Follow the Portal

I have a domain now! I decided the price was too good to pass up, so follow the portal (well, the link below it anyway) to my new blog page! Nothing is there yet, but there will be in November! :)

www.thewritemage.com

Friday Freeday: 400!

I can't believe this is my 400th post!

Thank you to my 100 readers, also. You make me want to keep writing SOMETHING. lol

That said, I think I know where I'm going next in blogging, and I'm kind of excited about it.

I'd mentioned flash fiction posts, and while I was kind of leery about it, I wondered how I could tie them into my WIP The Crystal Bearer. A tidbit about my story, my main character loves to read. So, why not do flash fictions based on tales that would be written in the world my story? I'm already writing a story based on one of the series she's reading, so why not take it a step further, you know? I think it would help keep my mind fresh.

They'll most likely be on Tuesdays, so I can call it Tuesday Tales. I'm obsessed with alliteration, I know. That said, I'd also like to sometimes do a Final Fantasy Friday (and bring back Wednesday Words). That's why I call myself the Write Mage, and the games are a big influence in my life as well as in The Crystal Bearer, after all. While I'm more knowledgeable about the mid-to-later games in the franchise, they are something I'd love to share with you all, too.

So, I believe that is where I'll be headed in November.  Heads up: these 400 posts may be under a new blog link and title then, so I can shift the focus.

Thank you again for being here to read the craziness that comes out of my head. :)

#amreading: Dragon of the Stars

Finally back with a new book to share with you all!

So our resident Ninja, Alex J. Cavanaugh, writes as well as gladiates...no that's not right...Ninjiates? Sure, why not.

I read Cassafire a little while back, the second book in his Cassa series (because I'm a rebel), and had tweeted often in my excitement about his newer book, Dragon of the Stars, which had a website attached to help us try to figure out what the Kargrandes are. I'm reading it fairly slowly, having burned through my Goodreads book challenge and working on revising and being a CP, but I still need to know what exactly the Kargrandes are, and I've come to realize I think I thouroughly enjoy military science fiction, if not, then Alex's books.

So, let me share with you some of this book using Random.org. There are 240 pages in the Kindle edition, and Random has chosen for me page..................................114, which is almost halfway through the book.

He hesitated, but no one else held the proper qualifications. "You have the bridge until I return. Make sure everyone knows their duties."

Her eyes grew wide, but she nodded. "Yes, sir."

Aden sprung to his feet, determined to locate his missing lieutenant.

I can't imagine what's happened between where I am and this point, and I can't wait to get there, either!

What's everyone reading this week?

Bat-Shit-Crazy!

Forgive the language...or blame Dani and Jackie. haha Today, they would like to know those 5 things that drive you up a wall. You can visit them over at Cover Girls and comment with a link to your own post.

1. People talking loudly or listening to something loudly when you're trying to listen to something.

2. People who use curse words ALL THE TIME.

3. People who think they can sing but can't. As a musician, that offends me greatly.

4. When black people stare at other black people like they haven't seen black people before (sorry, got really specific with that one).

5. Guys who honk at you when you're walking down the street.

Have a great weekend! Share your 5 or anything that drives you crazy.

Mmmeh Blogging and Names

I preface this by saying I have to remember that Fall is my favorite season because of the beauty of the trees changing, the cool walking weather, and the smell of burning firewood, and that it's not about the utter destruction it causes to my health. I've been coughing for about 24 hours, and I want to lie down until I stop.

So, I remembered today is Tuesday, and I thought, "I really don't want to blog a thing...like ever again." This is, first off, typical of me. I start something with gusto and eventually get tired of it. It's most likely my topics. I realize I almost don't even talk about writing, so maybe I should work on that, because, you know, WRITE Mage. Maybe I need to shift my blog focus. Is it LG Keltner who does flash fiction posts? Maybe I can start that, get my head back in the game. So if I disappear in November/December (except on 1st Wednesdays), that is most likely what I'm doing. Also, be prepared if my posts become sporadic for the rest of the month.

