Sierra Abrams's Blog, page 2

Get To Know Me Tag

Eeeep!  I've been blogging for 5.5 years now (over at Yearning to Read) and this is the first time I've been tagged.  I'm excited!  It's totally random and fun and I can't wait to tag a few people I know...

Thanks so much, Rachel @ Royal Queens! EEP!  (Pssst go check out her blog!  She's lovely!)

ON TO THE FUN!


VITAL STATS

Name: Sierra Lerrin Abrams
Nickname: Sisi, Organica, Perchinda (sssshhh don't ask)
Birthday: November 1st, 1993
Place of birth: Forth Worth, Texas
Star sign: Scorpio
Occupation: Nanny



APPEARANCE

Hair color: Natural blond, but I prefer to be a brunette or blue. (Nope, not even kidding you.)
Hair length: Past my waist now!
Eye color: Hazel, but with a big fleck of gold in my right eye.
Best feature: My hair and my lips tie.
Braces: Never had 'em!
Piercings: Ears.
Tattoos: Not right now!  I want to get one on the inside of my right wrist and one over each lung because reasons.
Righty or lefty: Righty!


FIRSTS

Best friend: Addie, a girl I met at dance class.  We still sometimes keep in touch to this day!
Award: Oh gosh.  I won best dancer in my dance studio when I was 8 or 9.  Still one of my favorite memories, getting that phone call!
Sport: HAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHA.
Real holiday: Um...California.  When we lived in TX, my parents missed their home state so much that they brought us to Cali once a year for a whole month.  This started when I was, like, 3?  We would drive up and down the coast.  Now we live in San Diego.
Concert: Ah, um, I went to a festival when I was, like, 10 and saw bands like Newsboys.  Fun, but it didn't really feel like a concert?  So I guess my first actual concert was Eisley when I was 14, and that was FREAKING INCREDIBLE.



FAVORITES

Film: Man of Steel, hands down.  But a close second is Mad Max: Fury Road. Because ALL THE YES.
TV Show: BBC's MERLIN. It ruined me from here into eternity. Goodbye forever.
Color: Blue!  All my things are blue. Everything. ALL OF IT.
Song: This is like asking me to pick which book idea is my favorite. STUPID! I prefer to go by albums.  Check out my favorite albums in this playlist of mine:


Restaurant: Oooooh I'd have to say any sushi restaurant I can possibly eat at.  The closest one to me is Sushi Yama in Escondido, but I also looooove Sushi Deli 3 in Kearny Mesa. (San Deigo, CA)
Shop: All the bookstores!  (I don't shop much soooo...)
Books: HA! Okay, well, my favorite singular book in the world is The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky.  The Raven Cycle and the Fever series come next as favorites.
Magazine: They aren't really for me...
Shoes: Anything comfortable and classy.


CURRENTLY

Feeling: Sick. Meh. Lame.
Single or taken: Single.
Eating: I just ate Indian food! 'Twas delish!
Thinking About: The fact that I'm supposed to be editing and I'm blogging instead. LOL
Watching: Probably going to watch a movie later because ew gross being sick sucks.  But I'm not sure what I'll watch...
Wearing: Sweats!


FUTURE

Want children: Yes!  All the babies!  If I'm not married by the time I'm 25, I'm going to look into foster/adoption.
Want to be married: ^^^ Yes.  Not right now, because I have many other things I want to focus on first, but if God brought the right one...yes.
Careers in mind: Writing writing all the writing.  That's all there's been for me, since I was 7 years old.
Where you want to live: I'm actually in the process of saving to move across the country - to Maine! Very excited about this move!  But in general I want to live all over the world.  That would be nice.


DO YOU BELIEVE IN

God: Yes!
Miracles: I've seen 'em happen.
Love at first sight: No, definitely attraction at first sight, though.  I do believe you can fall in love with someone very quickly, though, as my parents met each other and were engaged within a week. 25 years of marriage this year!
Ghosts: No? Not really.
Aliens: I mean...no? LOL
Soul mates: I do, actually.
Heaven: Yes!
Hell: Yes.
Kissing on the first date: Erm...depends on how long I've known the guy as a friend and how awesome the chemistry is. Merp. Probably not.
Yourself: Yes, because God is good and gives me strength.


