Getting in the Mood

Into the writing mood that is! There are so many ways to get inspired and get the creativity flowing. It's different for everyone. Sometimes just getting away from your ms and not thinking about it until your muse goes "IDEA!" helps or sometimes looking at pictures sparks the imagination.

But what about when we're actually writing? I know a lot of us play music when we write that goes with the feeling of the scene Action scene, fast paced music. Emotional scene, something with a down beat. I've also heard of people using scents to get into the mood (I've yet to try this one. I'll take any excuse I have to buy more scented candles though. :P) 


Most of the time I have to write to music that makes me happy, rather than listening to music that fits the emotion of the scene. And lately I've been finding that where I am also helps. When I'm at home, if it's sunny (which is a rarity at the moment), I'll take my laptop out back and chill out on the deck--let my legs catch some sun (under 2 layers of 70spf)--and start tapping away on the key board.

Being alone and away from the distractions inside my house help infinitely! There's also just something really inspiring about just relaxing. Feeling the heat--at an astounding 72 degrees F (yes, it's so hot. I'm positively melting.)--listening to the sound of the wind through the trees, chimes tinkling together and the birds. Even the sound of someone mowing their lawn four houses down and a plane with parachuters humming above. Plus seeing all the green! I just can't help but get in the mood when it's like that.

What gets you into the writing mood?

Also, the schedule has changed a bit. It's going to be every Monday and Thursday. :)

Crack Down

I've been pretty lax on these dang posts. It's a little annoying. I just get so caught up in everything else that blogging disappears on me. So, I've decided a schedule. Every Tuesday and Thursday from now on, there'll be a post. Can't guarantee anything other than that. :P

Back in January I made a goal to finish the first draft of my manuscript by my birthday. Seven months later, and a month and a half to go, I'm still working on it. I'm 21k in, a lovely little feat, and finishing up the 5th chapter. So, in order to keep this goal I've got to buckle down and write around 10k each week. Definitely doable. If I can concentrate.

My inner Snape will be doing this with my imagination for the next six weeks. 

I am determined to get my first draft finished! I'll be able to join the ranks of people who've finished their MS~ And that will be amazing.

Also, have you all seen the last Harry Potter? It was worthy of sending off the best movie series I've ever seen. And once I get my copy of Deathly Hallows returned to me, I will be commemorating by reading the entire series for the undisclosed-th amount. :)

Hopefully the lot of you enjoyed it to! What other movies have you guys seen recently, or want to see that haven't come out yet? Or any must-see movie recs? I've been wanting to expand my movie knowledge.

Playing the Game

This past weekend was Father's Day. So, like any good daughter would I suffered through an entire weekend of the US Open and the Seattle Mariners vs  the Philadelphia Phillies. (Though it really wasn't all that bad) We mainly watched the US Open--so I at least had some cute boys to watch. (Really.)

like this one: Rory McIlroy

I questioned my dad about terms and players (it makes them feel like you're really interested) and my dad repeated a phrase that I've heard him say a bajillion times. "In golf--even when you're playing against other people--you're really playing against yourself."

And it struck me. Golf and writing are totally siblings from different parents. We all compete against each other for book deals and contracts with agents. No matter how much we love our fellow writerly friends, we still wish to get those before they do. But the most challenging thing about writing isn't getting the contracts, the agents or the deals (though they certainly are a challenge). No. The difficult part is working against yourself to get the idea that's taken over your mind out and into words.

We've got to work against being tired, distractions, writers block, procrastination, our need to be perfect, MC's that don't do as they're told... the list could go on forever.

Of course, some of the obstacles in writing are easy for people to conquer. Others just make us want to cry and bang our laptops against a wall and then cry some more 'cause we just lost all of our work. (Hopefully no one has actually done this!) Either way, we're all working against our own personal challenges to complete the same goal. Writing a novel.

So whether you're the McIlroy of the literary world or the Frederick Jacobson (a fairly attractive swede) or the John Daly (not so attractive middle-aged man), we've all got to play the game and eventually we'll have our time to shine.

Where are you in the ranks?

