Missed two days of writing last week, but I still got 16 handwritten pages in. The rest of it was previously written material. Not too bad. Not sure how many typewritten pages that turned out to be, but I was able to submit the 1st 30 pages for my CWII class. Here’s hoping I have better movement this week

Still stuck in Chapter One. But I was able to crank out 5 pages. It’s 12 pages long, but probably won’t type up like that. And I’ll still be using already-written stuff.

Today was definitely a good day.

I’ve started the revision process for Book 2 yesterday for my CWII class. 4 pages yesterday, 3 pages today. I don’t consider that bad. My goal, whenever I’m in Writing Mode, is to write at least a page.

Normally, I would be doing this on my breaks and at lunch. But since I have two other classes, I’m writing during my hr lunch. Not so much at home. Yet.

The 1st 30 pages are due next Thursday. Hoping to have a better day tomorrow.

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

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 #28: What photos inspire your books?

I can honestly say that the only time I use photos for my books is when I’m trying to describe something. I didn’t do this with my first two books, but found the need to do so with the DA series.

This apartment complex inspired Draven’s living quarters. I went there, photographed the outside, and even toured an empty apartment, writing down everything I saw. Everything I saw ended up in the book.

The Portland Square apartment complex on Portland Avenue had been the first complex Ty had shown me my second day here, and I’d fallen in love with the open floorplan at first sight….

….On the street level is the parking garage, a City of Phoenix police sub-station, a small gym, a reasonably priced restaurant, and a sandwich place. A dog park with wrought iron benches sits in the middle of the street, like a median, and spans the whole length of the street, from Central Ave to 3rd Ave…….

…..As I take the elevator to the 4th floor in building C, I can understand why we’ve never run into each other. The complex has 410 units, 4 levels in each, and the three buildings take up three blocks….

Formally known as The Willow House, this coffee/deli shop was the inspiration behind Draven’s favorite hangout, CoolBeans Cafe. It’s under a new name, new management and totally looks different now. But again, I went there, ate, took pictures of each room, and talked to a couple of the employees (who worked there at the time) to get the story about the place.

Located in a cute historic house, CoolBeans Café is a coffee/deli place and a popular hang out for the students at Craycroft. Rader is already waiting in line. After paying for snacks, we walk around the converted house, past the kitchen where Vanessa hands out food, and check out the porch. Then I take him back to one of three non-smoking rooms.

“Do all the rooms have a theme?” he asks as we sit down.

I grin, knowing he’s thinking that because of the room where I like to sit. I refer to it as the Mother Nature Room due to the paintings about saving the environment and Mother Earth. The books on the small bookshelf are about natural healing, saving the environment, and nature.

“They have poetry slams on Thursday nights and open mike nights out on the porch on Mondays. I’ve yet to go to one, but I’d like to sometime,” I say, removing the lid from my strawberry yogurt and stirring it with a spoon.

“Definitely sounds like an experience. The closets are so small, but it’s neat how they made them into display cases for all that stuff.”

“Yeah, I never would’ve thought of doing something like that.”

He points at the walls. “Are the paintings from local artists?”

“Yep. So’s the merchandise. The books are from estate sales.”

“Nice. So, you come here a lot?”

“Everyday, actually. In the morning for breakfast and sometimes for lunch.”

He nods. “So this place used to be a house?”

“Uh-huh. It’s been a coffee shop for about eleven years. The ladies that run this place, Jules and Van, told me it used to be a real estate office, a pet shop, a knickknack store, and a karate studio.”

Do I sound like a travel brochure or what? Gawd, just shut up and eat your damn yogurt.

The school that Draven goes to, Craycroft School of the Arts, was inspired by the high school my niece graduated from: Metropolitan Arts Institute.

When I first started writing Book One, I took the day off and “shadowed” her. Very fun and very cool (everyone thought I was a new student. Shock abounded when her classmates found out I was her aunt…and a lot older than I what I appeared to be. LOL). The school is in a former office building. There’s no cafeteria–only a break room type of room with two vending machines and a refrigerator–no athletic teams and the former offices are now classrooms. The whole time I was there, I was wishing I had gone to a high school like that.

