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I'm looking through my journal seveal months since my legible post and I'm like, "WHAT!?!" I haven't been here since June and it's getting pretty whacked up in La-La Lenaland. Which is one of the many reasons, might I add, that I am moving my blogging to kayandmarsparkinglot.blogspot.com and similar blogs.
So yeah.
-Lena
http://www.sloganizer.net/en/style1,
http://www.sloganizer.net/en/style2,
- 'der mood:
contemplative
You know what sucks? When you are typing and suddenly, something you didn't plan gets stuck in with everything else and before long you've gotten six pages, one death, and the final scenes coming out of your fingers. My magical shirt has worked again, my friends. I typed out six or so pages in an hour and, yes, killed on of my darling characters.
Another thing I killed was the word 'Chapter'. Yes, I am taking the route of young author, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes by making a mini-language of my own. It's that wonderful languages, Limbonian, that is spoken in the first layer of Hell, Limbonia (or Limbo. It all depends who you talk to).
But anyways, I'm still a bit down about the death of my character. Dying in a fight is a horrid way to lose, but it worked. It's something that I don't think my readers will expect.
By the way, I've been working on getting a cast together for a podcast of TSLC. It will have different people as different characters, most of them by myself or my twin friends, Dyl and Sav. It will be a free Podiobook if I can even finish it in the first place. I've gotten 23 pages in all! Go me!
Welp, it's 'der birthday again. My own.
Yeah, I know. Big whoppie! More important issues are at hand.
First, I changed my picture!
I'm also writing more of the ORIGINAL Inferno which is, by the way, fifty five pages long. I'm going for 150. PATD has helped with a few of their newest brands of songs. As has the Fray who, with their slow rhaps, have made the gentle scenes more gentle and the fight scenes more powerful.
I'm all written out, so this is all you will get.
I'm still alive,
Lena
- 'der mood:
sleepy
Let me just say that I hate Blog Tag.
For those with blogs, you know that the most infuriating thing in the world is when someone comes to your blog and 'tags' you. This forces you to go to another blog (and do TONS of hunting for one) and tag them. But I am not going to play the insipid little game. It's stupid and I am not that bored quite yet.
Here's a reminder. Don't frigging play Blog Tag with me because I'm already irritated enough at the world with all my stereotypical angst and such.
Now that I'm done with that miniature rant, I can begin on talking about my new
Yes, I have a super power. I discovered it just now as I turned on my beautiful Zune-Love and turned on the radio. I do not turn the radio on often, might I add. It's not that I don't like it, I do. But I have many good songs on my Zune (including the beautiful free music and Writing podcasts that I get weekly) and there is really no need.
So I turned on the Zune's radio and, for the eight time this week, Sara Bareilles was playing on the radio. I would say this was a coincidence if not for the fact that everytime I've just-so-happened to turn on the radio in the past three weeks, Sara was playing. I adore Sara and it's as if I have a Special Sara-Sense, or a Love Song-Alert. . . Or a Sa-Dar! So now I am the owner of the best power in the music business since Kat gained the ability to listen to me rant about The Burning Hell or since Kay-Da began to be able to listen to music on the internet at her aunt's houses! (Hi Kat-who-only-reads-this-when-bored!) So . . Yeah
And now onto the bigger topic . . .Rewriting Hell. WIP2 has been outlined and scheduled for a three-part deal, all three will have the same characters hopefully (Not-so-Poetic Danielle; Mother of Reason, Virginia C. Fret; the Brutally Honest Child, Queen-ish Helen; and Not-Titled Revues) and only the first part has been entirely outlined. I've got a decent idea of what I want. I have a three-page-long outlining of all the stuff that happens in each layer of Hell . . . But even with the help of my favorite writing podcast, Writing Excuses, I have not been able to write that first craptastic chapter that will later be replaced or deleted. I've written five different beginning paragraphs and all of them have misleading promises that sound like every single 'I'm Dead' book (when only two of my characters are dead, and the book's not told from their perspective!) that has come out since the beginning of time. Yes, I'm counting Vampire books as well when I say 'I'm Dead' books.
