Author: Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

Contemporary Romance writer, voracious reader, movie watcher, tattoo lover & enthusiastic traveler.

New Award, New to Facebook, Again & New Followers

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle17 Comments

New Blog Award

I am once again honored and humbled by the generosity and support from the blogging community.  I have been award the Beautiful Blogger award by the very interesting Lightningpen’s Blog. His witty blog posts intermittent with random rants make for a fun read, so please check him out.

In regards to this blog award responsiblities, I will now fulfill them to the best of my ability.

7 Deserving  Blogs:

  1. Jeremy Powell – The Hopeful Author – He is a writer on a journey and has a great attitude about the process.  Plus he has his priorities in order; family first.
  2. Falls Into Writing – Jenn is a Southern girl from North Carolina and has been thinking about writing a novel for years and now she is doing it.  I can relate.
  3. Confessions of a Popcorn Addict – JuNoWriMo peep and a true believer in prewriting, as I am.
  4. The Phantom M-pire – Mark has great movie reviews and I love movies.  But, he also has a few random post, that make you think. His latest; If I were in Charge
  5. Wendy Lu – The Red Angel – She is a Chinese American who seems to have fifty different jobs (2 blogs, journalist, magazine editor, traveler and novelist) and I picture her doing all of them with the same smile on her face that she has on her profile photo.
  6. EM Castellan – I meet during JuNoWriMo and had the privilege of interviewing her for my site.  Her blog is full of fascinating post and she lives in an English castle, which is just cool.
  7.  Amanda Fanger – Another new discovery from JuNoWriMo, she has a smart and fun point of view on her writing process.

New to Facebook, Again 

Well I did it.  I set myself up on Facebook . . . again.  I like Facebook.  I really do. And with the sharing capabilities connected to everything  you read online it makes it easy for others to see what you find interesting.

The reason I took a long break from Facebook in the past is because it got to consuming and to  overwhelming.  It is hard to keep up.  I mean, one of my friend went on a trip to the Grand Canyon and posted a gazillion photos, I went to the Great Wall and felt obligated to share a gazillion and 1 photos.  It took the fun out of the real life activities I was participating in because I had to make sure I had the best pics, stories and antidotes for my Facebook friends.  It was exhausting.

But, I am back and will be smarter about it.  If you would like to be my friend, go check me out.  I am the Sydney Aaliyah in China.  Head on over, but just don’t make me feel guilty for not posting 400 photos of my visit with my nephews.

Besides, I only took 350.

New Followers

Before I get to my new followers I would like to pose a questions to everyone: What would you rather have new followers or comments on blog post? Let’s discuss.

New followers, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Next Weeks Schedule

Monday – Junowrimo Participant Interview – A.M. Schultz

Tuesday – Movie Quotes

Wednesday – What Would You Do that if it Could Get you This – Cosmo Article Inspired Blog Post – can’t wait to share.

Friday – Junowrimo Participant Interview – Morgan Hyde

Sunday – My Weekly Update

*Continue to check out Sydney Aaliyah Writes for my daily JuNoWriMo updates.  I hit 50,000 words last week and then some.  I hope to have over 70,000 words by the end of June.

JuNoWriMo Participant Interview EM Castellan

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle2 Comments

Here is another great interview from a talented JuNoWriMo participant EM Castellan.

Tell me a little about what you are writing for Junowrimo.

I am writing a YA dystopian novel which has been at the back of my mind for a while. BLACK ROSES is set on the American continent at the end of the 22d Century. A virus has wiped out most of the world population ten years earlier. The only survivors are Humans (who weren’t affected by the virus) and Immortals (who have survived the virus and been turned into supernatural beings). Immortals rule the country and its capital New Wentworth, while Humans live on the margin. However, a third category of people is caught between them: Keepers have survived the virus but haven’t been turned into Immortals. The ruling class needs them in their new society, making them targets for rebel Humans. Seventeen-year-old Nessa is a Keeper. To her, this Friday is just like any other day. She hasn’t planned that Humans would choose it to stage a rebellion, that her life would suddenly be in danger, or that she would fall in love.

Is this your first time doing this type of challenge?

Yes, it is. I hesitated a while before deciding to join in, for two reasons. First, I spend an average of 62 hours a week at work, which means that I only write between 30 minutes and an hour a day. Second, I am a slow writer: I cannot spill 1000 words onto a page in half an hour. So the prospect of having to write an average of 1667 words a day was quite frightening. But I still decided to do the challenge, as it is a great way to keep motivated and to interact with fellow writers.

How has it meet your expectations so far?

It has met my expectations because I am interacting with fellow writers and keeping motivated (sprints on Twitter are especially good for me!).

What was your writing schedule like this past week; time of day, # of words per day?

I have been writing every single day, in the evening after work. I am very pleased with that. My word count, however, has been lower than the required average of 1667 words a day. As of today my average is 1160 words a day. But I was expecting such a result.

Did you do any planning for Junowrimo?  If so what type of planning and how are your plans working out so far?

I did plan my story before the start of JuNoWriMo. I had a full outline, as well as a good idea of who my characters were going to be. As this is a dystopian novel, I also had a clear design for my world-building beforehand. So far I have been following my outline, which usually how I write.

What is your word count as of June 16th?

16935 words. And counting!

EM Good luck with the rest of the challenge!

