I MOVED!

To TUMBLR

here

Finally

I did it!!!!

It's Over!

I'm a winner :)

Finished on the 29th it was an awesome time and I will DEF be coming back for another round next year. Still need about 15k more for the story to be over but after 50k in 30 days it doesn't seem like much:)

Sleep now

Updates of a Busy Month!

Wow, I never thought that November could be this busy!

Tim and Eric, Harry Potter and 1667 words a day!

Right now I am 1 day behind on Nano. I did not have time to write yesterday since I was going to Harry Potter!!!!

As an aside I do love the movies, but they will never live up to the books. I think that's impossible. Being at the second to last Harry Potter movie however, made me a little sad. Harry has been a part of my life since I was 10 years old! I will be sad to say goodbye to the franchise next July. I hope by then there is another wonderful series for me to explore!

One could dream that by then I could have an agent and be on my way to publishing, but there is so much work to be done on both my series! Death Inc needs editing and polishing, and Skylark Assassins needs to be written!

Well I will get back to NaNo-ing :)

See you on the flip side of 50k

30k down 20k to go!

Last day of the first week of my first NaNoWriMo

Lol! That's a mouthful!

Today is Sunday! Did I mention that I LOVE the end of daylight savings time?! Well I do! Who doen't want to gain an hour of LIFE! :)

Anyway Nation Novel Writing Month is going GREAT! I am right on track to complete by the 30th. I am currently at 10100 words, and 4 chapters in.

This novel is a young adult Sci Fi, in the vein of The Hunger Games.

I have introduced almost all the characters now (there are only about 5 important ones in this novel.

Well that's about it for me ATM :) My boyfriend and I are going the the TIM & ERIC show tomorrow night! It will surely be a good time. We also already bought our tickets to HARRY POTTER and the Deathly Hallows part one!! We are going the Friday it opens!! WOO!

NaNoWriMo Begins!

I'm off to the Races!! The NANO Races that is. I am working hard at my 50k word in 30 days goal. Everything, including gaming, reading and photography is taking a back seat.

Good Luck to all the other NaNoWriMoers :) See you on the flip side!!


~Ash

The Map!

Minecraft...Building the USS Enterprise (the aircraft carrier)

Ok so I mentioned in my last post about Minecraft. I have decided I am going to attempt to build a scale model of the USS Enterprise CVN - 65

She is an awesome ship. The first Nuclear powered Aircraft carrier in the US Navy and the longest aircraft carrier in the world.

She is 1123ft long, (extreme) 257 feet wide (extreme) 250 ft tall (extreme) and the fastest aircraft carrier in the US Navy Fleet. Not to mention there is something majestic about her...

Anyway, I have measured out how large the boat needs to be in Minecraft, and will keep updating my blog as I begin work on "Big E"

Good night!

WOW! Things are crazy right now

I work in insurance, so 10/1 is a HUGE renewal date for our agency. So I have been SOOOOOooOOooOO busy the last month getting all that done. But it's over!! Time to CELEBRATE.

Now there is the personal life!
On the book front, I have rewritten my query letter. It is so much better now. Got a reply from an oh so awesomely honest agent who gave me some suggestions for revisions.

I am taking a step back from Death Incorporated right now. It's been two weeks since I touched it, and I want it to stew a little longer before I revisit it. I have some ideas on major revamping that I will be doing, but I will not be working on it until December 1st.

Why you ask?! Because NaNoWrImO is coming! I have decided against writing the sequel to DI in the contest. I will be working on a YA (maybe adult) Sci Fi that came to me in a dream a few weeks back. I am storing some plot ideas in my brain, and will release the floodgates come 11/1.

Since Nano is only 30 days away, I am clearing my mind of anything writing related until after the contest. I need to be completed deflated and ready!!

In the meantime, I have been trying to take some photos and to play video games. I bought and beat Halo Reach (on heroic thank you very much) and have been routinely kicking ass in multiplayer.

Most of my free time has been dedicate to playing an AWESOME independent game called Minecraft My boyfriend has set up a server so if anyone wants to play comment and I can send you over the info!

Anyway, that is the update on my life at the moment. :) See you on the flip side!

Labor Day!

Good Morning World!

Happy Labor Day, I hope that you are all relaxing and enjoying your day off!

Have some interesting pictures for you below.

These are from one of my friends rocket launches, they are really neat! You can learn more about the Albuquerque Rocket Society here

















































These are some Photos I have taken with the Nifty Fifty and a set of Kenko Extension tubes.

:)

Nothing new on the book front. No new rejections/requests since last update.

I am starting an outline for a new Adult SciFi book that I dreamed up a few days ago and I am going to use NaNoWriMo to get that story onto paper :)

Well, have a great Labor Day All!!

~Ash

Evil Adverbs (LY) In dialouge.

Don't trust JK Rowling. Well do in some cases, but not when it comes to using ly.

Although she is not the only published author that is know to over use sharply hastily quickly etc in her writing, she is perhaps the only one called out on it by Stephen King.

Don't get me wrong, I love Rowling, she is someone to be admired for not only her ability to paint a picture with words, but also her huge heart and great spirit.