I haven't done a site of the week in a VERY long time, so I have two things to pip in.
johndiesintheend.com is a site that has a free novel that just got minor publishing. I can see why it wasn't published (it sounds like an amateur novel, albeit a good one) but it's worth a read. I just printing out 35 pages of it and plan to read it in a heartbeat.
If you have a Zune or an iPod, look up Writing Excuses in your podcast section! A lot of good writing advice from three viewpoints (a comic strip writer, a horror writer, and a sci-fi/fantasy writer). Their latest podcast inspired the villain of WIP2 (MHUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) and they have about 9 episodes counting Bonus Content.
So, until later. . .
L
- 'der location:Sheeperton-Land
- 'der mood:
amused - 'der music:Sara Bareilles
Well, I've found a few gems. The first one is my all-time favorite and I've listened to it eight times already, probably more. It's called "Grave Situations Part 1" by The Burning Hell. It's a song about 2 lovers and one (the husband, of course) has cheated on another. They have a fight and the man kills his wife. They have a funeral and . .. Well, you know that saying: "Hell hath no fury like the revenge of a middle aged woman"? Well, apparently, this version is: "Hell hath no fury like revenge of a dead woman" because as soon as everyone thinks the girl was buried, she comes out of the grave and says: "Aloha, I'm back and I've got some business to do." It's a very quirky song that has that mystery theater sound to it. It's very pleasing.
The second is the song, "Put Down Your Weapons" by Scissors for Lefty (by the way, I just now learned how to spell scissors and I feel like a dumb arse) which is about a man who has been imprisoned and is now out with a knife and is trying to fly on an airplane.
The third is 'Pedestrian' by The Ocean Blue which is mainly about seeing a person on the side of the road, not helping, and then something horrible happening .. .So, yeah.
Just had to tell someone of my newly found indie-rock passions.
'tis L-la again. Here's the dealio.
I'm ONE fifth done with WIP2/SLC/TNI. I'm going through the chapters I have now and either A. Re-writing them or B. Adding in new stuff. I'm changing the characters and I might as well start all over again. I figured something out: Most of my characters were relativily the same! Yeah, I know, weird right? So, how ever painful it may be, I'm starting over and using the old chapters as a template.
THERE IT IS!
From left to right: Virginia (the mentor archetype), Helen of Troy ( the sidekick archetype) and Danielle, our heroine. I'll have another made with Sarsha, Craig, Anthony, and Revues later.
But today, I got completely permission. Why? Because if you are writing for a homework/school assignment, they cannot tell you to get off. WIP2 is now officially my "Lena, if you want to turn in a hundred page long assignment for a mandatory two pager. .. OK?" project! My ELA teacher is assigning us to write a 'myth' and since my story fits into that catagory (It has a mentor taking a hero through a series of events. More characters get added on, including the hard headed caring person and the witty, eye-rolling man) I get to turn it in in bits and pieces. He said if I wanted to turn it in before it was done, that'd be OK but only because I promised tolet him read the rest.
I'm on twenty one pages and hit fifteen thousand words today. That's right FIFTEEN! The problem? I think it's going to be MUCH shorter than I may've thought. . . . Things that normally happen on page 50 (A new character) or page seventy (another new character that helps find a character who's now officially in deep shit ) is happening on page 18 and 21.
Speaking of, remember when I said I wanted to add on a guy? Well, I was typing in Virginia's name when I completly screwed up. It showed up as jibberish and, once I spell checked it, came up as Revues. How they got Revues out of Vigribity I have no idea. But that one little blunder made me think about how, instead of finding Virginia in the darkness, they could've found someone else wh claimed to be her so that they would help. My thinking came up with Revues, a ex-angel who used to be among the ranks of Seraphim until Mr Morning Star himself convinced a bunch of his buddies (Including Revues) to e in his little plot. When it failed, they all got sent down. Revues landed in a mud pit and had been stuck in the dried mud since. Well, he was until a young girl fell into the mud pit and used his face as a foot hold. . . So now they have their own little Angel (Who Helen calls 'CHICKEN BOY!' because of the puny hairless wings that Revues now has) and Virginia is still absent. No idea where she is quite yet. . . . . . . . . . Have to think about that, won't I?
Well, that's what Math is for, is it not?
