Writers' Chasm

I've been pretty busy lately. Writing, driver's training, editing, etc. 1. I had my first on-road driving yesterday. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I have the inexperienced driver mistakes: speeding, braking too late or too soon, trouble driving in a straight line. But I did a lot better than I thought I was going to do. Don't drive again until next Saturday in the morning. This time we're doing some city driving. 2. I stopped reading Misery by Stephen King. Got rather...disturbing so I gave up on reading it. Then I went to the library on Thursday and got a whole bunch of books. I started Before I Die by Jenny Downham and just finished it today. Awesome book! I'm going to post a formal review later. 3. I didn't get any writing done this weekend. After my driving lesson I went to my cousins' house and didn't get home until this afternoon. Assassin's Wife is coming along slowly at the moment. 4. Right now I'm watchi...

Wow it's been 9 days since my last post already? Oh, no wait today's the 21st. That's ten days... I've been so busy lately; the time just passes so fast. I've started driver's training. Yep, started yesterday. No driving yet, but we might start Thursday and definitely this weekend. Sometimes I've excited about that and sometimes I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack from nerves. In fact, that's where I'm going in a half hour. On Thursday I saw the new Harry Potter trailer. Three letters: O. M. G. If you love Harry Potter and haven't seen it, GO WATCH NOW! It's the best trailer yet and I've seen them all. It made me want to drive to Hollywood and beg continuously to see the movie now. It's also coming out two days early. I'm trying to get my mom to take me to the midnight showing on opening day. :D So far it looks like she's going to say yes. Updates on my writing next: Andra - Received my 10th rejection yesterday. ...

I finished Shipwrecked last night. :D I am ecstatic! Final word count is 50,000 words. It's on break for a while so I can catch up on my reading and editing. No new projects until I get Black Diamond edited. Unless hits me over the head like the magic idea frying pan. Then I might start something new. Updates: Andra - Being submitted to agents. 7 rejections so far. (No I won't tell you who they're from. Do you really need to know?) I've got 6 more out that I'm currently waiting on. The rejection isn't actually that bad. In comparison to the waiting that makes me want to rip my hair out and check my inbox every hour. Ah, well. Only takes one agent to say yes, right? Black Diamond - Was on hold while I was writing Shipwrecked. Now that that's done I can go back to editing him. Even though he probably will never see the light of day. I am not really sure what my new project will be after I finish editing BD. I have a list of ideas, but nothing that's grab...

I haven't talked about my writing in a while so now would probably be a good time. It's going pretty well. Andra - With her third beta. I'm guessing one or two more revisions and then I'll be sending her out to agents. I'm actually looking forward to querying. Not really sure why, since most queries end with rejections. I'm crazy. :) Black Diamond - finished for the second time after a flash drive accident caused me to lose the ending. Still resting up for first edit which I'm probably going to start today. Shipwrecked - Going very well. I lost 10,000 words in another flash drive accident the Friday before last, but I've caught up again. Currently standing at 28,000 words. Thieves - On hold indefinitely. I have a few other projects that I'm thinking about starting instead since I'm not entirely sure where this one is going. But nothing new has been started. I have three main projects that I'm considering, but nothing concrete. I'd like to...

Went to the movies and saw Race to Witch Mountain. *spoilers ahead* Very awesome movie. Good acting, good graphics, good plot. And I will say that the part where Seth stands in front of the car and it blows up around him is very, very awesome. You just have to route for the aliens this time. They strange thing about the movie is it begins with all the footage of supposed "actual" UFO sightings. Which apparently there is a lot more of than I was aware. Ending = amazing. I am not ashamed to admit that my eyes may have "watered" a little bit when the alien kids left. You just have to miss them even if they are going home. So if you haven't seen it, I recommend it.

I just finished "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. Very awesome book! I definitely recommend it to anyone that hasn't read it. Basically, it takes place in a world divided into 12 "districts" and headed by the Capitol. Every year the Capitol takes one boy and one girl from each district and forces them into an arena to fight to the death in an event they call "The Hunger Games". When Katniss's twelve year old sister is selected to fight in the games, Katniss volunteers to go instead. Hunger Games is written in present tense, which I do admit takes some getting used to, but is very well written and is the kind of book I HATED to put down. Even for a minute. The ending is a huge cliffhanger, but there is a sequel planned to come out on September 1st called Catching Fire according to: http://www.scholastic.com/thehungergames/about-the-book.htm . Which I can't wait for!

That's right! Black Diamond is now complete at 36,000 words. It's off on a short vacation before I do a major overhaul. It definitely needs some fleshing out in places. I'd like to at least get it over 40,000 words. Shipwrecked has hit a small wall. I know what needs to happen I just need to figure out what the scenery looks like between start and destination. I have set a self-imposed deadline for querying Andra. It has to be fully edited by April 3rd which is the last Friday before Spring Break for me. That way I can query over spring break and anxiously await responses. :D Thieves is on hold indefinitely. Honestly, I'm really not sure where he's going. I'm thinking about taking a look at my ideas list and seeing if anything catches my eye. Though I should be concentrating on Shipwrecked, my beta reading, and that pesky thing known as "school".