This next piece is sponsored by the latest controversy of verbal diarrhea from Raven-Symoné and "ghetto names." While even as a black girl born in the mid 80s, I cringe at some of the names I hear around me and have often called them made up. Someone on Youtube once said to me, "All names are made up," and I didn't have a valid argument for that, so I didn't respond. My and many parents born in the 50s/60s (and were given "normal" names) also groan when they see the names parents born in the 70s/80s have named their children. And while some names are just plain unforgivable (did you ever hear of the mom complaining that the teachers couldn't pronounce her daughter's name La-a, pronounced LaDASHa? *scowl*), I understand that some people are trying to either be unique or reach back to an Africa they never had the chance to experience. For instance, my classmate Nyeisha, who has always hated her name, learned that Nye is Swedish for "truly golden" (and one of her middle names actually IS Golden), and Isha is Hebrew for "woman" and Indian for "protector/lord". Even if her mom didn't mean to do that, I think that's pretty powerful.

Nyeisha also shared this poem by a young woman whose name I imagine is spelled Shakandria (shu KAHN dree uh). If you have a Facebook, search Cassandra Whitlock McClary, who posted the poem. It even made me think twice about cringing at some names. Also, there's a writing project in the back of my head featuring warrior sisters, and maybe, just maybe, to help empower little girls out there whose names don't sound like my Hebrew first name, French middle name, British last name, that they can be great with something as simple as having MCs with names like theirs.

Friday Freeday

I don't know why I bother trying to keep a schedule. Express Yourself was supposed to be today, but I'm used to doing them on Tuesdays. SMH!

Oh well. I really don't have much to say. Allegra & company are helping with my allergies, but I need to pair it with something to open up my sinuses. Feels like inhaler time, too, so I should probably get my prescription renewed, though the health site I just read said expired inhalers won't kill you.

I had an interesting dream that I might want to flesh out into a story. We'll see. I've had a couple prospective ideas floating around my noggin. I'm once again pausing on querying while my new CP looks at The Crystal Bearer. Phew. One day, it's going to be published, by God.

NaNoWriMo is next month. I have some time to decide if I want to do it, but if so, I need to start *gasp* plotting something. I tried pantsing it once or twice and failed miserably. Plotting is definitely the way to go if I want to get 1000 words a day out. Maybe I'll write by hand for this.

Does anyone have any big plans for the weekend? Any new projects? I'd love to hear about them. :)

IWSG: A Day Late!

I went home allergy-sick yesterday, so I forgot to post! So Happy Over-the-Hump Day! It's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post. This group was created by the ninja Alex J. Cavanaugh, and it's gotten so big that it has its own website, book, and upcoming anthology! We post (normally) every 1st Wednesday of the month, and you can sign up to join us any time!

This is mostly a post about being grateful for another group I joined last month. It's the Pitch Warriors, people who didn't make the cut during Pitch Wars. We mostly talk on Facebook, but it's such a helpful and encouraging group, and I even received a CP who I hope will be with me for the long term (she's also got a GREAT story I can't wait to see published). I'm a super introvert, so I rarely do any of these contests or groups to make new friends and what-not, but this time it's really nice to be around people who were on the same boat.

That's all. :-D

Click to view more info!

Express Yourself: Scary Places (Wooooooo)

Happy Tuesday. :) The Cover Girls, aka Jackie @ Bouquet of Books and Dani @ Entertaining Interests provide these fun questions for us to get to know their readers a little better and vice versa. Feel free to join in and comment their posts with the link to yours.

This week, they ask: Where would be the scariest place to spend Halloween?

Anyone else live in a town or state that has an old, prominent family in it? Ours are the DuPonts, and my cousin got married in their Bellevue House (which was turned into a park by the DuPont children), which is a replica of James Madison's Montpelier. My sister saw a crawlspace in the women's bathroom. We saw a hidden door in the room where the ceremony was, and I was able to pull a piece of the fireplace's broken brick out to peek inside. I'm sure had I moved the rubble, there would've been a secret switch or something. We even took my mom up to the DuPont estate Wintherthur for her birthday last year (it's so big, it has its own zip code).

Old, scary houses, especially mansions, always bring old ghosts to mind (like the awesomely bad movie The Haunting). One day, I'm going to start writing a ghosts-in-the-mansion story, but it would need to be really original. lol

(Woooooooooooo)

Where do YOU think the scariest place to spend Halloween would be?