That was so fun!!  Thanks again Rachel!

I now tag my bestest friend Carlyn @ late nights and coffee stains, Caroline @ Of Stars and Ink-Stained Things, Hannah @ Ink Blots and Coffee Stains, and Maddy @ Maddyson Wilson.  Can't wait to see your posts, ladies!

XOXO

I Am Back From the Grave (and Why I Was There In the First Place)

Okay, maybe not entirely? ^^^ This Simon Pegg gif is actually me. I might just drop from pure exhaustion and never get back up. I've had to start calling friends before I go to work at 7AM (because mornings = Earth's Mordor) so I can have conversations and laugh and ACTUALLY WAKE UP...and then spend 8-11 hours with a 1.5 year old who doesn't talk yet.
(I realy love my job, okay, but sometimes....)
But to the point: I am back. I HAVE ARRIVED! And I have lots of fun goodies ready for the year 2016. January was stressful and sometimes I imagine I will block it out of my mind entirely in the future. (Except for the lessens I learned. I MUSN'T FORGE THOSE. I'D RATHER NOT LEARN THEM AGAIN, THANK YOU MUCHLY.)
Basically, 2016 is off to a....weird (???) start. Good, but weird. I finished editing Draft 3 of THE COLOR PROJECT on paper, so now I'm putting those edits into the computer to create a brand-spankin'-new Draft 4. And you know what happens when D4 is done? QUERIES!
Yes, I'm totally freaking out/hyperventilating and sometimes I rethink everything like down to career choice and my entire life up to this point and wonder if maybe I should go back to school to become a zoologist because anything would be better than the terror/stress monster living and growing inside of me and then I remember HEY I ACTUALLY LOVE THIS BOOK A TON AND IT'S ALREADY CHANGED LIVES SO -
Queries it is.
Somewhere out there on this great big planet, an agent is looking for my book. In a few short weeks-months-years she is going to get it in her inbox and thank the contemporary romance gods for Levi and Bee and their PRECIOUS BABY CINNAMON ROLL ROMANCE.
(If you haven't noticed or started to feel a touch concerned, I'm wide awake at 1AM and have everything to say. I do apologize.)
My biggest frustration right now is that when I started putting my notes into the document, everything felt...weird?? Not everything, actually. I lied. Just the first chapter. BUT THIS IS THE FIRST FREAKIN' CHAPTER, DUDES. THAT'S AN AGENTS 2ND AND MOST IMPORTANT GLIMPSE INTO MY WORLD. I mean, the query's great, but you can have someone else help you work a query until it's excellent. Lots of idiots send in great resumes and get hired....only for their bosses to later discover everything was a lie/an exaggeration and they regret everything.
I don't want to be that person. I want to start off strong and BAM BOOM WOW YOU LOVE ME. Every writer's dream, right? And while my first chapter wasn't bad at all (actually, I *loved* how it set up the story), it wasn't up to par with the rest of the book. I'd just come off the high of reading my own VERY! EXCITING! BITTERSWEET! ROMANTIC! CLIMAX! and was a bit like "....wait. No. I said no."


(Me, going a little bit crazy. Totally worth it.)
This, of course, was disheartening because it pushed EVERYTHING BACK. It made everything feel like a million times harder and unreachable because rewriting your (1st draft) original 1st chapter that you and 25+ readers have LOVED.....well. That's not how I wanted to start this draft.
My readers don't even know I'm doing this yet. Oops. Sorry, lovely and warm cinnamon-spice-latte betas, if this is how you're finding out. The first chapter is going to change just a tad. You love me. Don't forget all the things I've done for you.

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In the end, that is why I have been gone - erm, in the grave. But I have survived/been reborn. I am here ro unleash my writerly delight and mayhem upon the world and NO ONE WILL STOP ME.
*curls up in bed* *falls alseep*
(But before I'm rude and forget - how did January treat you guys? What's life like? Writing? How are you? TELL ME ABOUT IT ALL.)

