tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70241985095886053862024-02-18T23:49:51.058-08:00Writer's BlockOn Author's Corner, between Memory Lane and Inspiration Drive, Writer's Block sits right across from the Imagination Station and stares wistfully at all the pretty ideas floating like bubbles on the wind. If only we could capture those little bubbles without popping them and sadly watching them disappear on our finger tips. If only... But maybe...Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-70819459311784041902013-02-25T23:26:00.003-08:002013-02-25T23:26:32.293-08:00Little update on Progress!<br />
The Seasons books are coming along great, I think! So far Kiki is doing all the writing. Wish I could help!!! But I have only a vague idea of what happened in the story before I joined in. Still, it's an absolutely fascinating read! You'll have to take my word for it but really, so far Kiki's got me on the edge of my seat after only two chapters, and you can ask anyone who knows me, it takes forever for me to get into a book so that's saying something. Haha.<br />
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Reason I've been thinking about this today is that I've officially started writing the first chapter of our future set book "Bang!" (Meaning I've opened Microsoft Works Word Processor and have spent the last hour staring at this...)</div>
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But hey! That's almost three paragraphs right? So... PROGRESS!!!!!</div>
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Excited? Yea? Yeah? YEAH?! I am. ;)<br />
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Original Post -- http://secretlyimaginaryme.blogspot.com/2013/02/seasons-update.html</div>
Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-59558593911532572822012-10-20T09:38:00.000-07:002012-10-20T09:38:37.320-07:00Saturday's Challenge! <div>
Thursday's challenge went well actually. I forgot to talk in an accent almost every time it counted, but it did put me in the mind to write what I needed to and that's what counts! Today, I've challenge myself to put away the glorious distractions of Nancy Drew games and Barbie movies and actually get something done. Aside from the normal things like laundry and cleaning my room, my goal is to write at least three paragraphs of one story. Today I've chosen the story I mentioned Thursday with the character based on John Rolfe. I'm writing this story with my best friend and favorite author, Kiki, and she absolutely deserves another update! And so do you guys. I also thought it might be nice to share what I'm writing with you. So! Maybe I'll do that. =) We'll see. Until next time! *waves*</div>
Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-89041757521261334222012-10-18T05:50:00.001-07:002012-10-18T05:58:44.088-07:00Thursday's ChallengeToday I've decided to challenge myself in several different ways. First, there is a page, floating around in my brain somewhere, that I haven't had the time to put on paper. So! I'm going to write that today at some point. The character in this piece of writing is a variation of Disney's take on John Rolfe from the second Pocahontas movie, set about ten years in the future. Our future, that is. Still, he's kept his very proper, old English way of thought and speech. To put myself in the mindset to write this character, I've challenged myself to speak, throughout the entire day, in my best British accent. Putting my mind to work in that way will hopefully inspire me to write a decent work. So then, I suppose there are two challenges. To speak entirely in an English accent, and to write the paper. Let's hope I can do this. <br />
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Tally Ho!! ;DSkyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-86503200478956653822012-09-20T00:33:00.001-07:002012-09-22T07:41:47.675-07:00All Aboard!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://thedailymew.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/train-cat-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://thedailymew.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/train-cat-2.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoy the Cheer Up Picture <3</td></tr></tbody></table>Disappointment. The problem everyone struggles with. Disappointment is, well, disappointing. It's depressing when you were <i>really</i> looking forward to something, and then you realize that no matter what you do, it's probably not going to happen. I can say I'm planning on being an astronaut. I can go through all the training and get all the qualifications, spend years hoping and wishing and waiting and planning, but when it's all said and done, most likely I'm not gonna be spending any time outside of planet Earth. In sarcasm, for those of you who don't speak it, disappointment is called "a healthy dose of reality." In my book it feels more like a splash of cold water in the face on a freezing January morning. That chilly feeling you just can't shake. It hurts to be disappointed, especially when it happens because of someone else. When you were really counting on Becky to drive you down to B&N for that new book you've been waiting all year for! And then she calls an hour later because she over slept. Or when your mom absolutely promised you'd go to the midnight premier that movie you've been wanting to see, and then she gets stuck in bed with a cold. You can't do anything about these things. You can't prevent or change them. They happen. Life happens. But when someone else is involved we tend to blame the other person. Wrong! It's not their fault. They have lives too and the world does not revolve around you, no matter how many times you forget that you aren't the sun. The important thing is learning how to pick up and move on. This happens to be something I struggle with. Yes, it's easy to be hurt and to heap blame on people. It's easy to wallow in self-pity because things didn't go your way. It's hard to be mature and grown up and say "Hey, I didn't really need to go to the beach this weekend. It'll be there next week." So my challenge, to myself and to anyone else who's reading this, is to remember that when you're disappointed by someone, it's not always their fault. And even if it is, blaming them only hurts you. So be the mature one. Pick up. And move on. Life happens. We can't sit waiting for it to happen our way. If we did, we'd be waiting a very long time! So stop waiting, hop up on life's train, and take off!<br />
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Catch ya later!<br />
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Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-38362807052589567972012-09-20T00:10:00.001-07:002012-09-20T00:11:19.614-07:00New Wrapping! Is Christmas coming early?Have you ever had the feeling something is missed? Like there is a piece to the puzzle of life you just can't find. When you're sitting at work or flipping through channels or cooking dinner and you just stop and think to yourself "I need... something... But what?" It seems I've been having those moments more often then not these days when I sit down to write. I have the idea running through my head, I know what I want to say, but after writing - and rewriting - the same three pages over and over... All that's left to do at the end of the day is sit back and admit that it needs...something. But what? I truly wish I could figure out what that something was. Passion? Emotion? Some other "shun"? Perhaps my characters are too boring, I found myself wondering today. Too flat. Perhaps if you write for too long without seeking new inspiration, your writing becomes as familiarly repetitive as a singer who writers too many songs all at once. It all starts to sound the same. This week I've trashed three stories. Three. I never thought in a million years that would happen! It's been hard to part with them, and yet...I keep finding these stories in other stories. "Nothing new under the sun" is a rather depressing concept when you're trying to think of something new and interesting for people to want to read. But then... and I'm just thinking out loud here... maybe people don't want to read something new. Maybe they just want new wrapping on it. <a href="http://www.gailcarsonlevine.com/" target="_blank">Gail Carson Levine</a> has made her career retelling popular and well known fairy tales and elaborating on the ones that tell us too little to begin with. She had some of her own, but <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Enchanted" target="_blank">Ella Enchanted</a> is really just Cinderella with an amazingly brilliant and clever array of twists and turns and flip-flops. And there are plenty of other examples. Some of them not so well disguised. <a href="http://www.alexflinn.com/" target="_blank">Beastly</a> is obviously Beauty and the Beast. And with or without a name, who hasn't heard the human/vampire love story a million and three times? So maybe, as a writer, I shouldn't be so focused on trying to write what is new and exciting. But more focused on my story and telling it the way I want it to be told. Perhaps it is better to explore the characters more. To get to know and understand them the way I should before trying to force them into situations impossible for them to climb out of. This is my challenge to myself for the rest of this week. To focus on the story the way it ought to be told. I'll do my best to keep you posted.<br />