-L
Speaking of, PAGE EIGHTEEN TODAY! God, I was so happy when I started the first real fight between Helen and Virginia (Lots of yelling!). I had the perfect song running through my head and I was in the zone. When I hit the word count and it said exactly 13,000 words. . . You should've seen me run and proclaim that fact to the entire class. A few of the kinder souls clapped, the others spent five seconds raising their eyebrows before going back to their own business. This was during seventh period study hall, by the way. I get on the computer every single solitary day to write WIP2 (Which I have considered temporarily calling 'The Summerland Caravan', but decided against it for now). They have word at school, so it's a lot easier to check my grammar and so forth (Not to mention my horrid spelling!).
I'm trying for 150 pages in WIP2, but it will all depend on whether or not I do the ENTIRE Divine Comedy or not.
Speaking of which, I had a dream again about a review for WIP2 having the words "It's a Divine Comedy, all right!" Why? Because I write comedy. It's what I do. I HAVE to have wit and sarcasm in my works or else they are failures. Even if I'm the only one who thinks it's funny, because that's all that truthfully counts. But my personal favorite commentary on my work was when someone handed me one of the chapters of ATL and said: "It really feels like a book". Nothing better than that, is there?
OK, it's been a week and after ten thousand (As of yesterday at 11:20 AM) words in my new project (Still not titled, by the way), I have a lot of stuff. A LOT.
First off is my VERY short description of WIP2: 'It involves Helen of Troy, Hell, 'Big ass frucking lions/cats/dogs/bulls', Dante Alighieri, and 'The Summerland Caravan'. If anyone knows what the Summerlands are, they can pretty much guess that this is about a journey through the afterlife. But it's also a ironic thing considering that, instead of the summerlands, our newly-formed caravan (Including Virginia, a older author who has a husband cheating on her with Marilyn Monroe; Helen of Troy, a beautiful golden-eyed girl who has the stunning ability to care AND stay entirly clean at the same time; and Danielle Kenmore, an 18 year old poet who's caught the eye of Sarsha, a male angel who has a fondness for her) is going through Hell. . . Literally.
So I've had a rather interesting time writing about the three girls' relationships as they meet Daniella's ex-boyfriend, become illegal aliens in Hell, and later go through Purgatory and eventually, Heaven to meet Sarsha. I'm thinking of having a guy joing the Summerland Caravan, but I haven't been able to find a character in my head to accompany the three insufferable girls.
Yes, for those who read poetry, WIP2 is based on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. But that's what's so fun about writing for yourself!
- 'der location:Home!
- 'der mood:
creative - 'der music:Alanis Morissette
-L
It's just small.
Yes, I actually wrote something. And, for the first time since November, it's a short story. This time, I've used my rather spiteful tendancies to write from the point of view of Joni G. (name changed to Diane) who is a girl in my dance class who, unlike me, made the dance team. I finished it three days ago and have been editing since. The tenative title is 'Ash High Dance Dreams Dashed' (Tounge twister!)
So, yeah.
Being Spiteful and using the Best Weapon in my Arsenal (The Pen!),
L
- 'der location:Houston
- 'der mood: Spiteful
- 'der music:Love Song
O.K. If you see one movie this entire year, make it Sweeney Todd. Well, unless you are an author or something of the like..
Let me explain, I was hitting another 5,000 word landmark in my writing and was very proud of myself. To congradulate myself, I invited my very good author friend, Jamie-La, to come over, spend the night, and watch movies with folks with British accents in them. We begged and pleaded for my frugal mother to allow us to go out with my step-father to see the first musical that our favorite British Accenter (Helena Bonham Carter) has ever done: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It was a grand night, later watching Harry Potter 5 and Corpse Bride (because we couldn't get enough of H.B.C).
The next morning, I cracked my knuckles and began to type, hoping that Sophie, Sara, and Grace would get off their dazed arses and get to work for a change. But, after twenty minutes of typing, nothing worth anything had come up. It wasn't as if it was crap. I'm used to crappy writing but it was just . . . . Nothing. Nothing was there and nothing except one paragraph describing the sidewalks. No cry of outrage from my inner editor or from anything else. Nothing was really speaking to me and that pissed me off. What had changed between Friday and Saturday. Well, it didn't take long for me to connect the dots.
