Announcing Broken Heart Blogfest

Okay... So, the first half of february is full of lovey dovey type blogfests. There is Smitten, which is a blogfest/contest that is held from Feb 1-14. Then YAmore blogfest on the 11th and that is about young adult romance. And on the 14th there are 2 (that's right, 2) kissing blogfests, Hot Kiss and Just Kiss Already.  That is a lot of kissing and love for one month, even for Valentine's Day. So, I decided to host my own blogfest a month after V-Day. This should give people enough time to sign up and write something. After the lovefest of blogfests in February, we need something different so here is my attempt.


I officially announce the Broken Heart Blogfest.
March 13-15th

(Thanks for the image, Mia. You're Awesomesauce!)

Pretty simple to interpret. I considered going horror, or break up but figured the broken heart would be more open to interpretation and different genres. It can be flash fiction, poetry, non-fiction, anything except 5,000 words cause umm, that's a little too long and I probably won't comment on it. Shorter tends to be better for me when it comes to reading on the computer. Anyways, the basic idea is to write about a heart breaking or one that is already broken. Show us the wretched emotions, the anger, depression, fear, whatever happens after the happy honeymooon lovey-dove V-day stuff is over and all that is left is a broken heart.


The "Rules":

1. Sign up on the linky thing located below.
2. Try to sign up before the 15th, if possible.
3. Post your entry on your blog along with a link to the blogfest.
4. Try to keep entries below 1,000 words if possible.
5. Read other people's entries and leave comments.
6. Eat ice cream and chocolate to feel better... okay, you don't have to do that if you don't want to. ;-)

No Fear Blogfest

Lookie, another blogfest entry done on time. Yay me! This is going to be a fun one because the host is offering it as a competition with a prize for the one who wins. Check out www.dominicdemattos.blogspot.com for the other entries and later on to get a vote on who wins. Isn't the mouse cute?

(Page 99 blogfest entry is located below this one.)

No Fear Blogfest

Writes of Passage

About the blogfest:

"Post a passage in which your MC (or your favourite fictional character) shows their bravery. It might be in the face of physical danger, or peer pressure or personal sacrifice. It might be epic bravery or bravery that goes unnoticed by anyone but us, your devoted readers. "


This was tough to figure out because I'm not sure what counts as bravery in my writing. I'm sure there are plenty of times my characters are brave but either I wasn't sure or I couldn't show it since I have to limit certain novel's exposure on here. And sorry Tessa, I couldn't think of a bravery moment to write for Cinder Story, so you'll have to wait for another blogfest to read more about Jack. I went for the Angel/Demon novel instead going off my entry for the Bad Boy blogfest back in June 2010. Here's the link: bad boy blogfest entry. This time we're in the demon main character's point of view. Sorry if it's a little long. And it's definitely a first draft that does a whole lot of telling.


My Entry:

The coffee shop was busier than usual and Lucas was glad he shared the shift with Elijah because on his own it would have been a nightmare. Most of the customers were demons, which was fine for him but he wondered if his boyfriend noticed anything different about them. He was so innocent and good that Lucas imagined he had no clue exactly who they were serving. Not to mention when he confessed being a demon himself, Elijah had practically laughed at the idea and he certainly didn't believe him even though Lucas had been telling the truth.

One of the customers sitting at the front counter was an upper level demon, one who owned the dance club where Lucas had met Elijah. He was one they both liked because he had a hand in their meeting.

In fact, most seemed okay except for one customer. One demon went straight to a back table and sat there, as if he expected the workers to wait on him. That wasn't how things worked there and Lucas was content on letting him sit back until he figured out the ordering process but Elijah decided to go take his order.

"Make another pot of regular blend," Elijah asked him before taking a tray with an already filled cup of coffee over to the lazy customer.

"Okay." Lucas tried to focus on the task but as soon as it was done he found an excuse to clean the counter top near the donuts so he could keep an eye on the situation. Something just didn't feel right. A customer came up, so he had to focus on the order but the sound of a crash midway through the prep of a coffee cup made him snap his attention back.

