One of the more hilarious conversations...

Usually every Monday night, due to getting out of class late, I crash at my friends' apartment. Two computer guys--friends from high school--and one of my two closest friends share the three bedroom apartment. I like to call them my future roommates because once their lease is up at the end of January, I'll be joining their move into a four bedroom house.

The guys are, more often than not, hilarious. Tonight happened to be one of those times that I stumbled into an awesome conversation about Harry Potter and Twilight. It first started off when I mentioned that our group of eight (including them) were going to see Harry Potter 7 at the big 22-screen theater.

This is how the conversation went with the guys.

Me: So, you guys excited for Harry Potter?! I know you are, D. Kaitlyn was just thrilled when you woke her up at 3am thinking last Thursday was premiere night.

D: I read that it was the premiere last Thursday!

Me: That was in London...

D:...it was still a premiere.

Me: Well, it's THIS Thursday. And we'll be at Edwards Theater.

D: Why that theater? Why not the closer one with no people?

Me: Because we'll miss all the people dressed up as slutty and/or nerdy Hogwarts students.

M: We'll need to dress up then. I'll go as Edward.

D: I'll go as Cedric.

M: Dead Cedric.

D: Then we'll both be dead.

M: No, I'll be undead. You'll just be dead dead.

D: And I'll still be a better actor.

M: You do less sparkling.

D: And still be more entertaining.

I love my future roommates.

Mmm...ice cream

Borrowed from the lovely Veronica Roth, who borrowed it from YAHighway. Mostly something to just make my blog look prettier because I've been neglecting everything lately. Writing, reading, blogger...even Twitter has been sad without my massive TPD (tweets per day). I'm trying to get back into the swing of writing. Guess I just need to keep waiting for my muse to come back from vacation? Anyways, fun little quiz incoming!

Leah's Result: Pint of Ben and Jerry’s. And a spoon. on quiz: What Kind of Writerly Snack Are You? Who: Thrill-seekers and riders on the emotional roller coaster. When: Just after OMG TOTALLY AMAZING NEWS!!!!! comes or just after omgthissucksmycareerisoverbeforeitbegansob! News. Why: It’s cool. It’s creamy. It’s fatty and science tells us we love fat. It’s a throwback to birthdays of our childhood and celebrations with confetti and streamers. Or it’s comfort, a cuddle, the body settling in for the metaphorical cold, dreary onslaught of publishing winter. And because it comes in a convenient single serving size. Adorable! Right? Quiz Maker Take this quiz & get your result

What Kind of Writerly Snack Are You? » online testing

Because my blog has been quiet...

...and I'm such a fan of LOST...

This makes me DIE ROFLING.

In all honesty, I loved LOST. All the characters were so amazing and the same for the actors. Loved Jack. Loved Kate. Loved Sawyer. Love, love, love.

Just because I make fun of something, doesn't mean I don't heart it :)

Flashback Friday: Movies That Rocked My Socks Off

See. No socks. --------------------------------------->

So there's this little thing called The GotYA. And this little thing is doing something called Flashback Friday. What is Flashback Friday you ask? It's a trip down memory lane where each Friday we visit everything past--from music, to books, to bad hair.

So for our Week Two, it's Movies That Shaped Our Generation, or as my title says, Movies That Rocked My Socks Off.

Writing inspiration comes from many outlets. The most crazy/exciting/warped ideas can spur from anything. TV, music, books--you name it, because the imagination is not picky. It inspires who it wants to inspire, creates what it wants to create. One of the biggest sources, for me, is movies.

Now my inspiration is all about the 2000s. At the turn of the century, I was 12; the verge of the teenage years. Half the movies that shaped my creativity were from books.

One of the first movies that really had an impact was X-Men.

Now, comic books have been made into movies before, but X-Men's release in 2000 was a big kick in the film industry's bum. Remakes and life action movies exploded. Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk (the :D version), HULK (the D: version), Batman, Superman, Ironman. They've taken over with no intention of stopping any time soon, especially with more sequels coming out and all new ones like the Avengers, Captain America, and the Green Lantern. It's definitely a boom from the older comics-turned-movie.

