Archive for the 'How coolio is THAT?' Category

November 24, 2010 | Creative Soulery,How coolio is THAT?,Life in General,The 4-1-1 on Me

One of the many things I love about being a creative soul is meeting another creative soul (this happens so rarely, I’ve decided to create a new category). Babendude and I went to dinner at a place that is quickly becoming a favorite: BLISS/REBAR We saw it on a news segment one day about a month ago and went down the same day. We’ve been there about 4 or 5 times now. This time around, we got to know our waiter, Bryan, a little bit more.

Turns out he’s a writer like me.

And he’s releasing a new piece next month, Section 1138: The Adventures of the Parallels. Isn’t it cool? Agent Apple Tree looks fierce, doesn’t she? For all you comic book fans out there, be sure to get over there and get in on the ground floor. And support a fellow creative soul while you’re at it.

I’d been sitting on the fence for a while now about what route I should take for publishing the DA series.

After talking with Bryan and checking out the site for his upcoming comic book, I think I’m leaning towards the graphic novel genre. I think it would be kinda cool to see Draven in Technicolor. It would mean a lot of re-writing of the first two books. And it’s possible that I could eek it back out to 6 from 4. If I made the novels small enough.

It would also mean of lot research, more writing classes (Gah! Like the ones I’m taking now aren’t enough), and some trial and error (more trials, very light on the errors, please). Talking to Bryan about his work and writing in general, I was so envious. He has one job, works 25 hrs a week…and spends most of his time writing!

I WANT THAT LIFE! Can I put that on my Christmas list?

I wish, wish, wish, I could do that but the only way I could is if I played the lottery. And I don’t. Even when it gets ridiculously high.

But I digress.

Meeting and talking with another Creative is like getting a hot poker in the butt. I get a little more jazzed, a little more stoked, a little more…inspired. And that’s always a good thing. At least to me, anyway.

But it also let’s me know that I’m on the right track when it comes to that degree I’m working towards and that I really need to start making more creative connections.

I seriously need to get out more.

Technorati Tags: BLISS/REBAR, Section 1138: The Adventures of the Parallels

September 16, 2010 | "Whoa whoa I gotta go...back to schoooool...again",4th Semester,Book Stuff,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Fall 2010,Fundraising,How coolio is THAT?,Intro to Fiction Writing,Life in General,Mentors,Prescott College,Rio Salado,School Daze,The 4-1-1 on Me

Today mark’s the official start of the fall 2010 semester at Prescott, but I don’t start my classes until Monday.
This semester, my two classes are:

Fundraising and Resource Development

Intro to Fiction Writing

The first one is a mentored course, and I feel I’m going to be learning a lot from Maureen Baker, manager of Individual Giving and Events at the Musical Instrument Museum. The other is an online course at Rio Salado College and by the end of that course, I will have completed a short story. Short stories were never my forte, but I’ve decided to try again. The DA series has a few little in-between stories that could be told and the best way seems to be in the form of a short story.

So, just like the GREASE song lyric states, it’s time for me to go back to school again. Join me for the ride.

Technorati Tags: Maureen Baker, Musical Instrument Museum

September 6, 2010 | 3rd Semester,Creative Writing II,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Financial Mgmt,How coolio is THAT?,Life in General,Mentors,Prescott College,School Daze,Summer 2010,The 4-1-1 on Me

Edit: I received the signed mentor eval for my CWII course: and it’s an A! Woot!

Happy Labor Day! Today officially marks the end of my summer session. I survived 3 classes. Barely.

Sustainable Financial Mgmt: A+

Creative Writing II – Revising Your Novel: Not sure yet. My core faculty hasn’t signed the eval yet.

Advanced Children’s Lit: C+ (despite being a writer, I’m not good at writing nonfiction. Essays and research papers suck!)

The first two were mentored courses and the last one was an online course through Prescott.

THANK YOU’S:

Georgia McBride, founder of YALITCHAT, for being a great CWII mentor. I learned so much from her and will be able to carry it through to my future books. Even go back to DA Book One and work some magic there.

Chantal Sheehan, former-CFO-now-Executive Director of New Global Citizens for being my Fin Mgmt. At one point during this course, I felt like I probably should’ve taken a basic accounting course before jumping in to this class, but she still did a great job. I’m looking forward to working with her with her again in spring 2011.

Thank you ladies for taking the time out of your busy, busy schedules to mentor me. My experience with you will be utilized in the future. I swear.

I have a 12 day break before the fall semester starts up again and I plan to enjoy it. From here on out it’s going to be 2 classes per semester. That means my grad date will be pushed back to about summer 2012, but I don’t care. My sanity will remain intact. And Babendude with thank me for it. LOL.

Technorati Tags: Georgia McBride, YALITCHAT, Chantal Sheehan, , New Global Citizens

June 27, 2010 | Adv Children's Lit,How coolio is THAT?,Life in General,Reading is FUNdamental,Sunday Scribblings

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

After reading Shel Silverstein’s autobiography for my ACL class, I would life swap with him. But only certain parts:

~ Endless travel

~Homes in different places

~ Camping out in the conference room of my publisher to take over the production of my book (if I was going the traditional route, that is) and have people be on Celise Patrol (glorified gofers that would bring me whatever I needed)

~ Worldwide adoration of YA fans

~ To have ideas come so ridiculously often that if I don’t have any paper around, I have to use what I got–whether it be my arms are the tablecloth at the restaurant where I’m eating.

~ To leave a million dollar legacy that includes: continuing royalties, books translated in 20 different languages and sold well over 20 million copies.

~ To know that I lived my life to the fullest, doing what I love most, and not have any regrets whatsoever.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings, Shel Silverstein

May 20, 2010 | A Royale Pain,Book One,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,How coolio is THAT?,Life in General,Random Thoughts,The 4-1-1 on Me,Writer Moment

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