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So Until Next Time!<br />
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And check out these amazing women!</div>
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Alex Flinn and Gail Carson Levine. </div>
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They deserve much Praise!!</div>
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<br />Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-78464675196573076472012-08-03T16:27:00.002-07:002012-08-03T16:55:29.148-07:00Sunny Days and Busses<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Some days, you wake up, and it's like the sun smiled at you. Everything is going your way. Life couldn't be better! Other days, you wake up, and that's about the only good thing that happens. Day to day stress piles up like a shaken soda can and explodes in your face while laughing at your sticky fizz-filled pain. You can either feel like the world's on your side, or feel like life just hit you with a bus. It's a total toss up that'd keep you awake at night if you allowed yourself to worry about which coin fate's flipping for you this time. Today I got hit by life's bus. Yay me. I felt like the world was against me, which sucks since I was kinda hopin' the world might like me just a little? But today was a wake up call for me too. Today that bus knocked a little sense into me. Or maybe the road did when I fell... Either way, something knocked something into me! Or maybe something got knocked out... Or maybe I was just knocked out...!<br />
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But I digress.<br />
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Today I was hit with the realization -No, not the bus. There was no bus. It was a poorly planned out metaphor for realization and has absolutely nothing to do with an actual bus! Forget the bus!! - that life isn't about getting from day to day like it's some kind of chore. It's about living in each day, making the most of every moment we have. Yes, we should have goals and plans for the future. It's good to have things to work towards. But that shouldn't be our only focus. If all we're thinking about is the future we miss the present, and time isn't something you can get back.<br />
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Sometimes, life throws things at you that feel pretty impossible. Sometimes we can feel pretty low. Not getting the job, not acing the test, not being liked back by the guy (or girl) you've been crushing on for forever. Buses can really knock you down and make you feel like you've hit the assault-y rock bottom. Remember this. No matter how many times you get knocked down, you can <i>always</i> get back up!!<br />
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So. Live in the moment. Get back up. Avoid the bus. Okay, guys!! Good talk!!<br />
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See you peeps next time! Bye-bye!<br />
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<br />Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-67374842530332510202012-04-22T06:18:00.004-07:002012-04-22T06:19:42.634-07:00Table Talk<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My sister and I went to Applebee's the other day for lunch. While sitting there, enjoying our own meals, I couldn't help but over hear the conversation between two women sitting behind at the table my sister.<br />
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"What?" the younger lady gasped in utter shock. "It's a fruit? Since when??" </div>
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The older woman, appearing to be the mother of the younger girl, shook her head and shrugged. "I don't know."</div>
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"Wow..." the daughter shook her head, still bewildered. "Stupid tomato."</div>
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Oh! The things some people say!! My sister and I certainly shared a good laugh. =) </div>
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Until next time. <i>Au revoir!</i></div>Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-80086760878023151632012-04-03T09:05:00.001-07:002012-04-03T09:13:13.881-07:00No More Terrible Tuesdays!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://geekithawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/april-banner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="http://geekithawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/april-banner.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Oh my Gosh! Already April... I can't believe it. Easter is just around the corner and with everybody buzzing about our church choir program, concentrating on writing has been a little harder. On the plus side, though... WE GOT INTERNET BACK!!!! I am sooooooo glad it is back. You can not EVEN imagine! Having to do all my research on a cell phone screen is hard on the eyes. Can anyone say Major Headache! I am glad to have it back, though. It's been good to be able to actually work again without having to go down to my dad's office after hours to steal Cable. Haha!<br />
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Though to me it seems I haven't done much of anything new, in reality there is a lot I have done. I've just been unable to write about it. So here it is. A catch up on everything I've done in the last couple months.<br />
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First, I started a new story. inspiration hit me one evening after everyone else had gone to bed and I was up half the night writing it all down on paper. (Well, actually typing it on Word Processor. I write WAY to slow to keep up with my brain!) The story follows a young women who, after a near death experience as a little girl, is able to see the shadows of lost souls who died the same way she would have had they not saved her for a special purpose. The souls want free, but she can't do it alone. She tried to tell her parents, her teachers, her friends, and anyone else who would listen. Because of this openness about her gift her family thought her mentally unstable and placed her in an institution for examination, diagnosis, and hopefully, rehabilitation. The young woman will not rest, though. Or rather, the shadows will not let her rest. She begins to tell her stories to the other patients in the mental hospital, and one by one, each join her cause. Even at the risk of being caught by the nurses and staff that watch over them nearly every second.<br />
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Well, it seemed like an interesting story to me. As excited as I am to write it, I hope others will be as equally excited to read it. It's my first horror mystery novel so I'm really hoping it turns out well!<br />
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In other news, I've been working steadily on my co-written projects, but the Conflict story is starting to suffer from a lack of inspiration. I fear that in waiting so long to start writing it again I lost focus of what the story was about. The excitement and the thrill of one's first year of college turning into an adventure he'd never expected... I've lost the inspiration to be thrilling and excited for this story... I need to find it again somehow!!!<br />