A Very Rainy Friday (Here Be Blog Memes)

Well, thank you, those two of you who took pity on me Wednesday! lol I now have...

Just kidding. I now have 100 Followers! I wish I had stuff to giveaway or something, but I'm a part-time casual/seasonal administrative assistant, so I don't. BUT I'm declaring that that will change soon, as one of the other admins just picked up another job! This department tends to keep its people, so the chances that I will be full time soon are HIGH!

And now for Fast Five Friday! This is created by the Cover Girls, Dani and Jax, who also do the Express Yourself Weekly meme, which is also below. You can visit their blog and participate by posting your own Fast Five answers and then commenting with the link to your post.

Today, they want us to rattle off 5 favorite classic literature novels that we adore. Some of mine are plays. I hope that's okay.

1. Death of a Salesman

2. The Glass Menagerie

3. Taming of the Shrew

4. A Christmas Carol

5. The Great Gatsby

For Express Yourself, they would also like to know what our favorite cookie/cake is.

I LOVE oatmeal raisin cookies. They're not only tasty, but you can eat them guilt-free any time of the day! Chocolate chip comes in a close second, but it has to be a really good chocolate chip cookie. I also love mousse cake and a Boston creme-style cake (though it doesn't have to have the chocolate frosting. I just love the pudding).

What are your favorite classic novels? Or cookies? Or cakes? lol

Have a great weekend!

Lost a Follower

Aww man. I was staring at my "99" followers hoping for the one to break me into 100, and I noticed today, I'm down to 98.

I know I'm not the most interesting of bloggers, and like me, maybe that person just got bored and didn't want anymore notifications. I can see that. I also kind of wish I interested more people...or that I interested people more? Yeah, that one.

I get many views but few comments even when I ask a question. In my real life, I'm used to being the one who goes unheard, so it's not particularly new, but man. I don't know. I guess for now I can only be me, and eventually, I'll catch on.

(Late post. I was at a workshop all day yesterday.)

Friday's Express Yourself

Finally. Friday.

I haven't written a THING in some weeks now. I have some ideas bubbling up in my head, and I'm thinking of going back to pencil and paper to put them down. I haven't been on my laptop as much, and when I am, I'm playing games on it. Shifting how I write has always helped, so maybe it's time to do that.

In other news, it's time for Express Yourself!

This meme was created by Jackie @ Bouquet of Books and Dani @ Entertaining Interests! They give us a series of questions each month, and we get to answer them and learn more about each other.

This week, they ask: If you could switch bodies with someone for 24 hours (like in Freaky Friday), who would you switch with and why?

Well, today's my little sister's birthday, so I might want to get a lot of presents today. lol And maybe be 29 again. Try to get some bucket list items checked off before 30. ;)

Who would you switch bodies with for a day?

Relax, I'm On A New Book.

I'm pretty sure I bought this book a year ago now, and I'm finally about to read it. Natalie Whipple, the awesome author of the awesome Transparent books (still waiting for a third, but you know), is also the author of this one, and I can't wait to crack it open.

But first, let's see what's in store for me in this'n. There are 205 pages in the Kindle Edition, and Random.org has chosen page 167. Because, you know, it hates me. Let's see if I even remember how to get to the proper location on my Kindle.

"Do you have any tips on how to break the news to Mom?"

He laughed. My father, the ex-Akuma, laughed. Then he shook his head. "A sleeping tigress will be angry no matter how you wake her."

I sighed. Awesome advice.

Teehee.

Reading anything new? What do you think? Have you read any of Natalie's work? I love her.

Fast Five Friday

Happy Friday! Thursday was extremely long, and I wanted to break up with it.

Visit the Cover Girls' Fast Five Friday page to participate. Don't forget to link your post in a comment to them once they post!

Last Friday, they wanted us to list 5 things we're looking forward to in the Fall. Fall's my favorite season, so this should be easy.

1. Cooler weather
2. Pretty leaves all changing color
3. Bonfires
4. S'mores
5. More reasons to drink lattes

Today, they want to know what 5 books we want to see turned into TV shows or movies.

Let me preface this by saying that the first Octavia Butler book I ever read, Dawn, is coming to TV! I'm so excited! Read about it here.

