bloggers – Page 3 – Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

I am in a Quandary

Published on July 27, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle6 Comments

I just love that word, but I don’t love this situation. Let me tell you about my quandary.

You see, in My Weekly Update, I promised you a blog post today. The issue is that I don’t have a post ready.

Now, this isn’t the usual, ‘I don’t have anything to say’ post. I have a lot to say. In fact, I have 6 pre-written post for exactly these type of situations. But, unfortunately, I don’t have access to them at all day. They are on another computer in another city.

I could probably remember a few words of some, but they are already perfect and I would hate to waste a post by giving it to you half assed.

I could talk about what is coming up next week, but then that would spoil My Weekly Update for this Sunday.

I could go into a dissertation about something in my writing that I need help with, but that is what Insecure Writer’s Support Group is for, which is coming up next Wednesday.

I could create a list or pose a question for all of us to debate, but I am not in the mood.

I could post some random photos from my trip to Tokyo two years ago, but that is actually a great idea for another post for another day. How cute is this lady on her wedding day?

I could not post anything and then apologize for it later, but that would bother me for years to come. Plus, I really don’t like those post that apologize for not posting. Truth is, I would rather you come back with a great post about something I can get behind instead of the ‘sorry, I haven’t posted in a while’ post.

I knew this was going to happen some time in my blogging career. I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon. Neither did you, I bet. Your probably saying to yourself right now, “She was so young,” while shaking your head with bemused pity.

But, no worries. It did it once. But, I will never do it again. This month anyway.

Ok, talk amongst yourself.

My Weekly Update – Write Club, Workers, Watch Out

Published on July 22, 2012July 21, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle15 Comments

WRiTE CLUB

1^st rule of WRiTE CLUB, you can talk about WRiTE CLUB, but just this once. I have been in search of motivation to start writing some short stories and I came across this contest and had to participate. Plus, Fight Club is one of my favorite movies and Tyler Durden is one of my all time favorite movie characters. If you want to learn more about WRiTE CLUB and join the competition, click on the badge to the right. Thanks to our WRiTE Master DL Hammons for creating the opportunity for the WRiTE of the Century. First WRiTE is held on July 30^th. Bring it on.*

*Get it? I am replacing the word Fight with the word WRiTE. Pretty clever, huh?

“F–k off with your sofa units and strine green stripe patterns, I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let… lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.” Tyler Durden

Workers

I wanted to give a special shout out this week to some of the people who are putting in work for me. Your simple click of a button has been so valuable to me and I want to say thank you.

First, a few of my diligent Tribemates – If you aren’t on Triberr, what are you waiting for?

My Most Reliable RT’ers

If you aren’t following these people, you are missing out. I know there are many more and if I missed you, so sorry and thank you, too.

Watch Out

There are two book that you need to watch out for and pick up this week.

Flight of the Blue by A.E. Howard comes out on July 24th. I had the honor of interviewing A.E. during JuNoWriMo and I am really looking forward to reading her new book.

How I Make A Living In Writing by Scott Morgan. I really enjoy Scott’s blog Write-Hook.com and have read an excerpt from his new book and it is good.

New Followers

Jase at Resurrected Writer

CurnBlog – Movie site

Chris at Good News Teachings

Victoria at Made for Victory

Rachel at Rachel’s Ink

Angie Richmond

Live 4 Life 201

Jeannette SMejkal

Next Week’s Schedule

Tuesday – Tattoo Tuesday

Wednesday – Sydney Quotes the Movies

Friday – Blog Post

Sunday – My Weekly Update

Camp NaNoWriMo Participant Interview Morgan Hyde

Published on June 29, 2012June 29, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle4 Comments

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

Err… is this a bad time to admit I’m actually writing this for Camp NaNoWriMo? Which just happens to also be in June (and August!)? I hope not. I think both Camp NaNo and JuNoWriMo are awesome. Anything that gets people writing is!

Anyways, for my unspecified June novel writing challenge, I’m doing a rewrite of a YA fantasy story that began life during NaNoWriMo 2010. It’s called We Who Are About To Die (WWAATD), and I’m on my fourth full draft. This June, I’m making some of the biggest changes so far, re-focusing the story on my protagonist, and her personal growth. WWAATD is set in a world similar to ancient Rome, in a land with an insane king who has established blood sacrifice as the state religion. The story follows Renata, a wealthy farmer’s daughter, who tries to rescue her cousin from the High Priest, and ends up convicted of treason and sentenced as a gladiator. She must then learn to fight and face the loss of friends in the arena, eventually gaining the strength and skill to figure out how to save her cousin.

