I meant to post this blog yesterday but I was too busy being excited for the new episode of Flash that I completely forgot. Seriously, if you don't watch that show then you're missing out. It's one of the better CW shows out now (including Arrow, which Flash is a spin-off from) and doesn't really fall under the 'villain of the week' thing like Smallville did.
Anyway, just some things that I wanted to update everyone with. If you've seen my last blog post you would have seen that I am working on a lot of writing projects, but most specifically on what is (for now) titled Reagan. Yes, it's a 'sub-story' off of our Quadruple of Nothing series that's all about Reagan. Well, not all about her as there are many other characters in it and it does shift POVs sometimes, though I may just keep it form hers in first person. I haven't written in first person in a while. I can't tell you a lot about it, but I will tell you that it is set between Four of a Kind and Royal Flush just so you have an idea of the timeline. That and I recently had been able to sit down and interview skateboarder/photographer Sierra Prescott for S4. Not only does she skateboard really well, but she also has a career in photography of the same field as well as for those that are living on the edge in some way. She's taken a lot of great shots and being able to interview her and get her ideas on the industry was fun. (*Ahem, shameless self-promotion - http://www.snowskatesurfstyle.com/q-a-sierra-prescott/). I've also been able to interview eight-year-old skateboard and surfing phenom, Sierra Kerr, daughter of surfing professional Josh Kerr. I'm currently working towards interviewing X Games Gold-medalist Tom Schaar, so fingers crossed for me. Now for the school front; the semester is almost over. Just have until April 28th and then one more year. This semester is flying as with the snow days we've had schedules had to be adjusted so that we can fit everything in to be completed by semester's end. Otherwise, things are going well. I've mostly decided on doing a project to complete my Masters as it seems it would be better for my topic and the opportunities I have with it. Not only that, but if I did a thesis, I'd be in school until--at the very latest--Fall of 2017 despite graduating in Spring 2016. Though that does bring up what I'm doing now. All I have left apart from doing my project requirements are electives and I just need to see which classes interest me enough to take. And while doing a project, I will not have to take a class over the summer, so now I'm looking even harder at jobs as I know I don't have a class to work around. On the front of getting another assitantship...I don't know what's happening with that. I'm getting ready to apply to be considered for one, however the places they'd put me in are not what I want to do. My first semester doing my assistantship I was a TA/assistant for a 100-level and a 300-level communications class. It was fun and I got a lot of experience. This semester I'm dong Media Commons which is also fun and gives me even more experience of running a website, something that I dabble in while working at S4. However, doing it again next year will have me be a TA again, but for larger classes and that's really what my advisor is pushing me to do. I don't want that because after my Masters I am not furthering my academic career in any way neither with a second Masters nor a PHD. While all of the teaching assistant positions will give me the ability to potentially teach communications classes in community colleges, that's not what I want to do, nor do I think I'll still be qualified as I only started taking communications classes last Fall. If I were to teach, I'd prefer lower level English or French. Apart from that, I don't believe those positions would help me achieve the career I want to have in the industry I want to be in, let alone being a journalist, a freelance writer, a content coordinator, or a Social Media/Digital Marketer (of course I'll still continue my writing, I'm not giving up my dream of being a NY Times Best Selling Author). Other than that I'm in a great mood as I've gotten a lot of writing done as of late, got good grades on my two mid-terms with positive feedback on both, am really looking forward to a paper/research I'm doing in one of my classes its warm, and my second class today was cancelled so I can get home early. :)
0 Comments
We haven't done an update in a while, so where we go!
