On YALITCHAT, I submitted the first 25 pages of DA Book 1 for teen review. 3 responses so far and the feedback has been great. The best part is that one of the reviewers was a guy.

“…Through the whole story I just kept thinking. “Duuuuuude, I would love to read this book, it’s awesome!” I love how the Draven can relate to girls and guys (in a sense). Her life just seems exciting with even a few real details that some kids have gone through…”

Totally made my night.

What I’m loving about this group is that I’m not just getting a small paragraph on what the reviewer thought. I’m getting serious feedback. Feedback that could amount to a 1 or 2 pages worth of suggestions/comments, etc: what could be changed, what doesn’t make sense, what could be added. I LOVE it. These teens are serious about their reading and it shows in their comments. I wish I could submit more, but at least I know I’m off to a good start.

It’s been professionally edited and looked over by beta readers. Now I just have to insert all the feedback.

Technorati Tags: YALITCHAT

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been getting ready for school. Finalizing the Study Contract for my mentored course at Prescott College, signing up for an online class at Rio Salado: Modern Fiction and getting situated with that, figuring out weekly scheduled meetings with my mentor and what day to submit homework…

I’ll be taking 3 classes this semester and I realized that I’m going to be doing a lot reading.

I should be getting Book One back from the editor any day now.
And then there’s the little New Year’s resolution I made about my writing.

School doesn’t officially start until the 11th and I’m already getting that overwhelmed feeling.

I think I just lost my groove.

Crap.

Technorati Tags: Prescott College, Rio Salado

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival”, where YA Highway‘s contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question and answer it in on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

You’re more than welcome to participate! Just answer the question on your own blog, and leave a link to it in their comments.

Topic 3:

Turn your WIPs into Haikus

To be honest, I’ve never attempted to write a haiku. It’s another form of a poem and I’ve never been able to write poems, either. But I’m going to try it today.

DA Book One: A Royale Pain
I got a new name
I got a new life in AZ
I am Draven Atreides, Informant

DA Book Two: A Whole Latte Trouble
Time for assignment Number 2
CoolBeans Cafe is my favorite hangout place
This coffee doesn’t taste right

I would do DA Book Three, but I haven’t started that one yet.

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway

If you’re like me, and work for the government, then you had today off. Mr. Maul wasn’t so fortunate. He only gets the major holidays. Shame.

Friday – Got my hair done. I got my braids taken out on Thursday. It was so past time. And there was so much new growth! My hair was so thick I couldn’t feel the heat from the blow dryer. LOL. Heh. Yeah, it was that thick. But it looks all pretty and straight now. On the way to the beauty shop, I was getting off the freeway and a guy dressed in camos flew by me on his motorcycle. When I caught up with him, he was at a stop light waiting to turn into a strip mall. On impulse, I stopped next to him and quickly thanked him for serving our country. “Thanks, I appreciate that,” he said. Didn’t know the guy personally, and I never even got his name, but I just wanted to thank him, y’know? A soldier will never get tired of hearing that, I’m sure.

Saturday – Made tissue flowers with the girls this morning at The Gurl House. Find out how it went here. After that, I went to Old Navy and proceeded to drop $300 on winter clothes. Mostly sweaters and ribbed long-sleeved turtlenecks. I love turtlenecks. Most I’ve ever spent at one time on clothes (because I sincerely hate clothes shopping), but Old Navy had some good sales goin’ on. Sales on winter clothes. Go figure.

That night, Mr. Maul and I went to Dave and Buster’s to celebrate the birthday of one of our friends. It was a small group this time, but that’s cool. We all had a good time.

Sunday – In the morning, I worked on my Math Essay and did laundry. I’m pretty sure I made this assignment more difficult than it needed to be. I kept asking my teacher questions and tried to get a more concrete explanation on what he was looking for. You know, you’re so used to writing in a certain way: this is the topic, this is how it’s supposed to look, etc. I didn’t want to do it wrong. He assured me that nothing I wrote would be wrong because it was more a “reflective” essay than a summary of what I read. This class was so unstructured and at-your-own-pace that it’s taken me this whole semester to get used to it.

