiction, or both?
Usually fiction, but I’m big into self-help books and sometimes memoirs so a little non-fiction as well.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?
I usually like to read to the end of the chapter but here lately I’ve been stopping in the chapter when I get tired or had my fill of reading for the moment.

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?
No, never did that. A lot of crying over things the author did, to the point of having to close the book and collect myself…what can I say, I get wrapped up in the characters, but no throwing of books as of yet.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
I usually do it but not lately because I read one book where the author used as many big words as he could to simply describe going to get a newspaper. So I gave up on the dictionary and read the novel in my pleasantly dumb state. :-)

What are you currently reading?
Oh goodness. I’m currently reading 4 books. Never did it before, and it kind of happened accidentally. I am reading “Along For The Ride”, “Breaing Dawn”…I don’t want to hear it, Witch Week…for research, and a murder mystery that the name completely escapes me. I think it’s something like “The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder”, or something along that line.

What is the last book you bought?
A punk knit pattern book from the Dollar Tree.

Do you have a favorite time/place to read?
I have started to love reading at night after everyone has gone to sleep. I lay in my bed in read. I also like to read while exercising. Makes it go by faster.

Do you prefer series books or stand alones?
I like both. I love series because you can invest in the characters and learn about their lives and follow their journey. I also like stand alones for that simple story of a person’s life and what happened to them and how they solved whatever problem they came across. Both are equally good.

How do you organise your books? (by genre, title, author's last name, etc.)
Right now they are organized in any way that will get them on the shelf or to stack up. I’m hoping to get a big bookshelf one day where I can put them up by author in alphabetical order. Yeah, that’ll be nice. :-)

Ok so there are my answers. I am finding it interesting how other people read. It’s nice to see others treat their books like babies or treasures too. LOL! Ok just wanted to share this with you. Talk to you all soon. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Frustration sets in.

2010-09-01T05:46:00.001-04:00

My middle grade novel is suddenly changing on me the more I read about middle grade novels. My concept I was going for would work better in a made up world or witches than in real life. So now I’m toying with the idea of making my once plain and smart little girl into a plain smart little witch. Ugh! It really would work better, but hasn’t this been over done? Witch stories I mean? My concept is my character seemingly is the worst witch ever, but she is really one of the smartest and her wild knowledge helps save the day. Then there is the concept of age. First she was 8 then I pushed her up to 9 and now I am wondering if I should push her up to 12 now. Ahhh!!! Why can’t this be easier? Such a mess this has become. I am excited about the witch concept and I am eager to look up some “spells” and read folklore about witches and whatnot, but I’m still not sure on the concept. I want to just focus on one novel but I feel this character could be a series. Well I will work on the one and see what happens I guess. Meh. I should be in bed instead of doing this but I can’t sleep so I research. Oh well. Off to research some more.

Writing away,
M.

Oh hold until…well I don’t know exactly.

2010-09-01T05:01:00.001-04:00

I have decided to put “Jumper” on hold. It’s just not going anywhere. I tried hard to work on it today and then realized that the romance I wanted to form between these two characters just didn’t form. I think I need more time to think about this because this story is very involved and I have to create a world for it and I just need time to think about it. It does make me sad to abandon the story right now and I am wondering if I will ever return to it, but right now I need to WRITE and I can’t do that on this story any more right now. I’ve been working on it since 2008 and it just hasn’t gone anywhere. I know some authors do this and some just realize the story isn’t going anywhere and they say good bye and mourn their loss. I’m not ready to give up on this story yet, but I won’t return to it for a while. I want to focus on other work I’ve done and want to do. I think it’s time to focus on my middle grade novel for a while. Yep, my Nanowrimo from last year. Here’s hoping this isn’t just another “Jumper”. Can you tell I’m a little sad and feel I wasted valuable time? Yep. I know, it helped me learn and we all will go through this one time or another but it still is sad. Hopefully working on my middle grade stuff will make me feel a little better.

Writing away,
M.

Chapter 4 is finally done!

2010-08-11T18:12:00.001-04:00

So this rewriting/revising session wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be, and it’s sad that it was what kept me from moving forward in my novel. I did have to slightly rewrite the chapter but I could keep a lot from the original, which was good. It’s like my muse has woken up or come back from vacation.

Ok, speaking of muse, I’m gonna tell you something about myself. So, other thank reading and writing, I have other hobbies. Watching movies and listening to music are some of them, but another two hobbies I have are crafts and dolls. I like to do crafts of all kinds, but have found myself lately sticking with fabric and needlework crafts. As for dolls I like to collect them, customize them, and take pictures of them. I recently saw a Live doll on Amazon for roughly 10 bucks that looks like a thinner more glamorous version of moi and I thought to myself, she could be my muse on several levels. I thought if I had something to represent my muse to bounce ideas off of that I don’t really want answers to, what better than a mini me. No people I have not gone insane, it’s just lonely talking to yourself. LOL! Hush you all, doll people would get it. Any doll people out there to support me in this? LOL! But yes, I feel if the muse is here and present then I no longer have the excuse that she’s not here. Unless of course I seriously messed up and my muse is actually a hunky male. In which case, I may have to start all over then. I’ll keep you updated on the muse front.

