Terrible Titles Bloghop: The Treasure Hunt

My lovely CP and friend Julie Dao tagged me for the Terrible Titles Bloghop. Julie recently signed with Tamar Rydzinski of the Laura Dail Literary Agency. Read her I HAVE AN AGENT post here.

Anyway! On to the post:

Here are the rules: Writers scroll through their manuscript and stop in random places. Whatever words/phrase the cursor lands on becomes one of eight terrible titles.

1. THE OLD LOBSTER TRAPS

2. GLANCING BACK AT HIM

3. I DON'T NORMALLY LIKE COFFEE

4. SEE YOU LATER, BEN

5. FOOTSTEPS ON THE STAIRS

6. ALMOST BREAKING MY RIBS

7. WHICH WAS RIDICULOUS

8. LIKE KNIFE SOMEBODY?


My cursor kept stopping on giant blank spaces, so it took me a while to get all eight. I think I'm partial to I DON'T NORMALLY LIKE COFFEE and LIKE KNIFE SOMEBODY?

Have you done the Terrible Titles Bloghop? What are your favorites? If you'd like me to tag you, let me know in the comments!

Artsy Writing

(Visual) Art and writing are interconnected, I think. 

Sometimes I try to sketch my characters. Sometimes I draw maps of the world. I almost always make Pinspiration boards on Pinterest. But I've never made an actual inspiration/positivity/vision board before. 

After talking with my CPs about staying positive through the ups and downs of writing and where they find inspiration, I thought it would be fun to make an inspirational collage/vision board for my current manuscript and writing as a way to stay positive. 

Here is the (almost) final product:

I clipped pictures and phrases out of magazines, printed out quotes I found online, and even sketched/wrote things myself. 

Here are some close ups and explanations:

"Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure."

I think that's the perfect quote for writing and querying. It's so hard to stay positive all the time, but a good attitude can make all the difference.

"Hope, but never expect. Look forward, but never wait."

This quote reminds me of something my friend once told me, "Go into something with positive intention, not expectation." Intention and expectation sound similar, but I think with intention you're putting your positivity out into the universe, not expecting something in return. 

"Make it simple, but significant." 

This reminds me of my awesome Pitch Wars mentor Jessie Devine. I was trying too hard with my prose, attempting to make it "fancier" than it needed to be. He taught me how to simplify it. I ended up cutting over 5k of filler from THE TREASURE HUNT with his help.

I found this four-leaf clover in my yard. Obviously, I thought a little good luck wouldn't hurt! :)
(And that picture of Dylan O'Brien is how I imagine my MC's personality—well, more like his character's personality on Teen Wolf!)

This musical-looking sketch represents my first Pitch Wars team: Team PPU. When the lovely Stephanie Garber picked me as her second alternate in 2013, it was my first writing-related ego boost. It was huge for me. (Thanks, Stephanie! <3) 

My teammates, Julie Dao and Katie Bucklein, are two of my closest writer friends. We've been through so much together, so I wanted to give Team PPU, as a whole, positive vibes! The anchor represents Katie's PW book, the music represents Julie's, and the stars represent mine. 

What do you do when you're brainstorming/writing/editing a manuscript? Do you sketch your characters? Make collages? Draw maps? Make vision boards?

If you'd like to be tagged in an Artsy Writing blog tour, let me know in the comments!

Meet My Character!

I've been tagged by the lovely Emily Kate Muyskens to participate in the Writerly Meme (Meet My Character) blog tour. I think you're supposed to use meme(s) to describe/show your character and answer several questions about your character. (I hope I'm doing this right!)

Instead of introducing Ben, my protagonist, I thought it'd be fun to introduce a character he befriends. She's important behind the scenes and was really fun to write.

Jennifer loves long-haired guys

1. What is the name of your character? Is she a fictional person or a historic person?

Jennifer is fictional, but she could totally be real.

2. When and where is the story set?

The story takes place during the summer of 1992 in Bay Haven, Maine. (A fictional tourist town on Maine's coast.)

Mr. Mittens?

3. What should we know about your character?

She's eighteen, a chain-smoker, a metal head (glam metal is her fave sub-genre), blonde, tattooed, and obsessed with Bret Michaels. Her best friend is Mitch. She's not afraid to sing at the top of her lungs in a car full of people.

4. What is the main conflict? What messes up her life?

Her main conflict (not the conflict of the story) is probably that she's stuck in Maine and has no way of following Poison across the country on tour. Plus, Bret Michaels has no idea she exists.

5. What is the personal goal of the character?

Besides meeting Bret and getting him to fall in love with her, Jennifer's main goal is to live life to its fullest. She's not afraid to take chances.

6. Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

Yes. It's called THE TREASURE HUNT.

7. When can we expect the book to be published?

Someday, hopefully!

I tag my awesome CP and friend Katie Bucklein. She writes epic fantasy about pirates and sea monsters! If you'd also like to be tagged, let me know in the comments!