Is this your first time doing this type of challenge?

Nope. I’ve done NaNoWriMo three times in November, and this is my third Camp NaNoWriMo. Plus I’ve done Script Frenzy three times (once doing a movie version of WWAATD), and FAWM (February Album Writing Month) for the past three years as well. As a procrastinator, and someone who works well in high pressure situations, these challenges are an amazing resource to give me the motivation and community support that helps me finish projects. I’ve kind of become addicted!

What did you learn from the last challenge that is helping you with Junowrimo?

The biggest lesson I’ve learned from all my ‘creativity with a deadline’ challenges is that the quality of my writing & storytelling drops as I speed up. But I’ve also learned that I can mitigate this loss of quality by having a rough plan in mind. For example, despite huge plot changes since draft #3 of WWAATD, I knew what a lot of the key story points would be ahead of time for this draft. I’m filling the time between the key points very differently, but (spoiler alert) I’m still killing off her boyfriend, and she’s still going to successfully rescue her cousin.

As well, albeit indirectly, participating in NaNoWriMo 2011 helped me figure out what needed to happen for this draft. In December, I posted in the forums, opening up WWAATD for critique, and to my surprise and delight, plenty of people were interested in reading it. The feedback I received from them was invaluable in shaping the changes I decided to make for this draft. Truly, one of the best things about NaNoWriMo-style events is the community.

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

My last exam (I’m a graduating senior in high school) was last Friday, so I’ve been writing 2000 to 3000 words per day since then in an effort to catch up. But I was extremely far behind before that, and I’ve been lazier than I should have (sleeping in, relaxing, enjoying NOT studying), so I’m still WAY behind. I’ve generally been writing in two separate sessions: one immediately after breakfast (around 11am) and one in the evening, sometime after 10pm.

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

I didn’t do any planning specifically for this challenge, but I had accumulated plenty of notes and ideas for this draft, since I originally planned on finishing it this spring, not starting it in June! I basically had the existing drafts, a few specific major changes I knew needed to happen, and a general idea that the story needed to centre more on my protagonist. In writing this draft, as I make all sorts of changes (including a POV change to first person), I can feel the story becoming so much better than before, and that’s incredibly rewarding.

Although I didn’t have a detailed plan before June started, I’ve ended up with one since then, mostly by accident. Because this is June, and I was in school for most of the month, I wrote a lot during my spare, and so I decided to keep my novel in an Evernote note, accessible from my computer and online at school. This is a big change from my past habits of handwriting and later writing in Scrivener. As it turned out, having my entire novel in one document really helped me plan. When I wrote something that I wanted to reference later, I just added a line about it further down the page. When I got an idea for more plot, same thing. In this way, a novel plan now nearly 500 words long grew organically just below the text of my novel. It’s easy to change, easy to reference, and really helping me stay on track.

What is your word count as of June 28th?

32 000 words. I’ve never been this far behind so close to the end; I’m generally one of those annoying people who writes roughly 1667 words a day without fail and wins a day or two early. This month, I will be lucky to reach 50k. I’m still aiming to finish, but whether I win or not, I’ll be proud of what I’ve accomplished and happy to have a lot more novel than I did on June 1st.

We will forgive Morgan for not being a part of JuNoWriMo. Any of us who take on the challenge to write 50,000 words in a month are all on the same side of crazy.

Good luck with the rest of the challenge, Morgan!

For more information about Morgan, please visit her blog and follower her on twitter.

Blog: onelifeglory.blogspot.ca

Twitter: @Amethystars

My Weekly Update – Just Write!

Published on June 10, 2012June 11, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle3 Comments

JuNoWriMo

It was really all about writing last week. I have been debating whether to release any excerpts from my WIP from Junowrimo. But, it just isn’t ready yet. Or, to be honest, I am not ready,yet. However, to avoid being labeled a big tease, I will give you a little insight into my first novel.

Tentative Title: I’m Coming Home

Main Character’s Loves and Hates:

Sydney Smith (I know, I really need to change her name. This isn’t an autobiography. May change it to Emilynn) – More on her description later.

Loves: writing, traveling, tattoos, mexican food and days where no one telling her what to do or asking her to do stuff for them.

