February | A Basket Full of Memories

What's up, wordlings? So this summary is late but I wanted to write it the week after the conference so I could give you all the full scoop of what happened down in Florida. Also, I had a book review scheduled to go up last week while I was away but it didn't go up for some reason. That'll be ready for next week, guaranteed :) 

This month was a pretty crazy one but it left me feeling satisfied with the direction I'm headed and gave me a new drive to pursue my end goal. Besides that, everything that happened was super enjoyable and I've moved into March with a whole basket overflowing with memories.

Previously, In the Month of February...

1) I tried to write and edit, I really did. However, I realized I had more school assignments than I had anticipated and so I poured my time into that for the first ten days of the month. I'm making up for it as we speak—write like the wind!

2) Tori came up :D We spent ten days exploring the city and the mountains. Instead of rambling on about how awesome it was, I thought, I'd share some pictures instead :) 

Our Valentines Day consisted of ice-cream and a photoshoot at a national park

The ice throne at the ice castle! They played Narnia music too!

Our adventures at the science centre included giant rubber cubes, tony stark technology and a little plush red blood cell that now sits in my bookshelf as one of my writing pals

Can't go ten days without at least trying to turn Tori into a slurpee addict like me!

We visited an antique book store!

Our trip to Banff in the mountains

We signed our names on the wall of the waffle house in Banff ^ ^  

Winter hiking to the frozen water fall

3) I went to the Florida Christian Writer's Conference! If you follow my Facebook page (which you totally should!), then you'll know of the long list of amazing things have happened while I was there.

My purpose in going down was to try to pick up an agent. It's pretty much impossible to get a contract on the spot but I did have two of the agents request a full manuscript from me! One of them wants a book proposal too which is really good news.

The next piece of good news is that I won an award! I got first place for my flash fiction piece, "Adrift". The award is a really sweet victory since that story in particular has been rejected in the past.

The winners from the teen track! Anna, Bethany, me, and Laura

Beyond that, Focus on the Family has some new projects for me, Splickety wants to see my work in their magazine, and I was offered an opportunity to co-teach next year at the conference.

Maybe it sounds cheesy but my favourite part about the trip was getting to reconnect with some of my favourite people, build relationships with new peoples and talk to so many amazing authors! I'm so inspired coming home from Florida :)

Technically I met Ben Wolf last year but this year we actually had some great writerly talks

This sweet lady, Starr, was such an inspiration to me this year. I can't wait for her book to come out sometime in the future! It's gonna be amazing ^ ^ 

Me and my mentor, Bethany Jett :) 

Amanda Davis lead the Teen Track this year and she did an amazing job! I'm so glad I got to know her better this year

February's Monthly Media

1) I re-watched most of "Your Lie in April" with Tori while she was here as well as the beginning of "Guilty Crown". We've agreed to webcam while we finish the both series together. We also watched "Spirited Away" which I really enjoyed.

It was a marathon of feels

2) When I found out that Tori hadn't seen "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", I promptly sat her down, made popcorn, and played the DVD. To this day, it's probably my favourite movie of all time. If you haven't seen it, track it down! DVDs are cheap these days if you can't stream it so you have no excuse ;)

One of my favourite scenes

3) While Tori was here, we went to go see "The 5th Wave". I wasn't a fan of the book for many reasons but the movie fixed a lot of the problems. I actually enjoyed watching the film and I'll probably see the next one when it comes out too.

Well, it wasn't a trashy movie....get it? Cause there's a trash can? 

4) Unfortunately I wasn't able to read Gracekeepers as planned. Instead, I read a play for school and have started a novel for my literature class: "Station Eleven". It's a good story so far but I'm pretty early in yet so we'll see how it goes.

Coming Soon to the Month of March...

1) The rest of "Living City" is scheduled to be completely (well, at least the first draft) edited and I'll be able to write the second draft. This also means it's time for me to look for Beta readers. If anyone has tips on that, I'd be incredibly grateful ^_^

2) Flash fiction time! I've got my list of Splickety themes and I'm gonna start on them. I hope to have at least two written and polished but that's subjective to how many assignments I get this month too.