Music Monday (4) - Twenty Øne Piløts

GUYS SO LIKE

I'M SO SORRY I HAVEN'T BEEN POSTING. I'm working on some posts to schedule but for now I'll regale you with new-to-me music and the story of how I didn't like Twenty Øne Piløts.
For the purposes, let's call them TØP so it's less typing. Ssshhh I'm feeling lazy today.Anyway.
About a year ago my bestest friend in the whole wide world showed me "Tear In My Heart", an incredibly wonderful song thay I loved instantly. I didn't, however, check out the band because I had that song on repeat. Often when I find a single I love, and then listen to the rest of their music, I don't love the full album as much. This disappoints me soooo much. It happened with Air Traffic Controller, Augustines, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Whitehorse... you get my point.
So, when I finally tried to listen to more TØP at the lovely insistence of literaly 98% of my friends, I turned on Heavydirtysoul and was like (rough reenactment):
"Hmmm. This is...um...wait. No. WHAT. THIS IS NOTHING LIKE TEAR IN MY HEART. I DON'T LIKE IT! I DON'T LIKE TØP AT ALL!" *slams fist on table* *nurses hand* *caresses Tear In My Heart*
Okay, so, sometimes I'm really stubborn. I wrote a book about it. Actually, two. But we don't need to discuss that. Point is: I didn't listen to them for a long time.
AND THEN.
Some beautiful human named Kristana (who you can find and follow heeeeere) told me, "I know you don't like them, but here, listen to Goner. Try again. Maybe you'll end up liking them."
Well, turns out Kristana is a GENIUS. I listened to Goner on repeat. And then later that week when I heard a TØP song randomly on the radio I was like "WHO IS THIS I LIKE THIS!" and my friends were like "IT'S TØP!" and I was like: *_*
And then, on top of that, when I showed my family Goner, they went and listened to more TØP and they were telling me what to listen to. My parents became fangirls before I did.I still don't know what to make of this.
And honestly, I don't know which songs are character songs yet. I haven't listened to the lyrics that closely yet. But I know there are some. I think Goner is on a playlist for my character Jack, and that's just the beginning. Someday, you will see my music playlists riddled with TØP.Just watch me.NOW ON TO THE ACTUAL SONGS.
GONER



TEAR IN MY HEART



FAIRLY LOCAL


HOMETOWN



Annnnd that's all for now, lovelies! Tell me, do you like TØP? Do you have any song recs for me? What music are you inspired by this week?
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Music Monday (3) - Civil Twilight

Music Monday #3 is....incredibly painful.  YAY FOR CRUSHING MY SOUL!


Sorry I've been away for a while.  November was insane but then DECEMBER.  I didn't think it could get any worse.  But December has happened to be the busiest month of my ENTIRE LIFE so far.  I don't even know how to respond to the madness so I've been hiding a bit and focusing on editing THE COLOR PROJECT.
But anyway.  Here goes!

LET IT GO // CIVIL TWILIGHT






THE WEIGHT YOU'VE CARRIED FOR SO LONG // HAS MADE YOU TIRED BUT IT HASN'T MADE YOU STRONG

^^^  brb crying 5ever

Okay but in all seriousness, this album entire broke me.  It has turned me into a sobbing mess of a human too many times to count.  And it has now made it to "one of my favorite albums ever" status.  Which, right now, is like...10.  Out of 400+.  I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS MEANS TO ME.
Not only is this song personally devastating, but hey, it's great for character inspiration.  Aspen is 100% in need of this song (desperately) (someone please force her to listen to it until she gets it).  And then there's Bru (from the TFQ series) who is like the scary version of me (more on him in another post).  And (also from TFQ) JERICHOOOOO BECAUSE HE HAS HAD SO MUCH PAIN IN HIS LIFE AND HE NEEDS IT LET IT GOOOOOO.  (Not the Frozen version because I'll turn into Grumpy Cat and sing "Let it -- NO.")  Also, the lyrics literally talk about "the crumbling walls of Jericho".  So.  You're welcome.

Today I'm only posting about Civil Twilight because I literally cannot imagine fangirling over any other band today.  I'm just....emotional.  I have been for a month or so over them.  LEAVE ME BE.  (Or join me in my corner of obsession.)

If you'd like to listen to any of their other songs, I recommend....









What have you been writing to lately???


XOXO

Three Times I Wanted To Burn Someone's House Down

You're possibly (probably) wondering why the heck I turned so violent all of a sudden.

