Narration Narration Narration!!!

So after thinking a lot about the narration in my story, I realized that the reason I feel so drawn to a 1st person narrator is because I've written such a close 3rd, that it really is being told in the 1st person-just without the I's and Me's. And after looking more closely at my original draft of the Book 1 and talking to a friend who thinks that draft 1 is the best thing she's ever read (man I love her!) I think that my own voice, the voice of the narrator has kind of stepped aside and allowed Lilliana to really take over the show.

At this point, I feel that a 3rd person narrator is the right choice, no changes there. But I think that I'm going to try and take a step back so that we are not SO completely inside my main character's head and there is a little more direction in the story. So now I feel like Im a little back to the drawing board.

They've gone wild!!!!

I'm almost finished writing chapter 10 and to be perfectly honest, I have no idea what I'm doing because I don't feel like I'm writing this chapter, it's writing itself, or rather Ryan and Lilliana are writing it and I tell you, they've gone WILD, absolutely wild! Nothing in this chapter was supposed to happen or was planned, and I keep checking the outline to see if this still makes sense with what is supposed to happen and I think so far it does, but I'm getting a little concerned about their sudden outburst. Anyway, I'm going to reign them in soon and lay down the law that I'm the author and not them and even though it's their life, I'm still in charge...I think...

Day after Thanksgiving

And I never want to see food again!!! Wow! My stomach hurt last night. I had two different kinds of vegan cheesecakes, and all sorts of other vegetables and was stuffed!! There were a lot of potato things happening yesterday is all I'm going to say.

But moving on...I'm starting to wonder AGAIN if maybe I should be telling my story in the 1st person. I'm writing in such a close limited third person that it almost feels like a 1st person narrator already, and I'm doing a reread this weekend of the first nine chapters to make sure I'm completely on track of everything that is happening so that chapter ten can flow perfectly. And as I'm reading it, I'm substituting all of the Lillianas with I, and her with me etc. I can't tell if this is going to work or not. I've written versions of the story in 1st person before where it definitely did not work because it was a little too whiny at points and also I didn't have Lilliana's voice down yet. But now I've got a very strong hold on it (on her).

So I'm kind of wondering...it'll mean extra work, but I'm not afraid of that. We all know I'll try anything with my writing, no matter how much extra work it is.

I think I'll finish writing chapter ten first though before I try and make the switch.

After dinner and dessert last night, my uncle did a dramatic reading of the first chapter. He did a really great job. He had a neat interpretation of the character's voices that I thought was interesting. He hit Lilliana's voice on the head, and had quite a few moments of reading the text exactly the way I heard it in my head which made me really happy because it meant that I had worded things so exactly that the voice came through (so yay me)!

He really made the text sound like literature though which was neat, and I started thinking that the third person was probably right, but when I read it myself, I feel differently. So don't know the answer yet, but I'll figure it out. So the plan today is to just write!

So hope everyone's stomach is doing all right and if you are braving the stores for shopping, good luck!

Excitement and Progress!!!

I am in the middle of Chapter NINE!!!! Woot! Woot!! I am so relieved, although of course I've gotten hardly any work done for my creative writing class...aaahh! But it doesn't matter because I'm so excited about my progress.

I'm also excited about the reactions I'm getting from my own little test drive with the book so far. My co-teacher's 15 year old, 12 year old and 8 year old are all fans now (even while in the middle of reading Twilight).

My mom was just about to go to sleep and then realized I had chapter eight printed out so she grabbed it and is reading it right now. I'm so ridiculously happy about the comments I'm getting. It's really encouraging while I finish this major revision and all of the constant editing on the chapters that feel like they are ready plotwise, tone wise etc.

Belly Dance Supterstars!!!

Eva and I saw the Belly Dance Superstas tonight and they were really great!!! I was a little bit sad that my favorite dancers- the ones I fangirl- like Rachel Brice, Mardi Love, Moria Chappel weren't there :( But it was still so exciting to finally see them live after watching all of their performances obsessively on DVD or youtube. I totally miss dancing, but its just not happening right now, not with school, work and the book. Oh well...

