The Real Neat Blog Award

Sara Letourneau over at her official website and blog nominated me for the Real Neat Blog award! Thanks so much. ^ ^ With this one I have questions instead of random facts, I have to think up on the spot like last week. Yaayyyy! Less brain power. XD 

The Rules: Nominate five other people and create five more questions for them.

Darn so I do have to use brainpower.

Sara's Questions:

1) What is your favorite book that you’ve read so far this year? Why?

Failstate: Nemesis. In a word: amazing. I'm putting a review up in the coming months. It was just so good. The stakes were high, the twists were amazing, loved the characters. It just totally sucked me in.

2.) Which literary character do you relate to most? Why?

Katniss. I tend to be a loner with only a select amount of friends, I'm fiercely protective of my family, I like hunting, I like nature (When it doesn't try to kill me. I feel like its certain bugs' life missions to see to my demise.), I like archery (though I'd like to get better at it), and I tend to put on different faces around people and only show my true one around some people. That got deep ...

3.) Pick any fictional world you’d like to visit. What would you do there? Also, what you would avoid doing? ;)

I know so many people say this, but Narnia. I really want to hang out with centaurs and fauns and talking animals. It would be awesome to go there for Christmas and have a Christmas party with them and Father Christmas and all. I would not go south or north, because I don't want to die in a desert or by mountain giant.

4.) Now, pick one of your favorite places in real life, a place that feels like a second home. What is this place, and why is it special to you?

You know. I don't really have much of one. The closest place I had was Senlis, France, when I visited for a mission trip. I felt more accustomed for French culture than American being more quiet and private in nature. I didn't feel as pressured to be loud as I do in the States. I also like the weather and the history. It's an ambition of mine to go back to Europe again.

Me with some glace in Senlis, France.

5.) Share one of your favorite quotes. Why does it resonate with you?

Gosh that's hard. I like so many. My Pinterest is full of them. I'm going to choose three that are really close to my heart. Things 'bout to get deep.

"If I am worth anything later, I am worth something now for wheat is wheat even if people think it is grass in the beginning." ~Vincent Van Gogh

This is a bit confusing at first. Really think about it. I've struggled with self-worth a lot in my life and this really struck true, because even though some people may think I'm grass, I am growing into something amazing.

"You will never influence the world by trying to be like it." ~ Unknown

This hit home, because I've decided to live my life way differently than American culture wants me to. I skipped out on college to completely devote myself to writing as I study it on my own and I've benefited for it. I want to be something God can use and I can't do that while playing it safe. It's all in.

"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe then you will be successful." ~ Eric Thomas

I want to be a writer more than anything in the world. I firmly believe it's my destiny and I want it as bad as I want to breathe. Separating me from writing is like taking out a vital organ.

This tag got to more soul-bearing than I thought it would. XD I hope you enjoyed the answers to these questions! 

Les Nominees!

1.) Eowyn @ Captured by the Word

2.) Tracy Dyck @ Tracy Dyck Adventure Awaits

3.) Sierra @ Yearning to Read

4.) Jaime @ The Dancing Lawn

5.) Mae @ Super Swankified

My questions:

1.) If you had to fight an evil monster and you could have any weapon you wanted to fight it, which one would you pick?

2.) If you could have one object from any book you wanted, which one would it be?

3.) What is your favorite book of all time?

4.) Do you prefer writing on the computer or by hand?

5.) If the Doctor visited you in the TARDIS and said, "I'll take you to one place in all time in space," which one would pick?

What about you all? What are some of your answers to these questions? Humor me. I'm curious. ^ ^

You may also like:

30 Things You Might Not Have Known About Me

The 777 Writing Challenge

Favorite Screen Characters Tag!

Liebster Award 2014

Liebster Award!

