In One Week

In one week, I'm going to start with editing.  Editing the winners' projects, and editing Lost Ties (previously titled Sever).  Until then, I aim to get lots more written for LT's sequel, Revived Pasts.  (I still need better titles for these, but I have lots of time (if I ever plan to query (which isn't very likely)).)  I'll also be preparing for Camp NaNo in August.

Right now, RP is at approximately eight thousand words.  I hope to get it around twenty by next week.

When you have no internet, you can get a lot written.  And speaking of no internet, I plan on reading a book a day for the days I am off camping.  I probably won't actually read a whole book, but I will try to get at least two books read soon.

As I get more into reading, writing, and editing, I start to realize that I don't have that much time left until school starts.  Five weeks are left.  Two of those weeks will be spent away from home.  One week will be spent at my school's parking lot, preparing for the upcoming marching season.  So that leaves me with two weeks to spend my time.

And then I need to read more.

Yeah, this summer has been uneventful, and not.  I've completed a novel, and actually am writing the second in the same trilogy.  That's a first for me.  And I hope to win Camp NaNo within two to three weeks.  Probably two.

So, that's my writing update.  I hope to start posting writing tips and more book reviews.

For my writing challenge: I must write 12k in 7 days.  That's about 1.7k a day.  Achievable.

And now, to write!

Writing Hell 3.3

Well, yesterday I didn't write, so I believe that means there shouldn't be a post.

And today ... today, I have three ideas I think I'll work on.  And Enigma, of course, but we all know that that won't happen.


So, either I will plan a total of 3k, or actually get to writing...

Quick little pop in.

I'm still not completely back, but I might be.  My friend who has been in the hospital for a month should be going home tomorrow, or a tad bit later, meaning I can bring my laptop and have wi-fi when I go visit.

Which means I should get some more writing done, especially when I completely forgot about Writing Hell this month. I think I'll start that this Friday, so we Americans have a three day weekend to get some writing done.

Reading-wise, I've read two books, and am reading five, I believe.
Writing-wise, well, that's not a whole lot. I've come up with two new dystopian ideas, and am rewriting Smolder, which is now titled Paradox.

And I hope to get back into the blogging swing soon.

Until this Thursday/Friday, I'm retreating back into my little Hell Hole that is my new social life.

New Year's Resolution Updates?

I think I'll just start doing this on Sundays. Just to keep some regular posting.

So, as far as my resolutions go, I've read 0 books, have gotten 2 new ideas, finished writing 0 projects, edited 0 projects, and have been more social, and nicer to people. This first week has been very eventful, after my friend got into an accident and I witnessed someone crash his truck. I'm sure one to two hours every day will be dedicated to visiting my friend, because our families are very close and she's my best friend, so I don't think I'll be getting a whole lot done for a while. Tomorrow is the restart of school, and I've got to really pay attention in two classes to make sure my friend won't fall behind in those subjects.

*big sigh* The year as just begun.

And thus ends my first NYR update.

New Year's Resolution!

For 2011, my New Year's Resolution was to write three novels. I wrote two and a fourth. Or two and two sevenths, but I think the former sounds better.

This year, I plan on doing a few more things (which is probably silly, considering I'll be entering Junior year of high school) like...

• Complete three novels OR finish writing a series/trilogy (Nightland is a four-book series; Rush is the first in a trilogy)
• Edit one of my completed projects until I'm happy with it
• Read 100 books
• Be nicer to people

And those are my resolutions for 2012. I hope to get a jump start, considering how I have a whole week for break. Plus, I'll have a three day week in the middle of January. Then comes the two semester projects I'll receive... Oh what fun comes with this new year.

So, what are your New Year Resolutions?

In My Mailbox (3)

It has been a while...

Anyways, In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

On November 30th, I actually received books in the mail. (Granted, I bought them with a year old Amazon gift-thingy I found while cleaning my room a week prior, but I still got 'free' books.)

And what I got was:


I am so excited to read these, even though I have about a gazillion books I need to read before I read these. (Like this week: I plan to finish all of the books I'm reading so my friend can read them over winter break.)

As I go off to read, let me know what your IMM is!

The TBR reading challenge

This a challenge held at Bookish starting January 1st, 2012 to December 31st, 2012.  And I've got tons of books that I need to read.  Check it out if you're interesting.

Some of the books I plan to read are...
~Jealousy by Lily St. Crow
~Defiance by Lily St. Crow
~Paranormalcy by Kierstan White
~Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund
~Torment by Lauren Kate
~Passion by Lauren Kate
~Captivate by Carrie Jones
~Entice by Carrie Jones
~The Host by Stephenie Meyer
~The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan

And many more! I'm already setting up plans for next year, and getting these series read is part of it all.

Have I mentioned I have a new idea?

Well, two actually, but only one of them has pitches and more than one chapter written. Do you know what inspired it? Some commercial where a sword goes crashing into the room. I think it might've been a video game commercial, but I don't really remember.

The story's current title is Smolder, but it is most likely going to change, because I don't like it. And here are the  pitches (I, personally, think they're getting better):

It all started with a sword. Crashing through the roof.
Not a nice way to wake up in the middle of the night.

