Writing with Amy

Hey, everybody!  Sorry I've been so bad about updating and posting this month.  Everything has been pretty hectic with our move.  We officially moved to Austin, Texas a little after the first of the year, and things have been kind of nuts ever since.  We have an apartment now - which is fantastic news.  We like it a lot so far, and the area we're in is really close to lots of shopping and restaurants, plus is a five minute walk from Lowell's new job.  So, that's amazing.  I've just been offered a job as well (just gotta pass that drug test and background check!  Good thing I'm not a drug-doing murderder!) so that's incredible, especially since I had been job hunting for at least 6 months back in Illinois.  So, I'm pretty stoked.  We don't have any of our stuff in Texas yet though, just like a tote of clothes each and we bought some new pots and pans so we can cook.  But the rest of our stuff is Illinois still, and we're workin...

Happy late New Year!  I took a few weeks off from blogging with all the holiday craziness that was happening.  Now I'm back, and I've got some updates for you all as well!  So, first thing, I hope everybody had an amazing holiday season.  It's finally time to get back to work!  For me, that means back to the job hunt and back to writing like my life depends on it.  Which brings me to one of my updates.  I officially have Fins and Fangs all edited.  So, now all that's left for me to do is get it published!  I should have it up on Amazon by the end of the month at the latest.  It really depends on how quickly I can get the cover taken care of while also dealing with the other things going on in my life right now.  The other big update in my life right now is that I'm moving!  Lowell ended up accepting a great job, so we're moving away.  That's always a big deal when it comes to time to write and whatnot, but it's a fa...

Merry early Christmas!  Can you believe it's almost Christmas?  That it's almost the end of the year already?  I sure can't.  I'm super struggling with it.  But, hey, that means it's time for some fun holiday and Christmas writing prompts! I could use some writing prompts myself.  I've been focusing my attention on editing my NaNoWriMo novel this month, so I haven't done all that much writing.  Plus, the holidays are always such a busy time! But, writing always helps everything! Christmas/Holiday Writing Prompts 1. This is your first year ever spending the holidays not at home.  Where are you instead?   2. The snowman you and your younger siblings built in your yard has come to life! 3. You've come home for the holidays, and at your family's Christmas party, you find yourself standing under the mistletoe with your old high school nemesis.   4. A freak snowstorm over the holiday break trapped you and several of yo...

Time for another edition of Two Truths and a Lie: Hallmark Movie Edition!  I had a lot of fun writing this the first time, so I thought it would be a great time to do it again.  You know the drill: below will be three movie synopses, two of which are real Hallmark movies, and one is a fake one that I wrote (Fake synopses are taken directly from Hallmark's website, please don't sue me).  I also definitely suggest trying this out for yourself and seeing if you can trick anyone with your synopsis.  It's very amusing, and super fun!  So, without further ado, here we go!  The answer will be at the bottom! A Bride for Christmas After Jessie Patterson calls off her third engagement - at the altar! - she swears off serious relationships until she finds "the one." That is, until charming but chronically single Aiden MacTiernan comes along. Unbeknownst to Jessie, Aiden has bet his friends that he can convince a woman to marry him by Christmas - which is onl...

I don't have any idea where 2018 went.  It simultaneously felt like it went by so fast, but also like it dragged on and on for a while.  But, it's almost over already, and I find that with all my writing projects (and hopefully real employment again) that I'm really, really busy these days.  Not too busy to write here on my blog, but maybe not as often.  So, at least for a while, I'm going from 2 posts a week down to 1.  I'm not sure what day I'll make my regular posting day yet, but it will probably be either Monday or Thursday.  I'm leaning towards Thursday, but we'll see!   To make up for me not posting as often, I thought I'd share a story I wrote a few Christmases ago.  And, if I find more old Christmas stories, I'll share them here not as part of a normal post (but as like a fun bonus post).  Alright, so without further ado, here's a story called Bro Code that I wrote a few years ago.      B...