If you liked this post, come back every Saturday for more writing advice, character interviews, book reviews and more! On Sundays I have Soundtrack Sundays where I post a new score piece, Tuesdays are Tea Tuesdays with tea reviews, Wednesdays I have Wonderful Word Wednesdays where I post a new vocabulary word, and Fridays are Fan Fridays where I post tags and other goodies. To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)

Wonderful Word Wednesdays: Thalassic

It's Wonderful Word Wednesday again! Do you as a writer ever struggle finding that perfect word to describe something or you want to shake your writing up with some new words? Each Wednesday I post hand-picked descriptive words for writers and other vocabulary nerds out there. ;) 

thalassic

adjective

1.) of or relating to seas and oceans.

2.) of or relating to smaller bodies of water, as seas and gulfs, as distinguished from large oceanic bodies.

3.) growing, living, or found in the sea; marine.

Example Sentence: Judah keeps many pieces of thalassic artwork in his home. 

Have you seen or used this word before? What do you think of it?

If you liked this post, come back every Saturday for more writing advice, character interviews, book reviews and more! On Sundays I have Soundtrack Sundays where I post a new score piece, Tuesdays are Tea Tuesdays with tea reviews, Wednesdays I have Wonderful Word Wednesdays where I post a new vocabulary word, and Fridays are Fan Fridays where I post tags and other goodies. To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)

Click here for last week's word!

Tea Tuesday: Blackberry & Elderflower

I'm not really a coffee person. I prefer tea, and I know a lot of fellow writers love tea, too. But have you ever wanted to break out of the Early Grey or English Breakfast norm and try something new? Well, let me help you find some cool new teas! If you need a little hot and flavorful boost to help you reach your writing goal or you're just a lover of tea or you'd like to try some tea but aren't fond of the stereotypical types, these Tea Tuesday posts are for you.

This weeks tea is ... 

*drum roll*

Blackberry & Elderflower

How I found it: This is yet another tea from downtown. I've been there a lot lately, okay? It's a fun place! Anyway, I found this British corner shop there and they were selling individual tea bags for cheap so I decided to purchase one to review for you lovely people. 

The Tea: This caffeine-free tea has the tartness of blackberries with the sweet, floral ending of elderflower. I'm a big fan of both of those flavors hence why I snapped up this tea. It's even the color of blackberries when brewed! 

My qualm is that this tea is very sensitive. It can get too tart very easily so take care not to overbrew. I only had the one tea bag and I overbrewed this time and I had to heap in the sugar to get the tartness to a good level for me. The shop owner mentioned that she preferred it iced. I may try that next time. I'll let you guys know. 

Serving Recommendations: I steeped this tea for three minutes and added a lot of sugar to get it pleasantly sweet. I'll probably steep this tea for less time next time. 

How much is it and where can you get it? I bought this tea for .35 at the Corner Shop in downtown Marietta, GA. This is a British imported tea, but according to the Taylors of Harrogate website, you can buy the tea in a number of places including Whole Foods and the Fresh Market in the US. 

So how good is it? I feel like this tea would be better if I changed the way I made it next time, but as it stands only about a 3.5. It's certainly unique, but the tartness is a bit of a put off to me.

Have you tried this tea? What did you think of it? Have you had any British corner shop teas?

If you liked this post, come back every Saturday for more writing advice, character interviews, book reviews and more! On Sundays I have Soundtrack Sundays where I post a new score piece, Tuesdays are Tea Tuesdays with tea reviews, Wednesdays I have Wonderful Word Wednesdays where I post a new vocabulary word, and Fridays are Fan Fridays where I post tags and other goodies. To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)

Click here for last week's tea!

Soundtrack Sundays: Tiny Telepathy (Ant-Man)

It's Soundtrack Sunday again! The day where I post awesome music to write to or just listen to for pleasure if you're a fellow soundtrack junkie. Last Sunday, I saw Ant-Man and loved it. The film is hilarious. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. And like what seems to happen often when I see movies, I listen to the soundtrack and notice some good pieces. 

