WriMo Day 15

Once again, it was a productive writing day! And oddly enough (or not so oddly, knowing me) it wasn't for The Girl Book.

I did get 50 whole words down for The Girl Book! But since that's the equivalent of about three or four healthy sentences from me, I don't exactly see that as the "bestest" thing in the whole entire world.

I did, however, get about 1,500 words done for The Secret Project. I might have to add a tag for it now, because it's actually progressing quite nicely and, in time, this WILL be something I get to share with you completely instead of in random teaser tiny bits.

But until that day comes here's a pic of another MC for The Girl Book. And because you guys have been so great, I went past her eyes. Yay! I told you--- if I get any words down, treats will be given, and 50 words, Man! That's more than the average bear writes in his lifetime.

The quotes indicate that even though her full first name is "Mari-Elena," she prefers to (and really) go(es) by "Mari," a name I've grown quite fond of over time. Although she looks very sweet and innocent, Mari is a real trip when it comes to boys. And although you haven't met the last (or second to last--- not sure what to call the fifth girl, really) MC yet, I can tell you that the two of them clash because of Mari's boy issues. Ladies, do not be like that, PLEASE.

But despite that, Mari's talented and brilliant. She's the brainiest of the bunch and probably the most silly because of her lack of experience with boykind. But what shines beyond that is that she has a good heart, and although it's obvious that she doesn't always mean well, she still has a conscience that nags at her until she makes things right again.

So yes, she's very imperfect. As am I! You know, I've been thinking about what it means to participate in a "WriMo" and isn't the point of it all that you just, you know... write?! Well I've been doing that. Every stinkin' day! And yet statistically, I am 3,000 words behind where I should be at this point since today marks the halfway point of the month. Say it with me everybody:

Oops!

Love,
Deserae
P.S. This is one of my favorite Christmas songs and videos every. The original vid got taken down, but thank goodness for people who re-uploaded! Seriously. I can't spend Christmas without this version of the song. And speaking of, there are only two days until Christmas! What's on your wishlists for Santa?

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Maya: You guys will definitely be the first to know if The Secret Project gets anywhere beyond my computer screen. All I can say right now is that I've been belting it out and so far, I'm really loving it. Plus there are stick figures involved. Who doesn't love those?! I'm glad you liked the music, as well! That's always great to hear. And, again, I just wanted to say that I'm thrilled you liked the Daily Dose. I hope Alex Day's "Forever Yours" gets UK #1 and I love that all of the proceeds go to charity, so spread the word! 

WriMo Day 14

Today was exceptionally brilliant writing wise. Cumulatively, I belted out a little more than 2,800 words and it was spread out to three different things.

500 went to an outline I was working on.
1,7hundredandsome went to a super secret project I'm working on and can't wait to tell you about (but will have to. Sucks! But hey! I invented a new number for you so, shh!).
545 went toward The Girl Book and those were written a little after midnight in a weird "MUST WRITE" craze.

So I think I'm getting back into this writing thing. I should've written more toward The Girl Book, I know, but I was very productive today. So productive, it hurts, okay? So in honor of that, here's a few of Faye's faves. Music is really special in this story so I don't feel bad doing another whole blog post about it. Hehe! These, by the way, are in no particular order. And neither were Lynette's. Side note. Sorry!

1. The Summer Set's "Someone Like You."
Faye is a sucker for upbeat, "Girl, I love you!" music. So as an example of that here's one of the ones she likes most of all. "Someone Like You" songs hardly ever miss the mark (*cough, cough, Adele! cough*)

2. Panic at the Disco's "Ready to Go." 
When it comes to Faye's favorite real-life band, it would have to be Panic at the Disco. They're the closest thing to her favorite "in her world" band called Just Kidding! and the way that both bands create both positive AND sarcastic music really appeals to Faye for some reason...