NaNoWriMo is over!  I needed a few days to recover after finishing my novel (yes, I finished it!  It clocked in at about 79,000 words total, and it is complete!) and I still don't feel like I'm totally ready to get back into writing something else or editing the story itself.  But, with the holidays now upon us, I did spend a relaxing night catching up with my best friend Caitlin and watching cheesy Netflix and Hallmark Christmas movies. While we were watching, she was telling me about this thing she heard where a guy had two Hallmark movie synopses, and then he wrote a third.  Then, he'd read all three to people and have them guess which one was fake.  Well, I thought that sounded hilarious and also like a great flex for my writing muscles. Thus, Two Truths and a Lie: Hallmark Movie Edition was born. So, I did it.  I sat there on the couch while we watched  The Princess Switch, and I found two Hallmark movies and wrote one of my own.  An...

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 71,423 Hi!  Amy here.  Trying not to panic as I only have today and tomorrow to finish writing this novel that's essentially been ten years in the making.  I hit the word count requirement several days ago, but that doesn't mean anything to me if I don't actually finish the book. So, I'm trying not to freak out, but I'm totally freaking out. Today's post is not going to be much of anything exciting.  Sorry!  I just am too panicked about finishing Fins and Fangs !  Panicked and excited.  This should be the last time I ever have to gut edit this book.  I'll have to do at least one round of story edits, a round or two of grammar and format edits, and get it into some beta readers' hands after it's finished.  But, to not have to edit the original monstrosity again is amazing. I was reading through the original version of the story again the other day - back when it was called Forever Nineteen .  Oh my god. ...

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 57,818 We're in the last leg of our NaNoWriMo journey!  There are already only a few days left of November, so the time is getting close to the end.  Over the Thanksgiving holiday, my story really started to come together, so I ended up beasting out about 15,000 words in two days.  I actually crossed 50,000 words on the 23rd, but my story is nowhere near done.  So, I completed the 50,000 word part. But my story is still kind of a mess. I'm at the point of my story where things are starting to come together, and there are about to be a lot of action scenes - which are the most difficult scenes for me to write.  And I keep finding that I've been writing myself into corners I don't know how to get out of.  That's pretty typical of me.  I've done it ever since I started writing book length stories.  I don't know why, but I know it always turns out decent. It's just so frustrating getting back out of the corner. For i...

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 36,303 Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope everyone is going to have an awesome day full of family and delicious foods.  I'll be stuffing my face a little later, but first, I thought it would be fun to take a break from NaNoWriMo and write out some Thanksgiving writing prompts!  I had a lot of fun with the Halloween ones, so I figured, why not? So, if you feel like taking a crack at one of these, or writing some of your own, go for it! 1. You wake up on Thanksgiving morning to discover you time-traveled in your sleep to the very first Thanksgiving.    2. "Christy, I see you didn't bring a young man with you today," Aunt Debbie asked me from across the Thanksgiving table.  "Are you still single?"   3. Last year, the turkeys fought back against becoming Thanksgiving food.  They won.  A year has passed, and now it's time for their Thanksgiving meal.  What's on the menu?  Us.   4. It's the ni...

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 31,106 I should be writing, yet I find myself reading!  Actually, that's a great trick for writers who're maybe stuck in their own writing.  Go read a book by someone you like.  That almost always helps me! Anyway, I started off my Christmas season a little early by buying Pride and Prejudice and Mistleto e by Melissa de la Cruz at Books-A-Million in the bargain section.  Seriously, someone needs to stop me from going there.  It's dangerous that I can buy brand new hardcovers for $5.  I don't even have a bookshelf to put these books on yet since I moved.  They just live in the basement in old milk crates my mom took from the elementary school she works at. Eh.  I don't think I'll stop checking BAM's bargain section ever.  Even though they only seem to change it like twice a year, I still seem to find something there every single time I go.  It's kind of crazy.  But, anyway, back to the book! Melissa d...

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 22,646 Can you believe we're halfway through November already?!  I sure can't.  Especially when I look at my novel and go, "AHHHH THIS IS NOWHERE NEAR DONE YET."  But that's okay.  We still have half a month left.  I'm definitely not as far in my novel as I'd like to have been by this point.  I do at least have an idea of where my story is going to go though, so I'll take that. Today I thought would be a more chill post since I've got some major writing left to do.  For some tips on writing from my favorite authors, check out this post  I did on it from a while back.  Also, check out my other NaNoWriMo posts for some help with Preparation , Starting Your Story , and Writer's Block . We've got more to come this month, but for now, let's keep writing! 