Of course, comics weren't the only books being made into movies. Lord of the Rings anyone?

These movies are legendary. Having read the series myself, I deemed it the best book-to-movie film made. As with any movie created from a novel, there were pieces missing, pieces added, lines changes, but still--you really can't get closer than this. It also opened up to fantastic elements in the film industry, taking special effects to a completely different level, a level that I don't think the world has seen since Star Wars. Every animatronic, city overview, and creature looked real, moved like real.

Lastly, no list is complete without some sort of reference to Harry Potter.


This is a big one for me. These were the books I grew up with. I discovered them shortly after the second book came out. They were drugs for children. And I'm ridiculously happy about that. The movie didn't come out too long after and at that point, MG and YA got a nice boost. Harry Potter really helped to open up the impossible in creativity. Where as MG and YA have always been there, now they were getting noticed. The movies made kids WANT to read, something that wasn't seen very often in kids. I was pretty sure my school was broken up into percentages for those who wanted to read, and those who didn't. I was in that 10% who liked it. The movies changed that though, and I'm thankful.

Of course, there are a ton more movies that really affected the industry and myself, but that would be a very looooooong list. These are the ones that really stick out...

And, because I can:

Hey! You there!

That is all.

Why writing in Starbucks on Friday nights is bad

For some reason, I can't write at home. The internet is all shiny and distracting what with games, tv/movies, and random pictures like lolcats and Failblog. So lately, I've been coming to Starbucks. I find that whenever I leave my house--regardless of where I go--whether it be Sarah's or even back in my old apartment, I just write. My muse senses that I'm out of my house and realizes that havoc is about to ensue with my characters.

But there is a dark side, a looming evil that cannot be destroyed: customers. For the most part, they are harmless. They come in for their drinks and leave. But there are those that stay, the ones that linger in the area for one reason or another. Those are the ones to watch out for.

Luckily, there are signs. How to tell when it's time for you to leave peacefully or flee the premises in a fit of terror.

Situation 1. A couple sits down next to your table and starts eating face.

And I'm not talking about love pecks, I'm talking about sloshing noises and his mouth jammed against her neck. These are sure indicators that something is about to go down, and trust me, you don't want to be anywhere near that.

What to do: Flee. ASAP. Scurry away to the furthest table, preferably one with a display stand to hide your view of them.

What not to do: Do not sit there and pretend they don't exist. This DOES NOT WORK. Just because you're sitting a foot away from them mauling each other does not mean that they realize you are there. The slurping noises will eventually drive you mad. Remember, what has been heard cannot be unheard. If you do nothing, it'll only progress to hearing them talk about getting naked and at that moment, your brain implodes.

Situation 2. A family of eleven enters the building.

Here, all hell breaks lose. Screaming. Crying. Running. They're jumping off chairs, pulling things off the shelves, tripping customers with their frolicking mayhem. At this point, the store has single-handedly broken the sound barrier. Along with your sanity.

What to do: Headphones. Get onto your hands and knees and pray to the creator of headphones. Bless him/her with a long, happy life because he/she just brought peace over your surroundings. Headphones - check! Music - check! Making sure your muse hasn't committed suicide - check!

What not to do: Generally speaking, hitting children is frowned upon in society...and also illegal, so I would recommend not doing that. While you'd get away from them, I don't think they'll let you write in prison.

And if you didn't bring any headphones then politely excuse yourself from the building so that the baristas don't have to clean up the mess from your head imploding...again.

Situation 3: Young, attractive guy walks in and sits next to you. He pulls out Twilight and turns to the last few chapters of the book.