One of my classmates sent this to me after we handed in a major paper recently XD

3) "Crec" is a hard project. If you've been following me for awhile (or even for the last three months), you'll know my progress on this one isn't as progressive as I'd like. I had the beginning critiqued at the the conference and I also have been working on the timelines of each of the characters. It's difficult, to say the least. As much as I hate to admit it, I think I have to start over. This is the last time, I swear! After this, I'll just have to fix things in the rewrite.

I'm not sure if I'll actually get to starting on it this month but if not, I'll be working on my timelines still so that I'll know what I'm doing when I do start it. 

March's Monthly Media

1) Station Eleven will be read. Since it's for school, it kind of has to be XD I've been wanting to read it for awhile now, though, and I find it interesting that my prof wants to study a mainstream novel.

I have no proof to confirm this but from what I've heard, it's got similarities to that "Night Circus" book that's gotten popular in the last year. If you've read either book, let me know!

2) I'm re-watching "Heroes". For one thing, I love it. Also, I want to watch that new season that came out recently but feel the need to at least catch up on the first season to refresh myself with the premise and the characters (even though most of the characters have been excluded).

Another reason why I'm watching it is because I'm considering cosplaying as Claire Bennet when I go down to Realm Makers in July. They have a costume night and I feel like I could probably do Claire. It's a toss up between her and Tris from the first book/movie (I have long hair so...). Let me know in the comments as to who you think I should do!

So that was my month and also the plan for March :) I'm looking forward to how the opportunities that have been opened up to me will shape my year and ultimately, the path to my becoming of a writer.

See ya all in the comments!

What were some of the highlights from your month? Have any goals for next month?

Keep up the awesomeness, Wordlings! 

January | Make Way for Crazy

Happy weekend, Wordlings! 

How's 2016 going for you? Did you start off the year well? Is it still going well?

I know for me, I'm pretty behind on my goals but at least they're still moving forward. I've never edited a full length novel before so this is new territory for me. Since I'm learning a lot though, I'd definitely say that the month has still been productive. After all, when is learning not productive? ;) 

Onwards to the summary! 

Previously, In the Month of January.... 

1) I made good headway in editing the first draft of my novel, "Living City". However, I didn't finish the first read through like I had planned. I procrastinated during the first week and had assignments in the third and fourth week of the month; which lead me to only editing 15 out of 44 chapters. *dramatic sigh*

In my defence, I underestimated the work needed to be done on the first draft. Never do that, my little wordlings! First drafts need lots of attention! They're like small children: messing up a lot and needing your guidance to reach their full potential.

Despite the lack of advancement on my Alpha edits, I have high hopes to finish them in the next month (or by the middle of March at the absolute latest). Now that I know what to expect, I feel as though I can do better in the coming months.

Thank you, Haymitch! It's so kind you to say so. 

2) School started up again so I'm now in my second semester of University. Woot! My classes this term are an English literature analysis course, world history form the 1500s to present day (the plot bunnies have taken over this course!), and another Spanish class!

3) I've signed my first contract ever! As of this month, I'm a signed author (I goggled the definition to make sure it included writing articles). This calls for a celebration! *pops cork on sparkling pomegranate juice*

Nerd Stuff

1) I finished watching up to the end of season 4 of "Once Upon a Time" on Netflix. Oh my goodness that finale though....so much emotion! I can hardly wait for season 5 to be released! If you haven't seen the series, you gotta give it a shot. It's really good! From a writing standpoint, I've learned a lot about creating villains and backstories by watching that show. From a fan's perspective? Well...

This gif says it all. 

2) I went on a spontaneous book haul at the bookstore...twice. There was literally no reason for me to buy books other than the fact that I had money and happened to be in the store. But let's be honest here. You never need an excuse to buy new books! (especially when one of them is a leather bound book of Emily Dickinson's poetry)

3) Noragami Aragoto wrapped up this month. My friend, Kendall and I fangirled throughout the entire season and now have our fingers crossed that the third season comes out soon. I might have to just read the manga though XD The anticipation is killing me!