3. The Civil Wars "Tip of my Tongue"
Even though Faye doesn't sing country/ folksy music, she still enjoys listening to it every once in a while. The Civil Wars make music that Faye loves. The lyrics are meaningful, beautiful, and haunting in nearly every song they write, and she wants to make music JUST like that.

4. Parachute "Kiss Me Slowly." 
If only a certain boy named Christopher Laidlaw would perhaps want to dance with her to this song... Then, and only then, would her life be complete. Or, you know, that's what she thinks.

5. Adele's "Tired." 
This is Sarah's favorite song by her favorite female artist. So that's something worth listening to.

BAI!!!
Deserae

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Maya: So glad you liked the Daily Dose! And the song! And that you're going to come to the movie night! Sorry. It's almost midnight so I'm rushing to post. But I agree with you about all of your fave movies... You have awesome taste, Girly!  

WriMo Day 13

Don't ask me why, but I'm exhausted. It's only 8:00 here in Cali and I'm... SLEEPY!!!

All my late nights... junk food eating... All of those days I went without going out of the house for some fresh air are finally catching up with me. Today I rode around with my mom a little. I wrote a little bit of outline so I know how the rest of "Friday, September 12th" plays out. I hugged my Millie Cat and she blinked at me. But I still feel...

Tired.

If you haven't already, do visit the Treaties for You page to read an excerpt from Faye's perspective. If you have, thank you kindly. Your feedback made me smile. If you must know the truth, there will probably be no words flowing from my fingertips tonight. And if you don't need the truth, I love you muchly, and I'll lie to comfort you by saying that there's always a possibility I shall end up writing something.

I wonder if these blog words count. Now I'm just fishing for excuses to give you guys content.

Wait a minute! I just typed a seven word sentence. And as you know, if I write ANYTHING, you get some content. So because my writing day was lame, the content you'll get will be small. Here's the chorus of a song Faye and her best friend, Ian, wrote together over the summer before The Girl Book begins. I willn't sing it to you. At least, not tonight. Haha!

Daydream believer won't you sing our song?
I'm so convinced that it could last forever.
Dance me away to days that we'll spend together
On the stage that we've claimed is ours.
Sing me our song.

And speaking of original songs... More Lewis anyone? I'm sorry. My sister has got me hooked.

Ciao for now,
Deserae
P.S. Check out the latest Daily Dose to find out how buying a song can help raise money for charity! The sales only count between now and Christmas Day so ask your parents for permission to buy it if you like the song and also, spread the word!

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Maya: You're the bestest, you know that?! Thank you so much for saying that. It's funny because character DOES come easier to me than plot. But I don't know! I have another MC in The Girl Book who took a long time to figure out. And originally, she was supposed to be the main MC. Lol! I'm glad you like the excerpts. I'll definitely post one next week as well so that you can meet MC number three. And the only time I say "ee"ther is when I say, "either or; neither nor." Haha! Are you attending the blah-g girl movie night. I hope so!

WriMo Day 12

There are only five more days until Christmas. When the heck did that happen?!

Tonight was a pretty successful writing night. Not as successful as I wanted, but I plowed through it and the result was 1,350 words toward The Girl Book and me getting out of a Lynette scene that, for some freaking reason was killing me to write. But I owe you guys something big (or biggish) and so here is a scene from Faye's perspective. As usual, the scene will only be up for a limited time, so if you read it, be sure to tell me what you think! It's kind of hard to give you guys a Faye scene that's not very spoiler-y, so forgive the lack of exploding cars in the background--- I do try to keep the casualties in my contemporaries to a minimum (aka zero!).

Thanks for sticking with me this long guys! This WriMo thing is beating me up. And oh my goodness gracious, do I need the company.

With all my love!
Deserae

P.S. Charlie really is so cool like. Just thought you ought to know...

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Prerna: Thanks, Love! And yes, I like doing character profiles, too, but that's usually when I know I haven't quite figured out the plot yet... I obsess over characters until they drive me up a wall and I have to just begin. 

