Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Blargh.
I like to mix things up: genre, age group, release date. I like to read books that I never got to read growing up as well as books I never got around to. For example, my upcoming reviews include Shiver, How to Train Your Dragon, Stuart Little, and Fracture. Things to look forward to. :)
Friday, May 20, 2011
Ramblings, Updates, and Other News
Trying to get to my seat before commencement.
Diploma. I has one.
Me with my gorgeous little sisters. Marie, left, and Autumn, right.
Alright. So that's a short look at my college graduation. Good times. I have yet to receive my actual diploma in the mail yet, but I have a pretty holder for it when it does come in.... Anyway, I wanted to include a picture with my sisters because Marie is actually graduating high school tonight! EXCITING! I'm incredibly happy about this, as I would not have been able to make it to her graduation if my own hadn't come a week before hers. YAY good universe karma! Autumn still has another year to go, which means she had better pick a college soon. :) (Marie decided to go to my Alma Mater. I never thought that could make me happy haha.)
In other news, I have been applying for jobs and searching for an apartment. You'll know more when I do. Promise. Also, might I just add that preparing for a cross-country move is hard. I don't even know how I'm going to get most of my stuff up there. Crazy. Umm. Yea. that's where I'm at now. Upacking, repacking, packing more things, rearranging things. It's awesome.
How have you been? What are you up to? Did you miss me as much as I missed you? :P
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Oh, hi there!
*cue freakout*
I am ready to be done; don't get me wrong. Totally ready. However, I've never not been in school. I'm 21 years old and I've been in school since I was 5. I don't remember a time without it. And now comes the job search (which is incredibly difficult from here in Arkansas haha) and the apartment hunt (also difficult). I'm thrilled. I cannot wait to be finished with classes and out there doing what I love, working with books.
So I apply for jobs, and wait on the knot in my stomach to go away or at least get a little better. But it doesn't. And I'm not sure that it ever will. So that's where I've been. Trying to make it through one day at a time. I should be able to get you wonderful people some reviews this weekend. (I've got three for sure I need to post. I'm really behind. My apologies.)
Anywho, how are all of you doing these days?
Friday, April 1, 2011
Safe Zone
No, seriously.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Good Morning, Starshine!
I read books and work on my own novel when I can. I try to help other people with their work. I try to have a social life (and I fail miserably at it). And then I get online and the words are just gone. I'm not afraid to say them. I'm not worried that I might not be the best person to talk about a certain subject (though I do wonder sometimes). Mostly, I just don't have any words left at all.
I write reviews over books I read, and sometimes I even question that. It's so hard to rate a book, but at the same time I feel like I have to when every book site out there seems to have a star rating out beside the title. So I try to focus on the things I liked or didn't like, and then I wonder what the author will think when they see my 3 star review. Will they hate me because I didn't think their book was right for me? Because I didn't care for the way they wrote it or their characters? I certainly hope not, because I hope to be among them one day. Still, I wonder.
I think about the people who have been blogging for years and are just now running out of topics. How do they do it? I have nothing to say. And maybe it's because I don't have anyone here to talk to about books and writing most days. But you would think that would leave me with an abundance of things to say instead. I don't know.
And I think about all of you reading this. Why are you here? Why do read my blog when I ramble about stupid things and don't say anything worth hearing? I'm not teaching you how to be a better writer or imparting any great wisdom on you, and yet here you are. And I feel compelled to post things, to keep you entertained, to keep you around. But I don't have anything else.
I have a book that I'm working on. I'm trying to move across the country to get a job in publishing, and I'm trying to do it with very little money. I'm trying to find a way to get paid for doing what I love. And I may crash and burn, at which point I don't know what I'll do, much less how I'll do it.
So here I am, typing up a post that says absolutely nothing and says everything at exactly the same time. I am here. And you are here. And I guess that's all that really matters.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
An Award and One Awesomesauce Contest
Yes, so, THANKS FOR THE AWARD! It's pretty, and I like it. Naturally, there are rules, and I'm supposed to open up to you and share my feelings and yada yada yada. No really. Seven things. Okay. Do I have seven things left to tell you guys? . . .
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
A Little More Personal
Yea, it's been one of those weeks where things were just fine, until they suddenly weren't. My aunt came up to visit with my cousin's little girl and they stayed with my grandma. They came up, Mom and I went to see them on Sunday but didn't want to go to the church celebrations so we left and promised to come back the next day. Everything was fine.