In the Meantime, we started watching and have nearly finished Akame ga Kill. It's a little weird: hilarious at times, eyebrow raising at others. I wouldn't recommend it but I feel the need to finish it now XD

4) I read "The Sword of Summer" and really, enjoyed it! I hoped to have a review up this month but that will have to wait until February. I'll have it up soon though, I promise.

Coming Soon to the Month of February...

1) February will be a crazy month for me! But crazy is my middle name, isn't it?

Shhh, it's actually Taylor. (But Cassia Crazy Schaar sounds better)

The month will be pretty normal for the first ten days so I hope to get lots of writing and editing done in that time. If I'm at least three quarters of the way through my preliminary edits, I'll be elated.

Alright. Here we go!

2) As far as writing new stuff goes, I'll be working on Crec as much as I can. My word count goals will be seriously scaled back though—not to mention flexible. By the end of the month I hope to have Act 1 complete (for real this time) but it's not a priority with midterms and the next few items on my list *points down*. 

3) On the 11th, a close friend of mine, Tori, will be flying from Georgia to stay with me for a few weeks. I'm beyond excited to see her! We'll have so many adventures and do a lot of writing together :)

Tori's in the centre. We'll get more picture this year ^.^

4)  The day after Tori leaves, I'm catching a plane bound for Florida where I'll be attending the Florida Christian Writer's Conference. There, I'm meeting with editors, agents and authors in hopes to get picked up or at least have some interest in my work :)

Also, I'll get to see my mentor, Bethany Jett :D I've been messaging her in the last few days. We're both counting down the days ^_^

Future Nerd Stuff

1) When Tori comes up, I'll be watching "Spirited Away" and "Guilty Crown" as well as re-watching "Your Lie in April" and "5 Centimetres Per Second". We're sharing our favourite animes and Japanese movies with each other ;)

Your Lie In April is the most beautiful anime I've ever seen.

2) Another film we'll be watching is "The 5th Wave". To be honest, I really didn't care for the book but I have a feeling it at least has potential to make a good movie. I'll let you know when I find out. 

3) My reading this month will consist of "The Gracekeepers" by Kristy Logan and if I get around to it, I'll read "The Giver" again. It's gonna be a busy month though so I'm not sure how much time I'll have for reading. There's always the plane ride though ;)

Can we just pause and take a moment to admire this beautiful cover?

So that's my month! Next month will be nuts but in the best way possible. I can't wait to tell you all about it!

What were some of the highlights from your month? Have any goals for next month?

Keep up the awesomeness, Wordlings! 

November | A Month for Celebration and Firework Gifs

Happy, almost the month of Christmas, Wordlings!
How was NaNo for all of you who participated? How's university for all my fellow students? For everyone who attempted both, I feel you're exhaustion.
Despite the crazy month, November was actually insanely productive for me and even more rewarding. I'm on a writing high right now which I hope to ride all the way into the new year like a majestic horse (or a motorcycle—we'll see how it goes).

Onwards to the summary! 

My Victories 

1) I won NaNoWriMo! Woohoo!

I officially won on the 18th by sprinting and writing 5k in one day which was pretty tough since that was a school day for me; not to mention that the coming Friday I had two midterms and I paper due. It just goes to show though that it's always possible to find a time to write. On the day I finished, I literally wrote every second I got the chance.
Considering this was my first year of NaNo, I'd say that I did pretty darn well :)

2) Remember that secret project I mentioned? Well I completed that too!
I've only been able to tell a few friends about it so far but I assure you, I'll mentioned it next month since that's when it's been presented.
Currently the project is going through a few people for editing and I'll be attending a meeting regarding it's presentation in the next month. I'm beyond blessed to have this opportunity and can't wait to see how it comes together.