This piece is more calm and mysterious with a unique fluttering noise. Though the movie is a sci-fi caper film, and has tracks that fit that genre, this particular piece is more fantasy-esque and could be listened to while writing a sci-fi or a fantasy.You can listen to more epic music in my Soundtrack Sundays YouTube playlist.

Have you heard this piece before? Have you seen Ant-Man? What do you think of it?

If you liked this post, come back every Saturday for more writing advice, character interviews, book reviews and more! On Sundays I have Soundtrack Sundays where I post a new score piece, Tuesdays are Tea Tuesdays with tea reviews, Wednesdays I have Wonderful Word Wednesdays where I post a new vocabulary word, and Fridays are Fan Fridays where I post tags and other goodies. To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)

Click here for last week's Soundtrack Sunday!

Monthly Summary: July 2015

This month was far more chill than the past two or three have been--when it comes to going places. The majority of July has been consumed by editing. It was one of those all-work months. XD

Basically my life all month.

What I did:

1.) I have been editing nearly every day for 2-6 hours, but I have finished microediting Red Hood! YEAHHHHHHHHH! Now I'm looking over beta feedback which I've been getting back in sections. More of that to be explained later. I'm also doing Camp NaNo again and finishing the Subsapien Biomech rewrite! Woot! Woot! I'll finally be done with it this month!

Update: I finished at 90,000 words! YAAAAAAY!

My awesomeness has no bounds. (No, I'm not that vain,
but people like enthusiasm. Is this enthusiastic enough?!)

2.) I celebrated the Fourth of July in downtown Marietta with my mom and I had a great time. I ate at the Australian bakery for dinner. So fitting, right? ;)

Firework selfie.

3.) I finished Failstate: Nemesis and I loved it! Review coming soon.

4.) Now since I'm gearing this blog toward writer geeks, I've decided to add a new segment to the "What I Did" section: The Geeky Department. In the geeky department ... I saw Ant-Man and loved it. It was hilarious. I'm currently watching the 100 which I'm still indecisive about because I like the plot except for some of the character deaths ... More bad things than good things tend to happen and it's not very balanced. I've also been watching Hetalia which has had me laughing during short editing breaks. Germany and Britain are my favorite.

5.) Due to editing eating my life, drawing has had to take a backseat, but I'm still sketching away at my latest piece and I'm banking on finishing it before this month ends to keep up with my New Years Resolution to do at least one drawing every month all year! I'll post it when I finish it!

UPDATE: Here's Mor!

(Bonus) I'm guest posting on two blogs this month and they both happen to be falling on the 29th. *headdesk* I'll get back to you guys with links, but they are about word choice and my writing space!

UPDATE: Here is the guest post on Backing Books! And here's my other one on Pages from my Journal!


What I Learned:

1.) Chai Tea + Laptop Don't Mix - Due to this unfortunate discovery, my editing deadline got setback a week for I fell behind while waiting to get a new keyboard. My data is fine, thank the Lord. I recommend keeping all drinks outside of a one foot radius around one's laptop.

2.) Editing Takes A Lot of Time - I don't necessarily mind the process of editing. I like rearranging sentences to make them sound better and all that jazz, but the amount of time it takes can be a bother. It takes me 2-4 hours to edit 12 pages. Granted I go through them very thoroughly. Still it's a lot of time. It ate up much of my chilling and drawing time this month. So know when you're going to edit a book, it's going to take a while. You don't want to speed through it because you could miss something.

I got to this point on a few nights.

3.) I Can Type Pretty Darn Fast - While also hammering away at Subsapien Biomech, I've realized I can type pretty darn fast when I set my mind to it. 80 words per minute in fact. I felt pretty proud of myself until I found out people I know can do 110 words per minute. XD

4.) My Beta System is Working - So over a month ago I came up with this grand scheme to get my editing done in an efficient way since I'm on a tight schedule to get Red Hood ready for the professionals who have requested it. Miraculously, it's working.