I’ve never used pictures for my characters. My niece (the girl in the pic) is the inspiration behind the DA series and the character of Draven. Draven’s friends, as well as all the characters from my first two books, are based on everyday people. People I’ve met, maybe people I’ve worked with, or people I saw from just people-watching. When it comes to creating characters, I’ve never been the type to search for pics or tear pics from magazines. It’s always been just people I see and writing down what I see.

So, what about you? Do you use pictures to inspire your stories? Do tell.

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway, The Willow House, Metropolitan Arts Institute

Today officially ends the Spring semester.

I made it through another semester without having a little breakdown.

This is good.

Kristi Edwards, North-Central Region advancement officer for the Arizona Community Foundation, and the Director of the Yavapai County Community Foundation, was my mentor for my Nonprofit Explorations course. The only mentored course I had this semester. Being a newbie in the NP world, she gave me a great overview of the NP sector in general, so now I have a better foundation–no pun intended–for the other courses in my degree plan. She was a wonderful mentor and I look forward to working with her again in the Fall for my Fundraising course.

I turned in my mentor evals and now I’m waiting for them to be signed. I get a whole month off before the Summer session starts. And, unlike my first two semesters, it’s going to be balls-to-the-wall 3 classes up until graduation in Dec next year.

No more whining about feeling overwhelmed.

I’m just going to have to suck it up and remember to breathe.

This summer, I’ll be taking:

~ Creative Writing II: Revising Your Novel mentored by the wonderful Georgia McBride, founder of YALITCHAT. I’m so looking forward to this class because I’ll be working on revising the first 100 pages of DA Book 2. A novel that I finished a while back, and started to edit, and then…stopped. So, it’ll be nice to revisit that story.

~ Advanced Children’s Lit: an online Moodle course through Prescott College

~ Sustainable Financial Mgmt mentored by Chantal Sheehan, COO of local nonprofit New Global Citizens. I met with her this evening and got a really good vibe from her. I think it’s another good mentor/mentee match. This organization is doing wonderful things with youth, so I’m very much looking forward to gleaning all I can from her.

Can’t wait to get started.

Technorati Tags: Kristi Edwards, Arizona Community Foundation, Yavapai County Community Foundation, Georgia McBride, YALITCHAT, Chantal Sheehan, New Global Citizens

I’m going to enjoy the summer session more.

Possibly.

Okay, I’ll enjoy it more-ish.

Because I’ll be taking Creative Writing II: Revising Your Novel

This is one of the many courses I created and had to find a mentor. And it’s one of two I created that will satisfy the Humanities portion of my degree.

The creative writing course will give me a chance to revise the first 100 pages of DA Book 2 and I’ll have the wonderful Georgia McBride, founder of YALITCHAT, as my mentor. Whoo-hoo!

We’ve already created a Study Contract (not a real contract, more like a course contract: what the class is about, what I’ll be learning, what I’ll be doing, etc) and we’re going to work on a syllabus next.

Did I mention that I was looking forward to this course?

Can’t wait to get started.

Technorati Tags: Georgia McBride, , YALITCHAT

Friday night, Babendude and I went on a date. We’ve been trying to incorporate date nights either Friday or Saturday nights. The goal has been dinner and a movie, but it seems that we get thru the dinner portion and don’t really feel like doing the movie thing after. LOL We’re too full and a bit tired, I guess. So, it’s just been dinner. Sushi at Kabuki. Hey, that rhymes! I think if maybe we tried date nights on Saturdays, went to the movie first–an earlier showing–and then dinner afterwards, we’d be good.

