Short and Sweet

So today's post is going to be super short, because my brain was been freaking out the past two days. (When you finish a novel shouldn't you be excited and NOT depressed?) I finished Pixie Princess and queried Nathan Bransford. And he responded (very quickly! I am amazed at his querying response prowess) and even though he said 'no' it was okay, because it was such a nice reply. I think it would be really cool to meet him someday, but that sounds stalkerish.

Anyway. So now I'm trying to find another agent to query. I'm actually thinking about setting Luperin to the side and finish up Haunbrinth and then finish Luperin. I really do love those stories so much.

The problem is, with finding an agent, I keep looking up agents and going "Man, that book I haven't written/edited yet would be perfect for this agent." But maybe that's a bad way to look at it? If I'm looking for someone who will be a long time agent who can help me with loads of books, instead of just one or two? I don't know, but school starts next week. Insert drastic gagging here. Blah. Gah. Urf. Not that I hate or abhor school but... Bluh.

Anyway. The only other big news is that I finally finished Lost Languages by Andrew Robinson!

And because this was super boring here is a lame picture:

Yay for web cams! :D

Writing Anyway

After reading Jackson Pearce’s blog I ran over to my church where I could sit alone in a new place to write. I don’t know why, but when I start writing in the same place all of the time every single day my brain shuts off and goes “NO!” like a big whiny baby and I must find a way to appease it so that I can actually write like my mind wants to. (Yes, I do draw a distinction between brain and mind.)

Anyway: So I was sitting there writing out a blog instead, when I realized that I hadn't eaten all day, but for a small bowl of cereal. I was cold. (Because I was alone in my church building. Well, the building doesn’t belong to me, so technically it's not 'mine' but you know what I mean.) I had to go take care of my friend’s dog in an hour. (I have recently gotten over my fear of dogs, and actually think they’re pretty cute, but I’m still not sure about cats. Cats are evil. Eeeeeeevil. Like Evil Blam.)

So then I hunkered down, opened up my manuscript, wincing because I know it just about sucks like biting into a potato that’s been sitting out in the sun all day. (For reals, do not eat a potato that’s been wrapped up in aluminum foil and sitting on a table in direct sunlight. My friend tried and it tastes mad bad. Like real bad. Like “I’m going to spit it out into a trash bin now” kind of bad.) And wouldn’t you know, I made it up to 48,478 words, which is 5,060 words today. Hoorah!

It also helped that I found this trick. I watched half of a Castle episode (seriously, a great show) and then I wrote for half an hour, and then I watched the rest of the episode, and etc. I got through three episodes and a couple thousand words. Sweet muffins!

And just because this image came up too when I googled:

Attack of the Muffins!

Seriously. That is one huge muffin. Anyway. I no longer have any clue what I was supposed to be writing. (Which is why I am NOT supposed to write after 10 o'clock at night. Except for first draft manuscripts (which probably have some special name, or acronym, or whatever. Like: fdsn, which stand for First Draft Special Name. So I can work on fdsn's, but that's just because the first draft doesn't matter as much, because it's more about getting the ideas out, the feel of it. For reals. Check out Jackson Pearce's blog. She has a movie on it that is very inspiring.

I read some other good posts today, which I should point you to, but I am too tired right now. I also have a whole 'nother post planned with pictures and stuff, but my camera is missing. Man, I should keep that thing on a leash. I should keep all important things on a leash. But then, of course, I might look a tad ridiculous, with all of these things strapped to me. Just imagine when I go back to school! Here's my laptop, here's my keys, here's my seven text books, all hanging from me and looped around.

Aha!

I have a hard time remembering the journey, once I'm at the end of it. I look behind me at the mountains and valleys and go "pshah, that was nothing." So, since this blog is about my writing journey I have been determined to write down when I come against difficulties that boggle my mind, hurt my head, and etc. Today, being a day solely devoted to writing, I came across just such a thing. A snarling beastie of a problem, if I do say so myself.

I do not write outlines. In highschool my dad made me write outlines. In college my professors make me write outlines. It is torturous. When I write books I have a basic idea of what will happen (or more likely than not just a sentence, a picture, a person's personality). Then, as I write the plot unfolds itself like a blossoming flower.

So what's the problem? For the first half of the story I don't know what's going to happen. It's exciting. It's exhilarating to write and see what comes out. It's like rolling a pair of dice that contain words and plot etched on their surfaces and I'm just waiting to see what will roll out.