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Tuesday used to be the best day in the world! But this Tuesday is turning out to be just like any other regular day. Nothing special. So I'm to fix that. First, I'm going to be trying to write something really great for tomorrow, Wednesday, which is anti-procrastination day! So...Go Me! Haha. But in a more public way, I think today I will spend the rest of the day speaking in a British accent!! We'll see how many people I can fool, huh?<br />
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Starting......NOW!<br />
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-in a British accent- Well, I know I've done more than all that, but there's the gist of the big stuff. And I'll be better about writing every day now I promise! Don't tell me it's easy because it's not! There are so many distractions, like my novels and music and the telly! I've just discovered the BBC show Merlin and am positively Hooked!!<br />
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Sooo....we'll see about those updates.<br />
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Until next time then. Cheerio!Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-35462482558845688322012-02-01T11:40:00.000-08:002012-02-01T11:40:46.336-08:00Fifteen Minute February!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEMQs_eWJv1YT2Dsqw8dhBkNqQYKA10xhQQ8_cOHWa2LR0k67_gn1rMJfDm6JPY7kualJvzmbfZSGjYCIFZPg_3b-stWQBX3jtsx9tXvdwrjShSyXPC9ngN1ri7cgUV98zfRe_lKWxlTw/s1600/flylady_cartoon2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEMQs_eWJv1YT2Dsqw8dhBkNqQYKA10xhQQ8_cOHWa2LR0k67_gn1rMJfDm6JPY7kualJvzmbfZSGjYCIFZPg_3b-stWQBX3jtsx9tXvdwrjShSyXPC9ngN1ri7cgUV98zfRe_lKWxlTw/s200/flylady_cartoon2.jpg" width="141" /></a></div>FlyLady has taught me so much. In the few weeks that I've been following her program she's not only showed me my own ability to keep a tidy home but the potential of even the smallest things. Writing a book, just like any big project, can seem daunting at first, and as the progress slows the confidence the author has in himself may begin to decline. Negative thoughts can start popping up. Will I ever finish this? Will anyone even read this? Is spending so much time on this project really worth it? It can get overwhelming, fast.<br />
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Thank God for Flylady and her rule of fifteen minutes. One of her famous quotes is: "You can do anything in 15 minutes." It's true. Not only does it help with keeping your sanity while cleaning and organizing, I've also started applying it to my writing. Just sit down, set my timer, and for fifteen minutes do nothing but focus on my books. It's been so helpful! I've finally started seeing some progress!<br />
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So Thank you, Flylady! For once I'm not stressing over this project. It feels great!<br />
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I recommend everyone go visit her right now! Give her fifteen minutes of your time. She's an amazing woman and a great help to anyone who's a little scatter brained when it comes to keeping things organized, whether it's your house or your car or your desk or even yourself! She's amazing. Check her out <a href="http://flylady.net/" target="_blank">here!</a><br />
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Until next time!Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-75767062590097873912012-01-31T12:10:00.000-08:002012-01-31T12:15:00.300-08:00Candy!GOODBYE, JANUARY!<br />
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Don't get me wrong, I like January and all, but February is just so much better!!! Alright, so I <i>guess</i> you could say my opinion is slightly a <i>little </i>bit biased. (My birthday is in February. Haha.) But it's still one of my favorite months, regardless. I love PINK! And February is all about pink and red and purple. Valentine's Day and all, you know.<br />
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No, sadly yet again this year I will be celebrating "Singles Day" rather than Valentine's Day. But that's alright with me. My sister and brother and I will have fun anyway!<br />
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Today I did my first bit of decorating for February. I went to Target to look around at the seasonal stuff. Especially the things in their little $1 aisle. I LOVE that section!!!! I actually found some pretty cute cards and a grocery list (both are things I had been planning on buying anyway, so getting them for a dollar was a total stroke of luck!). I also found some really pretty plates shaped like hearts I loved them so much, so decided to pass on the place mats I'd been looking for and get the plates instead. Once I get home, I gathered up all the leftover candy canes from Christmas. Most of them were peppermint, so obviously, red and pink and white! Then I found my white table cloth. Put them all together and PRESTO! a beautiful, cheap February table setting. =)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidXJnPZLFz9czaMN-pQzM77oDqKNJ1oo45Lev8qI-Kq5PxtvhkKdT4J3VKJ3OrB3OPbH-Uu4vC0r_G5x9Nl19IFIVUbmRtdI0C4c5w5gVz3_aOItrGJHPhl141Q0U_0SMrpNTJpNNmHmU/s1600/IMG_0038%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidXJnPZLFz9czaMN-pQzM77oDqKNJ1oo45Lev8qI-Kq5PxtvhkKdT4J3VKJ3OrB3OPbH-Uu4vC0r_G5x9Nl19IFIVUbmRtdI0C4c5w5gVz3_aOItrGJHPhl141Q0U_0SMrpNTJpNNmHmU/s400/IMG_0038%5B1%5D.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">[Forgive the wrinkles. I didn't have time to iron this morning. =) ]</div><br />
So that's what I've done today. Not much for writing. Just about a sentence, which really isn't anything to tell about. But I thought I might as well share this. Since this is what I've been doing too!<br />
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My romance has hit a bit of a snag. I just can't make the two characters click the way they are supposed to. So I'm really hoping that the SEASON OF LOVE this February will help to re-spark my inspirations so I can put that fire back into my couple!<br />
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Wave goodbye to January and I'll see you Next Month!!!Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-184599248546660622012-01-30T15:18:00.000-08:002012-01-30T15:26:07.886-08:00Rainy Mondays.Okay, okay! Hands up! You got me... I took the weekend off. I know, I know. That's a bad thing to do. Writing once a day. All that. But I was tired and it was Saturday! Haha. Anyway, I'm back now so that counts for something right?<br />
<div><br />
</div><div>This morning I woke up to my Monday song. "Monday, oh Monday, I really can't describe... Monday, Oh Monday, how you make me feel inside. If I ever have a good one, I know it'd be a first. If there's one thing I know, as far as days go, Monday, you're the worst!" Haha I love that song. well, my Monday hasn't been too bad. It's been raining all day though. Doing errands in the rain is interesting, but not too bad.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTez71Zpv2-ts5qaypUaS5W3TAhGPdQbNVs-z88EsLx0uLpii7A5lpegPbJFk3jPzNF-wq6MvhUMFf0cu6pWBGp0dCEnRBRqxRVDvvOPw9eZtXtasnZhFLaWhJz8EB6B6p2fOkCwD5VaA/s1600/rainy+days+and+mondays.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTez71Zpv2-ts5qaypUaS5W3TAhGPdQbNVs-z88EsLx0uLpii7A5lpegPbJFk3jPzNF-wq6MvhUMFf0cu6pWBGp0dCEnRBRqxRVDvvOPw9eZtXtasnZhFLaWhJz8EB6B6p2fOkCwD5VaA/s320/rainy+days+and+mondays.png" width="272" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div>I got flipped off today by another driver for the first time! It was great. I know that sounds horrible, but I just love road rage people. They act so ridiculous I have to laugh. What happened was completely her fault too, so it made it all the better. She was even more mad though that I couldn't stop laughing... Sorry, lady! Haha. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Oh! And this afternoon I got asked to be someone's bridesmaid! I've never been asked to be someone's bridesmaid before, so of course I've never been one before. I'm excited and nervous at the same time, but it's a good feeling! The bride is super nice and really fun and we get to go SHOPPING for a dress on Friday! Can't WAIT!</div><div><br />
</div><div>As far as writing goes, which is what I'm really supposed to be telling you about, I haven't done much today. Wrote a couple paragraphs for Who Likes Who that I sent to Kiki just....now. Haha. Other than that today has been pretty low on the writing scale. I've been doing a lot of cleaning and errand running. The writing job kind of fell behind. But don't worry. Monday is always a hard day to get back into the swing of things after taking off the weekend. I'll be back on the ball by Tuesday. I promise!</div><div><br />
