The Weekly Post (September 25- October 1, 2011)

Best Book: Of the books I read this week, there's a two way tie for the most awesome. The first is Goliath by Scott Westerfeld, the last book in his steampunk Leviathan trilogy. AND IT WAS SO GOOD. And the other is The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, the first book in her new Shades of London series which is about boarding schools (!!!) and London and also GHOSTS. It was epic. I'd go into more eloquent detail... but it's Friday afternoon and I don't feel like it.


Anticipated Book:I feel almost silly writing this because, to me, saying "I am SO EXCITED for the next Cassie Clare book" is like saying "I'm so excited to continue breathing". Tis obvious and necessary. Anyway, her next book is Clockwork Prince, the second book in The Infernal Devices series. It comes out on December 6th and I'm, of course, counting the seconds until then!! :D

 

 

 

I made it giant because it DESERVES to be

On Writing: This week I've been working on short pieces and poems for my writing class, as well as brainstorming for the WIP(s). I'm also working to add some new pieces to my Figment account. You can read some of my stuff on Figment HERE :)

Favorite Blog Post: Is THIS one from Let The Words Flow about the importance/necessity of plot for different writers while drafting. Very interesting.


Song of the Week:

 

- Nicole 

Terra Nova: My New Obsession

Because everything is stressful and I have a backlog of homework a mile long and a pre-calc test I'm totally going to fail tomorrow, it's time to talk about something trivial. TV!  Yesterday I realized I had tons of homework to do, and obviously I wasn't going to DO it, so I thought "why don't I watch the pilot for that new show with the dinosaurs instead". And I did. And it was sooooo good.

At first it bothered me that the actor who plays the good commander in Terra Nova played the bad commander guy in Avatar (like, dude, get a new role) but I got over it :) It was definitely noticeable WHY it was the most expensive television pilot ever. The effects were cool and the storyline is good/interesting so far, and I like the characters. I can't wait for next week! I'm so excited to have a new sci-fi show to watch (unless it totally craps out in the next few episodes, but let's hope not).

Have you seen it yet? Thoughts? Are you going to watch?

   

- Nicole

Weird Internet Poetry

Yesterday in creative writing class we did this group poem-writing exercise. We agreed upon the topic (the internet) and then we each wrote a line. The type of poem is the Pantoum which is a Malaysian party poem (weird, right?) Ours came out okay/sorta funny so I thought I'd share it :) Since I'm writing a lot of poetry/short stuff in my creative writing class, I think I might make this a semi-regular thing.

(Just FYI, I didn't come up with the title... nor do I like it that much. The lines I came up with have an asterisk.)

Click, Click, Zoom!
 By: My Creative Writing Class

*Internet - trapped in a false world
Surf the web for hours on end
Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook
Google, Yahoo, Youtube and Bing

Surf the web for hours on end
When did Google become a verb?
Google, Yahoo, Youtube and Bing
Lolcats, trolls and My Little Bronies


When did Google become a verb?
A vast web of cables
Lolcats, trolls and My Little Bronies
*An encyclopedia that can lie


A vast web of cables
Charlie bit my finger
*An encyclopedia that can lie
Subterfuge and temptation


Charlie bit my finger
Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook too
Subterfuge and temptation
*Internet - trapped in a false world

- Nicole

My Photos (1)

I played with my new camera for the first time this weekend and it is so cool! It's a Panasonic Lumix, if you care :) I took some cool shots around my yard with the different settings, and today I went to the beach and took some more. Some came out alright. These are some of my favorites:

And a funny one of my cat Salem's excitement over the arrival of Goliath by Scott Westerfeld. Hehe.

The Weekly Post (September 18-24, 2011)

Best Book: This week I was waiting for a bunch of books I pre-ordered from B&N to come in and then did today!! But I haven't read any of them yet. To keep myself occupied (and 'cause they're epic) I reread The Hunger Games trilogy this week. I'm in the middle of Mockingjay right now. This will be my third time reading the series, but it never gets old or less shocking than the first time. Anyone who's read it knows what I mean when I say MJ is one of those books that makes your whole soul ache for days afterwards. In a good way. And a bad way. In every way. JUST READ THEM IF YOU HAVEN'T.

Anticipated Book: Speaking of awesome dystopian books, the cover for Insurgent, the sequel to Veronica Roth's amazing book Divergent was recently released. It's so gorgeous! I can't wait to see how the series continues to unfold. The book comes out on May 28th, 2012!

On Writing: Did a lot of yearning and brainstorming about my WIP and the other 2 ideas in the works this week. No writing time, as usual. Probably won't have much time this weekend, either :(

Favorite Blog Post: I have two this week. THIS one from Victoria Schwab about "how writers are like onions", and one from Natalie Whipple HERE about writer/agent relationships that's very good.

Song of the Week: 

 - Nicole

A Post Of Random

I was planning on having a nice, well-thought-out post today, but frankly I'm too tired. So instead I bring you several RANDOM things:

1. YESTERDAY WAS MY 16TH BIRTHDAY!!! It was fun. I got lots of B&N gift cards and a camera and my AP history teacher got my donuts and I went out for sushi with my friends. And the fun continues tonight. Yay. It was a pretty good Monday.

2. The day before my birthday, Sept. 18th, marked the one year anniversary of my current writer friend/critique partner (CP) Heather first emailing me! *Waves to Heather*. We met through one of my favorite writing sites, Let The Words Flow and have been sending wacky emails back and forth since. Knowing Heather (you can follow her on Twitter HERE) has showed me how important good CPs and good writer friends in general can be to your sanity. If you don't have a CP(s), you should :)

3. Tonight is the season premiere of Glee. OMGOMGOMG I'M SO EXCITED!! But I'm going out to dinner with my dad's family and have to tape and watch it later... Oh well.. Not like I need sleep ever....

4. The teaser trailer for The Hunger Games movie is out!!! I'm not ashamed to say I started seriously tearing up watching it <3 I can't express how excited I am!

5. Just checked email and saw that my Barnes and Noble order shipped!! Ahhh!!! *Does the New Book dance*

6. I'm currently reading The Scarlet Letter in my English class and really liking it.This is a good thing, since, ya know, I have to write essays on it whether I like it or not.

7. I can't think of any other random things to say.

- Nicole

Writing Superstitions

Since I've only finished one novel, I really don't have that much experience, however I have developed certain writing superstitions, some of which I don't mind, and some I'm trying to break.

I wrote my first novel during January through April of 2011, and I came to associate writing with winter, for some reason. There wasn't much to DO outside and such in the winter, and my classes weren't *that* hard last year, so I was writing at least 5-6k over the course of every weekend towards the end. I'd wake up and it would be cold outside and warm inside and it felt perfect to stay in and write. I had such a hard time getting even 20k out this summer. Definitely trying to break the only-writing-in-winter thing. But at least winter's coming, so maybe that'll help :D

And since it was winter I was drinking a ton of tea. Specifically, my drug of choice, Tazo brand chai. It's soooo good (I'm not trying to sell it, I promise lol). The very smell of it still makes me want to write. But in the summer it's too hot for anything but iced tea, and it's just not the same.

The last one I can think of is music. I'm obsessed with playlists for my novels and I can find hours searching for new songs that fit perfectly . . . when I should probably be writing :P I was thinking of sharing the playlist for my current WIP on the blog once I finish the first draft. Though it is still subject to change, so I'm not sure.

Do you have any writing superstitions/associations?

- Nicole