Also, I'm squealing internally in the loudest LOUDEST way possible, except that no one can hear it, because it's Friday night and my sister and her boyfriend are laying on the couch and reading the working draft of The Seven Sisters Brandywine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


:-)

:-)

:-)

Yays!

And Twilight movie review tomorrow

It's Snowing!

It's snowing, it's snowing, it's snowing, it's snowing, it's snowing, IT IS SNOWING!!!! And I am excited! It's the really fun snow, big plush fat snow flakes that remind me of Cornell. It's the romantic kind of snow:-) Me likes.

Dream Catcher!

Ok so like suddenly, I had this feeling deep down inside that I absolutely must make a dream catcher or I would go insane. I just HAD to make one and I've never ever made one before. So to get me started I went to Barnes and Noble and got a starter kit that came with everything I needed, a book on the power of dreams according to Native Americans and a dream journal. Yay!

So I totally didn't get any writing done tonight, but every now and then you have to take a break-they say it's healthy. So instead I spent my evening making my dream catcher and it didn't come out so bad at all. It wasn't hard and it was so fun. I'm going to make another one!



It's funny because the whole time I was making it I kept thinking about the sudden urge I had to make one, which is exactly the way I describe the onset of magic powers in my book. Wake up, have urge, do it!

Also, I printed out the first seven chapters and had it bound because I was just curious as to how heavy it would feel in my hands at this point (pretty substantial) and I'm giving certain select people a copy to read. But it's neat to have it all in front of me like this (if I didn't have it bound-the extreme length it is already, it'd be a mess).

Oh and when I walked into Barnes and Noble the first thing I saw was this fabulous huge book on India. I seriously walked in, saw the book and went, "must have." I'm having a lot of bizarre urges lately. Anyway, the photos are gorgeous (like beyond) and they have categories set up inside that are just like the different subjects covered in the Visual Cultures in India class. It looks like it could be the text book, so I'm going to take this as my first positive sign.

Anyway... I cannot believe that it's Thursday already (in 1 minute technically). This feels like the fastest week of my life. Sooo off to bed, so I can see if my dream catcher has any effect on me:-)

Randomness

Ok, so out of the clear blue, totally random the grad students at the English department at Arcadia all got an email( one of many from our favorite source today) about a class on the Visual Culture of India that includes a one week trip to India! And I was like, "oh yes, this I must do!" I mean you get a grade for going to INDIA!! Land I've always wanted to see and culture and religion that I love and studied a lot at Cornell (like a lot!).

So I have no idea at all whether or not this is actually feasible, but hey, at the moment I am signed up and I have my passport ready to go. I think I definitely got the travel bug this summer in Scotland and using school as an excuse to travel works for me, though my dream of course is to travel around the world for other (cough book tour cough book signings cough) things...

Anyway, until I hear otherwise I really might be going to India-super exciting!

I had no idea how quickly November would pass! It's insane, Thanksgiving is next week! And this weekend is HUGE! Twilight and the Belly Dance Superstars! I'm so excited, though a little bit bummed to hear that Rachel Brice is not I think on tour at the moment:( Seriously I have passed up several chances to meet her and study with her, I don't know why, it's like I go crazy at the last second and then decide not to meet her. And I'm totally committed to this show, but she won't be there:( But I'm sure I'll catch her soon.

Zafira, one of my favorite troupes is having an amazing show next Friday...but I'll be here (check the sidebar for their website-they are AMAZING). I need to make a trip to Pittsburgh soon, I mean between having a brother and a sister living there, you think I'd make it. And then I can go take a class with them because I absolutely heart them and wish they taught in Philadelphia. I'm really missing belly dance if you can't tell, but still I have to finish my masters first before I have time, oh and also my book...

Finishing up some edits on Chapter 7 tonight and then moving on to 8!!!

