Books – Page 39 – Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

Progressive Book Club – How to Write Good by John Vorhaus

Published on May 15, 2013May 14, 2013 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle13 Comments

“These days I can’t wait to write.”

As I prep for JuNoWriMo, I found this quote from the book interesting. This for me is the goal. That feeling you get when you can’t wait to sit down and write.

What concerns me is that I seem to forget this feeling as soon as WriMo is over. I wrote three books last year during, June, August and November and during those WriMo months, I couldn’t wait to write every day. I couldn’t wait to sit down and get into that groove, the feeling of pure bliss because you are doing what your supposed to do, what you were meant to do.

I can close my eyes now and imagine the feeling.

Why is this feeling so fleeting when I’m not in the habit of writing? I’ll write every day in June. I will have a daily goal and most likely will exceed it every day. I am comfortable in this setting, writing towards a monthly goal where others are paying attention to what I am doing.

How to Write Good by John Vorhaus is all about giving yourself permission to write with no fear and to get the words on the paper. He uses this word whimsy which I love. I picture fairies flying around sprinkling fairy dust on everything and it makes me smile. That is the feeling I get when I write. I feel like a fairy sprinkling prose on the world and making them smile.

As writer’s we are supposed to write every day, so tell me, how many of you out there are doing it? How do you do it?

I will be helping the JuNoWriMo team this year conducting word sprints on twitter. These writing sessions made the difference for me. If your looking for a super supportive writing experience, I highly recommend JuNoWriMo. Visit www.junowrimo.com for more information and if you’re joining us, let me know.

My #DFWCon by the Numbers

Published on May 5, 2013 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle16 Comments

8 Seminars Attended – couldn’t even pick a favorite, they were all amazing.

1 Workshop Attended – didn’t go well. The story I had critiqued isn’t very good and I am finally ok with it. It was my first attempt at writing a novel and while I love the story, I came to realize it works much better in my head then it does on paper.

2 books purchased – believe me when I tell you I exhibited an incredible amount of self control in only buying two.

The Wisdom of Hair by Kim Boykin – she conducted two seminars, Making a Story Great with Texture and The Way to a Women’s Heart. She was amazing.

Secret Sex Lives by Suzy Spencer – she conducted a seminar titled Murder & Sex, great information.

2 Pitches – my first attempted at pitching my story. I wrote my pitch in 6 different ways the morning of the first pitch. It never sounded right. Finally, after a pep talk from the lovely Tameri Etherton, I just went in and spoke from my heart. I love this story and I guess it showed because . . .

2 Requests for submissions – I really don’t know how or why an agent asked for a request, in the pitch sessions, it seems like everyone was getting request. I don’t care, I am happy to have some one care enough to ask follow up questions about my story and to hear them say, I would like to read more. Coolest feeling in the world, every.

Tons of amazing people – I met and talked to and learned from and admired and was humbled by so many people. It was so great to be around people who understand and can related to the weird, quirky, imaginative, off the wall, what in the world and strange way we think sometimes. People who say, I know exactly what you mean. It was nice to be around people who understand how blessed we are to call ourselves WRITERS!

Related Post – DFW Writers’ Conference

Z – Zzzz or the End

Published on April 29, 2013 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle12 Comments

Why does Z stand for sleep. I am getting quite sleepy right now just think about it. While I would love to take a break and get some sleep, but I can’t. I have way to much to do. To many things are coming up. Z also stands for the end, the final, the last. For my last post of the A to Z challenge, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite post from A to Z:

A – Avengers, Captain America and As I Am by Alex Cavanaugh – Come on, it’s a post about the Avengers. Nothing more needs to be said.

B – Best Crying Scenes in a Movie at World of My Imagination – The Steel Magnolia and Pursuit of Happiness scenes get me every time.

C – Getting too Comfortable by BDevereaux – Don’t get to comfortable

D – Disaster Movies at Tossing it Out – Some of my favorites are on this list, Titanic, 2012, Poseidon Adventure

E – Energize Yourself to Write at World of My Imagination – How do you do it?

F – F is for Fear at Scribbling in the Storage Room – “The enemy of creativity.”

G – A Grown-up Kind of Pretty by Tasha Seegmiller – on my to read list

H – How to Be a Good House Guest at Laugh-Quotes.com – read before you visit someones house

I – I is for Imagination at Tasha’s Thinkings – Synonymous with being a writer

J – Joy at Spunk on a Stick – You can’t steal mine.

K – K is for King at The View Outside – my favorite author

L – L is for The Lincoln Memorial by Lara Lacombe- my favorite monument in DC

M – Memento by Alex Cavanaugh – Also includes the sign up for Alex’s Best and Worst Movies Remakes Blogfest, which is coming up on May 17th.

N – Never-ending at Wrote by Rote – Is your love never ending?

O – Oxford Comma by Margo Kelly – All you need to know about the dreaded comma.

P – A-Z Geek (P): The Favorites by Lynda R. Young – Prince Bride, enough said.

Q – Querying at My First Book – You can’t read enough about how to query.

