My Life – Page 3 – Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

My Monthly Update – Congrats to Dale Jr.

Published on March 1, 2014February 28, 2014 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle8 Comments

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So excited to congrat Dale Jr. on his second Daytona 500 win. It was such an amazing ending and I am so happy he got out of the way.

This NFL off season may not be as bad as I originally thought.

His win inspired a cool little story I wrote for workshop last week. Give me a few days to fix it up and I will share it with you.

I finished my edits on Another New Life and sent it to my editor. Six days later, it showed up in my inbox. I read her summary, which was really nice, but I’ve yet to open the document. I am working on other stuff and will get back to it on Monday.

It’s getting close. I keep thinking how cool it will be to say, “I’m a published author.” I promise I’ll only say it to myself at home in the bathroom mirror.

Goals for March:

Finish final edits on Another New Life

Prepare my A to Z Challenge post – more on that later.

Writing Workshop – continue participating and creating content for my workshop.

A to Z Challenge – Once again, I am a Minion.

Nicole of Madlab Post has chosen me as one of her minions to help her out with the challenge.

I am known as Asset #1. Click the badge to find out why. If you haven’t signed up for the A to Z challenge, well, what are you waiting for.

Are you a NASCAR fan? Does having a book published feel as good as I think it will? Sign up for the A to Z Challenge already. April is almost here.

My Monthly Update

Published on February 3, 2014 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle8 Comments

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I do apologize for the late post, I saved it for one reason and one reason only. Then, my reason lost by 35 points. I still love you, Peyton.

Congrats to Bruno Mars. Brilliant Halftime show.

I have a new author Facebook Page, Sydney Aaliyah Michelle, everyone, please like it.

January Update:

SAM & Associates LLC has been created. I created an entity to run my self publishing empire. I figure if I am going to do this business, I need to treat it like a business. That includes creating a business plan, which I am working on now.

Editpalooza didn’t quite work out of for me because of the lack of feedback, but the Savvy Authors were amazing and I have listen to the Three Pass Editing Webinar and acquired a more systematic plan for self editing my books. This doesn’t eliminate hiring an editor before you publish. I am an staunch believer in if your going to invest in your book, do it with the editing process.

I have attended two of my Creative Writing Workshop and I am really enjoying it. I enjoy talking about writing more than I thought I would. I also read my first short story to the class, it was a character exercise, and everyone loved it. I could get used to that feeling.

I turned Another New Life over to more beta readers and received some positive feedback. I had one person offer some harsh feedback, but once I looked through her tone (:-) tone in writing) and read her notes, it was helpful. I am working on edits, now and have completed 7 our of 37 chapters.

Goals for February:

SAM & Associates LLC – finish business plan.

Writing Workshop – continue participating and creating content for my workshop.

Editing – I gave myself until February 16th to finish edits on Another New Life and then I turn it over to my editor. :-0

Awesome Blogs – a couple of blogs I found this month. Check them out and follow them.

New Adult Rockstars – New Adult blog created by a New Adult author and content provided by the best in New Adult.

Savvy & Writers & e-Books online – helpful tips on all things Writing & Publishing.

Have you signed up for A to Z Challenge? If no, click the badge in the upper left hand corner. It’s a blast and a great way to meet new bloggers. This will be my third challenge.

Last month I won a free blog button design from Arlee Bird Cheerfest and created by Jeremy Hawkins. I am proud to share it with you today.

Thanks so much Arlee & Jeremy.

Y – Yard Sale

Published on April 29, 2013 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle10 Comments

Yard sales are big business in my neck of the woods. I gather a years worth of crap that my parents and I have stored in the garage. Pull it all out into the front yard. Slap a price on it and then watch them swarm. It doesn’t take any advertising at all, people spend their Saturday mornings trolling the area looking for the discarded junk of strangers. It is amazing to me.

This year I had a funny request:

“Do you have wires?

“What kind of wires?”

“Any kind of wires? Phone wires? Computer wires? Chicken wire?”

“I have computer wires and phone wires, but they go with the computer and phone I am selling.”

“Well, how much is the computer and phone?”

“Computer 25 and phone is 5.”

“I’ll take it.”

He handed me 30 dollars, gathered his wires and started to walk away.

“Wait, you forgot your computer and phone.”

“I told you, I just need the wires.”

Great, now how am I going to explain what happened to the wires when I try and sell the computer and phone, again.

Check out my yard sale:

This the garage the night before.

The yard the next day. We earned 486.00 on this stuff. I should quit my day job and do yard sales full time.

Do you hold an annual yard sale or garage sale? Do you ever buy stuff from yard sales?

X – Marks the Spot

Published on April 27, 2013 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle8 Comments

I know the X is the A to Z nemesis, but I think I have a good take on X. X Marks the Spot. I thought I would share with you a few places in my past that were the center of my universe.

First, my high school. Plano Senior High School. Here ‘s a little story about my high school.

As I sit in Vogueing Corner (we were weird kids), contemplating my place in the inner circle I helped create, it hit me. Dude, your in high school. Relax.

That kind of explained my high school years. Straight edged rebellious fun peppered with quantum life contemplations and pretending to understand what a statement like ‘quantum life contemplations’ means. We always felt a little superior to those around us. We were a group of amazing, beautiful and creative people and I am blessed to still be able to call on them for some fact checking and recommendations.

Second, Park & Preston. Heres a little story about the intersection of Park and Preston, in Plano, Texas.

From the age of 13 – 18, I darted back and forth across Park & Preston sometimes several times in one day. The Chili’s was on one side of the street. The movie theater on the other. Actually, there was a movie theater on both sides and a pizza place, too. My first job at Kroger was on that intersection along with my best friends job at the movie theater, my other best friends job was at Subway and my other best friends worked at the McDonalds on the corner. No wonder I have a problem with sitting still for any length of time. We darted back and forth and back and forth, again. I should be grateful to have had a lot of experience navigating, darting traffic and learning when to stop, when to walk and when to run for my life.

These two spots were my life from the age of 13-18 and then I left home, but when I look back and think about those times, you know what. I can’t complain. I had it pretty good.

Do you have fond memories of your adolescents years?