As for the novel. I think I’m going to hop back in for chapter 5. It’s a little less than an hour before the next live chat tonight at Writer On Con, and I have just enough time to make a dent on my work. So I am off again. Talk to you all a little later.

Writing away,
M.

What does she want?

2010-08-11T16:21:00.001-04:00

Ok, so Write On Con is becoming such a big help to me and my writing, but it’s also showing me all the big errors I am making in my writing. But one good thing, is has gotten me over my fear of continuing on in my revising and I am back at it now. But I find that when I take big breaks I forget what was said and then looking back over it I am shocked by what I have put. I mean it’s good, at least in my eyes, but I am like “How the heck did I come up with that?” So now I am having to move on from that and figure out where to go from there.

Also I think I have figured out what is keeping this story from pouring out of me. I read a recent blog post that talks about knowing what your character wants in the story. If you know that then you move forward to get it for them…or not, depending on your story. But I realize I don’t know what I want for my character. I mean she’s in another time so maybe she just wants to get home. Or maybe she wants love because she sort of broke up with her boyfriend. But I feel there is more to her than just that. I think she is searching for something more, but what is it? I mean she will have a very crucial roll in the future of her city and country, but she doesn’t know it yet. So is it ok for the character not to know what she wants in the beginning of the novel but to find out about it later? I suppose it is. I remember the blog post saying something along the lines of it’s ok if they don’t know it right away but you must know it from the beginning. So I feel her goal will be to fix the actions in her life so that her future will come to play so she can protect the people of her city and her country. But I don’t think she will take this “goal” to easily. She will be stubborn about it, and not caring to put herself in harm’s way for people she doesn’t know or really care about. “Let someone else do it,” will be her defense. Don’t mind my babbling, I’m just thinking out loud here. The one place it’s fine for me to talk to myself. LOL! Ok, so Andrea has a goal. Now it’s time to go shake her life up a bit. Off to write some more now. Update later on how it’s going.

Writing away,
M.

Write On Con first event chat.

2010-08-10T15:37:00.001-04:00

So I just finished with the first chat of Write On Con and it was so informative. I need to find where the transcript of it will be because so much was discussed. This chat event was: Live Chat with Literary Agent Suzie Townsend. Suzie had a lot to say when it comes to what agents are looking for in a manuscript.

So many things I would not have thought about were discussed. It makes me a little nervous about my writing, wondering if it’s any good, but also it made me think that some of the stories I thought were a waste of time really aren’t and they need a little pep put into them. All along I thought something was missing and I was right and I am going to go about my MG novels a different way. My current YA novel is still on the cooker too, but I just don’t know how to attack this current chapter, but being around like minds made me want to jump in on it today.

There is another chat coming up this evening, I am looking forward to it. Perhaps I can have some of my chapter written by that time tonight. Can’t wait to see what I learn from it.

Writing away,
M.

I write like...

2010-08-05T02:22:00.003-04:00

I had to do it again with a paragraph from "Jumper". I was worried it was sounding a little Twilight-ish but was surprised and delighted to see who...or is that whom...I wrote like.

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Stephen King!!! Yes, I'm excited about that. I will try this again and see who I sound like by the end of the chapter. I am thinking this chapter will have to be another complete rewrite. I have slacked on writing because of it. Been "afraid" of writing it. Does anyone else have that "fear" of writing? Worried you won't see what happens next or where the story is going? Yeah, that is what keeps me from writing more or continual. I need to stop this if I ever hope to be publish. Hummm. Well, back to writing some before bed. I picked up reading again as well today. A novel I had been working on while exercising. I paused in reading it because something the author did bothered me so much. There will be a post coming soon on that. First writing and perhaps some sleep. More soon.

Writing away,
M.

Monster High = Product Placement

2010-07-29T04:11:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I just got done reading the prologue, the first chapter, the second chapter, and the third chapter to Monster High (the novel based off those cute dolls everyone has been going crazy over), and can anyone say product placement? No seriously, every few words were practically plugging a brand name. The story and from what I could guess of the plot were cute, but the product placement just kept getting me. Are teens so materialistic that they wouldn’t “get” a story without Gucci, Uggs, and Calvin Klein being mentioned? Since when did characters in stories become so materialistic? That was honestly a turn off for me, and I thought to myself would I let my son or daughter read this novel, if i had either of course? And I believe I would let them read it, but I would worry if this would make them want more instead of appreciating what they have or what can be afforded. I don’t know, maybe I am thinking to much into this. I just don’t think the story needed all the product placement in it. It’s a good story so far.