Humoring my Edit-Self

Have you ever gone through your MS, editing away like we always should and then suddenly! It hits you. "THE SIDE-KICK WHO'S REALLY NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LIKABLE IS MORE LIKABLE THAN MY MC!!"?

I hope not. It's a rather upsetting thing! (Trying some humor on for size, folks.) I recently (very recently. As in today, recently.) discovered that this travesty had occurred in my NEARLY PERFECT MANUSCRIPT (according to my dog maybe? and probably not even him... ). It's a shock, it is. Like finding out that your dog actually DOES know what you're saying and pretends to be dumb to trick you or that your stuffed animals can more themselves around at night! (oh no! Censorship~)

The mind just reels! 

"How could this happen?" 

"I'm just so awesome and amazing and everyone wants to be me!"

"I got an agent just by staring at their twitter account!"

"I have a love triangle, twice! Between a brainiac werewolf who's like a genius with everything and knows a lot of fancy stuff and a goofy vampire with the most awesome, sparkly smile that you've ever had the chance of being bedazzled by!"

And so forth.

So of course, like any natural amazing person like I seriously am, I had a talk with this little inner voice that sounds an awful lot like Jessie and I came up with EVEN MORE AWESOME. Yes. It is possible, my friends. I. Have become awesomer.

Just wait until I breeze through submission in a minute and get ONE KAZILLION-BAJILLION copies printed in every language the world has EVER KNOWN.

So, how do you guys like the new layout? :D I think it's wicked. School is officially out so I am now back in business in the blogging world! I can't wait to read all of you~!

I hope you enjoyed my attempt at humor. :P

Freaky Friday the 13th Blogfest

So, I was convinced to embarrass myself by Jessica for Kat Brauer's Freaky Friday Blogfest. You post 500 words of something old and then we get critiqued on it. I'm all for making fun of my really old writing! I've decided to make you all suffer a little--hope you like exercising your critiquing self?

A small disclaimer so I don't completely ruin my reputation (what? I've got a reputation? When did that happen?!) I wrote this when I was like... 14. Before I knew how to truly write. So, here we are. If you get confused, I don't blame you in the least.

Commence the bad writing!

Indrya walked down the marble halls until she reached her husband. "Why are you here?" she asked

"Its Chandelle. She won`t come out"

"Zedekiah, you`re supposed to get her out, not ask her if she wants to come out"

"But-"

"Chandelle, come out of there! We have to address the kingdom!"

"Of what news?" a voice whispered from behind the door.

"Of the war that is flooding into Donrolet" Zedekiah said

"Why can`t you go without me?" the voice asked

Zedekiah leaned clsoer to Indrya "Go get the girls" he whispered

"They won`t help you guys!" the voice said

"What?"

"NOTHING IS GOING TO GET ME TO GO!"

"I`ve got the girls Zedekiah"

"SEND `EM IN!" he called joyfully.

A pale girl that stood almost as tall as Indrya asked "Uhh, Uncle Zede, how are we to get in?"

"Well Jenolya, I suppose you, Nadyla and Don would just walk in there and convince her to come out" Nadyla giggled sweetly as he said this. Jenolya had trouble holding in her smirk. Even their Aunt Indrya was chuckling a little. "What?" he called

"Honey, have you forgotten our daughters abilities?"

"Not that I know of. Why do you ask?"

"If you look down you might find out something new"

Zedekiah looked down and gave a small yelp. "What? She can make us float now?"

"I like to call it Levitation father"

"Ah, well might you be able to let us down? I`m afraid I don`t like heights as much as others"

"Not until I may stay father!"

"Chandelle, will you please come out?" Nadyla called, her voice layered in kindness. There was a scrambling noise behind the door.

"Now look what you`ve done!" Jenolya cried

"I didn`t do anything! I just asked her a friendly question!"

"Eh, SHOVE IT WILL YA?"

"JENOLYA! NADYLA! STOP FIGHTING!" Don called from somewhere behind the two.

