Updates on TMT and SIW, finally!

I wrote another chapter of SIW (it’s not completely finished; I’m still fiddling with some things), and I started a new chapter of TMT (gutting the old chapter to it’s very core). I’m hoping to have ten chapters of SIW finished by late March or early April, and maybe two or three of TMT around the same time.

Those are huge goals, but I’m going to stick to them, I promise. And I’ll start posting on my blog more often as well. Right now, I need to focus on schoolwork, because grades are slipping (trying to write and balance schooling is extremely difficult, as any fellow writer knows. Or is it just me…?), but I’ll manage to log on to the blog now and then and post updates and maybe even a little excerpt or two.

Exciting! So I’m still alive, no need to worry, for anyone who reads this.

Lily is winning. Hahaha, because I’m super tired and lazy, I’ll only say in this post that SIW is in a bit of a rough patch right now, but on the upside, I’m reading the Harry Potter series! I know, I know, I should have read them by now, but I’m just too lazy to put forth the effort. Until now, I suppose.

This update was about absolutely nothing, and I’m sorry for wasting a minute of your life. I felt like I should post to tell you all I’m not dead. Farewell for now friends.

Grace slumped in her seat and found she was actually disappointed. Though Eli had seen and observed her artwork, she hadn’t been able to look at his own. “I haven’t seen any of your work.”

Eli smiled and held out a notebook to her. “Well, just take a look.”

She gladly took it and flipped it open, not even trying to hide her excitement. Her jaw fell open when she looked at the first page. “Eli,” She whispered, touching the black and white sketch. “This is amazing.”

And it was. The drawing was a portrait of a girl—a beautiful girl—who was pouting slightly. Her long, dark waves of hair cascaded over her shoulder, and her chin rested in her palm, as if she was thinking about something that upset her. Every line, every contour, was practically flawless.

Grace felt a wave of jealousy wash over her. She could never draw something like this, even if she tried her hardest.

Eli cleared his throat. “It’s, uh, Constance. I drew it during lunch one day, after some of her work had been denied in a contest. She was just… really upset, and the light was hitting her perfectly, so I-“

“Drew her?” Grace finished, tossing him a knowing smile.

He let out a breathy laugh. “Yeah.”

Grace studied the picture for another few moments. She felt a little relieved when she noticed the too-full upper lip, and the crooked corner of Constance’s right eye. These little mistakes made her a bit glad. She took solace in knowing that Eli wasn’t perfect. “Wow,” She said, flipping through a few more portraits of Constance, and other girls. “You’re really good. Why’d you say you were barely passing the class?”

“Because it’s the truth,” Eli said, staring intently at her. “I can’t draw when Daphne assigns something. I don’t know what it is, but I just…”

“Clam up,” Grace finished for him again, nodding in agreement. “Maybe you should show her some of these.” She flipped through the next six pages, four of which were drawings of Constance. “You’ve drawn Constance a lot,” She said, trying not to sound a little envious. No one had ever drawn her.

Eli shifted a little bit on the table. “She’s always around, and she’s a good model.”

“You sure you don’t have a crush on her?” Grace asked, elbowing his knee. She smiled at his flabbergasted expression.

“No,” He said firmly, recovering. “Connie is a friend, and let’s face it, she loves attention. She’d sit for hours if it meant I’d draw her.”

Grace laughed and ignored the little feeling of relief in his confirming he didn’t have feelings for Constance. “Oh,” Was her clever response.

“Well,” Eli said, gently plucking the notebook from her hands. “I have a sketch to finish, and I think you have one that needs to be started.” He grinned and pulled a charcoal pencil from his pocket.

“Ha-ha,” Grace replied sarcastically, but, nevertheless, she smiled back.

Eli moved down from the table to the chair next to her, and they settled into a comfortable silence, the only sounds the scrape of pencils against paper.

Comment and tell me what you think, please. Oh, and: Copyright © 201o Sarah Slane, All rights reserved.

