Just thought I'd write this before I get cracking with my business of the day...coursework.
Everything seems to be kicking up a gear atm - but strangely, I'm not panicking as much as I was. Maybe it's because on Monday, I sat down and literally spent the whole day focusing on uni work, so I feel like I've made a little progress at least. It's not just that though - I very stupidly thought it would be a good idea to start my Authonomy account and this blog right in the middle of all my most important deadlines, as well as returning to writing my novel (what can I say? Joining Authonomy and reading author's tweets on Twitter really inspired to get back into it!). However, I think I'm very VERY slowly finding a balance between life, work and play. It's just a question of keeping that balance and letting myself get utterly stressed out by everything!
In other news, I got a message asking if I'd like to do my very first book swap today on Authonomy :)! Going to be completely honest....not entirely sure what that means, but I assume it's where I put the other person's book on my shelf and read/review it....should probably look into that.
A small note about my reviewing/interviewing idea: it's definitely still happening, but as I keep saying, I probably won't be able to get the ball rolling on that for a few weeks at least. In the meantime, I'm checking out books and authors on Authonomy (no...I'm not stalking them...ahem...) and my watchlist keeps growing bigger, so when I do finally begin, at least I know I've got a good selection to choose from :)!
Have a good day everyone!
X
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Rise and Shine...
I'm still trying to get used to my new wake-up time of 7am (thank you, Other Half), and so far, although it still takes me a while to get going in the mornings, I am finding that I'm getting more done with my day. Take yesterday for example: I got up, had breakfast, showered, did housework and then sat down at my laptop and only moved when I had to go into town mid-morning. Came back, sat back down at the laptop, and that was basically my day.
I can't wait until the day when I can say, 'look, LOOK- I WROTE 70,000 WORDS YESTERDAY, HOORAY FOR ME!', or 'just finished another draft of XXX! Off to send it to my editor now!', or even 'publication date for XXX confirmed! Tune in tomorrow, when I'll be revealing the amazing cover artwork!'
Instead, I have to content myself with slogging through all my coursework, and snatching bits of time here and there to write feverishly. That's what happened yesterday - I spent three quarters of my day working on various pieces of coursework, and then at night, I finally got the chance to work on my novel (although I did get that little voice in my head which started saying in a seductive voice, 'look, Rachel, another story idea....why don't you do this instead...?' and I had to say "DAMN YOU! I'M WORKING ON THIS NOVEL RIGHT NOW! GET BACK IN YOUR BOX AND LEAVE ME ALONE!!")
Ahem...point of the story is - someday soon, I'll be able to write about more interesting things than uni work....until then, you'll have to be content with my moaning/rambling for a little while longer :).
Have a good day, folks!
X
I can't wait until the day when I can say, 'look, LOOK- I WROTE 70,000 WORDS YESTERDAY, HOORAY FOR ME!', or 'just finished another draft of XXX! Off to send it to my editor now!', or even 'publication date for XXX confirmed! Tune in tomorrow, when I'll be revealing the amazing cover artwork!'
Instead, I have to content myself with slogging through all my coursework, and snatching bits of time here and there to write feverishly. That's what happened yesterday - I spent three quarters of my day working on various pieces of coursework, and then at night, I finally got the chance to work on my novel (although I did get that little voice in my head which started saying in a seductive voice, 'look, Rachel, another story idea....why don't you do this instead...?' and I had to say "DAMN YOU! I'M WORKING ON THIS NOVEL RIGHT NOW! GET BACK IN YOUR BOX AND LEAVE ME ALONE!!")
Ahem...point of the story is - someday soon, I'll be able to write about more interesting things than uni work....until then, you'll have to be content with my moaning/rambling for a little while longer :).
Have a good day, folks!
X
Sunday, 12 February 2012
I had a dream...
I actually meant to write this yesterday...but then I forgot...
Anyway, the point of this was that I quite often get the ideas for my stories/novels from dreams (and yes, I did do this before a certain YA author did....) and on Saturday morning I woke up from a dream which, while I was dreaming it, I was convinced would make an amazing story.
Now, thinking back, I can't remember a lot of it because it sucked. It was so weird and, well, dreamlike, that there was just no way it would've translated onto the printed page. Have you ever done that? While you were dreaming a dream, you thought it would make an amazing story, but once you woke up you realise that it was just a dream?
I'll give you a very brief outline of what I can remember - in this dream there was a girl (obviously) and a guy (ditto) - the guy was sent to get the girl (I think he was going to kill her actually) because she had some kind of power but instead of hurting her, he saved her and they fell in love, got married and lived in a caravan. But the guy, named Pete, disappeared one day and it turned out that whoever wanted him to kill the girl caught him and killed him. The girl was heartbroken and swore revenge. (She might also have been pregnant. But that's way too twilight-esque for my liking. So I'm leaving it out.) This is about the point I woke up/can't remember anymore/it morphed into a different dream.