</div><div>So then, we shall see each other again soon. Farewell, my lovely readers. Farewell!</div>Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-26597192403807983902012-01-27T07:10:00.000-08:002012-01-27T07:10:01.110-08:00Depressing DepressionBecca's real name is Kiki! At least, that's what I started calling her a few years back and then everyone else copied me. Isn't is strange, how sometimes a nickname will just...stick? Anyway...just throwing that out there.<div><br />
</div><div>Today I'm supposed to talk to you about Fabulous Franny, but my mood is nothing short of gray. I tried, but can think of nothing funny to give to you today. Sorry to disappoint. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Yesterday I didn't write anything. I couldn't. The mood I've been dropped in since then is a mixture of guilt and failure. It's frustrating to be caught in that. My sister even took notice of the "emo corner" I'd stuck myself in. She asked what was wrong, but I just couldn't tell her. Several hours later she saw me again. </div><div><br />
</div><div>"Still depressed?" she asked. I had to let out a dramatic sigh (because it makes me feel better) as I responded. </div><div><br />
</div><div>"I hate being depressed! It makes me depressed!!!" I hadn't realize what I'd said until after she broke out into laughter. Admittedly, I smiled too. I guess you could say that was the start of my getting better. But waking up this morning, everything that made me depressed yesterday came rushing back and now I feel horrible again. How do you feel better when you've admitted your guilt and been forgiven? What else is left to do? Maybe I did something else wrong...</div><div><br />
</div><div>I hope today I can figure out how to take my focus off this depressing situation and put it back on writing... </div><div><br />
</div><div>Wish me Luck! -waves-</div>Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-19373886154441203782012-01-26T08:12:00.000-08:002012-01-26T08:12:21.066-08:00All Aboard!It's nice to know when you've helped someone. The encouragement you can give someone is just as beneficial for yourself! Today I woke up and found that my best friend had started her own blog. Grant it, I wasn't the one who originally gave her the idea, but I'd been the messenger, so to speak. It was really encouraging to me to see her doing something about her writing, really working on it like that. I'm so proud of her! Moreover, her taking action has spurred me on to keep writing! With renewed vigor I'm more ready than ever to tackle my own writing! As well as hopefully being able to help her in any way she'll let me. Haha. ^_^ <div><br />
</div><div>I'd really like everyone to give her your support. She's got a long road ahead of her but I just know she'll make it! So I encourage you all to read and subscribe to <a href="http://randomhouseexpress.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Random House Express</a> and follow her progress on her writing. Just remember, <i>I'm</i> her <b>biggest</b> fan!! No competing for that spot. It's already taken!! </div><div><br />
</div><div>Off you go now. Happy reading!</div>Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-15373636026863867092012-01-25T06:31:00.000-08:002012-01-25T06:40:54.692-08:00Cracking the Habit, at least a little.Once you do something for a while it begins to become routine. A habit, if you will. Every morning my mom stumbles into the kitchen in search of the coffee pot. Every afternoon my brother comes home for school and heads straight for the tv. These are big habits that over time are formed. They pile up to create our daily routine. Trying to change that routine can be tough sometimes - breaking a habit is always hard - but it can be very worth it.<br />
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Every morning, I get up at eight, whether my alarm clock has told me to or not. First thing I do? Grab the computer. Check email, instant messages, face book, the blog. It's a whole routine, one website after another. Recently my house lost internet. It's been over three weeks, now, that I haven't been able to go for my computer first thing to check email and face book. But on the other hand, it's given me extra time every morning to focus on what I should be doing! Writing.<br />
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Yesterday, I was going through my notebooks. See, like I said before, I'm a really messy person in general (except my work spaces) so as part of a new year's resolution I started a step by step program that creates habits to help a person keep their home clean and organized without stressing. It's been interesting so far. The first thing that is recommended of beginners to the program is to get a notebook, to keep track of your progress and whatnot. So anyway, to do this, I was looking through my notebooks, trying to find once that was at least semi empty. Believe it or not, I have about a hundred notebooks of all sizes and colors, and not a single one of them was less than half filled. It was very frustrating…<br />
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Well, while looking through all of that mess, I stumbled (literally) over a notebook that I'd forgotten I still had. It happened to be one I used in college and it held some very detailed outlines of the original plot of Conflict. Everything I could imagine was in that notebook, from shorthand timelines to specific quotes and entire paragraphs of things that were supposed to happen! It was quite the find. I can't begin to describe how helpful it was to have that. And to think, if I'd never been without internet I'd never have been looking through those notebooks in the first place. I would have been on FaceBook!<br />
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Not to say that having internet is bad. In fact, I'm thanking the heavens and lucky stars and all that is good since we should be getting our brand new internet up and running this week. Sometimes, though, it's really good to break out of your routine and do something else, at least once. =) If nothing else, you may trip over something you thought you'd lost. Wouldn't that just make your day?<br />
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So, until we meet again. Ta-ta!Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-5141212549588815552012-01-23T23:08:00.000-08:002012-01-23T23:22:05.905-08:00Project #2?"Writing a blog should be easy! You're going to be writing novels for a living, right? A few paragraphs a day shouldn't be too hard." Haha! I really had to laugh. This isn't something someone told me. It's what I told somebody else after they quit writing on their own blog. Oh boy. Was I wrong or what? Being consistent is hard! Very hard… I am happy to report, though, that I've been able to keep up with my resolution, writing at least one sentence a day. Turns out, once you get once sentence down, it's easier to write a little more. And then a little more. Pretty soon, you've got the story stuck in your head all day and hey! You just thought of a new idea! Writing is a really good feeling, and writing well is even better!<br />
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I've added a project. I know, I know, I said one at a time. -hides behind a rock- Okay, let me explain!!! So, here's how it happened. My writer friend, the one I told you about last time? Let's call her…Becca (since I don't want to go promoting her over my own writing! ;P Haha. Just kidding. Sorry Becks!) So Becca and I started a book back when I was in high school. It was just after we'd met. She and I decided to write a book together with another armature author we'll call Katie (for the sake of protecting the innocent). So Becca and Katie and I started writing this story together. It was fun. We each wrote sections of about three or more paragraphs at a time, writing as our own characters but keeping the whole thing in a third person omniscient tense. It was really cool. Back then I knew virtually nothing about professional writing. All I knew was that I loved it, and I was eager to write something opposite someone who knew a little more about what they were doing. As we grew, the story grew and our writing styles grew. Becca taught me so much and I'm forever grateful! But about a year after the three of us had started the book, things turned sour. Katie went to college, and her enthusiasm for writing all but died. She swore up and down she still loved to write. Every time we talked to her she'd promise over and over that her piece was in the works, but then it'd be months before we ever heard from her again. Becca and I were devastated, worried that the book would completely fall apart. Without Katie to write in her parts of the book we'd never finish! For almost an entire year the book was put on hold. Becca and I would talk about the characters, exchange thoughts on ideas, and even write out dialogue for future pieces of the book. All of this we did to pass the time between Katie's updates. We even created, started, and were in the middle of two sequels! It was getting ridiculous and too much to bare. We didn't work on the book for so long, even I started to forget about it...<br />
