Archive for the 'DA Series' Category

February 13, 2010 | "Whoa whoa I gotta go...back to schoooool...again", 2nd Semester, Book Stuff, DA Series, Dance Jam Productions, Draven Atreides, LAS, Life in General, Nonprofit Explorations, Prescott College, Random Thoughts, School Daze, Secrets and Kisses, Spring 2010, The 4-1-1 on Me

If it seems like I’ve been MIA from the blogosphere and only posting a couple of times a week, it’s because I’ve been up to my hairline in school stuff. I realize it’s been a while since I’ve done a Weekend Wrap-Up. For a while it’s because there wasn’t much going on on the weekends. I should get back to that, seeing as how this weekend should be blog-worthy. Although, New Years was blog-worthy, too, and I didn’t blog about that, either. Go figure. So, let me catch you up on what’s been going on.

I was taking three classes, but then dropped the Modern Fiction course at Rio Salado. I guess I wasn’t into is as I thought I’d be. I figure I’ll take up a Creative Writing course at a later date. I’ve also been working on a community project for one of my other courses (which I’ll officially announce on Monday) and that’s overshadowed just about everything. That assignment involved a powwow with my BF and grew into something worth “squeeing” about.

I knocked out one of my New Years Resolutions last month by joining a gym: 24 Hour Fitness. I’m currently taking 2 dance fitness classes a week and let me tell you: that first class was. A. Killer. The 24Dance is on Monday nights at 530, so I basically go there straight from work. It’s all different types of dance—salsa, jive, hip-hop, bellydancing, etc. Seeing as how it was my first time, I didn’t stretch out. And paid for it two days later. By the time the Zumba class rolled around on Thursday evening, I was no longer sore. Of course, that comforting thought ended after an hr in that class. I could barely walk the next few days. Everything hurt and my body was saying things like “Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. Stop. Moving.” But I was sleeping good. Sleeping like the dead. And I had more energy. Now, a month later, I think my body’s gotten used to the high-intensity-heart-pumping classes and I’m no longer sore. Ar least, not as much as I used to be. I think I may be even losing some weight.

In the midst of all this, I tried to join a writing accountability group. “Tried” being the key word because I only did it for 2 weeks. This group was going to help me balance my writing life with my real life. We posted daily goals each week, but by the second week, I was already starting to see a pattern: 1) I would forget was I was supposed to be doing each day and 2) When I was supposed to be concentrating on writing DA3, I would think about something I had to do for school. During this 2 week period, I was feeling a little depressed and was carrying around this…raging anger. I was holding all this in and it was affecting my interactions with my manager at work.

The group itself wasn’t making me feel this, by no means. Part of it, I’m sure, was because of Auntie Flow’s Monthly Visit. The main thing was that I had inserted something new into my life and it wasn’t working. Once again, I was getting overwhelmed. My writing felt forced. I needed to take stock. Even though I was excited and hopeful about being a part of this group, it was just a case of wrong place, wrong time.

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Technorati Tags: 24 Hour Fitness

February 9, 2010 | A Whole Latte Trouble, Book Stuff, Book Two, DA Series, Draven Atreides, Life in General, Sunday Scribblings, Writer Moment

Today’s word of the day is brought to you by Sunday Scribblings: Message

This is an excerpt from DA 2: A Whole Latte Trouble. It’s the first draft, has yet to be revised, so it’s a safe bet this journal entry by Draven will be taken out. Enjoy the snip while it still exists.

from the moment i agreed to work for The Company, i knew it would be the most best kept secret of my entire life. even when Chief went over the details of my new job at our first meeting, he told me it would have to be kept a secret. several times. in the form of a subliminal message.

“all of your living expenses will be paid for by The Company dont tell anyone and you will be given a monthly allowance of five hundred dollars dont tell anyone for your incidentals.”

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings

January 10, 2010 | DA Series

I thought of generating some buzz for the series and have decided to podcast it. I’ve got some questions for you all:

1) Should I post the podcasts here, on my author site?

