Writers' Chasm

44 MORE DAYS UNTIL HALF BLOOD PRINCE!!! I saw the clip on TV Sunday and now I'm more excited that ever! It looks like it's going to be the best movie of the year. I'm serious. :D I had a bad headache today, so I'm probably not going to get any work done tonight. :( Now onto my Monday article. Saturday I began rewriting Andra. I just decided that it wasn't good enough to be queried, but it's such a great idea that I don't want to just give up on it. So I began the long process known as rewriting. So if you were wondering why there was no Snippet Saturday, it was because I was absorbed in my rewrite. Why did it take me so long to start the rewrites even though I've been thinking about it for about a month now? Because I though it would be hard. Listening to everyone else describing their rewrite experiences doesn't much make you want to start, but I did. And it wasn't as bad as I thought. I knew Andra was getting better from the very first paragrap...

It’s been a long week. Only five more days until school’s over…Just five more days to get though. And two of those are exam days. Ahh the end of the year. I got my learner’s permit yesterday and the first drive home did not go all that well. I was driving an SUV for the first time (I’m used to small cars. Like the Impala) and I completely misjudged the speed and width of my driveway. According to my mom I was very close to going in the ditch. I suppose the important thing is I did not go in the ditch, but it scared me and now I’m not in a hurry to drive again all too soon. Plus my mom has decided to turn my relaxation before exams weekend into a cleaning spree weekend. Which means not only will I not be relaxing, not be at my cousin’s watching Valkyrie, not be writing, and not be doing any of the other long list of things that I need to be doing, I shall be cleaning. Enough about me, onto the news of the blogosphere. Events: The winners of the purple prose contest have been ann...

It's been a long week...oh, wait, it's only Wednesday. :( Just two more days until the weekend. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. I have an essay due tomorrow that I'm supposed to be writing right now. I'll get to it, promise. Yesterday my mom lost her job. Again. And tomorrow we're going to get my learner's permit. Oh joy. Writing... Andra is much the same as last week. I'm still on chapter three. As soon as I get this essay done, I have some critiques that I must go through for it. Shipwrecked is on hold. I'm still waiting for two beta's critiques and I'm considering asking for another. As soon as I get one back, the serious overhaul will begin. Assassin's Wife is finally out of the mud and coming along slowly. It's quite dark so I don't like to write it much right now. Life is depressing enough without having to hurt Rebekah too. No Kissing is coming along very slowly. I'm not exactly sure where it stands at the ...

Happy Memorial Day everyone!!! I'm probably not leaving the house, but I'll be thinking about all those soldiers that gave their lives for their country. And it's Monday again...which means tomorrow I have to go to school. But at least I only have four days this week. That's an upside, right? I watched all the HBP (Half-Blood Prince) trailers, clips, and featurettes on IMDB yesterday. 51 MORE DAYS!!!! I can't wait... Friday night I watched Taken with my family. Really good movie. I also added Valkyrie and 12 Rounds to my long list of movies to watch. Saturday night I watched Paul Blart - Mall Cop. Hilarious! I read this news story yesterday. It's about a man that held up traffic for five hours while he threatened to commit suicide. So someone went up through the police and pushed the guy off the bridge. But according to the story he survived and wasn't really intending to commit suicide. Yesterday was my rest day from running so today it's back to it. A...

Hmm I think this is the first time I've shared anything from my novels on my blog. This piece is from Andra. Quick overview: Claudia is the MC and Selma is her best friend. Selma has recently discovered that she can converse with plants and told her best friend. In their world, you have to be very careful what you say and do because there is a special police force ready and waiting to punish anyone that breaks the rules. “Where’s your mom?” I asked, setting my bag down in the kitchen and looking around. Her house looked very similar to mine. Only the absolute essentials, all jumbled together in no particular arrangement. The house looked like its occupants were falling behind on the cleaning: dirt covered the floor and there was a thick layer of dust everywhere but the countertops where food was prepared. “Working.” She dropped her bag to the floor with a loud crash. “Now come on.” She half-ran out the door and dropped to her knees in the grass. She stroked the grass with her finge...

And once again we have Writing Wednesday. At least I'm on time this time. Even though I'm tired and itchy from the poison ivy I think I have on my right arm. I suppose you didn't really need to know that though... 11 days until school's OVER! Yeah, I'm excited. I'm so sick of physics, history, homework, getting up early, spending eight hours doing practically nothing, stupid assignments that I'm never going to use again... If anyone knows when I'm going to need to know who all the presidents are in order plus all their vice presidents, term dates, and political parties, in real life, please let me know so I can motivate myself to study for the test the week after next. :) Okay, writng now... 1. Andra is completely edited through chapter three now. So I still have to read through the last 11 chapters, get critiques on the last 15, and then give it one last readthrough. I'm thinking September. At this rate, Andra will be my entry to Amazon's 2010 ...

I was thinking about what to write tonight and got this idea. Now I enjoy writing fanfiction as much as the next fanfic writer. I'm writing the next chapter for my favorite fic right now. It gives me instant gratification and allows me to exercise my writing creativity with someone else's characters. I love writing with my own, but sometimes it's just fun to borrow someone else's for awhile. It's like taking your best friend's new car for a spin around the driveway. You'll bring it back, but it's just fun to enjoy the moment. (Not that I've ever taken my best friend's car for a spin since I still can't drive alone legally.) If anyone has ever thought "I wouldn't do that. I'd write the ending like this..." then that's what it's like to be a fanfic writer. But fanfiction is all fine and dandy until someone goes a step too far. Take the recent announcement of "Russet Noon" a fan-written sequel. Now Russet Noon...

