Mary's Blog with the Unimaginative and Consequently Obscenely Long Title

I should not be allowed to have Pixy Stix...

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:39:00 +0000

...especially when I mix like ten into a can of Sprite. Sooo gooood, and yet soooo baaaaad... Let's just say that I didn't know that I could get this hyper through legal means. Anyway, so what have I been doing with this newfound energy? (Why certainly not doing schoolwork or planning my NaNo...) What I do every night, of course. Do crazy crap on the internet. Recently, I have come across this site called Have a Slogan. Basically, it randomly pairs terrible things with really life slogans for products and whatnot, often with incredibly amusing results, such as:

Or:

And of course, there are some *ahem* less... tasteful ones...

Ok, I'm stopping now... -_-U

-Mary

headdesk

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:49:00 +0000

Yes, I know. I'm stupid and/or insane. Every year I try this and every year I fail (well except for that first year), and yet here I am again doing this to myself. I'm such a masochist. Anyway, so what's different about this year? I'm doing fanfiction. It's actually a fic that I've already started but I can see being ridiculously long. To reconcile my conscience with the fact that it's a story that I've already started, I'm not counting what I've already written in with the word count. I would start something new and/or original, but I just don't have the mental energy for it. Seriously I have absolutely zero orignal plots in my brain, so I'm just going to add on 50,000 more words to a story that already has a clear and planned plot. Yay, me. *headdesk*

Because Iran is being stupid...

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:50:00 +0000

I've changed the time settings for this blog, and to quote Scott Westerfeld, here's the reason why:

"Censors in Iran are currently searching for blogs with Tehran local settings as a way of finding and shutting down sites that are protesting Iran’s recent (probably stolen) election. The more blogs in the world that are set to Tehran time, the harder the job is for these censors to do their job."

So join in on the protest and set your site settings to GMT +3:30!!!!! Yay, freedom of speech!!!

-Mary

New website and Licentious Child

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:06:00 +0000

Woot! I has a website! I've had other websites in the past, but none of which have looked half as good as this new one. I used wix.com, which lets you make free flash websites, and I am incredibly pleased. You can access this new uber-site of mine here, and it's also listed in the sidebar under "Lovely Links".

Anyway, so I mentioned in a very brief entry back in January that I'm continuing Licentious Child. Well I had put that on hold due to school work and another idea that I was pursuing (*cough*Scarlett*cough*), but I'm back to working on LC now! I'm very concerned about the cohesiveness of the book, to be honest. See, I wrote the first part (the original novella) is first person, and now the second part I've written in third. It works really well in third person, and it brings the story out of Dahlia's head, but I'm unsure of how well the story flows with the POV switching and whatnot.

On the bright side, Dahlia is learning to cope with her new powers quite well. She still has issues with the whole werewolf thing, but she meets a certain someone who shows her that being a mythological creature is not as bad as she makes it out to be. The novella didn't have a happy ending, but the full-length novel seems to be on the road towards a happily ever after (or close enough, anyway).

I'm also considering a penname, perhaps something with "Sinclair" in it. Opinions, anyone? I'm just concerned that people from my church will read my book, and suffice it to say, there is certainly some non-church friendly stuff going on in my book. Nothing graphic, but still...

-Mary

Screnzy fail + boredom at work...

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Sat, 09 May 2009 19:14:00 +0000

So yeah, by no means did I finish my Screnzy, but on the bright side, I was able to further develop the story idea and characters. Like I actually drew most of the main characters, which helped so much in the writing part- it's just so much easier to write about them when you know exactly what they look like.

I really like how Scarlett's hair color came out. Oh, colored pencils... I had to mix several to get the right shade. FYI, crossbows are really hard to draw.

Ah, Heather, my villain, came out perfectly. This is exactly how I picture her looking. It's kind of funny, I had started drawing this intending to draw one of the male characters, but it came out as Heather. And somehow, she also decided to have glasses... Anyway, here's one more drawing- Alicia, Scarlett's best friend.

If you want to see more, check out my Deviant Art account. Anyway, I'm at work right now (which basically involves me being paid to sit at a desk for three hours doing nothing), so I've decided to make a list. This idea came to me the other day when I was watching
Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (you know, the one with Brandy in it) with some friends.