Maya: Glad you like Faye :), it's cool that you can jump right in (I tend to but end up pulling out and having to start again and again), and thanks for your Lynette support. We'll just stick with the one 'n.' Over thinking this spelling thing could result in disaster. I LOVE that song by Linkin Park! And just for the record, I say "eye"ther. Lol! 

Aria (from email): I finally surpassed 20K today! I am sort of on track for my WriMo. And you know how pleased I am that you like my sassy Sarah (I meant, Faye! Honest!). 

WriMo Day 10

I know the day's still young, but I just agh! I can't write anymore! I think I need to take a creative break and write a song or do jumping jacks. I don't know. Everything in me is just rebelling against hitting the 20,000 word mark and I KNOW why I do this. I KNOW I'm just scared of this story going anywhere. But...

It still doesn't change the fact that I'm not writing right now. No matter how long I keep my eyes on this computer screen, the words just AREN'T going to come out. So I think I'm going to take a break. I think I'm going to think ahead and plot out what's going to happen beyond this scene. And we'll try again a little later. That's fair, right? I'm sure it's at least fair enough.

I've already got 253 words out today, though, so just in case I never return (aka go to bed without opening The Girl Book document again until tomorrow), I thought I'd introduce you to girl number two.

She's the oldest of the bunch and she's my Southern Belle. Sarah's character is so much fun to write because she's this no-nonsense, go-after-your-dreams type person who hails from New Orleans and is not afraid to get down. Too bad I'm not working on a Faye scene (you have to call her Faye, folks. If you don't, she will kill you); I would've been done yesterday!

Oh. And you see that weird "ear piercings" thing? Please ignore it. I make notes on my character drawings so that I can remember certain things like eye color, hair color, and things like their goals and hometowns and what nots. So yeah. That's what that is.

Do you guys do character profiles before you begin writing? I don't do it all the time, but sometimes (ESPECIALLY when working with multiple MC's) it helps. How do you go about doing it if you do and what information do you count as relevant?

Until next time, Loves. Here's a song of my little sister's favorite "college" boy singing an original song of his. Ignore the talking in the beginning. The song is actually quite lovely when you give it a listen.

Ciao for now,
Deserae

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Maya: Thanks, Lovely. I had a great time and seriously loved the movie. I'm a little biased, though, because when you put Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr. together in a film... that's... that's just not fair. :) My dear little Wondercat is now shaved and skinny. But she's clean! And that, my friend is a beautiful thing. I was glad I chose Lynnette too until my sister was like, "You've always just spelled it with one 'n.'" And I was like, "Did I?" And she was like "...Yeah." So... I'm confused once again. I guess, we'll see what happens. But spelling aside, her name is still Lyn(n)ette. And I mean, that's pretty awesome. Lol!

WriMo Day 7

Not much to report today because I've been reading more than I've been writing. BUT because I did write a gripload of comments for this project I'm Beta reading, I am going to count those hundred or so comments with about ten or so words each as my writing for the day. So that means I owe you guys a treat. And yes, I realize that I'm just being a big 'ole cheat right now. Don't worry! I'll make it up to you and the girls tomorrow. I won't go to sleep until I've written 2,500 words. And that's pretty cool because I ended up writing just about that much LAST night because after I wrote that blog post, I wanted to finish up the scene I was working on.

So without further ado, let's finish up Lynette's week with some of her favorite music. Do not be alarmed! She's only as weird as I make her!

1. OkGo's "End Love." 
This is actually why I featured the song a few days. When I stumbled upon it again, I was writing a Lynette scene and I imagined her listening to it in that scene. And it's probably the grooviest song ever! Lynette likes to groove. She's an oldie in that way.

2. Maria Mena "Nevermind Me." 

She's a really shy girl, Lynette is. And no matter how hard she tries to overcome it, there's this little voice in her head that's always telling her she's small. Thankfully, she meets some people who offer ways of fighting that inner demon. But sometimes, that doesn't work, and she listens to all of the sad, self-pitying music she can find. Maria Mena is both her ego booster and pity-party leader.

