Paused...For Now

This is a really hard post to write.

I haven't wanted to write it, even though I've felt like I should write it for weeks.

But here goes.

I've been struggling to find the time and inspiration to write for months now. Ever since I finished the first draft of my last novel, I haven't been making very good progress.

I thought that if I started my blog up again that it would help, but it didn't. I was just spending more time on the blog, and no time writing. This has partly been because I'm graduating in a week, and I have been preoccupied with party invitations and planning and all the stress and excitement that comes along with graduating.

The really hard part of this post is that I love blogging. I really do! But I have felt like a hypocrite the past few months, giving advice about writing when I'm not writing at all. So I'm going to stop posting, for now, and focus on writing.

That's what's important for me right now.

Hopefully this break will only be for a few months, and maybe even just a few weeks. However long it takes me to get into a routine with my writing. Right now I feel like I need to focus on getting back to what I love doing the most, which is writing.

I might put up a few more posts that I'd been working on, I'm not sure. But I won't be writing any new material for the blog.

Thank you to everyone for all the support and encouragement I've gotten. I will continue to read your blogs and comment!

I'm so glad you came along on the ride with me. Hopefully I'll be back soon.

How I Write a Blog Post

Hello guys!


So back in February the lovely Katie did a post on A Writer's Faith about how she writes a blog post. I thought that this was a really cool idea, and so I decided to do a post on that as well! Thanks for letting me steal your idea, Katie!


I'm going to be using this post for some example pictures.


Step One

Initial Idea 

So when I get the first idea, I either open a new post in blogspot, or I write it down in my writing notebook, or blogging notebook.

If I'm I'm blogspot, or at my computer when I have the idea I'll usually just go ahead and start a new post in blogspot and put any ideas I may already have in the body of the post.

If I'm not on my computer, then I will write it down, either on my phone, in my writing notebook, or in my blogging notebook!

*cue squeals*

I just put it together, and I'm already so excited about it. It's got post worksheets, content planning calendars, and future goals. I'm thinking about doing a post about this notebook, so if you're interested in seeing that (with lost of links to printable blog-themed worksheets), let me know in the comments!



Step Two 

Outlining 

Sometimes I will just skip this step altogether, and to go on to step three, but if I'm feeling like I might get stuck, then I go ahead and write out my bullet points, i.e. the main ideas of the post. Usually my posts are all pretty orderly (like this one, for example) and sometimes I even already have all of the main points from my original notes when I started the post draft.



Step Three 

Drafting 



This is where I fully develop my outline (if I had one) and get down all my ideas. I usually do it in one sitting, and go straight through from the opening to the end post. 


Step Four 

Proofreading 



I proofread all my posts in the preview option of Blogger. Somehow I spot mistypes and missing words easier when it actually looks like a blog post and not a block of text. I read through the text and make corrections in the editor as I go, then update the preview to show the corrections and read through everything one more time. 


Step Five 

Creating the Image 



I use Canva to create all my blog post images. If anyone's interested, I might do a post someday about how I create them, and where I get my photos from.  Once I've finished the image, I add it to the post. 


Step Six 

Post It

Press Publish! 

The End. 




That's it! I hope you guys enjoyed this. If anyone else wants to do a post on how they write blog posts, let me know. I'd love to read it! Thanks Katie for inspiring this post! 

The 3 Tools I Use for Every Writing Project

There are so, so many tools out there that are specifically for helping writers write books. It can be confusing to try to decide which tools to use for your project. 

There are websites that tell you how easy your writing is to read, and check your grammar and spelling. There are books on writing craft, books on how to write more words faster, and books on spelling and grammar. There are sites like Pinterest that make it easy to visualize your characters and settings.  

So many options, but it would be impossible and confusing to try to use all of the tools on one project. 

Today I’m going to talk about the three tools that I use on every novel I have ever written. 

Tool #1

Baby Naming Websites and Books

I know, I know. 

But character names! It’s so hard for me to come up with names for my characters (example: across three novels I have two Wills, two Laura’s, and two Grace’s). I like the same sort of names, and there are endless websites out there on the internet to help you chose a name (baby or character, same thing), but I prefer using an actual book. 

