Monday, October 27, 2014

Pre-NaNoWriMo disclaimer.

This is your warning- Do not expect any blog posts for at least a month. But probably more. In Dec. I am moving and I may post some posts related to that, but I am going into a blogless slumber until the new year. My life is crazy. Feel free to read old posts or just ignore my existence. But first-


What is NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo is The short(er) way of saying National Novel Writing Month, where in the month of November, A writer tries to write a 50,000 word novel in thirty days. It's chaos and a great way to get things done. This is my second year doing it, and I am soooo stoked.

This year my novel is about Delphia, a girl from a rich french immigrant family living in the USA, and she is living the dream. Until she goes insane and is sent to an asylum. On one side of the story, you see her going throug the trials of trying to heal and trying not to get killed. On the other, two years before, you find out how she went slowly off the deep end. I'm really excited for it. ;-) I'm going to post chapters starting some time 2015, but I want to edit it first. 

Any questions? I'll answer them up until Nov. 1st when I am deleting my blogger app until Dec. 3rd. 

Thanks for reading! 

Elsie

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Vacation!

Hi! I know I haven't posted In a while, but I was on vacation in Michigan this past week and decided not to try and do blog posts because there was no internet at the cabin we were staying in. But I did take a ton of pictures! Michigan is so beautiful and we had some rain and some sun and a foggy day on the way home, so I got some great pictures. 

One of my favorites. 🌞
My cousin, Mercy. 
I love the colors in this one. πŸπŸ‚πŸƒ
My younger brother saw this leaf and remembered I was obsessed with water on leaves and came inside to tell me. It made my day. 
Another favorite.
 
My aunt lives in a village called Central lake, and it was a beautiful, calm place to be. 
I love this one so much. I'm obsessed with the rain, and the headlights, everything. 
Another one of my favorites.






























Saturday, September 27, 2014

Snapshot Saturday!

It's fall! the time where everyone obsessively takes pictures of leaves and pumpkins and coffee. Or at least I do. If you were around last year. You might know that fall is an obsession of mine, and I hunted around a yard for some dead enough leaves to take these pictures. Enjoy! 



What do you think? Do you like them? Do you wanna see more? Which is your favorite? Leave me a comment! It's the happiest thing ever when you do that!








Thursday, September 18, 2014

Music I listen to: what I recommend.

Hi all! I'm going to talk to you about what is an important part of writing for me. 

The music. 

I love music, it's my other passion, so I have to have some off to get in the zone. 

What do I listen to, you might ask?

Singer-Songwriter music mostly. Anna Nalick, Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michelson, Ed Sheeran, Alex G, Colbie Calliat, The Fray, that sort of stuff. This works great for me, but others also love movie soundtracks, metal, or dubstep. It depends on what you're writing and what gets you in the zone. But just dot around with all kinds of stuff until you find what works for you. 

Elsie

Tips Tuesday: Be a bad writer.

Yes, you read the title correctly. Be. A. Bad. Writer. It's okay, write something that sucks. Write a rom com, or a typical dystopian. I have a novella set aside called If An Immortal died for when I wanna write clichΓ¨s. It's completely okay. Make your characters cry all the time. Make them end with the wrong guy. All that matters is that you are writing, and you are doing the most important, most glorious thing about writing that will ever come to be. Always remember the words I am about to tell you, because they matter.

Freaking have fun. 

Can you push yourself? Sure. Can you spend twenty minutes on the same paragraph? Be my guest. I don't care, but if I hear that someone is writing and not have an ounce of fun at any point in the process, that makes me cry. Don't make me cry, okay?

And I'm not saying there is not a time to buckle down and edit, I know there is. 

But you can have fun with the first draft. 

It's not gonna be published like that. 

If you're not proud of what you wrote, or happy, or have deep attachment to it, you're doing it wrong!

HAVE FUN WRITING, PEOPLE! THIS IS YOUR PASSION, OKAY? 

All right. 

I'm done. 

But I'm serious. 

Enjoying herself,

Elsie. 

I need you back.

Random post! A song I wrote a bit ago, and I wanted to share it with you. I haven't put it to a tune yet, but I will soon. 

Could you cross the crisp glitter of snow that is on the ground
If you could get to me?

Would you brave the heat of summer inside my heart
If you could hold on to me?

I'm standing right here
Inside of a white room
Can you find me

I never said life was easy with me
But I will say 
I love you
And I want you back
Maybe...

I want you back, no.
I need you back, oh. 
It's not the kind of thing you let go of. 
It's not the kind of thing everyone knows of.
I want you back, no.
I need you back, oh.

Could you sing a song that doesn't make sense
To win me back?

Would you hold me tight in times of need
And hold tears back?

I'm sitting alone
Bleeding and dying
Can you find me?

I never said life was easy with me
But I will say 
I love you
And I want you back
Maybe...

I want you back, no.
I need you back, oh. 
It's not the kind of thing you let go of. 
It's not the kind of thing everyone knows of.
I want you back, no.
I need you back, oh.

