Every Writer's Antagonist: Writer's Block

This week YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesday topic is:

How do you beat writer's block? Do you go for a jog? Read a book? Go to a movie? Come on, share your secret--we're dying to know!

As every writer knows inspiration can come from anywhere. For me, I've said many times before that one big inspiration comes from music. Just on this week's Music Monday, I posted a great song to help set the mood for writing. That's not exactly to beat writer's block, but it was some sort of inspiration. As for writer's block, to be honest I usually end up flailing in distress and wracking my brain until I think I've had a break through. Usually I haven't, and I'll erase everything I write until I do actually have a break through. But there are a lot of ways I help fuel those glorious break throughs like...

Reading a book.



Or listening to music.



 Or go picture surfing to find awesome pictures.


Also I watch movies and TV.

LMAO!! Got to love Jasper--and the person who created this. Found here

Hehe!! Gif found here

Buffy cast! Found here

But most importantly, I just write.

Tell me, what do you guys do to beat the evil being, writer's block?

Music Monday (#4) Tears of an Angel by RyanDan

"It can't be true, that I'm losing you. The sun cannot fall from the sky. Can you hear heaven cry?"

I picked out a song and a video to post last night. I have had the intention to post it all day, but for some reason I haven't. I now know why.

I was on YouTube just a moment ago, trying to find the right song to help set to mood for a scene I was writing. Glad to say, I was successful, and I love the song so much I just HAD to post it. Not only does it fit with the scene I'm working on, it fits with a certain part of my book. I think I have decided it will be on the soundtrack when I make it. Tell me what you think!

Now introducing "Tears of an Angel" by RyanDan

Do you have any sorrowful songs that help you set the mood for your heart-wrenching scenes when you write? I'd love to know; I'm always on the look out for inspiration :D

Tik Tok, On the Clock

If anyone recognizes the title of this post, they know I'm quoting Ke$ha's song "Tik Tok".  Why? Because I love that song and this week's YA Highway's Road Tip Wednesday is all about time.

Topic:

What time do you prefer to do your writing? Early Worm? Night Owl ? Any five seconds you can grab?

First off, me? An early worm? AAAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!

...So that'd be a nooo:)

I'm a night owl, through and through. I tend to do all my writing in the evening to late at night--sometimes straight to early morning--but I also try to write every second I can.

Time is a crucial element to writing. It takes time to plot. Time to edit. Time to pull your hair out or cry a little. But most importantly, a writer needs time to write, and as we know that's not always easy to come by. Some of the best advice published authors give is to take writing like it's a job. Sit down and write at a certain time everyday. Some days it's harder to write than others, some days you want to take those pages and rip them apart, spit on them, or set them on fire, but always remember:  practice makes perfect--or at least better.

Follow Friday (#1)

It's not Friday, but I just discovered this follow friday with an amazing question this week.

Q. Talk about the book that most changed or influenced your life (was it a book that turned you from an average to avid reader, did it help you deal with a particularly difficult situation, does it bring you comfort every time you read it?).

I have two subjects:

1.) I want to introduce the books that sparked my reading interest. First was "The Boxcar Children" by Gertrude Chandler Warner. There are 127 books in the series--sadly I haven't nearly read them all. The story is about four orphans, Henry, Violet, Jesse, and Benny Alden, and their many adventures. Their very first adventure is after the death of their parents, they escape from their home before their grandfather can find them. Though they have never met him, they believe he is a horrible man. Eventually they find their way to an old red boxcar in which they end up living in, thus "The Boxcar Children". Here is a spoiler, but they don't live in the boxcar forever, of course. They find their grandfather who is a very caring man and is happy to take in the children. "Surprise Island," "The Pizza Mystery," "The Haunted Cabin Mystery," and "The Midnight Mystery" are only a few of  the titles in the series. I highly recommend it for your children.

Other books that influenced me when I was a child was Goosebumps by R. L. Stein, a series of children's horror fiction novels. There are 62 books in the original Goosebumps with many spin-off series such as "Goosebumps Series 2000," "Goosebumps Gold," "Give Yourself Goosebumps," and "Goosebumps Horrorland". The first book is "Welcome to Dead House."

