Wednesday Weird: The Jakarta Angel

I was going to do a post about radio transmissions from space. Or radio transmission from Russia that hasn't stopped in, like, decades, but those will have to wait for another Wednesday.

 

Since tomorrow is the World Horror Convention in New Orleans I'm going to pick something that's a little zazzier. And has a video!!

Okay, I'm coming right out and saying that this video is much more suspect than the things I usually post, but it's a fun video and I like it so you're getting it anyway.

This is security footage from Cilandak Square, in Jakarta, Indonesia.

 

All right, so you can see how this could easily be CGI. Still, I love watching this video over and over again. The things that I like about it (whether it's fake or not) are the people's reactions. If this were just security footage of the supposed angel, it would be cool but no biggie. But when the people show up like you better believe they just saw something, it makes me sit up and take notice.

I also like how the light from the angel reflects off the structure across the lot from it. If it is CGI (ahem) that's some damn fine attention to detail.

So there you have it. The Jakarta Angel. Thoughts? Do you think the video is as fun to watch as I do?

In Which I Workshop

So, I know I mentioned before how I applied for an Advance Children's Workshop. I wasn't sure I'd get in, since the class was limited to 10 people and you had to actually submit a writing sample.
I mean, I'm confident in my writing, but you never know who else is applying and the last class at the Loft I attended had some AMAZING writers, so if people like that were applying, then I had no clue if I actually had a shot.

BUT! All that aside, I was accepted as one of the workshop participants!
I'm excited because it's specifically to focus on critiquing everyone's work, which is definitely something I always feel like I need (whether I do or not, I dunno. Sometimes I'm ruled by my feels)

Also, I learned that one of my new friends from my last class at the Loft also was accepted in this one! It's nice, sometimes, to have a friend already in place.

Here's a description of the class:

Advanced writers need less discussion of the basics, and more specific criticism of their own work as their voice emerges. In addition, most advanced writers have honed their critiquing skills over a series of classes, and understand how to give and take criticism effectively. With that in mind, the bulk of this class will be devoted to readings and teaching artist-led critiques of student work. You may not get to read every session, but then again, you may, so please come prepared. Advanced topics and individual questions will be covered as the needs of the class dictate. There will be no one-on-one teaching artist critiques. Enrollment limited to ten students. No class meeting on July 3.



About the Teaching Artist(s)

Lynne Jonell is the author of seven picture books, three chapter books, and four middle-grade novels, all with major publishers. Her first novel, Emmy & the Incredible Shrinking Rat, won the 2008 Minnesota book award; her third novel, The Secret of Zoom, was purchased by President Obama for his daughters. Her first chapter book in the Magical Mix-Ups series, Hamster Magic, was nominated for the Minnesota book award and kicks off a planned series of twelve for Random House. Her books have received starred reviews in Horn Book, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Booklist, and Sesame Street Parents, and have been published in ten languages. She has been awarded a Hawthornden Castle fellowship for 2013. Lynne lives in Plymouth, Minnesota with her husband, has two grown sons, and loves to sail. Future publications include The Boy Who Could Speak Cat (Henry Holt, 2014), and Deep Water Magic (Random House, 2014).


Woo! Excitement!

Friday Fun

Yvie's here once again, ape-friends! Because we've made it through the week.

It's been stupid and rainy here for what seems like forever. First it wouldn't stop snowing, now it won't stop raining. It's June. I want to be lazing on the porch, sunning my tummy.

Woe is me. There is no sun

Sigh. But at least it's the weekend, amiright?


Onto the fun!

IWSG

Gah!! I forgot to set my time for this post, so it's popping up later than usual. My bad if you're an early visitor (you know who you are...)

So, today's our monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group. Feel free to click on the link if you'd like to join up.

I've been feeling pretty good lately. Not really insecure, which is good. Of course we all know that it can pop up at ANY TIME. It doesn't matter how great things can be going, it can just sneak in.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, one of the best weapons for fighting off that insecurity is acknowledging it, understanding that it's not an emotion or feeling based on any sort of logic, and knowing that it will go away.

Some people like to continue writing, to push through it by getting down to work. But some people just need to step away. It's just important to figure what works best for you. Yeah? Yeah.

In Which I'm Tempted

So, I sat around for a few hours, knowing I had to write a blog post for today but not coming up with anything.
Like nothing. At all.

I hate when that happens. I'm sure I have something to blather about, and yet here I sit, blank.

I dunno. I've been steadily working on revisions. Both line edits, and bigger stuff. I think I'll be ready to query later this summer. Last week I had the first itch about querying All That Remains. Because I'm still querying Break Free, I think that helps keep the itch away. But something triggered me last week and I was all "ooooh, maybe I could just send out one query..."