As of right now, I’m done with this class. I think I have my last phone call with my teacher next week and then I’ll have to fill out the Eval for the class. Now, I can work on the research paper for my EIS class. Last week, I turned in my experential project for Math. You can read all about it here.

This afternoon, I met the mentor for one of my classes at a Ladies Who Launch mixer. The woman you see on the home page here is my mentor, Carrie Bliss. Very cool woman. The mixer was at a very cool place in Scottsdale called Crush’d Wine Bar. The sandwich that I had was very good. I’m really glad I took out my braids, because I didn’t want to look crazy with all these other women looking their Sunday best. It’s Scottsdale, after all. I like going to events like this because you always make connections, and I’ll share a few with you:

~ If you’d like to try organic and/or gluten-free cookies, check out Nadja Foods.

~ If you need a virtual assistant for your business, check out Jennifer Randall’s business, My Biz Assistant.

~ If you’re needing a graphic artist who does everything but websites, check out Tanya Gagnon’s business, Miss Details.

Monday – returned library books, finished laundry and should probably be catching up with my HEROES and SMALLVILLE shows, but Mr. Maul will be home soon and will want to jump on and play….some video game. Can’t remember which one he currently has a love jones for. Last time, it was Arkham Asylum. Whatev.

Book Stuff - My first two books, Secrets and Kisses, and Dance Jam Productions will be re-issued through a new publishing house, and they’ll be getting new covers. This is the new cover for Secrets and Kisses:

I like it. It’s colorful, yet simple. What do you think? I’ll debut DJP’s new cover when it comes out. I’m excited. My books have been off the market for a while, but I finally found a new home for them. Yay Booklocker for accepting them.

Oh, and Book One is officially off to the editor now. I’m both nervous and excited about the results.

Writing Movements – I’ll actually be doing some writing this week, minor though it is. I didn’t know if I’d be able to participate in NaNoWriMo this year due to school obligations. But since I’ve now got one class out of the way, I’ve decided to give it a try. This week, a friend is going to help me outline Book Three. Whoo-hoo! Yes, I’m going to attempt it. I’ll post weekly progress reports here. Wish me luck.

We didn’t see any movies over the weekend. I’m waiting for WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE to come out this weekend. So, how was your holiday weekend?

Technorati Tags: Old Navy, Ladies Who Launch, Crush’d Wine Bar, Nadja Foods, My Biz Assistant, Miss Details, HEROES, SMALLVILLE, Secrets and Kisses, Dance Jam Productions , Booklocker, NaNoWriMo, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

When we have 3-day weekends, I always feel a little off. Case in point: I went out to the mailbox and left some mail for the carrier to pick up.

It was Sunday.

For some reason, I thought it was Saturday. Go figure.
Mr. Maul and I went to the movies three days in a row. We saw GAMER, EXTRACT and ALL ABOUT STEVE. Interesting concept about GAMER: people playing people. Gerard Butler was in a game called “Slayers”, but they also had a video game called “Society” that was a real-life version of The Sims. Those are the type of video games I would not want to play. And how about Michael C. Hall (DEXTER) playing a real bad guy? I say real because in DEXTER, he’s a bad guy, but for the good of the public. There was even a funny little dance scene and a surprising—not to mention interesting—cameo from Milo Ventimiglia (HEROES) as a character in “Society”. Saw a couple of good previews, too. One was called NINJA ASSASSIN. And for the life of me, I can’t think of the other one. We saw a preview for A CHRISTMAS CAROL and surprisingly, Mr. Maul wants to see it.

For the record, I had no interest whatsoever in seeing EXTRACT. He had mentioned the movie in passing, saying one if his friends thought it was good. Needless to say, it came as a surprise when we walked up to the window and he said “2 for EXTRACT.”

“EXTRACT? We’re not seeing EXTRACT, we’re seeing ALL ABOUT STEVE.” I said.

“I thought we were seeing EXTRACT. I mentioned that Travis thought it was good,” he says.

“It was a comment you made in passing, Mr. Maul. You said nothing about actually wanting to see it.”