Weird and wonderful, I know. But something did stick with me. Whenever I think about that girl and how much she loved Pete and how heartbroken she was when he died, it actually makes me feel sad still. Also, while I was dreaming, I remember thinking separately about how this would make a great YA trilogy - and I think may that's what's making me excited. I'm currently working on a book of short stories for my major project and my own YA stand-alone novel. I would absolutely love to write a YA series! And I think that, and the sense of a very strong female character, is what I need to take away from this dream. It's just a shame that I can't properly pursue my dream of writing until I finish my degree, but when I finish get the time to sit down and just write for the hell of it, I think I may keep the idea of a YA series in mind.
Obviously the dream as a whole is pretty useless, but maybe if I re-think A LOT of it, and remember what Pete and the as-yet unnamed female character had, it might just make a passable novel/series....
I'll keep you updated....if I remember...
What about you? What stories have you written that have come from dreams? Have they worked well, or not?
X
Anyway, the point of this was that I quite often get the ideas for my stories/novels from dreams (and yes, I did do this before a certain YA author did....) and on Saturday morning I woke up from a dream which, while I was dreaming it, I was convinced would make an amazing story.
Now, thinking back, I can't remember a lot of it because it sucked. It was so weird and, well, dreamlike, that there was just no way it would've translated onto the printed page. Have you ever done that? While you were dreaming a dream, you thought it would make an amazing story, but once you woke up you realise that it was just a dream?
I'll give you a very brief outline of what I can remember - in this dream there was a girl (obviously) and a guy (ditto) - the guy was sent to get the girl (I think he was going to kill her actually) because she had some kind of power but instead of hurting her, he saved her and they fell in love, got married and lived in a caravan. But the guy, named Pete, disappeared one day and it turned out that whoever wanted him to kill the girl caught him and killed him. The girl was heartbroken and swore revenge. (She might also have been pregnant. But that's way too twilight-esque for my liking. So I'm leaving it out.) This is about the point I woke up/can't remember anymore/it morphed into a different dream.
Weird and wonderful, I know. But something did stick with me. Whenever I think about that girl and how much she loved Pete and how heartbroken she was when he died, it actually makes me feel sad still. Also, while I was dreaming, I remember thinking separately about how this would make a great YA trilogy - and I think may that's what's making me excited. I'm currently working on a book of short stories for my major project and my own YA stand-alone novel. I would absolutely love to write a YA series! And I think that, and the sense of a very strong female character, is what I need to take away from this dream. It's just a shame that I can't properly pursue my dream of writing until I finish my degree, but when I finish get the time to sit down and just write for the hell of it, I think I may keep the idea of a YA series in mind.
Obviously the dream as a whole is pretty useless, but maybe if I re-think A LOT of it, and remember what Pete and the as-yet unnamed female character had, it might just make a passable novel/series....
I'll keep you updated....if I remember...
What about you? What stories have you written that have come from dreams? Have they worked well, or not?
X
Hooray for Authonomy!..
Okay, I'm just going to warn you that I'll probably be raving about the Authonomy site for a while, as I've just joined it and it's all still new and exciting to me...
To all new/aspiring authors out there - if you're unsure of your work, or if you want some feedback on it, or if you just want to get out there and make new author friends, I cannot recommend Authonomy enough. It's a website by Harper Collins, where you can upload your novel, read and review other people's novels and talk to other authors on the forum. Also, if your novel is good enough (I don't know exactly how this process works, so bear with me) it can end up being reviewed by the good people at HC, and maybe even land you a book deal! (But I'd seriously research that....don't just take my word for it!)
I know how scary it can be putting your 'baby' out there for all to see - but as an author, you've got to get used to people reading your work and, in most cases, giving you advice on how to improve it. It is hard. Believe me, I know. When I first uploaded one of my short stories to the site, I was terrified - what is everyone hated it? What if people told me it was utter rubbish and I should give up my dream of becoming an author?
Even though I was so scared everyone would hate it, I did it anyway. Because I knew that my story was far from perfect, and I needed some constructive criticism to tell me which direction to go in. As an author, you have to be able to take a step back and say 'okay, what do I need to improve?' and it can be hard seeing your own mistakes when you're so involved with your novel....which is why Authonomy is such a fantastic site for authors.