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In an effort to revitalize my own inspiration for this original co-written story, I went back to page one and started reading. What I read shocked me. Of course, I expected the writing to be lacking. I'd always expected to go back and reedit everything. After all, back then I hadn't known anything about anything. The precious little more I know now is a HUGE improvement on the horrific writing I used to think passed for "good" four years ago. What I didn't expect to see was how, frankly, terrible Katie's writing actually was. Now, the writing itself was...alright. It's not one of my favorite styles, but as far as grammar and sentence structure and flow and all of that good stuff goes it was okay. But Oh my word! You would not believe how awful some of it was. Her male characters were mushy and overly sensitive and quite frankly acted a lot like girls. Her leading ladies were weepy and helpless and absolutely annoying. Her dialogue was ridiculous and her character interactions were unrealistic in some of the most unbelievable ways! She actually had written an entire scene where two guys sat over cocktails and shared their feelings!!! And these were two macho guys. An army soldier and a retired football payer. Not exactly the touchy feely cocktail type. It was sad. I literally felt like crying.<br />
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I found out, in about August of 2010 that Becca had been experiencing the same thing. She'd had a problem with Katie's writing for a while and had hinted at things here and there but had never come right out and said anything. I took the initiative and said it. It was bad. We talked things over for several months. Between ourselves and with Katie. By the end of October we told her the relationship was over. We couldn't write the story anymore with how poorly and rarely she was writing her pieces. After that mess was done and over with, we started clean up on the story, but there was so much to do, and with how busy our lives became the project went on hold yet again. Becca and I were working on other projects both separately and together, on top of our own lives at school and home and work. We had no time for the original story and all the renovating it needed. That brings us to about now. Last week, Becca and I were talking. I asked her, if she could change one major thing about that original story, what would it be? "The entire beginning" is the shortened version of the very long list she gave me. I agreed, of course. Katie's parts were impossible to keep in the book if we ever wanted it to do a good job and be proud of the story. Plus with her no longer a part of it, keeping her parts wouldn't be fair to her. So over the weekend we gathered up all the old stuff and pitched it. Back to square one!! We rewrote character profiles, reinvented characters that had been spoiled by Katie's lack of writing skill, and restarted the story itself! It's a big project, but a good one. It gives me a warm, happy feeling inside to know that we can go back and reinvent and re-enjoy the story that brought us together as friends. And even more than that, we've given ourselves a chance to take the story and really write it well. Hopefully, well enough to make some money! Yay!!! But most importantly, we can make it something to be proud of.<br />
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So all of that has been going on between Thursday and now. Just today we started writing the new beginning and so far it's going great! We've called it "Who Likes Who" as a working title. We'll see about actually naming it when the time comes to send it off to publishers. I expect to keep you updated on that as well as Conflict, which has been going slowly. But Surely. Definitely moving on that one, so that's exciting.<br />
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So many great things going on, it's hard not to put them all in one post! But I've got to save something to write about tomorrow, right? Haha.<br />
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So Until Then! -waves- Bye Bye!Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-53004475033628585342012-01-18T23:25:00.001-08:002012-01-23T23:21:40.021-08:00Late Resolutions.A good friend of mine once told me, some of the truest things we write come when we sit down, turn our brains off, and let the words flow. She also happens to be one of my favorite authors so I take her advice very seriously! Haha. She gave me this one little nugget of wisdom just recently, when I was stuck in a serious case of writer's block (evident by the obvious lack of blog updates). She's an amazing writer and one of my greatest mentors as well as one of my best muses. She always knows just what to say and when to say it! It's great to have a friend like that and I love her to death!!!<br />
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Another thing she shared with me that I hold myself to even to this day: She told me the worst thing a writer can do is stop writing. Even in the worst slump, when everything feels horrible and every word you write sounds bad, you can't stop. She challenged me to work on my book a little every day. Even when all I can manage is one poorly written sentence, write it. Don't give up. Don't quit, not even for a day. Because once you stop, it is so hard to start back up again. So many good ideas get thrown in the bin because the writer gave up. So never stop writing. Never stop writing!<br />
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My mom, this week, read a one page intro to a story I never planned to continue. I thought it was horrible, a piece of junk I'd written out of boredom. She was so impressed by it that everyday since she's been asking me for more pages! It was while trying to write more pages for her that I realized the truth in my friend's words. "You think too much," she always tells me. And I finally realized I do. I think way too much about what I'm trying to write. A little thought is good, of course, but there is a point where anything can be over thought. That's exactly what I do. Over think. Everything. From friendships to compliments at work to movies and the meaning of life!!! And now even this...<br />
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The revelation is both enlightening and discouraging. I'm hoping to focus on the former rather than the latter. I also hope I can focus more on writing and less on thinking about what I should write. Let's call this...a late New Year's resolution. Haha.<br />
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Until next time!Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-19929566897154865792011-12-16T12:37:00.000-08:002012-01-23T23:12:21.374-08:00Introducing.... Jackson David!Character Profiles are something that many authors use to get to know their characters better personally. They help the writer connect to the characters as well as helping the writer make the characters seem more human. (They also can take a very long time to put together!) Though this is usually something of a private journey, for the sake of my stories and my continued progress I will share them with you on this website. And just to help myself (and you) a little more, I'll be writing them in order of importance. Which means the number one most important character gets his life sprawled out for you today here!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8jLiS6xCx0Fkj9lzl8j4AYmb1_gQWkHKjyHTyl693nk_5jhWqh-Fx8QgX2-xg5R_yPj5z2nPv7CiglHyRyL9qSJnFbrLoWtMg1-sgeFFTGk66sEFRQVE3Nd2243599TVLT6zn7Y7hmks/s1600/conflict+%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8jLiS6xCx0Fkj9lzl8j4AYmb1_gQWkHKjyHTyl693nk_5jhWqh-Fx8QgX2-xg5R_yPj5z2nPv7CiglHyRyL9qSJnFbrLoWtMg1-sgeFFTGk66sEFRQVE3Nd2243599TVLT6zn7Y7hmks/s320/conflict+%25283%2529.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><u><br />