Saturday, we ate breakfast at our usual place. And at this point, let me just say that we eat at Ron’s nearly every weekend. Unless I have a hair appt or he’s hanging out with his BF, we eat there nearly every weekend. And it’s worth the wait, lemme tell you. On our way up there, we kept passing signs for a model home furniture sale, so we decided to check it out after breakfast: 5,328 sq ft, 3 beds, 3.5 baths, garage with loft, a play room for the kids (apparently the kids were aspiring actors because the room had a little theater stage. Complete with velvet curtain and an area to change. Too cute), the master bedroom had a serious walk-in closet and the use of skylights was fabulous. It was just an absolutely beautiful home. And they want $2.3 for it. Yikes! Looks like it might’ve been worth it. “This would be too much for us,” Babendude says. “I’d like something like this, but on a more townhouse-condo scale.” LOL. Indeed.

In checking this place out, I got better ideas for Book 3. The people that Draven are investigating needed an understated-yet-expensive-looking house to live in. Done. And the Mom needed a better job than the one I’d originally created for her (antique store owner): luxury home staging. Done. I love it when this idea shit happens.

Later that afternoon, we attended a Welcome Home/Marine Boot Camp Graduation for my niece’s boyfriend.

Aren’t they the cutest couple ever? Her shirt says “I love My Marine”. Isn’t Mr. Blue Eyes handsome? He’s more manly-looking now and he really does have abs of steel. I playfully popped him in the stomach and nearly broke my fingers. Just kidding. Really, though, boot camp buffed him out quite a bit. I’m sure he’s the only recruit who thought boot camp was fun. His job is bulk fuel and he’s going back to Camp Pendleton for 29 days for…something with acronyms. And after that, he goes straight to VA for job training. All that separation is probably going to kill my niece, but I guess she’ll just have to go visit him more often. Or move there.

While we were at the picnic, my niece told me that my nephew was in a play. But he didn’t tell anybody! My niece found out, like, Thursday, and went to see it Friday night. He couldn’t come to the picnic because he had to rehearse all day and at the last minute, Babendude and I decided to check it out. It was a musical and he sings pretty good. And, just like GLEE, he plays football and gets teased about the acting/singing gig from his teammates. Although he hasn’t been slushied. Yet. LOL.

Here’s the cast:

And me and my nephew

Yes, he’s wearing eyeliner. And no, he’s not high. He just hates getting his picture taken. LOL. He did a really good job and even had some funny parts.

Sunday, Babendude hung out with his BF for a little bit. During that time, I went to see THE BACK-UP PLAN

I like when J. Lo does romantic comedies. She’s got great comedic timing and even does a little physical stuff, too. One thing I do have to say is that she does not have pretty feet. Whatsoever. Just sayin’. Anyhow, a friend and I were saying that it really depends on who she’s paired with. Her work is good and the work of the “love interest” is good–separately–but if they’re not good together, then the movie as a whole doesn’t work for me. For instance, J. Lo and Ralph Fiennes (MAID OF HONOR) didn’t work for me. I like Ralph and I like his work, but I didn’t like him paired with her. I wasn’t feeling a connection. Probably because Ralph doesn’t normally do romantic comedies. He’s a pretty serious actor.

On the other hand, J. Lo and Matthew McConaughey (THE WEDDING PLANNER) worked. Matthew’s got a few romantic comedies under his belt, so it was a good pairing. J. Lo and Alex McLoughlin (he’s an Aussie! With a fab bod!! So you know the accent has gotta be sexy) made a good pair for this movie. Alex may look familiar to you, if you were a fan of his vampire detective character, Mick St. John, in the short-lived series MOONLIGHT. I really wish that show had been given a chance, but since it was on Friday nights, well…and apparently, he was on another short-lived medical series, THREE RIVERS, playing a doctor, but I never watched it. It was on Sunday nights and well, normally that’s TRUEBLOOD/DEXTER/HUNG/THE TUDORS night in this household. LOL.

Later that afternoon, we went to see THE LOSERS.