Here's the scoop. I picked six betas, friends of mine of different levels of friendship who have or haven't read the book before who are writers and some who are not writers. I edited the book in sections and sent them 5-6 chapters at a time so while I'm editing the next sections they're going through what I've already done. That way, I can get the chapters back the fastest. So now I'm going through all of the critique feedback and I'm able to look at everyone's critique at the same time so I can pick and choose what I want and such. It's working pretty well and I'm very happy.

5.) My Betas are Awesome - I picked the best betas. Like quoted in Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade, choose wisely. Picking the right betas can make or break your feedback experience, and I'm happy to report I did indeed choose wisely this time. Each of my betas has different advice and focuses on different aspects of the story. Sometimes they give opinions on the same thing, so I can choose which advise I want to take. I feel so blessed by them. I love you, betas!

What I'm Going to Do:

1.) In the writing area, I'm going to finish going over critique feedback and making changes to Red Hood. Then I'm going to work on editing the first five chapters of Subsapien Biomech. I want to get the first chapters of Red Hood and at least the first chapter of Subsapien Biomech finished before Realm Makers in case people I'm pitching to ask for samples.

2.) I'm going to Realm Makers in less than two weeks! Realm Makers is a speculative fiction writers conference hosted in St. Louis, Missouri. First plane ride on my own, first time in St. Louis, and first time at this conference! Lots of firsts! I'll be attending classes there, meeting authors, buying books and getting said authors to sign them, and also pitching to editors and agents!

3.) I'm still working on my Expressions Challenge for drawing this year which I'll hopefully have more time for now that microediting Red Hood is past. I'm hoping next month to do Able and Ingrid from Subsapien.

4.) I'm currently reading Omega Dragon by Bryan Davis and the Judgement Stone by Robert Liparulo (who's coming to Realm Makers!), and I'm hoping to start Viral Execution by Amanda Davis and the Revised Life of Ellie Sweet by Stephanie Morrill (Genre switch yes, but I read her blog all the time. I need read her books now. XD) next month.

5.) When I get Red Hood completely edited in hopefully August, I'm going to send it and the Subsapien chapters off to the publishers and agent who requested it in February. So exciting! But so nerve-wracking! XD


Last Month on Stori Tori's Blog ...

The top five most popular post on the blog for July 2015 were ...

1.) Third Bloggy Birthday Bash: Giveaway!

A giveaway I hosted during my Third Bloggy Birthday Bash! And the winner of said giveaway is ...

Michelle Jolley

I will be getting into contact to you about your prize if I haven't already. ^ ^ Check your email!

2.) How to Handle Critique - This post got surprisingly popular. So many comments from people who have critiqued or been critiqued or both!

3.) Third Bloggy Birthday Bash: Special Surprise Video - In this post I showed you all a video I made with some wonderful fellows who volunteered their voice talent to say some of my characters' lines! One is a real actor!

4.) Writing Lessons from Anime: RWBY - A post where I talk about the awesomeness of RWBY and what this show can teach us about writing.

5.) Beautiful People #11: Brian - The latest Beautiful People hosted by Paper Fury and Further Up and Further In where I answer some questions about my little adorable character from Subsapien who can't grow up fast enough for his taste.


Coming Soon to Stori Tori's Blog ...

Next month's Tea Tuesdays will be more oolongs from Tea Ave!

August 1 - So Your Character is from the South - This is a post where I talk about the Southern United States and debunk some common myths to give you a crash course for your Southern charries.

August 7 - I'll be calling for questions for my character Bethia from Red Hood! Her interview will come two weeks later. She comes more in the second book of the trilogy so I need to get to know her more. ^ ^

This is what Bethia looks like.

August 8 - I'm posting a book review of the Seventh Door by Bryan Davis.

August 14 - I'll post the next Beautiful People!

August 15 - I'll give my report on how Realm Makers went.

August 22 - Writing Lessons from Movies: Jumanji - In this post, I'll talk about the amazing writing lessons we can learn from this classic.