Things I've Learned From Musicals

1. You know you've found your true love when you start singing and some random stranger starts singing in harmony with you.

2. Black + White = Asian.

3. Gang wars can be fought using snaps and dance.

4. If you don't want anyone to hear what you're saying, start singing.

5. The underdog always wins.

6. You can't stop the beat.

7. When the background music starts speeding up, trouble's coming.

8. Falling in love with love is falling for make believe.

9. Humans taste better than cats.

10. Anyone who wears a cloak is not what they appear to be.

11. Any game can be won if you dance through it.

12. Everyone loves a good jazz square.

13. Anyone who has their own leitmotif is important.

14. Men who can dance are sexy.

15. A white, 5-foot-9 junior is the best high school basketball player in the state of New Mexico. (This one was shamelessly yoinked from here.)

16. Singing is an acceptable alternative to sex.

17. Anything directed by Tim Burton can be referenced to Harry Potter.

18. All animals can sing and dance if they so choose.

19. Don't ever feed plants.

20. "Yellow" is not an acceptable hair color.

Well I shall leave you with that for now. This list will most likely be added on to next time I'm bored.

-Mary

Script Frenzy

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:45:00 +0000

Ah, it's that time again. I have no clue why I'm going to attempt this, because I am quite certain that I won't win, especially since my life will progressively become more hectic as it gets closer to exam time. But alas, I am anyway. Script Frenzy, from the makers of NaNoWriMo, gives its participants the goal of writing one hundred pages of some type of script over the month of April.

Remember the novel that I'm working on called Scarlett? Well I'm adapting it into a manga, of all things. So if by some chance I finish it, the book will be more complete in manga form than in the intended novel. Weird. Not that it would be completed in the manga, heavens no. It would be at least a trilogy, if not a full length series. I mean, it would be very easy for me to serialize the story concept, and from what I've written so far on my Screnzy, it's working quite well as a manga. I may even (just for laughs) try to draw it myself when I'm through, however, if I ever got it picked up by Tokyopop or someplace like that, they would definately have to find me an artist (I'm not that great).

Anyway, Screnzy on!

-Mary

Plagiarism Sucks

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:02:00 +0000

So what fresh drama has entered my life? Plagiarism. Seriously- some fourteen-year-old on fanfiction.net lifted a Twilight fanfic that I had posted two years ago. Needless to say, I was quite miffed. Naturally, I sent an e-mail to the admin, and upon further investigation, I discovered that this chick had stolen another author's story as well.

Unfortunately, I couldn't resist posting a snarky review of the story that jacked, which must have tipped her off. She deleted my story, the other person's, as well as two others that I guess she stole as well. As it is, this chick has screwed with the wrong writer, and I'm keeping an eye out for any new stories that she posts. If I get so much as a whiff of plagiarism, her ass is getting banned. This time, with no prior warning.

It's not like I'm determined to catch this usurper (though to be honest, I am), it's just that she has no right to steal what other people have written. Some of you are probably wondering, "Hey, isn't that what fanfiction is?"

Wrongo.

In fanfiction, we do not claim the original author's stuff for our own. In fact, a lot of fandoms require their authors to include disclaimers that state that the characters, etc. featured in the story belong to whoever it is that created them. But for someone to plagiarize fanfiction? That's just low. We fanfic writers have an unwritten honor code that this chick broke to pieces. Also, I couldn't help but notice that she was a total noob. She had only joined the site this month, and the people that she had stolen from had been on the site for years (I joined in 2003, I believe). She also had an obnoxiously long profile, a definite sign of noobishness.

Anyway, moving onto more pleasant subject matter, I got the Twilight DVD yesterday. I ended up getting the Target 3-Disk Deluxe Edition, which also came with a free digital download of the movie and special features from iTunes. It's not that I'm a huge fan of the movie, but I just wanted to have it to have.

See, here are my main issues with the movie. Though the first third (leading up to Edward and Bella being an item) and the last third (the baseball scene onward) were quite good, and they cast the Cullens perfectly, the middle third makes me gag. Really, why couldn't they have stuck to the book there? True, the book was somewhat cheesy itself, but the writers blew that middle but from a little cheddar to full-blown constipation. The reveal was horrible.

