Announcement

Hey Everyone!

So I am writing to let you know that I am taking a little hiatus, actually a big one. I have decided to serve a mission for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This means that for a year and a half I will be talking to people about the church and what I believe. I am super hyped and really excited, but it also means that I will not be blogging or writing. It was a hard choice, since I don't want to leave my story hanging, but this is clearly a step I'm should take in my life.

I leave next Tuesday and will be back August of 2014. I'll be back into posting then, as well as talking about life in college (I hop right into that after I get back. I must be crazy ☺).

Anyway, thanks to you guys who have stuck around and dealt with my inconsistent posting habits. I don't deserve you!

Keep up writing and just living your dreams and filling the world with that literary bug. It's the least we can do ;).

See you again in a year and a half!

~Shaylanne

Outline is done!

After struggling to get an idea for this story together I've managed to do the unthinkable: I've finished an outline. Yes I know, it's really pretty crazy, BUT I'M SO EXCITED!!! I had been spending so much time just trying to figure out what I was going to do with my book that I was getting frustrated. I knew who the characters were, and I had a decent grasp of my magic system, but that was it. And now not only do I have a working idea of where I'm going, I know what the book is all about. I still have a lot of work to do, but I've finished the prologue and started on chapter one. My outline is looking at my story from the perspective of the different countries I am working with. But now I think I am going to do one with the people in my story so I have a rough idea of what they'll be doing. But that isn't something that I need to have done for my story to work, it'll grow and develop as my story unfolds and as I figure out what I want done.

Anyway, I've finished school for good (got that Associates degree!) and with one of my jobs allowing me to work on my own computer stuff, I have a lot more time now for writing. It's a work in progress and honestly I'm terrified because I have so far to go and so much to learn, but I won't go anywhere if I don't start teaching myself now.

Keep going writers!

~Shaylanne

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

Oscar Wilde 

Writers-Block has kindly agreed to take a vacation

So I have finished my prologue and part of the first chapter of my story. It is actually closer to a thousand words instead of my wished for two thousand. I hadn't realized how much two thousand was until I sat down with it as a goal. It never felt like a lot when I only had fifteen thousand to work with...But I do like what's happening. Actually that's an understatement, I am really, really excited about what's happening. I've had three different beginnings floating in my head for months, but when this fourth one popped up I knew it was the one to run with. It may not last through the whole process, but it's the beginning that will get me to the end.

From colleenanderson.wordpress.com

Tomorrow is my library day, so I plan on working on my story then, as well as coming up with more terms and sayings (as well as a very broad and rough outline, maybe). I mean, I have read books where the sayings were cheesy and cliche, but I also think that modern-day slang has no right to be in a story where people are capable of flying. I mean when a society is so fundamentally different, its slang should reflect it. So I need to spend time on that, and maybe (just maybe) I can come up with something that is true to my book, and doesn't drive my readers up a wall.



~Shaylanne

So the slang in novels is a pet-peeve of mine. What things have authors done that makes you squirm?

Hey Ya'll!

Sorry for not posting! I've been so swamped with everything that I've been doing that blogging has been one of those things that have been left on the bottom of my to do list (it's somewhere with folding laundry). But I will done with work and school within a month so then I will have three months of complete and horrid laziness.

But anyway, since time doesn't allow for a long or detailed post I will make this note to let you know that I have finally started writing my story! YAY!!! My goal is 2000+ words today. Then a basic outline, based on where my story is going. I have a great idea set out, but I need a starting point that only writing can provide.

But don't worry, I'll post again (probably tonight before I watch Avengers) and let you know what I got done.

But until then: I am will indulge in a little bit of Sherlock Holmes obsession:

From filmjournal.net

I really like the hat.

Warning: I feel the "Scarlet Pimpernel" bug biting me, so if you want to see anything Ian Mckellen pre-Lord of the Rings, then you'll want to visit this page again in the next couple weeks...

Also I got a Facebook. So soon I'll be creating one for my Mnemosyne, and when I do I will let you all know!

Ciao!

~Shaylanne

(Sorry again. I feel like I'm doing a shoddy job of adding anything of substance to the internet stratosphere)

Is anyone else excited about the Hobbit? Becuase I am!!!!