You can find a baby name book at any bookstore, but it’s cheaper to find one at a second-hand bookstore, or Goodwill. I found mine at Goodwill for about three dollars. 

If I'm stumped on a character name, I just flip through the book until one jumps out at me. There are also popular name lists by year that go back all the way into the 1900s, and names that are popular in different countries, if your character isn't from the U.S. 

Tool #2

Grammar Books

I do not typically use Google when I have a question about grammar. 

Here's why. 

Google gives about five different answers per site, and none of them are usually decisive. This does not help me at all, it only makes me more confused. Confused Olivia is not a good Olivia. 

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite grammar books to use for writing: 

The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White This book is great for any kind of writer, but was written specifically for novel-writing grammar rules. It's almost 100 years old, but is still a must have for any writer. 

Go Teen Writers: How to Turn Your First Draft into a Published Book I love the blog Go Teen Writers, and this book is a must-have extension from that blog. There are some really great tips here on how dialogue should be correctly punctuated, and how to correctly format your novel to send it to agents.


Any other grammar rules book I use my textbooks to check more specific grammar rules, like sit or set and other confusing things like that.

Tool #3

Writing Notebook

I am going to do a post that goes into more depth about my writing notebooks, but for now I will just say that there are two different kinds of notebooks that I use when writing. 

Idea Notebook

This is a very small notebook that I carry in my purse or backpack wherever I go. If I have an idea for a character, or hear a snippet of someone's conversation that inspires me, or even if I think of a whole plot for a novel, I write it down in here. 

Book Idea Notebook

This is a larger notebook (usually a one-subject composition notebook or a 3-ring binder) that I use when I am plotting and planning a new novel. I do character worksheets, plot beat sheets, and research here. I do not usually do any of this kind of planning for a novel on a computer, just because I feel like I am more creative and more connected to the ideas when I am writing them out with a pencil, and looking at them on paper. 



I hope you enjoyed this post and the little peek it gave you into my writing process. Are there any books that you use for writing every project? Would you be interested in reading a post about my writing notebooks?

Thanks for reading and see you in the comments! 

Month in Review| March 2016

*slinks in with head hanging*

So......I'm back! I don't really have an excuse that justifies me being away for four weeks (eeesh) but I will just say that for two weeks I was getting ready to leave for/in Texas, and the last two was just my last few weeks of my senior year and being crazier than anticipated. 

I guess re-starting my blog at the end of my senior year, while working part-time and preparing for my senior recital was a little more than I should have taken on. 

Anyhow! I am back now, and hopefully back to stay for a good long while. I'm still horrible at commenting on other people's blogs, and I apologize for that. Things have calmed down somewhat, so I will try to get better at that. 

On to the Month in Review! 

Book Therapy

Jenny B. Jones, one of my favorite authors, released a new book, I'll Be Yours, on March 22. 

She’s the coach’s brilliant daughter, clueless about love. He’s the dethroned football star, ready to teach Romance 101. When dark secrets and sparks collide, there’s no playbook for what happens next. 

The day Andrew Levin arrives at Washington High, Harper O’Malley knows he’ll make the perfect starter boyfriend. The school’s newest band geek is totally in Harper’s league, yet completely out of this late-bloomer’s reach. Between fitting in with a new family, scoring the first chair in band, and rescuing dogs for the local animal shelter, Harper’s never had the opportunity to hone her dating skills. But even though Harper’s love life is far from perfect, she’s got the perfect plan. 

Harper knows she’s insane to agree to tutor Ridley Estes, a notorious heartbreaker and the star of her high school’s football team—but in exchange, he’s offered to school her in the game of love. Just when she sees promise with her crush, a football scandal rocks her family, her town, and Ridley’s entire future. Harper suddenly has everything to lose—her family, friends, and even her heart. When the dust of the scandal settles, nothing will be the same. Including the girl who asked the most popular jock to teach her about love. 

Guys, I'm so excited to read this book. Jenny's The Charmed Life Series features possibly my favorite couple EVER, and from the excerpts I've read from I'll Be Yours, it looks just as good. 

