Previews

On Kissing Tom Legend: Charlotte Marks is the most popular girl in all of Riverdale High. She has a best friend named Jane, a handsome boyfriend named Michael and an adoring sister named Elizaveta. She lives in an affluent neighborhood and is in the top of her class. The world is at her finger tips. Until she walks in on Michael and Jane kissing--and it's been going on for weeks. Charlotte can't believe it, so she gets in her newly acquired car and jets off to the shiny streets of Hollywood. Using her charm, smile and low cut Zac Posen dress get her in to the hot night club. The music is loud, the drinks are forthcoming and sitting in a private booth is Tom Legend. Tom Legend is the hottest singer ever. And Charlotte is photographed kissing him and that photo is pasted to the front of every magazine by the next day. Everyone at school thinks she cheated on Michael and not the other way around! Charlotte doesn't know what it means but it can't be anything good.

History Repeats: Naomi had much bigger plans for her summer vacation. She was going to sit by the pool and work on her tan, highlights and single status. Things didn't go as planned though. She got stuck going to some podunk town hundreds of miles away from her ocean side city. She thinks it's going to suck until weird things start happening. And not caffeine withdrawal dreams, because these dreams aren't like any other. Dream about a boy, dances in a barn, white dresses and the Civil War. And that ghost town her parents dragged her to, there's something about the house in the town that reminds her of the evens in the dreams. She's drawn to the condemned house in the ghost town and feels almost connected to the place. When she does some research on the place there's some weird coincidences with the family that lived there. And when things couldn't get any weirder, she starts seeing hot dead guys. This certainly wasn't the summer she imagined.

My Brother Is Ruining My Life: Brigitte Cooper had a good childhood. Upscale Denver home, loving parents and all the attention in the world. Then her brother Andrew was born and she became a babysitter and just an extra mouth to feed. Most families learn to adjust to a new sibling, but Andrew was diagnosed with Autism which makes everything a million times harder. Her parents think she should just learn to "deal with it." but Brigitte doesn't want to. Brigitte just wants a little positive attention and just a little freedom. She finally gets the nerve to ask to go to the school dance, but instead of getting the okay she gets sent to a group therapy for teens with siblings with disorders. Not exactly what she was aiming for. And yeah, maybe the cute guy that sat next to her was a nice surprise but Brigitte wants normal! Then she meets Devyn, who might not offer her normal but he might her something else. Going down the delinquent path might get Brigitte a little attention, but is it really the attention she wants... and is it really to help her and Andrew?

Dreamwoven: Elisa and her family took her mother's death hard. Brian acted out and didn't accomplish much with his life, Meg estranged herself from the family as much as she could and dove in to school, their Dad did his best. As for Elisa, she got depressed and got anxiety and insomnia. She got the short end of the stick. In order to cope with the insomina she goes for walks at night, she likes the quiet. One night she runs in to Derrick. Derrick is cute and mysterious, but she tries not to think too much of him; he's just a stranger of the night just like her. When Elisa goes off to college she's hoping that things will get better. No one there will know who she is or what she has gone through and when she gets there things start to appear that they will get better, until she runs in to Derrick again. Her roomate Thea tells her not to talk to him but she can't help it, Derrick might hold the key to getting her mother back.

Death Becomes Her: Thessaly has been dancing her whole life. Lucas hasn't really be alive-- literally. After Lucas' death in the 60's he's assigned the position of a grim reaper, and it hasn't really caused him any problems. He doesn't have anywhere else to be. He's stoked to go out on his first gig alone, but he's way too cool to show it. He's hoping for something easy, car crash victim, some old dude kicking the bucket. Those are the easy ones. But, seventeen year old Thessaly proves to be a problem. Not only because the paperwork is messed up and she's not set to die for a few months, but because she's really pretty and the last thing Lucas wants to do is lead her to her death.