R – What Makes Us Right? at The Madlab Post – Fair Game illustrates the point well.

S – Sigma at Tara Tyler Talk – Great tips on show.

T – The Time Traveler’s Wife by Tasha Seegmiller – On my to read list

U – Unified Theory of Writing at Moody Writing – Do you agree?

V – V is for Villain (Best Movie Villains of All Time) by Reese Ryan – Who are your favorite villains?

W – W is for The White House, the Washington Monument and the World War Memorials by Lara Lacombe – Have you been to DC?

X – X is for Project X at Blogging from A to Z – I have a project X, do you?

Y – Y is for Young Ladies of Substance at Pensuasion – Love Jo March from Little Women the best.

Z – Z is for Zola at The View Outside – Have you read Emile Francois Zola?

Thank goodness, I finished the A to Z Challenge. How did you do? What were some of your favorite post?

Q – Quotes

Published on April 19, 2013 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle6 Comments

Another quick pause in my A to Z Challenge theme to bring you another cool blog tour. This guest post includes another of my obsessions, quote.

Let me introduce you to Rebecca Berto.

Favorite quotes for writers and readers

We social media addicts are suckers for a good quote. From our favorite books. One of those inspirational pictures on Facebook. The right quote can make your day, and being the social media junkie I am, I have my favorite ones from books and writing in this guest post to get you going.

As the author of Drowning in You, I have many favorite quotes and snippets, but these are others I’ve collected and I hope they resonate with you, too.

I know. You’re welcome. Here you go:

“First drafts are like falling in love; you think everything is great. Second drafts are like marriage; you see all the faults.”

— Rebecca Berto

I came across these from Tweeters and still I cry, “YES!” when re-reading:

“Overly describing a passing character is like hiring a decorator for a hotel room you’ll only be staying the weekend.”

— @PureText

“Female PoV characters notice more facial expressions, male PoVs typically notice posture more.”

— ‏@RayneHall

And then there are my favorites from awesome authors that make me LOL:

“i have never regretted staying home with a book. i have often regretted having conversations with people.”

— @TaherehMafi

“I’m listening to that Mariah Carey song ‘Always Be My Baby’ because I need to unlock my inner-high school angst to write this book.”

— @MirandaKennealy

And, my bookish addicts, these are some from my favorite books:

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

— J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

“He’s like a drug for you, Bella.”

— Stephenie Meyer, Eclipse

“The moment my lips touch yours, it will be your first kiss. Because if you’ve never felt anything when someone’s kissed you, then no one’s ever really kissed you. Not the way I plan on kissing you.”

— Colleen Hoover, Hopeless

“There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There’s .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I’m likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I’m grateful.”

— John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

***

On book quotes, I truly love those that are about love, but also the struggles in life. Drowning in You is the type of book that will take you on a journey of love and pain. I hope you can find a favorite quote from the novel as I have, too!

P – Progressive Book Club

Published on April 18, 2013April 17, 2013 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle16 Comments

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe – I read this book in Dallas. That’s work with my A to Z theme, right?

First of all, if you haven’t heard of the Progressive Book Club, check out what a our book club host ML Swift created.

I really loved this book. It was simple, sad, hopeful and beautiful. I got so much out of it.

Life Lessons

“As in many book clubs, our conversations bounced around between the character’s lives and our own.”

“Still, one thing I learned from Mom is this: Reading isn’t the opposite of doing: it’s the opposite of dying.”

“It’s much easier to follow your bliss when you have enough money to pay the rent.”

“They help us talk. But they also give us something we all can talk about when we don’t want to talk about ourselves.”

Writing Lessons

Have a great first line.

Tell a story and involve the read in the lives of the character.

To Read List for 2014

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas
Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk
Couples by John Updike
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamont
March by Geraldine Brooks
Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey
Continental Drift by Russell Banks
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Big Machine by Victor LaValle

And, I saw myself in this book:

This is exactly how I feel about London: “I think it was the first place she really felt like an adult.”

This is exactly how I thought about the movie Auntie Mame: “It rekindled in her the fantasy of being Auntie Mame, the women who took her nephew on a glorious trip around the world and taught him that “life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.”

BTW, if you haven’t seen Auntie Mame, check it out (the Rosalind Russell version).

This is the exact reason why I need to get over my insecurities and start telling people I am a writer: “Never make assumptions about people. You never know who can and will want to help you until you ask.”

The book made me feel good about myself. Like the author, I to spend a significant portion of my life watching reality television and that is in no way disrespectful to my creativity: “Part of curating, collecting and appreciating was editing – mom never had much patience for junk or for crassness and less so now that she knew her time was limited. I, on the other hand, continue to waste a significant portion of my live watching reality television, learning about the lives of dubious celebrities and consuming cultural garbage with the feigned irony and faux populism that’s a hallmark of my generation and the ones that immediately follow.”

The book was about a mother dying of cancer, a son who tries to deal with it the best way he knows how and the time they spent together reading amazing books. And, if that’s all you got out of it, you missed the point. Great book.

Have you read it?