On the note of Twilight, check this chick out. She's an artist of Deviant Art called Robbuz, and her artwork is AMAZING.

This would be Alice- adorable, right? She has a whole Twilight Animal series that does Bella and the Cullens, as well as Jacob. She also has some other Twilight theme series, such as Elementals:

Carlisle as "Light"
And the Seven Deadly Sins:

Rosalie as "Envy"
And she also has a series featuring the characters drawn with representative flowers:

Jasper with soothing chamomile
She also has a ton of other, non-themed Twilight art. If you're wondering, I don't know this person, but I love fanart, and her's is fantastic.

I'm a HUGE Buffy (and Spike!) fan... ^_^

The picture that we all know so well:

And my personal favorite:

Wow, this is such a long post... o.O

-Mary

Stufffff...

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:22:00 +0000

Ok, so FYI- I actually did this a while back, but I raised the prices on my stuff. Before, since it was for my senior project, I couldn't make a profit off of what I had done, but now high school is loooong gone and me want money. The book is now $7.76 and the ebook is 1.56.

As to what I've been up to with my efforts to lengthen the book, I'm actually making a lot of progress. Well "a lot" is optimistic, but still, I'm getting there. I actually skipped ahead and wrote a scene that was pretty steamy... which reminds me- I've finally done it. I lost all self-control and wrote in a character named James. It's my favorite guy name and it always happens, no matter what I do. *sigh* Wait? What did you think I was going to say I'd done? Haha, pervert... ^_^

Anyway, I have a new project in the works, inspired in equal parts by Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Meg Cabot, Evernight, and this picture:

by Jason Chan

Amazing, right? Poor kids... they're doomed. I've actually had a rousing debate with my friends about whether or not there's a fifth kid in the picture. See, if you look between Bat Boy and Slingshot Girl, it looks like there might me a kid in a hoodie... or another zombie, which means Game Over for the kids. I personally think that it's another kid, because that looks awfully like the back of someone. If it was a zombie, why would it be facing away from its prey?
Back to the story, it's called Scarlett, and since I love to make cover art for my stuff (it helps inspire me during the actual writing), I'll leave you with this:

Photo taken by Faerie Girl (http://www.flickr.com/photos/faerie_girl/3258802449/) and used for my amusement/inspiration and gleans no profit.

-Mary

Update!

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:12:00 +0000

Hola! Long time, no see! Anyway, I've decided that I can't really see where I can add much length to Licentious Child as it is right now, so instead, I'm continuing it! What I mean by that, is that what I've written so far is now Part I of the book. I'm now in the process of writing Part II and eventually, Part III. Wish me luck!

-Mary

So I lied again...

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:04:00 +0000

I like this better than the LJ blog, so I'm sticking with it. ;^)

-Mary

Ok, I lied...

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:36:00 +0000

So I'm leaving this as a project blog, and transferring my personal blog to an LJ, which will be viewable here. See ya!

-Mary

So...

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:33:00 +0000

I'm continuing this blog, I guess, and if you'll note from the title, it's no longer a project blog. I'll write about my writing, as well as some other book stuff, but since I'm starting college soon, I'm sure to have other stuff to blog about.

Speaking of college, I move into Elon University tomorrow. Although my classes don't start until September 2nd, I get to go ahead and move-in for band camp (I'm a member of the colorguard). I really should be packing right now, but I'm not, and my mom will probably start yelling at me any time now.

Elon University! --->

Anyways, to update on Licentious Child, I'm going to attempt to write some more on it, making it longer now that I'm free of a deadline. The reason I say "attempt" is because, a) I'm starting college (which means very little free time, or so I'm told), and b) I have other stories in my brain scrambling to get out. Also, I really have to get my summer reading done (I know, I'm a horrible procrastinator). I have two books (Shame of the Nation and Letters to a First Year Teacher by Jonathan Kozol) to read by the end of the month. Can I do it? I don't know. Luckily there are Spark Notes. However, I just got the latest issue of Shojo Beat this morning, so I can't guarantee that anything besides that will get read over the next week.

