Writers' Chasm

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. This Week's Topic:    Inspired by Stephanie Perkins' post on Natalie Whipple's blog , what is your novel's "Love List"? It took me a bit to decide which WIP I wanted to make the list on (I have one in revisions and one I'm writing). This is the one in revisions, In the Night.  Dragons Spanish mythology Fairy tales Fantasy-obsessed boy Bookstore Smell of old books Cliff jumping Lake Superior First kisses New friends Family Drawing Nymphs Small city Woods Love Swords

This week's topic: What author's career would you love to emulate? This was a really, really tough one for me. Every author had to go through a lot to get to where they are today. Even if their journey started out smooth, it didn't stay that way. I think it would be easier to choose an author who's career I wouldn't want to emulate than choose one I would want to. But if I had to choose one, I think it would be Lisa McMann. Or Anna Sewell. Or Suzanne Collins. Or S.E. Hinton. See, I told you this would be hard. So why those authors? Lisa McMann and Suzanne Collins because they're amazing YA writers. Anna Sewell because she saw a problem and wanted to fix it. Hence Black Beauty. S.E. Hinton because her work is still being read today. She was 16 when she wrote The Outsiders. It was something new to the time period. But to me, it was the start of Young Adult literature. I wouldn't really want to emulate any writer's career. I think I'd rat...

I apologize in advance for the horrible-ness of my limerick. I am not good with fixed verse poetry. Or really any kind of poetry. There once was a girl named Camryn Who was forced to go to Sunrise Camp. She met an Irish boy Who taught her to love And turned her careful life upside down. This is for Three Days. I didn't realize until I was halfway through that the LI is Irish. Then I thought it was hilarious and I had to do TD for my limerick. Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone!

It's a beautiful snow day over here this morning! :) Which means time to relax, kick back, and frantically try to catch up with everything on my to do list. Each week YA Highway asks a question on their blog and then each of the contributors post an answer on their individual blogs. This week's question was: What's your favorite display of affection in a YA? This can be of any sort--romantic, friendship, family, etc) Wow. I almost had more ideas for this one than I did for the book covers. There are just SO many awesome choices! These are my top five: WARNING: There are some minor Deathly Hallows spoilers in number one. But if you haven't read the book yet and care about reading spoilers, then just go read the book. :D No, seriously, READ IT. 1. Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Come on, you knew it was coming. From the moment they became friends to the end of the seventh book, they were a team. They went through everything together (except for the brief hiatus fo...

This week's question at YA Highway is: Topic #14: What are your favorite book covers? This is a hard one. I tend to judge books more on summary than I do covers, but let me see if I can think of some. So I started making a list of all the book covers that I can remember and love -- being able to remember it off the top of my head already means it must be good -- and the list turned out to be a lot longer than I expected. When all was said and done, I had forty-one choices. I didn't even know I remembered that many book covers! ? Anyway here are my top ten in no particular order: Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan This is the hardcover version of Lightning Thief's cover. I love this cover and I've always loved it. The cover was the second thing I saw when I picked up the book and I already wanted to take it home. It's almost worth paying extra for the better cover. You can't tell on a computer screen, but the cover is sleek and shiny. Fade by Lisa...

This week's topic from YA Highway was: Topic #13: What book(s) do you love that no one else has ever heard of? This is a tough one for me. There aren't a lot of books that I love and can think of off the top of my head that no one's heard of. My writer friends severely limit the possibilities. :D This book I thought of was the last one I read, The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman. The prose in that book is just gorgeous and I didn't want to put it down. Also the Thoroughbreds series by Joanna Campbell. These were my main source of satisfaction for my horse addiction when I was younger. I have a bunch of them waiting in shelves and totes for the day I can go back and enjoy them once again. These books make me laugh, cry, and even both at the same time. There's one that I never finished because I was crying so hard I couldn't keep reading.

I planned to post Graceling review today, but auto-post is refusing to listen to me so I'm going to push that back to next Thursday and join in on YA Highway 's blog carnival instead. Because this is more fun. Also I'm procrastinating he large amount of work that I have to do since I skipped school today on account of the snow. 1) What are the three best books you've read this year? Wow...Um...Well I'd say Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins is definitely in the top three. Also The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan which was by far the best book in the Percy Jackson series. And either Wake by Lisa McMann or Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers or Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen. I've read too many good books this year to even remember them all. 2) If you could meet one author (living or dead), who would it be? J.K. Rowling. I mean, who wouldn't? I have SO many questions that I'd ask her. 3) What book are you most looking forward to in 2010? Oh de...

It's that day of the week again! But first some random ramblings... I got my hair done yesterday! Well, I got it thinned and trimmed so it really doesn't look much different. I'm going to go straighten it soon and I can't wait to see how it looks. :D Also, if I disappear tomorrow, it's not because I'm dead. It's just because I managed to get my hands on Catching Fire and I'm barricaded in my room reading it. I'll try to get my Thursday post done in the morning... Writing has not gone at all well in the last week. I'm not really sure why, I've just been so stressed out about everything that I have difficulty writing and Hannah doesn't seem to be very happy with the direction that I want to take her story. She's so stubborn sometimes... My best day of writing was Wednesday with a measly 894 words. My worst days were Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (I have an reason for not writing Saturday though) with 0 words all three days. Destiny: Stat...