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 18,079 Now that NaNoWriMo is going strong, I figured it's time for another round of Inspiration Station!  I can use all the help I can get during NaNoWriMo, so I'm going to be talking about an artist who's really helped me in the past when writing my stories, and who's actually helping me right now with Fins and Fangs . That amazing, incredible, outstanding artist is Demi Lovato.  Demi is my girl.  I actually cried when I found out about her overdose, especially during those first few days when we weren't quite sure if she was going to be okay.  She's such a fantastic artist and talent, and she's been through so much.  That's definitely why her music has such powerful tones to it.  She's survived a lot.  She channels all of those turbulent emotions into her music, and she's so much more astounding because of it. I could go on and on about her for hours, but I just want her to get better.  I want her to live the happy ...

Me after Nonstop Writing. NaNoWriMo Word Count: 12,803 I hope NaNoWriMo is treating you all well!  I'm back today with a break from my novel writing to give some tips on something that can impact all writers: Writer's Block.  Eek.  It sounds so scary when I capitalize it like that!  I bring up Writer's Block now because it's the 8th already, which means if we're doing at least the 1,667 words a day, we should all be at 13,336 words or more by the end of the day.  Which is intense. And for me, writing this intense amount of words so fast can really end up pushing me into a wall.  I'll end up writing all the stuff I know I want to be in my story before even making it halfway through, and then I'll be stuck with no ideas!  I get blocked.  It happens.  Especially when I've been writing so much, so fast.  So, I thought today would be a perfect day to let you in on how I deal with Writer's Block, and how I kick it in the ass.  Ain...

Welcome to another book review!  This one is a little bit different as I'm sort of reviewing all three books in a series.  Mostly the third one since it's the one I just finished reading.  I'd show pictures of all three, but the first two are buried in the basement - where all my books live right now - and I don't feel like moving those crates and boxes around again until I move to a more permanent location.  So, that's why we're mostly talking about: Take the Key and Lock Her Up. Ally Carter has been one of my favorite authors ever since I picked up the Gallagher Girls series in middle school.  She has such a way with writing YA spy fiction thrillers that I swear she's a genius.  The Embassy Row series is her newest full-on series that's come out, and I think it's my favorite one to date. The third and final book came out back at the very end of 2016, and even though I've been dying to read it, I just got my copy like three weeks ago.  I...

Current Word Count: 1,257 NaNoWriMo has officially kicked off! That means I'll be spending a lot of this month doing my own NaNoWriMo project as well as trying to help with tips and strategies to keep you (and myself) on track.  That's always been the trickiest part for me.  If my word count for the day starts to get wacky, I start to get panicky and crazy. So, we want that not to happen.  How do we do that?  Well, if you've already finished your Preparation , we can move on to NaNoWriMo #2 Starting Your Story! Honestly, I find starting the actual story to be the most difficult part of writing a book.  I still struggle with balancing the right amount of action with exposition so it isn't too clunky and world-buildy.  I hate reading blocks of exposition, so it's always my goal not to write blocks of exposition.  And when you do have to world-build somewhat, that can actually be very, very difficult to do. So, first thing: November has 30 days ...

So we're just a few days away from November already, and like I've mentioned in some previous posts, that means it's almost time for National Novel Writing Month!  NaNoWriMo is an awesome time to finally start writing that novel you've been building in your head forever.  All you do to be a part of the craze is sign up at their website , make yourself a profile, and off you go.  You can keep track of your word progress, meet people doing the same thing in your area, and get all those helpful tips that just might be what you need to get through the month and still want to write afterward! So I thought we'd start a new series today all about NaNoWriMo.  Since it's going to be a big part of my November - and thousands of other writers as well - I thought I'd start today with preparation for writing that novel!  #1 Pick Your Novel Idea I've completed NaNoWriMo twice before - 2 years in a row, but it was years ago now.  And what helped me actual...