-Mary

Next Time on MBwtUaCOLT: College Stuff!

The last officially necessary post (my, I certainly do have a penchant for long titles)...

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:12:00 +0000

WOOT!!!

I have a BOOK.

PUBLISHED.

Ok, so it's self-published, but still- IT'S SO PRETTY!!!!! I was squealing as I opened the packaging. Anyway, before I become too "unprofessional", here is the last officially necessary entry for this blog. See the picture at the top? That's my proof of product. Mission accomplished. And by the way, what I mean by "officially necessary" is that though this is the last entry that I'm required to post, that doesn't mean that I may not post anything else. I rather like blogging. In fact, I like writing in general. If I didn't, I wouldn't have been so stupid as to choose to write a novella for my product.

So as promised in the "Next time.." section, I shall address why I chose to write what I wrote about. To be honest, I'm a fantasy junky. I absolutely ADORE fiction. One of my pet peeves is when book critics review works of fiction as being "far-fetched"- it's fiction- who CARES if it's not realistic? That's the whole point! And even it was supposed to be realistic, it would be categorized as "realistic fiction", therefore it is ridiculous to criticize a book as "far-fetched" when it was never intended to be otherwise. Just because a book is set in our reality, doesn't automatically qualify it to be realistic fiction. Stupid left-brainers...

Ok, rant over.

Back to the point.

So yeah, I love fantasy, but I love history as well (I do intend to become a history teacher, after all). You stick those two loves together and voilà- you get my product. And although the Victorian Era is one of my most favorites to study, I actually had to do quite a bit of research for it, as anyone who's writing a work of historical fiction is required to do. Last fall, when I was thinking about what I wanted to do for my product (I had already decided on writing a novella, but I didn't yet know what it would be about), I attended the Novello book festival that's held at the Imaginon in Charlotte every year. My main objective in going was to meet Libba Bray, a favorite author of mine (her blog's in the sidebar- it's HILARIOUS).

The trilogy of books that she has written (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy- anyone heard of A Great and Terrible Beauty?) is set in Victorian England, as is my book. I was so excited when I got to meet her and have her autograph my book. What was really great, was when I told her about a book that I was planning to write (as in Licentious Child) and she was more than glad to share some research tips, as well as some great Victorian websites (she wrote them down on some sticky notes that are still attached to the inside cover of my copy of her book).

I really didn't mind the research all that much. A lot of it already knew, but there were just a few details of the time period that I needed to solidify. I'm not going to write much more on that topic, because to be honest, I could probably write TONS on the subject of the Victorian Era, but I doubt that would interest you. As to where I actually got the idea to write the whole werewolf thing, I half to delve into that particular time in history just a little farther. But first, a short popular literature interlude:

Have any of you heard of the Twilight series? Well that's a stupid question- I know for a fact that a number of you have (Olivia, you still have my book, by the way). Anyway, it's a popular series right now that has a plot centering around vampires. The vampire is a favorite mythological creature of mine (the favorite is the phoenix- GO ELON!!!), and there's actually quite a few (ok, I'll admit it- more than a few) other vampire-centric books that I've thoroughly enjoyed. I'm also a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but that doesn't really have much to do with this...

Now what's the whole point of this, you ask? Well, anyone who is knowledgeable about vampire lore should be able to tell you that the age-old rival of the vampire is the werewolf. Do you see where I'm going with this now? As I've read these many vampire books, I began to realize that there weren't many books from the werewolf point of view. That's hardly fair. Naturally, I felt the need to rectify this injustice.

Back to the whole Victorian thing, a main characteristic of that culture is the repressed-ness (is that a word?) that was encouraged. To give you some point of comparison, kissing between two unmarried people would have been totally scandalous, like if a girl came to school pregnant. It was that bad, which brings me to the definition of "licentious". I actually put a definition of the word at the front of my book to avoid any confusion:

li•cen•tious
–adjective
1. sexually unrestrained; lascivious; libertine; lewd.
2. unrestrained by law or general morality; lawless; immoral.
3. going beyond customary or proper bounds or limits; disregarding rules.