But it also makes me wonder why they released so much of the story. Are they worried it won’t be good or accepted? Perhaps this is a thing the author already did in the past. Not sure, I will be investigating her blog some more and report back. But it does make me wonder about other YA/MG authors and if they plug a lot of products. It’s been some time since I read YA, but that will be changing soon as I am planning to hit the library some time in the next week or so to check some out for research for my writing. But tell me, what do you think about product placement in stories? I mean mentioning the characters are going to McDonalds, which I am sure will show up in the story somewhere, is one thing, but mentioning over 10 different products in maybe 30-40 pages worth of novel is a bit much. And a lot of them got repeat mentions. So it just makes me wonder how others feel about it. Maybe I am just getting old…I am turning the big 3-2 in a little over a week after all. *tear* I wouldn’t have minded product placements if they were made up items like J.K. did in the land of Harry Potter. This story could have done that with monsters being the main characters…I’m assuming. I won’t say more on that, go read the chapters to get what I mean by that.

Ok peeps, I’m off. I need some sleep. I want to get back to writing tomorrow, something I have slacked on for over a week now. I want the rewrite done by my birthday…in a little over a week. Wish me luck! Ok, bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Mom at Sixteen

2010-07-20T02:18:00.005-04:00

So I just finished watching the Lifetime movie “Mom at Sixteen” online and it made me thinking of writing. All I ever read about writing YA is that you should never force a moral or lesson down your reader’s throat. That will make them basically get bored and lose focus on your novel. This movie was exactly that. It was very predictable, I’d seen it before but forgot about it so rewatched it, and the lesson was constantly pushed down the watcher’s throat: Don’t have sex or you could become pregnant. It was kind of irritating and pulled away from the story for me. There were constant sex education classes the focused on sexuality and why do girls give in and have sex with guys. There was a lot of “Well we want to do it,” “The peer pressure,” “They won’t like us any more if we don’t do it,” and honestly I can remember feeling the same as a teen. But even I was rolling my eyes by the third class meeting going over the same thing, girls should dress appropriately and not have sex. It seemed like every teenage girl in the movie was either dressed like a slut or doing “it” on campus somewhere. But of course the baby mama teen was dressed prim and proper and was appalled at the actions of her peers. Although it’s been a while since I was a teen, I remember that this just wasn’t how it was.

So why am I reviewing a movie on my writing blog? Because movies come down to the same concept of novels. An interesting and engaging plot with characters you can relate to. I felt I could relate to Jacey the baby mama and the sex ed teacher the most. The sex ed teacher can’t have kids of her own even though she is trying…can you kind of figure out the ending from this? Well she figures out the baby is Jacey’s and it’s because of her big mouth the school finds out. Then the school carries on calling Jacey a slut and throwing stuff at her like she is the only one in school that is pregnant. Now I ask you, when have you ever heard of only one teen being pregnant in school? In a small town maybe, but in a regular town heck no. This story was just so far off course from reality, and while I know it was a Lifetime movie that had to end nicely or with a twist, it still irked me. They could have tried a little harder on the script and made the characters more relatable and made the story a little more correct. This was done around the time when the sex bracelet games started, so it’s not that old of a movie, and it was after I had graduated, in fact it was made the year my sister graduated five years ago. So it’s not old. And when I was in school it was not a shock to hear a girl was pregnant every few weeks. And then when my sister started telling me about her schoolmates being pregnant in school it didn’t shock me. So the story was just kind of meh to me.

I think if you are going to do a story like that you need to do your homework and really try to understand your audience and the people and story you are trying to portray. The story was a sweet story that ended happily, as most Lifetime movies do, but it just could have been better. But that’s all for this review. I have another one coming up. Just want to do some research for it first. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

I write like...

2010-07-18T14:41:00.002-04:00

So my sister showed me this cool website called I Write Like. It basically tells you, well, who you write like. I just put in the first few lines of my novel and it said this:

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Here's the wiki for James Joyce if you need some extra info on him. So I was rather impressed with myself when I saw that, but then I started thinking...does that mean my work is classic or dated? LOL! I'm going to try posting some blog posts and other novel bits in and seeing who it says I write like then. Let me know who you right like. :-)

Writing away,
M.

I'm back.

2010-07-12T13:14:00.002-04:00

I had been thinking of merging all my blogs into one, but seeing as each one deals with a different topic I have decided not to merge and to leave them all as they are. So I am back writing here. I have been working on Jumper. 3 chapters are done and 3 are left. I know that there will be more chapters than that as the plot unfolds and more things are revealed to me. So far the story has changed several times and I like the changes. But it just feels so weird rewriting Andrea's story. Her plot is getting thicker and I am back at the "hard" part of writing, getting her story started. And now I am doing it from her point of view. Ugh!!! Don't get me wrong, I love the story and it refuses to let me walk away from it, but it's so frustrating and I have several other ideas I want to entertain in other novels but I can't until Andrea tells me her story. So that is where I am write now. Rewriting history, at least where Andrea is concerned. Wish me luck.

Writing away,
M.

I think I need a do over.