</u><br />
<u>Basics.</u><br />
Name: Jackson Avery David.<br />
Age: 20<br />
Birthday: May 8th<br />
Height: 5'11"<br />
Home: Greenville, South Carolina<br />
Current address: college campus<br />
Family: one younger sister, Karen, and a mother, Carol. Father, deceased.<br />
Health: Completely healthy<br />
Ethnic background: Caucasian, of English decent.<br />
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<u>Lifestyle.</u> (from the perspective of the character)<br />
Nickname: Jack. My sister loves this show on tv and it drives me nuts because the main character's older brother is named Jackson and he's a total idiot. So I go by Jack.<br />
Occupation: Well, right now I work right now on the stage crew, but I'm studying to be an artist and would like to some day work with some kind of animation. My mom wants me to be a teacher or something, but that's one thing I could never do. She's good at it, but I'd never have the patience.<br />
Religion: I was raised in a Baptist church but sometimes Baptist churches take things too far. I follow what the Bible says, nothing else.<br />
Political affiliations: I vote Republican, but never pay much attention to all that political stuff.<br />
Education: I'm in college now. I spent all of elementary and high school in the same school, Grace Christian Academy, where my mom works.<br />
Hometown: Greenville, South Carolina<br />
Children: None yet, but someday after I'm married. I like kids.<br />
Pets: Three dogs, but they are all staying with my mom while I go to school and live on campus.<br />
Hobbies: I like to read...comic books... and I like to draw and I really enjoy playing board games and stuff. I collect stuff from....comic books. (Don't judge!)<br />
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<u>Likes.</u><br />
Board games.<br />
Pool.<br />
Leather jackets.<br />
Making people laugh.<br />
Watching people have fun.<br />
Doing something to make someone smile, even when they don't know it was me.<br />
Christmas.<br />
Birthday cake.<br />
Snickers.<br />
BBQ anything!<br />
Friendly banter.<br />
Someone to talk to.<br />
Having lots of friends.<br />
A cappella music.<br />
New Country music.<br />
Holding someone's hand and feeling them squeeze my hand back.<br />
Long car rides.<br />
Hugs.<br />
Catching up with old friends.<br />
Falling asleep in class and not getting caught.<br />
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<u>Dislikes.</u><br />
Stuck up people.<br />
Liars.<br />
Clingy friends.<br />
Seeing someone hurt or upset.<br />
Ranch dressing.<br />
Rock music.<br />
Driving at night.<br />
Bullies.<br />
Being made fun of or seeing someone else getting made fun of.<br />
Not getting a good grade on something I put a lot of work into.<br />
Fruit pies.<br />
Cheese.<br />
Long lectures.<br />
History class.<br />
Writing English papers.<br />
Seeing a girl cry.<br />
Being so far away from my family.<br />
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<u>Short Bio.</u><br />
I was born the first child of Carol and Jackson David. I was brought home to the same house where we live now. I don't remember much about my childhood. But I do remember when I was three my parents brought home my younger sister, Karen. As soon as I could start school my parents put me in Grace Christian Academy where my mother taught first grade. The "school" was little more than twenty kids studying in the empty classrooms of Grace Baptist Church Monday through Friday and cleaning the church for service on Saturday afternoons. But my parents enjoyed being part of running it and I didn't mind being the only student in the fifth grade. I made my way up through the grades until I was about fifteen. That's when my dad got sick. Blinding headaches would keep him in bead for days at a time and they only got progressively worse and made him progressively weaker. We couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. Finally one doctor took special interest in our case. After several extensive tests, he diagnosed a rare form of aggressive brain cancer. He was only with us another year. I was seventeen when he passed away. You can't imagine how hard that was for all of us, but especially my mom and sister. They were devastated. My sister and I stopped going to school for a while to mourn him, and mom got a substitute. We drove up to Michigan and spent two weeks with my mom's parents.<br />
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When we got back, mom went back to work and Karen went back to school, but there was no way I could move on. No, they hadn't moved on either, but they were dealing with it and getting on with their own lives. I couldn't do that. I dropped out of school and stayed around the house, taking care of the chores, getting a job to help with the hospital bills left. This went on for about a year. Mom let me deal with dad's death in that way for as long as she could, but finally she took me aside and told me I had to at least finish school. So I went back, finished out my senior year, graduating at nineteen. All my classmates were really supportive, but it was still hard. By graduation though, things had gotten easier. Mom was even able to convince me to go to the local Christian university. So that's where I am now. I don't like living there because it's harder to help my mom, but she insisted it's what was best. It was cheaper too so I couldn't argue. I guess we'll just see how this year turns out. I might stay, I might drop out. Who knows.Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-42105027234112641822011-12-06T17:05:00.000-08:002012-01-23T23:22:39.119-08:00Unexpected InspirationDisney movies inspire me. Don't ask me why. Usually they have nothing to do with my actual story. But put on Beauty and the Beast or Mulan and I'm glued to the computer with my fingers to the keys! I discovered today that Disney <i>music</i> does the same thing. I played a CD of Classic Disney music today while I was doing laundry, and two songs in I was opening my computer with three new ideas to write out for my book. It was a great feeling, being totally inspired to work on something that has been giving me trouble for over a year now!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>I just love that feeling. Wish it would happen more often. Then maybe I'd actually get something done! Well, today, other than the three ideas I got jotted down and outlined in the book, I also would like to share the potential book cover. A friend of mine so kindly drew it for me about a year ago when I started the project and I just love it!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/248577_218423434853675_172186356144050_800796_7162099_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/248577_218423434853675_172186356144050_800796_7162099_n.jpg" width="353" /></a></div><br />
I know the style is a bit, well, animated. Haha. But I love it because it includes all of the most important characters, keeps the two main characters front and center, and also manages to capture the individual personalities of each character. And the artist hadn't even read the whole book! Only pieces of it. So I was thoroughly impressed. Whether or not I'll use this cover when it comes time to publish the book, I don't know. But so far, it's my first choice.<br />
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Another thing I'd like to share with you all. This week I will be working on Character Profiles. I've found that when writing a book, it is easier to understand each character (as the author) and gauge how they would react in different situations if you've taken the time to dive a little into their personal lives. So I'll be working on those and will share them with you as they are completed. But for tonight, it's back to rewriting the outline and the first few chapters. So, Ride like the wind, Bullseye!<br />
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See you all tomorrow! =)Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-89351179264871698622011-12-04T07:12:00.000-08:002012-01-23T23:20:57.948-08:00Not Pregnant?No, Frank. I'm not pregnant. There is no possible way I could be pregnant. Thanks for asking. =_=<br />