He saw Elijah crouched on the floor, cleaning up a spill. It wasn't out of ordinary enough for Lucas to go help because he'd been told not to but he continued to wait for any reason to go. And that moment came.

As soon as the customer was gone with the hot cup of coffee, Lucas watched as Elijah set the mess on a nearby table after wiping down the floor. He paused for some off reason and the customer he had been serving stood up, moved over and grabbed his arm. That was all he could handle and without much thought, Lucas found himself across the room in a matter of seconds. Almost tripping, he soon stood next to Elijah, pushing the customer away.

The look on Elijah's face was hard to read. His eyes opened wide but his mouth is clamped shut in a frown.

Lucas stepped between the customer and Elijah, not caring that the demon pushed against the wall was glaring at him. He stood by his choice.

"That was a mistake," The demon said, oddly he was smiling. His eyes flickered with amusement but his voice darkened in tone. "Back off. This is none of your business."

It was apparent to Lucas that he was out of his league. Being a demon was one thing but almost everyone in the room had more abilities than a low messenger demon but he wasn't going to back down. "He is my business. You are the one who needs to leave, now."

Page 99 Blogfest

So, I found out about this blogfest last minute but it sounded like a great idea. Who knew it would be so difficult just to find page 99.  Turns out the copy I had of my novel, Standing Ground, was in a program called Pages, which my old Mac had and the new one doesn't. I had it online too in chapters on Writing.com so I spent the time copying each chapter over into a regular word document until I reached page 99 and it's the end of a chapter. How convenient.

(If looking for No Fear Blogfest, that post is coming after this one.)

A collaborative blogfest, here is a link to one of the blogs and the list of entrants to go check out: 99th page blogfest reminder.  The rules are pretty simple. Post the 99th page of a novel draft. Readers should consider a few things when considering the entry:
"1. Would you turn to page 100?
2. Why or why not?
3. Based on what you read, how likely would you buy the book?"

Like my friend who I discovered the blogfest from (Loralie) I won't explain the gist of the novel. Just check out my page and we'll see. Though at least consider the fact that it's a first draft. It will look better after edits, I promise. ;-)


End of Chapter 17 in Standing Ground (Page 99)
First Draft

After a moment of thought, he struggled to come up with his next question. "I'm going to assume you won't tell me why you wanted to break in here." The stares back gave him the answer so he went a different direction. "Do you know anything about missing SS members? Do you think it's a coincidence or that something else is going on?"

"We have nothing to do with that." Ty gave an answer at last. He didn't sound pleased and spoke slow, as if weighing his words and making decisions with each one. "However, I don't think it is a coincidence."

Before Noah could ask another question, Ty kept speaking after he gave the others a wave to keep them from speaking. "This isn't some connected movement. We don't know the other groups that are called renegades, as SS is calling us. It's not an underground system that is working together to lash out. Different groups have different goals and methods. There is no organization and no leader."

Even though he wasn't quite sure he understood, Noah nodded. It did kind of make sense to him though he was surprised that Ty would even share that much information with him. He couldn't help but wonder about the different movements. They all couldn't be wrong, like K had suggested, could they? He didn't know and stuffed the intrigue away for now.

He spent the next half hour asking questions and received very little responses. None of the information he achieved was relevant to the situation but neither were most of his questions. He couldn't explain it but he didn't feel right trying to get to the bottom of their movement. They didn't seem to be of a real threat at this point and it was obvious they had nothing to do with the real problem that SS was worried about. After finishing with the questions he thanked them and stood up, ready to leave.

"Could you maybe do us a favor?" Michael asked, standing after Kelvin had moved off his lap.

Noah waited.

Michael seemed almost shy as he made the request. "Could you talk them into letting us share cells? I mean, we won't be able to escape and this would be easier to deal with if we had someone to talk to instead of the walls. It hurts being kept away from him..." He stopped speaking after referencing Kelvin.

"I'll try." Noah felt bad and made a conscious decision to help them a little. If they were going to be stuck here for the foreseeable future they should have contact with each other. Keeping them separate seemed a bit much at this point.

"Thanks." Michael gave him a cute smile.

