Writing in Reality TV

I am a reality tv lover. I can't help it. I like to escape my life and watch others struggle for a while. But I especially enjoy watching shows like the Voice where people who have already made it help those who are trying to make it. I propose a reality tv show where writers are choosen by mentors like James Patterson and Stephen King, whose books have been made into movies. Each author comes with a book idea that can be adapted to the big screen. Then the audience gets to vote on key aspects of the stories like main characters and ending. At the end of the show, one author is left standing with their movie, in which all the major elements have been chosen by the audience, being produced. It's like those books we used to read as children where you decide where the story is going to go by choicing one decision or the other and it takes you on a totally different path. Could be interesting on Bravo or Lifetime!

The End?

I have been reading a lot of YA series lately and I've noticed in some of them there seems to be no end. The story just continues from one book to the next with no resolution to the big conflict. I know that smaller conflicts or plot lines are solved but sometimes the books don't seem like they could be stand alone novels. Even the first novels in the series end with me wanting more of an ending. Maybe I'm just one of those people who likes their books wrapped up with a pretty bow while still establishing strong characters who I would want to read about even if they do solve all their problems in the first book. A complex cast of characters will always find more problems to get into, right? Some great examples of compelling series that kept my interest are Divergent and Mortal Instruments. Am I alone in wishing that some books would say To Be Continued instead of The End when the story doesn't actually end?

Great YA book

I just finished reading Veronica Roth's Divergent and Insurgent. At first, the novels reminded me of Hunger Games. But I got so engaged in the story and the characters that I forgot all about the similarities. Tris and Four were amazing characters. The ancillary characters were equally as dynamic. The concept of factions based on attributes was very compelling. I loved the fact that there were people like Tris who broke these molds. I can't wait to read the third book. Does anyone have any recommendations for my next read?

Author Opinions Needed

I received my first two personal notes on rejection letters from agents that I had queried. I feel like it is a small victory. Now the question is how do I use those personal messages? One said that they weren't sure what to do with a self published novel as opposed to one that was yet unpublished. But she praised the story as creative and well written. I thought when I finish my next novel, she would be one of the first agents I would query with a "Hey do you remember me...". The other note was on the novel that I am currently writing. The agent said the story had tons of potential but they felt it needed more work before it is sent out as a query. I agree with that statement wholeheartedly since the novel is not finished. I am going to add this agent to query when it is completed. Any other advice on how to use personal comments to enhance a query letter?

Icing Recipe

I am looking for a good icing recipe to compliment a fudge chocolate cake. Yesterday I made my first Barbie Cake for my 4 year olds birthday party. You moms of little girls will know the cake. It's the one where the cake is the dress and you stick a Barbie head and torso on the top of the dress. The cake recipe that I used was from Southern Living and it was delicious. But I wasn't as sold on the Vanilla Buttercream icing that went with it. It was too sugary for me. Any suggestions of something that might go better? This will definitely be my new go to chocolate cake recipe.

Great new music

I downloaded Skylar Grey's new album. I am amazed at how talented she is. There are very few albums that I can listen to all the way through without fastforwarding to the next song but this is one of those few. I think it's because Skylar is such a great songwriter and when you pair that with her beautiful voice you want to listen to every word. Her voice is haunting in the best way possible. It makes you feel and then sticks with you. The album tells a story from start to finish. There is not a song in there that seems out of place. I have loved Skylar's ballads like Coming Home, but was loving the up tempo ones as well. Can't wait to hear more from this talented artist.

Zombies

My husband and I went and saw World War Z. I was excited to see a new zombie movie as I am working on a book now that has zombies in it. I like the "new zombies" versus the old, slow zombies of Night of the Living Dead Era. I also like the movies that refer to a virus or biological reason for the creation of zombies, like I Am Legend and World War Z. That is the kind of zombies that will be in my new book. They definitely won't be walking around moaning "brains".
Let me know how you like your zombies.

The Storm Teaser

I wanted to put a little bit of The Storm: Book 3 in the Changeling Series, out there. This is very early on but it is the tentative opening scene.

  Lexi tried to slow her rapid breathing as she looked around. All she could see were bodies laying on the ground. She felt her stomach turn as she surveyed the carnage. The sound of high pitched laughter stopped her heart.
  She looked around the wall that she had hidden behind and saw her worst fear come to life. Mia was holding Amber by the throat as Deke drained the life out of Charlie. Lexi could see Daniel's lifeless body laying beside Deke, his blood covering Deke's chest now mixing with Charlie's blood.
  Lexi couldn't stop staring at the bodies of people she knew that were now piling up in front of Mia and Deke. Then she noticed one of the bodies crawling away from the others. Lexi gasped. It was Jess.
She had to help her but she couldn't move. She was paralyzed by fear.
  As Jess struggled towards her, a hand grabbed her by the hair and lifted her into the air. Jess screamed and seemed to see Lexi for the first time.
  "Lexi, please help me," she begged.

Let me know what you think.

Web Page

I am so thrilled to be done with my web site. It was easier to create than I expected it to be. Weebly really does make it easy. I also had some great advice. Thanks Marty! I am now more involved with social media then I ever thought I would be. I hope that its a good thing. I downloaded the book How to Make Your Own Free Website: and Your Free Blog Too by Jason Matthews. Although it didn't talk about how to use Weebly, it talked about three other programs you could use. Where I found it really helpful was talking about what social media sites you should be a part of and how to make badges for those sites to connect your followers to all of your different links. I am so grateful to those who went before me and then were thoughtful enough to share what they have learned so that I wouldn't have to figure it out on my own. If I had had to go it on my own, it would never have gotten done. Check out my new web site at amandavegaauthor@mail.com. Now if I could just figure Twitter out, I'd be doing okay!

Newly refocused

I haven't blogged in a while but I am newly refocused and invigorated. I attended the SC Literary Conference this weekend and was inspired to start blogging again. I met some great authors and publishers. I also attended a writing workshop lead by Susan Kammeraad-Campbell from Joggling Press. She had us do an activity that she calls "Bouncing with Tigger". Its like word association but using the last word of a sentence to trigger your next sentence. It was very creative. I am including what I wrote in the 5 minute time limit. It is definitely a good exercise to do if you are having writer's block.

The girl walked into the forest.
The forest was dark.
Darkness is the absence of light.
Light brings us happiness.
Happiness blooms inside of us.
Inside is where we are ourselves.
One's self can be lonely.
Lonely is the person who can't share their thoughts and feelings with others.
Feelings are our emotions way of talking.
Talking is sometimes overrate, showing is better.
Showing someone you love them is a great gift.
Gifts come in all shapes and sizes.
Size doesn't matter, it only matters if you care about it.
Caring is one of the things that makes us humans.
Humans are not alone in this universe.
The universe is vast an mostly unknown.
The unknown can be scary.