Angelia Almos

So, while packing for our trip a couple of weeks ago I stumble on to this show Jersey Shore on MTV. As I'm packing, the only thought in my head is "do people really act that way?" Then I start to wonder - is this one of those fake reality shows. Completely scripted, but filmed to look like a reality show. Nope, it's a real one. So, on to my not getting it. Do people really act that way? Seriously. I know these shows cast for the highest possibility of conflict, but still these people come from somewhere - they don't hatch out of a TV camera. They have families, friends, etc. and they act in a way that totally boggles my mind. And then I begin to think - am I so out of touch that to me a "reality" show - as set up as they are - feels to me like a really bad and overacted movie. Then I begin to think that it wasn't that long ago these "adults" were teenagers and would be the age of my readers for my ya novels. But my characters don't...

Sorry, I've been gone for so long. Headed out on a road trip with the family. Read some good books and wrote down some good scenes for various projects as the ideas came to me. I went to enter a scene idea in a script I haven't worked on in a while. I'm paging through and I get to a 30 page section that I don't recall at ALL! Have I really reached that point where I don't remember writing that big of a chunk. It's not unusual for me to forget something here or there - something small. But to have no recollection of those 30 pages is kinda freaking me out. I've heard other writers talk about having to go back and reread a past book before writing a sequel because they forget and now I'm wondering if they are really talking about forgetting the big stuff not the little stuff like eye color, dates, etc. Have you had this happen to you? And of course a side affect of forgetting this entire giant section is I don't think my new idea will fit...

My ya fantasy is currently out on submission after several months of rewriting, critiquing, and more editing. It was a long task, but I'm happy with the results. So, as they say, onto the next one. I pulled out a romantic suspense that I had actually written around the same time as my ya fantasy. I'd done full paper edits, but had only gotten about half way through entering them back into the computer before deciding my attention was too splintered and I needed to focus all my energy on my ya fantasy. Back to the romantic suspense. Imagine my surprise in reading it and my edits that, it needs so much WORK. Argh. In the process of critiquing and editing my ya fantasy I actually learned and have become a better writer. I suppose I should be happy my skills have improved (though I know I still have a lot to learn), but instead I feel like wailing. It's gonna take a lot more work to get this romantic suspense up to where I'm comfortable having someone else read it than ...

I've just learned of a couple of good writing challenges in case my writing friends are interested. Harlequin's Book in Three Months Challenge The idea behind this is can you write a book as quickly as one of their professional writers which is write it in two months and edit it in one? They will be posting informational and inspirational articles every Monday. The challenge started on June 1st so they are already one week in, but I bet you can catch up! Candace Havens Writing Game Challenge   Starting June 7th you can join her yahoo group to participate in the Writing Game Challenge. Each day she will draw two numbers, a word count number and a page count number. If you're writing a first draft, you would write the number of words for that day. If you're working on revisions, you will revise that number of pages. If you haven't participate in her Fast Draft or Revision Hell workshops, Candace has some great advice and can help you with those elusive discipli...

I was just reading a good inspirational blog called The Write Soul . She posts a weekly "pick me up" with super cool quotes and different themes. As I was reading, Miley Cyrus' song The Climb got stuck in my head. It's a great song for writers or for anyone that has a dream or goal that takes a lot of work to reach. "There's always gonna be another mountain. I'm always gonna want to make it move. Always gonna be an uphill battle. Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose. It ain't about how fast I get there. Ain't about what's waiting on the other side. It's the climb." - The Climb I find the lyrics to be spot in for anything worth going for. When I think back to my horse show days. The moments I enjoyed the most were the training for the shows not the shows themselves. It wasn't about the destination of competing and winning at the show. It was the training and working toward the show that was the most rewarding. Can you recomm...

We're halfway through 2010. I went back to my original goals that I posted on January 1st to take stock of  what I accomplished. Wrote and submitted Red Hot Fairy Tale by Feb. 1st. Did not finish space opera by March 1st. Don't even have a finished rough draft. Boo on me. Finish up edits on mafia romantic suspense by March 1st. A resounding NO. Though I did do a little bit of work on this, I shelved it to work on other stuff.  Submit ya fantasy to publishers by mid-Feb. I have submitted ya fantasy, but in May not mid-Feb. :-)  Launch HorseSchoolsOnline.com by March. Site was successfully launched and all information from 3rd edition of book has been entered.  So, 3 out of 5 isn't bad. Though the timing was way off on number 4. Now onto evaluating my long term goals for 2010. I had decided that my goal for 2010 was to have four manuscripts out on submission to publishers. I currently have two out on submission so I figure I am on track with my long term goals. ...