2010-05-22T18:00:00.003-04:00

So here lately I have been in this weird funk. There are so many things I need and want to do but I just can't stick with anything long enough to do it. I don't know why. I'm not really a lazy person. Once I start something I am dedicated to it until I finish it. So I don't know what this funk is. It might be related to things going on in my life that I can neither control or change and it's frustrating to me. This frustration is sucking the life out of me along with a few other things that I actually can control and change but for some reason I just don't have the dedication to do it. It's so weird. On some things I will do what I need to do until it's done. But on the one thing I need to do in order to change my life I just can't be dedicated enough to do it. Maybe I will be blog about it in my main blog later...if I can be motivated enough to do it.

So why am I writing about this in my writing journal? Well, this funk I am in has also affected my writing. I have not be dedicated to it in a long time even though writing is all I can think about. So for the past couple of days I've tried to get back to writing with little to no success until this morning. I got back to "Jumper" and tried revising chapter 6 when I just saw that the story was lacking something. I've let it sit so long that it's no long the story I want to write. Don't get me wrong, I still want to write Andrea and Maxwell's story, but there is honestly something missing as well as the story seems like a tango done by two people with either two left feet or they've only had one lesson. So I've been tinkering around in my head lately on what to do with it. Do I just keep going? Do I chuck it all together? What do I do? Well, it was two seconds ago that I finally decided what to do.

I'm going to rewrite "Jumper" and I'm going to do so in first person. I've been reading a lot of first person YAs lately and I think this story might be better told in first person. There are so many people in the story that it's easy to lose sight of who the story is about. It's about Andrea and what happens to her and Max. So instead of me telling her story, I will simply let her tell it herself. I think that's what she's been trying to tell me all along.

I will be starting on chapter one tonight to see how I like it. Fingers crossed tight that it will work. I want this novel done and ready for submitting by Fall. The way I wrote her story first time around it seemed to only warrant two books, but perhaps writing it in first person will warrant several books like I originally intended it to do. She was suppose to go through several time periods fixing certain events so that her life would go in a certain way that would better the world. To give you a better idea of what I mean, think the Terminator and how he went back in time to kill Sarah and John Connor to fix his time. So yeah, we will see how this works out. Wish me luck. :-) Off to write now.

Writing away,
M.

Chapter 4 is done.

2010-04-20T15:45:00.000-04:00

Now that I've finished chapter 4 I am seeing where chapters after this are going to need some filler. I feel I should really be taking away from the story instead of adding to it, but I'll just do that in the 3rd go round I guess. Gotta get ready to take off for a bit, but I will work on chapter 5 when I get back. More later.

Writing away,
M.

Chapter 3, done.

2010-04-20T15:16:00.001-04:00

I wonder if I am moving to fast through my chapters? I mean I don't know how this all really goes, but I am thinking I am ok for now. I don't really need to add anything in as of yet. I do see where I may need to add some more bulk to the story later but for now it's "ok". Going to chapter 4. Hoping to finish it and chapter 5 today. Ok, I'm off.

Writing away,
M.

Chapter 2, doing a little better.

2010-04-20T14:13:00.000-04:00

So I just finished chapter 2 and it wasn't as painful as chapter 1. I know chapter 1 will have to be reworked, there is no getting around that, but chapter 2 was actually witty and funny and it didn't kill me to reread it. Now moving on to chapter 3, but I may need to take a break before getting to that. I'm not feeling well as of late and have been napping a lot. I think another nap is in my near future. I'll try to hit chapter 3 first. More later.

Writing away,
M.

My return to writing. About freaking time!

2010-04-20T12:38:00.000-04:00

So today is my official return to writing. I've been thinking about it for months and I finally opened one of my stories today. I was working on a story a while back while I waited to return to "Jumper" and now I'm back to working on "Jumper". I just went through chapter 1 and honestly it I feel it didn't get good until the last page of it and it's 9 pages long. Ahhh!!! I mean I feel I am putting to much fluffy filler stuff in there when I just need to tell the story. And I am having problems with actions my characters could do in between talking. Do I even need to focus on that? I now see why writers need to be readers as well. I need to get back to that. I always take long lapses in between reading and I hate that. I actually love reading, all stories, good and bad. I have some book reviews coming to show you what I mean.

But back to "Jumper", it's just such a slow start, but then again I am worried that it's just my negative side speaking to me. Oh, for those who don't know, I am working on my second draft of the story. Taking it one chapter at a time. Chapter 1 is done, for now at least. I know I will be revisiting it again very soon. I so need to get to the library and check out some young adult novels. I used to buy them all the time when I was a little younger but now I haven't done it as much. But if I am going to write young adult I need to know what they are interested in reading. So it gives me an excuse to order some or buy some at the store. I have some in mind that I want to get actually, so perhaps I will look into that later on this week.

I have this nagging need to share parts of my story to get some advice on how I'm doing so far, but without showing the full story I don't think I will be giving myself a fair chance and my story is just not ready to be seen in full yet. So I guess I keep pressing onward and just give myself some slack so I don't delete the whole thing. I love writing but it's so hard on my confidence at the same time, I hate that. Oh well. I'm off to work on chapter 2 now before I do some exercise. I'll let you know how that goes, hopefully I'll feel better about the story by the time I reach the end. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

On Writing by Stephen King

2010-01-14T20:41:00.001-05:00

So I finished reading reading a book that I had started a good while back and then stopped reading and had to reread due to that. So I finally finished it today and let me just say this book is amazing. It is so inspiring to anyone who wants to be a writer and its an interesting read to those who are just readers in general or fans of his work.