In other news (I should really become an anchorwoman, don’t you think?), TMT is officially on hiatus. I know, I know, I promised a few friends I’d finish it for them, but I can’t seem to focus on it. Too many ideas for SIW are interrupting me when I work on TMT. So I might write a few drabbles in it here or there, but it’s not my main priority.

I was surfing the web this morning, as I always am, and I came across this photo. It was actually taken by an amateur photographer who I used to go to school with. He’s just a year older than me, and I had no idea he was into photography.

Anyway, I found this image and it got me thinking. If and when I post SIW on inkpop, I’m going to need a cover image. I wanted it to be meaningful, but I wasn’t sure how to capture the plot of the story and the title in one image.

When I found this, a whole jumble of ideas flooded my mind (Oh, that was a good description on my part). I did a little fooling around with it on Picnik, and I came up with this.

To me, it looks like the boy in the picture is thinking about something important,  maybe even regretting something. And the words–the font–I felt like they were fuzzy, and maybe such as on TV where the words are blinking or moving back and forth due to bad reception. Does that make sense? Probably not.

I just wanted to post this and get some feedback. It’s definitely not final, and I might find something I like better in the future. But right now, I’m really liking this cover photo.

While I didn’t finish TMT like I promised, I did write a short Christmas one-shot for anyone willing to read it. It’s a romance, of sorts, and it doesn’t exactly have a plot. But I like it, because it’s based loosely on a true story. Whether or not that true story involves me is up to your imagination. Anyway, read my one-shot Tis The Season and enjoy!

The good news is that it’s Christmas Eve, and tomorrow is Christmas Day! I’m extremely excited to see all my family that I haven’t seen in what seems like ages. I just love this time of year.

The bad news is that I’m nowhere near finishing TMT. There’s not a chance I’ll get it finished by tomorrow; I’ve barely made a dent in the chapters. Even with my friend’s editing help, I most likely won’t have TMT finished until February.

At the moment, it’s two in the morning, and I might just call it a night, or morning, depending on how you look at it.

What really sets us back is negative feedback, negative criticism, etc. But really, who likes that kind of stuff? Negativity hurts our confidence, and it makes us think we’re bad at what we do. Clearly, this isn’t the case, but everyone thinks that for a little while.

I still get upset sometimes when I get a bad review, or someone tells me they don’t like my work. It makes me feel crummy. I have a trick though. Outwardly, I’ll act a little hurt, and inwardly, I’ll tell myself the person is just jealous, regardless if they are or not. Haha, kind of funny isn’t it? I know it’s a bad theory, but that’s what I do.

Now, if the person gives me advice, I’ll listen to them. Because constructive criticism is good for everyone. No harm, no foul. Your pride might be hurt a little, but it will ultimately help your writing.

This post made no sense, so you can disregard it if you wish. I was just talking with my friend who was a little distraught over something like this.

My English teacher once asked me, “Sarah, do you know what concise means?”

I almost laughed in her face. I’m a writer, I wanted to say. Of course I know what concise means! But I just nodded as she handed back my six page paper (the requirement was four pages). It had the lowest grade I’d ever received in the history of all my English classes. Naturally, I asked her what was wrong with my paper.

She smiled–how could she smile? Her facial expressions were completely out of whack–and shook her head. “Your paper was well-written.”

I scoffed when I heard this. Of course, it was well-written. I spent at least an hour and a half working on it.

She continued. “You had good adjectives, excellent grammar, and you seemed to know what you were talking about.”

I waited for the ‘but’.

“But,” She said with another one of her misplaced smiles. “You have a lot of unnecessary fluff.” She took out a red pen and began crossing out whole sentences on my paper. “It’s called being concise, but nice job on this paper; I enjoyed reading it.”

“Thanks,” I said with a smile. Bitch.

I’ve held a grudge against that teacher for an entire semester. So, I dedicate this next chapter of SIW to her, because I happen to love ‘fluff’. And this, friends, is a chapter full of fluff.

Anyway, I’m currently writing the next chapter of SIW; I’m hoping for 1,000 more words tonight. Everyone say a prayer for me?