Warning: My list only contains 3 authors. lol

1. Graceling/Fire (movie)
2. Bitterblue (tv)
3. The Inheritance Trilogy (tv, so it can go on and on)
4. A Deep Green Sea (movie)
5. Mr. Spaceman (either, as long as the creators of Futurama do it lol)

What about you? I know some people get mad when Summer's gone, but do you like anything about Autumn? And how about books you'd like to see as movies or tv shows?

Accidental Wednesday Words: Foreign

I forgot to post yesterday. At least I actually had work to do.

 Yesterday, I started reading Foreign, a self-published space opera by Alitha Martinez, who I met at our local Comic-Con this past..August? I think it was August. Time is flying. Anyway, Alitha started out as a comic illustrator, and she does BEAUTIFUL art. I bought three post-card prints of her characters, and I can't wait to have the space to stand them up. You can read a sample chapter of the above here, and enjoy the tatted man candy line-up behind it. hehe

But now, let me choose a line or two from a random page in the book. There are 133 pages with words on them, so using Random.org, we will look at page.....76.

(Pause: Page 73 has one of the prints I bought, a character I haven't met yet named Ricki. Her face is the backdrop of Alitha's homepage, Welcome to Ariotstorm. She's gorgeous! Unpause.)

Glass hulls offered a glimpse into an ideal society where there was no crime or fear; all of the citizens valued their hard-won independence too much to defile it. Every make, model, creed, code, and species lived side by side completely unconcerned with their differences.

Sounds like a utopia.

What are you currently reading? Care to share a line?

Express Yourself + Pitmad News!

Happy end of the week day! lol

So, GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE!

I got my first #Pitmad agent/editor favorites! Ack, what a difference a week makes! It's really a confidence booster, and I certainly have to thank my Pitch Warriors on Facebook. It's been a while since I've been part of a community where people are actively helping each other, and I think it's because we're not only writers, but we all needed an esteem boost after Pitch Wars. I know many of the Pitch Warriors received favorites as well!

And now, this week's and last week's Express Yourself questions, brought to you by Dani at Entertaining Interests and Jackie at Bouquet of Books.

Aug. 31- Sept. 4: What scent (candle, fragrance, etc) is your fave during Autumn?

I LOVE the smell of burning firewood in the Fall. It's so relaxing to me, and I tend not to have clear sinuses in the Winter, so I don't get to smell it as often. lol

Sept. 7-11: What is the last text you sent and/or received?

I texted my mom to see if I could borrow her car, but she had fallen asleep, so I walked over to her house lol.

20 Things

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a good Labor Day. I actually cooked. lol Nothing big, but just enough that there are leftovers. Yay.

So, this will hopefully be the last week I'm reading Cloud City, and I'm working on some #Pitmad pitches. I also joined a Facebook/Twitter group called #PitchWarriors, for those of us who didn't get picked for Pitch Wars. It's been a big mood uplifter and help.

So, to give y'all something more than an update, Heather Holden participated in "20 Things", a blog meme where you answer 20 questions about yourself. So I decided to follow suit. :)

How tall are you?

I am 5'3. Shorty!

Do you have a hidden talent? If so, what?

I like to do voice impressions. I can't do too many, but I try.

What is your biggest blog-related pet peeve?

Super long posts, especially on days like IWSG or A to Z, where they ask people to keep their posts short.

What is your biggest non-blog related pet peeve?

Ignorant people who speak before full understanding something. Or lazy dumb people. If you can help it, be smart. lol

What's your favorite song?

I have too many to name.

What is your favorite ETSY shop?

It's popular enough to have a question? lol

What's your favorite way to spend your free time when you're alone?

I try to do whatever I can because that's literally only one day in my week. But mainly, either play video games or watch movies.

What's your favorite junk food?

Chocolate! Or Pringles. I love Pringles.

Do you have pets?

Not at the moment. I'd love to get another cat or a puppy.

What are your favorite fiction and non-fiction books?

Does a medical dictionary count for non-fiction? I don't read any enough to have a favorite. Fiction, at the moment, N.K. Jemisin's The Broken Kingdoms and Kristin Cashore's Fire.