See, most people (if they're actually familiar with word) think of the first definition when they hear the word "licentious". Actually, my book mainly deals with the second and third definitions, but touches on the first as well. Not that there's anything explicit in my book- just some kissing- but you have to keep in mind Victorian ideals as you read it. Things that in today's desensitized society are perfectly acceptable would be social suicide in that day and age.

Why, you may wonder, is this relevant? Going more in depth with my plot, the main character, Dahlia, is this proper Victorian lady. She's eighteen and has her whole life ahead of her, when suddenly, she's attacked by a werewolf. This completely changes her within. She now begins to feel wild, not so much by our standards, but totally out-of-line by Victorian ones. She gets stronger and is able to beat the boys at things (scandalous!). She begins to have passionate feelings for a young man in a way that certainly wouldn't have been appropriate for woman to feel at that time.

Let me explain...

In that era, the belief was that women didn't have feelings of desire. That was the reasoning behind the whole double-standard that men could have extra-marital affairs, whereas it was unacceptable for women to do the same. This ties in to my research paper, in that women were considered to be this shining symbol of virtue. As one poet put it, they were to be an "Angel in the House". Virginia Woolf described the Angel as being "intensely sympathetic. She was immensely charming. She was utterly unselfish. She excelled in the difficult arts of family life. She sacrificed herself daily. Above all—I need not say it—–she was pure. Her purity was supposed to be her chief beauty—her blushes, her great grace.”

The fact that Dahlia was wanting to do more than just sit around the house sewing, taking care of children, and in general sacrificing her life for the benefit of others made her feel horrible. To us, wanting to not be limited to just those things is more than just acceptable, but is now the accepted norm. Women today are actually looked down upon if they wish to be no more than a housewife, so though the urges that Dahlia feels are perfectly normal to us, to her, they made her a monster. The werewolf thing is really just a metaphor for the feeling that she experiences. If you're really a history geek (or a hard-core feminist, or even if you paid attention in your U.S. history class), you might be able to link my book to The Feminine Mystique, written by Betty Friedan and is considered to be the spark of the feminist movement of the 1960s. Ms. Friedan interviewed women who had graduated from college only to become housewives (think "Happy Days" and "Leave it to Beaver") and the book discussed how they had this feeling of being unfulfilled.

Looping back to the first definition of "licentious", I mean that though her and her love interest, Thomas, don't do anything inappropriate (there's kissing, but that's it), that desire was still considered wrong. So her whole relationship with him feels tainted and sinful (despite that it would have been perfectly innocent in our present) and well...

I really can't say more or else it will give away the ending. So read it if you'd like and hopefully I haven't bored you with this obscenely long entry.

-Mary

Next Time on MPBwtUaCOLT: I have no idea. Pot luck!

SOOOOOOO CLOOOOOOOOOOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:41:00 +0000

Oh, my gosh. Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygooooooooooooooosh! I am so close to being finished with my project that it's crazy! I just had my LAST meeting with mentor and I have FINISHED my book! Indeed, I am FINISHED.

If you would like to order a copy of my book, you can click on the buttons below and in the sidebar. To buy a print copy, click on the book button. To download a copy (in pdf ebook form), click on the headphone button. This is consolidated in my storefront located at the bottom of the page as well. A paperback copy is $6.23, and you can also download a copy for free. I will not receive any profit (the cost is for production), but if you'd like a copy to read, feel free to make a purchase.

OH MY GOSH, I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please excuse my outburst, but it's the truth. So um... that's pretty much all I have to say right now, because I'm too hyperactive at the present to make myself write anything relevant to what I promised to post.

Oh! Here's the back cover, which took me FOREVER to finally decide upon.

You can also see a lovely preview here as well, which shows the dedication and a summary that includes another excerpt from later on in the book. By the way, I actually dedicated the book to Tizon. His death came around the same time that I was getting much of it written, and it seemed like the right thing to do.

Ok, I'm sad now. *sigh*

-Mary

Next time on MPBwtUaCOLT: Why... (really, this time)

I like music...

