“You’re good for a girl!”
As if the scrapes on my hands were by throwing a tantrum of a missed landing. As if the bruises on my knees are from allowing myself to bend at the will of those around me who feel I don’t belong. As if the trickling blood is a colored tear. “You’re good for a girl!” As if being smaller in stature makes me as inexperienced as a wobbly kid on their first board. As if my supposed fragility is expected to be proven right when things don’t go my way. As if I’m expected to acknowledge that there’s only so far I’ll go to succeed. “You’re good for a girl!” Where the first thing I feel is annoyance at the words and then wonder if it was meant to be insulting or if it was truly thought to be something I’d find praise in. If the words were meant to be sincere and not as biting as it could be. As a person that usually sees nothing but the good in others I can’t help but pause all because “you’re good for a girl,” is not actually a complement.
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Happy New Year, everyone!!
2016 came along faster than I anticipated but now that it's here there's a lot to look forward to. Finishing up the semester, graduating in May, and everything beyond. Other than that, it's a fresh start for everyone and I'm excited to see what the year has to bring. I had a pretty good 2015 so I'm betting 2016 will be even better. I don't do resolutions for New Year's, not really. I typically just make a goal and see if I stick with it. (Yes, I know that's basically the same thing but I don't hold it to the same sort of standards that people have to it as there always seems to be a big thing when someone breaks a resolution). My goal last year was to go to the gym more and I'm now in a routine of going about 5 times a week or so. This year my goal is to focus more on my writing. Not only do I have to work on Reagan as well as Flynn but I want to re-write Two Pair. Not only because it's been three years since it was published (four once September hits) but because I write differently now and I feel that I'm a better storyteller. (I'm not amazing but any means, but I see the improvement). That being said, I have the re-written first chapter of Two Pair below; the way this story goes now is that each chapter focuses on one of the girls (in order of Reagan, Mickayla, Ronan, then Savannah) and tells the story switching between their POVs. Let me know what you guys think. Really, let me know; what did you like about it? What didn't you like? What do you think about the characterization? What do you think about the pacing? etc. etc. I hope you all have a great 2016. Peace. :) --- .:Chapter One:. “Ugh, leave it to school to ruin everything.” “Not everything, I got a few great shots of the sunrise.” Reagan Jacoby sighed as she gently laid her surfboard against the wall of the garage carefully placing it down so that it didn’t get scratched. Then she picked up the large beach towel that lay across her shoulders and used it to her body free of the ocean water and sand that stuck to her skin. “I’m sure they’re great, Ro,” she said, addressing her twin sister with a sigh. “But I’ve been trying to get that rodeo flip for weeks now and I still can’t get it.” “Well, if you force yourself you’re just going to get worse,” Ronan commented. She lowered the camera that hung around her neck and placed her hands on her hips. “I know you didn’t manage to land a single trick today, but you’re just psyching yourself out.” “I guess.” Reagan bobbed her head back and forth, twisting her mouth to the side as she thought about it. She had been putting a lot of pressure on herself after the competition she had entered last week. Those girls seemed to have been able to improve quicker than she had. She had placed well, but it still wasn’t something she was ready to brag about unless she could land the rodeo flip more than a few times. She was sure she would have gotten it if she weren’t risking the bus back to the neighborhood. It was one of the few times she hated that neither of them had their license. “You’ll get it,” Ronan said. She reached up and pushed her purple strand of hair out of her blue eyes, chuckling when Reagan did the same movement at the same time, but with her red strand of hair. Being twins Reagan and Ronan had become susceptible to the common questions and trappings of being a multiple. How do you tell each other apart? They were color coded since birth; with Reagan’s color being pink and Ronan’s color being yellow thus dictating everything that was bought for them to be specifically in those colors or an off-shoot of the color. Then when they were young enough to make their decisions of their own desires, Reagan switched hers to red and Ronan switched hers to purple. Despite having the same shoulder length dark hair and standing at the same height, Ronan was bestowed with a mole on her chin and birthmark on her forehead, while Reagan had a birthmark on her left knee. On the other hand, their laughter and voices, though similar, were slightly different. What’s it like to be a twin? The same as being a single person…considering they didn’t know anything about not being a twin. The quickest answer was being born with their best friend at their side. Who’s the oldest? Reagan was born five minutes before Ronan and used it to her advantage as much as possible…though it always backfired in her face when she questioned “Why do I have to do it?” where Ronan would then say, “Because you’re the oldest”. And that was that. . It was an injustice, not to mention the strange sort of responsibility that was thrust upon her shoulders at differing moments. Was it her fault she was born first? For all she knew, with what little space they had in the womb, Ronan had