Though this month didn't have as many flashy activities as the previous ones, I did learn much and I'm finally creating a writing process that works, works as in gets book finished effectively and efficiently. I'm all for those two "effs." Hopefully all of this hard work will come to fruition in the coming months when I submit and pitch material to agents and editors! *crosses fingers*

How was your month? What did you do? Did you see Ant-Man? Have you seen Hetalia or the 100? How was your Fourth of July? Are you going to Realm Makers? Are you looking forward to any of the upcoming posts?

You may also like:

Monthly Summary: June 2015

Monthly Summary: May 2015
Monthly Summary: April 2015
FCWC 2015 Report
End of the Year Update 2014

If you liked this post, come back every Saturday for more writing advice, character interviews, book reviews and more! On Sundays I have Soundtrack Sundays where I post a new score piece, Tuesdays are Tea Tuesdays with tea reviews, Wednesdays I have Wonderful Word Wednesdays where I post a new vocabulary word, and Fridays are Fan Fridays where I post tags and other goodies. To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)

The Creative Blogger Award

 Both Adriana Gabrielle @ The Librarian Files and Annika Smith @ Writer and Proud nominated me for this award like weeks or months ago ... Lost track. And now I'm finally getting around to doing it. I've done so many of these fact things that I had to go back and look at my old ones so I can hopefully think up some new facts for you guys that you don't already know. 

The Rules:

~Nominate 15-20 blogs and notify all nominees via their social media/blogs

~Thank and post the link of the blog that nominated you (very important)

~Share 5 facts about yourself to your readers

~Pass these rules on to them

The Nominees:

I am not doing 15-20 blogs. Nope. I'm doing five. I don't think I even know that many ... maybe ... I'm not sure ...

Samantha @ Snow White

Rebekah Gyger @ Backing Books

Sunny Smith @ A Splash of Ink

Katie Grace @ A Writer's Faith

Ana @ Butterflies of the Imagination

The Facts:

1.) I've written about half a million words collectively in all the novel drafts I've done since I was eleven. 

2.) I used to collect a ton of different things as a child: shells, Beanie Babies, Puffkins (if you remember those you're awesome), coins, rocks, and pressed flowers. And I may be forgetting some ...

This, my friends, is a Puffkin.

3.) My most productive writing time is 10 p.m.-12 a.m. I can write other times of the day, but the best comes out during then. 

4.) I really enjoy Asian food. I like Chinese, Thai, Korean, and Japanese. Some of my favorites are Mango Chicken (or Shrimp), Unagi sushi (Freshwater Eel yum), sesame balls, lychee gummies, ramune (Japanese soda), mochi, and kimchi (Korean fermented and spiced cabbage. Sounds funky. Tastes awesome). I like to cook it as well with authentic ingredients. I make a mean Thai Basil Chicken. 

This is Mochi. They are Japanese rice cakes with different fillings.
My favorite is red mochi with red bean paste.
Mochi ice cream is amazing too.

5.) On the topic of food, I enjoy eating as naturally as possible. I grind my own flour (No, I don't do the whole stone mill thing it's a plastic mill the size of a mixer with a container the flower goes into) to make my own bread. I grow most of my spices and I used to have chickens so I could get my own eggs. I barely have anything sweet in my house. It's usually all-natural, no preservatives, blah blah blah if do. 

Thank you Adriana and Annika for nominating me! 

Welp those are some random facts about me. What about you? What are some random facts about you? Do you like Asian food? Have you owned a puffkin?

You may also like:

30 Things You Might Not Have Known About Me

The 777 Writing Challenge

Favorite Screen Characters Tag!

Liebster Award 2014

Liebster Award!

If you liked this post, come back every Saturday for more writing advice, character interviews, book reviews and more! On Sundays I have Soundtrack Sundays where I post a new score piece, Tuesdays are Tea Tuesdays with tea reviews, Wednesdays I have Wonderful Word Wednesdays where I post a new vocabulary word, and Fridays are Fan Fridays where I post tags and other goodies. To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)