"CHANDELLE! LET US DOWN WILL YA?" Jenolya called

"As you wish" a small voice murmured "Will ya look at that?! She listEENNNNNNS-!" all 5 of them felt the wind rushing past their ears. The marble floor seemed to look like it was rushing up to them. Nadyla screamed just before everything stopped.

"Chandelle! Thats an evil trick to play! Nadyla is crying" Indrya called, putting a comforting arm around Nadyla`s shoulders.
"Bu-"

"Come out this instant!" The big black door slowly creaked open.

"Where is she?" Don asked

"Is she in shadow again?"

"I assume so"

"Can`t we make her come out?"

"A shadow is better than nothing"

"Fine, lets go"

"Come along Chandelle!"

Jenolya, Nadyla and Don stayed rooted to the spot until they heard the hiccup of someone crying. "Chandelle?" Nadyla called. The noise stopped somewhere to their left. Don and Jenolya glanced at one another and nodded. Don nudged Nadyla then made a gesture with her head.

Nadyla nodded then called out "Chandelle, are you crying?" Jenolya and Don slowly creeped towards a shadow.

"Please say something!"

Just as they were about to grab her, she yelled "SHUTAE NO HANDE SEIN!" There was a blast and they were thrown against a wall.

I even forgot periods! Oh the shame.  At least I can say I've improved?

Critique away friends! Let's see how many horrible things you can catch. (Bet it'll be in the double digits!)

Z is for Zodiac and Zealots

I really like the letter Z. It's another letter that I like to write in cursive, haha. Is that weird? Liking a letter for its looks? I'm so vain. There are also a bunch of words I like that start with Z. In fact, I think that I try to use the words 'zealot' and 'zealous' a lot. Probably more than I should, haha. But it's just so fun!

Now, I can finally use it. I think it's one of those words that people would hate to be called no matter what--I know I would--because it paints such an image. There are few words in my mind that create such a strong picture in my head. And that's probably why people hate it so much. What are some other words that you think have the same abilities?

And finally! The thing I've been waiting for! Zodiacs. I definitely am a lover of astrology and all of its quirks. I like to believe that most of the traits that the zodiacs have are true. I've met plenty of people and seen plenty of relationships personify the traits of the zodiac and their compatibility with other signs. Some of you might just think that I'm making them be there to prove that its real or something, and that's okay! I'd like to think I'm a realist, for the most part. I definitely don't think that it's the only personality you can have or anything.

But, that's getting off topic. For the longest time, I would use  my astrology book to create a base personality for my characters. Not only did it help create their birthdays, it also helped me get into their heads. I could imagine how a Scorpio would think over a Gemini and wham! Just like magic.

This is the only story where I have yet to figure out an astrological sign--a birthday, too--for Ax and the rest of the characters. It's a bit weird, but that's okay. It's worked out just fine, so far.

Do you guys use astrology to help out your writing at all? Or am I a bit odd in this case? :P

Y is for Yuck, Youthfulness and YAY!

First off, OMG YAY THE HARRY POTTER TRAILER IS OUT. ONLY TWO MONTHS AND FIFTEEN DAYS UNTIL IT COMES OUT! I'M SO EXCITED~~~!


Now that that's over with... Majority of us are YA writers, I'm sure, and I know that one of the biggest worries that any YA writer (really, I an include MG with this too--kinda) is having a voice that is too old. You can't expect a 16 year old (or a 12 year old) to have a  24-+ year old's voice! (Just picked a random age with the last bit there.) Even those super mature, "old-souls" have moments that are completely and utterly teenaged. So, how do we achieve a MC that sounds young--and not the type of young that adults think is young.

We all remember being a teen and having our parents use general assumptions of how teens are against us. (I know mine did). I would've never read a book that sounded like that when I was in high school. We have to treat our MC's voice the way a model does their face. The younger it is, the better. (In this genre!)


Informal speech, contractions, a bunch of slang--some ways we can make our voice young, but they don't always work. How do you make your MC's voice sound like a teenager?

Also, just for my own curiosity, what are some things that when you read them, they just make you disgusted? Bodily functions? Gore? Bad spelling? Horrible grammar? Excessive swearing??