pushed her out just to get some space. People always said that babies played together while they were in the womb, no one knew it could have potentially been a war for dominance. Do you fight a lot? Not very much but that didn’t mean there weren’t odd moments of bickering every once in a while. In the Jacoby household there were fights over very small and petty things. The biggest repeat offender being who got into the bathroom first, though the runners up in competitions were who got to use the ‘good bowl’ for cereal, who got to ride shotgun, who got the bigger brownie for desert, and who was the one to go first when they had a driving lesson. Just about anything could be turned into a not-quite-serious argument of equality. Can you feel each other’s pain? Typically that responded in a light laugh, a short story of the only time they had managed to do it—if it weren’t an outright lie—and say that it was impossible. However that question was then followed up by ‘can you tell what your sister is thinking?’ where a random guess would be the answer. What amused them and others the most were the times where the twin girls would move or say something in the same way at the same time, creating some sort of a stereo effect that would result in surprised laughter. Ronan then called the first shower as the girls tramped into their house being careful not to drag sea water and sand all over the immaculate flooring of the kitchen. Their father set aside the garage and accompanying laundry room to collect their water and sports gear to finish his endless battle of combating piles of sand that managed to sneak its way inside. Their maltipoo puppy, Zack, greeted them at the door, lifting up on his hind legs tail wagging at high speeds and licked at their hands. “Sorry, Zack, you know the vet said you’re going on a diet,” Reagan said as she scooped him up in her arms. “I don’t think licking away all of the dried saltwater is going to help much.” She giggled as his tiny tongue flicked over her chin and she headed towards her room to get her clothes out for the day. Along the hallway she passed a portrait that held her sister and her father and stopped to smile at it, as she did every day. Though their family was small with only the two of them and their father, Elijah Jacoby, she wouldn’t trade it for the world. Seeing her father stick his fingers up behind their heads in bunny ears always made her laugh. Neither she nor Ronan had noticed it when the picture was being taken the last father’s day. As Reagan glanced at the photo, her mind wandered to her mother which was strange in itself as she didn't particularly dwell over the woman she didn’t get to know before she was out of her life. For as long as she could remember it had always been herself, her sister, and their father and it was all she wanted, she loved her life. But then there were the vulnerable moments where the mysterious woman managed to creep in; late nights when she couldn’t fall asleep, when she got her period for the first time and had to call her father at work, Mother’s Day…holidays were always some of the harder days to get through. At some point someone would mention her, question how their mother managed to carry twins to term, or their father would suddenly fall silent and look off into space remembering a time the girls didn’t know. It helped their father was just as good of a mother as he was a father and the missing spot in their lives diminished in size. Not completely gone. But diminish in size. Reagan went to their room and dropped Zack onto the ground, picking up her phone. She navigated to her MugShot profile, one of the biggest social media networks out there, and checked the notifications. A few handcuffs, some new pictures posted, and a comment on a status she had followed the day before. The usual. But then a colorful image caught her eye as she recognized a member of her school’s cross country team as the header for the article. Grinning, she clicked into the article, hoping to read about the win her school had at the latest meet but the longer she read, the lower her jaw dropped. “Unbelievable!” “What?” Ronan shouted over the running shower water. “They mixed up our school names again! They said that Ashburg Arts was the team that got the state record at our last meet!” Shaking her head, Reagan continued to scroll the news article, hoping Ashburg Academy’s name would pop up somewhere. “I mean, sure, they can probably afford the steroids as easily as they buy candy, but we get our wins with hard work.” She continued to look through her phone, checking out the scores of her favorite sports teams before becoming sucked in to Flutter, catching up on the musicians, actors, and athelets that had posted the night before, then catching up on her classmates. Her buzzed in her hand as a text came in. Tristan: We’ll be there in a half hour, Nic needs to get to school early. Reagan: No worries, we’ll see you when you get here. Putting her phone away, Reagan glanced at her watch then sighed heavily when she noticed how much time had passed and the shower water was still running. Must be payback for how long I spent at the beach this morning. Picking up her clothes, Reagan walked over to the bathroom door and banged her fist against it, causing the hinges shake, rattle, and roll. As she continued to knock the surrounding walls trembled and quaked in danger of knocking photos to the floor. “How much longer are you gonna be in there?” she shouted. “I have to get dressed!” Reagan pressed her ear against the door, trying to hear the water over the blood pounding in her ears. Receiving no response, she let out a sigh then alternately slammed both hands on the door with the repeated chant, “Ro. Ro! Ro-your-boat!” On the