In fact she gave over 15m dollars to an MS hospital, I have a huge heart for all philanthropy, but MS hits home because my sister has it.

Nevertheless Rowling does over use ly in her dialogue. I have listened to every single one of the Books on CD, and at times even Jim Dale (the narrator) fumbles over words because it doesn't feel natural to be told how someone says something.

I advocate reading your MS aloud, I did this again today and eliminated TONS of words that made it hard to read. This is something that should be done (imho) it forces you to read what you wrote rather than what your mind is seeing on the paper.


How goes the querying? Well more rejections this week. One helpful and the rest just form.
I am currently not querying anymore, as I am doing some major revamping and considering rewriting the first page of my MS. Anyway the stats are below.

Sent 15
Requests for Partials 1
From Rejections on Query 3
Helpful Rejection on Query 1
Rejections on Partials 1

The First of Many

Well an exciting week to say the least.

I received a request for a partial of Death Incorporated. My first request and I was about to run circles around my desk and kiss my boss.

After calming down a bit I reasoned that it was perfectly acceptable to be excited about my first requested partial. After all it means that my query letter is working...on at least one agent. So when I got home from work, I double checked the first 30 pages of the script' and sent it off.

I was on cloud nine for almost exactly 24 hours, and in came the rejection. "Not connecting with the narrative...you have a clever premise...too hard for me to sell in this competitive market."

I didn't want to eat...I didn't want to sleep...I didn't want to be alive.

48 hours later I am rebounding, editing heavily and finding the ability to smile coming back to me. It felt good to get out on our four wheelers yesterday and do NOTHING on the book.



Now it's back to work finding the right agent. There only needs to be one yes.

Here is the tally so far
11 queries sent.
1 form rejection
1 Request for partial/rejection after partial.

I will keep adding when I get more to add.

~Ash

Been a while!

It's been a while since I posted on my blog!

I have been really REALLY busy.

First, I entered three of my photos into the NM state fair. They did better than I thought they would, but I won't find out if they ribboned (probably not) until the Fair starts in September.

Here are the three I entered



Second I have been working pretty much NON STOP on my manuscript for Death Incorporated.

Last but not least, I have been writing and getting my Query Letter Critiqued, by the O so helpful people over at AQ Connect.

Today I sent out 11 queries to agents that I think will be a good fit.

Now the waiting game begins I will updated you all when I get anything back!

Good night Good night!

Done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My first draft of Death Inc is DONE DONE DONE!


I am sooo excited! Just wanted to share the feeling. I will begin revising/editing soon!!

WOOOOO

~Ash

Oh wow..I have a blog!

Ok, I didn't completely forget about this....just mostly :). Anyway, just in case anyone was wondering I am still working on my book, chapter 25...soo close!! Anyway that is about all that is going on with me...I did realize today that on the scale of "high maintenance" I am like a negative 5...lol...well maybe I should just say I am not a Diva...and I can't decide if that is because of choice or just because my life would be much too hard if I were...Anyway back to writing

~Ash

Ummm yeah! Chapter 17 of DI is completed...having a little trouble writing lately. Life has been too busy...Anyway I am about 10 chapters from being done now! Want to be editing by next week...if I work on it all weekend I may be able to get more done!

Mondaze

Ever feel like Monday is always a blur? Me too!

Not much to say today. I am working on Chapter Sixteen of DI...Anyway, I am just getting through the week till Friday...I wonder how many times I have said that in my life...lol probably too many!

Happy Monday :)

Jonathan's B day

Hello Hello,

Today is my Main Characters Birthday!! Happy Birthday Jonathan T. Grace , you would be 24 today, if you existed that is!(and you weren't dead)

Not much to say today, just still writing when I can, working on chapter 15...things are going going. Tomorrow is Friday and I can't complain about that :)

~Ash

Besides Writing I love Photography, here is one of the plum blossoms in my front yard and the moon!

Hello World!

I finished a chapter!! I wanted to put my preface up so I can maybe stir up some interest...

Anyway here you are :)

I never knew that dying would be so simple. It is all the things that happen afterward, that make the whole affair so complicated. I always feared death would be agonizing, but it happened so quickly it was painless.

Living was much more painful.

Like any selfish and cruel person, instead of dealing with my pain, I would siphon it to someone else. Therefore, bullying quickly became the pride and highlight of my life. If I ever succeeded at anything, it was making people feel terrible about who they were.

I cared little about those who I used to bury my own self-loathing and insecurities. They were mere stepping-stones to the pinnacle of happiness. This chaotic cycle continued until senior year, when a simple string of unrelated circumstances changed my life, and afterlife, forever. I suppose that is the best place to begin my story.

Uhhh...Hello Blogging World :)

Hello out there!

This is my first day of 'Blogging' :)

I just wanted to get a blog started to generate some interest in my novel, Death Incorporated. As of Today, I am just below the halfway point (32k) words. I hope to have the novel completed by the end of April (fingers crossed)

I do have the Preface up and ready to view on my website.

Please feel free to ask me questions or whatever about the story, as soon as I have the first chapter up I will post it :)

Thanks all!

~Ash