Now I'm not going to go into deep detail about the book since its been out since 2000 and there are many reviews of it, you can click the picture above to be taking to Amazon and read the review there.

What I will say about the book is that he really breaks it down for those who doubt if they are or could be a writer. He doesn't hold back on what he thinks constitutes what a writer is. I know everyone has their own opinions on that, but his I respect highly and agree with. Also this book was written around the time he had his near death experience in 1999 and was finished while he was on the mend and writing this book helped bring him back from a bad moment in his life. Reading the part about his accident and how he did come back from it, writing helping a good bit, just inspired me more and put me in awe of his talent.

Now let me tell you straight off, I'm NOT a Stephen King fan. I have never read any of his books all the way through. But that doesn't mean I don't know of his talent to write. He's very talented and I'm awe-struck by it, hoping to be as talented as he is. But this book he wrote on the craft of writing has reminded me that one should not write for money or fame, and most writers do not get much money or fame. One should write because they love writing and they have a story to tell. Both of which I do have. So I'm going to write for me. I'm going to write for my IR...read the book and you will understand that one. And I'm going to write for my characters, to tell their story to the world. And because of this book I can now because Stephen King gave me something I long thought I didn't have. He gave me permission to do so with guilt or doubt. So that's exactly what I'm going to do. Every single day. 2500 minimum. Starting today.

Writing away,
M.

Word Count

2009-12-01T03:00:00.000-05:00

This is a sticky word count post for the month of November. Please check the post below for recent blog updates. Thanks. :-)

Writing away,
M.

I'm back on track.

2009-11-20T15:10:00.000-05:00

So I kind of came to a stop once I finished my two novels that I was sure would take up all 50k this month. But, I have found a way to get me started again. Haiku! I thought of it last night and I have written several already since last night. So here goes...I am going to write 15k in haiku. I have a little less than a week to complete it because I will be done before thanksgiving. I want to be one of the ones who get the purple bar on the day validation starts. Of course I will keep writing after that to see how much I will end up with at the end of the month but I want to have my 50k done by then. So yes, I am back on track. Haiku people. Haiku!!! LOL!

Writing away,
M.

I finished my novel!!!

2009-11-17T16:54:00.000-05:00

The second one for the month. I now need to come up with a few stories to write to make up for the last 15,000 words. I am so not stressing about it. I am so far ahead of the game and I still plan to finish before Thanksgiving. Once I get started I know I will be able to knock out the rest of the words in no time. I am working on a story that I have wanted to write for years now. I just need to find a story similar to what I want my story to look like to see what kind of words I should be working with. Ahhh!!! So excited and in disbelief. I'll miss Nicole and her friends since after this month I am going back to Andrea for a while, but its all cool. As for now, I'm going to go exercise and then come back and work on my next story. Eeeee!!! I finished another novel!!!

Writing away,
M.

Getting nervous and excited at the same time.

2009-11-17T00:59:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I am closing in on the end of my second novel. So I am in a writing frenzy to finish because I just feel it in me to finish. Its just flowing from me after two days of not writing due to a really messed up stomach. But checking my word count, I think my story will come in under 20,000. Very upsetting to me. I don't mind that the novel is coming in short of words, because I will fatten it up in revisions, but I am worried in regards to Nano. I was hoping to at least make it to 40,000 words with the finish of this novel and only have 10,000 words to make up for. But I don't see that happening. I'm very pissy about that. I'm not sure what to write about after this, but I may try a chapter book once I finish this Nicole Merriweather book. I plan on doing some novels with her niece after I finish with Nicole Merriweather's story. I planned to have her story start as chapter books and grow with her readers. So I may just work on her first story after I finish this last chapter. I have plenty of time to do a bit of research, come up with a plot, and knock this story out. Not sure how long chapter books are so I may have to write several stories. I am so not feeling prepared, but I work well under pressure...most of the time. :-)

Ok, just wanted to update you on me and my writing. I will do more posting later on. Hopefully my next post will be me cheering that I finished my novel. :-)

Writing away,
M.

I finished my novel!!!

2009-11-07T22:02:00.000-05:00

The first novel I wanted to complete this month is DONE!!! I literally finished it like half a minute ago. I'm so excited and happy but I also want to cry for some reason. Its weird. Such a mix emotions. Such a different feeling than with my Jumper novel. Wonder why. Oh well, I won't worry about that now. Right now I want to jump into novel two.

I am kind of worried though. My novel only had 21,867 words. I was hoping to get up to 25,000 words but its ok. Whatever words I have left over will go into a short Christmas story I have had in my mind for a while. So I am going to get started on my next novel now and work on it for a bit.

Woo hoo!!! So excited and proud of myself. My second "official" novel done, not counting the one I wrote as a teen in screenplay format. I plan on changing that one still. Its a great story, but it needs a lot of editing. A lot. LOL! Ok, back to writing. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Not doing so good.