last few swings she missed and whacked her hand against the hinge of the door, scraping her knuckle. Sticking her finger in her mouth, Regan pictured herself hitting the door and realized how ridiculous she must have looked. It wasn’t like she hadn’t locked Ronan out of the bathroom; but in her defense, nothing was better or more relaxing than reading in a bubble bath after a long day at the beach. Finally, Reagan got a reply—albeit an exasperated one—from her sister as she heard the nickname that had been given to her since first grade. “How long have you been waiting to use that one?” “About as long as I’ve been standing in the hallway,” Reagan said. She crossed her arms. “I thought about going to get Dad’s taser, too. But I thought that might be overkill.” She smiled; sure it was evident in her voice. “Though it’d be a good way to be an only child again. Those first five minutes were pure bliss.” “Like you even remember them. Besides, Dad took his taser to work with him and if you used it on me it’d be considered assault and you’d go to jail!” “Not if it’s my first offense,” Reagan corrected. Of all of the lectures, warnings, and explanations her father had given her and Ronan over the years, it was ways of getting out of trouble that seemed to stick with her the most. Then again, there was nothing better than the camaraderie and familial closeness she got from the Ashburg Police Department. They practically grew up there and had gotten to know the rest of the officers and detectives as their own family. “Whatever. Hold on.” Ronan said. Reagan’s attention turned back to the bathroom as the door opened and an avalanche of steam followed her sister out of the bathroom. “You know you’re the most impatient person ever,” Ronan said. Casually, she ran a fluffy purple towel over her hair. “I know,” Reagan chirped. “It’s part of my charm.” She smiled sweetly and nudged her twin sister out of the way. Before closing the door behind her, she turned around to face Ronan with a raised eyebrow, which Ronan mimicked. “Did you really think that I would go and get Dad’s taser?” “You’ve done worse things,” Ronan remarked. “Miss. You-have-to-listen-to-me-because-I’m-the-oldest. Don’t think I’ve forgotten the time we took Dad’s car for a joyride.” “So I’m creative,” Reagan defended. “I like to have fun. That’s not a bad thing.” “You get bored easily.” “That too.” A light sigh escaped Reagan’s lips and she turned her attention back to her sister. “I hate it when you do that, Sis.” “Do what?” The corners of Ronan’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Prove me wrong. Especially because you’re younger than me.” “I know,” Ronan beamed. “That’s why I do it.” I think I understand what people mean when they say time flies. Okay, I don't think, I know. Especially when I see how long it's been since I posted my last blog post. Since then a few things have come up, but I'll start with something exciting that I want to brag about as much as I can. 1. The Summoning. The Summoning (synopsis: A grieving widow summons her dead husband back from the grave with disastrous results) is a movie that Phillip worked on--his position being that of the *Best Boy Electric--and it aired on TVOne on Saturday. I haven't seen the film yet as I don't get that channel, but I'm waiting for it to pop up online or to see it as it is recorded at home. Either way, I'm excited to watch it. Not only because my brother worked on it, but because I'm a fan of horror/thriller movies in general. Plus, we get this cool picture from it: *best boy electric: is an assistant to the gaffer where he/she is in charge of the day to day lighting. 2. My Master's Project. I've been working with my advisor/graduate program director to get the ball rolling on my master's project. I still haven't had it approved as it has to go through IRB first, but I'm really excited to get started on it. It'll be a literature review and a field study/observation of girls in skateboarding. That's the general idea so far, most of what it will be is a history of the sport pre and post Tony Hawk era and then the gender differences within the sport will come into play. Again, it's not completely hashed out yet, but it's getting there. 3. Writing. I'm always writing as it is, but I haven't really been focusing on any of the works that will go into the Quadruple or Nothing series or the other books ideas that I've had. As a matter of fact, every time I try to write for them I lost motivation and inspiration very quickly or I don't like the way it's going and start all over again. For example, I've written the first three chapters for a work that will go under Quadruple or Nothing about five times now because there was always something wrong with it. (It happens). But I realized it wasn't because I didn't like what I was writing, it was that I was putting too much pressure on myself to have it at a certain standard to sell. I wasn't doing what I had done with my other ideas and write it for fun and then polish it to be sold on Amazon or the other outlets I have to choose from. It really sucked the fun out of it and made it a daunting task for me. Now that I have an entirely different outlook on it, it's gotten a lot easier and I'm having more fun with it. I may even post chapters of it up on here as I have done with some of my writing from before. I think it would be fun for everyone to see how it comes together as I'm writing it and give me feedback as I go along, rather than wait for the final product. Now I just have to work on actually finishing a chapter to the point that I like it. Haha. Hello everyone,