Hates: Negative people and people who make statements about people that sound like a compliment, but are actual an insult. Ex: When Sydney ask her boss, Linda what she thinks for the new guy she meets, Linda said, “John is really friendly, he flirts with everyone.”

John Alexander Osha, IV – think of Bryan Greenberg’s character in Prime mixed with Jude Law charm (without the English accent)

Loves: computers, playing golf, watching basketball, hip hop and cute girls with tattoos

Hates: Girls who don’t realize how amazing they are and people who have an over exaggerated sense of themselves.

Linda Ryder – Picture a mix of Chris Everett Lloyd’s athleticism on Kim Zolciak from Real House Wives of Atlanta body. Fake hair included.

Loves: expensive stuff, young men, and being famous

Hates: Buying things on sale, procratination in others (has no issue doing it herself), and people who don’t give her credit.

Trina Watson – Picture your best friend who always tells you the truth.

Loves: her cousin, telling the truth and alcohol which she can’t have because she is 5 months pregnant.

Hates: Sydney’s boss, Linda

Alex James Ryder – good looking guy who doesn’t think he is (don’t you hate those types). A voice of reason; clean cut golf pro type. Addias golf shirt and pants by day. T-shirts and cargo shorts by night.

Likes: teaching golf, playing golf, talking about golf, watching golf, his friends and the F – word

Hates: people who are dishonest and people who take life too seriously

Setting: New Orleans, Louisiana – specifically at a golf course and in several locations in the French Quarter

Genre: I have no idea. I do know it is not science fiction or horror. Two people fall in love in the midsts of some funny situations and someone doesn’t want them to be together. You tell me?

Ok, that is all that I am authorized to reveal at this time. Maybe more next week.

Writer Wednesday Blog Hop

I decided to base a short story on my novel for Writer Wednesday Blog Hop that I may or may not incorporate into the story. I received some great comments in regards to that story that I want to share.

Nicole had this to say – “Great post!!! And God I could relate. To the feeling she had about wanting to feel special to the early morning walk. I loved it!!

Anna said, “Your story gives me such a good feeling, almost like something beautiful is about to happen. And of course, something does… I think I would love to read your novel if this is just an excerpt from it:)”

*I told Anna, she gets the first copy.

Check out Carrie and Anna‘s take on the same photo prompt.

Thanks so much for the great feed back.

New Followers

I wanted to say thank you to my new followers as well. Go check out their sites, there is some great stuff out there in the blogesphere – the first time I have used that word.

Chrissy50

This Week’s Schedule

Monday – My Interview with JuNoWriMo host and participant – Anna Howard

Tuesday – Movie Quotes

Wednesday – Writer Wednesday Blog Hop

Friday – General Blog Post

Sunday – My Weekly Update

*And be sure click the Sydney Aaliyah Writes page for daily updates on my JuNoWriMo progress.

My Weekly Update – Writing, Written & Writers

Published on May 27, 2012June 11, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah MichelleLeave a comment

Writing

It is 5 days until the beginning of JuNoWriMo. For those of you living under a rock, JuNoWriMo is a month long writing challenge. I will be writing 50,000 words in 30 days. That is about 1,667 word per day.

If you are interested in seeing how I progress through this month long madness, I will document my progress after completing the daily writing goals. I foresee a lot of 11:55 pm updates in my near future. Check it out under the Sydney Aaliyah Writes Page on my site. My To Do List is up now. I have a busy few days coming up.

I also plan to keep my blog up to date, but JuNoWriMo is my first priority this month. Bear with me.

Written

I wrote a short scary story for Writer Wednesday Blog Hop and received an overwhelming amount of requests (6 people) for me to continue the story. I am not one to disappoint my fans, so check in on Wednesday and see what happen when Sarah (I decided to give her a name) pushes #2.

I would like to thank the following for their comments:

“Wonderful imagery.” – Cerece

“I want to know what happens next!” – Selena

“Great story, your main character was really relatable.” – Carrie Sorenson

You are all awesome. Thanks so much for the feedback.

Writers who Support Writers (New Followers)

Thank you to my new followers. I hope you are enjoying being inside my brain:

Blog Love

Check out the rest of the Blog Love list.

This Weeks Schedule

Monday – Wine Auction

Tuesday – Movie Quotes

Wednesday – Writer Wednesday Blog Hop

Friday – First day of JuNoWriMo

Sunday – My Weekly Update