I went along with it, but I was seriously pissed. I think he has little conversations with me in his mind. Maybe he told my “imaginary self” that he wanted to see that movie–or had thought about seeing it–and just forgot to tell me in real life. It was okay, some parts were funny, but I would’ve enjoyed it more if I hadn’t been so pissed. We stopped by Target afterwards and I made him buy me a CD.

Tantric has a new CD out called “Mind Control”. I love Hugo’s deep voice. I have song #6, “Kick Back“, on repeat. I like the chorus:

Show me to rise/rise above/show me how to rise, remember how to love, yourself

And the chorus overlay:

When life is kicking you kick back, don’t be a victim of the mistakes that were made when you were growing up, a young child not taught to be an adult, raise your arms you’re free, don’t have to give it up

Very cool CD. I give it 4 1/2 Snaps.

It’s the second week of school and that overwhelming feeling I got last week is now down to a dull ache. I know what I’m going to be writing about for my Diagnostic Essay and I have a topic idea for my research paper. I’ve told myself to take it one week at a time. It’s the only way that’s going to save me, truly. No more looking ahead. My co-workers and my family are going to see a different side of me as it is, thanks to the schedule I’ll be keeping. No need to freak them out even more, eh? So, uh, yeah. Here we go. Be sure to check out my “learning journals” over at Non-Profitation.

Writing Movements – Still waiting to get a quote from an editor regarding Book One. Hopefully, I’ll be able to send it out the first or second week of October. Revising Book Two has been shelved for the moment until I can get into the School Groove. I’ve been writing content for the Draven site (3 quizzes, actually). I’m in the design queue for the end of Sept, beginning of Oct. Not sure when I’ll start the podcasting, but I’ll be sure to keep you all posted.

So, that was my holiday weekend. How was yours?

Technorati Tags: GAMER, EXTRACT, ALL ABOUT STEVE, Gerard Butler, Michael C. Hall, DEXTER, Milo Ventimiglia, HEROES, NINJA ASSASSIN, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Tantric, “Mind Control”, Kick Back, Non-Profitation

Saturday morning, I spent the better part of the day with my BF. I’d received some info from Prescott College last week. Even though I’m not jumping into my chosen subject right away, they’re already asking you to come up with a tentative course title and flesh out your first mentored class. I was feeling a little anxious about that, so she did a reading. It was very positive. After that, we were able to come up with some ideas. So, first semester will be Math and that Interdisciplinary course (which will basically introduce me to the program), but I guess for second semester, my tentative course title is “Non-Profit Exploration”: Through research, hands-on projects, and interviews I’ll learn what a non-profit is, how to start an NP, and why people go into the NP sector.

Part of the class will be the process of sharing my findings and my wonderful BF suggested a blog. Well, duh. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that first. So, later on that day, I created a blog (Non-Profitation) that will chronicle my journey in getting my degree. I’ll be talking about school a little bit on here, but the bulk of it will be on this new blog. Feel free to follow along if you like. I’ll be posting the link to it in my posts here, whenever I talk about school. Right now, there’s only an introduction, but the real posts will start this weekend (when I attend a volunteer orientation at a local NP) and move forward with college orientation at the end of the month.

Saturday night, Mr. Maul and I attended a surprise going away party for one of our DSG guys. He enlisted in the Army and will be gone for 5 months starting Sept 1st. We had a blast. I didn’t get in the pool, though. Spent most of my time on land, talking about TRUEBLOOD. One of our Biker Scout dudes is a big fan like we are. I think he’s going to be Eric for Halloween this year. He told me I should be Tara. LOL. Apparently, the HBO store has shirts that say Merlotte’s and he thinks I should get one. LOL. I don’t know if I’m going to have my braids then, but it’s an idea. I don’t think I want to be Storm again.

Mr. Maul and I went to see G.I. JOE on Sunday. The best thing about that movie was the shirtless shot of Channing Tatum. Seriously. It didn’t help that the auditorium we were in had projector issues during the first few minutes of a new Denzel Washington movie. It had that post-apocalyptic, Mad Max feel to it. If you saw it, hit me up in the comments section and gimme the deets on that. It looked interesting. Anyhoo, the mgr came in and said they were having projector issues and that it would be a few minutes. He came back 5 mins later and said the issue was beyond their control and we were being moved into another auditorium. It was smaller, and, major disappointment of disappointments, they didn’t show the same previews! Which I totally didn’t get.

