Reviews in 5

Happy April Fool's Day!


It's been a long time.  I shouldn't have left you...without a dope beat to step to... (Sorry, Timbaland's part at the beginning of that Aaliyah song always gets in my mind when I hear the phrase "It's been a long time.")


So I haven't posted in forever.  Surprise, surprise.  But I've been busy.  So busy, in fact, that I'm not going to even attempt Script Frenzy this year, and that kind of makes me sad.  But I've been reading up a storm.  I recently finished reading my friend's manuscript and I really really liked it!  And she didn't think my comments and suggestions were a load of crud so now I can officially say that I am a Beta Reader extraordinaire!  Or maybe just a Beta Reader.  But reading her book makes me realize that I need to get to work on the second draft of my NaNoWriMo 2010 novel.  I guess I'll just add it to the to-do list.

Photo courtesy of www.sweetvalleytenyearslater.com

Also, I guess some of you will think this is crazy, but my friend Courtney and I have gotten a bit nostalgic lately because of the recent release of Sweet Valley Confidential:  Ten Years Later.  Yes, I was an avid reader of Sweet Valley Twins when I was a child.  I didn't read Sweet Valley High - I was a bit young, so I started with "Twins" and by the time I was old enough for "High" I wasn't really reading anymore.  So Courtney and I went on a mission:  to find Sweet Valley High (and Sweet Valley Twins, for me) books to read before we read "Confidential."  I looked at our local library - nada.  Just a few of the "Jr. High" spinoff.  So we both ventured online, and I stumbled upon eBay.  Now, I had an eBay account but I had never bought or sold anything before.  So I was amazed when I found tons of people selling Sweet Valley stuff!  So I found a lot of 32 Sweet Valley High books and bid on them, and ended up winning!  My first eBay experience and it was a success!  (Courtney warned me not to get hooked, so I'm staying away from the site for now.)  So I got 32 books for only $39 (shipping included), and out of the first 15 books, the collection is only missing #1 and #5!  Talk about a score!  So we'll have to find #1 and #5 soon.  I hope to post some blogs about it once we've started.  Yeah, we're dorks, but we're not ashamed!  Sweet Valley, here we come!  ;)


But the big, huge, wonderful, exciting thing that I really want to tell you guys about is my new project.  I was a bit vague about it in a previous post, but now that the site has gone live, I can tell you about it!  


I had an idea recently to start a blog about movies - but rather than just being the normal movie review, I wanted to focus on one actor or actress at a time, and to look at several of their movies.  I also wanted it to be a collaborative blog, where there were a few people posting, so that there would be more than one opinion featured on the blog.  So I mentioned it to my husband, Jeremy, and he loved the idea, and came up with the idea to limit it to 5 movies per actor/actress.  Then we mentioned it to our friend, Courtney (aka my Sweet Valley co-dork) and the three of us came up with the name Reviews in 5.  


So here's how the site works.  We take suggestions from our viewers as to which actor or actress we should review.  Then, once we've decided on an actor/actress for the upcoming month, we will post a poll where viewers can vote on which of the five movies they want us to review by that actor/actress.  Then, starting on the 1st of the month, we will post one movie review every five days, and then finally we will have an overview of that actor/actress.  We will also have individual pieces every Monday where, say, I blog about my Top 5 Childhood Movie Obsessions (this actually will be my first individual piece, which is slated for Monday, April 18th).  We also plan on doing a few different features, where we have guest posters or focus on one movie series for a month.


For this month, since we're just starting and have no suggestions as of yet, we decided to start with some of the winners at this year's Academy Awards.  So we started with Natalie Portman, who won Best Actress for her role in Black Swan, and will be reviewing The Professional, Beautiful Girls, Garden State, The Other Woman, and, of course, Black Swan.  Our site went live today and our first post for The Professional is up!  Next month we will focus on Colin Firth, winner of Best Actor for his role in The King's Speech.


Please go to our site, "like" it, add it to your RSS feed, send in suggestions for actors/actresses, and comment on our posts!  And share the heck out of it!  We plan on making a facebook page for it soon, and also, if anyone links to our site on their blog/site/whatever, let us know and we will link to your page as well!  We're very excited about it and have lots and lots of posts coming in the future!  Here's the address:  www.reviewsin5.com, or you can just click on the picture below!  Hope to see you guys there!

Where's Hermione When You Need Her?

I feel a bit overwhelmed.  I think I might need a schedule, one akin to the studying schedules that Hermione makes for Harry and Ron in the Harry Potter books.


