Where I Instruct You to GO LOOK

So anyone who has been reading my blog at all knows that I am friends with K.M. Walton, a fellow writer who is represented by Sarah LaPolla, and whose debut novel Cracked (which has a gorgeous cover that you can ogle at here) will be released March 3rd 2012!!

She just launched her author website, and it is beautiful! I felt I had to do a post to direct you over there!!

Here is the link. Head over and appreciate the prettiness, it was designed by her sister Christina MacRae, and developed by Gregg Fair. Neither of whom I know but they need credit where credit is due!

Now head over to K.M. Walton's Website and ogle people!!

The Great Reread

So in roughly fourteen days Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 is released.

Safe to say I am already freaking out!

My costume still isn't all together, though I did already buy my midnight showing IMAX tickets, oh and I need to buy a new pair of contacts...also I haven't exactly decided on the character I want to be...maybe Ginny...or Katie Bell...just someone...I don't think I could pull off Luna or Fleur, I'm just not blond enough...maybe I'll just be a random student...regardless I'm getting off track.

As of tomorrow I will begin what I have dubbed "The Great Reread", I intend to read through all of the Harry Potter books, again, before the midnight showing. I'm SO pumped! This is the end of an era people, I'm going to cry and be a mess but I'm okay with that, because Harry has seen me through a lot and I'm going to be there till the end.

J.K. Rowling dedicated the seventh novel, in part, to "and to you, if you have stuck with Harry until the very end", I was one of those people. I've been with him forever, granted I was a little too young and inexperienced reading when the books were first published but I started reading the books in third grade, just a few months after the paperback version of the third came out. I was addicted to them. Without Harry I would not love reading, and I would not be who I am today. I'm seeing Harry out with everything I've got, it is a bittersweet end, but I have no doubt he will be with me forever. I'm going to read his story to my kids, grand kids--heck I've already started with my nephew (before they get to see the movies obviously). And I'm always going to cherish the memories attached to him--the midnight releases of the books, the movies, etc. It will always be with me.

So here goes. Time to reread!

Writing, It Isn't Easy.

That is the honest to goodness truth. Writing isn’t easy. It’s downright hard. No one ever publishes a book overnight. It takes the idea seeding, lots of pen on paper (or fingers on keyboard), drafting, redrafting, drafting again, queries, heartbreak, more queries, more heart wrenching, deals, nail biting, etc. A book is not written, nor is it published over night.

It takes talent. Loads of talent, to pick up a pen and write a novel. And then it takes a shit load of gumption and courage to put yourself out their, expose your brain child to the scrutinizing eyes of others, to be observed and critiqued by other people. It is human nature to want to please others, and to fear criticism. No one wants to hear someone bashing something they’ve invested pieces of their soul in, something they are emotionally invested in. They want everyone else to love it just as much as they do.

And that isn’t always the case. I think it is a fair bet to say anyone reading this post does understand what I mean, everyone struggles to pull words together and form sentences you’re proud of sentences, ideas, characters, who you want to share with the world. It just isn’t easy.

Now I believe everyone is born with a natural talent. This opinion may not be one you share, I’ve run into plenty of people who don’t agree with me; that is fine. Natural talents can be anything. Anything. From being able to tie cherry stems into knots in your mouth, to figuring out the quadrillionth digit of pi in your head. But regardless of how much natural talent you have, you cannot succeed without practice. I do not care if you are born with the gift to speak parseltounge—if you never once attempt to communicate with a snake you’ll never know you can. Or if you know you can, and choose not to flex that muscle—because if you don’t use it you loose it—then fifteen years after you last communicated with a snake you’ll be at a loss for slippery syllables.

It works the other way too though. You don’t have to have the natural talent to succeed. Am I making any sense? Uh lemme try to clarify. A violinist who is dyslexic struggles to read their music, they are tone def, and have no sense of rhythm. However they found something they love, the violin, and they are not going to let any of those things inhibit them from playing in the orchestra and kicking ass. It isn’t natural talent that gets that violinist the solo, it is their persistence, their refusal to give up and courage to keep going on even when the odds are stacked against them.

What I’m trying to say is that it takes work not just random coincidence that just so happens to get you published. You can be the best wordsmith around but just having the ability to construct a sentence with beautiful prose means nothing if you don’t do something with it. You also could be the most inexperienced, unsuspecting, person who happens to write fifteen drafts of a novel, and works with everything they have to improve it, and ends up taking the publishing world by storm and making history.

Success was not built on natural talent, because having the natural talent means nothing if you don’t use it. Success is built on determination, practice and persistence. Not luck or chance of any of those kinds of things. Success is what you make it, what you mold it to be.

Writing a book is hard. Getting represented is hard. Getting published may indeed be the hardest feat of all. But you can’t let yourself be derailed or discouraged by the idea that you lack natural talent, or allow yourself to become blinded with the natural talent you have and never work on that skill.

