Archive for the 'Book Two' Category

November 18, 2009 | A Whole Latte Trouble,Book Three,Book Two,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Road Trip Wednesday,The Family Jewels,Writer Moment

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 #7:

What songs represent/influence your WIP?

I wish I could say that I have a really cool playlist for my books. Or that I hear a song and think, “Wow, I can picture my character kicking someone’s ass right now.” If only it worked like that for me.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t.

I have to write in complete silence. This probably stems from the fact that my parents made my older sister and I do our homework in silence: no T.V., no radio, etc. When I started writing in the 7th grade, it just carried over. I’ve even tried playing soft music like Enya or Vangelis. And, yeah, that’s a no-go, Mission Control.

Funny: when I’m listening to music, and it’s my favorite song or a song I like, I picture myself singing it. Like at karaoke, in a video, or live in a front of an audience. And I sing it like it’s my song, y’know? It’s funny. This is what happens when you have an overactive imagination. LOL.

HOWEVER, starting in Book 2, Draven will pick up this odd habit of humming/singing while she’s, um, concentrating on something. She loves Motown–which is different from what her friends listen to (R&B)–but the type of music that helps her, um, concentrate, is a little outside what both her and her friends normally listen to. Something she’d never admit to, so this should be fun. And no, I’m not going to tell you. You’ll just have to listen in when I start doing podcasts.

So, in that way, I guess songs do influence my WIP.

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway, Enya, Vangelis

October 21, 2009 | A Royale Pain,A Whole Latte Trouble,Book One,Book Two,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Road Trip Wednesday,Writer Moment

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

September 8, 2009 | "Whoa whoa I gotta go...back to schoooool...again",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,Music Queue,School Daze,The 4-1-1 on Me,Weekend Wrap-Up,Writing Movements

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

July 6, 2009 | A Royale Pain,Book One,Book Stuff,Book Two,contests,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Movie Queue,The 4-1-1 on Me,Weekend Wrap-Up,Writing Movements

It’s Monday and I’m sooooo tired. Three days off was not long enough. Mr. Maul and I went to a DSG 4th of July party. The theme was South Pacific. As in the musical. He downloaded it last Friday so we could get ideas on what to wear. Needless to say, it was really, really, really, hard to get past the first cheesy song: something about dames. LOL. And the crazy-ass Technicolor themed scenes. Sometimes it appeared as though whole one whole scene was filmed in fuschia. Or yellow-gold. Yeah. crazy. So, Mr. Maul and I ended up going for the more “military” theme and wore camo shorts and tanks. We had fun. I didn’t hear or see any fireworks, though. Mr. Maul had too much fun and I ended up driving home (I don’t drink so I’m always the designated driver) and we didn’t get home until around 3-something. We were supposed to go see PUBLIC ENEMIES over the weekend.

That didn’t happen. At all. Not even on Friday and we had that day off. Didn’t feel like doing anything on Sunday, that’s for sure, and I don’t know why we didn’t see it Friday or Saturday. If anyone saw it, please give your review. I’d be interested to hear what you thought about it.

And I did laundry. Nothing more I can say about that because, well, it’s laundry.

Writing Movements – no writing last week. I know, I’m such a bad authoress. I should be diving back into revisions for Book Two, but I have yet to incorporate those other sections I wrote into Book One. I need to do that. I’ve been procrastinating. Over the weekend, I talked to a fellow DSGer about podcasting. I’ve been on the fence about this series in regards to the publishing route I should take and this dude gave me something to think about. Speaking of the series…

You still have plenty of time to vote on whether or not I should change Draven’s last name. Go over to my FUN STUFF page and vote. There are two chances to win. The deadline is July 31st. Remember, only teens can vote

Tomorrow night, Mr. Maul and I are going to see Beyonce (aka Sasha Fierce) in concert. Section B, Row 8. Not close enough to see her pores, but close enough to see her sweat. Close enough to see a wardrobe malfunction. Close enough to see her trip and hope she doesn’t fall into our area (if that were the case, I’m sure Mr. Maul—and a bunch of other guys—would lunge to catch her). LOL. This should be interesting.

So, how was your holiday weekend?

Technorati Tags: South Pacific, PUBLIC ENEMIES, podcasting, Beyonce, Sasha Fierce

May 19, 2009 | A Royale Pain,Book One,Book Stuff,Book Two,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Movie Queue,The 4-1-1 on Me,Weekend Wrap-Up

Saturday, I did a little local research. Book Two takes place at a venue here, but the business that was there moved and another business, the same type, took up residence.

Did you get all that? LOL

I wanted to check it out and see what had been done. It’s a more modern look on the inside, but I was impressed. They still kept the “local artist” vibe.

Sunday, Mr. Maul and I spent the day at his best friend’s house. J’s parents were in town, E’s (his wife) parents came over, as did her sister and brother-in-law. They brought their two kids. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten in a pool, but it was the perfect day for it and the water was great.

We were celebrating birthdays, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. There was tons of food and E bought me a gift: $15 GC to The Body Shop, with a beige sparkly clutch purse filled with Body Shop samples. I’m a huge fan of The Body Shop’s body butter. That stuff is da bomb! I usually get the Moringa scented body butter, although I sincerely miss the Sesame one.

No movie watching this past weekend. At least, not the kind in the movie theater. I finally got a chance to see GET SMART though, which I did miss in the movie theater. All I have to say is….Tango Scene. I could NOT stop laughing during this scene…or after. Steve Carell was hysterical. It was cute movie. I liked it. Friday night, while Mr. Maul was out hangin’ with friends, I watched a movie called GIRLFIGHT with Michelle Rodriguez.

I have yet to see her in a feminine role. She’s very tough and tomboyish and those types of roles seem to suit her. She seems like she good kick ass, take names, and steal your boots, y’know? The movie is about her character training to become a boxer and in the process, falls in love with another boxer at the gym where she trains. It was nothing on the scale of MILLION DOLLAR BABY, but more of an indie flick. I really enjoyed, although I missed a good portion of it to go out and get dinner.

That’s it for me. How was your weekend?

Technorati Tags: The Body Shop, GET SMART, Steve Carell, GIRLFIGHT, Michelle Rodriguez, MILLION DOLLAR BABY