Then as I continue, about half-way to the end, I know everything. I know all the twists (usually). I know my characters, even the ones that haven't surfaced yet. So the tricky thing is: knowing how everything will turn out, but still being excited about writing it. If I don't want to write it, why would anyone else want to read it, and why on earth would anyone re-read it? And since when dealing with a book an author must read, and re-read, and re-read, and Ah! re-read, I must be excited about the book through the whole writing process.

This happened when I was doing NanoWriMo in November. I was starting to get bored so I just had a roof fall down on their heads. It was great fun. But in Pixie Princess there are no roofs that can cave in. Which is surprising, considering they're underground. But the point is I'm coming to the end (40,588 words, woohoo!) and I still have a whole lot of story to write, and I still need to be a whole lot of excited. So I'm taking a break to write this blog, to think over my story, to remember why I love it, why it makes me excited.

1. I love Izka. She's the one telling the story and she is hilarious.

2. I do love Carter, as terrible as he is.

3. I love my little Dwarves, and I'm sad that I just wrote the last scene with them. (Yesterday I was wandering through my kitchen, hugging my laptop to myself, telling my mum I didn't want to do it, that she couldn't make me, that I didn't want to say good-bye to my Dwarves.)

4. Anton and Ashley are amusing, and I can't wait to write the scene where you first get to meet them.

5. If I can actually get this one published it will be a tie-in for a book I'm writing with two of my friends. (They are amazing! I love you Kassie and Autumn!) It's set in the same world, has the same mythos, and stuff. Wait. Mythos is a word right?

Oh my dear. It's a kind of beer. I think I shall just die.

Journaling and Diary Entries

Nathan Bransford is having a contest where one must write a journal entry from the perspective of a teen. (Honestly, I have no idea how he's going to wade through everything and choose a winner. I know who I'd choose, but I can't find the entry now. The story was written from the perspective of a kid who has cancer, and he makes these paper airplanes, each one written with something he'll never be able to do, and the imagery was so startling, and haunting, and I went to bed last night and couldn't stop thinking about it, and now I can't even find his name (or her name) and tell them how amazing they are. Grr!)

Anyway, so I was reading over some and I love people, but some are just ridiculous. I mean, I know a whole lot of teens worry about getting pregnant, or getting over a stupid boyfriend/girlfriend. But so many of them all sound the same. Ergh. It makes me want to find some of these people and smack them upside the head for not being creative. But then I remember this is rude. And unfair. I've written tons of uncreative garbage/muck/nasty-trash-of-doom-and-despair. But there were also some really good ones that made me want to hunt them down and give them a hug for being FANTASTIC.

You are as fantastic as a blue chair.

So, anyway. I just love making fun of people. I make fun of everyone, so I don't really feel bad about it, because I also am nice to pretty much everyone. (Except to annoying customers who want to return something that they bought three years ago that is trashed beyond recognition except for recognizing that we NEVER SOLD IT LADY! but customers don't count.) In light of this making-fun-of sarcastic attitude I wanted to make a journal entry just to exaggerate. It came out differently than I expected, but ah well. It was super fun to do.

~~~

Dearest Diary,

You hold all of my hopes and dreams within your beautiful brittle pages. Sometimes, I think I shall not exist without you. Oh diary, the Cutest-Boy-In-the-Whole-World-That-Ever-Existed looked in my general direction today. Oh the ecstasies! I nearly catapulted myself over the kingdom wall this morning.

But then, just when I was feeling as glorious as the morning dew on the petals of the prettiest-flower-on-the-castle-grounds Kivellabellawella, the prettiest-girl-on-the-castle-grounds, went over to the Cutest-Boy-In-the-Whole-World-That-Ever-Existed and 'accidentally' dropped a bucket on her head, just so she could get his attention, and so that the Cutest-Boy-In-the-Whole-World-That-Ever-Existed could take notice of her and not me. I know Kivellabellawella is my best-friend-in-the-whole-kingdom, but really, why is she thin, and pretty, and blonde, and incredibly unintelligent? Cute boys always love girls just like that.

So now I must decide to hate life and be all angsty. Angst, angst, angst. I hate my life! I hate being the privileged daughter of the most-well-loved-and-respected-king-in-fifteen-kingdoms-and-two-continents. I hate the fact that I have a wonderful friend who is thin and attractive. And you know what else? My maid Eloie-the-rude-and-annoying asked me if I was pregnant. Just because I ate too much boar last night. No I'm not fat! Ahhhh.... I shall wail my eye out!! If only I could grow out a terribly-inconvenient-and-fake-beard and my life would be complete.

No one but you understands, dearest-diary-whom-I-love-and-adore-and-who-makes-life-worth-living-in-this-medieval-castle-of-suckiness.

Now I shall go find a bucket to douse my head with so that the Cutest-Boy-In-the-Whole-World-That-Ever-Existed will take notice of me and not my super-cute-best-friend-who-always-gets-everything-in-life-because-her-father-is-a-duke.

Love and kisses,

Cecily