Well.
It's because I'm here to tell you three stories...the most horrid stories I have.... All about my books being ruined.
Get ready for torture and tears and sorrow and madness...


3.This is the least horrible, but it still haunts me. About 4-5 years ago, I was on vacation with my family. I brought three books with me, finishing the short ones in the car on the way to and from the cabin, and the long one - Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - kept me very occupied during the week.The cabin we were staying in was big, fitting my family of 5 and another family of 4. It wasn't extravagant or fancy in any way......except this one bathroom. It had  gorgeous decorations and a ridiculously beautiful claw-foot bathtub.I MEAN, IT WAS REALLY GORGEOUS.Since I am a lover of luxurious baths, I decided to have a soak. And since I love to read during a soak in a luxurious bath, I decided to take Woman in White with me.I KNOW, I KNOW. I hear you all shrieking, "Sierra, what is wrong with you?! Don't you know how giant and heavy that book is? Don't you know the risks?"To which I reply, "Hush now, you're spoiling the story!"And after which I tell you that my grip slipped and the whole side and half of the cover fell into the rushing water of my luxurious bath.I managed to dry it off mostly, but I thought the water damage was the book's end. Thankfully, it was not, and I was able to make it look almost normal again, thanks to all the heavy 1,000+ paged tomes in my personal library. I still bring books in the bath to this day. Will I ever learn?



2.Now, this instance and #1 are almost tied, but because this one was an accident and #1 was....omg...this one has to be second best. Worst? I don't know anymore.This one did, however, happen just this week. So. It's a fresh hell for me.
I'm a full-time nanny, and the little boy I watch recently picked up a naaasty virus from his cousin.  He ended up with laryngitis and was throwing up all his food because of the phlegm in his throat.  (He has the worst gag reflex EVER.)
I was dealing with barf every single meal one day, and I just couldn't waaaaaaait to take him upstairs and LET HIM NAP so I could have a barf-free couple of hours.  But it turned out I'd never be so lucky, because as soon as he'd downed 4 ounces of milk, he started coughing.....and threw up.
Now, it wouldn't have been HORRIBLE, if he hadn't projectile-vomited across two feet of air and onto the bed, my headphones, and MY LOVELY COPY OF ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS IN THE WORLD. (Clockwork Angel.)  I was so horrified.  But I managed to get him cleaned off and rush into the bathroom and wipe it down with a damp rag.  It came off okay and it doesn't smell, thank the Lord.
But still.  BABY, WHY?!




1.THE WORST ONE, OKAY, YOU GUYS.
Now, this might not seem as horrible as the throw up, as far as *grossness*, but you guys.  I was so upset.
When I was 14, I read my all-time favorite book in the world, The Idiot by Dostoevsky.  IT CHANGED ME.  And I wanted to share it with the rest of the world who hadn't read it.  I started to either buy used copies for friends, and rarely (because it was a paperback and I HATE BENDING PAPERBACKS) I gave it out to people who promised to take good care of it.
I know.  I can sense you all rolling your eyes.
Well, it worked for the first two people.  They took excellent care of the book and returned it in great condition and I was a happy pumpkin.
But then there was this one mom.  Now, everyone knew her as the messy mom, and she had 2 young kids who were equally messy.  They had a really adorable house but, like, omg there was no organization.  So when she asked if she could read it, I was hesitant.  THERE WAS THE SMALL PROBLEM OF MY LENDING IT OUT TO OTHER PEOPLE, however, so I just went with it.  I begged her not to bend the covers back and to not give it to her kids.
Well.  Two months later, I got it back.  She gave it to my mom to give to me, I think, and when my mom handed it to me, I almost died.  The cover had been bent so that it almost made a full circle and the pages on the sides were dirtier than they'd been before.
But then.  THEN.  I discovered the horror.  In the back, between the back cover and the last page, I found a raspberry.  A freaking squishy (but by now, rotting) raspberry.  Straight from the snacks I know she always gives her children.


