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

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.

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 #36: What would your ideal writing desk look like? Right down to the perfect pen or laptop.

I’m going to take Kristin’s lead and say that my ideal writing zone is not just my desk, but the place where I write. Right now, my office is too cluttered and crowded. I write in their under duress.

I guess it’s a good thing I’m not claustrophobic because I would freak out every time I go in there. Even when it’s cleaned up, it still looks crowded. My ideal writing zone would look something like this:

In the three-story townhouse we rent, my writing loft sits on the third floor next to the half bath. Light floods the room from three windows covered with organic daisy-patterned curtains. My desk made of natural wood stands sentry between two windows and supports the HP All-in-One desktop. Mid-size drawers lovingly protect mechanical pencils, spiral notebooks, and other writing essentials, while a hidden cabinet keeps my printer from view; a comfy black office chair made of recycled material cushions the body of a creative being. A blue chair and matching ottoman squats in one corner waiting for its contemplative use, and a floor-to-ceiling natural wood bookshelf spanning a whole wall–maintains a writer’s addiction: books.

Blinding white walls are saved from being bland by the splashes of colorful removable stickers containing writing words of wisdom, a 5X11 picture of Sean Connery as James Bond, a few plaques (both funny and inspirational) and some movie posters.

In this idyllic writing zone, my creative Mojo (aka Muse) is allowed free reign because it’s been blessed by my intuitive BF and feng shui’d six ways from Sunday.

*sigh* Like Robin Thicke says “it’s my dream world.”

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway, Sean Connery, James Bond, Robin Thicke

Finally got around to redeeming the $25 iTunes card Babendude got me for my b-day. Downloaded some good stuff:

An oldie but a goodie – “Lonely Teardrops” by Jackie Wilson

Some alternative – “Hero” by Skillet, “Dragonfly” by Shaman’s Harvest, “Cry Little Sister” by Seasons After, “Smack My Bitch Up” and “Firestarter” by Prodigy, “She Talks To Angels” by The Black Crowes

A few Big Hair Bands – “18 and Life” and “I Remember You” by Skid Row, “Wait” and “When the Children Cry” by White Lion, “Nobody’s Fool” by Cinderella

A little 80’s and 90’s – “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinead O’Connor, “Listen to Your Heart” and “Dressed for Success” by Roxette, “How to Be a Millionaire” and “Be Near Me” by ABC, “Informer” by Snow, “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice.

Some show tunes – “Poker Face,” “Dream On”, and “To Sir With Love” by the Glee Cast

And an instrumental – “Requiem for a Tower Dream” by London Music Works and Clint Mansell (if you heard it, you’d recognize it. They play it a lot in movie trailers.)

I figured it was time to get some new tunes in the iPod. All the other stuff was getting a little stale. The majority of my music came from my CD collection, with several downloads thrown in for good measure. I keep it on shuffle so I can hear a different mix of music, but the same artists keep coming up a lot (probably because I have multiple albums). Hence the need for some new stuff.

There are tons more songs I want to get, and I’ve quickly learned how addicting iTunes can be. I went a little crazy with my first iPod (8GB…Babendude upgraded me to a 16GB for my b-day) and racked up a nice $80 bill in one day! Utter craziness, I tell you. As you can tell, I listen to a variety of music, with a few exceptions: No jazz (although I have one song by Michael Buble…and I have it because it sounds like a James Bond song), no country, and no every-other-word-is-a-curse-word type of rap.

So, who’s on your iPod?

Technorati Tags: iTunes, Lonely Teardrops, Jackie Wilson, Hero, Skillet, Dragonfly, Shaman’s Harvest, Cry Little Sister, Seasons After, Smack My Bitch Up, Firestarter, Prodigy, She Talks To Angels, The Black Crowes, 18 and Life, I Remember You, Skid Row, Wait, When the Children Cry, White Lion, Nobody’s Fool, Cinderella, Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinead O’Connor, Listen to Your Heart, Dressed for Success, Roxette, How to Be a Millionaire, Be Near Me, ABC, Informer, Snow, Ice Ice Baby, Vanilla Ice, Poker Face, Dream On, To Sir With Love, Glee, Requiem for a Tower Dream, London Music Works, Clint Mansell, iPod, Michael Buble, James Bond

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 #35: What was your favorite book for the month of June?