REVISIONS ARE FINISHED! :D Just finished a few minutes ago in fact. Okay, now that I'm done squealing, let's see how things are going... I didn't have a very good morning. I woke up from a somewhat great dream that made me mildly depressed, had a headache most of the morning, and then found out that Mine that Bird has been scratched from Saturday's Travers (where I expect Quality Road will outclass most of the field) and Nicanor is on 60 days turnout rest for an injury. Anyway...it's really hard for me to tell which day was my best and which was my worst because of the revisions. I didn't do a lot of writing this week, even when I did have time. My best day for writing was, of course, last Wednesday when I finished Destiny with a 5,571-word writing spree. My worst days were Friday and Monday with no words both days. My best days in terms of revisions were Friday and Saturday with five chapters each. Last Wednesday was my worst with only three, but I think I shou...

And it's that time of the week again. It's been a pretty good one. I'm about ready to kick the laptop this morning though. It's being very slow and I almost had a panic attack this morning because I thought that I'd lost everything that wasn't backed up, or at least everything I did last night. But thanks to Word's Autorecover I managed to save everything and it's all backed-up now. I had a pretty decent week this week writing wise. My best day was yesterday with 4,108 words and my worst days were Saturday and Sunday (but I have excuses for those days) with 0 words both days. Last night I went on a total writing roll. I remember looking at the clock around ten-thirty and then the next time I glanced down at it it was midnight. Destiny: Status: Progressing slowly Last week: 69,000 words This week: 72,000 words (I decided to knock off the polished part since I'm concentrating on the rewrite and my beta's disappeared again) If you'd asked me a ...

Ahhh WW. Until yesterday I was sure that I was going to have very disappointing progress to report and then it just sort of took off. Hoping the same thing happens today. I don't have anything random to say, other than the fact that whenever I start working I usually get distracted by my masochistic desire to look at horse classifieds. I found out that my favorite horse sold, but came across a very beautiful gray Irish Draught mare. She wouldn't fit my mom's bill, but she'd be perfect for me.... Anyway... I've had a strange itch to work on Shipwrecked and her sequel lately. I'm not allowed to until I at least finish Destiny's rewrite, but Maria's starting to get bored. As much as I want to tell her and Dylan's story, I have to put it on the sidelines for now. I've had a very lackluster writing week. I went from the writers' block of last week, to a busy weekend, to a rather severe writing depression. My best day was yesterday with 1837 words...

This is going to be a short post since I haven't actually done much writing in the last week. So let's allow me to have a quick fangirl moment over horse racing. EEK I saw Rachel Alexandra's Haskell victory last night! AMAZING! And I can't believe Mine That Bird lost the West Virginia Derby. I didn't want him to go the same way as Giacomo, but it looks like he might be headed in that direction. Gosh I hope the match between Rachel and Zenyatta happens. Who's bright idea was it to hold the Breeders' Cup on a synthetic track two years in a row anyway? Everyone root for Gangbuster in tonight's Cougar II Handicap! If he wins, I'll be on cloud nine for a year. Sorry about that. If you didn't understand any of that, then you don't know horse racing like I do. Which very few people I know actually do... Anyway (yes I might need to start a blog for my horse racing fangirling) let's get back to what today is actually about. Now that it's Augus...

Can't honestly say that was my best birthday. Because it definitely wasn't. I was on a writing roll and then my annoying mother (who seems to have a habit of yanking me away from the computer whenever I'm on a roll) made me go into town with her. So we could buy her a bathing suit for this weekend's to the water park (for my birthday) and tennis shoes. We went to the bookstore where I spent about twenty minutes trying to decide between ordering Handcuffs or buying Graceling, I'd Tell You I Love You, or Wake since I was only allowed to get one book. I ordered Handcuffs since I'm not going to be allowed to read anything else until 1984 is done. Mom and grandpa spent the entire ride home talking about politics (which is a depressing subject in general at the moment.) We went home and I have an email from my brother and sister-in-law who have a baby girl that's just seven months old. My brother's been laid off and my sister-in-law's coworker has cancer ...

After finishing beta-ing an amazingly awesome full and catching up on blog posts, it's time for WW again... I've done quite a lot of writing over the past week, mostly on Andra. My best day was Monday with 3,969 words (I seriously thought I might've had a chance to finish Andra that day, but didn't even come close) and my worst days were Wednesday and Thursday of last week with 0 words. Andra: Last week's count: Polished at chapter 6 and 45,000 words This week's count: Polished at chapter 6 and 54,000 words As you can see, Andra's been growing very well lately. Unfortunately I haven't seen my beta in almost a week so polishing has slowed to a stop. I've polished it myself through chapter 9, but I don't consider it complete until I've had it beta-ed as well. The query that I've been working on somewhat has been declared complete and ready to be sent as soon as I figure out a new title. If anyone has a suggestion, let me know because I'...