Book Review 2

Two weeks ago I wrote a post about one of my favorite books "The Thief". Here is the next book in this great series!

To be quite honest Megan Whalen Turner is my favorite author (sorry Miss Austen!). She is a bold writer, leaping into the story and expertly weaving it into a tale so intriguing that it's addicting. I made the mistake of checking out the last three books all at once and I was up until two in the morning finishing them (which wasn't smart seeing as I had to get up at 5:30). She has such a way of grabbing the reader with subtle plot twists and endearing characters. The tales seem simple and very up front, but that is simply because they are so well written. If I could write like her I'd be happy. I'd also be a published author...which would also make me happy...deliriously so.

So without further ado, I present the second book of this fabulous foursome:

The Queen of Attolia

Doesn't Gen look dashing handling that boat? *Sigh* I'd almost give up Darcy...here's the book's synopsis:



*I wrote this post months ago. And for the sake of accuracy I have not removed the above line. Just ignore it... Please...just tuck it into the back of your mind. Somewhere in a file titled "Darcy must never know". Then stick it in your X,Y,Z file so when you decide to tell him you can't find it.

"When his small mountainous country goes to war with the powerful nation of Attolia, Eugenides the thief is faced with his greatest challenge. He must steal a man, he must steal a queen, and he must steal peace.

But his greatest triumph - as well as his greatest loss - can only come if he succeeds in capturing something the Queen of Attolia may have sacrificed long ago."

So this book has an immediate plot twist that makes you shriek "WHAT JUST HAPPENED HERE???". The twist, is good. The thrill as you wait for the next page, is good. Shrieking whenever you get hit by such awesomeness, is bad for your hearing.


So please read this book, it is incredible.


Oh and did I mention that it's a love story? No? Dang. Should have done that...


-Shaylanne

I love a good sequel, don't you?

Trivialities

So I swore up and down that I would never replace books with electronics.

And that's mostly true.

It's just this Kindle is so dang convenient. I got it early (by three days!) and it goes everywhere with me. I have everything that I could dream of needing. I can get "Pride and Prejudice" for free off Amazon, I can check out books online from my library and I can get on the Internet. Though please, don't get it for the Internet. The only reason that I can stand how slow that connection is, is because I wasn't expecting Internet connection. For most practical purposes it stinks. But for fun, it's fine (I mean I can't even listen to Pandora on it. No soundtrack, no cigar).

Yes but keep in mind I have a Generation 2. Not the Kindle Fire. Which I have every intention of buying...when I am independently wealthy.

~Shaylanne

P.S. I'm Skyping my best friend after work today. Soo excited!!!!

Book Review 1

Hey Everybody! Ok so this is no kidding probably my favorite book in the whole entire world. And honestly as a wannabe writer this book scares me like nothing else. I have read it over ten times, and out loud to my siblings twice. This book is the wittiest book I have ever read. There are some books that you can sit there and go "yeah then he kills this guy, then he goes out with this girl but she's not the one" etc, fill in the blank, you know the predictable stuff. But if you can do that with this book I'd be very much surprised.


As an author I think that the difficulty in writing is coming up with something that will pull you back again and again, this book does that. I read it and I want to be like that when I write. If you need an author to go after look to Mrs. Turner here. And no kidding cross my heart and hope to never write again, you will find something new in this book every flippin time you read it. But anyway here is the back cover description:



"Gen is released from prison by the magus, the king's scholar. The magus finds Gen filthy, uncouth, and insolent, but he needs Gen’s skills as a thief. Without telling Gen where they are going, he takes him out of the city. They are joined by the magus’s two apprentices, Sophos and Ambiades, and by Pol, a soldier.

The journey is dangerous, and the travelers grate on each others’ nerves. None of the main characters are exactly what they seem to be. By the end of the book, secrets are revealed, relationships adjusted, and respect between the travelers is lost and won."

Actually this is Wikipedias description of the book and its a decent synopsis. But believe me, you will come away from reading this book with a greater desire to work harder on your writing. There are in addition to this book, three more in this series. So I will try and get a up for all of them soon!

~Shaylanne

What are some of your favorite books? Give me a reason to not do my homework! ;)