~~~

Yes. Now you all can leave 'Yur an IDIUT' comments on my wall. But I sure enjoyed myself and my little romp into this blog-o-sphere.

Books

Yesterday I stayed up reading: Sorcery and Cecelia of The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. I started it with the intention of finishing it that night, because I have over ten half-read books lying around my room, stuffed on my shelves, waiting to be read, and I was having none of that. It was mad difficult, I tell you. I was nearly done, having only a handful of pages left, and it was very difficult not to stop. I don't know why, but whenever I am near to finishing a book late at night I cannot finish it. I must set it down and finish it in the morning. May it's because I want to make the story last longer, linger on it, I have no idea. But I made myself stay up, even though I kinda' have a cold, and even though I was about to fall asleep.

It was a very good book. Very good. Quite refreshing, since I feel like I haven't read anything in weeks. But it reminded me how important it is for an author to read. In fact, I was just reading in a blog the other day that said the very same thing. In fact, I think it was Patricia C. Wrede, which would be kinda' funny, since it was her book I was reading. Yes. I'm pretty definite it was her. Hang on a moment...(searching through history...finding blogs..) Ugh. No. It wasn't. I have no idea, which is why I write everything down. Grr... But if you wanted to you could check out her blog: http://pcwrede.com/blog/ because it is very good.

It is always a good reminder, that there are good authors out there, that there are good stories out there that can sweep you away. I remember going through a funk awhile back and I just could not read anything, every story sounded the same, every author's voice sounded the same, and then I picked up Host by Stephanie Meyer. I tell you, it is very good. I don't know how Meyer does it, but she sweeps up her audience in a whirlwind.

So if you're in a ditch, searching your pockets for a good book, do not be dismayed. There are a bunch of good books you can carry around with you. I would suggest Shakespeare, just because it will help pass the time. But if you have no Shakespeare (or absolutely abhor him), I hope you packed a book like the ones I spoke about, or Need by Carrie Jones, or any number of other really good books. There are authors out there that truly know how to write, and are truly writers, and it is quite encouraging to read their stories that have grown, that live, that can be ingested by others.

Seriously, if I could I would give up food and just gain sustenance by reading books.

Yes, it is a terrible picture, but that is me pretending to eat a book. Don't worry, no books were harmed in the taking of this picture. Wow. This really is a bizarre looking picture. I'll have to apologize for your eyes.

Books of 2009!

So this year my sis and I kept track of all of the books we read and kinda' promised each other that we would post about it. So here is the post! I didn't read as much as I thought I would, but that's because I ended up writing a whole lot more than I thought I was going to, so it all balances out, I suppose.

Anyhow... I'm going to try and keep this brief, and if it goes on way too long I will separate it into two posts. But here goes...

Jan 1st - March 17th:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan

2) The Sea Monster

3) The Titan's Curse

4) The Battle of the Labyrinth

(There were amazing books, and I recommend them to pretty much anyone.)

The Two Gentlemen of Verona - Shakespeare (it was kinda' weird, I gotta admit)

Redwall - Brian Jacques (My friend really loves these books, so I was kinda' sad that I wasn't really thrilled when I read it. It made me sad.)

The Host - Stephanie Meyer (Honestly, I liked this one much better than the Twilight ensemble)

The Tales of Beedle the Bard - J. K. Rowling (Very cute!)

Inkheart - Cornelia Funke (Good, but it was a little hard to get through)

100 Cupboards - N. D. Wilson (REALLY GOOD! I loved it)

Fablehaven - Brandon Mull (I absolutely love these books. So much.)

Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star

Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague

Ulysses S. Moore and the Door to Time - Michael Merryweather (Pretty good - it actually "changed my life" but I don't think the author intended his usage of the word philology to send me off into ecstatics)

Ulysses S. Moore and the Long Lost Map - Michael Merryweather

The Handwriting Analysis Toolkit: Character and Personality Revealed Through Graphology - Peter West (No offense to anyone, but I found this book hilarious. Some of the stuff was interesting, the rest was so ridiculous. Where do they come up with such stuff?)