Here's what I've got going.  I've challenged myself to read 35 books this year (I read 30 last year), but this goal is totally doable.  It's how I do it that's the problem.  I've also challenged myself to the "Off The Shelf" Challenge, where I will read 15 books that have been on my bookshelf for a while but I haven't read yet.  I've already read 3 books for this challenge.  But here's where the problems start.  I have book club books to read as well (only one a month, so not too big of a problem), and I have other books that I bought a few weeks ago that I also want to read.  Then I relieved one of my friends of about 9 books that she was getting rid of - also books that I want to read, but since they just joined my overflowing book shelf, they won't count towards the "Off The Shelf" challenge.  Then, yesterday, I went to a closing sale at the Borders near me that is closing and came back with 6 more books, and most of these are of the "oh-man-I-must-read-them-now" caliber.  Yes, all of these books can count towards my year goal of 35 books.  But the question is, how do I read them and still read the books for my "Off The Shelf" challenge?  I mean, those books have been sitting there for a while, and yes, I want to read them, but these new books are so nice and shiny and are calling to me...


And that's just the problem with the books.  I also was hoping to participate in NaNoEdMo in March, where I challenge myself to complete 50 hours of edits on my recent NaNoWriMo novel.  I really want to edit that novel, and I feel like the deadline given in NaNoEdMo will help to make that a reality.  I will edit it, but I'm afraid if I don't participate in NaNoEdMo I'll just keep putting it off.  Then there's Script Frenzy in April, and I'm not sure I'm up for another 100-page script in 30 days, but I really enjoyed it last year.  Then one of my friends has deigned me worthy of being a beta reader for one of her novels.  This is one thing that I will definitely do, no matter what my schedule's like.  I'm so excited to do it, and nothing can stop me!


And then there's this other thing that I'm going to be completely vague about and make it frustrating for all of my readers.  ;)  I'll just say that it's a new project, a new blog project that I'm really excited about and it's just now at the starting gates.  The first post won't go up for a while, but it is somewhat time-consuming because a lot of work goes into each post.


And I have all of this to do while also taking care of my 1 1/2-year-old son.  He's a lot of work. But I do get to read and do other things while he naps and after his bed time.


So here's what I think.  My husband suggested that I make sure I read one "Off The Shelf" book every month, and that I can't read any other books (besides book club books) until I've read that specific book.  Right now I'm reading the March book club pick, and I should be done within a couple of days.  So I think after that I'll start my ritual of reading the "Off The Shelf" book first, and the others after.  Then, of course, when I receive my friend's novel, I'll be reading that ASAP.  And I'll be working at least a few hours a week on my new blog project.  But I feel like I may have to forgo NaNoEdMo and Script Frenzy this year.  But if I don't do NaNoEdMo, I feel like I still need to pencil in some editing time.


So, readers, what do you think?  Any tips?

A New Writer: Write Every Day Challenge, Day #9

So I completely forgot to write yesterday!  Shame on me!  But instead of starting all over again, today will be Day #9 (yesterday was supposed to be Day #9), and I will write two different ways today:  this blog and another type (free write, work on my old Script Frenzy script or NaNoWriMo novel, etc.).  I know this kind of negates the "Write Every Day" idea, but I can't keep starting over every time I miss one day.  I really will try not to miss any more days, though.


So since I've been doing this Write Every Day Challenge (or actually, since I participated in NaNoWriMo last year), I've been feeling like my old self again.  I can actually say I'm a writer again.  I've always considered myself a writer, but for a long time I hadn't written much of anything, so I felt like a poser when I would call myself a writer.  But now I feel like I'm telling the truth.  So I started doing this challenge and I even bought myself an issue of Writer's Digest (I know, fancy, right?).  [Note:  I wanted to make a link to their webpage but every time I try to go to the page, it says "Server Error."  I'm not sure if this is an error on my end or their's - my husband would know, but alas, he is not home right now (he's at work - he's the one who makes the money in this family until I find my big story and become a famous novelist ;) )]


Anyway I read the magazine and have been looking at things online and suddenly I feel like I'm a new writer.  Like I don't have years of experience writing and a Bachelor's Degree in Creative Writing.  I do have these things, but all this advice on character and plot, tips on getting a literary agent, and terms like "blurb" and "beta reader" have me baffled.  I feel so green.


Luckily I have some friends who know way more about this than I do, and NaNo is coming up fast, so I'll have other writers to talk to.  I also hope to go to a writer's conference next year.


But until then, I'll just keep on writing, just keep up with my Write Every Day Challenge, and my writing can only get better!