A Boy Named Shel by Lisa Rogak

For my ACL course this semester, we have to read an autobiography about a children’s author. The assignment itself isn’t due until July 25th, but I wanted to get a head start so I chose to read about Shel Silverstein. Where the Sidewalk Ends is one of my favorite children’s books and it was given to me by my parents when I was young; I still have it. I actually just finished the autobiography today and am just….blown away. Even though he was most famous for his children’s books, he was first and foremost, a cartoonist (he was a longtime contributor to Playboy). He was also an accomplished singer (although he didn’t have the right voice for it), songwriter (he wrote “A Boy Named Sue” which was first sung by Johnny Cash), playwright (The Lady or The Tiger Show), and screenwriter (collaborated with director David Mamet on the movie THINGS CHANGE in 1998 starring Don Ameche and Joe Montegna). He never married, but fathered two children (his daughter died when she was 11 of a brain aneuerysm).

Last week, I was telling my best friend about all the stuff I’d learned about him so far and she said, “It sounds like you’re having a love affair with this author.” I laugh about it now because she was so right. This man was the ultimate creative being. He dabbled in every creative medium across the board and was very successful at all of them. Shel was a hardcore life observer and everything—and everyone—he came into contact with was inspiration for his work. He would get so in the zone with his creativity that if he wasn’t near a piece of paper to record his ideas, he would find whatever he could at that point in time: his arms, his hands, his clothes, a tablecloth, etc. He’d lived such a full, rich life by the time he passed away of a massive heart attack in May 1999 (he was born in 1930), I was a tad jealous.

He’s the male version of SARK, who’s one of my favorite authors. She has such a presence about her, a positive aura, that every time I left her company, I felt uplifted.

I think I would’ve felt the same had I ever met him.

He was just an amazing, amazing person, who touched so many lives—readers and friends alike. After reading this, I wanted to go out and buy more books that he wrote. As a writer, I liked this quote the best:

“You should never explain the philosophy behind anything you do, it’s not important. If your work is weak and needs to be explained, it isn’t clear enough.”

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway, A Boy Named Shel, Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Playboy, A Boy Named Sue, Johnny Cash, The Lady or The Tiger Show, David Mamet, THINGS CHANGE, Don Ameche, Joe Montegna, SARK

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

So, I’ve talked about my Creative Writing II (a.k.a. CWII) mentor’s feedback regarding the first 100 pages. Well, for the first assignment, I had to go chapter by chapter and define the major plot and the subplot. The first 100 pages is 9 chapters and the first few pages in chapter 10. Not even halfway into this exercise, I wanted to stop.

Subplot was winning.

And then the doubts crept in.

I stink.

I suck.

I’m doing this wrong.

I can’t turn this in, my teacher is going to laugh her ass off.

At this point, I’m going to have to write on a piece of paper

THIS IS ONLY A FIRST DRAFT

and hang it in front of me as a reminder.

I have a feeling Georgia is going to be both teacher and cheerleader.

It’s the second week of school and I got feedback from my mentor regarding the first 100 pages of Book 2 earlier this week.

The story lacks focus. You say your main plot is about the investigation into this fellow yet from what I can nearly 100 pages in, Draven has does very little to show the reader that she is this awesome, kick-ass informant. We see much more of her at school or with her friends just talking about “stuff” that is arguably sub-plot and fails to move the main plot along.

I see very little tension at all in the book. I assume as a reader that a book which focuses on a sleuth will have elements of tension, danger not only from the investigation itself but from Draven’s cover being blown. I also assume that in her role, she will make enemies. So, that also adds to the danger/tension. But I see none here. In fact, she is just hanging out like nothing is going on at all.

So, that is the plot, sub-plot and story-telling side.

There are some issues with redundancy and consistency. I’ve highlighted them in some cases and made comments on others.