Three Weeks: For three weeks every summer Music Fest comes to the small town of Donner, California. People fill up campsites, pollute the few businesses and generally case a raucous. Corrine has been going to Music Fest since she was thirteen, but it's not till now that it causes her life to change so drastically. At sixteen and three-quarters all Renny has going for her is her clever wit and continuos supply of good books. Then Noah Grey preforms at Music Fest, smiles at her and her entire life is changed. Noah is the first person Renny has really been able to connect to in the straight laced town. But, Three Weeks is all she gets and Noah Grey is off to his next gig. Renny isn't one to sit at home but and watch from the outside but as Noah rockets to fame her only choice is to stay at home. Renny knows true love like this only comes once in a lifetime, but is it really true love? And if so, can it overcome all the obstacles?

Apocalypse: How long could you survive in a high school? Everyone wants to get out of the place as fast as they can, but what happens when the local high school is the only safe haven for the survivors of the apocalypse. At the young age of perfection, Delia had obtained perfection. But when an outbreak of an incurable disease breaks out that perfection is blown to pieces. Delia couldn't wait to be eighteen, to be an adult, but now when adulthood and responsibility is thrust upon her all she can do is dig her heels in and stop. Will her and her small band of survivors make it through the cold Michigan winter?

The Forest of Hands and Teeth--review and commentary

I bought and finished The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan in the past three days. I brushed my teeth with this book, watched TV with this book, sat in the car with this book, went to an amusement park with this book, and yes, went to the bathroom with this book (oh, like you don't do it too!). I really couldn't put it down. Zombies, crazy nuns, blood, apocalypse, love triangles, dead parents-- what more can a girl ask for? Not too much.

What I liked so much about this book was that it was original and covered new territory? Ryan wasn't afraid to go places and I appreciated that. This book has actual jaw-dropped, eye-popping, breath-catching moments. Ryan didn't play by the rules, and I dug it. The book was flawlessly written in present tense that I didn't find at all awkward as time went on. I'm very pro-past tense so this was really nice to see. Present tense tends to take me out of the scene for some reason but that didn't happen at all. Even my family having a party couldn't take me out of this book!

It made the book more enjoyable and made it easier to ignore the issues I had. Things like the repetitiveness of the first 100 pages and how the first 100 pages felt like an almost entirely different book. Now that I am writing more I'm noticing that I am a pickier reader. FHT is a debut book so it's not perfect, and I'm okay with that. The repetition of certain details made me feel like I was stupid, but after about 100-125 pages that was done. I saw sections of prose that would have fit better in different places. I felt like the themes of the book were put across a bit too strongly; things like Mary's relationship with God and the fairness and maturity of all the characters. I think it could have been put across more gracefully. But, once again, after about 125 pages that was done.

Of course, these things don't make it a bad book. Is FHT in my top ten, probably not. Maybe apocalypse top ten books. These things made me realize that perhaps, as a writer and avid reader, I'm starting to learn a thing of two and that makes me happy.

Do what we can, summer will have its flies. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

school;

nail down fall semester classes

nail down major (communications, journalism, English, creative writing???)

nail down school

books;

Immortal Beloved by Cate Tiernan

Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

Under the Dome by Stephen King

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Spirit Bound by Richille Mead

writing;

finish one (1) novel (either My Brother is Ruining my Life or On Kissing Tom Legend or Dreamwoven)

flesh out unfinished manuscripts

life;

get a job

get driver's license

Can I major in it?

I was going to make some snarky comment regarding my Shakespeare teacher incorrectly using commas (I know, like I'm one to talk!) then I did a little research and found out that the way I was taught was the British rule for commas, and he's using the American rule for commas. I love grammar. Could I major in grammar?

Everything I do lately can be twisted back to this question:

can I major in it?

I'm twenty, almost twenty-one. I should know what I'm going to major in. This scenic route I'm taking has become incrediably scenic. In fact, it's become one of those journies where you are driving the scenic route and you get lost and even though it's still pretty, the fact is, you're still lost. What a fucking metaphor.

It's not that I'm lost... I'm just held up. I think I'm about six or seven classes away from finishing my general ed, which means I can move on and get on with this whole school thing. I can't wait to move on!