What is your favorite beauty product?

I don't have one.

When were you last embarrassed?

Oh my God, sit down for this one. So I'm in the Praise & Worship team at my church. We have a group on GroupMe to keep connected throughout the week. One day, I went to Miley Cyrus's Instagram page for some reason, and I saw this hilarious meme with Spongebob's face and a popular Big Sean song. It said UNCENSORED, "Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, You little stupid a** b****, I don't f*** with you." I copied the link to show my friends on another Groupme account. Later in the day, while on both my phone and laptop, I copied a Google Drive link on my laptop to paste for my cousin in the Praise & Worship GroupMe (I should stop here and say my mom and aunt are also on this team). Forgetting that I had copied the link on my laptop, I hit paste and send on my PHONE, which had the Spongebob Big Sean meme on the clipboard. I. Was. Mortified.

If you could drink one beverage for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Either Yoohoo or Dr. Pepper. I love those drinks.

What's your favorite movie?

Forrest Gump, The Matrix, Amelie, Serenity, The Color Purple, the list goes on.

What were you in high school? Prom queen, nerd, cheerleader, jock, valedictorian, band geek, loner, artist, etc?

I was the quiet writing chorus geek.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?

Definitely the Grand Cayman Islands. Turtle farms!

PC or Mac?

PC. Mac's okay, but eh.

Last romantic gesture from a crush, date, boyfriend/girlfriend?

An ex-boyfriend recorded a Backstreet Boys performance that happened during a football game for me.

Favorite celeb?

I don't know if I have one, really.

Which blogger do you secretly want to be best friends with?

Heather seems an interesting person, lol. And definitely Mark the Koop man.

We're apparently supposed to tag people, but I'm a rebel, so if you want to answer the questions, you may do so, and let me know that you did, so I can read your answers! =D

7 More Lines and Fast Five Friday

Thank you guys for your encouragement Wednesday as well as your interest Monday! It really made me feel better. I was asked to post more from my WIP, so I thought, "I shall!" I decided to show secondary character Andyrsn breaking up an argument between Cyan and Ghuli, who was disobediently not present in Monday's 7x7x7x7 snippet.

“You’re both stressed. Just calm down.” Cyan paced the floor as Ghuli folded her arms. “Ghuli, I’m sorry, but I have to side with Cyan here.” The look she gave him conveyed a slight betrayal, but he stood firm. “We’re watchmen. I know you want to find this scroll thing, but your safety is more important.”

Ghuli’s scowl melted away, but she drew her knees up and hugged them. “What if finding the Great Scroll is the key to my safety?”

“Have we not been enough so far?” Cyan asked, the strength in his voice making Andyrsn jump, but Ghuli yelled right back.

“You’re not invincible, Cyan. I could lose you, too!” Cyan’s jaw hardened, and a pained look came across his reddening face before he stormed toward the door. “I’m not having this fight with you anymore.”

This week, the Cover Girls would like us to list the 5 books that had us bawling or near tears. These I can put in order from hardest sobs to mistiness. lol

Stephen King's The Green Mile (bawling uncontrollably!)

S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders (bawling)

N.K. Jemisin's The Broken Kingdoms (crying)

Terri Bruce's Thereafter (near tears/inconsolable)

Robert Olen Butler's The Deep Green Sea (near tears)

Any books have you dying of the feels?

IWSG: In Need of A Good Day

Happy Wednesday, and Happy September!

As you may know by now, this is the Insecure Writer's Support Group, created by the awesome ninja Alex J. Cavanaugh. You can visit him and also sign on at the group's very own website, Insecure Writer's Support Group dot com. And a big thank you to the ninjas who are visiting us all, as we are in the HUNDREDS.

I'm writing this the night before so I can get it out and read other people's posts today, and while also hoping Wednesday is a better day than Tuesday. First but not first-first. I didn't make the Pitch Wars list. It's a surreal movie feeling as you hear the mentors you picked pick other people and you're counting down thinking, "Okay, four more...Three more...Two..." By the 4th mentor, I'd pretty much lost hope because they had moved onto the mentors who were looking for YA OR NA, but now I guess I'm in that phase of total depression before I pick up my things and keep moving. The least I can hope for is that I'll get feedback in 2 to 4 weeks.