What to do NOT to do: I'm just skipping ahead here, because NO GOOD WILL COME FROM THIS! The words, "It's a trap," should be ringing loud and clear. Oh yeah, cute guy...reads Twilight...looks up at you from the corner of his eye...goes back to his book. Everything seems perfect. And then you talk to the barista, or in this case, the best friend. What? The last time he was in here he was reading Breaking Dawn? He's already read the series just a few weeks ago? You're on to him now. His attempts at smoldering are getting him NOWHERE! You sparkle? Well I punch people in the face. Let's see which one knocks the other off their feet first...

Situation 4: Old grouchy men are talking politics.

Another conversation reaches your ears from a few tables away. Two old-fashioned men are talking about how women should never be aloud in offices and how they'll never vote for them. This takes you on the opposite end of the spectrum. You've gone from going insane to getting pissed off. You've already had to endure face-eating, rampant children, and the pretty trap. The last thing you want to hear is how some old farts are being old farts. Get with the times, grandpa. This isn't the 20s anymore.

What to do: Violence doesn't solve anything...but at this point you've gone way over your Stupid People quota for the day and your self control is shot. What do you do? You pop those suckers in the face, grab your compie and make the dramatic exit that you've always wanted, complete with the glare from over your shoulder and your hair tossing in the breeze that comes from out of no where. Then you march away.

And that kids, is how Starbucks on a Friday night gets you arrested.

Epic Board 'O Stickies - Part two

This represents my inner lolcat editor. I'm 7k words into my rewrite of a rewrite intro and already I'm seeing problems. Naturally, I'm on the verge of picking up the closest pointy object and jamming it into my screen, but alas, it won't help.

While I love epicness (hence why I'm writing urban FANTASY) I've come to realize that epic stories can be too epic...and too unbelievable. Okay, I mean, I'm writing a UF/dystopian novel--something that tends to be a bit on the extreme end of realism--but with Neira having insane amounts of badassery, I'm thinking that it'll be difficult with people to connect with her. Of course, I adore her, but she isn't super woman and she IS a teenager with teenager problems mixing in with the dystopian life she lives in.

The tricky part? Trying to not be my perfectionist self and just write. The urge to go back and rewrite the intro FOR THE FOURTH TIME is tempting, but at this rate, I will NEVER FINISH. I just need to write and not look back...at least, not until I finish.

So for the time being, I'm restarting my "Epic Board 'O Stickies" on my wall and making clear and precise notes about what I want. Starting now, I'm going to try to get past that little nagging thought in my head telling me to make it perfect NOW rather than later, and just start writing my characters, plots, and scenes the way I want. It's one of my biggest problems. The way I see things in my head almost NEVER come out onto paper that way. Frustrated? Definitely.

It's spring break, and that means...

...I'm more or less doing something like this:

This next week, while I'll also been drowning in that which we call "presentations" and "tests" the week I get back, meaning there will be studying, I do know that I'm not working the entire week. Translation: MOAR WRITING!!!1

Seeing as how our breaks are the same week, me and Sarah have plans to drink ungodly amounts of coffee, drown our ears in Two Steps from Hell, and generally cause chaos and confusion in the human world type away on Lappies. Well, she'll be betaing novels, I'll be writing, but the coffee and music will indeed happen.

As a little side note, just because I'm all sorts of happy, I got an invite to join the group blog GotYA which will be debuting early April. I'm really excited to work with all the rockstar writers again. Their awesomeness...it's limitless.

As a final update, I have (maybe) decided to work on Feral, my dystiopian novel rather than Concealed. While Concealed is still my baby, I feel a bit burnt out on it having written it, partially revised, rewrote it, then started revising again. I'm a decent 55k in, but the beginning now doesn't add up with the rest of the book, nor do I think I want to keep the rest of the book the same. Always-changing ideas and character advancements. Someday soon, I will finish it, but for the time being, I need to set it aside. After focusing for 3 years on these characters, the stress of trying to get it the way I see it is overwhelming. So this Spring Break is dedicated to Feral, which I intend to write lots of. I'm hoping to get at least 1/3 of the way through, if not more. I have an entire week of nothing but writing (with tidbits of studying and getting together with my group for a presentation) and I plan to fully use all of that time.

