In Which I Take A Few Days Off

I think, like most of the rest of our blogging community, that I am going to take the rest of this week off from blogging. Work is going to be super busy this week (I actually have to go in to the office on one day. boo) and I also drew a blank when trying to think of what to write about today.

So I will see you again in 2011, when I will be participating in 3 blogfests in a row (Saturday, Sunday and Monday)

The easiest blogfest ever The Eye Candy Blogfest

followed by the 2nd Annual No Kiss Blogfest

and finished off by Summer's Hannah's and My Show Me Yours blogfest! (link to the top right).


I hope you have a wonderful New Year's weekend. See you again soon!

In Which We Have A Merry Christmas

Hello ape friends! Here we are, finally at Christmas Eve.

Tonight my family will be spending our time eating crab legs, Poté and probably some clam chowder as well.

mmm...Poté

Then the people will play some board games, open a single present and I'll spend my time rotating between laps and getting lots of love.

So, because I will be chillaxin and having a good time today, here's some fun Christmas/Winter related stuff on the interwebs, just for you!

Happy Holidays, pals - I'll see you next week!

Stranger Than Fiction Blogfest

Today is the The Truth is Stranger than Fiction Blogfest hosted by the lovely Dangerous With A Pen (Lindsey Brooks) and aspiring_x (Vic Caswell) . They hosted a flash fiction contest/blogfest!

You could send in a flash fiction piece for a chance at some choice prizes and then, because it's also a blogfest, post your piece today to celebrate!

The theme was The Truth is Stranger than Fiction, which meant:

a fiction piece that originates from strange true happenings. It could be based on something that happened to you or a friend or a stranger. Something you saw on the news or heard from a coworker. Anything that originates from reality (the plot) but then you turn it into fiction


And I won one of two second places!

Here was my entry:


Desires

It used to be, when she was young, beautiful, desirable, she danced all night long. And there were men, and they would cheer, laugh, drink, want. They wanted her. Her limbs. Her hair. Her body. She craved the want. Craved the very need she fed.

Sometimes, though, she hoped they wanted the dance. Like the cigarette reflections in their drinks, she mimicked the fire, hoped they would feel the movement, feel the way she felt it, burning through her limbs.

So she supplied, fed their need, and in turn fed her own. The sway of her hips and the grace of her legs as she spun, turned, flew, were all to give rise to movement. She did it for the dance, for their desire.

Until her dance began to end, as all things do. Some things end suddenly, in a flash of flame and glory. Others smother, as the skin sags, the muscles weaken, the legs falter.

Still, she danced, and danced in the light.

The men no longer laughed, loved, desired, but jeered, mocked, loathed. She tried to return to them what she’d once received, but she was unseen, unloved. Broken, except for the dance.

Later, tired, alone, she remembered the men. Flames flashing in their seats, desire burning through her limbs. She climbed the stage and brought the fire once more; those red and orange flames flickering in nature’s first dance. She spun, turned, flew as the flames grew closer and she again felt the caress of want.

And there were men, once more, with sirens and lights. They wanted her, pulled her from the stage, the dance. Her hair blackened, shedding, ash.

The men spoke, but she paid them no heed. Instead, she remembered her dance.

As she watched her stage feed the need of the fire, she smiled.

Here, had always been her best audience.


So there you have it! I'll be jumping around to hit up the other entries today

In Which We Discuss Gaslamp Fantasy

Hi everyone, how was your weekend? Mine was full of fun and less than ideal sleep (also on a completely separate note, as I'm writing this I'm watching Karate Kid and you know what rocks? The 80s).

I have a question: How many of you know the difference between Steampunk and Gaslamp Fantasy? *counts raised hands* OK that's about what I thought.

Let's have a brief discussion about these cousins.

Steampunk: steampunk involves an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology or futuristic innovations as Victorians may have envisioned them

Gaslamp Fantasy: is a sub-genre, also called gaslight romance, of fantasy literature, having the Victorian/Edwardian era as background. It differs from contemporary steampunk, which has a much more super-science and tone.


A good way to separate the two is by asking yourself, "can I remove the steampunk technology/gadgetry and still have a story?" If the answer is no, you're probably writing Steampunk. If the answer is yes, then you're probably writing Gaslamp Fantasy.