I said it was first but not first-first because by 9am Tuesday, I knew that I no longer wanted to Tuesday. I'm in a job that doesn't challenge me and that I don't want to do anymore, but I'm either over- or under- qualified for every other job out there right now, so I'm basically just sitting at my desk feeling so ADHD that I don't know what to do anymore. I'm also an insomniac, but it only seems to be on weekdays (probably because I hate my job), and by 10am, I'm ready to go to sleep and just don't want to be bothered. That certainly doesn't help.

There was a familial issue that happened actually just before the Pitch Wars video went up that upset me, too, and while I was straining to hear the first 30 minutes of the video because of noisy family members (not related to the aforementioned familial issue), I was kind of hoping just a little bit, that I would be picked. And I slightly blame myself because I said I wasn't doing anymore contests, and I probably shouldn't have because I'm not emotionally built for them in any capacity.

So anyway, here's to a good day.

7x7x7x7

Hello!

Another Monday post? What?

This is the other of the two things that I mentioned in my last post that is happening today. I was tagged for the 7x7x7x7 blog post by Adriana Arrington. The basics are that you post 7 lines from your manuscript beginning with the 7th line from your 7th page. Here are more details on her page.

My 7th line starts in the middle of a sentence, soooo...but there's another sentence there, too...bah.

Their rustling was all that carried on the air. Cyan clenched his teeth and sighed.

“I don’t hear her anymore.”

Laris joined him and listened. “She may have wandered off.”

“She was supposed to stay on the road.”

“You know the Princess, my brother.”

“All too well.”

Cyan walked into the forest, leaving the road for the western trees.  

So there you go! :)  See you Wednesday for IWSG.

Big Five, Sign On!

Hello!

What? Isn't it Monday? Why, yes, yes it is!

There are two things going on today. One is the Twitter push for the Big Five Publishers to be open about their diversity statistics via the Diversity Baseline Survey.

For the original tweet and petition from Lee&Low, click here.
Click here for more information about it from my writing pal SC.

So far, only Macmillan has signed the petition. If you've followed the #WriteInclusively or #WeNeedDiverseBooks hashtags, you'll understand the importance of having a diverse staff controlling what gets published.

As a child, there are only two stories I can remember reading that featured a young black girl. One was a book called Corduroy, about a teddy bear who wants to be sold, but the mother of the little girl who wants him says no because he's missing a button. The little girl is black, and I used to pretend that she was me.

The other book was an American Girl book for Addy, a slave girl in 1864. There have been many American Girls since Addy, but only one other that was a little black girl from 1850*, who wasn't a standalone character and was archived. The majority of the currently active dolls are not only white (6 of the 9), but little blonde girls (4 of the 6). Not only that, they archived Felicity, Kirsten, and Molly! (These were my three favorite girls.) No offense to the other little girls whom I haven't read as I aged out of interest in the stories, but these three were extremely diverse on the surface level alone. Felicity was a redhead who dared to put on pants in the 1770s; Kirsten was a Swedish immigrant; and Molly was the girl-next-door tomboy.

*Reading more on Cécile Rey, the other black American Girl, while I'm sure her character was whimsical, she seemed to be a pretty stereotypical black character. Paraphrase: Confident, curious, and loving the limelight, her lessons bored her, and she wanted to become an actress and loved to party. Hm...

And after 1864, where are the black American Girls? After 1824 where are the other American Girls of Color? Skimming through, I see Julie has a Chinese-American friend whose collection was archived in 2014. Can you imagine the interest the company could generate if they gave us, say, a black American Doll from 1958? Is that too hard a period to write about from that perspective? I know there is a glamorization of the time period because of the fashion and classiness, so maybe they just...I don't know.

And this is why it's important for people to mean what they say when they say they need diverse books. That also means you need to not only have people who advocate for diversity, but people who ARE diverse. They'll see those gems that the majority just might not feel are "right for them." They have a fresh take, a different eye. So I'm hoping the other 4 of the Big 5 will take a stand and follow suit.

Oh, by the way, this is a blog hop, so if you want to join in, scroll back up and click on SC's post to find the LinkyLink. :)