Sarvenaz Tash's Blog, page 24
December 5, 2011
2012 Debut Books I Love: Remarkable, Love & Leftovers, and Under the Never Sky
Since I'm part of the Apocalypsies, I've been lucky enough to get to read ARCs of some of next year's (about to be this year's, oh my!) debut authors.
I really mean it: I've been lucky. Some of these books have completely blown my mind with their awesomeness and I can't wait for them to come out so that the rest of the world can love them too.
Book blogger The Story Siren is running her annual Debut Author Challenge in which she challenges bloggers and readers to read and review 12 YA or MG boo...
I really mean it: I've been lucky. Some of these books have completely blown my mind with their awesomeness and I can't wait for them to come out so that the rest of the world can love them too.
Book blogger The Story Siren is running her annual Debut Author Challenge in which she challenges bloggers and readers to read and review 12 YA or MG boo...
November 30, 2011
The End of NaNoRevMo
Holy Christmas lights, Batman.
It's November 30th. Which officially means that today is the end of NaNoWriMo. Anyone write 50,000 words of a novel this month? (If so, I am in serious awe).
For me, it means that it's the end of NaNoRevMo. I'm pretty far along in revising my WIP. Although, I won't be finished by tonight (I wish), I'm pretty sure I will be finished with a complete pass by the end of this upcoming weekend. And I'm pretty happy about that.
I have to admit, this hasn't been the easies...
It's November 30th. Which officially means that today is the end of NaNoWriMo. Anyone write 50,000 words of a novel this month? (If so, I am in serious awe).
For me, it means that it's the end of NaNoRevMo. I'm pretty far along in revising my WIP. Although, I won't be finished by tonight (I wish), I'm pretty sure I will be finished with a complete pass by the end of this upcoming weekend. And I'm pretty happy about that.
I have to admit, this hasn't been the easies...
November 29, 2011
'Tis the Season!
Last year, I had the opportunity to be a mentor for Girls Write Now.
Girls Write Now is a New York City-based organization which pairs a professional female writer with a teen writer from an underserved public school. Each week, mentors and mentees meet up for an hour-long one-on-one session while 6 times throughout the school year, the group gets together for genre workshops ranging in everything from fiction and journalism to memoir and sketch comedy.
It was one of the most amazingly supporti...
Girls Write Now is a New York City-based organization which pairs a professional female writer with a teen writer from an underserved public school. Each week, mentors and mentees meet up for an hour-long one-on-one session while 6 times throughout the school year, the group gets together for genre workshops ranging in everything from fiction and journalism to memoir and sketch comedy.
It was one of the most amazingly supporti...
November 22, 2011
Thanksgiving Is That Holiday Where Manuscripts Magically Revise Themselves...Right?
Checking in from NaNoRevMo! I finally made it past page 100 yesterday in my revisions. Of course, the second half of the book is the one that needs the most from-scratch work but let's not focus on that at the moment.
It's Thanksgiving week so let's focus on the reasons to celebrate:
- a shortened work week
- a delicious home-cooked meal courtesy of my amazing mother.
- oh and my sister's mashed potatoes! Which are also amazing, especially when she makes them extra lumpy for me.
- the fact that Th...
It's Thanksgiving week so let's focus on the reasons to celebrate:
- a shortened work week
- a delicious home-cooked meal courtesy of my amazing mother.
- oh and my sister's mashed potatoes! Which are also amazing, especially when she makes them extra lumpy for me.
- the fact that Th...
November 16, 2011
5 Ways Being a Screenwriter Helped Me Write a Novel
The rumors are true...I am an outliner.
The truth is I need to see the plot naked and bare and without all the frills of, you know, good writing. Things like fully-formed sentences or descriptions that make sense...they only drag me down when I'm first embarking on a novel.
And for this, I have to thank my screenwriting background and film school, where I learned all about beats, character sheets, three-act structure and more craft commandments at whose ground I now worship.
Check out my Class o...