Do they show different previews in different auditoriums? If you work at movie theater and know the answer to this question, hit me up in the comments, because I’d seriously like to know. The hubby and I were a little miffed that we didn’t get to see that Denzel preview. And that we had to sit a few seats down from two teenage boys who reeked of smoke. Blech!

In the end, we got a free popcorn coupon for our trouble. Mr. Maul wanted to get a ticket refund and go another time, but I talked him into staying. Now that I think about it, we should have. We could’ve gone after I got back from Volunteer orientation and seen that preview. Not that I’m bitter about that, mind you.

Writing Movements – I’m still looking for beta readers to read Book One. If you’re interested, check out the deets HERE. I’ve sent it two people and only one has responded so far with comments. They’ve been minor, but I haven’t made any changes yet. I won’t do so until I send it to an editor. I’m waiting to hear from one who’s been on vacay last week.

Finally listened to the TRANSFORMERS 2: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN soundtrack. Not as good as the first one, but I like the new song from Linkin Park –of course—as well as the songs from Green Day (21 Guns) and Staind (This is It). The theme song, a remix from Cheap Trick, royally sucked. Wasn’t too impressed. Should’ve ixnayed Nickelback, too. I totally skipped that song. But, The Used did a great rendition of Talking Head’s “Burnin’ Down the House.”

And, of course, there’s the requisite laundry day. 3 loads. I hate doing laundry. I wish I was rich enough to have someone else do it. So, how was your weekend?

Technorati Tags: Prescott College, TRUEBLOOD, HBO, G.I. JOE, Channing Tatum, Denzel Washington, Mad Max, TRANSFORMERS 2: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, Linkin Park, Green Day, 21 Guns, Staind, This is It, Cheap Trick, Nickelback, The Used, Talking Head’s, Burnin’ Down the House

BETA READERS WANTED! Check out this post for details

Saturday, Mr. Maul and I spent the better part of the day at Danny’s Family Car Wash. I spent $157 getting my car washed, seriously detailed, and an oil change. We didn’t get out of there until mid-afternoon. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea because it. was. Crowded. We had intended to see a 515 showing of 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, but when we got there, it was sold out! We didn’t find that out until after we bought the tickets. Instead of going to the counter, we went to the DIY ticket dispenser thingy. I imagine they would’ve told us at the counter, thereby saving us $14. We weren’t expecting a huge crowd for this movie. It’s playing at what I refer to as the “indie” theater. We were given passes, though, so maybe we’ll see it this weekend. It looks funny.

Sunday, we found out that our kitty has a really bad urinary tract infection. Poor thing. She’s trying to use the bathroom and only little drops are coming out. We have to give her “animal penicillin” for the next two weeks. Orally. Twice a day. As in drops. Yeah. Not fun. She acts like we’re trying to kill her. Mr. Maul has to wrap her up in a blanket and then practically shove the syringe in her mouth. This must be what it’s like when you’re trying to get sick kids to take medication. What’s worse is that we have to go back two weeks after this, get the second bottle, and do it all over again. For another two weeks. Needless to say, she is so going to hate us.

Writing Movements – Nothing yet. As you can see by the big notice at the top, I’m currently looking for beta readers for Book One. I’ll be sending it out to have it professionally edited soon. I started the revision process for Book Two, but had to sideline it while doing additional revisions for Book One. When it comes to writing and revisions, I can’t multi-task. I have to concentrate on one thing at a time or it doesn’t get done. Once I send Book One out, I’ll get back to Number Two.

School Daze – I’m preparing for orientation. I have to go to Prescott at the end of the month and I’ve been getting info by mail and email. Two weeks before I leave, I’ll find out my Core Faculty. I’m both excited and nervous. This is a very out-of-the-box experience for me, so I think it’s going to take some getting used to. They’re already asking me to come up with a name for my first class! Yikes! I have a generalized overview of my program, but I’m not quite sure how to break it all down. I have a feeling I’ll be conversing with my BF soon.