Noah walked out and went to deal with the rooming issue. He soon was able to leave, relieved to be out of there after over 3 hours. It was much longer than he'd intended but he didn't regret any of it. He had a lot to think about for the next few days as he returned to studying Dominic's dreams. He was determined that they were overlooking something and he wanted to find out what.

WCOA going strong

Yep, it's Wednesday again and another day to check up on my word count obsession.

Another good week in the way of not looking at word counts but a bad week in terms of novel writing. Nearing the end of the 15 for 15 contest, which has been fun. I write for 15 minutes or more based on an image prompt with no concern about the word counts. It has been a nice break though very time consuming since I take hours for the prompt to marinate and then have to write it within the 24 hour time frame.

What I haven't done lately due to the contest, internship and blogs, is work on my novels. I'm doing short stories for contests but my YA novel is still sitting at chapter 16 on draft 2. Have a long ways to go if it's going to be ready for readers by March.

I did move all of my word count bars to my new novel page. Now that I know how to make pages, I can have information on my current projects in their own page instead of on the sidebar of the blog.

Might have to focus on word counts this week because I really need to finish Tattle Tell if I'm going to reach my goal. Have at least 20k or more to write asap. Better get to work.

The Next Line Blogfest

I remembered a blogfest! Okay, this one is a little different because it involves taking a story that has already been started and continuing it, and the readers get to take part too! So, first I'll explain a little about the blogfest by Christine. Make sure to check out her blog at christinedanek.blogspot.com to see the links to the other people who are taking part in the challenge.

Normally, I don't do the continue the story type of activities. While many people enjoying the group effort of telling a story, I'm a little too possessive of my characters to let others write them. These are called campfires on Writing.com and I've only enjoyed doing it once because we each had our own characters to use. But when I saw this blogfest, I decided to jump in and give it a try.

For the blogfest, each person signed up starts with the same introduction to a story created by Christine. And it's a cool one. Comments can either be about the writing or anyone who wants to add to my version of the story can go ahead and add a couple of sentences/paragraphs in the comment slot. But make sure to read other comments if adding so that it doesn't get too confusing if you go that route.


The first part written by Christine:

3:00 am. Those numbers glowed green, staring at me, letting me know I wasn't sleeping. I couldn't. If I did, who knows what injury I would wake up with. Every night a dream would consume me, and when I woke, something on my body was cut, bruised, or almost broken.

I started at the ceiling. The fan squeaked and wobbled, trying to produce air flow. It wasn't succeeding. I turned over, hugging my pillow. What's happening? Maybe I should see someone, but who? A doctor? Padded room for sure. Is there such a thing as a dream specialist?

A branch scratched the window. I turned over again. 5:00 am. Where did the last two hours go? Adrenaline pumped through my veins, accelerating my heart. My T-shirt was damp and clinging to my back. What happened? Did I dream, again?

Bang. Bang. Bang. I jumped up. Someone was at my door.

*~*~*~*~*

My Entry (story continued):

Who could be at the door this early in the morning? Maybe I'm imagining things. Between the dreams and lack of sleep I hadn't been able to function well. It was to the point where I felt almost afraid to try shaving because a razor to the neck on little sleep would not be a good plan. Struggling through the still dark rooms of my house, I almost ran into the front door before I find the handle and pulled it open.

On the other side, standing under the front light is Nathan. His brown hair is disheveled and he doesn't look like he shaved this morning but other than that he looks good. Plus, in one hand is a to go carrier of coffee and the other has a bag that I can only guess contains donuts. He looks happy to see me.

"Nate," was all I could think to say.

"Hey," He shifted his weight with his attention still on me. "Can I come in?"

"Oh, yeah. Come in." I flipped on the switch to the living room before opening the door wider so that he could come in. Since he's been to my house before, he heads straight to the kitchen. Instead of following, I watched him as he made his way through the room, deep in thought. As nice as it was to see him, there could only be one topic he would have and I wasn't sure I wanted to talk about that night. But it was better than sleeping.

*~*~*~*~*

Your turn.