Monday morning we get a call saying some more family has showed up; they were passing through on their way home after dropping my cousin Sean off at West Point. So we get up and get dressed and head over there earlier than planned. We stay for a bit, talk, and then give hugs and say goodbye. Things are still okay.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
My Entry...
The contest is to write a rhyming query (I had to to it for one of my SNIs that I'm toying with but not actually playing with yet). Enjoy!
The ghosts and the ghouls
And a number of fools,
In shades of gray,
Gather to say
They feel bad.
They give their confessions,
And at the end of each session
They give a group hug,
Shuffle over the rug,
And part until the next meeting
When Bonnie gets restless
She sadly confesses
The girl in 4D,
Obnoxious and peeved,
Is Bonnie’s first spook in a month.
The gang is all sad,
They say Bonnie was bad,
But they’re happy she feels better;
Bonnie signs a new letter
Swearing off spooking for good.
Dear Ms Agent,
I hope my email sent
To you this beautiful query
And that you aren’t weary
To request more.
I have the whole book,
Please don’t give me that look,
It’s really quite something
And could easily bring
Lots of money to you and to me.
Simply request
And I’ll send you my best
60,000 word novel,
There's no need to grovel,
For my YA paranormal comedy SPOOKS!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
So I haven't signed off yet...
...but I'm getting there. To tell the truth, I'll try not to disappear at all, though I can't promise anything.
I got another blog award! :) You guys really think I'm at least half way interesting. I'm glad. It makes me happy that I'm not just standing up here on my invisible box talking to a wall. What was I saying? Oh, blog award, right.
This one is from the very popular Nicole over at One Significant Moment at a Time, if you haven't ever stopped by or have never heard of Nicole, you should check her out. Now. Seriously, anyone who can compare life and a novel to a subway car is pretty interesting to me!
I'd like to pass this on now to some people who are a whole lot cooler than I am. Unfortunately, that would take forever, because I want you all to have this one. So, if you're reading this, congratulations! I think you're all wonderful and magnificent and quite a few other adjectives, so please consider yourself awarded, and continue passing on the silver lining. :D
In completely unrelated news, I'm thinking about starting to do reviews on here (not that I get to read very often, but I think it's be nice), what do you guys think? Would you like to know what I'm reading and what I think about it?
To give you a look, first up would more than likely be the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan. But I have a ton of books I bought recently including, Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, Beastly by Alex Flinn, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Neffenegger, and Atonement by Ian McEwan, so there's a nice little mix in there.
If I can keep up with posting, I'll try to stick to a schedule. Teaser Tuesday and Work in Progress Wednesday are at the top of my list, if you have any requests, now's the time to speak up! Do you want to hear about my school life? What caf food tastes like? Want me to stop talking and go away? Let me know!
And now, I'll leave you with a tiny snippet and no introduction whatsoever to my newest WiP, because I'm mean like that.
“Mom. He’s doing it again!” Taryn Jacobson bellowed, her voice carrying through the hall and into the kitchen where her mother was making dinner. “Make him stop!” she shouted. She sat on her bed trying to watch the latest episode of her favorite monster television show; Taryn’s little brother Luke sat in the floor between her bed and the TV throwing spit wads at the screen and giggling when they stuck in the middle of an actor’s face. Luke hated ghosts and all things scary. He even refused to go to sleep at night if the door wasn’t left open or if there wasn’t a light on. Luke was afraid the monsters would get him.
Taryn wished they would.
She was tired of having to get out of bed at night to check in on him because he was huddled against the wall crying about the scary things in his closet or the men hiding in the shadows. She would always sit with him and calm him down by turning on all the lights and showing him that everything was safe. Luke never really believed her, though; he always said that the monsters could only be seen when the lights were out because they were a part of the dark. They were made of darkness. It made sense to Taryn, but she still didn’t like having to give up her own sleep because her baby brother was scared, especially when he was such a pain during the day.
“Luke, if you don’t cut it out, I’ll let the monsters get you,” she said, threatening him. “I’ll turn out all the lights and close your door tonight after you go to sleep, and they’ll creep out of the shadows and in through the windows, and you’ll never even see them coming.” Luke froze, a spit wad dangling at the end of the straw that was sticking out of his five-year-old mouth. His face went pale and Taryn could see the tears welling in his little brown eyes. She knew she’d over done it, but she had had enough of his shenanigans; she just wanted to watch TV.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
It's A New Post!