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It really gets to me when people assume something of you without bothering to ask about the truth. Saturday I discovered at my (soon to be former) workplace a coworker has been spreading the rumor that I am with child. Where did he get this? 1) I had stomach flu a while back which he decided was a cover-up for morning sickness. 2) I'm a generally chubby person who happened to have put on a couple pounds in the last few months and he associated that with swelling for the fetus he assumed was inside me.<br />
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Now, if he'd simply come and asked me if I was pregnant it wouldn't have bothered me as much. After all, he doesn't know me outside work or whether or not pregnancy is a possibility in my life. (It's not.) He could have come and mentioned something to break the ice, insinuate what he meant. (Which he did, later on.) If he had just asked, I could have told him that no, I was not nor could I soon become a new mother. But instead of just asking, he went and told the whole building! Talk about frustrating and humiliating to have to dispel <i>that</i> rumor. Suffice to say I didn't get much else done yesterday. Worked two different "real life" jobs then came home and cleaned. Then totally collapsed! I was out before my head hit the pillow.<br />
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Fortunately, I did get a lot of mental planning done for my lovely little Conflict, and rest assured will be working plenty on it in the next coming week. Hopefully without the distractions of more moronic rumors.<br />
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Have any of you ever had a rumor spread about you? Not fun, huh? Tell me about it! =)Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-49442887685961339272011-12-02T07:47:00.000-08:002012-01-23T23:15:22.609-08:00Fridays with Fabulous Franny((Hello everybody! Today I would like to introduce to you a character of mine. She is the main focus of my side project and has been itching to be featured here! Her name is Franny Byrd, an overweight, middle aged mother of two with a rather unique way of viewing the world. Her charm and wit surprise even me! I do hope you'll enjoy this little tidbit she's written up for you about the holidays.))<br />
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I love Christmas! The food, the family, the gift exchange, I love it all. The decorations and the lights. (Green is so very "my color.") I don't even mind getting up at five in the morning to start cooking for a Christmas Dinner! Christmas has got to be my favorite holiday of the year. But there's a catch. Christmas shopping! I swear, it's like one day someone looked down at Christmas and decided that this season was just too happy. So to fix it, they made shopping malls and traffic jams!<br />
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Really though, Christmas shopping has got to be one of the worst things one has to do during the winter season. Skipping over the trouble of fitting behind the wheel of a car you share with a rather short-legged sixteen year old, since that's an entire story in and of itself, just the shopping alone is hard enough. First, you get to the store and because you weren't part of the mob that camped out the night before, you're forced to park in a spot so far away from the mall you wonder if it's not supposed to be for the Pup and Kitty PetPet Beauty Salon just a few feet away. Then you have to journey through that sea of cars, walking for what feels like days until you reach the nearest store. But hey, a little exercise never hurt anyone right? Look on the bright side....right? Once we get to the building, we do a little (or a lot) more walking all around the mall just to find the store we wanted to go to in the first place! By the time I get to the store I forgot what I was supposed to be looking for because ten minutes ago I'd started looking for a bench just so I can catch my breath!<br />
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Second wind caught, there is then the trouble of having to drag along my bouncing six year old who likes to think he knows better than his own mother about who would like what for Christmas. He'll go from shelf to shelf, grabbing the thing he'd most like to have for himself, then holding it up proudly and announcing "Dad would love this!" Oh, I'm sure he would. He'd just love a new video game or plastic Star Wars helmet barely big enough for his fist to fit in. But by that time I'm too tired to remember what my own husband actually would want and too out of mind to remember I wrote it down on the back of a receipt somewhere in my bag.<br />
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Plastic helmet in hand, we trudge through the endless sea of people, looking for someone, anyone, who could help us to find the price. Of course, though, we find no one. All the clerks want to help the nice pretty, thin customers, not the old fat ladies with bouncing ten year olds. Our only choice is to wait in the mile long customer service line. And so we wait. And wait. And wait. And wait.<br />
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Half way through the line my son has run off somewhere to play with something or other and I've begun a conversation with the woman behind me. "Oh yes, it's so much trouble trying to get the weight off. It's my son's fault you know," I tell her, unable to stop what my daughter refers to as my "TMI mouth." (Sadly, sometimes I have to agree with her.) "Yes, you see, I gained it all while I was pregnant, and now it just won't come off no matter what I do!" The young lady, so very patient, nods and smiles.<br />
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"Oh my, that's terrible. How old is your baby?"<br />
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"Uh..." Oh dear, I hadn't thought she'd ask that. Now that I think about it, the story sounds so terribly ridiculous! But she asked. I can't lie to her. Especially not when my son has apparently found something interesting and is running towards me. "He's...uh...ten..." I just see the ladies eyes widen (along with the eyes of three other ladies in the line). With a (only half) pretend look of horror I turn to my son. "What? Timmy's caught in a well? Okay! Let's go!"<br />
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Once we've made it successfully out of the store without any further embarrassment, it's only a matter of moments before I realize I'm still clutching tightly to that stupid, ugly plastic helmet. Blaring sirens have started screaming at everyone that a thief has just left the building and would they kindly please all caught her before she does something truly stupid! I run back to the store, trying desperately to explain, then am forced to explain the <i>whole</i> story to the young security guard, who keeps asking me to repeat myself because he can't hear my story over my little boy's screaming. "Moooom!! I need that!! That's Dad's Christmas present!!! What am I going to give to Dad now?" Flustered and frustrated and wanting to forget the whole thing ever happened, I agree to pay for the helmet, if only to make my son stop crying! We leave the store with all eyes on "the fat lady and her screaming brat."<br />
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We make it out to the car in mostly one piece, and I quickly shove my child into the back seat and hurry to get myself behind the wheel. The parking lot is even fuller than before (something I never would have thought possible!). Flustered and embarrassed and trying to get out of there in a hurry, I back up out of my spot THUNK! and right into another parked car!<br />
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Horrified I rush out to check the damage the ugly little pink think did to my car. Then for the next several minutes I panic over the large pink paint smudge on my beautiful brown SUV. Then my wits return to me and I realize that the tiny sports car that dared to mark my baby happens to also have a rather large dent in its fender. Panicking all over again, I call my husband. In tears I relay the entire story of the day to him, including my morning cup of cold coffee and the trouble I had reaching my feet over my belly to tie my shoes! Bless his heart, he sits and listens to the whole thing. (Or at least I like to think so. Though in reality he was probably checking email until the part about the car.) He tells me to go back into the store. <i>Back</i> into that <i>wretched </i>store! And give them the license plate number so the owner of the car can come and meet the delinquent who backed into it.<br />