Tessa's Bday Bash (late)

Yeah, this is very late. Sorry Tessa! and a Happy Belated Birthday.
Check out the festivities that occurred like two days ago on Tessa's Blog

Since there is already a birthday scene in the Cinder Story and I'm super late so don't have time to write fiction for this entry, I'm just going to post pictures I found online. I would love to know how to bake and design fancy cakes. I've tried a couple of times so far but need to figure out the fondant and the whole baking really good cakes. The hard part is that it's hard to practice and eat healthy since I won't know what to do with all those cakes. lol

So, these are cakes I wish I could make and have look as awesome as they did on weheartit.com:

1. chocolate with strawberries

2. Simple but delicious looking chocolate cake

3. Pretty cakes with multiple layers (look faeries!)

4. Fancy designs like cameras and other sculpted cakes.

5. Rainbow!!!

6. Super cool designs and multi-layers.

This is a super late post and a late birthday wish but I hope Tessa had a great birthday and even got to blow out some candles before eating a delicious cake.

Monday's Muse on Saturday

Since Monday is a blogfest and I haven't posted a Monday's Muse for a few weeks, I figured I'd throw one up on a different day. This way I can still have a Muse post and a blogfest entry but not worry about having them on the same day. 

Today's Muse topic is a novel I haven't told many people about yet, okay I've told one for the most part about the actually story. It is a different type of story for me and I'm really looking forward to writing it. The novel is a...

Dystopian YA

Thanks to hours of research on weheartit.com I have managed to find a number of pictures that can serve as inspiration for a dystopian YA novel I plan to write in March. Did I intend to write dystopian or even another young adult novel? Not really. This is another novel that started with a dream in 2010. And I think the first draft with have 2 main characters because right now I can't pick between the two boys. The world is starting to develop, just hoping it can stay at one book but knowing me there may be a sequel lurking in the shadows already.

The story takes place in a remote village up in mountainous terrain. A long time has passed, when humans became a lower animal on the food chain. Monsters roam the lands, eating humans that are not in the safety of the few cities and villages that are left. The village is far from any other remaining one and no one leaves the village because it's not safe. Most of the houses are old and the only brick buildings are in the center of the city. There is a single school for everyone since it's a small population and a government/military/police type building.

Some of the houses have bright colors on them and the people try to wear different colors because that is a way to feel cheery even though they are secluded and the threat of monsters exists constantly. It is there way of trying to make the best of dismal times.

Then there are the monsters. I haven't figured out what they look like just yet, so that will be fun to figure out in time for March. There are going to be more than one type for sure and not all of them are going to break the border. Should be fun.

The main characters are two boys. (It's hard to get a good close up picture on the web site of boys that I think works for the novel.) One boy is from the village. He has always lived there with his family, though now it's just him and his dad. His mother died when he was nine. The other main character is a boy who shows up in the village with his family. There is the mom, dad and a young sister but they aren't his biological family. They had found him when he was a toddler. They are the first family to arrive to the village from the outside in a long time. The two main characters become friends even though the new one (Sage) is very different.

At one point, Sage is on patrol and accidentally falls through the last barrier (border). There he sees a section of abandoned houses that had once been a part of the village before the final border had collapsed. He also finds a diary left behind near the still mostly working border before he climbs back through. The journal is from a girl that survived the breakdown of the one border. She talks about the different types of monsters that exist and about talking to some of the monsters like they might understand what she says. Not all monsters eat humans, according to the diary.

For now I'm calling the novel "The Border" but I hope to come up with a better title at some point. But for now, I'll just sit around and wait for MarNo and then I'll get writing.

WCOA week 1

Didn't do much word counting this week because the only writing I've really accomplished is for a contest on Writing.com that requires 15 minutes of writing per day based on image prompts. The word count on the items doesn't matter as long as about fifteen minutes or more are spent writing them. Even short poems are allowed. So far, no poetry from me but the last few entries have been longer and I placed second one round so far.

Thinking about MarNo already. (March novel writing month) Last year I wrote 67k even though my first goal I think was only 30k for the month. It's the most I've ever written in one month thus far. However, I"m thinking this year I don't want to worry about word count. While I've written over 50k three different months in the past, I have yet to actually start and finish a single novel in one month, even the YA (since the YA took 2 years from start to finish). So, instead of picking a word count goal, I'm going to try and write The Border (YA dystopian novel) in March.