The truth is I need to see the plot naked and bare and without all the frills of, you know, good writing. Things like fully-formed sentences or descriptions that make sense...they only drag me down when I'm first embarking on a novel.
And for this, I have to thank my screenwriting background and film school, where I learned all about beats, character sheets, three-act structure and more craft commandments at whose ground I now worship.
Check out my Class o...
November 14, 2011
Birthday Bash #29: 90s Prom
Get ready to have your minds blown...I never went to prom.
I know what you're thinking. You want to give me that speech Annie Potts gives Andie in Pretty in Pink, don't you? At the very least you want to give me a hug. When I was in high school, I had at least one older co-worker tell me that I would regret it forever if I didn't go to prom...
I'm here to tell you that not only did I survive not going to prom, but I never looked back and wistfully wished I had. It just wasn't for me.
BUT...when ...
I know what you're thinking. You want to give me that speech Annie Potts gives Andie in Pretty in Pink, don't you? At the very least you want to give me a hug. When I was in high school, I had at least one older co-worker tell me that I would regret it forever if I didn't go to prom...
I'm here to tell you that not only did I survive not going to prom, but I never looked back and wistfully wished I had. It just wasn't for me.
BUT...when ...
November 9, 2011
Tuning Out to Tune In
I love blogging, Twitter and social media in general. I love connecting with people online and this past year of being introduced to a wonderful world of other writers--and actually being considered one of their own--has been filled with wonder and delight.
At the same time, my real writing (the one where I'm trying to tell cohesive long-form stories, not write silly tweets about 90s pop songs that are inexplicably stuck in my head) sometimes needs that encouragement and energy of all these wo...
At the same time, my real writing (the one where I'm trying to tell cohesive long-form stories, not write silly tweets about 90s pop songs that are inexplicably stuck in my head) sometimes needs that encouragement and energy of all these wo...
November 7, 2011
MG Author Spotlight & Giveaway: Interview with A.J. Hartley
I'm so pleased to have this month's MG author on my blog. A.J. Hartley is a New York Times bestselling author and a Shakespearean professor. His first middle grade novel came out just last month. It's called Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact and it's filled with adventure, fantasy and a great, great friendship at its core. It also has a British protagonist (and, you might know, I'm a bit of an anglophile) and is a novel suitable for boys and girls of all ages.
Read on after the intervie...
Read on after the intervie...
November 1, 2011
NaNoWriMo --> NaNoRevMo?
As you may know, November is National Novel Writing Month, often shortened as NaNoWriMo. It's when a lot of writers pledge to get their novels completed by the time November 30th rolls around. If you follow a lot of writers on Twitter, expect to see word count tweets galore!
I know a lot of writers have had success with this. I even recall Stephanie Perkins writing in her acknowledgments that she finished the first draft of Anna and the French Kiss because of NaNoWriMo.
I've actually never atte...
I know a lot of writers have had success with this. I even recall Stephanie Perkins writing in her acknowledgments that she finished the first draft of Anna and the French Kiss because of NaNoWriMo.
I've actually never atte...
October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween!
Halloween is, by far, my favorite holiday.
It's a holiday that revolves around:
1. Creativity
2. Dressing up in silly costumes
3. Candy
What's not to love?! Not to mention that its proximity to my birthday has given me an extremely flimsy excuse to throw a theme party every year.
I thought I'd share some of the costumes we've worn over the years. From the photographic evidence below, I think you can safely conclude that:
1. Despite my repeated efforts, I look ridiculous as a blonde.
2. Graig and I ar...
It's a holiday that revolves around:
1. Creativity
2. Dressing up in silly costumes
3. Candy
What's not to love?! Not to mention that its proximity to my birthday has given me an extremely flimsy excuse to throw a theme party every year.
I thought I'd share some of the costumes we've worn over the years. From the photographic evidence below, I think you can safely conclude that:
1. Despite my repeated efforts, I look ridiculous as a blonde.
2. Graig and I ar...