Long time no talk. Well, I would have had other blog posts up but there hasn't really been much to talk about. As you may have seen from our Facebooks, Mere and I have finished our first year in grad school and are gearing up for our second one. I would announce my grades, but I haven't gotten any of them in yet so I have no idea as to what they are. I'm thinking two As and a B though, as one class was actually pretty difficult. (Let me tell you, don't ever use SPSS unless you absolutely have to, it's a nightmare). I know the classes I'm going to be taking next semester: Sports Journalism, Sports and Recreation Marketing, and Television and Society. I'm really excited for the Sports Journalism class; not only is it something that will bring in my interests to work on, but it will also help me with my work at S4 as well as an internship I just started with Live Out: The Outdoor Social Network. I'm waiting for my project topic to be approved and because of the fact that I'm doing a project, I don't have to take a summer class. Which is great in case I ever need to/want to go home or if there's something that I need to help someone else with. However, as many knows that means I have to look for a job. I've already had a interview somewhere so far, and I'm setting up an interview at another place so I'm crossing my fingers that I get something. Though I have been told by both representatives that looked over it, that I have an impressive resume. *Pats self on the back*. What else can I tell you? I have more time to write now, so I'm going back and editing Two Pair one more time (let me tell you, editing is never finished) as well as getting started on a few more ideas that will work towards other book ideas that we've had for a while. It's just a matter of time of figuring out what I want to write and not losing motivation or inspiration for it. But with so many ideas, it'll be easy to jump around and get a multitude of projects started so that'll be fun. I hope everyone has a great end of the semester, graduation, and summer break! Peace. :) 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. :) 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. :) I know it's only the second day into NaNoWriMo, but I have a few tips that I want to share with those that will be participating that I believe will help you get through the month.
Starting Out Before you begin to write, limit distractions by turning off the internet, television and phone. I always have music playing because that helps me when I need some inspiration, but I sometimes watch YouTube videos while I write as well. Not only does it help me with stream of conscious (and that can have some good scenes come out) but when I need a break, I just shift my eyes and watch a video. Besides, I'm a multi-tasker, so it doesn't really bother me. Create a Writing Ritual Creating a writing ritual is important, decide how long you are going to write for and keep to it and write. Keep to this routine, your writing habit every day and it will become habitual. Make sure you a have a set time of day that's perfect for you to write. Not only will it help you get into the habit, but then you have no excuse not to write when you have the time set aside for it. Forget About It When you're done with your novel forget about it. But for only a few months. It'll give you time away from it so when you go back to edit you can look at it with fresh eyes. And you may flinch because the first drafts are usually pretty bad. So after a few monthsn you can start editing and rewriting. Celebrate After you reach your target NaNoWriMo goal and get to your 50,000 words (or even 20,000 if that was a goal) you’re a winner. So go celebrate. But don't stop writing if the novel isn't done. You have your habit, stick to it until you think you're finished. But you deserve some time for celebration either way. For those that don't know, National Novel Writing month is celebrated in November. The idea is that you take the whole month of November and write a novel. It doesn't matter if you finish the celebration is that you got started on a project you enjoy.
And that's how Two Pair was born in 2010. I wrote it in two weeks then spent the next two (technically three if you count that year) years editing it to be sure it was good for publication. And you know the rest of that story. Since then I haven't participated in NaNoWriMo though I would've liked to. The only reasons I hadn't was because I had no ideas. But now that I'm sitting in this corner chair that has exclusively become mine (ask anyone that walks by this corner M/T/W/TH at about three o'clock and they'd agree with you--*hangs up reserved sign*) I've been thinking about the things I could do and have narrowed it down to two ideas: 1. Flynn. <---That's a tentative title, but it was the idea I turned in and co-won for the Hollins Fiction Prize senior year at Hollins. 2. Ride or Die. That title I really like. This one would be a book about a girl that participates in BMX and how she had to deal with being a girl in a male dominated sport as well as dealing with a family that thinks it's too dangerous for her to participate in. Which is a tentative plot, but the general idea is the same. (3. Maybe that novella on Reagan between the Quadruple or Nothing series and what could potentially come after). Now, I' not saying I'll be able to finish one of these in November, especially since two of my really long papers are due that month, but I'd like to get a good chunk of it out of the way. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be able to do it, no matter which one it is that I work on. I'm great at time management as anyone can say, but 20 page papers can really kick my butt, especially when I think I've said all I need to say in 10. Let me start off my blog with a question for you guys; have you ever watched TV for a homework assignment?