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 02:22:00 +0000

I like it a lot, in fact. I like it so much that I make playlists for just about everything that I write, and Licentious Child is no exception. This list, I'll warn you, is kind of... varied. I would link the songs so you all could listen to them, but since that would open up the possibility of downloading, I can't. That would be ILLEGAL. Speaking of which, I issue the disclaimer that I have no ownership over the folowing bands and their songs whatsoever.

1. "All Around Me" -Flyleaf
2. "Crawling" -Linkin Park
3. "Page Avenue" -Story of the Year
4. "Things I’ll Never Say" -Avril Lavigne
5. "Papercut" -Linkin Park
6. "Be Our Guest" -Beauty and the Beast OST
7. "La Tortura" -Shakira
8. "Temptation Waits" -Garbage
9. "That's What You Get" -Paramore
10. "Now Comes the Night" -Rob Thomas
11. "Listen to Your Heart" -DHT
12. "Vindicated" -Dashboard Confessional

If you happen to actually have access to these songs, then good for you. If not, then tough luck. Maybe if you're nice, I'll let you listen to my mp3 player.

Anyway, "Hello, Dolly!" was great, and I hope that you got to go see it. The Charlotte Observer came and did an article and took pictures at one of our dress rehearsals. They used a few in the paper (I was in one of them), but the rest can be seen here, which can also be found on my link list in the sidebar. There's a great picture (#5, I think) of me working with the guys, filling in for Cera ("Dolly"). See, there's this part where they pick her up and I didn't think that they were actually going to do that to me. Well they did, and I look totally surprised. Because I was. Understandably. Good grief, those short guys are strong.

The good news is that I now have time to actually write. Woot! I have like two days to finish my book. Speaking of which, I've got to go sleep so that I'll write instead of nap tomorrow.

-Mary

Next time on MPBwtUaCOLT: Why...

COME SEE "HELLO, DOLLY!" Oh, and more about my product, I suppose...

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:00:00 +0000

COME SEE IT!!!!!

APRIL 24, 25, AND 26 AT 7:00 PM
APRIL 27 AT 2:00 PM
TICKETS ARE $5.00 AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR OR BY REQUEST FROM HelloDollyCCHS@yahoo.com
LOCATED IN THE M.L. BARNES THEATRE AT CENTRAL CABARRUS HIGH SCHOOL

Now that I'm through advertising, I guess I'll further elaborate on the plot of my novella. And to clarify what exactly "Hello, Dolly!" has to do with my product, I happen to be the dance captain for said production and to be honest, Dolly is eating my book (YES, CERA, YOU ATE IT! Ignore this if you're not Cera... ^^). In fact, even right now I should be working on it, but I'm not (obviously) and I need to get like ten pages written before the end of the month. Just shoot me- PLEASE.

Anyway, I hate writing summaries... *sigh* I shall give it a try:

[insert mysterious voice-over, perhaps with a British accent]
Miss. Dahlia Cress was normal. Her family was well-off and respectable, and she was young and beautiful. One might even go so far as to call her the ideal Victorian woman, raised from birth to be an "Angel in the House".
Unfortunately, things change.

Her life took a turn for the worse (or so she thought) one night when she was attacked by a monstrous beast. Every full moon hence, she would turn into a monster herself, but as Dahlia feels like she's losing her humanity, she realizes that never before had she felt so free.

"So did the world around me shift, or just my perception of it?"

Alright, that's all you're gonna get from me. Honestly, I hate writing summaries with a passion, so this will have to suffice. Also, if you'd like to know (not that you really get a choice if you're reading this), here are a few (possible) future entries. Keep in mind that everything's tentative.

MUSIC! (See the bottom of this entry)
why the heck I decided to write, of all things, for my senior project
how one goes about writing a book
a crash course in publishing
whatever else I feel like blogging about (that relates to my project, of course^^)

-Mary

Next time on MPBwtUaCOLT: One word- PLAYLIST!!! Or is that two...?

My marvelous mentor, Maureen (isn't alliteration fun?)...

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:50:00 +0000

I have an awesome mentor- seriously. We both have like super crazy schedules due to her career and my participation in "Hello, Dolly!" (which you should come see, by the way), but she works with me to find time to meet. "Mary, what it exactly does your mentor do?" you might be wondering, or "Who the heck is your mentor, exactly?" Allow me to clarify.

