The Year of Beauty and Chaos

 Somewhere between beauty and chaos there is existence. 

The seasons change rapidly, the sun runs to meet the moon, and the stars chase the hills as the earth rotates.

In the midst of that, there's me
Little ol' me.
The rambunctious me, the sad me, the overly-excited me, the constantly changing me.

There's the me that wants to write until the flowers crumble and the snow comes, and then there's that side of me that can't do anything but watch a Netflix series I've seen three times.

There's the me that wants to write this blog, and then there's the me that wants to be the best dancer in the world.

There's the me that sings in the bathroom with an acoustic to my chest, and there's the me that wants to crawl into my bed and sleep all day.

There are so many sides to me, so many different talents, so many dreams--and somehow all of that has lead me back here, to the start of my writing phenomenon, to the beginning of my beginning, to my writing daze.

Here, I welcome you all back into my life as I try, again, to enter the writing world.
I will warn you, writing friends, it is tough.
I've sent more queries out, I've tackled a synopsis, and I've even checked out more writing venues.
I have failed and failed and failed in hopes to help writers--like us--who won't give up.

I hope that you all follow me on this new journey.

If any of you are interested in my recent novel (I'll post a query soon), I've posted a few chapters on Wattpad.
If any of you are interested in being a beta/critique reader contact me through email or in a comment below.

To all of you going through seasons of writing, I'm pouring my luck out to you.

Until next time, writing friends.

Music and Writing

After receiving some encouraging words, and a little heartache, I'm back at it again--I'm writing!

There is hope for this book to see the end.

The advice my writing friends gave me summed up to this: Just write something, even if you don't like it. 

So I did, for awhile, and they were right--the juices came back. 

But anyway, today's blog post is about music and writing. 

I noticed that I am substantially inspired by music when it comes to my writing. Anything with an acoustic guitar, minors, and a voice with soul, seems to pull all the great words and scenes out of me. 

I don't know what it does to me, but it makes me feel . . . . it makes me feel a lot. So much so that I have to listen to that song over and over again so that I can create those feelings. 

This new book I'm writing, I think I'll call it Rubatosis, retains most of it's scenes from songs that have inspired me. I had a friend ask me the other day, "How do you translate a song into a scene?"

Here's my response: You have to take the essence of it--the throbbing, the tempo, the chords--force it into your heart, and translate those words into scenes.

So this is what I've been doing. 

Most of the music I've been listening to has been written or covered. I've also been listening to a lot of Ray LaMontagne and Ed Sheran a whole heck of a lot. 

There are two songs, in particular, that got me through writing as well. 

Never Think

Let Me Sign

Well, that's it for this post! I hope some of this music makes you inspired as well! 

What do you listen to to promote inspiration? 

In my next blog post, I'll be talking more about Rubatosis, and hopefully, I can finish up some series: How Writers Made It Big, and Writing in the Twenty-First Century. 

Till Next Time!

Truth

So here's the thing: I haven't been able to write in months.

I mean, yeah, I'll choke out a paragraph or two, but I've legitimately missed the tail on this one.
It's not even that I don't like my book or my characters--I like all those things. I'm obsessed with my words, and I find myself reading them over and over again.

And I'm stuck.

Stuck because I can't get past those words. I want the story to end, I know how it ends, heck I've even written a rough draft of the ending, but I can't get to that point.

Does any of this happen to any of you?

Do you feel your words trapped within your thoughts, so far hidden that even if you tried to rescue them you couldn't get them out?

That's how I'm feeling, guys.

I need my words. I need some inspiration.
Give me something.

Sincerely,
lost with no words.

How Writers Made It BIG: Stephen King

"I was made to write stories . . . that's why I do it. I really can't imagine doing anything else," said New York Time's best-seller, Stephen King.

Photo from: http://www.denofgeek.us/books-comics/stephen-king/

Like many writers, King knew that writing was his talent. And indeed, it surely was.

While living in a trailer, King went to work on his fourth novel. It was to be a short story for Cavalier Magazine.

King had the idea to write about a teenage girl named Carrie with the gift of telekinesis. He got this idea from a book he had previously read about mental abilities. However, his idea for the main character's personality had derived from paying close attention to a girl he knew in middle school and high school.

"She was a very peculiar girl who came from a very peculiar family. Her mother wasn't a religious nut like the mother in Carrie; she was a game nut, a sweepstakes nut who subscribed to magazines for people who entered contests … the girl had one change of clothes for the entire school year, and all the other kids made fun of her. I have a very clear memory of the day she came to school with a new outfit she'd bought herself. She was a plain-looking country girl, but she'd changed the black skirt and white blouse – which was all anybody had ever seen her in – for a bright-colored checkered blouse with puffed sleeves and a skirt that was fashionable at the time. And everybody made worse fun of her because nobody wanted to see her change the mold, " said King. 

Once King finished the first three pages, he threw them in the trash--something I would do.

King had said:

"Some woman said, 'You write all those macho things, but you can't write about women.' I said, 'I'm not scared of women. I could write about them if I wanted to.' So I got an idea for a story about this incident in a girls' shower room, and the girl would be telekinetic. The other girls would pelt her with sanitary napkins when she got her period. The period would release the right hormones and she would rain down destruction on them… I did the shower scene, but I hated it and threw it away." 