This is my 50th post! *cue applause, streamers, and those fun and slightly annoying party noisemaker thingies* If you get this post at 9 am (my time of course, EST. Which I think is like 6 am PST and 8 am whatever time zone Chicago's in...) that means either my scheduled posting is fixed or I'm on a Monster-induced writing spree and stayed up all night. My review of Half-Blood Prince will be up later when I wake up enough to write one. There WILL be spoilers and either angry ranting or fangirl screaming. Or, depending on how last night went, some of both. Okay, on to writing which is today's normal topic... I've decided to remove my word count goals after a wonderful twiftie pointed out that they're quite pointless if all you're doing is trying to reach word count and not caring what you're actually writing like, ahem, I have been known to do. But I'll talk about that subject later... I've started setting goals for each day and then keeping...

I've got advance tickets to the midnight premiere of Half Blood Prince!!!!! Sorry, had to say it. I'm fangirling right now. :D (That is going to be a word someday.) Oh and Push and Knowing are both out on DVD! Knowing I've been dying to see, Push I want to see but have been avoiding because I'm still working on Andra. Okay writing...I haven't done a lot of it lately. I'm determined to get some work done this week, but it doesn't seem to be working. Andra - Wrote 3,500 words on it Friday. I'm currently 800 words into chapter 15. Hoping to get some writing and polishing done since my beta's returned. Assassin's Wife - No change in word count. I'm still stuck on what the letters in Taryn's cabinet say. No Kissing - Wrote 300 words on it Saturday night and went to bed after I decided they all sucked. Am trying to figure out Aislinn. She started out as a minor character and she's determined not to stay that way. But she's a complicated...

Ahhh it's Wednesday again. And the first of July! Which means only 3 more days until the fourth and 14 more days until Half Blood Prince comes out! I saw a new clip for it on youtube this morning. *fangirl squeals* It rocked! On to writing... Andra - Finished rewriting chapter 11 finally! I had a random idea that allowed me to get past my writers' block. This whole section is outlined on little note cards so I don't forget any scenes. Now I just need to get up the passion to write it out. My goal is to polish chapter four today (something that's been on my To Do list for a while) and write at least 1k. I gave up my attempt to not obsess over word count and brought the word count display back so I can make goals and give updates that way. :) Assassin's Wife - 12,000/75,000 words - Stuck. I'm a little bit stuck here with this one. I know what needs to happen, I just can't figure out how to write it. No Kissing - 10,000/50,000 words - Stuck. I got past a major ...

I'm so tired right now. I was up until 1 am last night on half a can of chocolate frosting and a bottle of Sierra Mist. I had an all night write planned, but it didn't happen. First it was writers' block and then I started looking at horses for sale in my area and found one that would be perfect for me and my mom. If we only had $2,800. I've been a bad person lately not posting on Friday and Monday. I developed an obsession with an old TV show that's as old as I am, the Nanny. I watched all six seasons in four days. They just don't make shows that good anymore. It's also on for one hour at 11 pm EST on Nick at Nite every night. My new TV obsession is Secret Life of the American Teenager, but I'm all caught up on that show and looking forward to the new episode Monday. I won't be able to see it until Tuesday unless my mom goes out though. She hates that show even though she's never even seen it. The season premiere -- which came out Monday and I ...

It's Writing Wednesday again. I think. It is Wednesday, right? *checks date on computer* Yep. It is. :D During the school year what day of the week it is is important. Because, you know, on Tuesday it's three more days until the weekend. On Friday it's counting down the hours until that two days of freedom. But during the summer it's just, 'what day is it? Oh, really? Cool.' It doesn't matter if it's Tuesday or Friday or Monday because pretty much every day is the same. Wake up, do whatever it was you had planned that day, go to sleep. I watched Prince Caspian last night (yes, this is important. To me). I love that movie. Yes, I cried when they had to leave. Just like I do every time I see that movie. But I can't help it. Who doesn't love Ben Barnes? (unless you're a guy I suppose) ANYWAY getting away from Ben's wonderful hair in that movie... Andra - Rewrite is now on Chapter 11. I'm kind of stuck especially since I'm not 6 chap...

Hmm this week is going by very slow. I bet the time goes by really, really slow until July 15th (HBP release) and then starts going really fast. Exactly what I don't want to happen. Ah well. It's been a quiet week around here. Just been cleaning and writing and catching up on my beta reading. Andra - just finished chapter five rewrite this morning! Going to start on chapter six probably tonight if I have time. My ultimate goal is to have the whole thing rewritten, beta read, and polished by July. That gives me twenty days. Depending on whether I actually go anywhere and how much cleaning my mom makes me do, it's possible. I'm trying very hard not to rush it, but it's hard knowing that I'm probably going to be gone for two weeks in August with limited computer access for checking my inbox. Shipwrecked and No Kissing - been debating putting these two on the shelf. Shipwrecked because it's so juvenile and NK because if Shipwrecked was that way, it probably wi...