In the past six years I've gone through broadcast journalism, journalism, special education, English, creative writing and then back to English. Then I saw what a good essay should be like for college... my teachers have been easy on me. I can write a research paper no problem, but disecting a book... I hate reading for school enough as it is. I don't need help by having to disect the freaking thing like a bio lab frog. Creative Writing sounds nice and lovely but people I respect in the field have stressed that majoring in Creative Writing isn't a good idea because it's just too focused. You need something to write about. It makes sense to me, and I'm about to pull out my hair in my current writing class. I hate having to do things that I don't want to do. I hate writing about symbology or theme or tone. I could minor in it, that would be good fun. But majoring in it is not the answer.

I want to be a literary agent. A literary agent is the person that recieves queries and decides whether they are going to accept them and pitch them to publishing companies. It's either that or an editor, for an editor I can major in some sort of writing. But for being a lit agent... I can pretty much major in anything. Obviously, it should be helpful to what I'm going into (YA Lit, hopefully) but, really, anything. And it just makes it so much harder because English isn't the only answer. If it was cut and dry I could do that and just put up with it, find an easy program and get on with it.

But it's not cut and dry. I'm looking into schools. I want to stay in central California, Montery-San Francisco, by the coast. That's about all I have thought out so far.

word count, page count, time limit; which do you prefer?

There are several ways writers make themselves write. (I'm assuming. Admittedly I'm not terribly active in the community and I'm not published [unless my high school paper counts].)

Word counts, like Nanowrimo. Page counts, I've read the R.L. Stine works this way. And time limits, it's what my writing teacher suggests. Having gotten more deeply involved in writing through Nano I try to do word count, usually between 500 to 1000 words. It's not a lot, but it gets me somewhere. For my writing class we're asked to write twenty minutes twice a week, not including other homework assignments. For some reason, I find the ticking down a clock too daunting. And after twenty minutes when I have five words on the page and four of them are explicit, it bites. But if after four hours I have a 1000 words and know where the plot is going for a few more chapters I feel much more productive even if I end up cutting the words anyway.

Maybe it feels better to work up to something (higher word or page count) then it does to work down to something (0:00).

I'm sure I have more to say on this topic, but I have at least another page and half to go tonight plus other homework. So, what's your take? How do you make yourself write and do you have any rules to follow?

et cetera et cetera

I'm getting over my stress from a few days ago. I got through my math test and I think I passed it. I got a good chunk of my Shakespeare essay done, it just needs some good editing and a few additions. It's nice to get things back in control.

On the MBIRML front, things are going well. I'm developing the plot and realizing what I need to add. It's why the postins aren't really going in order anymore. Sorry, I'll do my best to keep you as unconfused as possible. It's been an interesting process to write something that I really care about (rather than fanfiction) but post it immediately. It makes the writing process a little tricky. However

this whole thing has helped my writing, I'm forced in to doing it (bar this week's stress) and it helps when the writing gets tough. And the writing always gets tough.

So, I think I'll continue doing this. Not to this extent. Doing 7,000 a week with school is hard and I can only imagine what it'll be once I get a job. Maybe 3,500 or something. I can do 500 words a day. I'm not sure what I'll work on next.

On Kissing Tom Legend: Charlotte Marks is the most popular girl in all of Riverdale High. She has a best friend named Jane, a handsome boyfriend named Michael and an adoring sister named Elizaveta. She lives in an affluent neighborhood and is in the top of her class. The world is at her finger tips. Until she walks in on Michael and Jane kissing--and it's been going on for weeks. Charlotte can't believe it, so she gets in her newly acquired car and jets off to the shiny streets of Hollywood. Using her charm, smile and low cut Zac Posen dress get her in to the hot night club. The music is loud, the drinks are forthcoming and sitting in a private booth is Tom Legend. Tom Legend is the hottest singer ever. And Charlotte is photographed kissing him and that photo is pasted to the front of every magazine by the next day. Everyone at school thinks she cheated on Michael and not the other way around! Charlotte doesn't know what it means but it can't be anything good.