Writing is hard.

After all if it was easy, everyone would do it.

New Leaves

I’m turning over leaves. New ones to be exact.

I’ve decided to post regularly. And I know I've said that before but it will happen this time! At least once a week, twice if I can manage it. I’m aiming for Tuesdays and Fridays, and then I will be posting to my Critique Group's blog, TheInkSlingers, on Thursdays, my regular day.

To prove this new leaf-ness I have embraced the concept of lists and schedules. My life is being planned down to the letter. I have a new list for everything. And a nice pretty schedule book with my goings on scribbled inside. It is actually working out pretty well, and hopefully I will be able to make it habit enough that once college you know happens, as it inevitably will, that I will be more organized. Yay for organization!

Also you will be seeing my presence around the blogsphere more, not just in posts, but I will be commenting around more. Like I said in my posting absence I never stopped reading what was on everyone else’s mind I just wasn’t commenting as often as I should have been. So more comment will be going down.

Oh and today I reorganized my bookshelf, I’m going to need a new one because the three I have are just so full. And if my current summer reading goes as planned there will be many more covers with pages in between to shove into alphabetical order (by author) to be observed and appreciated by me and my family/friends.

Grove. Getting into it. Getting it Back...Basically Regular Posts are Needed!

Uh so this past week I may have graduated high school.

Maybe.

I'm still not exactly sure I walked across that stage and accepted my diploma. It may have been my evil twin. (You know the same twin who has been holding my hostage and preventing me from coming up with witty/interesting posts.) But I have a lovely cap as evidence. And some paper thingy that says I did indeed meet the requirements set forth by my town to be considered a high school graduate. Weird. I was pretty sure I was still a freshman...
Well down to business. I have picked a college, and am currently saving every penny I have so I can afford it come the fall, when people said college wasn't cheap they were not kidding. It has been far to long since I was posting on a regular basis. So I've decided this summer I'm turning over a new leaf, renewing my new years resolutions and following through. So yeah be prepared for more posting done by yours truly as well as my presence you know actually showing up around the blogsphere more. And I just want it to be clear just because I haven't been posting or commenting doesn't mean I haven't been reading! I check up on my little blog roll every day! And I read all the posts I could between school and work. However now I will be reading and commenting and being more of a nosey busy body presence. Be prepared!! Muhahahaha...Also I have like a billion emails to send out, because I may not have checked my old email since uh...well much longer than I would like to admit and therefore I wont...off I go to do that! First step!!

K.M. Got a COVER!

Alright so those of you who've been with me for awhile know that I adore K.M. Walton, I think that it is beyond imperative that you follow her blog. I talk about her all the time, because she rocks.

For those of you who are just becoming aware of my adoration of her here us the basic summary: She has an epic agent and an awesome publishing deal and her cover just came out...and it is BEAUTIFUL.

I would post a picture of it on here, but it's for K.M.'s blog and hers alone for now. (Until I get to load up a pic of it in my side bar under a MUST READ OR SUFFER PAIN OF DEATH tab, because then rest assured it will be here.) This is her moment, so I wanted to instruct you to hightail your butt over onto her blog, and VIEW it.

So just in case you missed my links throughout this post here it is AGAIN.

HERE IS THE LINK TO ONE OF THE PRETTIEST COVERS EVER!!!!

Persistence

I have to start this post out with an apology. I've been super absent, missing out on a load of events around the blogsphere that I shouldn't have. So to my blogger friends and the lovely readers who ever spent their time reading over my musings I'm sorry.

In the past three months I've gotten into nine colleges, been deferred from one, weight-listed at another and denied from one. I have heard back from all twelve schools that I applied to. And I've made my decision, based on the Education and Writing program.

Now onto my topic of the day. Persistence.

You can never give up on dreams and goals. When I say NEVER I mean NEVER.
J.K. Rowling didn't give up, she wrote on used napkins in a cafe with a sleeping baby sitting in a stroller next to her! If that isn't extreme persistence I don't know what is.

I'm going to tell you something. My senior prom is in a few weeks. Now I have asked a grand total of four people, all of whom have said no. But that is not going to stop me. Truthfully I would have loved to go with a group of friends this year, as I had a great time with a date last year. However everyone has paired off, and frankly everyone knows being the fifteenth wheel is not fun. So I'm going to find someone, somehow. I guess my point is I am NOT going to give up. I will be persistent and I will find someone.

Just like I am persistent in my writing. Just like YOU, whoever is reading this, need to be persistent in your writing, in everything you do!

I'm not going to stop writing because I'm sick, or in college, or working full time or if and when I become a parent. I'm going to write because it is what I love, it is what I'm good at, and there is nothing that can stand between me and my pen and paper.

I just wanted to remind whoever is out there to be persistent, never give up. Do what you love and love what you do. Because in the end we only have so much time allotted to us, and you damn sure better make the most of it.