New Ideas!

Well...I wasn't thinking about plot or stuff writerly related, except for my monologue and it was during Acting that a new idea popped into my head. It's worth exploring but it ties me to the storyline (the last book, mainly) in a much more personal way and I'm scared. There will be a...much deeper level, I think and it's a side of me that only three people have ever seen and I didn't even mean to let them in on how deeply affected I am by what I'm about to write about. Just thought I'd share that...because I thought it would be worth sharing. And on that note, I read a quote somewhere and I can never, for the life of me, remember who said it but it's "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader" so just know that when I write this last book, I will be majorly investing in Kleenex. It will take all the strength I have to get through it but I think it's worth telling the world. So in the coming years, just know that what I'm doing will hopefully be making a difference, not just in the lives of readers but also in the lives of people who are desperately searching for a cure. You'll find out more later.

With love,

Ashley

OH. Hi!

Well, I'm getting better at this. Yes! *little happy dance*

I'm slowly acclimating myself to school again - taking two months off probably isn't the best thing to do after working hard my first semester...not that I could help it. I blame the school. XD In acting we had to do an interview with someone and write a monologue on an experience of theirs, so that's what I've been focusing on for the past few days. It's definitely more challenging than I thought because you really have to get inside this person's head. Honestly, I'd much rather find monologues than write them...

In other news...I really haven't been doing many writerly things (aside from the monologue). Mainly just school, cross-stitching (hopefully more of that will happen), school and reading. That's where it's at. :D In completely unrelated, completely random news, creme-based caramel macchiatos are REALLY good and the perfect solution to staying up WAY later than I should have (cleaning my room) and it being FREEZING outside. Just a thought. :)

Love,

Ashley

One of Those Days

You know those days where you really don't want to go to work or school because it's a really nice day and you want to ride your bike or take a nice walk, or it's one of those dreary, rainy days where you want to curl up with a good book by the fire in your comfy chair? I love those days. Both of them, equally. :)

As a writer, it's hard to keep focused on your story for long periods of time - you need a break very now and then or else you'll just get really burned out and want to give up completely on your project. I've been in that boat for the last few months - NaNoWriMo, winter break, free time at school (LOTS of free time at school) and all I thought about was editing, plotting, character sketches, the book I'm dissecting etc. and I started getting bored with it all, like it just wasn't fun anymore.

I almost started panicking a bit because that's what I do when I get stressed or anxious but I decided that I was going to take a REAL break (not the fake one that I took where I still focused on plot devices and other "non-book" related stuff that I convinced myself was okay to think about - I do a lot of thinking...) and I picked up a couple books to read just for fun. It was actually really nice, I'm not going to lie. I also decided to start cross-stitching again because I really want to make things with my hands - I also really love art stuff. :)

My day today was fantastic - I spent the morning with my family and the afternoon reading a book in my favorite chair, the window open with a nice breeze coming in (that's Texas winter for you...) and I didn't once think about grammar, spelling, plot or the word 'was.' And I decided that I need more days like this. :)

With love,
Ashley

Finally.

So, I spent all day trying to get on here to post but stupid gmail (no offense) wouldn't let me. It only showed my other email address (yes, I do have two) and it wouldn't let me change it. But it's done. Finally. :)

So, I have some very big, awesome news - I'm going to Maine this summmer! This is very big and awesome because the town my book takes place in (the first part, at least) is five minutes away from where I'm staying. I'M SO EXCITED! I'm definitely taking loads of pictures so I can map everything out properly (or as properly as I can, at least) and it's just going to be so much fun. :) My trip isn't for six months and I'm already way too excited for my own good. :D

In other news, school is pretty much like last semester, oozing with free time which is fabulous. There's a project that is suggested for all novelists - choose a book with high literary merit (not necessarily your favorite) and mark it up, saying why you like certain things, how the author uses their words most effectively etc.

At the moment, I am dissecting Cassandra Clare's City of Bones book, marking the exposition I am fond of, the action sentences that stand out the most and the dialogue I love. And also, I'm keeping track of the adverbs used (not many) and passive verbage (few and far between) just to see how she tastefully breaks literary rules. I started that last weekend because I was so incredibly too darn bored for my own good - I'm about a third of the way done, which probably says something about me and my priorities, but to be honest, three of my classes have been canceled and I have about eight hours of down time a day. Just saying. :D

I'm off to go destroy my book, as my sister would say - she firmly believes books aren't meant to be written in...