I love making graphics

Because even if others don't like them, at least I do.

Curious about the broken-8 tattoo? You should be.

Brain, I love you!

There are certain days where everything just seems to fall into place. The fog rolls away, the world seems brighter...and you become best friends with your own brain.

It seems that this happens a lot lately--mostly at 3am and after four shots of espresso--but it is still a raucous, overwhelming joy, mixed with a smidge of your heart trying to leap through your chest. And honestly, I can't get enough.

I'm proud of myself for how much I was able to write today, catching up with the days that I missed during the holidays and pulling ahead to complete 40k words, up from 35. It wasn't only the fact that I, astonishingly, reached my goal and brought myself to just under halfway finished, but I created an entirely new and more exciting plot twist for the chapters I was working on. An added bonus to completing my goal, which I set above my actual expectations in hopes of the elated feeling I'm having right now.

Of course, the worst part of finding my muse at 3am is I have no one to blab it to in person. Back when I lived in my last apartment, I would barge into Sarah's room, awake or asleep, and babble on about my exciting new discovery. Poor girl.

Now, however, I must keep it to myself, hide it away until tomorrow, where I will proceed to babble on to Sarah about my exciting new discovery. Again, poor girl :P

At least I have you, Blogger *hugs* You might prevent me from fursploding from excitement. No promises.

Almost done...

With the year, not with Concealed. While I'll admit that I've slacked (and felt terribly lazy for it) on writing with the Christmas holidays, I'm happy to say that I'll be back to it tomorrow. After a gift card for iTunes store, Forever 21, various trinkets, and a ton of food, I'm more than ready to get back onto that horse again. It was a much needed break after the constant rush of writing, but now I'm just eager for it to be done. I'm just worried that if I can't make it go the right direction, I'm going to end up writing myself into a hole.

I guess I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it.

In other news, a big congrats to my favorite little writer *coughandbestfriendcough*, Sarah, who will be finishing her manuscript this next week...again. Same characters, same plot points, same length--different focus, dealing with bigger issues like morals and making difficult decisions. I think it's going to be wonderful, as is her writing, but I know that I can't wait to tear it to pieces--err--beta read it :D Much love, hun. You have me completely excited!

As a last little update, I have at least decided to get to 35k words before the night ends, which really doesn't mean anything since I've been at 34,870 for 3 days now. It's just more of bragging rights.

Anyways, Happy Holidays to everyone. I hope it was cheerful :)

i can haz riting tyme?

Another late night up writing. It seems that lately this is the best time for me to write, uninterrupted and peaceful, my brain still buzzing with the days events. As mentioned in a previous post, this is when my muse is most active, it seems. After not being able to write anything in three days, then to come back and pick up at 11pm for a hurried 1k words in less than an hour...I have to say, I love nighttime.

With Christmas season approaching, I'm surprised how much I've had to limit my writing output for shopping, friends and family, work, and a wedding. I was able to write tonight, and it came out nice.

However, I am falling behind on my own novel goal with the delays, not sure if I'll be able to finish in 50k words in 3 weeks plus a week of revisions. The goal was set to finish my WIP before my friend departs for Scotland for six months.

I wanted to finish around January 15th, 11 days before she left so that I would have time to revise and fix things, but that's not going to happen the way I imagined. I'll have to go till later and cut down the revision time from 11 days to 7 days or less. I have so many plot holes or points that need to be spruced up (as seen in my last post). I figured that it's a 10 hour flight with two layovers...she might want something to entertain her, assuming that it's entertaining of course :-S

If I can reach my goal, I'll not only make my friend (hopefully) happy, but I'll be ready to settle down and revise, revise, revise and query, query, query. Depending on how well Concealed goes, I'll either be working on a YA contempt/mystery/thriller-ish SNI that came to mind a week or so back. It's not an epic, world-building, magic trilogy with kickass characters, but it's still pretty epic. I'm pretty excited to write it, even if it does mean putting Feral and Concealed aside. I hope that one day Concealed will find a home, even if it means trying to sell another idea and coming back to that one. Don't worry Neira, Kalina, Adarin, and Dayne; I will never forget about you guys!