And then I smacked myself around because that was such a dumb ass idea. I've never been a person who's knowingly queried too soon. I've never understood those people who send out a query, just to test the query, then freak out when they get a request because the MS isn't ready yet. Like, why would you put undue stress on yourself like that? Revising is hard enough. I mean, I've had a request before I've finished revisions, but that's not because of a query I actually emailed out, you know?

Ah well, what can you do. Just keep my head down and continue revising, I suppose.

Hey, look at that! I managed to ramble on and make a post.

Anyhoo, how are your projects coming, writing or otherwise?

The WIP It Good Blogfest

It's been awhile since I've participated in a blogfest, but this one sounded fun so I signed up.

http://dlcruisingaltitude.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-wip-it-good-blogfest.html

The deets:

Our idea is that on Friday, May 31st, we will provide a forum to allow anyone interested a chance to tell the blogosphere about their most recent [W]ork [I]n [P]rogress. We’ll guide you by providing a few prompts to answer in your own post

So here we go!

WIP Title: All That Remains
Word Count (projected/actual so far): 100,000/102,000

Genre: YA Fantasy

How long have you been working on it?: Cumulatively: 8 months. But I wrote the first 50K in 2011, then didn't write the remaining 60K until a year later

Elevator Pitch (if you came across an agent in an elevator ride, what couple of lines would you use to summarize your book): A teen assassin sets out on a path to avenge her murdered family.
Brief Synopsis (250 words or less):

In the country of Lovero where families of assassins lawfully kill people for the right price, sixteen-year-old Oleander “Lea” Saldana sets out on a path of vengeance against the most powerful assassin family of all.

The list of things Lea can count on in her life has never been long: her mother will try to poison her to make Lea a better assassin, she can beat her boyfriend Val in a fight and her bone mask will keep her safe from the angry ghosts as she kills someone in the night. But when she trusts Val, a member of the powerful Da Vias, and reveals the location of her home, she is betrayed and her family is slaughtered while Lea barely escapes as the sole survivor.

Now there’s only one thing left to do: make the Da Vias pay.

The only problem is, the Da Vias have gone to ground and the one person who can find them is her missing uncle, banished from the Saldanas years ago. Even if he can be found before the Da Vias realize Lea escaped their knives, Lea can’t trust him. Hells, she can’t trust anyone ever again, and definitely not her uncle’s too-attractive-for-his-own-good apprentice, Alessio, no matter what her heart and body tell her. How can she trust Alessio when the last boy she loved destroyed everything? How can she fall for Alessio when revenge is all she should care about?

But when the Da Vias kidnap her uncle, Lea has a choice: use him as a distraction to finally kill the Da Vias, or trust Alessio and save all that remains of her family.

 Are you looking for a Critique Partner?:
Not currently. Of course, things could always change
 Are you looking for a Beta Reader?: Same as above. I've got a couple of Beta readers lined up and waiting



So there you have it! I'm off to see the other entries.

Wednesday Weird: The Isdal Woman

In 1970, a University professor and his two daughters outside of Bergen, Norway, discovered the partially charred, naked body of a woman in the middle of the Isdalen Valley hidden among some rocks. Her body was laced with alcohol and sleeping pills, and had evidence of blunt force trauma on the back of her neck. The investigation that followed was so strange that it landed it on my Wednesday Weird post.

Isdalen Valley

Beside the Isdal Woman, items including bottles of gasoline and liquor, a mostly burnt passport, and a ton of sleeping pills were close enough to have been quickly dropped. But the Isdal Woman herself was difficult to identify. Her fingerprints had been sanded off, and her dental records returned no matches, though it seemed she'd had some work done in Latin America.

Two of her suitcases were found in a safety deposit box at a train station, but all of the clothing inside had been stripped of their labels. There was a prescription bottle, but the label had been peeled off. In addition, the police found several fake passports with entrance stamps from Moscow (this was during the Cold War), and there were 500 deutschemarks sewn into the lining of one of the bags. She also apparently wore a collection of wigs and wrote notes to herself in code.

Despite over 100 eyewitnesses all claiming to have seen her on the days leading up to her death, nobody could agree on anything except that she looked like "an attractive foreign lady in her 30s or 40s." She might have been German, or  French, or Italian or she just might have known how to speak those languages. She used nine different, fake names at multiple hotels around Norway and Europe, and the primary witness, an Italian photographer who'd had dinner with her before she died, said she was an antiques collector from South Africa on a sightseeing trip, but he couldn't remember any useful details. Though it's important to note he had previously been questioned in an unrelated rape case.
She was last seen hiking in, oddly enough, evening wear and being closely followed by two large men in black clothing. The police were so baffled by every single facet of the case that they ruled the Isdal Woman's death a suicide because of course they did.

Thoughts? Theories?