Stormbreakers - Anthony Harowitz (Pretty good, but not the genre I usually read)

March 18th - July 15th

Just Ella - Margaret Peterson Haddix (I know Cinderella stories can be overdone, but this one was very good)

The Folk Keeper - Franny Billingsley (I picked this one up on a whim at the library and I absolutely loved it.)

Dandelion Fire - N. D. Wilson (It was thick, but very good.)

First Escape - G. P. Taylor (Very interesting, but good)

Austenland - Shannon Hale (I love her books *squee*)

Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales For Our Lifetime - James Finn Garner (Hi-lar-ious)

Wicked - Gregory Maguire (Very different than what I expected, but still very good)

Mission Road - Rick Riordan (He is a super good author)

Nobody's Princess - Esther Friesner (I'm really looking forward to reading the sequel to this - Very believable characters)

Fat Kid Rules the World - K. L. Going (I liked it.)

Coraline - Neil Gaiman (Twas very good)

The Ever After War - Michael Buckley (I love the Sisters Grimm!)

Be Intolerant: Because Some Things are Just Stupid - Ryan Dobson (Great book, for reals)

One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven - Mark Cahill (Very good, though-provoking)

July 16th - Dec 31st

Dealing With Dragons - Patricia C. Wrede (I started reading it at Borders and just had to buy it. She has such an intriguing voice as an author, and i was just laughing everywhere)

River Secrets - Shannon Hale

Kenny and the Dragon - Tony DiTerlizzi (I read this because I enjoyed the Spiderwick Chronicles. It was a cute story)

Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles: A Giant Problem - Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

The Devouring - Simon Holt (I really liked these!)

Need - Carrie Jones (I lover Carrie's voice. She is quite funny and I follow her blog because she is just amazing. And her book was too, and i'm planning on reading more of her)

The Forest of Hands and Teeth - Carrie Ryan (What impressed me most about this book is the fact that I hated the main character, but I still enjoyed the book. I didn't know that was impossible)

How to Ditch Your Fairy - Justine Larbalestier (This was such an adorable story! I loved it.)

Ink Exchange - Melissa Marr (Melissa Marr rocks my socks off)

The Liberation of Gabriel King - K. L. Going (Very good.)

Blood and Chocolate - Annette Curtis Klause (No offense, but this was a bizarre book)

Fragile Eternity - Melissa Marr (She is super amazing!)

City of Bones - Cassandra Clare (I really liked this)

The Most Second Book in the Whole Series - Jessica Wagner (I liked Twilight and I still enjoyed this. Jessica Wagner writes some really funny stuff. I found her on a blog - she is self-published and really cool)

Nanoland Chronicles: Bedtime Stories for Wrimos - Chris Baty (he is hilarious. I loved it)

Graceling - Kristin Cashore (I really liked this story, but I think she should have ended it a few chapters sooner. It went just a little too long for me.)

The Mystery of the Fool and the Vanisher - David and Ruth Ellwand (It had really pretty pictures)

And that about sums it all up :) Hope it wasn't too dreadfully long and bored your socks off.

Scene From Home

Yesterday my mum said to me: "Control your characters!" and I laughed in her face. She knows nothing of being a writer, but I shall love her anyway, and not make too much fun of her, because she and my dad are giving me a place to stay and food to eat, and I kinda' need those right now.

Then later that day my mum asks me why my food is across the room, and why my laptop is in my lap and I say: "Because I am checking my word count." And she says: "What?" And I shout obnoxiously: "BecauseIamcheckingmywordcount!" And she says: "Oh, okay." I say: "Wait? That was clearer?" And my sister, with no sarcasm mind you, says: "Yes, somehow that was more understandable."

Does this mean I should go around shouting obnoxiously now?

On other news:
Happy New Year!

Yes, I am freaking out and everything, but let's face it, it's really just another day. A day, people. We have been having days every day for a super long time now. So I will get over the AHHKGGGHAHAHAHAKKKGGHHH! and go on with my life. Namely: BAM! or Book A Month. I have decided what I will do for January and February, and then I will plan out more after that.

January: Pixie Princess and Luperin
February: The Sequel to Blackburn's Prisoner (which is not-yet named, since I haven't written anything but two pages)

Tah-da! Now I will see if I can actually prevail.

So have a Merry New Year!