ODE to the Early Works

Todays random post is inspired by Julie at the rosewood pencil box and her fun post oh, the early work: a contest/blogfest. Here she shares her first creative stories of dinosaurs and wolfs... aren't you intrigued? Head over there and check it out and join the fun of posting about your early work. You could win cool prizes and plus its always fun to see where everyone starts this intoxicating journey of writing.

My early works started when I was four. I had this built in desk in my front room that my mother stung a long curtain from one side to the other so she could use it for storage and hid boxes under it. Well I would push the boxes out and make a fort under there. To this day I swear it was like a secret porthole or something because it took me to this exciting imaginary world (it kind of sounds like Narnia now that I think of it... haha). Any who, this is where I can physically remember stories starting to develop in my head. It was so magical back then *giant smiles*!!

Once I was old enough to go to school my priorities kind of changed. I was still a VERY creative kid but started to express it in drawings that more or less told a stories themselves.... 

Chubby Dino People in Love
(Yes I drew them, don't make fun of me... :) )

I know I wrote quite a few little stories for school but I have no idea what they were about... probably chubby dino people falling in love.  :)


My first "real" story I remember writing was about a boy named Ethan who was listening to his.... get this.... Diskman (wow that makes me feel old) in his room when he sees a person dressed all in black walk into his neighbors backyard with a duffle bag. The person comes back, without the bag and picks a yellow flower from the front yard and gets into a car and drives away. Come to find out the night before the local back was robbed and one of the suspects in his neighbor who lives in the same house he saw the person with the duffle bag. I named it "The Yellow Flower". I thought I was being so cool... hahaha!


After that I really got into writing pomes. I thought I was being sneaky by expressing my feelings about people with out coming right out and saying it. Let me tell you.... I just read them like ten minutes ago, Tristyn and you weren't fooling anyone. I have to laugh at this one too because I HONESTLY thought no one knew who I was talking about.  :)


So there you have it some of my early days in the life of a writer. The crazy thing about all of this is when I wrote "The Yellow Flower" I knew that some day this would be my passion, to write and create 
new worlds were a part of me could live in.

Join me in Juliemybird's awesome blogfest/contest and share your early works with other aspiring writers. 


What were some of your early works? Where they as random as mine?

Writing Tip: #3 Dreams

So.... todays post on writing isn't going to be very long but it's powerful and strong!

**....DREAMS....**

DON'T IGNOR THEM!!! 

Just after my body has slipped out of deep sleep and right before waking up is where I get the BEST and most vivid dreams. This is one thing I take to heart when I'm writing. It has really made my writing full of feeling, emotion, and very descriptive scenery. You could say that a dream is like a picture.... it's worth a thousand words but I like to say that its worth a million words because the feelings you get in a dream you can't totally comprehend in a picture.

So there you have it. Write down your dreams, as crazy as they might be I promise you won't regret it.

My Secret Charm has Arrived!!!

One of my first posts was about a creative contest I entered hosted by Beth Revis on her fabulous blog to win a signed ARC of A Million Suns. Although I didn't win she was kind enough to give all of the contestants a secret charm that would represent something big in her upcoming book. If you didn't get a chance to check out what I entered for the contest check it out HERE.

LOOK what I got in the mail today!!!!!! 

Beth Revis sent me a Thank You card, a signed book plate, two charms
and a sleek black business card (I bought the book).

Two charms: One is a lotus blossom and the
other is a koi fish.

On the back of the envelope was this really cool sticker of
Amy that I had to show you.

If you haven't read Across the Universe by Beth Revis I TOTALLY recommend that you do. The sequel to ATU, A Million Suns, comes out  01.10.12  so mark your calendars!

Writing Tip: #2 Index Cards

Todays writing tip is one of my favorites.... using index cards. I have found this so helpful because I am a very visual kind of person. I have to see what I'm up against and where I need to go. That being said here is my Wednesday writing tip.....

First off grab yourself a stack of index cards and at the top of  the first one label it "Chapter 1" in pencil. On the next write "Chapter 2" and so forth until you have 25 index cards labeled. You can make more or less cards depending on how many chapters you think you will need to finish your book. I like to use 25 because it give me some flexibility.

22 left to go.... :)

Now take that tacky blue stuff you can put on your wall and hang all of the note cards on the wall in chronological order. Next get a stack of sticky notes and write down one of your main ideas on one sticky note. Do the same for the rest of your main ideas and then stick them on the chapter you think the idea will best fit.

I only did 1-10 so you  could see....

Now that you have it all laid out you can see where you need to add a few things.... chapter 2 & 3 might need a little thinking through or what not. You can also move the sticky notes around if later on you think it needs to go somewhere else.

This helps me see how much I still need to get done or how much I have already accomplished. Once I have completed a chapter I take off the sticky note and write on the index card with pencil the main points that happened in that chapter. You can always go back through and add a chapter here or there or take out chapters and this way it's super easy to see what you have going on.

Have you tried doing something like this? If so do share... :)