School is finally on break, and I'm so incredibly thankful. I managed to survive a 21 hour semester with 5 English classes, and I only got one B. So don't think I was just blowing you all off for a social life or anything, I was busting my butt writing papers and trying to keep up on the constant reading (none of which was for myself ( by the way). :(
But Christmas Break is here, and I finally get to sit down and read your beautiful blogs, and hopefully get some writing/editing done as well. Seeing as how this may take a while, I'd like to go ahead and ask if anyone has had anything happen to them in the last few months that I probably missed.
Has anyone landed an agent? Gotten a book deal? Or had any major life changes? I'm dying to know everyone, what's new with you??
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
WiP Wednesday, College, Life, Fraternity, and Supernatural
I mean it.
College is awesome. Really it is. I'm a nerd, I love school. My only problem with it is the other people. They tend to lose all of their manners and become rude little pricks who are so wrapped up in drama that sometimes I feel like I've been physically run over by the train of lies, accusations, and angst that trails behind them.
Yay college. :) On the other hand, my classes FREAKING ROCK. Except Psychology, he just preaches straight outta the book. It's dull. But everything else is amazing. :D
All of my free time lately has been going to homework, my friends and/or the fraternity to which I have pledge my soul (it's music, so it to a good cause). What's left of my time after all of that? Quality roommate bonding time over Supernatural on DVD. What better way to de-stress than by watching Jared Padelecki and Jensen Ackles battle supernatural forces?
Absolutely. Nothing. (Unless you throw in some Jiffy Pop and Dr. Pepper or sweet tea.)
So that's what I've been doing. Taking life one day at a time and trying to figure out when I'll have time to write. Speaking of which, I'm down to an hour and twelve minutes so I'm gonna gonna go now.
Hopefully the rest of you have had MUCH more success and progress this week than I have. I know life has been getting in all of your ways as well so here's to hoping she'll stop being so needy and clingly and let us get some work done.
QUESTION of the DAY: What do you do to de-stress after a long and tiring, or possibly just nerver-wracking, day?
Monday, August 17, 2009
Life/Update
There was a funeral on Thursday. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were let's see how much packing, hanging out with mom, and spending time with friends I can cram in to each day kind of days. And today is let's haul all of Amanda's crap up to Russellville, sign in, unpack, go eat, go shop, say goodbye, and organize the new room day.
Hopefully life will not continue to come between me and the WiP and I will be able to finish the first draft soon. Hopefully.
Has life gotten in the way of your writing this week?
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
WiP Wednesday
On RotP I've written a whopping 5,366 new words since last Wed. but I'll admit I'm working on it now. So, as of this particular moment I have a total of 51,764 words. Sadly I'm not happy with this number, I thought I'd make more progress this week. :(
In other news, this week I:
- had a root canal (lots of fun there!)
- had one of my best friends lose his father to a heart attack
- ordered flowers for said friend's family
- picked figs
- took pictures of wedding decorations (for my brother's)
- took pictures of me in possible dresses for wedding (for his fiance's other bride's maids)
- started talking to an old friend/ex-boyfriend
- read Rachel Vincent's My Soul to Lose
- added even more books to my TBR list
- packed/organized stuff for moving back to the dorm
What have you done this week? Been super busy or totally bored?
Saturday, August 8, 2009
TBR and a Link to a Kewl Contest
Unfortunately, My Soul to Take isn't among the prizes, :( which makes me sad because I really want to read that book and have no money to buy it. I'd check it out from the library, but they didn't have it when I looked; they never have any of the books I want to read. Yay Arkansas.
Anyway, whether you enter the contest or not, you should check out her site. I know I can't wait to get my hands on her Shifters series either.
I don't get much time to read. I go to school in Russellville, AR and I try to stay away from the campus library, the people always bug me and the computers hate me, it's sad really. Of course, I don't get much reading time for me anyway, but still. So I've been trying to catch up this summer and boy am I feeling small.
So, I went to Hastings earlier today and was looking for Rachel Vincent's book (it wasn't at Target or Walmart) and found a handful of others I'd heard about and some that just sounded really interesting. I had my phone out taking a picture of My Soul to Take (how many times do you think I can cram that title into one post?) and decided to take pictures of all the other ones while I was at it, how else was I going to remember the titles later? :)
Needless to say I ended up with 21 new pictures on my phone (including the one for the contest). My TBR list is now about 70 books long, most of which are YA and fantasy, and I know that isn't all of them, but here's a sample (let me know if you've read any of them and what you thought!):
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Shifter*
Nekropolis
Evermore
Leviathan*
City of Ashes
Bones of Fearie
Skinned
Generation Dead
The Da Vinci Code
Hush, Hush*
Wings
Ink Exchange
Simple Wishes
*indicates books not yet released
So many books, so little time. *sigh*
How long is your TBR list/pile/stack? Do you have a particular genre you stick to? Is there a particular book you're waiting on to be released?