Link Therapy 

Cait from Paper Fury's writing process. Wow. Just wow. I literally have no words except that I am in awe and I wish I could do that. Even if I did have the time I think my brain would literally run out of words to say. From the snippets it doesn't look like Cait had that problem.  (okay, so, this post shouldn't technically be in here because it is from April, but heyyyy it's all good)

Katie from A Writer's Faith's writing process. It's another writing process post! I always find it interesting to read about how other writers write. And this one was actually posted in March.

Hannah from Ink Blots and Coffee Stain's inspirational pep talk. Love this girl and this post. Check it out. 

Writing Therapy

This month hasn't been terribly productive for me, honestly. I've been feeling a little sad because I only got a couple of chapters edited. Life has really gotten in the way of writing lately.

However, I did get a really great idea for a book. I mean, like, really great, possibly-the-best-idea-i've-ever-had great.

It's all about the little things.

Next month my goal is to either work on my blog or my WIP every day. Even if it's only for five minutes.

Also, I've had an issue with my Google account for a long time, because I wasn't able to follow blogs using Friend Connect. That issue is resolved, so if I haven't followed you, that's why. I will be following everyone now!

Music Therapy 

Coming Home From The Sea

James Horner

So funny story: this song is from the soundtrack of the movie Perfect Storm. It plays at the very beginning. I’m sitting on the couch watching the beginning of this movie, and it starts with a fishing town and fishing boats coming in with their catch with this really great music playing in the background. I thought to myself, This reminds me of the Titanic. 

I decided it was because both movies start with the hustle and bustle and excitement of a dock, and it has to do with ships, and (sorry for spoilers if you don’t know the history of both stories) everyone knows at the beginning that the characters are pretty much doomed. 

Then I decided that I wanted to listen to the opening song again, so I looked it up. Turns out, James Horner, who composed the score for the Titanic, also composed the score for Perfect Storm. That would be why it reminded me of Titanic. 

Anywayyyyy, I’m not going to say much more about this song except listen to it. It’s a good song. And sorry for that long story that doesn’t really have a purpose except to tell you that I know James Horner’s musical style. I guess it comes from the many hours I spent as a kid running around with the Titanic soundtrack playing on my CD player. 

Yes, I was a strange child. 

Blog Therapy 

Here are some links to my posts this month: 

How I Make Writing Playlists

5 Reasons to Give Your Novel a Break

A blast from the past post: 

What's Keeping You From Writing?

And previews of what will be coming up in the next few weeks: 

The 3 Tools I Use for Every Writing Project 

The Liebster Award + Infinity Dream Tag (thanks Abi for tagging me in these!)

How I Write a Blog Post


That's it! Thanks guys and sorry again for my long absence.

5 Reasons to Give Your Novel a Break

(My apologies for the lateness of this post. I had it ready to go on Wednesday, but then I had some internet issues, and wasn't able to get it up on schedule. Sorry!)

This post is a little tough for me to write, because it's extremely close to my heart.

I talked about this a little in my Let's Get Real post, but I stopped writing for almost all of 2015.

It was really tough.

I'd gotten bogged down on a story (let's call it Division) that I had been working on for over four years. In that time I'd written other things, but I kept going back to Division, kept trying to fix the gaping holes and make it into something beautiful.

It wasn't working.

At the same time I was getting bogged down by all the blogs I was reading from industry professionals and published authors, telling me what kind of books were selling and how to write query letters and how to promote your book.

I had two problems.

The first was that I was writing my book with getting it published in mind.
That's a HUGE no-no.

You can't write a book just to sell it. Literary agent Suzie Townsend gets asked all the time on the New Leaf Tumblr, "what's selling now". You know what she says?

Good books.

Good books sell. No matter what is trending, no matter what isn’t, if you write a good book, it will find its way into the right hands, simply because it’s a good book. 

Red Queen, a book strongly grounded in a dystopian feel, released long after the Dystopian trend had come and gone. But it’s a good book, and it did amazingly well. 

If the only reason you’re writing a book is to sell it, you’re probably not writing what you love. You’re most likely way too focused on conforming to what’s hot now. The real problem with that, aside from the fact that you’re not writing for yourself anymore, is that what’s selling now was bought two years ago. Agent’s aren’t looking for that anymore. 

The way to sell your book is to write a good book.

It's that simple.

Write for yourself, and write well. Then, even if you don't sell it, you can be proud of your work.

Bam. Problem solved.

Well, the first one at least.

