Archive for the 'Revision Heaven' Category

June 16, 2009 | A Royale Pain,Book One,Book Stuff,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Revision Heaven,Writing Movements

Had good writing movement today. I got 4 handwritten pages of “The Lesson” done today. That doesn’t sound like a lot, I know. I probably would’ve gotten farther if I’d had lunch by myself today. I’m actually enjoying this 3rd–4th?–revision process because I’m adding more words, but I’m writing them in sections. Draven has a nickname for everyone–and everything–in her life and I’m currently describing the agents assigned to her (something I didn’t do originally).

And it’s making me smile.

I like writing movements like this.

May 19, 2009 | A Royale Pain,Book One,Book Stuff,Revision Heaven,SARK-ism,The 4-1-1 on Me,Writing Movements

The revisions for Book One are being written in sections, because I’m basically trying to fill in the blanks. I’ll need to find a place for them later, of course, but I think I should work in sections more often. Particularly when I’m not feeling very creative and think that I have to write in order.

Writing Movements #1 and its creative spurt of nearly 20 pages was a section I refer to as “The Offer.” Yesterday, I got 9 handwritten pages of “The Psych Eval.”

Not bad. Not bad at all.

“When I feel successful, I will use it as memory for times that I don’t.” – SARK’s Writer’s Solution Sheet

May 14, 2009 | Book One,Book Stuff,Book Two,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Revision Heaven,SARK-ism,The 4-1-1 on Me,Writing Movements

The Writing on the Wall blog has a segment called Monday Mania. You can send in the first page of your book or your query letter and have it critiqued every Monday. Earlier this week, I sent in a more current version of my query letter for Book One. Overall, the criticism was favorable, but one of the comments made me take a step back. Because LK, my beta reader, had asked the same question:

What makes Draven special?

She’s been recruited by the FBI as an informant, and she doesn’t have any special FBI agent-type skills, so really what’s so special about her?

During lunch, LK and I had a little brainstorming session and we talked about the book some more. I thought I was done with Book One, but it’s apparent that I’m not. Needless to say, when I got home, I was eager to get started on the stuff we had talked about.

A few false starts and several balled up pieces of paper later, my thoughts finally started coming together. I was up til midnight, but I produced nearly 20 new handwritten pages and have the sore fingers to prove it.

As of right now, revisions for Book Two have been put on hold until I revise–again–Book One.

I like it when writing movements flow like that.

“When you write something valuable will occur” – SARK

Technorati Tags: Writing on the Wall, Monday Mania

May 11, 2009 | 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,Random Thoughts,Revision Heaven,School Daze,The 4-1-1 on Me,Weekend Wrap-Up,Writing Movements,writing workshops

I think this was the best weekend over. On Saturday, I spent the day with SARK. Not just the two of us, although that would’ve been hella cool, but me and about 29 other people. Two of whom were men. She was conducting her Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper workshop and it was FAB.U. LOUS! I love this woman. She’s my favorite author. I have a nice little collection of her books. I always feel uplifted and inspired after being around her. Her workshops are very creative (and I mean that literally because she has you writing, drawing, collaging, etc) and interactive. You get up, walk around, meet other people, interact with other people, do group activities…Did I mention this workshop was fabulous? If you love this author, too, then you need to attend one of her workshops. The money will always be worth it. She signed my book and a couple of Mother’s Day cards for my Mom and sister. Very cool.

Sunday was Mother’s Day, as you know. With my family, it’s a ritual to go out to breakfast. Our usual restaurant is Village Inn, but the one we always go to was closed down. So we invaded the Coco’s near Scottsdale Fashion Square. I say invaded because there was 16 of us!!! Me and Mr Maul; my sister, her husband and their 4 kids; my parents; Jackie and Brandon (long-time family friends), their son Mario, and their daughter Nikki, her hubby James, and their 2 daughters. Technically, it was 17, but one of Nikki’s daughter’s is an 18 mo old baby. We had a great time. I hadn’t seen my 15 yr old nephew since his final football game and that was in…Feb? Long time. He’s getting so tall and his voice is getting deep, too. It’s just a trip.

Sunday afternoon, Mr. Maul and I went to see STAR TREK. I was never really a fan of the shows or the movies. I would catch episodes here and there, but never watched them religiously. Unlike my Dad, who was of the old school Star Trek. I think he watched some of the other shows, too, in all their different incarnations. The only actor from the original series was Leonard Nimoy, which was pretty cool. The actor that portrays him in this movie, Zachary Quinto, plays Sylar on the TV show HEROES (one of my fav shows, BTW). And he did a really good job. Odd cameos: Tyler Perry (the guy behind those Madea movies) and Winona Ryder as Spock’s mother. Really weird seeing her. Anyhoo, we liked it. I thought J.J. Abrams did a bang-up job and I hear another movie is already in the works (per Leonard Nimoy). For those that don’t know the background stories about the main characters, this movie kind of did that for you: for instance, I had no idea that Spock was half-human. Nor did I know that Kirk’s father was the captain of a ship….for only 12 mins. Sad story, that. Or that Kirk was named after his grandfathers. And I still have no idea what Uhura’s first name is. It was mentioned real quick in the movie, but when Kirk said it, Spock talked over him (it was a funny moment, really), so I didn’t catch it. But I have a feeling it was unique, I would’ve liked it, and would probably use it as a character name in a future story. LOL.