*Raises hand* Of course, I have. If you’ve been following my blog since the start, you’d know that I was in a J-Term class called “Writing the Television Sitcom” so I watched a LOT of TV. Mostly 2 Broke Girls, which I ended up writing a script for. Now, I thought it would be the only time I would have the privilege of being able to watch TV for homework. Guess again! *Throws confetti while spinning in a quick circle* For my Com 602 class, I got to watch an episode of Storage Wars and write a blog post about how it pertains to capitalism. (And let me tell you, that was a good blog post, even if I do say so myself. I wont know what grade I’ll get on it later). Enough about that, I’m excited to be able to watch Storage Wars for homework. You know why? Mostly because I love that show. I had seen it once before while channel surfing and had found myself enthralled with it. It’s really fascinating, people auctioning off storage units that hadn’t had their bills paid and then making money off of the items that are inside. Or, trying to, anyway. Now, I would be even happier if it was that I was instructed to watch Chicago Fire or Chicago PD as one of my homework assignments. Especially tomorrow and Wednesday as the new seasons start and I’m going to be missing the first half of each one because we’re going to be driving back from campus at that point. Curse you really short stoplight coming off campus!! *shakes fist*. But that brings me to my second point. The MTV show, Catfish. I’m sure many people have heard of it at this point. Catfishing is when you create a profile or account of some website online and pretend to be someone else for your own personal gain or because you feel the person you’re talking to wouldn’t enjoy the real you. I enjoy that show as well. So much, that I’m going to be writing a paper on it. A 20 page paper. Yes, for my Com 603 class we’re talking about social change. As soon as Catfishing became a thing, or else that it got a name for it in the online realm, it would commonly be known as a con artist in the real world, it created a lot of social change. Not only were people even more cautious online, but they’ve now gone to start researching people they talk to online as well as checking the validity of what is said to them. I’m going to be looking through scholarly journals, databases, and other websites I can find about con artists and adapting it to Catfishing and will write a paper and present a presentation on it. The only reason that I’m studying con artists is because Catfishing is still relatively new, so there wouldn’t be any articles directly on the topic. But I’m excited to start the paper and see how it adapts. This semester in all three of my classes, I have nothing but papers. My first class has two short papers, one long paper, and then a final exam (which is an even longer paper), my second class has an 18-25 page paper that I am to write, and my third class has a 20 page paper that I have to write. (There’s some leeway to the paper for my third class, however). I’m going to be writing papers until I die, at this point but the topics are pretty interesting. The ONLY complaint I have is that I have to write in APA style. I dislike APA almost as much as I dislike Chicago/Turabian style. And allll of my papers have to be in this style. Thankfully I can adapt pretty well and I’ll write enough of them so that I get enough practice, but if I had my choice, MLA is the way to go. *Fist pumps*. So, I’m going to be very busy getting research and writing done, especially as these are going to be the longest papers I’ve ever written. But I’m excited to see how they come about. Also, on my first assignment for my first class, I got an ‘A’! So there’s that for motivation! :) Wow, it's been a while since I put up a post. Almost a week. So what have you all missed...well the World Music Ensemble performance on Friday was amazing!!! Everyone was very receptive to it and enjoyed it very well. Especially when we played the song Sugar Bum Bum, there were even people form the audience dancing!!! In the aisles of the church. It was sweet.
Then Monday we went to the Harrison museum with one other girl to perform two songs on the African Marimba, downtown. It was....good. We played well and a lot of people liked it, but we felt really awkward because it was kind of a upscale kind of place. So we played our songs, ate their food (which was really good) and then left. It rained like crazy and made it hard to find a parking space, which was actually pretty funny. But the whole experience was good. Then last night/today I found out that I won the Fiction Award at my university "in recognition of an undergraduate who has done outstanding work in the writing of fiction". *Grins cheesily and waves like a queen*. Yeah, I won. I got a certificate, a ribbon, and a check. So I guess that makes me a professional author now. If so, awesome! Also if so, take that to the people that said my writing sucked! And Vans, you wasted a good opportunity of using my writing talents. Haha. So only 25 days left until graduation and, thankfully, I finished all of my big assignments weeks ago so I just have to wait for the deadline and turn them in. |
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
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