3. Beethoven's "Moonlight." 

To be honest, though, Lynette hardly has time for drama. The closest she comes to confrontation is when she's playing her cello and getting lost in the music. Since she's a classical musician, she spends MOST of her free time listening to and learning classical music. This is her favorite classical composition.

4. Yurima "River Flows in You."

But she's not all about the classics. She likes to listen to newer composers, as well. This is her favorite modern composition and the song that she feels is the most "romantic love song" of all times. Too bad she doesn't have time for love. Did you see her schedule?!

5. Claude Debussy "Claire de Lune." 

And this song has sentimental values for her. Not only was it the first song she learned to play all the way through (on the piano. First a pianist! Now a cellist), but it was also the first song she ever performed for an audience and it was the song that her father used to play on repeat to lull her to sleep when she was younger. Plus, it's a gorgeous composition. I adore it, too (*looks away* *scratches head*). 

And that's all (the music you need) from me today! Guess what guys?! Tomorrow's Friday!

Yay!
Deserae <3
P.S. I've found myself in a predicament. I accidentally spelled "Lynette" as "Lynnette" in one instance and I can't tell which spelling I like more! Which do you prefer? The single or the double "n." Right now... I think I... agh!

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Maya: My mom is... a mom. Haha! But gosh! I used to be the same way. That's why The Girl Book got put into a folder. When I picked it up a few days ago, I realized I had left off on a good part. Like what in the world did I do that for?! Makes no stinking sense... And oh my gosh, you're a brave woman. If I had her schedule, I would die, come back from the grave to complain, and then die again to get out of doing the work. Haha! But BMA has a wide variety of classes. You know what would be fun? Letting you guys pick classes you'd like and then writing you in as "extras." Lol! That'd be so cool. I love slipping people I know into my stories as side characters. Don't be surprised if that accidentally happens. I mean, who KNOWS what these fingers are capable of?! And Hart was starting to grow on me. I've always loved the name "Joshua" though. And "Jackson." Boy, do I love "Jackson." For a girl, though. There are too many Jackson's hanging around nowadays in YA (or am I imagining that?! Maybe it was some other name I was fond of like William or James... Hmm... I should actually look that up now. I'm becoming paranoid...)

Aria (from email): Does it show, though? Like really? I DO love The Girl Book right now, but is it SHOWING?! That's intense! :) Thanks, Love for your support. I know I owe you some PW, but I've been... occupied... Hehe!

WriMo Day 6: Writing What You Love

Because this week seems to have been Lynette-centered, I thought I'd keep that theme going by treating you to her class schedule to celebrate the fact that TODAY, I wrote 1,777 words AND I am not. finished. writing. Yippee!

I would just outright tell you what The Girl Book is about, but I feel like you guys are SO smart and SO clever, you've probably already formed some sort of idea of the themes and ideas this book is wrapped around. If not, that's alright! The month is young and there are plenty of chances for me to give myself away. But until then, I must admit I'm having too much fun giving you guys seemingly random teaser things and then talking to you guys about TV and things that have absolutely nothing to do with them.

So in the spirit of how we've been doing things, I thought I'd take a minute to propose a semi-dialogue with you all about something that gave me a bit of a shock as I was writing today. Last night, I made myself hold off on writing Lynette's next scene even though I was itching to get it down in writing because I thought it was probably going to be pretty fantastic once I saw it on paper.

And... I mean, in my opinion, it was. It wasn't the BEST Lynette scene I'd ever written, but I'm a pretty harsh critic of my own work, and even I was laughing and smiling and cringing at my dear girl's awkward shyness and the inter-workings of her conservatively wired mind. It was cool to see come to life because, I mean, I had been away from this project and these girls for SO long, I was literally frightened to try to jump into their heads again.