For more information on EM Castellan, be sure to visit her at the following links:

Blog: http://emcastellan.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/EMCastellan

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EMCastellan

What is Going on in that Place?

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle6 Comments
JET CHUCKLE HOUR GRANDMOTHER MISSED

Central park was unusually loud on 5th Avenue at this hour, Alana noticed. The park side of the street was crowded and she was having trouble getting into a rhythm on her morning jog.  She couldn’t remember ever having to dodge people like this at 6 am.

At 82nd Street, Alana barely missed running over a man who was sitting on the sidewalk crying. He was in an old dusty grey suit.  Strange.

Alana decided to slow down and walk until she could continue her run at the 72nd street entrance to the park.

Moving through the crowd, Alana began to notice that the people in the crowd were not dressed appropriate for the time of day or the weather.  It was November.  Everyone was dress for summer. They looked like they were going to a garden party.  To Alana, they looked happy and drunk.

As Alana passed by, a handsome man gave out a chuckle.  The man looked like an extra from the party scene in The Great Gatsby.  He was talking to two women. Both were stunning, in ankle length sun dress with big yellow, purple and pink flowers on them.

“The lights. Did you see the lights?” One women said.
“The music was phenomenal.” The guy with the smart looks and loud laugh said.
“I loved the food.” the other women said, “I hope we can go back.”

Suddenly an elderly women interrupted the three hipsters.

‘That women looks like my grandmother,’ Alana thought to herself.

“You can’t go back in.  They never let you back in.” The old women was dressed in a similar dress as the two young ladies.  But, where they looked like they were ready for a fashion photo shoot about the 1920’s, the elderly women looked like she had been wearing her clothes since 1920.   The only reason Alana recognized the dress was because the large colorful flowers were still visible on the faded fabric.

Alana continued on towards where the crowd was entering Central Park.

A younger women grabbed Alana’s arm, “Have you seen it?”

“Seen what?” The women lead Alana to the park entrance.  As they turned the corner, Alana saw it.

It was magnificent.  It was a castle. A castle in the middle of central park. Alana had taken this route many times and she was sure that it had not been there before.

The women let go of Alana’s arm and took off towards the castle.

Most people walking towards it were like Alana, mesmerized and curious.  Those walking away were drunk and happy, but those who had been before, just stood around looking old and angry, like the old women and the old man crying on the street.  Angry and desperate to get back in.

A jet flew overhead confusing Alana.  You don’t hear jet engines overhead in New York City.  Which made Alana realize she wasn’t in New York anymore.

“What is going on in that place?” Alana said.

My Weekly Update – Junowrimo, Job and Just Freakin Cool

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle5 Comments

Junowrimo

Going into week three, I have a handle on JuNoWriMo. In fact, I am kicking junowrimo’s butt.  And, I am pretty excited about it.  I am over 40,000 words in 16 days.  I have about 20,000 words to go before I finish my 1st draft of my 1st novel.  That is my new goal for June.

It hasn’t been easy.  Far from it, but what I am most please about it my preparation has paid off.  Even when I though I would run out of story, taking a day to step back and review my outline revealed that the story wasn’t supposed to end where I originally thought. It just transformed the story even further and I love it even more.

Lessons learned, preparation is key, but being open to new ideas and adjusting you plan my reveal something better.

Favorite passage written last week was this toast that John makes in front of his best friend and Sydney’s brother about how they are going to maintain their relationship when Sydney goes back to China:

“7 days ago, I meet this girl and instantly knew that I had to get to know her.  There was just something about her, that I am still trying to figure out.” Looking at Sydney, John continued. ” Now I don’t know whether it was God, the universe, karma, Budda or The Force, but something in this world has saw fit to bring us into each other lives and I think that force has earned our respect.” Sydney had no idea where John was going with this little speech or declaration, but she was all ears.
“I am not typically one to just let things happen and we all know Sydney has to know the answers to everything before the questions are even asked.  But, baby you can’t research the outcome of this one.  All we can do is trust that the force that brought us together will keep up together.  Even when we are miles apart.” to Kevin and Dennis, “And, that the people who love us the most will remind us if we try and take control this love thing.”
“Cheers”

*Now this is unedited, but does it make sense?  Let me know.

Job

There is one definition of the word job that says, “Anything a person is expected or obliged to do; a duty; a responsibility. That is how I have been think of my writing lately and I am happy to report that it has transformed not only my attitude, but the quality of my writing as well.

Now, no one wants to be obligated to do something, but if you think about it.  There are obligations and responsibilities that we take on in our paying jobs every day.  We do them because we want to get a pay check, we want to get a good review, we want to move up and be recognized for a job well done.

Well that is the same with my writing “job”.  Although I don’t get a paycheck for it.  I have an obligation and a responsibility to not waste this gift.  I have a responsibility to myself to respect the time I have dedicated to this so far and to my blog readers and fellow writers who are so supportive and who have given me great advice.

So, writing is my job and finally, I have a job a love.

Just Freakin Cool New Followers

*If I missed someone, sorry and thank you.

This Weeks Schedule

Monday – Junowrimo Participant Interview – James Eggebeen – He has already hit 50,000 words. 
Tuesday – Movie Quotes
Wednesday – Writer Wednesday Blog Hop – the photo this week is so cool.
Friday – Junowrimo Participant Interview – EM Castellan
Sunday – My Weekly Update