2) I was in fourth grade, ten years old, when I first discovered I loved to write. The books and author that influenced me and keeps me going is, of course, the classic, majestic Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling.

The first Harry Potter book I ever read was "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". Since I had already saw the first two movies, I thought I would skip ahead in books. Something that year in fourth grade clicked. Our teacher announced a short story contest and my insides lurched. I entered the contest with a story about a mermaid and dolphin who were best friends. I didn't win and I don't know what happened to that story, but I've been writing ever since. I realized I wanted to write stories like Ms. Rowling; I wanted to be able to weave a plot, develop characters, and create beautiful settings. I  respect and admire Jo and her imagination. And I always will.

Some of my favorite books to read in the spring and summer are Harry Potter. It's almost a tradition. (Another random fact,  I re-read Twilight in the fall to early winter.) I love all the Harry Potter books, but my favorite would probably be "The Goblet of Fire."

What books got you reading or writing? I would sure love to know.

Awesome July

Hi everyone! I can't hold it in any longer. I have to say that July was a pretty awesome month. I won four books--Divergent being one--Divergent tattoos, and an amazing blog award--thanks again Francesca Zappia! :D

In May, I submitted an entry to Novel Novice, a dedicated YA book website that has monthly writing contests, and their book of the month at the time was Divergent. Most of the time the writing contest is for short stories, but in May it was an essay and the question was "What's your faction?" Yesterday I discovered that I was one of the five winners, and I just wanted to share my entry with you all. I hope you guys like it!

"To hear my name at the Choosing Ceremony would send my heart into a frenzy. I’ve never been good with crowds, and having hundreds of people hungrily watch me make the biggest decision of my life wouldn’t help my anxiety. And to top it off, they hand me a knife.

Well, at least it’s meant for me to cut myself…

When I ask others, “Which faction do you think I belong in?” I always get the same answer. Abnegation. It’s a complement and I want to help others, but I am too selfish to be eternally selfless.

I will be involved.

As for Candor, I respect honesty, but the truth can hurt others too much for me to bear.

I will be kind.

And let’s face it; I don’t have a brave bone in my body. Though I dream for the excitement of a Dauntless life, I dream of a life in a faction more.

I will be self-sufficient.

As I stand at the faction bowls, the tip of the blade making a scarlet mark across my palm, I am at a crossroads. Erudite or Amity?

I’ve always pictured my bookish-self trying to expand my knowledge, but I question my potential. Intelligence is innate, not learned, and I fear I would fail Erudite’s initiation. Though there is a conflict between Erudite and Abnegation, but I will not let it influence my decision.

I will forgive.

Then there is Amity, a society who cherishes many of the same aspects as I do: forgiveness, kindness, trust. I could have a helpful career as a counselor; I can flaunt the beautiful colors red and yellow.

I will trust, even if only in myself.

So I plunge my hand over a bowl and let my blood drip onto soil.

I am Amity, I am peace."

 If I were really in the choosing ceremony, I would probably panic between erudite and amity, and maybe even dauntless.

Just for fun, what faction might you choose?

And the Blog Award Goes To...

I won an award?!

First and foremost I have to say a big thank you Francesca Zappia over at The Lobster Tank for giving me this award, and sorry it has taken me so long to express my thanks--I cannot express how I elated I am! :D

But now...

photo found here

It's my turn to give out the award! Eeep, I'm so excited!

This is why it has taken me so long to respond to the award. One of the main rules of the award is to give it to blogs with less than two hundred follows. That's been hard to find out, because, is it just me or do you have trouble getting people's followers to load? It took me days of constantly checking to load the followers boxes, but I finally got 'em! :)

The goal of the award is to spotlight up and coming bloggers who currently have less than 200 followers. The rules of the award are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.
5. And most of all - have bloggity-blog fun!


