literature – Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

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!

Vikki, Why do you blog?

Published on March 19, 2013 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle22 Comments

Here’s another addition of my 2nd year celebration. I would like to introduce you to Vikki Thompson from The View Outside. I first met Vikki on May 2, 2012. She commented on a blog post I wrote called Distracted, Again. Her comment:

“Hi I am sooooo distracted right now in my writing that I really am not one to offer advice lol. So I’m just stopping by (via the Insecure Writers Group) to say I know exactly how you feel There just aren’t enough hours in the day lol Good luck!!!!Xx”

She has been super support ever since. So, Vikki, why do you blog?

When Sydney asked me the question Why Do You Blog? I turned to Molly Greene for inspiration. These are the reasons Molly suggests as to why writers blog:

To connect to readers.

To practice craft, discipline, voice and style.

To form relationships with other authors.

To establish an effective platform.

To blog a book or 2.

To build an e mail list.

All valid “writerly” reasons, but none of these questions sum up WHY I (in italics BIG letters lol) blog (although the 2nd one is definitely something I’ve benefitted from).

At first I started to blog for my own selfish reasons, to keep a record of my writing journey. The things I learnt about writing, so that I could see progression (if there was any!) in my work. But what i discovered is that overnight, I became part of a community. A community of “writers” and i was accepted in with open arms. That was a bit of a shock. People commenting on MY Blog? Really? Why? It took me ages to get my head around that one lol.

You see, for me, Blogging = a community of like minded people who all share the same fears, hopes and dreams. I love the fact that chats, discussions and ideas cross oceans and time zones. I get support, a shoulder to cry on (when required) and a pat on the back just when I need it the most. In return, I do the same 🙂

So why do I Blog? Because no other social media gives me such a sense of belonging as my little corner of WordPress. I may not have thousands of followers, but i don’t care. Each and every one of my followers are part of writing family 🙂

That includes you Sydney! Happy Blogiversary xx

What about you? Why do you blog?

My Weekly Update – Good Week

Published on March 10, 2013March 11, 2013 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle12 Comments

Highlights

I received my first paycheck as a writer this week. I ghost wrote a blog post for a beauty blog and that’s all that I am liberty to say about it. It pretty exciting to be a paid writer and I have another assignment due this week. Super proud of myself. I’m not going to strike it rich anytime soon, but it’s satisfying being able to earn money doing what you love.

How did you feel when you sold your first book, first, poem, first article?

Award

My new blog friend and book club host M.L. Swift gave me the The Leibster Award. Thanks so much M.L.

Blog Anniversary

I’m a little late with my anniversary plans. Since my actual anniversary was in February, I decided to celebrate the beginning of my second year of blogging by reaching out to some amazing writers to ponder and guest post on “Why do I blog?”. I received some insightful responses and can’t wait to share them with you. See the schedule below.

March 12 – Tameri Etherton
March 19 – Vikki Thompson
March 22 – D.C. McMillen
March 25 – Alex Cavanaugh
March 27 – Misha Gericke
March 28 – Mark Means
March 29 – EM Castellan

Post to Ponder

What I Learned from the Editor: Round 1 by Jordanna East – Its great to understand your bad habits. May save time in your next project.

Writing Madly to a Deadline and then Not Submit by Jennifer M. Eaton – Do you have this type of integrity and respect for your work.

The First Time We Met: Memorable Characters and First Impressions by Felicia Scotzig – I can’t decide which character is my favorite.

Out of the Mouths of Babes by Jemi Fraser – How does your story stack up to the check list?

New Followers

Mark Riddle

Damyanti Writes

Jason Alan

Next Weeks Schedule

Tuesday – Anniversary Guest Post – Tameri Etherton

Wednesday – Trust in Me Blog Blitz

Friday – Got Green Bloghop – get your irish stories ready.

Sunday – My Weekly Update