May 11, 2009 | A Royale Pain,A Whole Latte Trouble,Book One,Book Stuff,Book Two,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Movie Queue,Random Thoughts,Revision Heaven,School Daze,The 4-1-1 on Me,Weekend Wrap-Up,Writing Movements,writing workshops
I think this was the best weekend over. On Saturday, I spent the day with SARK. Not just the two of us, although that would’ve been hella cool, but me and about 29 other people. Two of whom were men. She was conducting her Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper workshop and it was FAB.U. LOUS! I love this woman. She’s my favorite author. I have a nice little collection of her books. I always feel uplifted and inspired after being around her. Her workshops are very creative (and I mean that literally because she has you writing, drawing, collaging, etc) and interactive. You get up, walk around, meet other people, interact with other people, do group activities…Did I mention this workshop was fabulous? If you love this author, too, then you need to attend one of her workshops. The money will always be worth it. She signed my book and a couple of Mother’s Day cards for my Mom and sister. Very cool.
Sunday was Mother’s Day, as you know. With my family, it’s a ritual to go out to breakfast. Our usual restaurant is Village Inn, but the one we always go to was closed down. So we invaded the Coco’s near Scottsdale Fashion Square. I say invaded because there was 16 of us!!! Me and Mr Maul; my sister, her husband and their 4 kids; my parents; Jackie and Brandon (long-time family friends), their son Mario, and their daughter Nikki, her hubby James, and their 2 daughters. Technically, it was 17, but one of Nikki’s daughter’s is an 18 mo old baby. We had a great time. I hadn’t seen my 15 yr old nephew since his final football game and that was in…Feb? Long time. He’s getting so tall and his voice is getting deep, too. It’s just a trip.
Sunday afternoon, Mr. Maul and I went to see STAR TREK. I was never really a fan of the shows or the movies. I would catch episodes here and there, but never watched them religiously. Unlike my Dad, who was of the old school Star Trek. I think he watched some of the other shows, too, in all their different incarnations. The only actor from the original series was Leonard Nimoy, which was pretty cool. The actor that portrays him in this movie, Zachary Quinto, plays Sylar on the TV show HEROES (one of my fav shows, BTW). And he did a really good job. Odd cameos: Tyler Perry (the guy behind those Madea movies) and Winona Ryder as Spock’s mother. Really weird seeing her. Anyhoo, we liked it. I thought J.J. Abrams did a bang-up job and I hear another movie is already in the works (per Leonard Nimoy). For those that don’t know the background stories about the main characters, this movie kind of did that for you: for instance, I had no idea that Spock was half-human. Nor did I know that Kirk’s father was the captain of a ship….for only 12 mins. Sad story, that. Or that Kirk was named after his grandfathers. And I still have no idea what Uhura’s first name is. It was mentioned real quick in the movie, but when Kirk said it, Spock talked over him (it was a funny moment, really), so I didn’t catch it. But I have a feeling it was unique, I would’ve liked it, and would probably use it as a character name in a future story. LOL.
Writing Movement – Revisions for DA Book 2 are coming along nicely. I’m almost done with Chapter 5. Here’s a funny: we had an hr for lunch on Saturday, so I took the MS along to edit. And I discovered that Chapter 5 contained only 3 pages. 3 pages made up Chapter 5. LOL. I don’t know how that happened. Maybe I got sidetracked and thought I was done, so when I went back in, I created a new chapter and kept on going. Needless to say, Chapter 5 will be combined with Chapter 6. And I can tell, just with the chapters I’ve done so far, I’m not moving the story along too well. I can hear my beta reader saying “There’s too much Poe and Rico.” I may leave it as is for now and just wait for the comments later.
For weeks now, I was making the announcement that Book 1 was going to be released Oct 23rd, during Teen Read Week. Then last month some time (or it might’ve been earlier this month), I rescinded that date. The reason for that, simply put, was that I changed my mind. I thought I was going to go the same route as I did with my first two books and then decided not to. I’ve decided to dip my toe back in the traditional pool—again—but on a smaller scale: small presses, no agent. On Friday, I went to Barnes and Noble on my way home and spent close to $50 on books. I bought three romances (of course) and the 2009 Writer’s Market. So, in between revisions for Book 2 and Book 1 (whenever I decide to send it to an editor again), I’ll be making a list of small presses to submit to.
I also signed up for NaNoWriMo this year. I’m going to try my hardest to write Book 3 during that month. Notice I said ‘try my hardest’. By then, I will have started school—and possibly my 20-week volunteer mentor program—so it’ll be interesting to see how I’ll juggle all that. Within the coming months you’ll be seeing a new blog post title: Writing Thoughts. Unlike my Random Thought posts where I talk about, well, random things, Writing Thoughts will be about writing, in all its forms: from query letters to NaNoWriMo.
This should be interesting.
So, how was your weekend?
Technorati Tags: SARK, Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper, Village Inn, Coco’s, Scottsdale Fashion Square, STAR TREK, Leonard Nimoy, Zachary Quinto, HEROES, Tyler Perry, Winona Ryder, J.J. Abrams, Teen Read Week, Barnes and Noble, 2009 Writer’s Market, NaNoWriMo
Suzy :) says:
Hey there! I just wanted to say “I’m BACK!”
Between Frank getting sick and needing surgery (four months there). A roadtrip to Arizona (6 weeks that was). And now, my being sick (add another 6 weeks). It’s been A LONG TIME since I read any blogs.
This week I went into my bloglines and cleared the que. Just erased all the “new posts” to read (with a slight feeling of guilt) and decided to start again. So, basically, I have NO CLUE what you’ve been up to for the past six or seven months, but I’m back now and I’ll be popping in.