A fun history of the term Gaslamp Fantasy is that it was first coined by artist Kaja Foglio (from Girl Genius, one of my fav webcomics) She coined it because, at the time Girl Genius was coming out, there was also a comic out called Steampunk and she didn't want any confusion. So she referred to Girl Genius as Gaslamp Fantasy, a term she misquoted from a book referring to Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.

Gaslamp Fantasy stories are typically not so focused on the machinery, and oftentimes the technology is just in the background.

Now, since we had a fun little discussion, time for some steampunk/gaslamp fantasy pics!

Friday Fun Words

Hi Everyone! Yvie's back for our usual Friday fun words.




You'll never guess what we've got in our house now. NEVER! This is how you're going to look:


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Anne has been wanting one of these for years. It was why she had built her guinea pig cage so big, just in case.

Well after years of waiting, she finally arrived!

Meet our newest family member, a hairless guinea pig!





Her name is Harriet B. Suit (the B stands for birthday). She's a skinny pig, which is a breed of pigger which is born hairless except for a bit of hair on her nose and maybe some on her feet. She's almost four weeks old and she's super nice and super duper warm when you hold her.
I definitely want to eat her.



Now, Onto the words!


Advest - when you invest in ads. Which is dumb. No one watched commercials anymore





Unwricat - this is the opposite of an LOLCat. A cat which refuses to do any sort of writing or interwebs lording. Because own the interwebs, ape-friends. They most definitely do




Brofo - This is a curse word you use specifically to refer to your "bro" when he does something particularly heinous. Similar to Mofo





Biteypo - Clearly a Po which has a preference for biting





Glerperp - This is a term which refers to the sounds people (and dogs too) make when they throw up. Gross, right?




And that's all for this week! I'll be back next week for some more Friday fun!

In Which I Pick My Characters

To continue on my theme of pictures for my WIP, I decided to once again search online for pictures of people who match my internal images of my characters.

I always have a very firm picture in my head of what my characters look like. Sometimes it may take a whole novel before I know for sure, but by the end I could pick them out of a lineup.

So that's why I'm always surprised when I'm able to find pictures of real people who match my imagination so well. Sometimes their hair cuts are a little different, but that's no big deal.

In Glimpse I pretty much only have 3 characters, not counting Rule the sea serpent. Here are the pics I found of my characters:


This is main character Pier:




Here's Pier's younger sister Nemmy:




And this is Pier's love interest Lani:



Yay! Fun times! So how about you? Been browsing the people pics on the interwebs?

In Which The Siblings Provide Me With Some Art

So a few weeks ago, when Hannah, Teebore and I had a NaNo write in at the Libary (I actually know someone who pronounces library like that. It's weird because he's well educated and smart, but apparently he doesn't know "library" has two "R"s) Twin and Brother came along to do some drawing.

Brother decided he would draw a cover for my novel. Back in the day he wrote a comic strip for his school newspaper. It was really good and Twin and I keep harping on him to make a webcomic, but so far, no dice.

Anyway, back to his "cover" - this was before I won the cover for 30 Covers 30 Days. Keep in mind he didn't know anything much about the story beyond "A boy and his sea serpent".

Here is his work of genius:

The text, in case you can't read it says:

"You gotta believe!"
- a touching story about a boy and his sea serpent friend and their rage-filled fight against the world
Written by Sarah Ahiers
Illustrated by Sir Patrick Ahiers

Apparently at some point Brother was knighted.


Twin also drew a (more serious) picture for the WIP. Here's the colored pencil version, though I have high hopes she will color it with her awesome art tablet on the computer (hint hint)

I'm a particular fan of the fish.

So what about you? Do you have any art created for your WIPs?

In Which We Host A Blogfest

Hi All! Friday Fun Words will be back next week due to this important message:

It's blogfest time!

How many of you participated in National Novel Writing Month this year? Raise your hands. Okay, good. Well this is for you whether you won or not.

The awesome and spectacular Hannah approached Summer and I, so we are joining forces to bring you the "Show Me Yours" Blogfest!




The point of this blogfest is to share an excerpt of your NaNoWriMo novel. It can be any scene but try to keep it at 500 words so we can all get around to as many blogs as possible.

Who's with us?!