I already have 11,000 words of this so I could probably do 1k a day. This is another instance of me not knowing how it ends. Right now it's not very happy and that really can't stand. I think TL is more of an emotional journey from shallow teenager to strong, independent college student.

History Repeats: Naomi had much bigger plans for her summer vacation. She was going to sit by the pool and work on her tan, highlights and single status. Things didn't go as planned though. She got

stuck going to some podunk town hundreds of miles away from her ocean side town.She thinks it's going to suck until weird things start happening. She's drawn to a condemed house in the ghost town and feels almost connected to the place. When she does some research on the place there's some weird coincidences with the family that lived there.

This is another instance of where I have a huge chunk of it already (9,000 in the 2nd draft). Right now I see it going to about 15-30,000 depending on how well I edit it. This is the story that I was trying to get out for Valentine's Day. It's been on the backburner for awhile due to school and other writing but I'm looking forward to getting starter on it again.

Dreamwoven: Elisa and her family took her mother's death hard. Brian acted out and didn't accomplish much with his life, Meg estranged herself from the family as much as she could and dove in to school, their Dad did his best. As for Elisa, she got depressed and got anxiety and insomnia. She got the short end of the stick. In order to cope with the insomina she goes for walks at night, she likes the quiet. One night she runs in to Derrick. Derrick is cute and mysterious, but she tries not to think too much of him; he's just a stranger of the night just like her. When Elisa goes off to college she's hoping that things will get better. No one there will know who she is or what she has gone through and when she gets there things start to appear that they will get better, until she runs in to Derrick again. Her roomate Thea tells her not to talk to him but she can't help it, Derrick might hold the key to getting her mother back.

This is my first completed Nanowrimo. It's very close to my heart and I really want to finish it some day. I was a little stuck after finishing it and tried to do a complete rewrite, with Elisa in high school even, but it didn't really pan out. I'd like to continue with this one though. I think what hung me up was that I had to answer some really hard questions in order to get to the end. Very philosophical. The posting for this one would probably be 2,000 words a day and mostly be editing.

I also have another one called Death Becomes Her but that one is going to take research galore before I start writing it. I might save it for the next Nano. :) So, what do you think I should write about?

photo credit

On Kissing Tom Legend

History Repeats

Dreamwoven

Dear High School Self,

It's only been 2 and 1/2 years, but it seems like eons. You've gone through a lot in these 30 or so months. Some minor but monumental, like chopping and donating over a foot of hair. You'll put it off for a year but you'll finally do it. You'll regret it every once in awhile and you'll definitely miss the long braids, but think about the good that you did for that little girl.

Then there are some major things, you'll fight with your parents a lot. Even your Dad. It'll be hard and it will suck but it looks like it's working out for the best. Unfortunately it looks like you still have some rough waters ahead but you made some hard decisions and I think that shows promise.

Freshman year will be a breeze, don't worry about that art class the teacher is really cool. I wish you'd reconsider AP classes, it'll be worth it because college work load will be a big surprise for you. Community college, not even a four-year. Don't worry, you'll that coming though and it won't be a big surprise when you let November 30th pass you by in your Senior year after the cast party for Inherit the Wind. You'll make new friends, but you'll also lose some. You should try and keep in touch with Aubrey, just because she's more peculiar than your other friends doesn't mean you should ignore her. Not a strong point for your character. Theatre will be fun and you'll even make friends in that class too! You'll get a few good parts, even though memorizing the pieces for the auditions will be hard. Here's a tip, taping them to the wall in the shower is the key! Late in the year you'll experience the death of someone you know. It's the first time death has ever really affected you. It'll be hard and you'll cry a lot. You'll have to get up the next day and deal with STAR testing, but that awesome art teacher will talk with you when you start crying and he'll let you sleep through the extra long class.