2) Should I post the podcasts on a DA series blog?

3) Should I post the podcasts on a DA series website?

Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated. And if you know YA authors doing the same thing I am, please direct me to their sites. I could use all the help I can get here, people.

January 10, 2010 | A Whole Latte Trouble, Book Two, DA Series, Draven Atreides, Sunday Scribblings, Writer Moment

Today’s word of the day is brought to you by Sunday Scribblings: EXTREME

I’m having fun using bits and pieces of my novels for this thing. I rifled through DA Two: A Whole Latte Trouble for this one. Enjoy.

“And my grande Caramel Latte Cick? I’ll die without it,” he adds.

My eyebrows shoot up. Okay, that’s a bit extreme. And something Poe would probably say. Go figure. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that Marcus Jackson has screwed himself over. The last thing he needs is police crawling all over this place, digging into his business. Especially if they discover he’s doing more than just laundering money.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings

January 1, 2010 | "Whoa whoa I gotta go...back to schoooool...again", Book Stuff, DA Series, Life in General, Reading is FUNdamental, School Daze, The 4-1-1 on Me

Resolution Update: I took the initiative with Resolution #2 and got a membership at 24Hour Fitness. Much pain cometh.

It’s that time again. Time to reflect on your life, lament the things you should’ve done, give yourself a pat on the back for things you did. I can’t seem to find the resolutions I’d made for 2009, so I don’t know if I was able to mark anything off or wince and say “Okay, well, maybe next year.” I made it easy this year with a real easy title. So, without further ado, here’s my resolutions for 2010:

~ Write more on the daily – I only seem to do this when I’m in Writing Mode. I think I should be in Writing Mode more often and get into the habit of writing on one or both of my breaks.

~ Take a dance fitness class – I got hooked when I attended a few classes here, but got discouraged because a) it’s so far away. With traffic, it would’ve taken me over an hour and I’d only be there for 45 mins and b) the classes I wanted to take didn’t fit into my schedule. However, in doing research for Book 3, I found a place that’s closer and at a more reasonable time.

~ Find a YA crit partner – I’m so jealous every time Rinda talks about her crit partner. If I could find one person like that, whom I could trust implicitly with my work, I would be golden. So, uh, if you write YA Rom/Coms and/or mysteries and looking for a crit partner…holla

~ Finish writing Book 3 by June and start Book 4 by Sept – I’m not like other writers who put Speedy Gonzales to shame in the writing dept. I know what my limitations are and that gives me a little leeway. What I would like to do is just get through the whole series first–first rough draft–then go back and edit all of them. Just the idea of having them all “in the bag” would be a nice weight off.

~ Read more YA – I mean, hell, it’s the genre I write. So I should read more, right? I’m working on it. Really I am. I have a few in my TBR pile.

~ Try NaNoWriMo again – A fresh new story. No series, no outlining, pantsing all the way.

~ Be more green – I use eco-friendly cleaning products, eco-friendly laundry detergent, feed our cat organic food, use a couple of organic kitchen towels, and use energy-saving lightbulbs. I’m going to try and incorporate more, though. With help from Eco Mama and The Eco Diva, two blogs I read on the regular, I should have no problem doing my share to minimize my carbon footprint.

~ Offer up some Free Reads – I’m going to try my hand at writing flash fiction and/or short stories. I’ll either add another page to this website or create a separate blog space and display them there.

~ Get through this year of school without any breakdowns–mini or otherwise – Ahem….okay, moving on…

~ Travel – If there were rules for writers, one of the requirements should be traveling: “You are not a legitimate writer unless you’ve traveled to at least 3 places.” Or something like that. There are several places I want to visit–both in the US and internationally. I’d like to try and plan two trips a year: a small one in-state and then a big one out of state or country.

So, these are my resolutions. I should probably print this out as a reminder or something. So, what are your resolutions for 2010? Post your answers or link to your blog post in the Comments section.

Technorati Tags: 24Hour Fitness, Eco Mama, The Eco Diva