2009-11-05T01:08:00.000-05:00

Sure I am up on words that I should be hitting around day 7, but I wanted to be done with the first novel by the 11th. I don't know if I can do that in 6 days. I'm sure I can, but I am not motivated for some reason. I want to write, but I am just not motivated for some reason. I need my morning writing!!! I just can't get up in time because I stay up so late. Ugh!!! Ok, back to writing. Gonna try to get through this next chapter.

Writing away,
M.

Ahhhhhh!!!

2009-11-04T01:32:00.000-05:00

There are people who already have a green bar on the 3rd day!!! My writing hero Kateness has already written over 100k. I believe she is going for a million this year, so its understandable she's that far, but ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nonetheless. Damnit I would LOVE to be almost done. Its not about winning NaNo for me right now. Its about writing the damn novels and getting them out of my head into a story. Tomorrow I will write a lot. I have to. I feel so behind. Tomorrow I will shoot for 20k. I wonder how they do it. Maybe I didn't outline properly. :-( Whatever it is, I wish I knew their secret. Ok, off to bed. Nighters all.

Writing away,
M.

Run out of steam.

2009-11-03T23:25:00.000-05:00

And I have barely written anything today. I have been busy working on some busy work my dad has me do once a month. Well I just finished it a little while ago and it took up most of my day. Its almost midnight and I've only written 237 words. :-( I know, I can write a little more tonight and get started early tomorrow, but just so disappointing. I think I will try for tomorrow morning. I will do a little bit more and then hopefully knock out a chapter or two. I wonder how the people who are writing a million words this month do it? I mean sure some people type fast, but my thing is the thinking about their story and putting it on paper or screen. How do they do that so fast? My story is flowing pretty fast, but even I am having issues. Meh. Oh well. Stop complaining right? I will. I will take a little break then see what I can do before midnight and call it a day I suppose and get up early. I have yet to do my coveted morning writing. Miss that. Tomorrow hopefully.

Writing away,
M.

2,615 words down!

2009-11-01T01:39:00.000-05:00

So far so good. And I am working on my extra hour of the day. Turn those clocks back people.

The flow is going very good this year since I outlined. Its truly amazing, and though I have a love/hate relationship with the outline, I will never start a story without one again. Going back to typing now. Just wanted to update.

Writing away,
M.

The outline is done!

2009-10-31T06:10:00.000-04:00

Its done! I worked on it all day and churned out my second book outline. I finished it just a few minutes ago. I love what I have plan and I can't wait for November to start. All I have left to do is tweak some stuff on novel one's outline. Work my outlines more to reflect the theme of my character. Work her brother into the second novel. And then work on the character bios some, but I think I know these characters already like they are my babies. Let me tell you, outlining is a must. I hate doing it, but once I get into it I don't want to be disturbed and its just a wonderful creative flow. So its like a love/hate relationship with it. I can't wait to see how it affects my writing in the end. So the countdown has officially begun. Until then, I need to get some sleep and do some things today to keep my mind off the countdown. Everyone enjoy your day to today and have a happy and safe Halloween. :-)

Writing away,
M.

Outline one is done!!!

2009-10-29T23:31:00.000-04:00

It was almost as exciting as finishing the novel. It was kind of weird. So excited to get it typed up. I am wondering if I should do a third outline if I have time. I am worried with the outline that I may hit 50k way before the end of the month and I want to keep going so I don't feel "bored" with nothing to type. In any case I do know what the third novel will be about, so I guess I will outline it for either NaNo or for when I am done with my second novel. I have the "theme" for novel two. Now I will spend the next day working on the outline. Ugh!!! So excited. I can't wait for November to start!!! Ahhh!!! Ok, just had to toot my horn. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

My incentive.

2009-10-28T14:34:00.000-04:00

Yeah its silly, but if it gets me to write, then what's the harm right? :-)

Get it together girl!

2009-10-28T14:07:00.000-04:00

I need to scream that to myself right now. I have plenty of time to work on my outlines and I am wasting it by surfing the web!!! Ok, I need an incentive to work on these things. I already see they will help me greatly in writing my novels, but I just hate this trying to come up with the next thing that will happen. I'm trying to force it and well that just doesn't work well with me I guess. Sucks so bad. But I will do it. I will turn on some Christmas tunes...wait...that's it. They have a Bing Crosby cd at Target I want. My mom had the tape when I was a kid and I loved it. I want the cd. If I finish my outline before the 31st for BOTH novels I get to buy the cd without any buyer's remorse. :-) Let's see if that works. Off to outline. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Outlining is getting easier.