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After sitting there for an hour waiting for no one to show up, we finally give up and return to our own car, only to find the Pepto-Bismol car is gone, exposing a sign at the front of the space that says "Reserved for PetPet Customers Only."<br />
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Utterly frustrated and humiliated, my son and I drive home. Waiting to meet me at the door is my dear, sweet husband with a handful of flowers and an invitation to the nicest restaurant in town, just to cheer me up. (Just what I need. More food) But I love eating out, so I squeeze into my nicest dress (holding my breath and swearing to only eat one piece of bread) and leave my daughter to babysit my son, praying all the while she doesn't burn my house down! We arrive at the restaurant and to my pleasant surprise he remembered to make reservations! Huzzah! We are seated, given water, and left to go over our menus. In the hushed murmur of elegant crowd, I happen to overhear the conversation of a very snobby sounding gentleman seated in the booth behind me. His eerily feminine voice relays to his dining partner "Then this crazy weirdo backed <i>right</i> into my brand new car! Poor Fifi was horrified!" I grab my husband's arm.<br />
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"Let's go!" He gives me a weird look and asks me why. "No questions! Just run!"<br />
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After a long day of Christmas cheer, I'm ready to go home. I had to pay twice what it was worth for that dumb helmet. My husband didn't get his fancy steak. And my daughter (though she kept the house un-singed) managed to tear apart the entire place "looking" for her brother! Safe to say I'll be doing the <i>rest</i> of my Christmas shopping online.<br />
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Ho. Ho. Ho. Everybody! Happy shopping!Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-33680162220349202202011-12-01T12:31:00.000-08:002012-01-23T23:23:07.486-08:00Chaos TheoryI like my work space to be nice and neat. If you ask my mother (who's seen the current state of my desk and the general clutter of my bedroom) she'll tell you differently. But it's a fact. Even my "clutter" is rather organized, in its own way. I like things to be organized and cleaned. Not always put away or white glove sparkling, but clean. Working in a mess completely stresses me out! So it's safe to say that the messy, unkept state of my stories does well to stress me out more often than not. I don't like chaos (unless we're talking about Loki from the Thor movie. In which case I say "Send him my way! Hubba hubba!") and this mountain I've begun to tackle is nothing short of chaotic.<br />
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For example, at one point several months ago I took all of my notebooks and filed them into boxes. Stories from before three years ago went in one pile. Stories from the last three years went in another. They were put up in the top of my closet and all but forgotten about. This morning, in an effort to start on this immense project, I dusted off the old boxes and started pulling out the most recent notebooks and files. To my horror, the notebooks I thought had been exclusively for one story or another ended up holding ideas for thirty or so other projects, some from as far back as middle school! In one notebook alone I had loose papers full names and character profiles that I couldn't put to story ideas stuck between pages of writing that fit somewhere in the middle of a castle fairytale and a pirate horror. On pages further in I found sketches of costumes for a super hero and the layout of a house which had become the setting of a story I'd just recently started. This conglomeration of bits and pieces ended up belonging to a total of nine different stories. And all in just one fifty page college rule notebook! Notebook after folder after binder after notebook, each only got worse. I finally had to give myself a break. There was no way I was going to be able to go through all of it quickly.<br />
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As luck would have it, though. I did find one story in it's complete set. Ideas and sketches and all. This is the story I'll be working on to start with. It's one of the most recent projects I've put upon myself, entitled "Conflict." Though it's been forced through the processes of being completely rewritten three times now, I think it's still got a lot of potential. (And everyone says "third time's the charm" right?) Based on the story of my first year in college, the book follows Jackson, a sardonic young man with a haunted past, and Ginger, his quirky but spirited best friend, as they journey through their own first year in university. Together the pair wade through the uncharted waters of a budding romance, struggle with self growth and discovery, and deal with the pain of losing a first love. All the while waging the never ending battle against homework and picky English professors. It's a cute love story with a lot of witty humor and sarcastic charm, curtsy of my own best friend and constant inspiration, my mother. It's a story that she and several others have urged me to finish quickly, so this is the book that I will start on first.<br />
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Just for a quick overview, though I do have to completely start over (again) there is a lot of the story already written that I can still use. So it's safe to say once I've gone through and edited out everything I don't want or can't use, I'll be left with about three solid chapters. After that, it'll be an uphill battle trying to roll this sucker along, but I'm convinced that between the long talks with my mother for dialog inspiration and the fun of actually writing something that makes me laugh too the whole thing will turn out okay, if not (hopefully) better. Haha.<br />
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And so today, as I'm now off to continue my search for usable material in my Conflict, I leave you with this. Though in life sometimes things might seem a little crazy and hard to handle, if you step back and give yourself a little breathing room, when you come back to it with fresh eyes odds are you'll be able to see the silver lining a little more easily. I know I did.<br />
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<i>Arrivederci!</i>Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7024198509588605386.post-4798080825311457242011-11-30T10:42:00.000-08:002012-01-23T23:24:14.802-08:00Small BeginningsWhen I started out seriously writing, back in the sixth grade, I was satisfied to work a little on one story at a time, writing until the inspiration drained and then moving onto the next big idea. A meager existence! In the years since then I've dedicated myself to never give up on a story, even if the inspiration has seemed to have been drained. Never give up on a good idea.<br />
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Problem is, now I find myself facing a mountain of stories! Ideas with a beginning but no end, an end but no middle, or a middle but no beginning. I've tried to tackle the mountain as a whole, and all that has proven to accomplish is getting myself buried in an avalanche of notebooks and journals and loose-leaf pages of scribbles and doodles. Digging one's self out of such an avalanche is not a pleasant experience, my friend. Not in the least.<br />
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So now you know my predicament, I propose a solution. I currently stand at the open mouth of twenty stories, each ready to devour me with their unique character perspectives and individual personalities. With this blog I will tackle each story individually, documenting the progress and the failures and the general stand-stills that each author faces. It will be a long journey, but well worth the efforts at it's end. I do hope you'll join me on this trek, and I look forward to rediscovering my passion for the written word with each and every one of you.<br />
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Onward, Ho!Skyler Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02662053118422439022noreply@blogger.com