I cannot even tell you how long it took me to get over this.  I had a lot of questions, obviously.  WHY was the book in the kitchen?!  WHY was she reading it while she was feeding her children?!  WHY would anyone think it's okay to bend the cover back like that?!  WHY WHY WHY?!  It as tragic, to say the least.  It began a very dark time in my life where when my friends would come over and ask to borrow some of my favorite books, I would snap. "NO, AND WHY WOULD YOU ASK THAT? HMMM?  DO YOU WANT TO POUR SYRUP ALL OVER IT?  DO YOU WANT TO FEED IT TO YOUR DOG?  DO YOU WANT TO TAKE A KNIFE TO ITS HEART?  DO YOU WANT TO HAVE A BOOK BURNING?  DO YOU? HMMM??"

Thankfully, I haven't lost any friends, but they eventually stopped asking.  It's only just recently been easier to hand out my books to people.  I still tell them this story, though, in hopes that it will remind them that RUINING OTHER PEOPLES' BOOKS IS RUDE AND HURTFUL AND A DETRIMENT TO SOCIETY.

That is all.


So.  Tell me about YOU.  What bookish horror stories do you have to tell??  Let me know in the comments!
XOXO

She Would Have Been Twenty

(I promise this post relates to writing.  Be sure to read all the way to find out why.)
Once upon a time, twenty years ago, my first little sister was born.  She was born with a lot of problems in her heart, and we had to be very careful with her.  She had open-heart surgery at three months old.  The doctors thought she was going to be okay.  And maybe she would have; we won't ever know.

When she was close to five months old, one of her nurses - the one on duty - went to see another patient in the ICU.  Make her rounds.  During the time the nurse was preoccupied, my sister's shunt bag dropped and her fontanel began to collapse.  She was rescued by a miracle - my dad coming into the room and seeing it, yelling for help - but it had done the damage.  After that, it was too much for her heart and her brain, and my sister died on May 9th, 1996.

Her name was Holly Honor.

Sweet angel baby.
I remember her, which is weird because I was two.  But I do.  In fact, I'll never forget her.  She was such a sweet baby, always making tiny, angelic noises at the back of her throat.  Her head was always a little bit bigger than it should have been due to hydrocephalus, but she was still the cutest baby I had ever seen.  I was going to be her big sister forever.  She would always be there for me to protect and love and play with - up until the moment she wasn't.

Me and my dad.  I remember getting our faces painted outside the hospital.
I have one million and one tons of respect for my parents.  They could have sued the hospital and made so much money and gotten out of debt, but on one condition: say it was the fault of the nurse on duty that night.  And they just couldn't do it.  It wasn't her fault, and saying that could have ruined this nurse for a long, long time.

So, instead, they let it go and chose not to sue.  Even in their agony, they chose to act on their incredible faith that God had a purpose and a plan for Holly's life.  They tried to see past their own pain.  After some grieving time, my mom had all of Holly's nurses over for a sleepover to celebrate Holly's life.  The nurse who was on duty, the one who almost had her life destroyed, left our house having given her life to God.

The plot twist?  She died three years later from an asthma attack.

I've always been amazed that my parents got to see the fruit of their faithfulness during their lifetime.  Most of the time when we make a decision to forgive something awful or do something good, in general, we don't get to see the positive outcome.  My parents did.  If Holly hadn't lived on this earth for that short period of time, and if my parents hadn't moved on and shown a true example of grace, would the nurse have come to know her Savior?  Would the people who knew Holly in her short 5.5 months on this earth have been so amazingly, positively affected?

Here's where writing comes in:  In the same way I wanted to write about my personal life experiences/hopes/fears in TCP, I wanted to write about Holly.

More specifically, I wanted to write about a girl who lost her best friend and doesn't know how to see past the pain...  Until, that is, she starts to see how people literally all over the world have been affected by her best friend's kindness and love.  Even in such a short life, her friend made a difference.  She encouraged strangers and made those strangers friends and loved to the fullest.  It didn't matter that she was 17.  It didn't matter that her heart was failing her.  What mattered was her sweet soul.

One person really can make a difference.

Oh, and the best friend's name?  Holly Honor.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

Today, on November 27th, 2015, my family and I celebrate the day our Holly would have turned 20 years old.  And today, in honor of her, I will sit my butt down, wipe away my tears, and try to catch up on NaNo, because she would have been cheering me on if she were here.  That's actually a really lovely thought, especially after my massive crying breakdown while writing this post.  I feel refreshed and ready to roll.