10k weekends is a fun challenge started by Weronica, and I've sort of taken part in them, though not much yet. I also am doing 25k challenge this week with a friend. So, I haven't really started yet but once I get going it will be really hard not to check word count every paragraph. Hope I can handle it.

Word Count Obsessors Anonymous (WCOA)

Okay, it's not so anonymous because names are involved but readers only know my pen name unless they are lucky enough to find me on facebook. So it's almost anonymous for me. What am I talking about, oh yeah, I need to explain first.

I was joking on twitter about how I obsess about word counts and I asked if there was a word count obsessors type of group available. Naturally, one of my friends suggested that I start one. Seemed like a fun idea for at least one post so here it is. I'll post a sign up for other authors that want to join me and there will be too options.

(Thanks to AVPergakis for making the image. Check her out on twitter under that name too!)

Option 1: Weekly posts for the terminal/serious cases of WCO (aka word count obsession). Post once a week, on wednesdays about word counts. The topic can be a rant about how hard it is not to count words or it can be a posting of word counts. Once a week, I mean, look at the word counts, with the goal of not looking at word counts every day or even every couple of paragraphs *guilty*.

Option 2: Once a month check ups. This is for the ones who are less concerned about word counts but still a little too obsessed than they should be. Or for the one who wants to only worry about word counts once a month (which is insane!). Post once a month on a wednesday about word counts.

Will we learn from this and avoid counting words? Absolutely not! We'll just have days we can go overboard and talk about word counts solely in a blog post cause we're cool like that. But maybe some of us *cough*ME*cough* might learn not to check word count every new paragraph.

Sign up here:

New Creation Blogfest

I signed up for this and then yeah, kinda forgot. Thanks to Tessa's post, I remember and good thing it's a two sentence blogfest, lol. Here is the blog link, New Creation Blogfest link. The host is Summer Ross, who is always awesome about posting comments on people's blogfest entries so check out her blog even if you're not interested in the blogfest.

The idea of the blogfest is to post 1 sentence from the very end of a story written last year and then post a brand new sentence that is the first sentence of a new story for this year. Sounds fun. I took the last sentence from the novel I finished in April from the novel Standing Ground. The sentence is only two words long but I'm not going to cheat so I will just post the last sentence. And the new sentence is from the dystopian novel I think I might start writing this year when I find the time. It is called The Border for now. Enjoy!

Old:
"For now."

New:
The border was supposed to keep everyone out, monsters and humans alike, and it did... until yesterday.

No Kiss Blogfest Entry

This is an annual blogfest that I took part in last year. My entry is up a little late this time as I went to bed before finishing the story and woke with a bad headache this morning. But here it is at long last.

(image link: http://www.free-extras.com/search/1/kisses.htm)

The wonderful Frankie is hosting this blogfest over at her blog. Here is the link to the sign up post, but don't forget to read her entry as well. Frankie Writes: Blogfest Linky


About the blogfest: 
The basics of this are to post a scene, written by you or anyone but make sure the people get credit, or image or video link where the two in the scene are about to kiss but for some reason do not. It's an almost kiss that never becomes an actual and they are fun to do. My first entry into this annual event was Jan 2010 on my other blog since I didn't start this blog until March 2010. Here is the link to that entry (almost kiss on DE blog) that was from a story I'd tried to write one year for script frenzy but didn't get very far.


This year's story:
I'm using the Cinderella-type story, so some readers should be happy. And even shocking is the scene isn't an almost kiss between two males. I did go with a male-female pair even though the male is technically gay, he just hasn't told anyone yet, and certainly hasn't told his boss and the women he has to take orders from.  The mom already kissed Jack, so who will try next? Read and find out, lol. Sorry about the length, it ended up being much longer than I expected.


The entry:


Everything about the party was in violation of his job and yet there Jack stood, near a wall that was in bad need of re-painting as people moved around him bombed from either alcohol, drugs or a mixture of the two. But he was there anyways, babysitting. That's what the job had become at this point, watching one of his boss' daughters to make sure they didn't get into trouble and to be at their service whenever they needed him. Despite the demeaning nature, he kept his focus on the prize, the job at the end of the tunnel and pushed through. Tonight was no exception. Alexa had dragged him to this unruly event because her guy of the month was there.