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Broken Comments and the Lovely Tess
It turns out that sometime in the last month my comments decided to get stupid and stop working. I didn't know this until I got an email from the fantastic Tess Hilmo telling me she'd tried and tried but my blog just wouldn't let her comment.
I jumped on the interwebs and immediately started messing with settings and changing things, because what else are you gonna do at 1:10 in the morning when you can't sleep? So I checked my comments and everything said it was fine but it wouldn't actually let you post one, hmph.
I changed my template and reset my cookies (not the good kind) and caches and I even deleted the 'blogs I follow' widget to see if maybe that's what was causing it to be stupid; it wasn't. Everything was just the way it was supposed to be, I'd never changed any settings, but for some reason blogger still wasn't letting me comment. so I changed the format of the comment to not be at the bottom of my posts and for some reason that just cleared everything up.
Twenty minutes after I'd started, I wondered why I hadn't just tried that in the first place. *sigh*
Anyway, this post has absolutely nothing to do with writing and everything to do with saying a HUGE
Thank you!!
to you Tess! You're awesome and I appreciate you emailing me to let me know something was up.
Also, the picture has nothing to do with anything, or it could be a response to the tiny monkeys from Tess' post yesterday O.o, but either way they're lemurs and they're adorable so you should go here and check out the best site EVER for cute or here for the next best thing. :)
Enjoy!
to you Tess! You're awesome and I appreciate you emailing me to let me know something was up.
Also, the picture has nothing to do with anything, or it could be a response to the tiny monkeys from Tess' post yesterday O.o, but either way they're lemurs and they're adorable so you should go here and check out the best site EVER for cute or here for the next best thing. :)
Enjoy!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Being True to Yourself
I started playing the cello the summer before 6th grade and I picked up the horn in the 7th; I couldn't imagine my life without either of them. But I'd always had a love for English and writing and reading that I didn't think I'd ever out grow. I wanted to double major but I thought that would be too much as a freshman trying to get a hold on college life so I picked Music Ed. I was told by every music instructor that I had that I would be fantastic at it and I loved music and music theory, which is apparently odd but anyway. I never really thought that that was the thing for me but with so many people that I trusted telling me that it grows on you, I thought I'd try that.
I told my AP English teacher that I was going with Music Ed. and I swear it's like he knew what I would do before even I did. He made me promise to at least minor in English or Creative Writing because I was too good and talented not to. I assured him that I would.
Low and behold a year later I'd figured out that teaching music really wasn't for me, something I'd thought I could over come but I couldn't. I knew that I still wanted to play my instruments and I refused to go another year without my cello (my school doesn't have an Orchestra :() so I took up lessons and was happy again. I was a double major in music and English and I thought it was great.
The next semester my music teachers just kept getting under my skin and I found myself dreading going to every class. I hated the music we played in band, I despised sight-singing. Two days into classes and I realized I couldn't do it anymore. I loved my instruments more than anything, but I couldn't finish getting a degree in them, and we don't have a minor.
I filled out the paperwork and got the signatures and became an English major only. I called my mom up the moment I walked out of the building and it was quite possibly the happiest moment of my life. I was finally being true to myself and what I wanted to do and be. I was downright giddy. It took me a year and a half to listen to my heart and it was a time during which I was rarely happy. My friends were freaked out at how much different I was after turning in a piece of paper and declaring English as my only major. I am still excited about it.
Now, I'm doing everything I ever wanted to do. I'm playing both of my instruments, taking classes that get me excited just by thinking about them, I'm writing a book that has been in my head since the 8th grade, and most of all I'm being myself.
I know, I know, that's more than you ever wanted to know about me but I needed to share how I got here and why I'm doing what I do. I can't not play my horn and cello, or take English courses; I can't not write; and I will not go another day trying to be something and someone that isn't me.
How did you know you wanted to do whatever it is you do: write, teach, be a mom? Have you ever tried to be something you're not? How did it make you feel?
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
1 o'clock in the morning. Yay.
I got my laptop out and checked facebook and twitter before stopping on here to see if anyone had published a new post. They had. And I read them. And I was still wide awake. *sigh*
I'd been thinking earlier about taking a small break form the WiP to try writing a short story (something I've never really been good at), and a scene had popped into my head while I'd been trying to get to sleep ( don't you just LOVE it when that happens?). So, I opened a new Word document and tried to call it back.