The first time I got an email telling me that someone had left a comment on my book, I immediately panicked. I was certain that they would hate it, and that they had said something incredibly mean about my work, which would make me cry. Luckily, that wasn't the case. The person who reviewed it had been so lovely - she said how much she had enjoyed it, and gave me a few tips on how to improve. The next person said the same - and although she had more to say on how I could improve it, I didn't mind. Because I knew that without that criticism, I wouldn't be able to improve as an author. And once she pointed out small mistakes (and in one case, a fairly big one), I knew exactly what to do to change my story.
I am so grateful for everyone who has commented on my work so far, and I'm currently in the process of editing my story, complete with all the revisions people have suggested so far. I'm really looking forward to putting it back on the site and seeing what people have to say again. Although this is the internet, and you will get people who will slate your work just because they can hide behind a computer screen while they do it, for the most part authors on the Authonomy site genuinely want to help each other out. And I cannot thank them enough for all the help they've given me so far - both with suggestions for my book, and backing my idea to blog about Authonomy books on here.
So what are you waiting for? Get over there, and start your own Authonomy journey!
(Sorry, couldn't resist the ultimate cheesy line...)
X
To all new/aspiring authors out there - if you're unsure of your work, or if you want some feedback on it, or if you just want to get out there and make new author friends, I cannot recommend Authonomy enough. It's a website by Harper Collins, where you can upload your novel, read and review other people's novels and talk to other authors on the forum. Also, if your novel is good enough (I don't know exactly how this process works, so bear with me) it can end up being reviewed by the good people at HC, and maybe even land you a book deal! (But I'd seriously research that....don't just take my word for it!)
I know how scary it can be putting your 'baby' out there for all to see - but as an author, you've got to get used to people reading your work and, in most cases, giving you advice on how to improve it. It is hard. Believe me, I know. When I first uploaded one of my short stories to the site, I was terrified - what is everyone hated it? What if people told me it was utter rubbish and I should give up my dream of becoming an author?
Even though I was so scared everyone would hate it, I did it anyway. Because I knew that my story was far from perfect, and I needed some constructive criticism to tell me which direction to go in. As an author, you have to be able to take a step back and say 'okay, what do I need to improve?' and it can be hard seeing your own mistakes when you're so involved with your novel....which is why Authonomy is such a fantastic site for authors.
The first time I got an email telling me that someone had left a comment on my book, I immediately panicked. I was certain that they would hate it, and that they had said something incredibly mean about my work, which would make me cry. Luckily, that wasn't the case. The person who reviewed it had been so lovely - she said how much she had enjoyed it, and gave me a few tips on how to improve. The next person said the same - and although she had more to say on how I could improve it, I didn't mind. Because I knew that without that criticism, I wouldn't be able to improve as an author. And once she pointed out small mistakes (and in one case, a fairly big one), I knew exactly what to do to change my story.
I am so grateful for everyone who has commented on my work so far, and I'm currently in the process of editing my story, complete with all the revisions people have suggested so far. I'm really looking forward to putting it back on the site and seeing what people have to say again. Although this is the internet, and you will get people who will slate your work just because they can hide behind a computer screen while they do it, for the most part authors on the Authonomy site genuinely want to help each other out. And I cannot thank them enough for all the help they've given me so far - both with suggestions for my book, and backing my idea to blog about Authonomy books on here.
So what are you waiting for? Get over there, and start your own Authonomy journey!
(Sorry, couldn't resist the ultimate cheesy line...)
X
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Study time...
Afternoon, everyone!
I just thought I'd let everyone know that I am still 100% dedicated to reading, reviewing and blogging about the amazing Authonomy books and their authors...however, uni deadlines are really starting to creep up on me, so I have to prioritise my studies at the moment! However, I'm aiming for it all to be up and running in a few weeks time, when my major project deadline has passed and I can finally breathe again!
I've got a couple of ideas/suggestions for the first few titles that I'm going to review (and probably beg the authors to let me review them haha):
Jinger Barley and the Murkle Moon - by Lucy Middlemass
The Dark Citadel - by Jane Dougherty
The Withering - by Joshua Jacobs
The Revealing - by C.G. Harris
So that should keep me going for a while!
Will have something more interesting to say later, I promise...
X
I just thought I'd let everyone know that I am still 100% dedicated to reading, reviewing and blogging about the amazing Authonomy books and their authors...however, uni deadlines are really starting to creep up on me, so I have to prioritise my studies at the moment! However, I'm aiming for it all to be up and running in a few weeks time, when my major project deadline has passed and I can finally breathe again!
I've got a couple of ideas/suggestions for the first few titles that I'm going to review (and probably beg the authors to let me review them haha):
Jinger Barley and the Murkle Moon - by Lucy Middlemass
The Dark Citadel - by Jane Dougherty
The Withering - by Joshua Jacobs
The Revealing - by C.G. Harris
So that should keep me going for a while!
Will have something more interesting to say later, I promise...
X