Believe that maybe this is not the end
Because I sure as hell will pretend 

As long as you want me
Please say you want me
Because I want you back.

I never said life was easy with me
But I will say 
I love you
And I want you back
Maybe...

I want you back, no.
I need you back, oh. 
It's not the kind of thing you let go of. 
It's not the kind of thing everyone knows of.
I want you back, no.
I need you back, oh.

I want you back, no.
I need you back, oh. 
It's not the kind of thing you let go of. 
It's not the kind of thing everyone knows of.
I want you back, no.
I need you back, oh.

I need you back...

I never said life was easy with me
But I will say 
I love you

I need you back, oh...

I love you. 

Tips Tuesday- Becoming your MC.

I have always written in first as long as I can remember, so  l like to think I'm pretty good at getting inside a characters head. I think I've given you some of these tips before, but here goes.

1. Talk to them

I imgaine or write random scenes with me and my MC or her and her sister, and even I don't end up using any of these scenes, I think it helps me get to know them, see who they are. 

2. Cheat sheets.

I love these little info things you can fill out for your characters. It covers the basics like this-

Full Name -- Princess Crystal Amelia Elise Marie of the house of Clamè.
Meaning of Name - Glass
Nickname -- Crystal, Princess, your highness

And it also makes you think about the tiny things like habits-

Bad Habits -- biting nails, sighing, running in the halls, speaking before thinking,
Good Habits -- grace, 
Best Characteristic -- compassion
Worst Characteristic -- rebellious, loves too easily,
Worst Memory -- death of her mother
Best Memory -- finding her and Willow's secret place
Proud of -- her strength
Embarrassed by -- Willow and Samuel's secret, her voice, Saber, Inna,

3. Pinterest.

Pin everything that makes you feel like your MC. Even if it doesn't look like her, if it FEELS like her, then it doesn't matter. I have tons of pictures of Crystal that aren't really her, but it is her. (Ignore the fact that this makes no sense.) you can follow me if you want, btw. I can't get the link right now, but just search for Elsie Lansberry and you should find it. 

4. Think of your own memories.

Think of a time where you were embarrassed or confused or sad or happy. Imagine how your character would respond to the same thing. 

Hope you are helped by this. Leave any of your own tips in the comments, and lemme know what you thought! You know I love hearing from you. 

(Disclaimer. I do not claim for these methods to work, thy just work for me. I have not yet been published and what you see on this blog is the extent of my experience. Enjoy, but I'm not dying my methods are perfect, or one size fits all. ) 

Tips Tuesday: Writing every day?

Everyone says you should write every day. Because it helps. I myself have said that. But lately, I haven't been able to write. Not writers block or anything, I just don't feel like writing is doing anything for me. I was making myself write every day and I wasn't happy. Bu now that I'm only writing when and what I feel moved to, I feel better. 

That does not mean you shouldn't buckle down and write.

I was dealing with being depressed and lots of crazy things around my house, because both my older brothers had a temp job 30 minutes away and mom had to drive them every morning, and she has been having health issues and my dad is in school right now. The last three weeks were not fun ones. But I made it. Because I stopped making myself write. 

So now, I want to write everyday. But I'm just saying, writers out there? Take a break every once in a while. It's okay. You don't have to abide by every single rule all the time, you know? You can break some rules, shorten words when you text someone, and take a deep breath. Being a grammar natzi and a word freak is exhausting and you can take a break. 

Elsie
The now calm one. 

Confessions

Sorry I really suck at this hole new schedule thingy. Things have been crazy around the house, but today I have no school or chores, so I'm writing all my blog posts for the next two weeks. In theory, anyway. But I also have an announcement to make. I am stopping Mirror Monday for a while. 

Why, you may ask.

Because I have not been writing very much at all. And there is a lot of deep emotional type stuff behind that, and I don't want to go into the details, but on Friday I will tell you what's going on with my writing. So, yeah. Life should become pretty normal soon, so you should be seeing more of me. :-) 

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Snapshot Saturday-"Selfies" and transformations!

I am so excited for my post this weekend. I decided to take more pictures of myself, like I did a bit ago, because it was really fun and I liked the way everything turned out last time. And then I realized that it was August first when I took and posted the last batch. So I decided to compare them, see how far I've come since then. 

And I was astounded. 

In one single month, I've gotten so much better. 

I am amazed. 

So, after my pictures, I'll be posting some side by side comparisons of my pictures, some with similar poses but so much improvement. 

All of the above were taken under a chair. And they're my favorites. 

Yes, sepia tone. I kind of like this one, though. 
Love this one!
Another favorite. 
I ended up with five black and whites that I liked. Whee! 
I'm not actually sure how I feel about this one, but I kind of like it right now. Tomorrow, who knows?
Sideways glances. That's my thing. 
Hee hee...

Now for the comparisons. I. Am. Amazed. 
Same pose, totally not on purpose.