Think Big or Bigger

The main reason I love blog contests so much is that they give me the opportunity to take a peek inside the minds of fellow writers. I know a lot of writers aren't comfortable talking about their projects on their blogs, so I tend to feel like a kid on Christmas morning when contests like The Writer's Voice come along.

I'll usually go though every entry and bookmark the ones I like most. I must admit, I sometimes revisit those entries months after the contest has ended for inspiration. So if you notice someone checking out your old posts it's probably me. I'm probably still wondering how in the world you managed to come up with something so awesome in the first place.

A few weeks ago I had a major reality check when an agent politely stated that my concept just wasn't unique enough. All things considered, subjectivity, personal taste and so on, my request rate hasn't been so great--less than 10%. In truth, while my writing has improved over the years, my tastes haven't.

If someone where to ask what do I look for in a good book I'd say voice and character. While that's true, if I were to pick a book off my shelves, though it would be brimming with both voice and character, I'd probably be able to point out something about it that made it different from every other book on my shelf.

One of my favorite books Never Let Me Go is a perfect example of this. In retrospect it's a book about a young woman looking back on her childhood years, her friends, and the school she attended which she considered home. But would her story have been just as interesting to me if she were an average human being--if this school had been St. Margaret's Boarding School and not a home for clones, such as Kathy H.

Probably not.

So lately I've been writing down my ideas, whenever I get a new idea I'll type up a few sentences about it in a Word document and move on. It's definitely helped me see that some ideas that seem really awesome at first probably won't be a week or a month later. I do believe that the best ideas are timeless. There are some stories that I'm still itching to write even after many failed attempts. 

Those are the money beets stories. 

Currently...

Good morning everyone!  I haven't done a currently post in a while, so I thought I might as well. They're always fun to write.

Loving...
This song is pretty old. I'm sure almost everyone has heard it, but since rediscovering it a few weeks ago I've thought about it a lot. I really love the lyrics. Especially when he says "I think I'll go to Boston...I think I'll start a new life, I think I'll start it over, where no one knows my name..."

I think so many can relate to that feeling. It also does spark ideas for a new contemporary YA.

Reading...
Last week I started reading Splintered by A.G. Howard. It's an Alice in Wonderland retelling, and I'm really looking forward to the later chapters. So far Alyssa has entered the rabbit hole. There's a certain someone I'm looking forward to meeting.

Watching...
Since The Walking Dead has had its season finale there's no other show competing for my attention come Sunday night. Of course I've been watching Game of Thrones and loving every second of it. I've also been watching a lot of horror movies. The novel I'm working on has elements of horror. The latest one I saw was Sinister. I definitely recommend seeing it.

Thinking About...
I've been thinking about my writing of course. I'm working on two novels right now, one YA and one MG. I haven't written as much as I wanted to, but I think they're coming along nicely.

Anticipating...
I would really love to complete a new novel soon. I'm looking forward to writing The End.

Wishing...
I'm wishing that wonderful things are waiting around the corner for all of us.

Making Me Happy...
It's finally spring. The weather has been great for the most part. It really doesn't seem like winter happened at all.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Going Camping in April

Judging by the title of this post you probably already know what it's about--Camp NaNoWriMo.

Yes, I'm buying repellent and packing my bags for Camp NaNoWriMo in April--the month where dozens of writers sign up to write a novel in a month. This year they're doing things a little differently by allowing us to choose our own word count goal. After some thought, I've decided to give myself a word count goal of 15,000 words. By the end of spring, hopefully, I expect to have a finished novel.

I had plans to finish up a project I'd already started, but you know how that goes. I think I might start calling myself the queen of unfinished novels. I'm actually challenging myself a bit this year. I have about 1,000 words written of two projects that I want to finish.

The first: a complete rewrite of my YA contemporary, which includes another title change, lots more blood, and secrets. So far the rewrite is going well.

The second: an MG novel about a very sad girl named Bryn and the fallen star that comes to her aide. I kind of have an obsession with stars. When I see one I can't help but wish on it.

This year I solemnly swear that I will win NaNoWriMo. Also, I'd like to give a big thanks to everyone who commented on my top ten movies post and my last Thursday's Children post. I've been terrible at responding and visiting other blogs.