2009-10-27T04:23:00.000-04:00

Ok, so you know how in my last post I said that I didn't like the inital first draft writing? I think its because I went into it without an outline. Now the outline for the first novel is coming along nicely. Its literally flowing from me. Problem is, I need a second novel outline before the 31st!!! I'm a little nervous. My sister is taking her driving test tomorrow, so I am taking my pad and paper tomorrow and working on my novel outline. I plan to finish novel one's outline tomorrow and work on novel two's for the last few days of the month. Somehow I think I will be working on outline up to the last minute of the 31st. Its ok. As long as I get it done before midnight on Nov. 1st. Omg I am honestly so excited about this. Can I do it? Will I do it? Will these be the novels to make me a published author? Ahhh!!! So excited. So nervous. So...so happy. :-D Ok, done being a goober now. I need some sleep. More tomorrow. Laters.

Writing away,
M.

Authors on Writing

2009-10-25T03:22:00.000-04:00

So, in prep for NaNo, I wanted to read some writer's blogs and found this article through one of them about authors and how they feel about writing. Its shocking to read the different views from the different authors. At some point through the writing process I am all of them. There are times I loathe writing, while other times I love it. A lot of the time I am shocked and amazed at the words on the screen, wondering where I pulled them from.

It was refreshing to see that the feelings I have towards writing are not just my thinking, but are shared by other writers as well. Ok that sentence was odd for me. I don't consider myself a writer actually. I consider myself an attempting writer. Writer in training perhaps? Well, anything but actual writer. I feel a writer is someone who has something published. Until then we are just writers in training. I know other people feel if you write you are a writer, but I just feel you need something published to solidify that claim.

So anyway, the outlines for my novels are not coming along so well. I got lazy this month because I didn't want to face the task of working on the outline. I will have to do that daunting task of writing out all the scenes and character bios and ugh, I hate this part. I mean I like it also. I love coming up with characters and their backgrounds, but it is so hard to. Trying to figure out who they are and sometimes those bitches don't want to talk. Ahhhh!!! I got lucky because I am working on a series and these characters will be repeating for the most part in the other stories and I will only need to make up one or two bios per book for other characters or expand on some older characters as they change and their lives change.

This series I think will have a run-off series near the end of it. I plan to write about my young female character until she graduates. Then I will make her niece the focus of my novel attention who will be starting kindergarten, and my main character will do cameos.

Oh yeah, made a banner for my book. Just was bored one day and thought it would be fun to make one. What do you think?

I will need to make one for the second novel eventually. Not even sure what that adventure will hold yet and I only have a week left!!! Omg!!! Ok, today I will work hard on my outlines. I must have then done by Oct. 31st, since the family is planning a little Halloween moviethon. They know it must be done by midnight because I shall be typing away by then. Ahh, so excited about this. I'm scared too. I want to win. I want to finish both novels. I want to do it so badly, but I just don't know if I will make it this year. Last year was hard for me. This year will be hard also. I won't fool myself into thinking this will be a walk in the park. I guess I'm one of those writers who does not like to write the first draft. I am sure revising will be the fun part for me. But the initial first draft part is hard for me to do. Ughhhh!!! Ok, suck it up girl! Ok, I'm fine...or at least I will be fine. :-) Ok, gotta go, gonna work on some outlining. More laters.

Writing away,
M.

I finished my novel...

2009-10-08T10:39:00.001-04:00

And I feel kind of "blah" about it. I thought I would feel so much more. I mean yesterday I could feel it was coming to an end. And a lot of the things I saw happening in the end didn't for some reason. And I ended it on a cliffhanger, which is about the only thing I knew would happen. I mean I guess its because I know that there is SO much left to do on the story now that the actual plot is coming to me now that I finished it. I know, I know...how can I write a story with no plot? Well it has a plot, but the plot thickened as I neared the end. So now I have to go back in fill it in. Which, what I recently learned, is what all writers have to do. So maybe on my revisions I will get that happy giggly feeling that my story is done. But for now, its about a year's hard work put to temporary rest. I will put it away for a couple of months then come back to it with a fresh mind and attitude. But yeah, that about it. Humm...wait a minute...change everything I just said.

I JUST FINISHED MY NOVEL!!! WOOT!!! WOOT!!! WOOT!!! WOOT!!! *Does Snoopy Dance.*

*Catches breath.* Ok, like literally I just got all excited. Maybe it was a delayed reaction. LOL! I finished it! I'm ready to move on to the next novel. And just, wow. :-D I know there's a lot more to fill in on that story, but for now the bulk of it is out. I've got my notes for when I return to it. And I am ready to move on. Nano, here I come!!!

Writing away,
M.

The race is on!

2009-10-05T01:21:00.001-04:00

To finish my first NaNoWriMo novel before November starts. I'm almost there. A couple of thousand more and I should finish it. I am also working on the outline for two novels I will be working on next year. I'm also trying to recruit others to join me this year in writing a novel. Most of them want to do it, but most of them don't want to put in the effort. So I may go it alone. My mom MAY do it with me, but we will have to see. I will up date you more about how my novel is going more tomorrow. Until then, bed calls me. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Word Update

2009-09-27T23:26:00.000-04:00

Sharing what I learn along the way.