As you all know, we had announced Royal Flush and showed off the cover a while ago. Not to worry, it's still being worked on. However, it is going a bit slower than we anticipated while working around our new schedules but it's still being worked on. As it is pushed to the back burner a little bit, that doesn't mean that we're not continuously writing. As a matter of fact, we're all working on some things on our own and together that may end up being our focus for a bit, but we'll still working on the Quadruple or Nothing Series. I'm currently working on a few different things. Number one being I'm working on a side-story of the Quadruple or Nothing series that focuses on Reagan. It is a coming of age story that's set in between Four of a Kind and Royal Flush that deals with something that I've experienced herself, so I hope it translates well into the story. (There will be a summary for that story coming soon). Not only that but I'm also working on three young adult novels, one of which is Flynn, which I've just finished for NaNoWriMo 2014, and am re-editing. However, the Reagan novel/short story will be my main focus. Mack is working on the story that she had started in her Advanced Creative Writing Class in her last semester at Hollins. The story was well received by her classmates with the humor, family, and friendship dynamics surrounding the plot of a teen girl fresh from graduating high school dealing with her father's ongoing alzheimer's while fullfiling a list of things she's always wanted to do but has never done before. Mere is focusing her sights on working on Royal Flush. Not only is she working hard on her school work, but she is also doing her best to manage her time to continue with the third book of our freshman series. Steph is working on the Bluebonnet series prequel, Cassie and Nikki as she worked hard on it for NaNoWriMo 2014. As well as that, she will be starting the last book in the series, Saddle Up! very soon, though her current focus is on Cassie and Nikki. Collectively we are all thinking of how to expand the Quadruple or Nothing series, or if we want to, as well as having started to toss around ideas for new series, some of which fall into the genre of fantasy, while others will be young adult. We can't wait to share them all with you! Have a great day and I hope you all are enjoying this weather! :) Well, this is of a moment in life where I'd describe it as "better late than never". In my last blog post I mentioned how I would start posting some of my writing here...and still didn't get around to doing it. (Too much homework and other writing going on). And it wasn't until my sisters and I found a potential publisher that we'd like to submit to in teh future that I realized I needed to start putting some things up.
This piece called 'Veiled' is a fantasy idea that the four of us have had for a long time. Those that read this and have read some of our other writing online will be familiar with the idea. I wrote this last year for a class and it is very rough, the second part that I wrote last year as well (which is coming soon) made this one treated like a TV show pilot; where things changed drastically from the first to the second. So, for those that aren't used to our fantasy writing, please let me know what you think of the idea/if anything was confusion. No need to comment on the writing as I can tell you that it is terrible compared to now; as some of the dialogue is flat and it's rushed (which at the time of submitting it for class it was very rushed as up until the last minute I had no inspiration of what I wanted to write about at that time). The names used for the characters were placeholders until we figured out the ones we really wanted to use. Veiled Viola squeezed her hazel eyes shut and turned her head away, waiting for the cool blast to punch her. An icy wind surged over her shoulder, immediately freezing the sweat droplets that clung to her neck, turning them to pebbles. Opening her eyes, she righted her head and brought her fingers up to her neck. Her skin was chilled to the touch, fingers lightly sticking to the tiny frozen bumps. With a snarl, she turned back to her opponent, Crystal. Crystal’s lips curled up into a smirk, her hands encased in a light blue hue. She lowered her shoulders and started to pace back and forth, waiting for the next moment to strike, much like a tiger stalking its prey. Her footsteps echoed around the rafters of the abandoned warehouse that enclosed around them. There was a faint, musty smell that permeated the aroma of iron and rust, reminding them of its former glory as a meat packing plant. If the faint stains on the walls and the resonance of scurrying feet weren't a clue. However the images were pushed to the backs of minds; all that mattered was knocking out their opponent. Viola glanced down at her own hands, watching as the olive hue continued to increase in luminosity. Its pulsing matched the beat of her heart, showcasing her connection to her power. She wasn’t going to lose. With a cry, Viola thrust her arms forward. Blasts of energy shot out of her hands, forming the shapes of stars that catapulted themselves towards Crystal. Crystal’s blue eyes widened for a fraction of a second, then she was running for the blast that headed her way. At the last second she jumped high into the air, flipping once, and falling back towards Viola, sticking out her foot, bracing herself for the impact. Viola threw herself