Not Peanut Butter Cookies!!

So I spent all day yesterday at the Montgomery County Community College Annual Writers Conference-that's a mouthful!!!!

I had a really good time, spending the day at workshops with Donna and playing hooky for one workshop we didn't care for with Mike, who was on the committee planning and running the conference, and also in my creative writing class:-)

Afterwards Donna and I both headed to Lansdale for the monthly Arnold's Way potluck dinner. The three items that stood out the most were: Raw Not-Tuna (made by Michelle who I now have to stalk to get the recipe from), Not-Meatballs which Donna thought tasted like actual meatballs (I'm impressed and I would have NEVER known that because I don't have the slightest clue what meatballs taste like) and third...Not-Peanut Butter Cookies!! There were a lot of nots last night...

Well anyway, we were absolutely obsessed with the cookies which tasted amazing in a way that when we were eating them, the taste just kept changing and seemed to get better with each bite-I don't know if that makes sense or not, but trust me they are amazing and will make your mouth ridiculously happy!!!

So ofcourse I had to track down the woman who made them and it turned out the recipe came from a book that was either called "Raw Food Made Easy," or, "Raw Food 1,2,3" or maybe even some combination of both of those titles, but anyway, I got the recipe and I made a batch today:-)

So here are the ingredients:
Raw Almonds
Raw Almond Butter
Vanilla
Agave Nectar
Salt

So first I grounded the raw almonds by putting them in the food processor



Then I processed all of the other ingredients



I rolled up the mixture into tiny balls, then rolled them around the ground almonds.






Then I pressed each ball down into a cookie on the pan





Freeze for two hours and then I swear your mouth will thank you!!!!

New Harry Potter Trailer!!!

There is a new Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince trailer out!!! check out www.mugglenet.com to see it. I just watched it twice in a row and I have chills. I cannot believe I actually have to wait until July to see this movie, ugh!!!!! All of the trailers for this one are the best I've seen yet concerning HP trailers-though there is one teaser trailer for POA that I cannot seem to find that I LOVE-the one where Harry yells "Expecto Patronum" at the end-that also gives me chills. I'm loving what they did to the theme music at the end, since Order of the Phoenix (my absolute fave of the movies) the music has gotten so much better, so much more thematic and amazing!

And even more exciting and strangely enough, this trailer is being placed in front of Twilight- released the day that HP was supposed to come out!! Oh well, it'll still be fun to see it on the big screen!

Also, I'm halfway through chapter 7! Smiles all around:-)

Chapter 6!

OMG, it's like 2am and I just got home from the library where I worked and worked and worked on the chapter 6 revision. And....it's done!!! I'm excited! Though I have to say, it was not such a smooth process. I reread the iffy dialogue a bunch of times trying to decide why I was offended by it, and then I decided, I really wasn't and maybe it wasn't 100% perfect, but it seemed to fit. So of course I will be tweaking everything until the minute the copy editor handcuffs me to a chair so she can actually publish the book, but you know, for the most part, I think it works. It's alive, aliiiiive!

So once I moved on I started to get really stressed about how the chapter would end. I had planned for so long all of the things I wanted to do in this chapter, people we would meet, plot lines that would be introduced, plot lines that would thicken and deepen and I really could not see how this was all going to happen.

But then, I had an epiphany and it all worked out. I wrote everything and I was really happy and ready to come home way past my bedtime. When....

.....





......



......

The Arcadia Library Computer FROZE and rebooted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I hadn't pressed save!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This had already happened to me once before tonight and I really should have learned my lesson and moved on, but I was superstitious about that being a good spot conducive to working in. So I stayed, I'd only lost like two sentences, so it was like whatever, I'll get them back.

But then, it did it to me again, this time taking out the whole last page and half conclusion! OMG!!!

So I switched to the next computer and rewrote everything as quickly as possible while it was still fresh in my mind and I think I got it, and everything is ok.

