Monday, August 29, 2011

Crayon!

Ashley,

Quick post, before I go off to work on some of the things on my ginormous list. I said I'd post a picture when I had finished a crayon.

I has a crayon! A giant, red crayon made of yarn!






-Lizz

Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Saga of Pesto

Dear Ashley,

Once upon a time, there was a large pot of Basil.

It was in desperate need of a haircut. So it got one.

The trimmings were gathered in a bucket, that was conveniently also a salad spinner.

The leaves were pulled off the stems...






(and the formatting was screwed up by blogger) And a little less than half the leaves were combined with other delicious ingredients like pine nuts, garlic, cheese, and olive oil and pulverized.

Finally, the now mostly-liquid green stuff was cooked with pasta and veggies, and served with a lovely Pinot Grigio.

It was totally yummy, and a good time was had by all.

-Lizz

PS- I had such a good time in the city, and I'm so glad you like your hat! Next time, I'll be hopefully updating you on an almost finished novel :D

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Maine and Brainstorms

Lizz,

I leave for Budapest in 16 days!

Crazy, yes?!

I'm floating with excitement and yet there's a knot in my stomach that grows bigger by the day. You'd think that it would be equalizing, but its not its a weird sensation like I'm being pulled in two directions. But the bubble is bigger than the knot so its all good :)

I spent a long weekend in Maine with my college girlies. It rained the last couple of days so we stuck to malls and movies (Crazy Stupid Love which was refreshingly funny and had an unexpected twist!). But the first day we made it to the lobster shack a really cute seafood (what else??) place that had a gorgeous view and the lighthouse at Fort Willamsburg which also had a gorgeous view! Here are some pics to support my lack of original phrasing.




Saturday night we went and saw the Maroon 5/Train double header which literally blew my mind and my vocal cords. Seriously, I woke up sounding like a veteran smoker!

But nonetheless it was amazing. I know they sound pop, but Maroon 5 puts on a hardcore rock show and Train is insane but great entertainment. I'm actually trying to get people to go with me to the same concert at the State Fair, but so far not a lot of luck :p

I put in a few blurry pictures of the concert to just for fun.






Now onto my great idea... I'm trying my hand at a play!

I decided that the things I love most about Finding Alice are the monologues so I'm going to make it a two person monologue fest and the stage directions are going to have the characters silently revolving around one another portraying the moments being discussed. 

I hope it works!

I love the cover for Letters to Myself and I'm glad to hear that you're moving along on the word count!!

Can't wait to see you Saturday :)
~Ashley

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

New Cover!

Dear Ashley,


Just a quick post. I'm celebrating crossing the 15,000 word mark, and the fact that I think the novel is taking off despite it being Week Two, with another cover. It's simple, just what I could do with Picnik, and the base picture isn't mine, but I love it, it's perfect. So thanks, person who actually took it.





Happy Writing! Can't wait for the 20th!
-Lizz 

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Slow Start

Dear Ashley,

I hope your Camp NaNo Round Two is going well. Mine is off to a slow start. I'm only about 400 words behind right now, and hopefully I can catch up/ get ahead tonight after work, but it just isn't taking off like last month's did. Right now I'm blaming the fact that it's in first person, and I'm not as good at writing in first person. I upped the word count a little bit too- I'm trying to do 2,000 words per day. Then I think I'll make September and October the time for finishing things- like Comet, this one, and my He and She novella that has been floating around with one third done for years now.

I'm also right around the three month cut-off since I submitted Rain to Harper Collins, which means unless I miraculously hear from them in the next two days, I'm not going to. So I'd like to start looking for a bunch of other places, publishing houses and agents, to send that to.

I did finish the first third of your present this morning! I can't tell you what it is, but I think you'll like it, and it will be useful in Budapest :) Hopefully the 20th works out and we can go see Dan Radcliffe.

I'm going to go eat breakfast and then head off to work now, but I'll leave you with a short excerpt from Letters to Myself.