aside and skidded on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust as she did so. Crystal landed on the ground, crouching low so the ground would absorb her blow. It crumbled beneath her feet, creating a crater. Coughing, Crystal waved a hand in front of her face, waving the dust away. Dammit. How could she have missed like that? She should have anticipated Viola’s movement; she had done so many times before. That was the point of this exercise, to know what the other was going to do, so you could enhance your own fighting abilities. If she screwed up on that…Crystal shook her head, lowering her gaze. No pain in her feet or knees. She hadn’t enjoyed her added abilities more than in that moment. “Nice try!” Viola called as she got to her knees. Using her arm, she moved her hair out of her face, falling back into a relaxed stance. “I’m not done yet!” The forcefulness to her tone made Viola take a step back. Crystal ran forward, her increased sense of speed putting her right in Viola’s face before she had a chance to move. Crystal grabbed Viola by the neck, digging her fingers into the skin and flung her over the shoulder and onto the ground. Viola let out a grunt of pain, landing hard on her back. Crystal then finished her move by cupping her hands together and firing a gust of wind and ice into Viola. Bringing her arms up to shield her face, Viola crouched low along the ground making herself a smaller target. It had been ingrained in her head so many times it was nearly second nature to her. Icicles whizzed by, cutting the sides of her arms and hands. Crystal took a step forward, gritting her teeth with effort as she focused on her energy, putting it through her hands and into her ice attack. The strength of the wind increased and Viola found herself slowly starting to skid backwards before she was blown off her feet and into the wall behind her, leaving a dent as she slid to the ground. “That’s it!” Viola stood up and closed her eyes, gathering all her strength. Daruma, I need your help. Viola felt a significant shift in the energy inside, it was growing, encompassing her muscle and her nerves. She felt invincible more so than she already was. With their abilities along with being able to control a specific element, their strength, speed, and invulnerability had enhanced as well. Since awakening to her powers, Viola found herself not needing her car to get to and from school, instead opting to run as she could get there in a half hour if she was running at normal speed. With her enhanced speed she could get there in less than a minute. Now she was about to reveal the better part of her abilities. The floor suddenly started to glow in a large circle beneath her feet, illuminating the smile of determination that worked its way onto Viola’s face. As the seconds passed, the circle started to fill in with stars and vectors, all lacing and swooping around each other. Viola was bathed in the emerald light as it filled the warehouse and when it faded, a large, black bear stood on all fours in front of her. It opened its mouth, growling towards Crystal, who merely watched with a lifted eyebrow. “You want to take it that far, huh?” Crystal said. She crossed her arms over her chest, twisting her mouth to the side. As Viola watched, Crystal’s eyes shifted, changing to resemble that of a cat’s. “You asked for it.” She thrust out her hand. “Dricer!” The ground below Crystal started to glow in a circle, this time shapes that of icicles and snowflakes filled the innermost part of the circle. As the light disappeared, a white tiger appeared in front of her in all its glory. It growled loudly, pawing at the ground with its long claws, raking grooves in the floor. Its whiskers twitched, protruding from the blue snowflake shapes marking its cheeks. “Take her down Daruma!” “Go get her, Dricer!” Dricer let out another roar, this time opening its mouth wide enough to show off its long, gleaming teeth. Daruma lifted up onto its hind legs, swiping a paw at Dricer as he came close. Dricer darted to the side and raked its claw across Daruma’s side. Daruma fell back onto all fours, lumbering away from Dricer as Viola let out a cry of pain. Her hand moved to her side and when she pulled it away, blood stained her palm. Three large gashes had appeared on her skin as Daruma was hit. It wasn’t deep enough to cause much damage though; if she got it healed quickly enough, it wouldn’t scar. She didn’t need another set of scars to constantly hide from her family. “Dricer, don’t let up!” Crystal instructed. Dricer gracefully turned on a dime and turned back to Daruma, leaping forward and sinking his fangs into Daruma’s arm. Daruma brought down her left arm, striking Dricer across the face. Now it was Crystal’s turn to scream, a gash appearing on her cheek. “Get away from her, Daruma; you need to give yourself a lot space! Do what you have to!” Viola’s eyes shifted around the warehouse. The staircases weren’t going to help her, Dricer would move quicker to get there, and if he fell, he would be able to twist and turn his way, midair, to land back on its feet. No, Daruma was going to have to overpower Crystal’s guardian another way. “Shake him off!” Daruma brought her paw up once more, this time it glowed the same color green that encircled Viola. A cloud appeared above Daruma, sending down a star shower onto Dricer. Dricer winced as the bursts of energy slammed into his back, forcing him to loosen his grip on