2009-09-04T16:39:00.000-04:00

Ok, so in reading blogs of writers and agents I am learning a lot of valuable information. Some stuff I already knew, others not so much. It got me thinking about my blog and what I want it to ultimately turn into. I want my blog to be away to reach out to others about my writing, be it readers, writers, agents, whoever. But I don't want my blog to be just about me and my writing. I also want it to be about what I've learned and passing it on.

I'm a searcher and researcher, and I love to find out new information about something new I am learning. But sometimes some of the stuff I find is just by pure luck and some of the blogs I read don't really have a lot of readers or attention but the content is amazing. So I have decided to share the links and information I find as I go along for any one who just happens across my blog and aspires to be a writer like me one day.

For my first helpful link, I found a very interesting blog post on Write Well Me explaining about how writing is a process. I found this blog entry interesting because the way she described most people's mindset on how a writer writes is kind of how I saw it. I mean I have read some information about how you need to take a break after writing your manuscript before you start editing it to get a clearer vision of it. But the prewriting part, although I do make notes, I do it at the same time that I write. I think this is why my stories are not getting written. I need to outline, as much as I hate the thought of doing that, I need it. So I have a fresh notebook sitting next to me, with the title "Jumper" at the top, just waiting for fresh new ideas. I don't know if I should write my other typed notes in it or not. I guess I will, so I'll have them all together. I think better and write better when I hand write things, so maybe hand writing my notes will help me get a clearer idea of where my characters; Andrea, Maxwell, Cameron, and Andy, are headed. Its a crazy tale that I'm trying to write, but I just feel it could work if I could just get it down on paper, or computer screen.

So if you are having a hard time getting your words to flow, I highly recommend this blog post. Its short and sweet, but full of valuable information.

Writing away,
M.

I know nothing about writing.

2009-09-04T16:24:00.000-04:00

Ok, not 100% true, but I feel like it is. I am reading some blogs that belong to literary agents and honestly they are just shocking me as to how little I do know about the "biz". I'm glad I found them though, they are helping me, but its just shocking. I really think writing is what I want to try to get into...if my damned novel would just stop being a pain and write itself already, but its still just something so new to me. Its like learning something new for me when it comes to writing. I love learning new crafts, but its always slow for me in the beginning. I guess writing will be no different. *sigh* Back to blog reading and then returning to writing.

Writing away,
M.

Word Update

2009-08-30T20:12:00.000-04:00

Ugh! What happens next?!?

2009-08-30T20:04:00.001-04:00

Ok, so have you ever had it where you are reading a book and it starts to get real good and then you hit the end of the chapter and the last few words give you chills and you just think to yourself...or out loud like me..."Ahhh I can't wait to find out what happens next!". Yeah, well I just had the feeling from a bit of a story I was reading. Problem is, its a story I am currently writing, so I don't KNOW what happens next, and know will know what happens next until I write it. LOL! I hate that. Sometimes I think my stories are crap but when I go back and read over bits of them I think to myself "Oh man that was genius right there.", and half the time I can't believe I wrote that. So yeah, I have stopped working on the blog story for now and have gone back to my work on my NaNoWriMo story that I am still writing. I'd like to finish it before NaNoWriMo pops up this year. I kept trying to work on other stories because this one wasn't coming to me, but my mind won't let me work on other stuff fully until I give this one my full attention. I can't leave my character's Andrea and Max stuck in the future without any hope of bringing them home. So I am back working their story. Right now I think its time for a fight scene. Ugh, I'm no good at fight scenes. Oh well, if it sucks, that's what editing is for. :-) So I need to make a new counter for my current story I am working on. Gonna do that now. Laters.

Writing away,
M.

Word Update

2009-08-21T04:37:00.000-04:00

Word Update

2009-08-21T00:47:00.001-04:00

Day one of a new writing challenge.

2009-08-21T00:28:00.000-04:00

Ok, so here is my brand spanking new blog for writing. I think trying to put all my interests on one blog was a bit too much. So here I am to post about my writing. Quick note about my title. I didn't know what to name my blog. All the names I wanted were taken. So I decided to use the name the blog layout designer called the layout. I thought it was cute and fitting. :-) Be sure to check out the links at the bottom of the blog to get yourself a cute blog layout.

I strive to be an author and have been doing so for years now. Only one problem. I haven't really tried to get published. Granted I have sent work in several times and never heard anything back from any of the places. So, I am still unpublished, but I have at least made an attempt to get published. But now I want to get serious about my writing and really start submitting my work for publication.

But I have been in a writing funk. I have several stories going and know I need to focus on one. I was working hard on my Nanowrimo story, and I still love the story and characters, I just can't finish it yet because the plot is getting sticky. So what I plan to do is give myself a break from it and try writing a novel that I came up with a little while back. Its going to be a story completely in blog format. I know, its been done before, but this will be a tale of fiction. I am going to be writing it up in a an actual private online blog that I will eventually give a few trusted people access to for reading and editing purposes. So I have decided to start it today and finish it by the end of September. Its not really meant to be overly long, but we will see when I get to the end of September how it will turn out. So I will update here on how things are going with it and posting bits and pieces from the story as well. That's about it for now. More later.

Writing Away,
M.