Having to actually save something is the last thing on Milo’s mind. Being a demigod is a close second. Yet now she’s forced to take on these two foreign paths in hopes of keeping some sort of world order. But Milo couldn’t care less about things that don’t involve her.

Levin refuses to let her go down the wrong path. As her Guardian, he guides her as best he can. He’s able to solve many of her mistakes, until she upsets Them—the ones who granted mortals the chances for immortality in the first places. Milo should listen to them no matter what, unless she wants to lose the powers that come with being a demigod.

When it comes to change, Milo’s chances of staying a demigod smolder to dust.

I plan to post it on inkpop next month, on the 21st. And as soon as I have a decent pitch for my latest idea, I'll post it here. This is also one of two/three projects I plan to write for Writing Hell (more info about this will be posted on Wednesday).

Reading update: Currently on page 68 of The Night Circus and loving it!

How's your reading/writing coming along?

Starting tomorrow!

The last few days have been busy. And the next month will be busier.
Last Friday was a football game. (My school won, by the way. Off to playoffs.) And then Saturday, my school hosted a marching competition. Where I was sunburned, marched twice in heat that I'm not used to (we usually march during the evenings) and had only 6 hours of sleep. Then I got 12 hours of sleep Saturday night. And now I have a whole bunch of history homework plus some reading to do.

Anyways, I plan to start posting excerpts from the novels I plan to work on throughout November for NaNoWriMo. I hope to get the 1.7k for my NaNo, Wanderlust, every day. Which might be achievable when I only have one more Monday night rehearsal for band. And early outs. And two three day weekends (even though Saturdays are for band.)

I might aim for a schedule. I've got four different projects I'm working on, all of different genres. (With the help of Write or Die, of course.) I'll try to think of a good schedule today.

And, as for my reading, I'm halfway through Carrier of the Mark. Still have a lot more to read, and I hope to get a lot of reading done this month. I'm getting myself busy, which isn't very smart of me.

So, what are you reading or writing this month?
Oh, and Happy Halloween for those of you on the Western side of the world.

I have an idea.

No, not a new story idea. An idea that involves reviewing published books. Because I'm not too good at it. I think I'll just write a post about the one book I like from the month. Might let you peoples know about the book I read and whether or not I'd recommend it, but that might be it.

Of course, these thoughts may change it a little while. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do about this whole blogging thing. I might just start more random posts, even though I'd really like to write more tips. There's only so much that a writer can think of to write tips about....

Oh, I started reading Wither by Lauren DeStefano, and I really like it so far. The writing's good and the plot's interesting so far. I hope this is a good read.

Well, that's all I've got today. I hope you all have a nice day/evening. Get reading/writing done for me! (I'm a bad procrastinator.)

-Dylan

All right, guys! I have a plan.

At least, I have a plan today.

Today, I will finish reading Blood Red Road (I've got about 150 pages left), write that review, and then work on rewrites for Deception. Simple plan really, but I have a feeling it won't go as well as I'd like.

And tomorrow has some plans (I believe). Tomorrow, I'm going to Wal-Mart and will hopefully buy Carrier of the Mark. Unless they don't have it, because I'll be rather sad then. But it'd be for the best when I keep reading the books I plan to buy, while roaming the story. That's something I look forward to, especially when I have no homework.

I have a question for you guys. What writing aspects would you like me to blog about? Like how to do *insertthinghere*. I'm at a loss, because I haven't written any helpful blog posts (writing-wise) in a while. Would you guys mind helping me?

-Dylan

Inspiration!

Some people find it hard to come up with a new plot for a new book. Others are super creative who can pop out a new idea in seconds and start writing.

I, however, am in the middle. Some days, I just can't think of a good plot. Other days, I find an idea I really like and manage to write 2000 words in an hour.

For those of you who can never find inspiration, might I give a list? Over the past few years (okay, that's a lie. For the past year) I've found quite a few things that inspire me to write. They include:

• Music
• Reading
• TV shows
• Anime
• Movies
• Pictures
• History

I have had at least one idea sprout from one of those things. Anime inspired Deception and X-Men: First Class helped me get ideas for the story; World History inspired Day One; a picture inspired Transparency and Burns; music inspired an older work, Dusty Skies. Find your favorite song and really listen to it. You just might come up with an idea. Heck, even countries have inspired me.

What inspires you? I really believe I can be inspired by anything: I came up with an idea because of roadkill on the side of the road, in front of a field. How sad it that?

-Dylan

I am crazy. Just a little, though.

Since reading five books at one time plus writing five different stories at once isn't at all strange. But it is the truth.  And I can most likely tell you a little bit about each of the five books I'm reading without getting them mixed up. I think this fact makes up for the fact that I'm a super slow reader. (Nice little random fact there.)