Daruma’s arm and rapidly back away, eyes narrowed. Instead of backing off completely, Dricer opened his mouth wide and shot out an icy blast, similar than the one Crystal had shot off at Viola earlier. The combination of both attack combining created a shockwave, forcing the two guardians apart from each other, flying back against the ground. “That’s enough!” Viola and Crystal exchanged glances before standing up straight, relaxing. The glow around them dissipated their guardians along with it. Looking up, they spotted their cousins; one leaning against the railing, the other walking down a set of stairs that reached the floor of the warehouse. “Oh come on!” Crystal protested, placing her hands on her hips. “You barely gave me a chance to beat her, cuz!” Rhuben crossed her arms before sitting down on the last step, watching the two girls with interest. She lifted her hands, forming a black ball of energy, passing it back and forth between her hands. “At the rate this was going, you weren’t going to win; you were just going to blast another hole in the roof.” She lifted her gaze to her twin sister, Riley, as she continued to stand up in the rafters. Riley rolled her eyes. “You send a rainstorm of burning metal down once and you’re branded for life.” She crossed her arms as well, though her stance was more of dominance than comfort. She lifted her hand, palm up, and a fireball appeared above her. Her dark eyes narrowed as she watched the flame. “You lot weren’t paying attention to what you could use around you and what you could anticipate off of each other. You should really rely on your instincts that way.” The flame was engulfed as she closed her fist. “And this is coming from the girl that fights with her fists before her head, yeah?” Rhuben pointed out to her twin. Riley shrugged. She was frowning, though her face was otherwise softened. She could admit that it was a good fight; all of their training was really paying off. Reaching up a hand, she rubbed at a bruise on her shoulder that Rhuben had inflicted during their match. Rhuben turned her eyes back to her cousins. The right one was puffy and dark, a testament to Riley’s blow against her. “You two did a good job,” she said diplomatically. “You can see your differing weaknesses and strengths. Now you know what to work on.” “If you would have given me the chance, I would’ve kicked her butt,” Viola insisted, her hand firmly placed against her side. “Whatever you say, Voilá,” Crystal teased. A drop of blood ran down her cheek. “I would’ve giv’n you hell for sure.” Viola groaned. “I told you before, it’s Viola! I’m not a freaking magician!” “Ok!” Riley placed her hands on the railing of the railing and lifted her body up over the rafter and dropped to the floor. “We get the point.” She rubbed her shoulder, wincing slightly. “If you went on any further you know you’d be too wiped for school tomorrow.” “Powers or not, we still have to be in top shape,” Rhuben agreed. “Especially considering we don’t know what WingzCorp is planning on doing next.” Crystal and Viola nodded. Rhuben turned on her heel and led the girls out of the warehouse. Practice was over for the day. -- So what'd you guys think? I hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather as Spring approaches. :) So you're probably wondering why it's been so long since I've written a blog.
Number one reason is that because of snow I've had about two weeks off of classes so there's legitimately nothing to update anyone about. The other reason because it's not Spring Break yet and that's what my update is for. Ahem, this Spring Break (which is super close, thank God) I plan on doing another edit of Two Pair to send out to other publishers to see if it will be picked up. We were really close last time and they said that if we made some changes/fixed things up then they'll allow us to submit it again. So fingers crossed for that. The other thing is that I want to try something new and hopefully start it during Spring Break. Since I'll have more free-time (which is actually laughable because I have a lot of free time, it's just that writing can be pretty tedious at times) I want to start uploading some of the novels I'm writing on here so I can get your guys' feedback. I got the idea after reading/helping a friend with someone that he's working on and realized that it'd probably help me in the process of my writing. So every now and then I'll post the chapter (or a section or scene) of a story to my blog post and see what you guys think. I am very open to constructive criticism, it's actually really helpful. Though bashing anyone's writing with nothing positive to say at all is not constructive. Just a reminder. The first one I'm probably going to do is from my re-written/re-worked novel that I had written for Hollins Honors Fiction Award, and then did for NaNoWriMo entitled Flynn. If not that, then a few other ideas I've been working on/tossing around. Other than that, this semester is going by quickly because of all of the days off and I can't wait for summer. :) But to be completely honest, I'm more excited for the fact that daylight's savings is this Sunday meaning it won't get dark so early. *Punches air with fists* yes!!!!! |
About Me
Loves anything red. Rock music, playing the guitar, drawing, writing, tattoos, and sports are some of my interests and hobbies. I like to laugh, I like to think I'm funny. I talk a lot...just a warning. Archives
April 2017
Categories
All
|