It has been such a long week! Only nine more days until summer vacation. It's going to be a long nine days. Ahh well, at least it's Memorial Day weekend. I'm not going anywhere interesting, but I'll be glad to get some rest. I've started running every day in an attempt to be fitter and hopefully try out for track myself next year. That's going well though who knew spending an entire winter inside the house on the laptop and then suddenly starting to run every day would make your legs so sore... I was actually in a writing mood this morning. Unfortunately said writing mood hit while I was in History and, now that I have time to write, is gone. Here's the News of the Writing World. Events: The QueryTracker Blog is running another contest in celebration of Querytracker's second birthday. The objective is to write a sentence with the purplest prose you can. The grand prize is a free subscription to QueryTracker. Look here for more details. And if you don...

Hmmm I haven't posted in a while. To tell you the truth, I don't have that many ideas of what to post. So if you have any questions for me post them in a comment and I'll answer as best I can. And if I can't answer, I have a lot of wonderful writing friends that I'm sure could. :) Saw 17 Again. Such a cute movie! So funny and there was a lesson in there somewhere I'm sure. And if you'd allow me to have a teen girl moment, Zac Efron is hot. Admit it. Sure there are hotter guys out there *coughcough* Ben Barnes *cough* but you have to admit he's up there. I'm so getting it when it comes out on DVD. And NOT because he's hot either! Today I had my last day of driving. Yay me. That means I can get my permit very soon and start driving with my mother. Oh joy. Driving on the expressway is fun though. 70 mph in a straight line, YEAH! Um...there was something else... oh yeah, Harry Potter 6 is now being advertised on TV. I am so going to watch it at midni...

Yeah I forgot about Writing Wednesday until just now. So I'm having it on Thursday. While listening to "You Belong With Me" at top volume. This is the best song and video EVER! Seriously, I listen to it at least twice a day. Usually more. Andra - Edits are going slowly. I'm estimating that she will be back to querying by the time I go back to school in September. Shipwrecked - was on hold until Andra's edits were finished. I'm not so sure about that now. Thinking about doing some editing on this one. It's looking pretty promising and might be my summer query project with a little work. Assassin's Wife - I am so stuck! I need to open this one up and just stare at it until inspiration hits me like a frying pan to the head. No Kissing - is rolling after a short period of writers block! I actually wrote a page today and as soon as I come up with a title for a fake date movie, I'll be writing some more tonight.

I finished Uglies Thursday morning and I'm just now writing up the review. Tsk tsk. I also got Pretties on Thursday afternoon. I haven't started it yet, but I will soon. As usual, there may be spoilers. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld First in a series of four so far: Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is ugly. Summary: Tally is about to turn 16, and she can't wait. Not for her license--for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellant ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there. But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world--and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst...

GeminiWisdom had a question and I decided to answer it with a post in case there are anyone out there with the same question. "Did you write all these stories at the same time? Are these novel-length? How did you find beta readers?" No I did not write all of these stories at the exact same time. I'd be some sort of freak if I did that. Andra came first. Took two months to write, four months to edit. Black Diamond was started next, with Shipwrecked started soon after. Shipwrecked was finished first and then Black Diamond. I like to have two WIP because when I have writers block for one, I can usually work on the other. Of course if I have writers block for both then that whole system just falls apart. :) I do commonly have more than one editing and writing project going at once though. Like now. Andra is definitely novel length. It started at 100,000 words and currently stands somewhere around 87,000. I'm hoping to get it down to 80,000 before querying continues. Some ...

A few random thoughts first. :) My internet has gone insane. Yesterday it didn't work at all. Tonight it flickers off about every five minutes, but at least it's working. Somewhat. I have a new favorite song: You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift. If you like country music or Taylor Swift and you haven't heard it, GO NOW! Seriously, I love Taylor Swift and this is my favorite song that she sings. The video is so cute! I also passed the written part of my drivers test today! With an 83%! Which means I have two more weeks of driving lessons and then my first part of drivers ed is over and I am officially able to get my learners! The Bolt review is coming! Eventually... Okay on to the point of Writing Wednesday...writing! Andra - Is on hold. I hate the draft I was querying and have decided to do a full edit on it. Once that's done, then I will start querying again, hopefully with better results this time. Fourteen straight rejections are a little wearing. Black Diamond - I...

So last night I went to bed around 1 am or so. I was laying in bed, thinking about totally random things, and then an idea popped into my head like they love so much to do. So I found my notebook and pencil and a light so I could see and wrote it down. The writing was going so well that I actually got up and turned on the laptop which I usually hate doing. I already have two scenes written. I would have more, but I forgot the third scene I wanted to write in the time it took to get the laptop on and type up the other two. My characters do not yet have names because my internet wasn't allowing me the chance to get online and find them. But here's the general idea: A young, 16-year old girl is not allowed to kiss anyone until she finds "the one." It's going to be a lot of fun to write. I can tell. :) No Kissing is a YA romance with a lot of humor mixed in. I can't wait to go back to writing it. So, on that note, I'm off to find a name for said teenager so I ...

Right, sorry. Time just flew away with me again and I forgot I need to write up this review. Just remembered so I'm back to do it. And, yes there will be spoilers... Before I Die by Jenny Downham Inside blurb: Everyone has to die. We all know it. With only a few months of life left, sixteen-year-old Tessa knows it better than most. She's made a list, though--ten things she wants to do before she dies. Number one is sex. Starting tonight. Butting getting what you want isn't easy. And getting what you want doesn't always give you what you need. And sometimes the most unexpected things become important. General Comments: The book is amazing. It's first person present tense which really works for this particular story. How can it be in past tense after all when the teller dies at the end? Plot: I haven't read many stories about dying girls; this was my first. But it was amazing. Just the whole idea of the list. Characters: Tessa is the main character. I really empat...