Sophomore year will be harder. You'll be taking biology, which will suck. I think that you did the best that you could, but maybe you should crack that book open a little more. You'll pass the final but it might have been easier had you opened up the textbook. You'll have an amazing history class which Jessa will be in. The teacher is awesome and you'll really enjoy yourself. You'll rock your final and get the highest grade of all the classes. Good job!

You'll get invited to go to Europe with People to People. And you'll get to go! But you have to work hard with your grades and with raising money. Your parents are going to make you raise $1,000, you'll get it but you'll be disorganized and you'll regret that. Europe will be amazing! Completely beautiful and totally worth the hard work. You'll stick to your small group of friends because you're scared of getting in trouble, nothing bad happens by stepping outside your security blanket. The last week will be hard because you group of friends have made other friends and you've kind of stayed behind. Still, enjoy Roma and Firenze and make the most of everything. The summer after with Jessie will be a good and carefree one. You'll play a lot of Sims and swim a lot.

Junior year will be okay. You start to stray away from your friends and I wish you wouldn't. It's okay to do risky things. You're taking physics and geometry this year. Physics will start off easy and that will make you cocky, but in the second quarter you'll get a new teacher and things will be harder. It'll suck but you'll get through with your lab group. Geometry will suck, but you should have done the homework. There was nothing you could have done about the teacher, though you probably shouldn't have sat in the back with Jessa. You'll end up failing and it will suck. Adrienne will write you a sweet letter though and it'll make you smile.

Dad will be pissed. That's all there is to it. You'll mess up the trip to Disneyland for his birthday because you have to go to summer school. Summer school will actually be pretty fun though, you'll take Economics and Geometry with Jessa and you'll have a blast hanging out with her. You and Jessa haven't been as close as you had been in elementary school but this time together will cement your relationship. Disneyland will be okay. You'll be PMSing, anemic and bitchy but you'll make it through and have a really good time seeing Spencer experience Disneyland.

Senior year will be unmonumental. The only class you need to graduate is American Government, but you have to fill the year with classes. You'll take a semester of photography which will be fun but a little tricky because you're not adept with rolling film. Still you'll have fun and actually learn a thing or two. You'll end up with a better photographic eye. You'll even get your senior pics taken for free! In the next semester you'll take creative writing and you'll love it! You won't write anything amazing but you'll have a lot of fun and the teacher will like your work. The last semester of senior year will dwindle down to pretty much nothing. You'll drop theatre for most of it and get paid to watch your grandmother with Alzheimer's. You'll cut yourself off from a lot of friends and you shouldn't do that. You'll graduate though and you'll make it through. Don't worry about your math class, your teacher sees that you worked hard and he'll pass you anyway.

The next year will be hard. You'll think you're ready to be on your own and you won't be. It'll make things hard between you and your dad and you aren't used to that and it will make the whole thing worse. At that time though moving back to Arroyo Grande will be worth it. For awhile. Dad and Linda will move to Denver and though you won't tell them it's hard on you. You're not used to them being so far away. Things will go well for awhile. You'll get a job at the Worker's Comp board and it'll be good for you. Things at home will get hard though. You're going to disagree with the way your mother is raising her kids and you'll have a hard time keeping your mouth shut. Stand up for what you believe in though. Even when it means you have to drop your classes and move to Brentwood. You'll study hard and realize that instead of special education you want to work in publishing. It'll take you awhile to get there but c'est la vie.

Over the years you'll realize what family is to you and what it means. You'll do your best to stay close with Hanna and Caleb, maybe try and work a little harder? Emily will be adorable and you should pay more attention to her and not turn her away so much. She'll be annoying 45% of the time but try and play with her that other 65%. Spencer will grow and you'll be amazed at how "normal" he seems. His speech won't improve and he'll still be very autistic but you'll be surprised to find out that he has ambitions. Don't waste any minute with any of your brothers or sisters.

Try not to let yourself get overworked. Almost everything works out and when things don't work out, it's for the best. Don't stop reading, don't stop writing and do your best to keep in touch with all your friends. It'll be worth it. Don't be afraid to do things that scare you. The things that scare you the most are the ones that are the most important are the most rewarding.

