The Worst Story Ever Told

    Dear Reader, I would like to share something very dear to my heart.  I’ve mentioned the story that Erica, Bri, and I wrote in middle school before.  I think that its beautiful awfulness needs to finally be unearthed.     Let me set the scene.  I met Erica in seventh grade.  She wrote; other than my Young Author projects from elementary school, horrendous attempts at poetry, and childish journals, I had never gotten past the idea stage.  Erica, benign dictator that she was, took it upon herself to get me and the rest of our band of friends into storytelling.  She announced, one day, that we were all going to write a story together.  We were each supposed to pick a mythological creature to be our protagonist.  I chose...

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Social Media Marketing & the Writer

I returned to blogfests this week. Oh, so much fun! I write a passage on Writing Worlds, then go and read other entries, comment, and so forth. The comment-love is easy to come by for blogfests, and they seriously boost traffic to your blog. But that isn't the best part. Reading awesome entries from the other participants and finding other authors in your genre certainly feels good. Then there's the critiques. Sometimes I get really good responses, and many times I find a lot of support. It's really easy for me to see everything wrong in my writing, and very hard to be happy with it, so positive feedback is just as essential as a thorough critique. It might be my personality, I'm more ready to believe negative evaluations to be reality than compliments :P Then I find authors/writers...

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How I Avoid Writing

When I've reached a block in storytelling, one of my favorite diversions is to organize.  I have two big writing binders: one of current projects and another of past.  The past binder includes dearly departed stories like the old Morgana chronicles (started by Erica, another friend, and me in the 8th grade) and the far bettter but still unfinishable Revenge (written by the three of us at a slightly higher level of talent).  Hundreds of pages of Arylle  ideas and drafts fill the front half of the binder.  Tucked in the back are drawings from days of olde when I liked to pretend that I possessed a modicum of artistic ability.  These also mark a period of my writing when I was so bad at developing character that I spent more time debating about what they wore than...

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What is Art?

We writers are prompted to put pen to paper or tap messages on keyboards, for one reason. We have this overwhelming need for self-expression. Sometimes, in my case, the need to express self muted over time. I started writing, like many people, because I had issues. But after watching Loranna fight with her father and Dezy having no father...and so many other elements that reflected my own life...I took those characters and their stories and locked them up entirely. But the damage was done. My imagination gave birth to a world, and the characters were alive in my head. I couldn't always identify with their issues, but as I have gotten older I've learned how to express them better. Them, being the characters. To me art is about communicating. It is one of those things we assume...

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Posted in: California writers,craft of writing,sylvanopolis

Broken Hearts

Today, for the millionth time, I made the mistake of going back and reading parts of my first novel again.  Seriously, this will be the love affair that haunts me for life. And good God I am so pretentious sometimes it's worrisome. -Meli...

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Where I Write

Hi! Haven't posted in awhile. Life assaulted me lately, hitting me from all sides. I have become a ghost, lurking around my virtual spaces, but never interacting. So with a *shove* I'm going to kick my butt in gear! :P Where do I write? Anywhere really. Right now, I am sitting on my Ikea couch. My guy is playing a game. There is a lamp on behind me and a fan running under the living room window. I find that where I write has changed overtime. The first time I mastered the whole Butt-In-Chair scenario I was 17. I had just graduated High School, I had a crappy draft of a 1st novel tucked away, and was determined to crank out a "sequel." I woke up at 7am every morning that summer. I ate my cereal, poured tea--Captain's Stash Chai--turned on Lorena McKennit (changed up the albums,...

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Frustration

I haven't written anything in over a month. Well, that might be a slight exaggeration.  I think I've written a couple of sentences, but I don't like them. I feel like I've written myself into a corner on Aya's Wings.  The slow pacing is beginning to bug me, and it's hard to remember that on first drafts, slow pacing isn't the worst thing in the world if it can be ironed out later.  But then I get impatient and start missing Arylle or, more likely, watching South Park with my sister. The good news is, the summer that I once feared would be endless is almost at an end. -Meli...

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Upcoming Sylvanopolis Event

This week I want to tell you about the Classic Horror Movie Night that Sylvanopolis will be hosting.  For anyone who loves a good, old-fashioned horror movie, this event is not to be missed.  It will be held this Saturday, August 7th, starting at 7:30 and running all night long.  In addition to the movies, we'll have readings by local authors, snacks, a raffle, fortune telling, and more.  Admission is only $4.00 at the door - a great deal for hours of fun! The event will be located at the 33rd Street Compound in Sacramento.  Please email sylvanopolis.ws@gmail.com if you would like more information. Hope to see you there! -Meli...

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Posted in: Event,Fundraiser,Horror Movies