But... after rereading the material I already had... After getting nice responses from you guys about the excerpt and my WriMo in general... After going through the folder I have that has all of GIP's goodies... I was shocked to remember how much I loved this project, and surprised to realize I'd purposely stepped away from it because I didn't think I did. I mean, what the heck?! How could I not love this project?!

And then today, when I was writing, the strangest thing happened. I wanted to write. I didn't want to stop writing. I was mad at myself for needing food (but, Boy, did I need food), and I was mad at my mom for asking me to wash the towels (but, Man, did we need towels). Because I thought, if I stopped once I was in the zone, I was going to lose that zeal I had at the beginning of the day.

But I didn't.

It was still there when I returned an hour and a half later.

And you know why? Because I was loving what I was writing. And I realized the difference between the days that I hated writing and the days that I loved it wasn't me or my story or my ideas or whatever other nonsense I'd blamed it on that day just to cut myself some slack... It was that I didn't LOVE what I was writing. I didn't love what was going down on the page, you know?

What little things do you notice about your own writing habits, good days, and bad days? This post has gotten a bit massive but that's alright; I want to know! Lynette's schedule shows what a typical day at BMA is like. You'd probably hate going there, or maybe you'd love it depending on how sadistic you were as a high school freshman. Personally, I would've welcomed the challenge. At least it would've given me something worthwhile to complain about.

Lynnette Highmore's Schedule of Classes
7:30- 8:45: Orchestra--- Classical Music
9:00- 9:45: Honors American Literature
10:00- 10:45: Geometry
11:45- 1:00: From Swing to The King: 1920's- 1960's Music (A Course in History)
1:15- 2:00: Earth Science
2:15- 2:45: Extra Curricular Environmental Studies
2:50- 3:30: Yoga

So do you still think you want to go to BMA? I... didn't think so...

Love!
Deserae

P.S. Sonal totally featured this song on her blog. And I lalalalove it! I need to start featuring Christmas music. We'll see what I can do in the near future. 

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Maya: Oh, you've totally brightened my day. Thank you for reading and I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I wish Lisi had written more books, too, because, to be perfectly honest, I wasn't pleased with how it ended. I wanted... something else. I wish her publisher would've let her have more time to expand the series. I love the last name Daniels, but I'm not feeling either name. Maybe if I knew his character better. Of the two, though, I prefer Hart. Hart Daniels actually DOES have a bit of a ring to it now that I put it altogether like that. :) I can think of some guy names tonight and post them when I respond to your new post! Yes I see there's one there and yes, I'll be responding, soon. Love ya much!

WriMo Day 5

I'm not doing a very good job at tracking how many words I've done compared to how many words I SHOULD have done, but today I finished (575 + 198...) 773 words for The Girl Book. And I'm still writing! So that's always a good thing, I think.

I told you I had some things I wanted to link you to so first! Here's the exclusive content I promised you--- it's another excerpt because, well, you saw one of The Boy Book so I think it's only fair you see one of The Girl Book, right? So click here to read a scene from Lynette's perspective after you check out all of these cool thingamabobbers. This excerpt will be taken down in about a week so read it and let me know if you like it before it... gets taken down in a week! Yeah!

Thingamabob #1: Prerna's blog, The Sands of Writing, always has really cool writerly type things. And it's actually encouraged me to talk more about writing, than to just talk about writing (if you visit her blog, you'll see what I mean). So click up above to just check out her blog or click here to read a post that I HAD to comment on because I loved it so much. I think as writers, it's good to support one another. ESPECIALLY if you meet a writer who not only has marvelous things to say, but also likes Once Upon a Time. Just. Saying.

Thingamabob #2: So speaking of encouraging and supporting fellow writers, Adam Heine just landed an agent. Now if you don't know who this guy is, don't worry--- I didn't, either, until I fell in love with Natalie Whipple. But he's been submitting for a couple of years, now, I think, and I just think it's very inspiring, epicanarious, and frickin' awesome to hear that he's finally got someone on his team. So yay for Adam! If you want to read that post of postiness, please click here.