It flowed out fairly quickly and with only a few pauses to stop and think over a detail. And half an hour later I'm updating my facebook status because I've just written a 600-word short story and am still wide awake.
May post the short story on here tomorrow, er- later today and see what you all think about it considering that it will more than likely get little to no editing and was written in the wee hours of the morning.
P.S. - I never say "wee" but it felt so right I couldn't resist. It always bring an image of a woman standing over a baby going "Aww! Look at its wee little toesies! Oh you're so cute! Yes, you are!" Yea... I don't need sleep at all. I think I might go give that another try here in a minute.
Goodnight All!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Books, blogs, and ...boxes? Oh my!
It's Wednesday, I bet you didn't know that! Just kidding... Anyways I found Lisa Dale's blog this morning and thought I'd share it with you all. She had a fun little French food idioms quiz I thought I'd pass on - take some time out and go check out her site. She seems pretty down to Earth and I can't wait to read her books, I really need to stop writing and read some more soon....
Speaking of reading, the last book I got read was Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox. It was fantastic, I loved it and I can't wait to get my hands on the second one, Dreamquake! :D So many books to read... *sigh* don't you just love being nerdy? Haha.
I've realized that I want to try and intern at a literary agency or something after I graduate, that way no matter what happens with my writing career, I'll still be around books. :)
So, I went to sleep last night having hit 121 pages on my manuscript, I'm up to 27,400 words. It makes me feel fantastic, even though some of my writing yesterday was complete poop. :( But hey, it happens, you just have to keep on writing and go back and fix the bad stuff later.
Now, since I put boxes in my title I guess I'll talk about something to with a box.... Oh! I need one, haha. I knitted a baby blanket and a bunny blanket/toy for my cousin who is expecting her second child, a baby girl named Lilly, soon. I also crocheted a giraffe for her son Jonah so he wouldn't feel left out. I'm quite proud of the blanket and the giraffe, but the bunny blanket didn't turn out the way it should have, oh well. Oh, and surprise! I knit and crochet, well attempt to crochet most of the time haha. I know, I know, you're thinking 'Man, that girl does everything!' but really, I don't. I just like to try new things sometimes, and knitting is very relaxing - until you screw up your project....
Alright, well now that you're done here, go check out Lisa Dale's blog or any of the ones I'm subscribed to, they're all pretty amazing and rather informative for newbie authors like me. :P Or you could always go read a book! I hear they're lots of fun.
Well, it's back to writing for me. Later 'gators.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Random?
My book is coming along a little slower than I'd like right now but a lot faster than I thought it would at the beginning of the summer. I came home from school with around 45 pages; I'm starting this morning with 111. Like I said, it's coming along. :) I'm hoping I can get a lot done over break since I'm thinking I won't have much time once the next semester starts- I'll be taking 21 hrs and hopefully be working a few at the library too.
My goal is to have this thing done and ready to start querying by graduation in 2011. My dream, however, is to be done and querying by senior year and going through the publishing process by graduation. In reality, who knows what will happen between now and May, 2011 haha.
Well, I'm going to go write so that I'll be one step closer to my goal and my dream.
TTFN- that's Ta Ta For Now for those of you not raised on Tigger and Winnie the Pooh- you poor souls....
Amanda
Monday, July 6, 2009
I need a break from writing
I've spent this wonderful afternoon reading some fantastic blogs on publishing and queries, listening to The Fellowship of the Ring playing in the background, and writing some on what will hopefully be a totally awesome breakout novel for me.
Unfortunately, my head is starting to hurt because I've been staring at a computer screen for about 5 hours now and I'm really just not used to that. =/ So, anyway, I've been working on this manuscript which this morning before I started was sitting on 22,600+ words on 100 pages and has since grown to 24,300+ ad 108 pages. Which brings me to wordcount/number of pages.
If you format your manuscript the way everyone says, then the 250 w/p doesn't really work because every time you start a new chapter, you're losing half a page to blank space. According to the 250 w/p rule, I should be sitting at 27K. That's a little over 2500 words that I don't have, 2500 words that I should have but don't. HMPH.
Why do I care that it's 2500 words off? Because when you query an agent you send in a lovely word count , and while it's just supposed to be a rough idea of how long your manuscript is, 2500 is a lot of words....
Honestly, I don't really know why I'm dedicating an entire blog post to this. I think my head's just a little too full right now to argue this out to a rational conclusion, that and I really needed something else to do and this was at the front of my mind. :)
Any thoughts on word count? Is your 250 words-per-page off a little?
And on an unrelated note, cats or dogs? Are you really a one animal only type of person? O.o
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