Our family.  In the picture on the right, from left to right:  Ember, Timmy (recently adopted from China!!), Haven, and me.  I love my crazy siblings.
So happy birthday, Holly, my sister and my friend, even if it was just for those few short months.  I miss you every day!

XOXO,

The Year I Am Thankful For Progress and Hazelnut Ice Blended Coffee From Coffee Bean

You all read my last post, right? About the trauma of NaNo this year? About my revelation and seeing the top of this ridiculous mountain that is TCTNW?

Read it here if you want to see this madness I'm talking about.

Well. I reached the top. And not only that, but I've just written my favorite thing so far this NaNo. Want to read it? Well, I suppose you can't answer me so I'll just post it anyway. *is a nudge* *is a nervous nudge*

This is mild, comparatively, for their characters. There was a fight (it was nasty), and there was an apology, and now Aspen is considering forgiveness? HALF-DRAWN PEACE TREATIES ARE LIKE CHERUBS PLAYING HARPS WHILE I SIT IN A PINK BUBBLE BATH AND SIP CHAMPAGNE ON A CRUISE SHIP ALL TO MYSELF.
*composes self*
But you could say I'm happy. A lot happy. And extremely motivated and willing to fight until the end.
22K left you guys.
I will go down with this ship. I mean this in both ways. (Relationship-wise and I AM THE CAPTAIN OF NANO TCTNW.  DO AS I SAY.)
Do I sound tired? Because I am exhausted.
Do I sound crazy? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Do I sound determined? You bet your book-lovin'-butt I am.
See you on the other side of 22,000 words and a lot of coffee.  (No, really, if you haven't tried the item mentioned in title you need to get your butt over to Coffee Bean, like, yesterday.)
And since I missed Music Monday this week, have a song on the house.  It's an appropriate song for this book, yo.  (But, like, much later.  Can't wait to get there.  Wouldn't that be nice.  But I digress.) Anyway.  Thank youuuuu, Carlyn - who actually told me she thought I introduced this band to her.We're weirdos like that.



Peace out and XOXO and SOMEONE LET ME SLEEP.

Too Much For My Mini Muffin Heart

Sometimes, I write about angst.
Sometimes, I write about death and grief.Sometimes, I write about depression and sorrow.Sometimes, I write about discontentment.Sometimes, I write about hatred.
(What can I say? I'm a dark, morbid human.)
But never ever ever have I written about all of those in the same book. And never ever ever have I written about all of those without the dominance of hope.
Let's just say....THE CURE THAT NEVER WAS is a really hard book for me. I am inspired for it every day, but when I sit down to write it, I am overwhelmed by the characters' grief. Their fears. Their hatred of each other. Their long-standing misconception of each other, which leads to the hatred. More grief. Denial. Sorrow. Judging each other for what they do not understand. Ready to fight at every turn. And every straight road and curvy road and hill and fork and corner and basically EVERYWHERE ALL OVER THE WORLD.
*heaves*
I may be a murderer of love and a morbid creature and a Hellacious She-Devil (as one if my favorite beta readers recently dubbed me), but I need redemption.
As a writer, I know I have written some of my best passages in this book. But as a very emotional human being, I feel....eaten alive.
This is all about to change. I know this. I have it all planned out: the character development, the order of events, getting from A to B. I know all of that is coming. But right now, it feels like Aspen is on the Treadmill of No-Hope, headed to No-Where. (ha ha ha)
In reality - what I should be reminding myself daily - is that she is actually falling headlong toward love and acceptance and forgiveness.
It's just that....it's a long fall.
I am tired. I have been comparing this NaNo to last NaNo, and all I can seem to understand is that this year I am exhausted emotionally and physically from TCTNW. Last year I caught up around Day 15 and sped ahead, going 6K words over. This year, I am still what I feel is very far behind.
I have 22,000 words to write before December 1st. I want to write them (finally I'm motivated). I really want to win this. I have 8 days to get it done, to tackle the beast. I'm climbing a very steep mountain, and I see the top. I really do. It's only a matter of time.
I'm glad I've come to all these conclusions. TCTNW has taught me so much about myself as a writer and as a person - and I'm not even done with it! Every book does this. Every book is unique and has its own thing to teach. Maybe that's part of why I love writing so much: I want to learn, always.
What have you experienced differently this November, my fellow Wrimos?? What have you learned?? Tell me in the comments or leave a link to a blog post!
XOXOXOXO

Music Monday (2) - Keaton Henson/Mikky Ekko

HERE I AM AGAIN.  Week 2 of Music Monday, and I am so excited to share....