3) Guess who bought herself a daily agenda? This girl! I'm using it specifically for the sake of writing so that my blog and my novels don't fall behind. While it may not seem like a victory, for a procrastinator, it totally is! I'm actually putting money into scheduling and that's a pretty big deal ^ ^

Isn't it cute? And it has little spots to write monthly goals! It's perfect. 

4) Probably the biggest victory of all is that I finished the first draft of "Living City" at 95,310 words :D

This is the first full draft I've actually completed so it's a massive accomplishment and is probably the reason I'm on a writing high right now ^ ^

Nerd Stuff

1) I finished watching Red Data Girl. It's not one I'd recommend to people unless they've run out of decent animes to watch. It was a neat concept but I think there was a lot that needed to be explained that wasn't. Unless of course I just wasn't paying attention XD

2) I'm in the process of reading "The Power of Ten" still. NaNo made it difficult for me to read. Hopefully I can catch up on my reading in December when I finish finals.

3) Currently, I'm following "Norigami Aragato", the second season "Norigami". My friend, Kendall and I are watching it together every week and I love it ^ ^ I'm a huge fan of Norigami and my OTP resides in this anime. There's a lot of squealing and hugging and re-watching clips ^ ^

Upcoming Battles

1) After much debate, I've decided that December will be the month to begin working on the first book of my Crec series. Many people have told me that a change of headspace will be good for me while I wait six very long weeks to beginning my macro edit on "Living City".
So I'm in for some plotting and more writing!

I'm genuinely excited to get back to a story. I feel a little like a lost child in Walmart now that I'm not actively working on a project!
I've begun a little bit of plotting and am finding this story already to be more of a challenge. I'm up for it though. 

2) The completion of the secret project with the meetings and such that I mentioned above will be a battle. Not because I don't want to do it but because it's a project that means a lot to me. I don't want to get so caught up in it that I forget it's meaning. 

3) Final exams. I need to start studying for those right about now....
While my course load isn't a large as most people's I know for a fact that the whole writing thing may pose as a distraction to the whole studying notion. Hopefully I can push my novels aside long enough to care about my GPA.

Future Nerd Stuff

1) Finishing "The Fate of Ten" for sure!

2) At the bookstore I work at, Chapters, the staff all got a book for an early Christmas gift. I got Rick Riodan's new book, "The Sword of Summer". Do you know how excited I am to read this thing!? So freakishly excited! I'll definitely be writing a review for it either in late December or early January.

Can we take a moment to admire this amazing cover? Sometimes I just stare at it...no lie XD

While not a lot happened this month, the stuff that did happen turned out to be pretty big and definitely worthy of all the fireworks! I'm beyond excited to take on the next month and then after that, the next year and the year after that and—well let's just start with December for now ;)

Thank you to all my readers and a special thanks to the commenters who make my day :) 

I hope you all had a great month and that you're next month is great too! 

One last set of fireworks just because this month rocked!

What were some of the highlights from your month? Have any goals for next month?

Keep being awesome, Wordlings! 

October | I've Become Motivated

Never before have I done a monthly summary but one of my writer friends (who you may know as Stori Tori) encouraged me to start doing them. So here I am, tapping away at my keyboard about the busiest, most productive, most game changing month I've had in my writing life in a long time. I owe a lot of it to Tori so a huge thanks to her!  *lots of cheering*

Onwards to the summary! 

My Victories 

1) I made a commitment to my writing unlike any commitment I've made before: 10k words a week, people!
So far those words have been dedicated to my novel but in the future, they'll be counting towards other things.

2) I rebooted my blog and vowed to keep a schedule. My wonderful friend who the minions are cheering for is keeping me accountable. I hope that once I get into the swing of things I'll be able to write posts without a weekly remind from my phone XD
Also, in the realm of blogs, I've remodelled mine in case you haven't noticed :) What do you think?

3) I've booked flights and reserved a spot at the Florida Christian Writer's Conference! I'm so excited to go this year for a few reasons. One: I get to see all my writer friends from last year and two: I'm pitching my book to publishers and editors :D :D :D
While I'm nervous, I think the excited butterflies are stronger ;) This is a dream I've had since before kindergarten and I've finally built up the courage and confidence to put myself out there. (and the extra writing practice certainly didn't hurt anyone) Florida, here I come!