“Are you all right, Ariah?” I looked up to find Mr. Cooper standing in front of me, just the desk between us, concern in his gray eyes. I realized that I had put my books down, pulled my chair out, but had failed to sit down. I was standing there like an idiot, just staring at the desk and not really seeing it.
            “Yeah,” I said, trying to smile. “I just didn’t sleep well.”
            “You look terrible,” he said. “No offense.”
            “It’s okay. I know it.”
            He reached out a hand, and placed his palm gently on my forehead. “You don’t feel too warm. But I’ve never really been sure what I was supposed to be feeling.” He shrugged apologetically. “Do you want to go to the nurse?”
            I shook my head. “I’m not sick. I just didn’t sleep well last night,” I said, trying to control the flush I could feel creeping up my neck from his touch.
            “Why not?” He asked.
            “It’s silly,” I said, losing my battle, and feeling the heat rise to my cheeks.
            “I’m sure it’s not.” He said.
            “I had nightmares. About college applications.” I said.
            “That’s not silly at all!” He said.
            “Isn’t it?” I asked.
            “No, of course not.” He said, shaking his head. “College is a stressful time. I remember having nightmares myself. You’ll never be completely sure that you’re making the right choice, or that you know exactly what you want to do with your life, and that is incredibly stressful. Your subconscious responds by trying to sort it all out in your sleep. Thus, nightmares. Totally normal nightmares, and not at all silly.”
            I flopped down into my chair, gratefully. “I’d hug you if I wasn’t so tired.” I don’t know why I said it; it just tumbled out of my mouth like word vomit.
            Thankfully, he just laughed. “It’s okay. I’ll take a rain check.”
            My brain was too slow to process and assemble a response before the door was flung open and Zach, Adam, and a couple other kids came in. My friends arrived too, before the door had time to close fully. Mr. Cooper turned to say good morning to the others, and I sat and watched him. It looked like he’d had a hair cut over the weekend. His dirty blonde hair was shorter. At least, I think it was. I didn’t ask, because that would have been even more weird than me noticing that he’d gotten a hair cut. There was a little bit of stubble on his face though, and I wondered if he was participating in the male faculty members’ beard competition. They were going to grow them until Christmas break and then shave them and weigh them. They were calling it a science experiment, but everyone knew that it was just a way for them to establish an Alpha Dog. They all wanted the job. I didn’t think Mr. Cooper was the type to participate in something that silly. Maybe I’d ask him about it. 
            “You okay? You look like you’re going to fall asleep sitting up?” Zach’s voice broke into my thoughts. He had sat down in his chair next to me, and was now peering at me in concern. I nodded tiredly.
            “I might fall asleep. Didn’t sleep well last night. Do me a favor and make sure that I’m awake every once in awhile? I’d hate to fall asleep in this class.” I told him.
            ‘Sure,” he said, still looking at me with what might have been worry. My heart leapt a little, against my brain’s better judgment. Even my sleepy brain knows better than to hope that Zach will ever ask my out. Besides, that would probably just add to the stress nightmares. Thinking of them again, I glanced over at Mr. Cooper, who was now gathering things together at his desk. He was looking at me. I mouthed a small “thank you.”
            This time I’m sure he winked at me. 

 That's a longer excerpt than I thought. Oh well. 
Can't wait to read some of yours!
-Lizz 

Monday, August 1, 2011

Camp NaNo Take 2

Lizz,

Congratulations!

I can't wait to read all of comet and all about the new story which by the way does sound quite saucy!

Its just past midnight so I can say that today begins Camp NaNo take 2... I have an outline so I'm hoping that the hardest thing that happens is keeping my word count up. I upped the count slightly so that when its all said and done I'll have a viable novel. I just don't want to get to 50,000 words and be like 'ok cool, one day I'll add 20,000 more and send it out.' You know what I mean??

It is however only the first day so all my ambition may go out the window when I run into problems like not liking main characters or any of my sentences :p

I'm checking my schedule and seeing what I can do about meeting up with you before I head across the Atlantic. Hopefully we can figure something out!

Last, but not least, I love gray! What are you making!?!?!?

~Ashley

P.S. A big WOOT on Quirk Books! They'd be crazy not to hire you full time - keeping my fingers crossed for you :)