Her name is Maureen Ryan Griffin and she gives creative writing workshops. She is a published poet as well and lives in Charlotte- I highly suggest visiting her website, WordPlay, which will give you more information about the services she offers and her books.

Now that I've gotten the advertisement out of the way, I'll tell you what we actually work on together.

Well... we edit. And plan. And then edit some more.

Really, that's it. I mean, I've attended one of her workshops, which was pretty cool, but then afterwards, we editted. That's about all I can really do with a mentor in regards to my particular product.

But anyways, Maureen's really cool and has been a BIG help with the editting process, which is irksome and tedious- definately the worst part of writng.

-Mary

Next time on MPBwtUaCOLT: Perhaps I shall elaborate...

I kind of miss DisneyWorld... sigh

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:00:00 +0000

So as promised, here's the first chapter of my novella. I don't plan on posting any more than that, you know in case some creep tries to steal my story before I can get copyright. I would LOVE to be published one day, so I'd like to keep the story mostly to myself.

Licentious Child: Chapter 1

I hope that you'll enjoy it, and if you don't, well then I can't please everyone. Anyway, in honor of my friends on Grad Night, here's some pictures of me working on my product. These were taken for my project portfolio while I was on my own trip to the "Happiest Place on Earth". See, I went during Spring Break with marching band because not only was it like $50 cheaper, we got to stay almost a whole day longer.

So here's me in the British section of EPCOT, being "inspired". This is actually the park that I got to march in, which was pretty cool. And yeah, I know that there weren't any phone booths in Victorian England, but it's British, so close enough. Anyway, it's better than seven photos of me just typing.

This is my best friend (Jessi Barr), my sister (who was tired of walking by this point), and myself in front of Cinderella's castle. This one isn't going into my portfolio, but if it HAS to relate to my product for this blog, then, uh... Cinderella is fantasy and so is my story. They both have romance as well. It's um... More inspiration. Yeah, I'll go with that.

This is me typing during the TEN HOUR bus ride home. For all their comfort to the hind-quarters, charter buses are quite uncomfortable to sleep in (we left late and drove all night). Don't you just love my snazzy Class of 2008 Mickey ears?

-Mary

Next Time on MPBwtUaCOLT: Mentor Meet and Greet!

So... Here's some stuff...

noreply@blogger.com (ScaryMerry) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:44:00 +0000

So welcome, hi, blah, blah, blah...

I'm going to just go ahead and skip straight to the point- this is my blog for my graduation project at Central Cabarrus High School. I'm required to do this to display the product I have to create, and I suppose that you'll want to know what my product is. Don't worry- I'll get to that in just a sec.

First, I had better explain my project topic. I chose to do my project on the evolution of women's literature, and naturally, that was what the research paper part of my project was about. For the related product, I decided to write a novella. I'm a woman, I'm writing it, therefore it is women's lit.

So I've been working on my novella for a while now (since February), and it's entitled Licentious Child. Now don't laugh if this isn't your particular cup o' tea, but it takes place in Victorian England and is about a werewolf. Later, I'll post the first chapter of it, but for now I'll just leave you all with the cover I made for it. See, I'm going to self-publish a copy to show to the judges and I love to photoshop, so that's how I ended up making the cover.

It was actually two separate pictures entirely and I put them together.

-Mary

Next Time on MPBwtUaCOLT: First Chapter + DisneyWorld!

Mary's Blog with the Unimaginative and Consequently Obscenely Long Title

I should not be allowed to have Pixy Stix...

*headdesk*

Because Iran is being stupid...

New website and Licentious Child

Screnzy fail + boredom at work...

Script Frenzy

Plagiarism Sucks

Stufffff...

Update!

So I lied again...

Ok, I lied...

So...

The last officially necessary post (my, I certainly do have a penchant for long titles)...

SOOOOOOO CLOOOOOOOOOOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like music...

COME SEE "HELLO, DOLLY!" Oh, and more about my product, I suppose...

My marvelous mentor, Maureen (isn't alliteration fun?)...

I kind of miss DisneyWorld... *sigh*

So... Here's some stuff...

headdesk

I kind of miss DisneyWorld... sigh