OT: TRUEBLOOD is gettin’ good! I’m starting to understand what Maryanne is, but Sookie and Bill need to get their asses back to Bon Temps. There is some serious shit goin’ down!

So, that’s it for me. How was your weekend?

Technorati Tags: Danny’s Family Car Wash, DAYS OF SUMMER, TRUEBLOOD

I am done and done with revisions for Book One! I plan to send this off to have it edited professionally, but I’m also looking for beta readers.

Back Cover Blurb:

A day at the spa can be a “royale” pain.

Sixteen-year-old Draven Atreides has just started a new gig as an FBI informant. Her To Do list includes: adjust to new life, make new friends, and try not to tell said new friends about her secret job.

A French chemist is peddling his “specially formulated” products to high class spas and his latest target is celeb favorite, The Royale Treatment Day Spa. Unfortunately, his products cause some nasty side effects and the results are so not pretty. Just when Draven’s first assignment seems to be heading south, she receives unwanted assistance in the form of Rader Deschanel. What does he want with Draven? Will she be able to solve her first official case without blowing her cover?

WHO I’M LOOKING FOR:

~ YA critique group members
~ YA writers (teens and adults)
~ Book reviewers who review YA novels (teens and adults)

WHAT I NEED:

~ Detailed feedback on what’s not working, what needs improvement, suggestions, etc.

WHAT YOU’LL GET:

~ A complete 42,000 word YA fiction novel to read in MS Word format

~ Your name in the Acknowledgements section

~ A free copy of the book whenever it gets published

~ A chance to beta read the whole series

~ The knowledge that you helped edit a novel

~ Eternal thanks from the author

Contact me at celise[at]celisedowns[dot]com if you’re interested.

Technorati Tags: beta readers

I’m up to Chapter 9 in typing up revisions. In the process, I realized that Chapter 5 had only 5 pages within the chapter. 5 double-spaced pages, that is. Single-spaced would’ve probably been, like, 2-3 pages. LOL.

Nice. Not.

I ended up combining Chapter 5 and 6, so now the rest of the chapter headings are off by one.

Which could be a good thing. The Psych Eval section could be a whole chapter by itself, it’s that long. Well, it seems like it on paper. I could be wrong, but we’ll see.

YOU HAVE THREE MORE DAYS TO VOTE! Enter to win either a $50 or $25 gift card to an independent bookstore in your area. Should I change Draven’s last name? Head over to my FUN STUFF page and give your two cents. For teens only, ages 13-18. Deadline is July 31st, MST.

Saturday, I saw THE UGLY TRUTH twice in one day. It wasn’t a hardship, really, seeing Gerard Butler for a couple of hours. It’s interesting to see how well he can hide that Scottish accent of his. In 300 and ROCKNROLLA, he let it all hang out. But in this movie, P.S. I LOVE YOU and NIM’S ISLAND, he Americanized it a little bit, but the accent still slipped through. I didn’t think Mr. Maul would want to see it, but he surprised me by suggesting it.

Sunday, we went to breakfast at U.S. Egg. My co-worker and sometimes go there for lunch. It used to be called the Blue Plate Brunchery, but now they’re under new management. With a completely different menu. That’s one of the places I like to go that serves breakfast all day long. Sometimes, a burger or a sandwich just doesn’t cut it. We weren’t too impressed with the coffee, but the food we ordered was pretty good. Mr. Maul liked their protein pancakes (blueberries, cinnamon and slivers of almonds are baked into the pancake batter).

We also watched QUANTUM OF SOLACE on Blu-Ray later that night. I think he bought the regular version for me, but of course, this one looks a lot better.
Surprisingly, I have yet to finish typing up the revisions, but I had good writing movement last week: 12 new pages in The Lesson segment. Yeah, it had already been written, but when I was going back through it—and trying to find a place in the novel to put it—I realized I needed to add a little more detail. 12 new pages emerged. Yay me.

So, how was weekend?

Technorati Tags: THE UGLY TRUTH, Gerard Butler, 300, ROCKNROLLA, P.S. I LOVE YOU, NIM’S ISLAND, U.S. Egg, QUANTUM OF SOLACE