With the utmost of love, Samantha (age 20 1/2)

NanoWrimo vs. Awesome Autism April

The difference between NanoWrimo and my April challenge is that with Nano if I didn't write for three days I could easily make it up over the next few days. Nano is about sitting down and writing everyday but nothing is too dependent on actually doing it every single day. With this challenge though my challenge is to write every day and write at least 1k words. I also have an audience. No one has yet to read Dreamwoven yet. I also had a stronger plot. With MBIRML I really only know a few sections ahead of what I'm writing, or what I'm writing takes longer than I expected. So, because of the audience I'm worried about the content even though the first draft is just for getting the words out and not if your portrayal of someone being high is accurate or if portrayal is spelled right because your spell check is still broken.

just a thought

“Is Lyle a friend?” Dad asked suspiciously. Why was it I could hang out behind the public library, smoke a cigarette and get away with it but when I mentioned riding in a car with a guy I got the ninth degree? It just didn’t compute for me.

“Lyle’s someone in group, Dad. We haven’t added each other on Facebook—”

Saying that someone is friends with you on Facebook just doesn't mean the same thing or sound the same as someone being in your top 8 (and later top whatever number) on Myspace. I mean, I don't believe in rating your friends but on some shallow level it meant something. I don't miss Myspace at all, I've even tried to delete it several times, but I'll give it this; it added something to our sociological-friendship-heirarchy thing.

why hype is more important than publicity

"Everyone in marketing says that the most important thing a cover can do is sell the book to someone who knows nothing about the novel. In other words, a cover is merely advertising space, and doesn’t need to be true to the text, just eye-catching."

from Scott Westerfeld's blog

Being unemployed, I do my best to stay away from the inside of Barnes and Noble. It's not working out to well, but motivation and intent have to count for something, right? Anyway... since I'm not going in to a physical bookstore and I'm staying away from Amazon (except to add to my wishlist) I don't really see a lot of book covers these days. It's sad and tragic, I know, please in lieu of sympathy notes purchase something off my wishlist for me.

I've always judged a book by its cover. I know we're not supposed to, but that's just how I roll... or read, rather. For instance, Uglies by Scott Westerfeld has faces on the spine of the book. These stood out against the plain spines of the other W authors and made me grab this book. The fact that it was about a dystopia/utopia was a plus.

Then there's that little book with the hands and apple on the cover. Yeah, that one. I was in rush and being yelled at to pick a book or not have it paid for. In a state of agitation and anxiety the thick book stood out at me. The symbology was not lost on my seventeen year Senioritus rattled brain. I picked the book up without reading the back and took it to the register where darling Daddy paid for it. I would be plunged back in to my obsession with vampires. My bank account was never the same.

Now, that's not the case. Hype is what gets me to pick up a book. If I read the title on Twitter a lot, I'll be more likely to look in to it. For instance, Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble has a mildly uninteresting cover. I hate when things look too photoshoppy. But, because I saw only the title at first (I didn't see the cover until I caved and went to the bookstore to pick it up) I was more likely to read further. Anastasia was my sixth grade reading obsession. I don't know how many times I read Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess. Probably too many times, I'm sure my parents were happy when I gave that book away.

So, do covers still matter? Sure! When I'm browsing the book store something pretty is definitely gonna grab my eye and make me buy it. I'm also more likely to buy hardcover if the cover is prettier. Yeah, I'm predjudice. I shelled out the few extra bucks for the hardcover of The Adoration of Jenna Fox, even though I had borrowed the book from the library and already read it. And yeah, I hate when publishers change the cover style. My Vampire Academy series would have looked prettier had they stuck with the same style, just like my Mediator series would have. But, in the Twitter/Facebook age I don't believe covers are more important than good titles or hype. Lots and lots of hype. Get a Twitter account and go publicity crazy.

first post

Cupid's Chokehold: last chaper is in the process of being written

to post:

Love it Forever: all human Twilight time travel piece

Morganville Vampire story: road trip! will post very soon