He tried to stay in the same room to ensure she didn't get involved with the drugs but it wasn't always to keep track of her considering the number of people that were trying to move around in a smallish amount of space. It didn't help his nerves in the slightest that she had removed the long jacket she'd used to fool her father in believing she was dressed in appropriate attire. As soon as they were leaving the vehicle he had to drive, off it came exposing a small v-shape of a glittery shirt with way too much cleavage showing and a mini skirt that fit close to her hips and barely covered her ass. He had to hold back a groan because just looking at her was evidence enough the night would be trouble. And it didn't take long for something to manifest.

One second, Alexa was standing in a group and after he glanced away for one second to look for a non-alcohol drink when he turned back she was gone. In some ways the luck went to him because she resurfaced a few minutes later, storming out of a bedroom yelling obscenities to the guy that barely tried to follow once he made it out of the room.

Jack straightened his stance as she approached him, watching everyone get out of her way. It was an interesting sight how fast people would move to stay out of her wrath and he made a mental note of it for later reflection. Before he could utter the words "Are you okay", she grabbed his jacket and started to pull him away.

"We're going." She said in a huff before pressing her red glossed lips tightly together in a look of angered concentration.

Since the front door was the other way, Jack struggled a minute to figure out where she was headed and after a few steps managed to stop her. "Hold on a second. First, tell me what happened."

Her arms immediately crossed over her chest and her lower lip stuck out in her usual pout that he'd seen far too often. Only this time it was sincere. Despite the nature of her makeup, a light black smear had started to appear under her eyes. She didn't speak, but stood there staring at the floor with an occasional look around at anyone but Jack.

Seeing her discomfort, Jack looked around for a moment before spotting one of the so called hosts to the party even though he looked more like he'd come off the streets of California or somewhere that didn't have winter. He did his best to ignore the man's attire and instead focused on the task at hand. "Is there a room we could use to get some privacy?"

The man chuckled as he responded. "There's the laundry room. It's the door by the bar in the kitchen, man."

Jack ignored the man's stupid grin and took Alexa by the hand, leading her through the small crowd in the kitchen to the suggested room. Luckily, no on was in there and at least they would be alone away from the loud noise of the party with the door blocking out most of the sounds coming from the rest of the house. Letting go, he positioned his back to the door and focused on Alexa. "What happened?"

"He thinks we are having sex in here." She said, ignoring the question.

"Do you really care what some guy who wears sandals during winter has to say?" Jack shook his head. "And it's always the ones who shouldn't wear them to begin with. His feet should be covered at all times."

It was enough to get a small laugh out of her so he tried again. "What happened that upset you?"

More in control of her composure, Alexa sighed and hoisted herself up on top of the drying, crossing her legs before giving any sort of response. The fact that Jack looked away when she did it also made her smile a little and once she was seated comfortably she explained. "It was his idea to be committed. We only need each other. That's what he said. But tonight I find out he slept with at least three other girls, including one of my friends, the slut. And when I got mad about it he tried to blame me and then when I was yelling at him he tried to get me to have sex with him even though there were other people in the room. As if I'm some kind of whore."

"He's not worth your time, obviously." Jack said the obvious first as he tried to figure out what else to say in the given situation. "You deserve someone who will respect you and it's not going to be a guy like him."

She seemed to skip over the nice comment and instead asked him a direct question. "Do you think I'm a whore? I mean, I know you don't like me so at least you'll give me an honest answer."

The question surprised Jack making it hard for him to respond right away. He knew she wanted him to say no but it was hard to give her the answer she really needed while looking at her because of the way she was dressed. Deep down, he knew she probably wasn't that way, or at least he hoped she wasn't. Not wanting to take too long in his response, he figured out something to say in time and shifted so that he was closer to the dryer she sat upon before speaking. "Honestly... No, I don't think you are an actual whore or slut. But sometimes, and I mean no offense by this. Sometimes the way you dress might give people the wrong impression."