There are cases when I feel the dialogue is forced. Some pages of dialogue go on for too long and fail to move the story to the next level.

Also it is hard in some places to know who’s talking in your dialogue exchanges. Watch for it.

Consider your pop-culture references and how they might date you as an author and how a reader may take that reference. There are many. While they may be funny to you, your readers are teens today.

Consider your use of stereo-typical representation of Hispanic youth. “Chica, Chiquita, etc.” Just make sure that you are 100% comfortable with these references and they are genuine.

There’s a scene in CLUELESS where Brittany Murphy’s character said something hurtful to Alicia Silverstone and Alicia responded with, “That’s way harsh, TY.” That line was running through my head after reading this. LOL.

But I have to remember that it’s a first draft. The novel, not the feedback.

It’s not going to be good the first time. Nor is it going to be good the second, third, or fourth time.

It’s a story that I completed some time last year and then promptly put away because I didn’t want to look at it anymore. It was a hard write. Then I pulled it out—I don’t remember when—and started editing it. I got midway through Chapter 8 before putting it away to start Book 3 (NaNoWriMo 2009 Fail).

I wish this was the only class I was taking this summer, because I won’t be as focused on the process as I normally would be. The revisions won’t be as good as I want them to be, or should be. Yeah, I know it was my bright idea to create a book revision college course, but even though my concentration is going to be pulled in three different directions, I still expect this to be a learning experience I can carry through to future books.

Technorati Tags: CLUELESS, Brittany Murphy, Alicia Silverstone

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 #32: How do you know when project will/won’t work?

When I first started writing, ideas would come so fast. I would stop in the middle of one story and start a new one. As I got older, I really had to discipline myself and say “You need to finish this one first. No more half-stories. ” I’ve since learned to write down my ideas, but I think that’s the answer. I think that as long as a writer has ideas, the idea of project working or not working will never come into play.

This is just my personal opinion, but I believe that if an idea doesn’t work out initially, it can always be used somewhere else. Or turned into something else. The stories I’d created in the past no longer exist. That’s because I moved around several times and kept them in a folder. Thinking it was school work I didn’t need, I tossed it (I now write in spiral notebooks). I didn’t toss them on purpose. Had I kept them, they would’ve turned into full length stories.

I think projects will always work, it’s just a question of how and when.

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway

CLICK PICTURES FOR FULL-SIZE VIEW

Saturday was my birthday and we spent THE WHOLE DAY at Wet’n'Wild water park.

From 10am to 6pm.

That’s me in my little $161 tankini. LOL.

I’d wanted to go there last year when it first opened, but never got a chance to. Babendude’s company had done some of the lighting for it and ever since he’d told me it was coming, I’d wanted to go. It used to be called WaterWorld. And it was weak. Real weak. When we went last year, we’d gotten there about 4-430. By 6pm, we were done. The rides were so weak.

Needless to say, I’m glad this place got an overhaul. The rides were frickin’ awesome, even though I went on all of them only once. The later in the day it got, the longer the lines. Around 4-something, I was done. Just hung out in the cabana with my niece while everyone else was still in the wave pool or on rides. It was definitely worth the rental fee.

It wasn’t our intention to stay the whole time, but some guests showed up late, the lines were getting crazy long for the rides…it just happened that way. I’d wanted to get there when it opened so that we could rent a cabana. It had two lounge chairs, two regular chairs, a small table, a ceiling fan, satellite T.V. and food service. Awesome.

It was just a small group of us: me, Babendude, my niece, Crouch, Joe, J.T., and my co-worker Lisa and her husband and daughter. We all just had so much fun. After going home to change, Babendude and I went to Kabuki for dinner. We were both so tired after that, I’m surprised we made it out of the house. LOL.

Birthday gifts:
$200 – Mom and Dad
$25 BN gift card – Friends
16GB black iPod (to replace the 6GB that’s close to full), Betty Boop flip-flops and $25 iTunes gift card – Babendude
Tons of birthday wishes and phone calls from family and friends

Best. Birthday. Ever. You can view the rest of the pics here.

Technorati Tags: Wet’n'Wild