I haven't written since. But, then again, I did make the mistake of buying the soundtrack and listening to the catchy showtunes. . . . Well, I'll try to write some more, but I doubt that I'll get any real work done.
- 'der location:Home, duh. -.-
- 'der music: 'A Little Priest' from the Sweeney Todd Soundtrack
Well, my dear blog readers, Lena will be gone for a month (or two . . .or three. . . ) due to her horrific grades. So, yeah.
I didn't make the dance team.
New Years. 2008.
How fun.
But to commemorate 2007 and the start of 2008, I decided to print out all pages of ATL. The last page, remarkably, came out just as the clock struck 12. I decided to read it as soon as the whole 'Yeah! Let's drink some wine!' thing faded and now. . . . . Well, Let's just say I am wanting to rip it to shreds right now. It's not OMFG awful. It's not 'Let's throw it into the flames' awful.
It's first draft awful and I feel my Not nurtured editor side of me kick in. It wants to decorate the paper with ink, crossing this out, adding in a few sentences here, suggesting this here and that there. Fortunately for ATL, my little editor has not been fully fed today, nor has it been training for the Editor Olympics. It's still a little baby editor, probably two or three years old. Her name is Grace and she was born the day I started Xanoria.
I love my little Gracey. I don't take care of her, my muse (Who I've figured out is named Sara), takes care of her, to my knowledge. Little Grace doesn't quite know what to do about my horrible first draft. Neither do I, to tell the truth.
Just add on.
My resolution? Finish ATL, start 'Oracle Boy' again, get better grades, get signed up for that mentor ship program
- 'der location:Home
I'm polite. I'm funny. I'm smart. I'm modest.
But her parents do NOT like me! I'm very nice towords them and I've always been relativily quiet.
Hell, I even ignored my own religious preferances (Non Christan, by the way) and went to church with her.
THAT'S the main reason I don't go to church anymore. All because the one time I went to a good church, they guilt tripped me so much I was practically crying. And I hate the whole 'Do this or you'll go to Hell'.
I have no hard feelings for this girl's mother, however. I used to. Especially after she tried to keep the girl from coming to my birthday party or even from inviting me to her's. Even after this girl's mom told me that Kels-La (The friend) did not live there anymore (I called again and Kels picked up). Even after this woman acted as if SHE was Queen Christian and such and that pissed me off.
I'm not allowed to go to her house and she isn't allowed to go to mine. Kels is even forced to not see me! Kels is one of my best friends, and yet . .. .-sighs-
Well, Kels, are you happy now? You ish in my blog.
Love,
Lena
So there's someone who just didn't believe I would finish the book. My dad, H, just wouldn't believe that a 14 year old could finish a book. "Too little experence and not enough practice," he would say. When I corrected him by saying that I had been published in the paper several times and had been writing for years, he simply scoffed.
But today, while at home, I walked into one of his phone conversations. He had no idea I was there, of course, but I heard him say "Well, my daughter is on page fifty on her book! Her own book! She'll finish it by her birthday too!"
He was bragging to his friends! About me! -claps giddily- The man who bet me five bucks I wouldn't finish it was encouraging me without me even knowing it!
-feels warm and fuzzy-
Love,
L
- 'der mood: working
Let's see, to have a character playlist, you've gotta have a song that purely defines a character. So I've been in search for the perfect songs and here they are, sorted by character:
BB: 'Calling You' by Blue October. The funny devotion and clinginess in this song is pure BB and it perfectly describes BB's and Terrian's relationship.
Kestrel: 'Miss Independant' by Kelly Clarkson. It's not so much the words as it is the entire tune of the song.
Talia: There's a couple of songs that describe her, but KT Tunstall's 'Suddenly I See' is on my ATL playlist specifically for Talia scenes.
Pristina: 'Nothing Better to Do' by Leanne Rhymes
Terry: 'Wake up Call' by Maroon 5. The songs quick speed is just like Terry's strange new adventure.
So, yeah. I'm putting all of these on a special ATL playlist so that I can listen to them for inspiration. KT's ALWAYS on my playlists, so there'll be all of her third and latest album on there.
Love,
L
- 'der mood:
exhausted