All I’ve got to say is…Chris Evans is H-O-T and funny. Case in Point: the elevator scene. Hi-larious. If you’ve seen it–or plan to–then you’ll know what I’m talking about. During this marathon of movie watching, I saw trailers for only two movies that I’ll end up seeing: SHREK FOREVER AFTER (OMG, Puss’n'Boots. LOL) and BEASTLY (with Vanessa Hudgens). Looks like the teenage version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

Whew! Enough about me. Really. How was your weekend?

Technorati Tags: Kabuki, GLEE, THE BACK-UP PLAN, J. Lo, together, Ralph Fiennes, MAID OF HONOR, Matthew McConaughey, THE WEDDING PLANNER, Alex McLoughlin, MOONLIGHT, TRUEBLOOD, DEXTER, HUNG, THE TUDORS, THE LOSERS, Chris Evans, SHREK FOREVER AFTER, BEASTLY, Vanessa Hudgens, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

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

Deadline.

That’s a word we writers use a lot.

Most of us don’t like it. *raises hand*

The rest of us think it’s easy-peasy. *sticks out tongue and blows raspberry* Yeah. That’s how I feel about those people.

Whether you’re a self-pubbed writer–*raises hand again*–or a traditional writer, we’re all besieged by deadlines. As a self-pubbed author, however, you’re pretty much accountable for setting and meeting your own deadlines. There’s no one there hovering behind you (well, unless you’re part of an accountability group) or send you little reminders that it’s coming up or you’re way past it.

For the longest time, I was on the fence about going traditional. I would wobble back and forth so much, you’d think I was Humpty Dumpty. My first two books are self-pubbed and I was thinking about going traditional for the DA series. I’ve since decided to stick with the self-pubbed route and one of the reasons is deadlines.

Seriously.

That may sound lame to some, but not to me. And I’ll tell you why.

I know my limitations as a writer. I write slow and my Creative Mojo doesn’t work on a consistent basis. And by that, I mean one day I can make page goal and the next, I’m struggling to pull words from my noggin. A deadline dictated by someone else reminds me of those timed essays we had to take in English. I hated those. I can feel myself getting stressed out by just writing that.

I like writing under my own time, my own steam, not someone else’s. I like the idea of writing at my own pace and not having to worry about rushing. Because at that point, the writing feels forced. And when it feels forced, it’s no longer fun. It becomes a “have to” not a “want to.”

As a self-pubbed author, I do set deadlines for myself. They may be farther out than other writers, but again, I know me. And the only person accountable for those deadlines is me.

I’m not part of an accountability group.

I don’t have a crit partner.

And I’m not part of a crit group.

Like Beyonce says, it’s “me, myself and I”.

And for now, that works for me.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings, Humpty Dumpty, Beyonce

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

So, I looked up the word.

Seriously.

I’ve heard of it, but have never ever heard anyone use it in a sentence. LOL. It’s such an old-fashioned word. Who would even use it in today’s society? So I looked it up and liked the second definition:

a power or process of transforming something common into something special

I would use this definition to describe what I do. I transform something common into something special. Miz Rinda Elliott, I think this needs to be on a shirt.

The Writer’s Alchemy: We transform something common into something special.

You make it, I’ll buy it.

When I was young, I used to talk to myself. I used to have long, in-depth conversations. No, I didn’t have an imaginary friend. No, no one ever answered back. And no, the conversations were never two-sided. I don’t remember what the conversations were about, but I bet they were damn good. It all starts with an active imagination.

My first book, Secrets and Kisses, is a twist on one of my favorite 80′s TV shows, 21 JUMP STREET.

My second book, Dance Jam Productions, is 50% reoccurring dream and 50% real-life. Once I wrote it, I stopped having the dream.

The main character from my YA series, Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant, is based off of my then 16-yr-old-now-20-yr-old niece.

Writers are a unique breed of people who utilize our own brand of alchemy. We take bits and pieces of this and that and Poof! Voila! Abracadabra! a full-length novel appears once the smoke clears.

Yeah. I’m diggin’ it.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings, Rinda Elliott, Secrets and Kisses, 21 JUMP STREET, Dance Jam Productions