My second problem was that I didn't know when to drop my novel. Luckily, I'm here telling you this now so that you will know when to put your novel aside, and you won't get stuck in the same pit of despair I was in. Because, let me tell ya, it's not any fun.

So, without any further chitchat, here are five reasons to give your novel a break.

1. You've finished a first draft/major revision.

Congratulations! This is a huge accomplishment, and you should have a piece of pie or a donut or a cupcake! (Or whatever special food you like) 

Seriously though, take a minute. Breathe. Read some books, talk to your friends, go outside (remember that place? outside? with grass and trees and bugs and stuff?). You're probably been working on this book for a few months (unless it's NaNo). You deserve a break! 

This is where you decide how much of a break you're going to take. I would suggest a minimum of a week, and it should really be at least three weeks. For the simple reason that when you come back to the book, you want to come back fresh, with a new perspective and tons of shiny ideas about how to make it even better. 

If you dive right back into it right away, you won't have as much energy. It's like taking a rest in-between sets of a workout. You don't want to take such a long rest that you don't remember what you were in the middle of doing, but you also don't want to take too short of a rest so that you're still out of breath when you come back. 

At the end of the day, you probably know what that magic number is right for you (for me it varies by project). 

2. You've been working on it for a year or more.

I haven’t heard anyone say this before, but I’m saying it now because I wish someone had said it to me. 

If you’ve been working on your book for a year, take a break!

You’ve poured your heart and soul into this book, and it’s exhausting. Even if everything is going right (which, let’s be honest, never happens) it is still really hard. 

Writing a book is not easy. Realize that, and give yourself permission to take a break, and start working on something else, or read some books you’ve been wanting to dive into. Or, you know, re-introduce yourself to your family and friends (hi, my name is Olivia, and I’m a writer).  

But really. Even if it seems like everything is going great with your WIP, take a break if you’ve been working on it for a year. Because you don’t want to get stuck. 

Which leads me to number three. 

3. You've been working on it for a year or more without feeling like you're making it better.

This is what happened to me. 

I’d been working on Division for four years. That’s a long time to do anything, especially working on one single project. Add the fact that it wasn’t going smoothly AT ALL and you’ve just got a huge explosion waiting to happen. 

I really loved that book. 

I still do. 

The reason that I’m getting extremely emotional and frustrated writing this is because I still have so much invested in the story.  I love the story’s heart, and the tortured, hilarious, stubborn, stupid characters. I love the setting, and the places, and all the possibilities of the story. 

The problem was, everything wasn’t coming together on the page like it did in my mind. 

Funny how that happens sometimes, isn’t it? 

It took me a long time to realize that the best thing for me and the story was for us to take a break from each other. I kept convincing myself that if I just finished this revision or added this plot line or fixed this character’s arc it would get better. 

It didn’t get better. 

I kept getting more and more frustrated when, no matter how much time I spent on it, or how much of my heart and imagination I poured out onto the page, the story didn’t come out like I thought it should.

As hard as it was, eventually I realized that I needed to put Division on the back burner. Not forever, just until I’ve learned more, or I have a magical idea that somehow fixes everything that’s wrong with the story. 

And now I’m working on another book, and I’ve got another really promising idea that’s calling to me, and life is good. I still think about Division sometimes, but now it’s with nostalgia and the hope that someday I will be able to revisit it, this time with new ideas and no frustration. 

4. You're annoyed with it/exhausted/not interested.

Sometimes it happens. 

You’ve been working on a story for so long that it seems boring to you. Or you’re just worn out with it. Or maybe you’ve realized that it’s not a great book. 

That’s okay. All those things have happened to every writer out there. Not every idea for a book is meant to be turned into a draft, and not every draft is meant to be a bestseller. 

You’ll know if the book just isn’t working. Your author’s intuition should tell you. 

So listen to it. Move on to something else. 

The beautiful thing about books is that sometimes you get an idea that resurrects another idea that you never thought you’d do anything with. 

I wrote a Dystopian novel for NaNo 2013 that I thought would spend the rest of its life sitting on my computer's hard drive.  I loved the world and the characters and the drama and the possibilities for future books, but I knew that I wouldn’t sell anytime soon. 

So I put it aside. 