YOU // KEATON HENSON




THIS IS A V EMOTIONAL SONG.
OF TEARS AND BEAUTY AND MAGIC.

It relates to several of my characters and their lives.  Particularly Aspen (The Cure That Never Was).  Her best friend has died and she often imagines what life was like when she was alive.

There is a lot of beautiful angst and I am seriously in love with this story, to be honest.

******

SMILE // MIKKY EKKO





This song breaks my heart in the best way possible.  It's so beautiful and freeing and honest and lovely.  It relates, very closely, to Aspen.  Yet again.  Maybe it's because I'm writing her for the first time right now and everything Aspen-ish just pops out at me.  But there it is.

I have a lot of feelings.

Leave me in peace to cry alone.

******

That's all for today...I'll be back with more next week!  What are you guys inspired by this week?  Leave links/song titles in the comments!

XOXO

What I Write (or "Read the Name of This Blog")

I feel like I probably could pass on writing this post, since the name of the blog is "Sierra and the Quest to Write Everything".  I think that's pretty self-explanatory.

(^^^ you guys saying, "Then why are you writing this post, darn you!")
But.  I seriously want to write....everything.  Every genre.  Every character I can get my hands on.  All of the magnificent things in the world.  All the dark things.  (I'm a morbid writer.  I write about people getting sliced into bits or branded or just plain going crazy because emotional turmoil.  So.  There's that.  Don't get too comfortable at my table.  Unless there's actual food involved and then please, pour a glass of wine and enjoy yourself.)

So when I say I want to write everything, I mean it.  My first contemporary/realistic fiction for YA is a super happy adorable lovely thing of sweetness that turns INTO A MONSTER of pain.  My second YA contemporary (NaNo project you can read about here) starts out darker and turns into something a bit happier.  My YA fantasy series starts out as a loose retelling and turns into a dark mass of some nice people and some horrible people and some depressed people trying to get along while also fighting the last person they expected for their freedom and IT GETS GORY, OKAY?!

I have a list of all the ideas I have, separated into genre, and then into age group.  Here are the stats:

12 YA fantasy ideas (some are series)1 adult fantasy idea (possibly a trilogy or duology)4 YA science fiction ideas (some are series)3 NA/adult science fiction ideas (some are possible series)8 YA contemporary/realistic fiction/romance ideas (one is a duology, the rest standalone/crossover)1 YA mystery idea (standalone)1 adult mystery idea (possible trilogy, spin-off of the YA idea)2 YA mystical realism ideas (standalone)1 adult AU/historical fiction/adventure-ish thing that doesn't fit anywhere yet (standalone)1 adult historical fiction idea (standalone)3 fantasies and 1 horror I'll be writing with my best friendSo, as you can see, my mind has been very very busy.  And I like fantasy.  And contemporary.
Oops.  Doing the math, with all the books in each series counted, this adds up to approximately 60 books.  IF I WRITE 1 BOOK A YEAR AT THIS RATE I'LL BE 82 BEFORE I GET THROUGH ALL OF THESE.  LORD HELP ME.
I regret nothing.
I'm looking forward to coming back to this post in a year and realizing how far I've come and what all I've written and how many more ideas I have.
At this point I've written 3.5 books in the YA fantasy series I've been working on for almost 5 years (all a part of 1 idea listed above), and 1 contemporary, with another on the way.  Most are edited or are being edited or are almost ready to go out for queries.  I'm getting the hang of this, my system, and how I work best as a writer.
Let's get this career show on the road, shall we?
Tell me about your ideas - what genre do you like to write and what would you LIKE to write but haven't yet?  What genre do you think would be the hardest for you?  (My hardest is historical fiction.  I just know it is.)
XOXOXO