But Arcadia Computers, if you ever, ever ever freeze up and reboot on me again, especially when I did not tell you to reboot, I will...I don't know, but it will be something really really mean and no one will want to use you anymore. Capiche? Your a computer, you don't pick your rebooting times, I do! I do!

Anyway, you know what this means? Chapter 7 tomorrow. I am back on schedule (my new schedule) ;)

Writing Update and I saw Zach and Miri Make A Porno

You know, if you hadn't actually heard of the movie, the blog title would read really funny, like I actually saw these people I know make one...

But anyway, how does one review a Seth Rogen movie? By laughing a lot! It had the usual "OMG did they really go there?" laugh out loud jokes and plenty of sexual humor and one of the grossest scenes I've ever seen ever! But I won't spoil that for you. Like the 40 Year Old Virgin, the second half of the movie was more of a sweet love story. Not as funny as 40 Year Old which I think takes the cake in all of the movies made by the Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill club and friends. But still a good time, if not completely unrealistic. But hey, I like movies about wizards and unicorns, so there you go.

On to writing, the thing I thought I would change in chapter two...I'm not going to change. There is still a tiny part of me that sees how things could play out the other way if I did move some action around, but I'm pretty satisfied with the result, and I really need to move on. Chapters 1-5 were looked at mostly by my critique group and I discussed everything with my advisor, and it's looking pretty good, and reading well.

So after confining my butt to the couch since 1pm to finish the revision, I'm getting out of here, getting some fresh air, getting a new lease on life (erm, maybe not) and then coming back to write out the oh so exciting, pivotal and romantically tense, Chapter 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Berry Barack Blasts!!! YAY!

We Won! We Won! We Won! Congratulations Barack Obama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so beyond thrilled about our new president, Eva and I were jumping up and down after during the announcement. I am so excited, and seeing Obama and Biden and all of their families up on stage together is literally bringing tears to my eyes! I don't usually get political on this blog o-mine, but man am I HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soo, it's been a while since I gave a serious update and even longer since I put up a new recipe. So in keeping with last week's raspberry theme and in honor of our new president, tonight I made Chocolate Berry Barack Blasts!! Ooohooo!

This is a variation on Chad and Jaime's Chocolate Mountains, and by variation, I mean in shape. Aside from the fact that I don't do measurements (often) I followed their recipe exactly. But mine looked a little more cupcake like, while Chad and Jaime's Mountains reminded me of oversized hershey kisses.

The Chocolate Berry Barack Blasts (as they will now be known) combine two of my favorite things!

CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


RASPBERRIES!!!!!!!!



Here's how I made it.

For the base I threw the following ingredients into the food processor:
Coconut flakes
Cacao Powder
Agave Nectar
Coconut Oil
Maca (for sexy-ness)

Once the mixture started to congeal a bit in the processor, I formed the mixture into fairly large balls and then pressed them down like cookies.

Then for the mousse:
Avocado
Coconut Oil
Agave Nectar
Cacao Powder

Once this was nice and mixed (I made waaaaay too much, such a shame...NOT)
I spooned it on top of the base cookies.


Then I simply added raspberries like the cherry on top.


Then eat and enjoy its Obamawesoneness! :-)

Ok and now for a writing update!
Chapters 1-3 are now fairly squared away, and I'm so close to tying up chapters 4-6. I have one more possible change in mind for the opening and its for *gasp* NOT chapter 1. Chapter 1 is finally FINALLY squared away and in a happy place! The only revisions I expect for it will be minor line revisions. So, as usual Im going to sit on my current chapters before I make my final choice about changing it. I wonder how many writers are like this? When they get an idea about something, they have to actually write it our and implement it, before they can fully rule out the idea. I admire anyone who can just reason out bad choices in their head. But oh well, the fact that I am not talking about chapter 1 is a huge achievement, so hopefully next week I'll be obsessing over Chapters 7-10!!!! And then I am almost halfway there!!


Well I'm going to continue celebrating all of these great things tonight and then tomorrow I will be writing from dawn til dusk!