The date as you may have noticed is January 3rd, 2011. This will give you time to choose a scene and edit it, revise it, change it...whatever. Feel free to give us a little background about your story or at the very least a title and a genre. That always helps, right?

So if you participated in NaNoWriMo 2010, now's the time to show your skills or your bad writing! Excitement!

Hannah, Summer and I will be using the same widget, so if you sign up on any of our blogs, your name will show on all. My Mister Linky Widget is over there beneath my followers --------->

Feel free to steal this badge to advertise but please link it back to here or to one of the other ladies blogfest post so peeps know the rules

I hope you enjoy your weekend!

In Which I Do A Dance

The "I finished a novel" dance of course!

It looks a little something like that, though to be fair I kinda hurt my back shoveling on Saturday, so it was much more restrained. You can ask twin, she'll vouch for me (she'd better...)

So, the working titled Glimpse of Another Shore is now completed at 58K words. Also, because I edited as I wrote (which was awesome by the way, I highly recommend it) I'm also technically done with my first line edit as well! wOOt!

Here are some fun stats:

This is my second novel completed in 2010 (though to be fair, Foxfire was started in late 09)

This is my first novel written in First POV (though I've done many a short story in first POV)

This is my first full length YA novel. I had a lot of fun and now think I may delve into YA more often. Also the shorter length required for YA is kinda nice.

I love it. A lot. I think some of my love has to do with the very minimal amount of editing and rewriting that needs to be done, but I don't even care. I LOVE IT.

So now I'm giving it another read through for a quick line edit. I'm also adding chapter breaks instead of just scene breaks. Then it will go to Twin for a read (since she's my alpha/beta reader) and also Hannah and Teebore who are my awesome crit partners.

After that I may look for a few other betas as well, peeps who read a lot of YA, preferably fantasy YA. So if that's you, we may be chatting later if you're interested (I'll make a post about it in the future)


So, how is your WIP coming?

In Which We Had No Interwebs

So the Internet was a no go yesterday evening in our house and therefore I couldn't write a post ahead of time.

Luckily, I have some LOLCats saved for just such and emergency.

Here you go.

And how was everyone's weekend? Twin, Myself and our mom went shopping at the Mall Of America and it was awesome.

Friday Fun Words

Well here we are, ape-friends. Another Friday.

How was everyone's week? Are you staying warm? I hope so, because it is CO-OLD here. And the worst part is, it's all sunny and nice looking outside, but as soon as Mommy opens the door to let me out, a cold arctic blast of wind hits me in the face.
No thanks.

I don't think it's fair that I have to potty in the cold. Not. One. Bit.

Anyway, onto the words!

*Huelewi - and the news. Hah!

*Broloto - gelato for brothers. MMMM, even though even though it's an arctic wonderland outside right now, I could totally nom on some gelato.






Cruded - when you've experienced a "crud" moment






Miliffin - A millipede muffin. Delicious? Or creepy? You be the one to decide





Typen - pens for typewriters. What? Some typewriters like to collect pens just like everyone else! Man, I don't have any tolerance for typewriter bigots like you. *shakes head sadly*






And that's all for this week, friends! Stay warm!

In Which I Give A Shoutout

Hey All -

Shannon McMahon is running an Anonymous critique session. The writer is anonymous, so you don't have to worry about hurting a pal's feelings and can critique truthfully. Stop by and give it a look if you're interested.

Sarah, Out!

In Which NaNo Flies Away For One More Year

So, here we are, December first and NaNo 2010 officially behind us.

How did it go for everyone? I think my NaNo buddy list was about 50/50 for winners, which is pretty awesome.





My final word count is almost identical to last year's, and even though it seemed harder to do the actual writing this year, I don't know if I'm reading into things.

But know what was awesome? Editing as I went. Never again will I shut off my internal editor and just go go go. That just leads to horribly depressing edits later. Nope, from now on I'm going to allow myself to edit as long as I first get my word count in.

This year's NaNo is already leaps and bounds ahead of last year's, so that is awesome.
It's not quite done yet, but I'm on the final climax of the story so I don't see it being more than another 10k.

I want to get it completed as fast as possible so I can give it another quick edit and then get it out to Betas. 2011 is going to be the year of the query. This I vow.

So, how did your NaNo turn out? And I don't want to hear just about your word count, I want to hear about the actual story.

Ready, set, TELL ME!