Buckets Full of News

Has anyone ever seen the British comedy, "Keeping Up Appearances?" If not you totally should. The title of today's blog has the word "bucket" in it. Made me think of that show. Although, you need to pronounce it "bouquet."

Don't know where that little side note came from. Must be from being tired this morning or from having cold hands. Your guess is as good as mine. Am I making any sense? Nope.

Well, some news:

I finished another edit last night. Wahoo! After a long socially deprived and being glued to my laptop and iPod week, it's done. Gah! With the help of my wonderful critique partner, Trish Wolfe, she's helped me to hone it in to something better. Sigh. I'm eternally indebted to her blessed little heart. I've got to give props to my friend Rob for editing it, too! Thanks for your wisdom! Soon I'll have a few people beta it to see if it can get any better. Seriously, how could it get any better? Just kidding. It can totally improve more.

I hope to be querying for an agent in a month. That's just the craziest thing. EVER! I never, ever thought I'd get to this point and I'm almost there. Totally at the freaking out stage of writing.

My pink cell phone finally kicked the can. The battery just couldn't cut it anymore. I was too cheap to buy a new battery for the time being. Gonna get an iPhone4 later on this month, so I very well couldn't get a new battery when I was so close to finishing a contract with my current cell phone provider. I'm settling for an old phone of mine. It's so ghetto, but it works. haha

My ten month old niece walked for the first time the other day. It was the cutest thing in the whole world. Hey, but I'm way biased.

There's really nothing else, other than I'm gonna be reading lots over the next couple days because I can. Oh, the lovely joy that comes from reading.

What news do you have to share? Comment and then we can all revel in each others news. :D

Mysterious Ways and Writing

Yesterday, my withdrawals from seeing U2 in concert made me listen to their music almost all day. I had to do something to get over the musical high. Well, I ended up listening to their song Mysterious Ways like twelve times.

I tend to focus on the singer/lyrics of songs—everything else is pushed to the background. But this time around, I found myself focusing on each of the instruments individually and tuning out the others. Let me tell you, it’s hard for me not to listen to Bono’s voice. Anyway. The drums were being hit with a vibrant beat that varied throughout the song. The bass was thrumming with subtle precision that I could feel in my chest. The guitar electrified the song with power. And the lyrics were sung with a surge of intensity that made me fall in love with the song, again.

This exercise got me thinking about how you can’t have a kicking, rocking song like Mysterious Ways without having all of the elements (singer, guitar, bass, and drums) pulled together in a fluid expression of music. This is the same in writing. Without characters, plot, pacing, dialogue, and setting, a story won’t become a fluid masterpiece. If the characters are lacking development and the plot is falling short to grasp the reader(s) attention, then the story won’t shine. It’s the same with the technical properties of writing; grammar and punctuation. Those elements can throw readers off from the stories flow. In the end, the story must have all of these fundamentals well-executed.

The more times I go through my MS, the more I see how it can unravel into a polished whole. Also having others read it will help you become aware of what your story is lacking.

That makes me think of something someone told me last summer. They said that there will be numerous edits as I write my book. I didn’t believe them. Oh, man, I do now. It takes a lot of time cultivating your story and making sure that all its elements are well-meshed together. That’s what will get your story to its end. The End. The editing process is not easy, but it’s worth it. And you know what? It helps you to become more intimately familiar with your story; it’ll be even more alive and tangible. At that point, your story will have blossomed as magnificently as U2’s Mysterious Ways.

Photography by Julia King.

The BIG Four

My love for music pretty much equals the adoration I have for books. Traveling is equal, too, but not as easily accessible.  Today, my love for music is gonna trump books and traveling. Why? Because, my friends, today will mark the big fourth time I will see my absolute favorite band in concert--U2. I have adored them since 1997. It goes back a little farther, though. With having grown up with an older brother and sister who loved 80's music, U2 was a part of their listening enjoyment.

Alas, a year and four months wait to see the phenomenal U2 is almost here. Tonight is the night! And I will be dancing and yelling my voice horse and singing along with Bono--even if he can't hear my voice for the crowd. Perhaps I will get to dance with him this time. Wish me luck. haha. 