So far, I'm a forth of the way through Blood Red Road by Moira Young. (Which you need to read. I have yet to find any big problems besides the odd style and some grammar stuff.) Almost a forth of the way through Lord of the Flies by William Golding. (For school. Not too great, since the main characters are evil little boys. Besides Piggy. Poor Piggy.) And barely into Divergent by Veronica Roth (it isn't that bad, except the writing needs improvement. Passive voice present tense irks me, and then the lack of contractions plus the whole bunch of telling makes me think of a beginning writer (inkpop status)), Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan (the first chapter is rather pointless and filled with telling, but I'm going to read past it anyways), and Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (which I started at the end of the school year last year. Been a while, but I'm pretty sure of what's going on in the story). (Have I mentioned I'm rather good with remembering books? That's a bit of a lie, though.)

And then I'm mostly working on rewrites for Deception, which will be in inkpop's Top 5 at the beginning of next month (at the moment, it'll be #1). Then I'm posting Day One at the end of this month/beginning of next month.

I'm keeping myself rather busy with school and all, but still managing to get a full night's sleep. I just need to make sure I don't get injured at band.

Are you good with reading multiple books at once? How about writing? Or am I the only crazy out there?

-Dylan

(P.S. Be expecting some reviews some time in the middle of next month, if not sooner.)

Surprise, surprise, guys!

I finally have books I'll be reviewing. (Well, more like I'm finally reading books to review.)

What I'm currently reading:
Glow by Mary Kathleen Ryan
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding (reading it for school)
Blood Red Roads by Moira Young
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

And then there's a gazillion and four books I plan to reread and review. I could make a list, but I'd rather take a pictures. (I apologize for the crappy pictures.)

First shelf:

 Not in pic: Gone.

Hunger; The Lost Hero; rereading Meridian; Dark Vision; The Red Pyramid; Infinity; Paranormalcy; Clockwork Angel; Ascendant; The Vampire Diaries: (may reread all of series) The Return: Shadow Souls; The Night Circus

Second shelf:

Strange Angels series; The Uglies series; Balefire; Echoes trilogy; Harvest Moon; The Vampire's Assistant; The Morganville Vampires: Carpe Corpus; Red Riding Hood; Thirst; The Vampire Academy: Marked

Third shelf:

Raven; The Chronicles of Vladimir Todd: Twelfth Grade Kills (may reread whole series); The Host; Swoon; The Hunger Games Trilogy; Need series; Evernight series; Fallen Series

Little bookcase, huh? And to think that there's so many more books I plan to buy and read. I forgot to add 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell.

So, except reviews on those books in the months to come!

It's been quite a while...

Marching band + school + history homework + writing = busy Kelly

My blog is being neglected, which isn't surprising when I get up at 5:50 in the morning  (Monday-Friday), then come home around 4pm, do my homework until 5pm, (on Mondays) go back to school from 6-9pm, and then try to get some sort of writing done before my self-set bedtime of 9pm. Lots of things for me to do during the week. I even have homework on the weekends.

But enough about the majority of that equation, let's talking about my latest projects!

The first thing would be that Rush is now titled Deception. I find that this new title fits much better. Another fact about Deception is that it's being completely rewritten and is currently ranked at 7 on inkpop. Unless it goes up two more ranks this month, it'll be hitting the Top 5 in October, which means I need to finish my rewrites for the story. So far, only the first chapter is rewritten, and I'm finding that I like this version better.

Next is the two ideas I've written pitches to. The first is a dystopia set during the events that lead to the dystopic world. The other is a paranormal that might have some romance.

Day One

The world will fall, but God will save it.

Olive is blamed for the end of the world after reading a single sentence.   No one knows she did it, except for a group of teens following a young man calling himself “God”.  His plans for the United States involve Olive, leaving her to choose between the chaotic streets or his side.

Around her, she watches the world crumble, not knowing what to do.  Only one solution comes to mind: do whatever God tells her.  She fears her position in this new monarchy, believing that the divine right excuse won’t last long.

A few weeks pass before her threat appears—a single man who leads a group of rioters, ones who know the lies for what they are.   

Hitting inkpop on October 1st, 2011

Fright Nights

Once the night sets in, the real games begin.

Alex and her friends are the jokesters in Amity Heights.  But when their recent joke results with an outbreak between human and monster, there reason something’s wrong.

 

The humans and monsters lived years with each other, the humans always knowing that the man they walk alongside could be a werewolf when the full moon comes out. A peace once rested among these people, but when outbreaks of dead humans rattle the city, attention lands on the creatures of the night.

 

Alex, her distant cousin Troy, and her five-hundred-year-old vampire friend, James, are only three pawns in the wars to come.  Both humans and creatures turn against each other, waiting for the others to fall.

 

With no one to trust, the trio of friends relies on the help of each other more than ever. Until one of them changes sides.

Might hit inkpop on January 15th, 2012

I've also got another idea, but it doesn't have a pitch just yet. It's mostly likely that this project (entitled Trapped) will be my NaNoWriMo project. 

And now that I've typed this up, I believe I shall return to rewriting Deception. I want it completely rewritten before the end of the month, just in case it slips into the Top 5 and stays there. Plus, it'd be nice to just be able to edit for next month, instead of rewrite and then edit.

Hope you all have a lovely day!