With love,

Ashley

I love the rain

I'm getting better...kind of. :D So, today is the perfect day, in my opinion, to do writerly things. It's cold, rainy and gloomy outside, my favorite type of weather, and it also happens to be a recurring weather in the books I'm working on, aka the only two of twelve that I've written. It reminds me a bit of the atmosphere in the story, the dark, forboding, upsetting undertone of the plot. And it's also the perfect weather for sitting in my favorite chair by my window with a cup of hot chocolate, watching the rain fall while wondering what my character, Jordan, is thinking about.

Also, just a side note. I'm in an Acting class and we were asked to look up monologues over the break because this semester is dedicated mostly to the audition process. I found a few that I like from some obscure, off the wall playwright, which is good because my teacher told me to do something I wouldn't ordinarily do. Hence, I chose a goddess who is getting hit on by some creepy human being for my comedic one, and a girl who (ironically enough) is auditioning for a musical her school is performing as the dramatic monologue. It's...special. But the really cool thing is that while I was reading through each of them, I could hear the character's voice forming in my head, imagining what they sound like and how they would act on stage. It was pretty wicked. I didn't even bother searching for any others because I just felt like these were the pieces for me. Pretty cool.

So, I've been working on character charts, well...just one - Jordan's, and I've put together a notebook full of questions that she answered, quotes and pictures that inspired her character and pictures and sketches of what I imagine her to look like, as well as quotes and phrases that she says in the books so I can keep up with her voice (how she talks in the story, that is). It's pretty cool watching it fill up, the more I spend time on it. It's been taking me...a couple weeks now but it's totally worth it because I'm getting to know her and understand who she is and how she thinks, acts, speaks etc. And just think, there's seven more charts for the books I've thoroughly mapped out, plus another...I don't even know off the top of my head...for the other nine books I've roughly sketched out. :D It's no wonder it took JK Rowling a few YEARS before Harry Potter started getting published - imagine all the planning that went into those SEVEN books. And I want to do twelve...but it's going to be totally awesome when I finish. :) I'm way excited at what all is coming together.

Ashley the Thrilled

...I should feel ashamed...

Well, it's been less than a month since my last post. Progress. That's what I shall tell myself this time. I went to Disney World for Christmas and even though I went in 2009, it was still just as fantastic as ever. :) I met so many characters and hilarious people (Oh, Luke...lol) and it was just absolutely wonderful. I also went to Harry Potter World (so not the name but I don't care) which was equally awesome. Fun stuff. I didn't do many writerly things except for writing down phrases and quotes that I want to include in my books. I suppose now that I'm back and only have a couple weeks before school starts, I'll actually get some work done. My room is clean, the printer is hooked up, I got new writerly supplies for Christmas and took a decent break, so there's really no excuse now to write/edit/research. So that is what I shall go do. Right now. :)

Writers write. Rest assured that's what I'll be up to.

Ashley the Fantastic

Failsauce

I...fail at life. I believe it is exactly one month since I last blogged. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Okay. So, I finished NaNoWriMo at about 11:45pm November 30th with 50,005 words. After going back and taking out all the wordpadding and fluff, I was left with about 35,000 usable words. Fantastic. But there's so much I left out in an attempt to finish. Basically, I spent a week and a half of the month not writing at all because there was just so much going on and I just...forgot, essentially.

I went to Kansas for Thanksgiving with my family and couldn't write much because of my cousins and angry looks from my family. And because all my teachers decided they wanted to assign projects to be due within the last two days of November. Fantastic. I resolved not to write until I got all my work done so I wouldn't fail. I produced, in the span of three days, a powerpoint presentation for my music appreciation class, a three page paper and presentation for archaeology, a career project for psychology and memorized lines for a scene for acting. And then I wrote.

So, November 29th, my Institute teacher, Brother Ashcroft, told me to just get some sleep because I could write better when not exhausted. So I passed out on my floor that night, not attempting to write. November 30th dawned bright and early, my word count at only 25,516 words. I gave my presentation for archaeology and performed my scene with my group, got my last tech hour done for acting so I didn't fail the class, drove straight home and locked myself in my room to finish, and finish I did. In eight hours, I wrote 24,489 words. My cousin came in about every hour to make sure I hadn't fallen asleep or gone insane, even brought me a pint of ice cream and basically kept me from offing myself along with my characters. :D

Even after all of that exhausting writing, I'm still thinking about my story and the things I need to develop and change. It's still exciting, which makes me happy because I've heard that some people get really burned out after pulling sessions like that so it's all good.

I'll try and blog more frequently, especially since I'm out of school for over a month - it's fantastic. I'll be watching more Heroes since I seem to get some inspiration from that show, along with Doctor Who and Star Trek. (I admit to being a total nerd.) I'm surrounded by little kids right now because my mother decided to host a party for her rugrats at church so I don't know how much longer I can spend on the computer...I'll post more later if I survive.

Ashley the Frazzled