So here are my top 5 picks in alphabetical order:

1. A Fool's Golden Paradise - Taryn is writer who keeps up with upcoming books and writes great book reviews. She is also part of an editing service called Teen Eyes.
2. A Writer in Bloom - Lora is an aspiring author with great posts and an amazing book pitch--I can't wait til it's published to read it.
3. Books 4 Juliet - A girl crazy about books and coffee created this beautiful blog to discuss YA books. April will help you stay updated about upcoming books and gives great, helpful reviews. She has educated me about many novels and has influenced my decision many times about whether or not I want to read them.
4. Dystopian Divas - Love dystopian books like The Hunger Games and Divergent? Dystopian Divas offer everything dystopian. Go check them out!
5. Songs and Stories - I found this blog very recently. I find it beautiful, because of the art work and faded map background. The blog features books, music, travel, and fantastic artwork.
Now I have to go tell these people that have been awarded. Eeep!!

Need A Great Revision Tool? Remember "The Backpack"

Photo taken by me; modeled by Courtney C.

I've been meaning to post this for a month or so, but something always seems to intervene, whether my photo shoot for the post was delayed or it was simply my procrastination. After posting When Writing Fails, Facepalm last week--saying how I was having trouble with an overloaded plot--I thought there was no better time than now to finally write this.

Photo by me; modeled by Courtney C.

About a month ago I watched a live streaming of "The Dark Days of Supernatural" book tour featuring authors Veronica Roth of "Divergent"; Tara Hudson of "Hereafter"; Amy Plum of "Die For Me"; Aprilynne Pike of "Illusions"; and Ellen Schreiber of "Vampire Kisses 8: Cryptic Cravings." There was one piece of advice Veronica Roth said that has stuck with me since--only recently have I discovered she has a blog post about it, as well. It was a great advice that I have taken to heart, especially since my book feels so overrun by ideas.

Attention Writers: When revising, remember "The Backpack"!

"I learned about The Backpack from my writing professor (the brilliant Shauna Seliy). And it goes like this: imagine that you are about to embark upon a twenty mile hike through the wilderness, and you have to fit everything you need into one backpack. Do you want to bring your hair dryer? Uh, no. First of all, because there aren't any plugs. Second of all, because no one's going to see you. And third, and most importantly, because it will take up space in your already cramped backpack, and it's completely unnecessary." 

  --Veronica Roth                     

The full content about "The Backpack" can be found here on Veronica Roth's blog.

Photo by me; modeled by Courtney C.

The purpose of the "The Backpack" is learning to cut out what scenes and subplots are not imperative to your characters or the plot of your story, no matter how painful it may be. There are many scenes currently in my book that I want to keep--I even find myself trying to convince myself that it IS essential to my book, other than being just a good scene. Finally, a few days ago, I told myself I'll worry about it when I'm done--throw all the stuff in "the backpack" and deal with the clutter later. This is a revising tool after all ;)

When Writing Fails, Facepalm

Facepalm--to bring the palm to one's face as an expression of mixed humor and disbelief, embarassment, disgust, or shame. For example, when one is caught off-guard with a particularly bad pun. (definition found here)

"What's the biggest mistake you've made writing, querying, or publishing?"

This week, YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesday topic is about mistakes in writing, and boy have I made some in the past! Even just remembering, I want to facepalm. In a previous post that can be found here, I talked about the first book I've ever written. I attempted it twice, the first time when I was about 12; it came out to be only 13 pages long. Well, at least I tried, right?

A few years later, when I was 15, I found the pages and remembered how much I loved the story, so I decided to give it another shot. First I wrote it out by hard copy using about eight notebooks and packets of pens--no exaggeration--and then I set out on the journey of typing it. All together it took me about a year and a half. I was proud of myself--I actually wrote a whole book! I stuck out the agony, hard work, and patience to finish it.

About the same time I was finishing the book, I done some research on a favorite  author of mine, Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight Saga. On her website, you can find her story of how she got published. I love that story, but as you scroll down, you see she nearly had problems publishing her book because of the word length being too long at 130K. My book was 240K. Uhm....FACEPALM!