If the miraculous does happen and I'm able to finish 50k, there shall be a party.

Current word count: 32,246

Chapters: on 17

Pages: 127 Word/137 preferred text format

Words per day to reach goal: 1657

By golly, I think I can do it. It'll be difficult, but I guess since work has slowed waaaay down, leaving no events until January, I have much more time to dedicate to writing. Let's see how I do :)

29k? I'll take it!

I've just passed the 1/3 mark for my story, which I'm very happy about. I really only started cranking down on writing a little over 2 weeks ago and I'm nearing the 30k mark. This also makes me a tad sad, realizing that I could have easily done NaNo had I not switched stories in between. This is okay though. No use fussing about it now. This new idea is better than anything I had written before. Better idea, insane plot twists, hopefully gut-wrenching emotional scenes, and heartfelt family bonds. I'm pleased with the comments I've been receiving on snippets, even though the drafts are so raw, most of which aren't even read through before I post it. So naturally, I'm having plot holes galore right now. It's thrilling, watching my Epic Board 'O Stickies turn into an Epic Wall 'O Stickies. I'll hit that mark soon, but that's the problem with writing and suddenly changing your mind/coming up with a better twist/conflicting plot twists etc...All a part of the writing package.

I currently stand at 29k on the fifteen chapter, 114 Word Pages.

At this rate, I'll be to my goal by the end of January, which is what I'm hoping for so I can give my friend Kaitlyn the manuscript to keep her entertained while she leaves for a missionary program to Scotland. I wanted to be able to write and do one set of revisions to fill in the holes before I give it to her, so writing, writing, and more writing is in store.

As a last little humorous note, I decided to post the screenshot I took after I updated Twitter. I use the web program Google Chrome, finding it more useful than Mozilla and Internet Explorer, but I've come to realize that it likes to imitate Microsoft Word and correct misspellings for me.

Or in this case read minds:

Taylor "Tautness". Yeah, I pretty much fursploded while reading it. It catchy and it applies.

I have to post this because I couldn't stop laughing.

For some reason, I have a thing for taking online quizzes. They're just plain fun, albeit completely ridiculous.

So here I am, browsing Twitter, checking out the Trending Topics and I see the phrase "Who's Your Fantasy." Of course I'm looking at this with a raised eyebrow, but I cave in and take a look. It's a quiz. Who's your fantasy boyfriend? Oh no, not another one, I think. But I click the link anyways. Just a mere eight questions asking me about my dream guy. Where would I want him to take me on a date? Beach? Sounds great! What do you want him to have? Facial hair--duh! My mouse clicks around the screen in frantic anticipation to see the results. I don't do it to see what the answer is, but rather what the results say. More often than not, the results are hilarious.

I was not disappointed!

"Your result is....Harry Potter." I proceeded to snort into my cup of juice.

"We don't need to read your tea leaves to know that you are meant to be with the 'Boy Who Lived.'" I snort again.

"Harry makes you feel like you are under a magic spell, and he doesn't have to shout any Latin words to do it." The best mental image of him shouting Latin on a date floats into my mind...

"No matter how many lives your boy wizard saves, he never lets it go to his head." Lol my boy wizard? That's funny.

"He doesn't want to be adored--he just wants to hold your hand at a Quidditch game or take you to Hogsmeade for a warm butterbeer." When has he done that--ever?

"Even when he acts like a regular boyfriend though, you never forget how magical he is." He's going to make me magically vomit rainbows.

"Aww...give his lightning bolt scar a kiss for us." You all have some weird fetishes...really.