In honor of the concert, I am posted some of my favorite U2 songs for you (and me) to enjoy this fine May 24, 2011. Enjoy the tunes because it is a "Musical Journey" as Larry Mullen Jr. would say.

Before you listen to the glorious and perfect songs, which band is YOUR favorite and why?

Half-Blood & Daimon Swag Winner

I want to announce the winner of some great Daimon and Half-Blood swag by Jennifer L. Armentrout. First of all, I've read Daimon and really want to encourage all of you to read it. I can tell you from first hand experience that it is FANTASTIC! A great read! And you'll want to read it before you delve into Half-Blood--to be released on September 15, 2011.

If you want to listen to the astounding playlist that inspired Daimon, check out this link to my blog post for the contest!

Now the winner of the swag is...

hiba008

Congratulations! I will be emailing you shortly to get your address for the sparkly swag to be mailed off to you. BTW, I chuckled at how you said you loved, "DOG DAYS ARE OVER!!! because for someone who has absolutely no clue how to dance, this song really makes me want to jump no matter how weird I look!!" Way cute!

I hope everyone has a brilliant day!

FYI: Stop by my blog tomorrow to check out a little playlist of my own. It rocks, and I will for sure be listening to it all today and tomorrow!

Bad Taste In Boys & Supernaturally

There are a couple books that I’m ecstatic to read, and they’re coming out within the next couple months. The books are...

Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris (July 12)

& Supernaturally by Kiersten White (July 26).

Carrie Harris’s beautiful, quirky, and fun writing style has drawn me in. I can’t wait to read more of her dynamic voice through the words of her book. BTIB is about zombies in high school. How cool is that? Way supercool on an awesomesauce scale. I’ve been waiting well over six months for this book and the clock is ticking—it will be out soon. I feel pretty special because Carrie was the first person to follow me on Twitter. Back then, I appreciated her confidence in me as a beginner in the tweeting arena and as an aspiring author. Ok, I’m bragging.

Last summer, Kiersten White’s book Paranormalcy was recommended to me by her dad. Now that’s a cool claim to fame. I’ve really got to stop bragging now. Anyway, within days I finished it and fell in love with the characters and the story. Then I had the fabulous opportunity to interview Kiersten. She was so welcoming and a delight to get to know in person. Since then I’ve been itching to get my greedy little fingers on Supernaturally. It makes me giddy thinking in just over two months I will be feasting upon the second part of the series. However, it kills me to think I have to wait even longer for the final book in the trilogy to be released. They should just release them both at the same time. Seriously! And I’m anxious to find out what the third book is going to be named. I have some ideas, but I’m probably way off the mark.

So, which soon-to-be-released books are you dying to read and why?

What's in a Name?

A fellow writer called me by my nickname the other day: Jewels (should be spelled Jules). He told me I should write a blog post about it. So, these are the names that are okay for people to call me: Julia or Jules. Yeah, you can call me funny, too, but that’s not required. The one name I don’t like being called is Julie. I have no problem with people named Julie. I know some fantastic people with the name, but I don’t feel like a Julie. At all! If my parents had wanted me called Julie, they would have named me it.

So where is this taking me and how can I tie it into writing?

When I started writing my book, the character’s names came to me quickly. It was like they were whispering their names to me as I wrote. Of course my book is set in Paris, France, so I printed off a list of common first names and surnames of French people. My main character’s name is Pierre. I love Pierre, but worried it wasn’t manly enough for him (no offense to all Pierre’s out there). I tried switching his name with a sub-character named Luc. It was not right at all. He is Pierre all the way! And Luc is Luc!

For me my characters must have the right name from the very beginning, otherwise I can’t fully develop them as real person. And they are very real to me.

For a trilogy I will write next, the characters spoke their names to me during a sleepless night. My cute and very intelligent Sophie is dying to come to life. However, one of the character’s names is not coming to me. I feel like a parent who can’t decide a name for their child after they’ve been born. Yes, he has been born in my mind. I hope to come up with a name for him, but it may not come until I start writing.

So, how do you flow when it comes to naming your characters? Do your character’s names have any weight on developing the story? Is it a must to give them a name at the very beginning? Or can you write it and have the names come to you later?