"What do you mean, the way I dress?" She still snapped a little, giving him a slight glare with her response.

"First," he said addressing another issue that came with the initial question. "I don't hate you and this is coming from honesty, not any form of vengeance, but consider what you are wearing right now. Sure it umm, almost fits but really, it shows off way too much. Your stepfather would be livid if he knew you were out in public dressed like this. And aside from that, it doesn't do you any justice. You are beautiful, but this trying to hard doesn't let people see that."

Back to the pouting, Alexa grumbled. "You'd have me wear sweat pants and long sleeved shirts just like stepdad then."

Jack chuckled a little at the suggestion. He could see why the boss would suggest such but he wasn't quite that protective of the annoying girl he had to put up with. It was a little awkward but he gave her the real answer to what he thought she should wear. "No, not sweat pants per say, but... Okay, this may sound a bit weird coming from me and all. I remember about five days ago, you had on a pair of soft blue, faded jeans. It was at the house so you only had on striped socks that didn't even match anything you were wearing. The shirt you had on was some type of soft fabric but still like a t-shirt. You had maybe one fourth the amount of makeup on then as you do now and your hair was flat, all you'd done was brush it."

"But I can't go out in public like that." She was blushing, her lips no longer in the pout but instead a slight smile like she was afraid to show how she felt about what she was being told.

"Why not?" Jack moved in front of her, putting his hands on the dryer so that he could look at her face to face so she could see his honesty. "You don't need to show off everything to be beautiful."

Speechless, Alexa rested a jewelry embellished hand onto his shoulder pulling a little as her hand drifted to the back of his neck. With his position against the dryer, the slight pull brought their bodies even closer and his hands remained pressed down against the machine.

The door to the laundry room crashed open and Jack was able to pull away, though a slight blush found its way to his cheeks. The couple that had opened the door burst into giggles as they drunkingly apologized, "sorry. We thought this room was empty."

"That's okay." Jack offered his hand to Alexa, helping her down from the machine. "We were just leaving anyways. This party is lame." He winked to Alexa and they both headed towards the door knowing that everyone watched them as they left.

2011 Goals

(image source: http://blog.kpaonline.com/2010/12/hr-resolutions-2011/)

Tattle Tell - Finish second draft. Edit. Send to beta readers by the end of February. Work on query.

Mutant Series - Plan out both series. Outline!

Fantasy/Steampunk - Finish Worldbuilding and find a work in progress Title. Maybe start writing.

Angel/Demon - Finish first draft, edit and then send to beta reader.

Thomas/Kyle Novella - Finish first draft. Connect all the scenes since it is written by scene and not in order.

Gathered at Dawn - Finish first draft that was started for nanowrimo 2010.

Other potential books: Pick which ones and start writing them. This also means write one of them for NaNoWriMo 2011. Also make sure to write for MarNo with either a started novel or one of the new ones. List includes: TT book 2, Fantasy/Steampunk, I'm Sorry I Forgot You, XXY, Border Patrol dystopian, or Blood Prophesy book 1.

The Fiction Project - http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/fiction
This sounds just like a fun idea. It is hand writing, which is hard on my hand and will hurt, but I'm really looking forward to it. The theme I've chosen is: Below the Surface. I'm thinking I'll use the world of a novel idea when they go underground to survive. But use different characters than the main ones for the two books I already have planned. Seems like it will fit the theme.
Due = May 1st (DE blog anniversary day)

Write Music - Write songs for myself and write songs connected to the novel, I'm Sorry I Forgot You. Learn to play guitar and remember some piano to help with the writing part.

Non-Writing - Learn guitar and practice 4-7 times a week. Work out more and eat healthier with a goal of losing 25 lbs. Get to see BF in person more. Maybe try to find a job. I'd like to move out of my parents house by the end of the year, but we'll see what happens.


Wow. Looking back it seems like I have a lot to write. Good thing I enjoy doing it or this year could easily become very tedious. Note: these goals are subject to change. I changed last year at about April when my list was shorter than this so I'd almost expect a thing or two to change. Especially since I am always coming up with new ideas and sometimes Shinies are hard to deny.