The amazing people I got to write with last year

4) Through countless conversations with my wonderful friend —who apparently I can't stop talking about!—and my mom, I've started a very basic pre-marketing strategy for this coming February when I head to the conference. One of those things has been starting a Facebook page. :D
If you're a follower here, I'd love to see you over there too! It means that I get to interact with you and get to know you better. Plus I'll be posting lots of geeky and writerly material :)
There's already over 100 likes so you'll be among friends!

5) I've named the books in the Tholus Trilogy! Book 1 is "The Living City", book 2 will be "The Sunken Sky" and book 3 will be "The Buried Core".  However I am considering dropping the "The". From a reader's point of view, what do you think? Does the "The" catch your attention or turn you away from the title?

6) I attended my first ever Webinar hosted by Michael Hyatt. It was called "Your Platform Roadmap" and it was incredibly informative. Since I'm working on my platform right now, the information I got really helped. My notebook was well used today :)

Nerd Stuff

1) I final saw "The Scorch Trials"! While it was pretty different from the book, they did quite a few smart things. As a stand alone movie, it was fantastic. If you're only following the movies and haven't seen this one, I encourage you to go.

2) I re-watched my current favourite anime: Psycho-Pass. A lot of my writing was done to the soundtrack too :)

3) I reread "Scorpia Rising" by Anthony Horowitz. He was my favourite author in junior high. Since I work in a bookstore, I thought it would be good to review some of my favourite kid's books. It makes recommendations easier.

Upcoming Battles

1) Nano begins on Sunday so I've got a lot of writing to do—a lot. 50K total for the month of November to be exact. If I thought 10K a week was ambitious, this is even more so. I'll be writing 2K every day so I can stay ahead. You know—cause a university GPA is a thing I need to care about too. No big deal.

2) Speaking of school, I'll be wrapping up my first university semester. *starts to throw grad hat in the air, record scratches* No? Not yet? Okay, fine...seven semesters to go still. 

3) I'll be working on a very special project that I have no idea if I'm allowed to make public yet. I'll have to ask so I can find out if it's mentionable for next month's summary. 

4) If all goes well, the hope is that I can plan "The Sunken Sky" or start reworking "Crec: Book 1". But you know, finals, and NaNo, and the special project might turn this into a battle I'll have to face in December. 

Regardless, it's on my mind and I'm looking forward to taking it on :) 

5) Maybe the biggest battle of all will be surviving the start of Christmas Season at Chapters (the bookstore I work in)

I'm totally kidding. I love Christmas and Christmas music. But something tells me a loop track will get on my nerves. I think I might be one of the only ones in my store who's looking forward to the Christmas season at work. Likely cause I'm a greenie ;) (three cheers to anyone who got that reference) 

Future Nerd Stuff

1) I'll be starting to read "The Fate of Ten" by Pittacus Lore. I bought it right when it came out but haven't read it yet. It's staring at me from my bookshelf. Every time someone comes through the till at Chapters with it, I always comment about how it's a great series. Usually my praise is accompanied by weird looks...mostly cause the readers are teenaged boys. Come on! A female adult can read about aliens too!

2) I'll be finishing the anime "Red Data Girl". It's pretty good so far but also pretty typical XD The art is nice though. 

3) I think I'm gonna continue with "Pretty Little Liars". Yeah I know...it's stereotyped as a 'white girl show'. I actually enjoy it though. It's got some good mystery elements in it that I take note of for writing. The kissing scenes—and for that matter, everything romantic in the show—have me rolling my eyes though and I just skip the next thirty seconds. 

My favourite character, Spencer, being all epic

So that's my month! I'm pretty happy with the productivity if I do say so myself. Thank you to all my readers and a special thanks to the commenters who make my day :) 

I hope you all had a great month and that you're next month is great too! 

What were some of the highlights from your month? Have any goals for next month?

Keep up the awesomeness, Wordlings!