Month: January 2013

The Word Master Challenge – How Not to Write a Novel Beginning

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle7 Comments

sylmion.blogspot.com

This challenge is brought to you by Misha at My First Book.  The idea of the Word Master Challenge is simple. Every month, (except possibly April), she’ll announce a theme for the challenge. It’ll be writing related in some way, but she’ll try to make every theme a little different. The winner of the month’s challenge wins a voucher to the internet book vendor of their choice or a 10 chapter crit from me.

January’s challenge is: HOW NOT TO WRITE A NOVEL BEGINNING.

I woke up from a nightmare, sweaty and cold. The deep, dark, black, cold, murky, dank, night was creeping into my room awkwardly. I sat up and looked out the window hesitantly. I knew I wouldn’t like what I saw, but I looked anyway. And, I was right.
“I have been waiting for you to wake up,” the creature squeaked with his high pitch, piercing, low voice.
I got out of bed and walking over to the window, I tripped. I looked down and sitting on the floor was a teddy bear. It was the teddy bear that I received from my grandmother when I was 6 years old.  Being, 12 now, that was a long, long, long time ago.
I kicked the bear and proceeded to walk over to the window.
“That wasn’t very nice.”
I looked to my left and sitting on the desk was a gun. I picked the gun up. It was heavy. I could barely lift it. I held it with both hands and pointed to the voice that was coming from outside the window. I looked in the direction of the voice and could have sworn I saw some teeth and some lips. They were not frowning.  The gun was aimed by my fragile hands.  I was sweating. I was scared, but I knew this was what I had to do.  I shot the gun.
I woke up from a loud noise. It sounded like a gun shot. Was I dreaming? I looked around the room and saw my teddy bear on the floor. The one Grandma gave me for my birthday, yesterday.
Now how did he get down there, I thought speculatively to myself.
Ok Misha, let me know what you think. It is so much fun to write bad prose on purpose.  
And, for anyone stopping by who is not sure what’s going on here, I promise, this is not how I write.

You still have time to enter the challenge. Misha is excepting entries until the end of the month, or check out her blog for next months topic.

HPLF Logo

Allow me to ‘Re-Introduce Myself’ Blogfest

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle44 Comments

PAMTRM_Badge

A big thanks to Mark Koopman, Elise Fallson, Stephen Tremp and C.M. Brown for creating this blogfest to allow me to Re-Introduce Myself. I thought I would take this opportunity to announce my updated about page. For those who like to read, it will tell you all you need to know about me.

Six other interesting facts about me:

  1. I am a law school graduate, but not a lawyer.
  2. I have several tattoos.
  3. I lived in China for over 5 years.
  4. I have three of the coolest nephews.
  5. I write romantic comedies.
  6. My 1 year blog anniversary is in February.

For those visual people out there, I figured the best way to re-introduce myself is to post a photo.  Hello, I am Sydney Aaliyah Michelle.

50108_1337371696_4621_n
Check out the hint of cleavage.

I have’t shared a photo of myself on my blog before. I’m happy in this photo and it’s really all you need to know to understand me.

Make sure to jump around and see how others are re-introduce themselves.

Anything else you want to know about me, the Q & A session starts after the video!

My Weekly Update – Better Late Than Never

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle12 Comments

Twenty Seven days into 2013 and I now I am starting to understand.  Well, Better Late Than Never, right?

  1. I understand that my lackadaisical, laid back, ‘oh, I’ll get to it’ attitude about blogging is not for me.  I need a schedule. I am going back to announcing my schedule for the week – better late than never, right? 
  2. I understand that while I can’t spend all my time on social media and be a productive writer, I can’t ignore days of social media and expect to be on top of things.  Playing catch up all the time doesn’t work for me – better late than never, right? 
  3. I understood that I needed some time after my last job to relax and recharge.  But, 6 weeks out of work and I am bored and unproductive in every part of my life.  Far be it from me (What a great saying, I feel like my grandma) to use all this extra time to practice writing habitually, reading cognitively and editing effectively.  But, I am starting now – better late than never, right? 
  4. I am realizing that with so many opportunities out there for pitching/querying/submitting to agents/publishers on blogs/twitter/facebook/writer’s conferences. My three first drafts aren’t ever going to be ready, sitting on my desk unedited – better late than never, right?