Are any of you doing Camp NaNoWriMo this year?

Top Ten Movie Countdown Blogfest

Alex J. Cavanaugh is hosting the Top Ten Movie Countdown Blogfest today. We get to list our top ten favorite movies.

My top ten movies:

1. An Education: I've seen this movie way too many times. It's a coming of age film that takes place in the 1960s. It's about a young girl named Jenny who becomes enamored with an older man and gets caught up in his "glamorous" lifestyle. I love it because it's the kind of story I'd love to tell.

2. Never Let Me Go: I read the book before seeing the movie and both took my breath away. It helped that three of my favorite actors starred in the film, Andrew, Carey, and Keira. If you haven't heard of it, it's from the point of view of a girl named Kathy H. Kathy isn't like other girls because she is a clone and so are the other children at her school and later the cottages. Kathy only exists for one reason: to donate her organs and then complete. It's a wonderful film.

3. The Awakening: It's one of the best horror movies I've seen in a long time. It's so good I'm afraid I won't be able to explain it well. I'll give it a go anyway. A woman who doesn't believe in ghosts is invited to a boys boarding school that is supposedly haunted. While on her mission to prove that the school isn't haunted,  she begins to recall some astonishing truths about herself and one of the students there. There's a romance. It takes place in England in the 1920s. Fans of The Others will love it.

4. My Neighbor Totoro: One of the best animated movies I've seen hands down. It's on the quieter side with is why I love it. It explores two of my favorite themes, family and love.

5. Spirited Away: Spirited Away is one of the reasons I love Animes. It's a movie filled with magic and love. It doesn't get any better than that.

6. Alice in Wonderland (2010): You guys are already familiar with this story line I bet. I will never get tired of it. Johnny Depp is phenomenal in his role as the Mad Hatter. Off with their heads.

7. 500 Days of Summer:  Okay so I'm not the biggest romantic comedy fan but this one is so good. It's not so typical. Yes, boy meets girl. Boy loves girl, except girl doesn't love boy so much. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the main character and he's always nice to look at.

8. My Girl: I couldn't finish this list without including my favorite childhood movies. My Girl is my favorite childhood movie. It's another coming of age. It's probably the first movie that made me cry. It's a great movie to watch if you're writing for children even though it is older. The subject matter is always very timely.

9. Edward Scissorhands: This is the reason why Johnny Depp is one of my favorite actors. You can't get any better than this. Thinking about this movie really makes me miss my childhood.

10. Beetlejuice: I will always love Beetlejuice and the Banana Boat Song.

Thanks for hosting, Alex. And thanks for stopping by.

Schedules! Lists! Oh My!

It's time for another installment of Thursday's Children, which is a blog hop in which writers share what inspires them.

This week I'm deeply inspired by all of the folks who can create schedules for themselves and stick to them. Lately I've been feeling very restless. Maybe one or two of you might have noticed how many times I've changed my blog layout in the past month. My willingness to blog almost every single day has left me feeling a bit fatigued.

I'm starting to feel like my blogging is keeping me from the things that are more important like my writing and  spending more time with books. I started two books months ago and never finished them. I started a new novel, and I'm still at the same word count I was last week. It's funny when I first started writing I did it with so much vigor. Now I can barley write a word without refreshing my blog page. It has become kind of an obsession, an obsession that needs to end. I need to unplug. I need to be more productive.

I know many of you have certain hours of the day set aside for writing. I've always enjoyed writing in the morning. There are things I'd like to improve, like learning to write more words in a shorter amount of time. I do find I write faster when I'm using Written? Kitten!. As of now, I don't think I'm going to keep myself on a strict schedule but some structure would do me some good.

In fact, I'm really looking forward to it. It'll be a nice change.

A few things I'd like to accomplish:

• Finish reading the books I've started 
• Finish cleaning up my manuscript
• Have my first draft completed  by the end of April (Camp NaNo)

As always, thanks for reading, commenting, and being so awesome. If you'd like to join the blog hop visit the Linky List here. And if you'd like to feel more productive too there's this great online tool called Wunderlist I like to use to set goals.