Well...that was awesome for a good laugh. I'm curious at what the other quizzes are. Everyone should go here and post their results in their blog. I need some more good laughs :P

Do you ever...

...have one of those moments where you hear a song and a novel or short story pops into your head? It just happened for me again.

Wine Red by The Hush Sound caused me to spur a short story that I'm quite proud of. I have Sarah reading over it. I'm hoping she'll like it. Then again, I like it. I suppose that's all that matters.

It could use some work, but it's not bad for typing it out in two hours, briefly editing, then sending it to her. If I get a good review on it, I think I'll edit it more and then send it to some literary magazines. Hopefully I could get it published. Not looking to Query Letter Hell. Just an FYI.

Okay, going back to the short story entitled Silver, Sarah loved it, which has gotten me all sorts of excited. Her input means a lot to me, not to mention, she's better with all of the literary stuff, having taken several classes for it. Having her like it is the icing on the cake. Next step is editing, and then sending it off.

I might die if it does, just because then I could say, "Hey, I'm technically a published writer." :D

FNW---Pure awesomeness

I don't think it's even possible for this night to get better. I'm going to have to agree with Sarah on all counts.

Friday Night Writes on AW was more fun that I had even imagined. I had been bouncing up and down in my seat for the last six days waiting for this night. Apparently, it had been done on different nights as well, though I had been busy all previous ones. It was so insane that it took the better part of the hour just reading and reviewing everyone else's work. Then there was a good 20-30 mins dedicated to your own writing. It was perfect though! I can FINALLY say that I am finished with the rewrite for chapter one, which was the entire reason for my writer's block. I needed to make it interesting, something worthwhile, suspenseful. I'm hoping I pulled that off well. All the compliments were wonderful and had me grinning ear-to-ear most of the night. I am happy to say that I personally find the changes I've made a complete turn-around from what I had written a year ago, which was terrible. The second chapter is moving along smoothly as well. I'm excited to start writing that tomorrow...err...later today. All I have left to rewrite is the first 1/3 of my book...sigh. But hey, it's progress.

I second Sarah's next comment on Steve Jablonsky. What would I do without your epic/beautiful/dramatic/tramatic music. I will always, for the rest of my life, look back and remember the ideas that had come to me on the fateful trip to Oregon with Arrival to Earth playing on a constant loop in the background.

The same goes for you, Sarah. I don't think it's possible for me to have a more amazing best friend. One who will take the babble that comes from my mouth when I get too excited about a certain part. Who will sit on the couch opposite of me with coffee in hand, listening to Two Steps From Hell and Transformers soundtrack. Who, when I get really, really emo about writing, can still manage to make my stubborn self feel better. And lastly for just being there for the game of "Hey Cow," which was in fact, a llama. Ahh, the joke that ensued afterwards about us driving back and seeing a llama dead from cardiac arrest. I heart you!

Again, thanks for making this night really fun and progressive! All of you are incredible!

Well what do ya know...

Here I was, minding my own business when an idea appeared out of no where. It had been a while since any idea had visited me, so I wasn't at all expecting it, but I welcomed it warmly. The small talk ensued immediately.

"Hello Idea," I said politely. "It's been a while since you last visited me."

"It's been too long," Idea chirped. "I decided to stop by and see if you needed anything from me."

I pondered that, but only briefly. "I do think I could use some assistance," I said with a smile. "I'm can't seem to put all my pieces together. Any concepts you could throw in for me in my struggle to right the first book."

Idea frowned. "I think I've helped you enough in that section. You can definitely finish the rest of your first book. Just use your head. You are so close!"

I mimicked his frown and nodded, defeated.

"But," he continued, "I have a gift for you."

My ears perked up. "A gift? What is it?"

The gift was better than I imagined; it was the plot of my second book laid out before me. The minor details would, of course, come to me as I wrote, but the overall picture hit me in the face like a dodgeball to a nerdy kid.

It's moments like these that I feel like I'm invincible.