Have you had any Better Late Than Never lessons learned this year?  

Awards

one-lovely-blog-award

Thanks so much to EM Castellan for the The Lovely Blog Award.

Also, a quick thanks and shot out to Karens Different Corners for awarding me the Liebster Award, although I am not sure I should except because I have more then 200 followers, I appreciate the recognition regardless. And, she is close to 200 herself, so follow her and prepare to gain knowledge and be entertained.

Post to Report On

Hey, Y’all: Dialect and Slang From the Write Angle – As someone from Texas, I have to practice not making all my characters sound like Texans.  What do y’all think about dialects and slang? 
Character Study by Left and Write – How much character development do you do before and during writing and editing? 
6 Things You Didn’t Know About Becoming and Published Author: a guest post by RaeBeth McGee-Buda on Amanda Fanger – #2 – Editing is Tough – I knew it. 
The First Draft Run Through Blues by Raewynn Hewitt – Makes me want to cry. 
Editing is Writing Too by Raewynn Hewitt – The push I needed to get off my butt and put my butt in the chair and edit. 
New Followers
Tim The Film Guy
William Stadler
Special thanks to my email followers as well.  
 

Next Week’s Schedule

Monday – Re-Introduce Myself Blog Hop
Wednesday – The Word Master Challenge
Friday – Imaginary Friend Blog Hop
Sunday – My Weekly Update

And, don’t forget to sign up for Blogging from A to Z Challenge on Wednesday, January 30, 2012.  Click the badge below for rules and Tips on Blogging from A to Z.

 

And, congratulation to Aldrea Alien for knowing her Bilbo/Gollum Riddles. Here are the answers:

1. Mountain.
2. Teeth.
3. Wind.
4. Sun in the sky shining upon daises on a hill.
5. Darkness.
6. Egg
7. A Fish.
8. A fish lay on a table. A man sat on a stool. And the cat got the bones.
9. Time!

SQM – The Hobbit

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle22 Comments

Hobbit-Movie-Poster-570x842The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was hyped from the moment the last LOTR movie finished filming.  It was inevitable.  Of course, I am happy Peter Jackson committed to this project.  He’s sees Middle Earth like no other.

The movie was beautiful. The scene filmed on New Zealand country side were epic and Jackson utilized the natural beauty so well in the movie.

It was comforting to see some cameo’s from LOTR such as Old Bilbo, Saruman, Galadriel, Elrond and the greatness that is Frodo.

I liked the movie more because of the franchise and some residual good vibes from the LOTR, but it was slow at times.  But, from the moment Gollum makes an appearance, until the end, the movie is amazing.

My favorite scene in the movie was the same as in the book; the riddle scene between Bilbo and Gollum.

A contest alert:  Guess the answers to the riddles? Leave the answers in the comments.  Whoever answers the most correct, wins a $10 Amazon gift card from me. 

1.  What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees,
Up, up it goes,
And yet never grows?

2.  Thirty white horses on a red hill,
First they champ,
Then they stamp,
Then they stand still.

3.  Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.

4.  An eye in a blue face
Saw an eye in a green face.
“That eye is like to this eye”
Said the first eye,
“but in low place
Not in high place.”

5.  It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.

6.  A box without hinges, key, or lid,
yet golden treasure inside is hid.

7.  Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking.

8.  No-legs lay on one-leg,
Two-legs sat near on three-legs,
Four-legs got some.

9.  This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.

Come back on Sunday for the answers.  And, go see the movie and read the book.   

hobbit-poster-gollum-andy-serkis

I leave you with the desperate, sad, and pathetic words from Gollum, “Thief, thief, thief…! Baggins! We hates it, we hates it, we hates it forever!” – Poor Gollum

 

 

Related Post: 

The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey (2012) by My Filmviews
CinematiCaptions: The Hobbit Edition by My Filmviews
What’s it got in its pocketses? by Today I Watched a Movie
The Hobbit Lives Up to the Hype by Love Your Movies
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) Review by Tim’s Film Reviews
“The Hobbit”: More Complicated than Some Critics have Acknowledged by The Living Notebook
The Hobbit (12/12/21) by Andy Watches Movies
Characters from ‘LOTR’ who appear in ‘The Hobbit’