Teaser Tuesday 4!

My new favorite day of the week! While I appreciated the amazing support of Feral last week, I'm gonna have to go back to Jaded Portal. I've been informed that I need to read Uglies, Pretties, and Specials by Scott Westerfeld because my teaser was looking strikingly familiar to it, and I've never even read a summary of the books. I guess I just have an imagination that is in sync with his...

This is a teaser from my chapter two rewrite, which is coming along amazingly. I was very happy with this, but I think some bits that I've written are incredibly intense and gorey. I'm not sure how that would settle with people, so if I could get some feedback on that, I would love you all forever!

Here it goes, from the newest rewrite of the Jaded Portal. I apologize for the length. There wasn't really a good part to cut it off at:

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*snipped*

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!

Teaser Tuesday 3!

It's technically Tuesday and everyone at AW knows what that means!....We all get a lovely round of teasers! I'm very excited to keep reading. Everyone has such amazing ideas and writing styles and humor...I can't get enough! I'm happy to post something new, instead of JP excerpts. Don't get me wrong, JP is my baby, but I'm tired of never having new characters, new plot, new settings. Today is an exerpt from Feral, the new YA Urban fiction. I apologize for grammatical errors and the like, I didn't really edit. It's fresh off the computer :D 2860 words written today alone on Feral. I even did a good 500 words for the JP rewrite. So proud!

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*snipped*

A tad late Teaser Tuesday...

Work, work, work...

I know I'm a tad late, only about 2 hours, but still. Worked the closing shift, so naturally I didn't get out of work until midnight. Blasted random bands that I hadn't heard in forever, like Aqua. That was fun. Called Sarah. Waited in traffic at midnight for 20 minutes. That wasn't fun. Made it home thoroughly saddened that I missed, yet again, another party with friends. Sometime I'll actually be able to hang out with someone for longer than a few hours...

Anyways, enough with my ranting. On to the (slightly late) Teaser...

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*snipped*

Teaser Tuesday!

New blogroll for AW Young Adult forum. Teaser Tuesday is basically sharing sections from your book. Most are longer than the ones I already post, so I'll just have to find a long section to post with this one. I think that I'll probably stop posting teasers except on Tuesday, that way I'll have more things to post and won't run out of sections that I want. These Tuesday posts will be longer to make up for not posting any other time during the week.

Here we go! Teaser taken from The Jaded Portal:

*snipped*

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.

The return...

It's been over a year since I began this blog. The first thing I did was post once, and then proceeded to forget entirely that I had made one. There had only been one post, an introduction really, but this is where the good stuff starts.

The mysterious and miraculous powers of the Absolute Write forums have gotten me back into my writing, slowly, but surely. That isn't to say that I'm still stuck on my editing. I've managed to complete twenty five chapters and 353 Microsoft word pages and all I can seem to do is give myself a headache attempting to think about how to tie it all up. Changing ideas after I had finished the frame was better than changing it during the writing process, but that still leaves me with the fact that I changed ideas, and there is one key point missing that will wrap up the package I have here with a pretty little bow. What the plot point is, I haven't the faintest clue, but it's there; it's taunting me. I'll discover it soon enough, most likely when I'm lying in bed, ready for sleep. That seems to be one of my more brilliant times for creativity. I'm sure I'm not alone in that.

On a second note, I'm almost done with moving out. Thursday is my last day in my apartment, and while I'll miss living on my own, I won't miss this place. Sure I've had good memories, but the yelling, the music, the children rolling a soccer ball-sized rock down the concrete steps, the man hacking up a lung across from us...they outweigh the good. It will be a relief to actually sit in an air conditioned room in the quiet woods with my family. I think I need this though. I'm not looking forward to commuting an hour to work two or three times a week, but I'll still be saving money and hopefully not worrying about the stresses of having none. Of course, I won't actually have much money for the first month or two. I have too many things that need to be fixed. My car for one is looking like it might go to that big garage in the sky. I'm sure it still has a few more years, but the noises make me worried. It's long past due for an oil change and tire rotation. I need to refill the air conditioning...it has a leak and the air doesn't blow out as cold as it should be. The list just keeps growing, but soon enough, I'll be able to let that wave of relief rush over me when I can say that my list of things to do is gone.