But like any other good spouse, King's wife dug his papers out of the trash, encouraging him to finish it. And once he finished it two weeks later, he sent it out.

Soon enough, he received a telegraph that said: Carrie Officially A Doubleday Book. $2,500 Advance Against Royalties. Congrats, Kid - The Future Lies Ahead, Bill.

Before he knew it, New American Library had purchased 400,000 rights for his paperback book, and a year after the release, it sold one million copies.

Now, over forty years later, King is still known for Carrie and many other books he's written that makes readers afraid to sleep at night.


What to learn from Stephen King:

-Even if you have a wacky idea, don't give up on it. The odd ideas tend to be the best ideas.

Shock Factor:

-Can we just take a moment to reflect on the fact that King wrote a stellar book in TWO WEEKS. That's a record.

-Though Carrie was his fourth novel, it was his first published book.

References:

http://stephenking.com/faq.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_%28novel%29
http://www.biography.com/people/stephen-king-9365136#early-life

Throwing The Manuscript Away

Not literally. I didn't have it printed yet.
But virtually, yes . . . yes I did.

Below, I've inserted a clear visual of what sort of happened . . . .

Now, allow me to let you in on a few things that led to the fall...

1.) That one book I told ya'll I was working on (you know the one that was going to be a series?) I probably haven't worked on that since April.

2.)  I managed to get two new jobs.

3.) I fell in love . . . ha, just kidding.

4.) I've been watching a lot of TV shows on Netflix. (Supernatural, Scandal...)

5.) And also, I have two nephews. That's enough to make me quit just about anything.

I'd like to believe that it was a mixture of these things that made me realize that what I was writing wasn't appealing to me.

In fact, I kept asking myself, "What if no one likes this? Who am I trying to portray...and really, Britney, do you think that's a good idea?"

I know I can be hard on myself--I am truly my own worst enemy--but if I'm psyched about a book idea, I take it and run until it's finished.

So this summer when I began a new manuscript for a different story, I was pumped . . . at first. It happened slowly, and then all at once, like a rush of water. Then I wasn't excited about it anymore.

I couldn't write.

Naturally, I thought it was writer's block. But after a few months of letting it sit, I quickly realized that it wasn't that. This manuscript was more like a diary, so it was easier to write. I wrote about 30,000 words total--20,000 shy from a novella.

I had a game plan--I wanted to get it finished--but, I wasn't in love with it.

There was no spark.

The characters made me smile, but the story-line was saddening.

So I deleted it. Crazy, right?

Okay, okay. I didn't actually "delete" the story, I still have the rough outline. But, from that outline, I found a story within a story, still allowing me to use the characters I love.

Basically, what I'm getting at here is that there are benefits from starting over. Obviously, starting over from scratch is a bit drastic, but if it works, it works--and it worked for me.

Maybe you could benefit from deleting your manuscript, too? As Hemingway once said, "The first draft of anything is...." fill in the blank.

(Hint: a four letter word that rhymes with kick...)

I hope all is well.

Ha, till next time blog world!

Over and out.

Successful Query Examples

Do you ever stop and think: Man, if I had a few successful queries or book descriptions to look at, life would be easier.

Or maybe it's: I just don't feel like going to a bookstore and reading book descriptions. Actually, I don't feel like moving at all. 

Well, this is for you. No moving involved. Everything is here in one place.

Today's blog post features top chart books and their book descriptions. Maybe you'll be inspired when it comes to your own query.

*Note: these are not the actual queries. But they may help you create your own query. 

1.) If I Stay: In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen ­year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heartwrenchingly beautiful, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.

         

Version two:   Just listen, Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel.
                             I open my eyes wide now.
                             I sit up as much as I can.
                             And I listen.

                             Stay, he says.

Choices. Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones: Stay true to her first love—music—even if it means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind?

Then one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it's the only one that matters.

If I Stay is a heartachingly beautiful book about the power of love, the true meaning of family, and the choices we all make.

Nifty Link: Here!

2.) DIVERGENT: In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Version two: “One choice can transform you.”
In Divergent, Beatrice faces a choice that will change her life forever. She can choose any of the five factions to live in… forever. It will determine who her friends are. Who she will marry. What job she will have. What skills she will learn. What philosophy she will model her life around. What virtue she will pursue far beyond any other. Her choice of faction will shape the rest of her life.


Cool Link: Here!

3.) Thirteen Reasons Why: Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush - who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why. Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah's pain, and learns the truth about himself-a truth he never wanted to face.

Extra Cool Link: Here!

I hope this helps!

Until next time blog world!

Idea Is Key!

I'm soo excited, I could just dance!

So this new book idea I have is going to be EPIC!

I wish I could share my entire outline on here, but I can't.

Just know that it's going to have A LOT of action in it.......okay, maybe not that much.

I know, the other day, I mentioned how I had writer's block (which is true. I get writer's block every now and then.) But today, all these magnificent ideas placed my brain on overload!
I can't even explain the glee I feel.

I could just turn on music and dance all day--except maybe not now.....because I'd disturb my roommates, and they'd probably look at me like I was choking on a hot dog....

Anyway, Just thought I'd share my news!

Happy Writing Days, Lovelies!