Thingamabob #3: If you haven't decided you're going to see this movie, or this one, or even this one sometime in the near future, decide to do all of the above RIGHT now. Well... not RIGHT now, but, you know, as soon as you can, okay?

And that is all from me. I hope all of my links will edify you in some way or another. Edification is needed across this entire nation. And yes I just added that because it rhymed, and no I will not delete it, thank you very much.

Love!
Deserae
P.S. Sigh... I love OkGo's music videos... Do you guys even listen to the music I post here? I do from my phone because I don't have a great YouTube app. so I cheat by coming on here and playing these songs. Lol!

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Prerna: Gosh, I wish we could discuss it without spoilers, but let me just say that I think I said all I needed to in my comment to your post. Although, I have to admit, I really wasn't mad at them for going that route! Shocked, maybe, but not at all phased. I am going to--- agh! Spoilers! But I wish that the thing that was done didn't have to be done because I liked the thing that was happening before it was done and wanted to see more of that even though, now, it's impossible. I should stop ranting now.  

Maya: No worries, Love! I'm just happy you comment at all! I like responding to you guys. :) Thanks for saying you like Aiden's name! I was worried about it, at first. But yeah, it's starting to really grow on me. And I honestly think it's perfect for him the more and more I think about it. The thing about choosing boy names is to not over-think it. What I do is I think about my guy friends and their guy friends and pick out the names I like. And if one clicks, then I use it like it's nobody's business. Because it's not! And because I can. :) Charlie WAS my fave charrie in Alphas, but in the end, I think my favorite was... Allie... Maybe... Toward the end of the series, I found myself finding faults in all of them. But I THINK Allie came out my fave. I THINK... Thanks for the luck! I'll need it. 

Aria (from email): The Boy Book will return probably around Valentines Day. When you can't get a real date... write up your own! Lol! Thanks for your support of The Girl Book, though. That means a lot. And I didn't finish PW Ch. 13 tonight. I know... I'm a failure, like Larry!

WriMo Day 3

So the good news: I wrote today!
The bad news: it wasn't for The Boy Book.

I'm not giving up on that project. Really, I'm not. I just... I'm not feeling it. And since it's so early in my WriMo, I figured I should change projects now, before I fell too far behind in this thing.

So I wrote 3,000 words. The project has been called GIP for as long as I can remember. But, because it's fitting in more ways than one, you and I can call it The Girl Book. I promise to give you more details tomorrow if I get some words down on the page. I told you! If I get words down on the paper, you get some exclusive content! Well, here's your content for today. It's a sneak peek of a drawing I did of one of the main characters many moons ago.

I hope that the fact that I attempted to draw these girls is enough to win you over for my abandoning The Boy Book. I just know that I'm not ready yet--- not for something THAT big, at least. I'd need more than a month to do Aiden's story justice. But these girls? Their story has been waiting to be told, and I'm pretty convinced that now is the time to tell it. Thank you all for your love, advice, and support. I will tuck it away and dig it out when I'm ready to start that project again. But for now... The Girl Book awaits!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. And have a wonderful Monday! How are you guys, anyway? I do love to hear good things.

Until tomorrow,
Deserae

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Maya: Third person FEELS like cheating because, you're right--- I want this to feel real. Not that third person eliminates a sense of reality, but it does separate readers from the direct thoughts, emotions, and feelings of the MC. And I know in my heart Aiden needs to tell this story. Not me as a narrator. Him, you know? I'm so glad you loved the excerpt. It's being printed out and put into a folder labeled THE BOY BOOK. I do this to all the ideas that I get. They get their own folders, you know? And they sit in there until they're ready. I'm glad you think I do well with dialogue! I love dialogue so I'll keep this in mind when I go back to it. Thanks, Love!