Writing Movement – Revisions for DA Book 2 are coming along nicely. I’m almost done with Chapter 5. Here’s a funny: we had an hr for lunch on Saturday, so I took the MS along to edit. And I discovered that Chapter 5 contained only 3 pages. 3 pages made up Chapter 5. LOL. I don’t know how that happened. Maybe I got sidetracked and thought I was done, so when I went back in, I created a new chapter and kept on going. Needless to say, Chapter 5 will be combined with Chapter 6. And I can tell, just with the chapters I’ve done so far, I’m not moving the story along too well. I can hear my beta reader saying “There’s too much Poe and Rico.” I may leave it as is for now and just wait for the comments later.

For weeks now, I was making the announcement that Book 1 was going to be released Oct 23rd, during Teen Read Week. Then last month some time (or it might’ve been earlier this month), I rescinded that date. The reason for that, simply put, was that I changed my mind. I thought I was going to go the same route as I did with my first two books and then decided not to. I’ve decided to dip my toe back in the traditional pool—again—but on a smaller scale: small presses, no agent. On Friday, I went to Barnes and Noble on my way home and spent close to $50 on books. I bought three romances (of course) and the 2009 Writer’s Market. So, in between revisions for Book 2 and Book 1 (whenever I decide to send it to an editor again), I’ll be making a list of small presses to submit to.

I also signed up for NaNoWriMo this year. I’m going to try my hardest to write Book 3 during that month. Notice I said ‘try my hardest’. By then, I will have started school—and possibly my 20-week volunteer mentor program—so it’ll be interesting to see how I’ll juggle all that. Within the coming months you’ll be seeing a new blog post title: Writing Thoughts. Unlike my Random Thought posts where I talk about, well, random things, Writing Thoughts will be about writing, in all its forms: from query letters to NaNoWriMo.

This should be interesting.

So, how was your weekend?

Technorati Tags: SARK, Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper, Village Inn, Coco’s, Scottsdale Fashion Square, STAR TREK, Leonard Nimoy, Zachary Quinto, HEROES, Tyler Perry, Winona Ryder, J.J. Abrams, Teen Read Week, Barnes and Noble, 2009 Writer’s Market, NaNoWriMo

May 5, 2009 | "Whoa whoa I gotta go...back to schoooool...again",A Whole Latte Trouble,Book Stuff,Book Two,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,How coolio is THAT?,In the News,Life in General,Movie Queue,Revision Heaven,School Daze,The 4-1-1 on Me,Weekend Wrap-Up,Writing Movements

Oops, I did it again. I took another short break from the blogosphere. My Financial Aid finally came thru and I got a little immersed in the whole school thing. And I don’t even start until September, but it finally hit me that I HAVE TO CREATE MY OWN SCHOOL PROGRAM. I kept thinking that there were going to be structured classes, buuuut….not really. There’s a reason why it’s called “self-directed.” Hah. So okay, moving on.

Seen a lot of movies over the past couple of weekends:

17 AGAIN – That Zac Efron sure is growing up handsome. Really liked this movie. The guy that plays his best friend is hilarious. The dude was a major Star Wars fan. Major funny: Pod Racer bed. That’s all I’m gonna say.

DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION - I was ready for Mr. Maul to dislike this movie because he was kinda baggin’ on it when he heard it was coming out. Surprisingly, he liked it. I was shocked. He said it was pretty close to the cartoon storyline, so kudos to the director. I wasn’t a big fan of the cartoon, but Mr. Maul was. I watched a few of the episodes with him, actually, so I was familiar with the characters in the movie. James Marsters always seems to play the bad guy. The first nice role I saw him in, and it was more of a supporting-supporting role was P.S. I LOVE YOU. But he made a good Piccolo.

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE – You do know that they had the premiere here in my hometown, right? I don’t live in Tempe–although it’s only about a 15 min ride–but this was our very first movie premiere. So cool. They really need to do that more often. LA and New York always get the premieres. They need to start taking these things to the little people. Mr. Maul and I loved it. We’ve always been fans of the X-Men movies, and I’ve always been a fan of the cartoon. It was good to finally see Logan’s history. I’m wondering if this is going to open the door for other “Origins” type movies for the other characters. I was so happy to see Gambit, too! Taylor Kitsch totally rocked the role, although I would’ve liked more Cajun drawl. And to see more of his powers in action.

A friend and I checked out an Underground Publishers event on the previous Saturday. Just wanted to see what other local, underground stuff was out there. Then went to this Spring Special Event at Dillard’s dept store. They were doing make-overs, had games, food, a DJ and gift basket giveaways. It was $35 for a “ticket”–this ticket was a Dillard’s gift card that you could spend anywhere in the store. So basically, you spent $35 only to spend it again on merchandise. Needless to say, that was the longest time I’ve ever spent at a mall. We were there for 3 frickin’ hours! They didn’t do the drawing for gift baskets until 9. And no, I didn’t win anything. To me, it just seemed like you had to jump thru a lot of hoops to get stuff. If you bought this perfume, then you’d get that free item and a chance to spin a wheel and get another free item. Hoops. But it worked because there was a big turnout.

I’ve had some good writing movement over the past couple of weeks. I’ve started revisions for DA Book Two and the deadline to finish is May 30th. I’ve also decided to jump into the Volunteer Pool. I went to the Volunteer Orientation at Free Arts AZ last night. I’m hoping to get on because they use arts as a way to help at-risk youth. I’m looking forward to serving in my community.

That’s all for now. I’m feeling a little lackluster, so if there was more, I don’t remember it all. So, how was your weekend?

Technorati Tags: 17 AGAIN, Zac Efron, DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION, James Marsters, P.S. I LOVE YOU, X-Men, Gambit, Taylor Kitsch, Dillard’s, Free Arts AZ