After a while of thinking, I told myself that length might not matter if the agents like the story enough, so I queried away. Another bad idea. I still can't write a decent query letter, much less how bad it was a few years ago.

When I received nothing but rejections, I decided, "Well, maybe it is too big." So I did something else and hoped it would fix the problem:  I split the book into two. It certainly didn't help. Surprisingly enough, it didn't exactly leave the book plotless, but using the same old query letter didn't emphasize the book any. Eventually I realized that my writing needed a lot more work, so I have shoved that book in the back burner to rewrite later. I still love the story and the characters so much it hurt to have to tell them, "Not right now, guys. Sorry."

As of right now my WIP is going okay; my only problem is it is merely being run on scene ideas instead of a full plot, and I don't want to cut anything out even though  I know I have to. *Sigh* What's a girl to do?

Oh, yeah! Facepalm.

And here is this picture, just 'cause I thought it was humorous.

Have you had any facepalm moments with your writing, querying, or publishing? I certainly would love to hear them :)

I've Been Inspired! By a Photo.

It's time for YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesday again, and I couldn't resist this week's topic.

What pictures inspire your writing and works in progress (WIP)?

Why can't I resist this topic? Well, here's a small story on why:

        One day, many moons ago--try about three or four years worth of moons--I was surfing Photobucket.com. I was bored, so I searched through pages and pages of photos, and I came upon one that really captured my attention. Instantly, I got an idea for a book, and then the next, and then the next. And wallah! My novel "Angel Wings" and its trilogy were born. All because of this photo...

I have no clue what it's from--if it's from a manga series or just a picture, but it's awfully beautiful and it certainly sparked inspiration.

Here are a few photo's focusing on setting and action in the book:

Photo found here

Photo found here



This is the Vorpal Sword from Tim Burton's version of "Alice in Wonderland." It reminds me of the swords used in my book.

"One, two! One, two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

He went galumphing back."

 --Lewis Carrol,"Through the Looking Glass"

Photo found here

Chains also play a role in my book. [Get your head outta the gutter! I don't mean it like that lol :)  ]

What photos inspire your writing? If not any photos, how about songs or other books?

Counting the Words

When writing a book, one of the most important aspects to keep track of is the word count. For me, I have a goal of about 120,000 words. It sounds like a whole heck of a lot of words and it is, but I believe that’s only about 400 pages.

I have a fear of going over that 120K, and I mean over. Way, way over, because I’ve done it. My first book, which was never published, was about 240K. It was ridiculous (lol). But the complete manuscript isn't what I'm concerned about at the moment. I'm nowhere near finished with my book. (Epic sadface --> :(  ) This time, it's not reaching my goal at all that I’m worried about.

I don't know how you feel about it, but writing can be hard. Sometimes it's very difficult to make yourself sit down at a computer and type out the scenes playing over and over in your head. Maybe it's because your easily distracted, or you have writer’s block, or you feel the writing isn't up to par, or because it's just plain ol' intimidating.  

Or is that just something I go through?

From reading other writer's blogs—even very famous author's blogs—I've learned that I'm not alone. Whew! *Wipes sweat from brow* So, I'm not a writer-freak! But I do need motivation and something to keep me grounded.

And I have it.  A good trick I have learned in the past few months is to make a goal for yourself every day. A lot of famous writers do it: Holly Black, Lauren Oliver, Veronica Roth. The only problem is how much? Every person types at different speeds, and sad to say, I'm on the slow side. And I don't just mean “cruisin' along” slow, I mean "snail trying to stampede through peanut butter" slow.

Okay, so that might be a slight exaggeration, but that's how it feels—not to mention I get distracted easily. (Darn wireless internet with it's cyber-candy of Facebook, Youtube, and Blogspot!) So this is my vow. I will write 1,000 words a day. It's not a lot, but it's a start. If I can focus more, I'll be able to write more, and faster. So, how much did I write today? Drum roll, please?

*Insert drum roll?*

765 words. Well, it’s a start :D I'll let you know how I do.

Tell me, how much would you start out trying to write a day, or how much do you write a day?