Finding the Plot: Write Every Day Challenge Day #5

So with NaNoWriMo coming up in a month and a half, I've been trying to think of a plot for my novel.  As I said on a previous post ("Writing Away," on September 3rd, 2010), I came up with a plot but I think I've finally decided to save that for Script Frenzy next year.  It seems very visual to me, and I can definitely see it as a movie.  I also realized that it might be hard to put into a novel format.  


So now I'm officially on the search for a new NaNo plot.  I'm really leaning toward Science Fiction, because I really enjoy reading books (and watching movies and TV shows) in that genre.  The post-apocalyptic idea is really sticking in my head.  But I keep thinking these what-ifs (like, "What if this crazy thing happened to the earth?") and each one is immediately followed by "been done."  I mean, I know there are supposedly only so many plots, and each one has been done a million times, but that doesn't keep me from wanting to come up with something completely original.  I know, I know.  If I keep thinking like that I'll never come up with an idea.  I just hate the idea of coming up with a brilliant plot, only to discover that it's so close to something already out there.


I think I might order No Plot?  No Problem!, written by Chris Baty, director of NaNo.  It is written specifically to help you write a book in a short period of time without the luxury of a preconceived plot, characters, etc.  I am also keeping a journal of plot and character ideas.  Other than that, I really have no idea how to come up with this plot.  It's always been a creative problem of mine.  Even with my drawing, it's hard for me to come up with something in my head.  It's much easier to do still-life.  But I guess I need to quit shying away from the challenge.  There is an awesome novel inside me, somewhere, just waiting to come out.  I know that much.

Writing Away

So yesterday I challenged myself: Write Every Day. This is me doing it. ;)

I came up with a plot for a new book a month or so ago. I was really inspired by the movie, Inception. It's really amazing. My plot really has nothing to do with the plot of Inception, but more to do with using the actress Ellen Page as a muse. My main character is based on her and some of the characters she has played. I actually can see this story in my head, which makes me think that, instead of using it as my NaNoWriMo plot in November, I may stick it on the shelf until Script Frenzy in April, and turn it into a screenplay.

This, unfortunately, means that I need to come up with a new plot for NaNo. This is the hardest part of writing for me. I remember, back in high school and in my early college years, I would just write. I would sit down and put a pen to paper and write and write. I hardly ever crossed anything out, I was quite against revision for a while, and I never worried about coming up with a plot or metaphor or form for my poetry or stories. Even before then, I wrote tons of stories as a child, and I never seemed to have a problem coming up with a plot line, or characters, or anything. Then I took all these Creative Writing classes in college where you actually have to write in certain forms and read your work to the class and give and receive constructive criticism. My writing got better, but it slowed down. I no longer wrote several poems a day. I was lucky if I even wrote at all on any given day. I would want to write, but I'd sit down with paper and a pen or at my computer and look at a blank page. I felt the need to come up with some type of form, plot, metaphor, whatever before I could even begin to write the thing. I could no longer simply write.

It's still this way to this day. This is why this challenge will be so great for me. I've always considered myself a writer but when I have nothing to show for it, when I do no work for such a long time, I feel like I'm lying to myself and to the world. Now that I'm challenging myself to write every day, hopefully I will be able to return to that sense of freedom in writing. I need to realize that, as long as I'm writing every day, doing what I love to do, it doesn't matter if it's perfect. In fact, it's not going to be perfect. It's going to be horrible, lovely, confusing, amateurish, witty, repugnant, awesome and crazy. But it won't be perfect. But it will be me, and I'll feel more like me than I've felt in years.

Oh, and I started Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood. So far, so good!

My First Blog Post Ever

So here I am, writing my first blog post ever. I'm really not sure what the heck I'm doing, and I really have no idea what direction my blog will take. But I have tons of things I can talk about at length, so here goes nothing!

First things first, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes out on DVD tomorrow! I am so excited! There are supposed to be tons of bonus features, including a look at scenes from The Deathly Hallows! I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about all of that once I watch it, so I'll post my reactions and thoughts either tomorrow or the next day.

NaNoWriMo is over, and it makes me sad. It's just so hard to keep writing when you don't have this looming deadline, or feel the need to update your wordcount every five minutes. I want to keep writing my story, but the editor in me is taking up so much space in my brain and makes me so discouraged that I don't even attempt to write anymore. So that's where this blog comes in. It will be a new venture in the world of writing, one that I will try to update every day, and it will keep me doing what I love to do. Hopefully it will spark some ideas for my NaNo story, but if not, there's always next year. And before that, Script Frenzy!

Okay, so that's all for now. I'm sure I'll be back tomorrow, if not later today!