Then I read Truthwitch and Six of Crows and thought, I can turn my Dystopian into a fantasy with an ensemble cast! There’s the possibility that it would turn into a giant mess, but I don’t think that would happen. I think it would be awesome. 

It would take a lot of work, and I’m not focused on fantasy right now, but I think it would be a really fun lot of work. 

So don’t give up hope on that book just yet. It’s okay to walk away, but don’t feel completely defeated. 

You might turn that book into a bestseller yet.

5. You've finished it/are ready to submit.

Here’s all I have to say about this. 

*cue the loud ABBA music* 

DANCE PARTAY!!!!

But seriously, have a dance party. 

You did it! You wrote a book and you edited the crap out of that book until you made it the best possible book you could. 

That’s really cool. 

You’re a cool person!

So have a cupcake, do a little jig to Dancing Queen, and take a breath. 

Then write another book. ;) 

~~~~~~~~~~~

That's it guys! 

Thanks for reading, and three cheers if you’ve made it to the end of this suuuuper long post. Your poor little fingers are probably tired of scrolling. My apologies to fingers everywhere. 

Have you ever had to put aside a book that you’ve been working on for a long time? Did it hurt? Or were you ready to put it away, glad even? Let me know in the comments. 

How I Make Writing Playlists

I don't know about you, but music is a huge part of my writing process. 

I have playlists for every single book that I'm working on, and I don't listen to any other playlists while I'm working on that certain book. There's one album that I can't even listen to anymore because I listened to it so much while I was writing the first draft of a novel. 

However, starting a new playlist can be daunting. 

Finding exactly the right music to fit the story and the mood is hard. Sometimes I put a song on a particular playlist, and then move it to another one because I've realized that it's not the right fit for that book. 

Here are my thoughts on how to make a writing playlist, what apps to use, and where and how to find good music. 

First, let's start with how you're going to make your playlist. 

Unless you're made of money, you're probably not going to want to buy every single song that you want on your playlist. The playlists I've made for my WIP would have cost me about $40 if I bought every single song. And if they were all singles, it would be $60 (I have two full albums on the playlists). 

So, here are three options for free ways to make your playlists (that are totally legal): 

Pandora

I like Pandora. I really do. But I don't like it for writing. 

Heres why. 

Pandora is really random. Even if you thumbs up a song, you probably won't hear it for a while. Adding songs and artists to the station is sort of helpful, but often I find it adds more to the mix than I'm willing to deal with. Plus, if a happy song comes on when I'm needing a sad song, it's distracting, and I might use up all of my skips trying to get to a song that fits the mood. 

I use Pandora when I'm listening to other music, but not when I'm writing. However if you are okay with random music, some really great stations are: 

Danny Elfman Radio - dark, slightly creepy music perfect for a horror book, or maybe just a particularly scary scene 

Film Scores Radio - fast, moving music that fits a chase scene or just a really really dramatic moment. This playlist is also really great to run to =) 

Rob Simonsen Radio - this is a more laid back, cinematic station with lots of piano and less intense songs. If the book you're writing doesn't have a lot of action scenes, this would be a good bet. 

Apple Music 

You have to pay for this. 

But you get unlimited access to Apple's entire library of music. I don't think I need to explain how this would work. Just type in whatever songs you want, create a playlist, or add whatever songs or albums to your qeue. 

This is a really great option, but it costs ten dollars a month. Yes, the first three months are free, but if you're like me, and not willing to pay that money, then after three months all of your playlists are gone. 

Spotify

I'm not going to keep it a secret that this is my favorite option. Spotify is great. It's free (there are ads), but at least twice a day I get the option to watch a 30-second ad in exchange for thirty minutes of ad-free music. Sometimes I do it, but sometimes I don't, because the ads don't really bother me that much. 

I love Spotify because once you have enough songs on your playlist, it won't play suggestions, it will only pull songs from your playlist. In other words, no random songs, only ones you've selected. I don't know what the number is that once you hit it Spotify stops playing songs that aren't on your playlist, I just know it exists. 

I like to create happy and sad versions of my book playlists, and then pick whichever one I need, because, like I said before, it is distracting for me if I'm in the middle of writing a really sad scene and an upbeat song starts blasting in my ear. It kinds of gets me out of the mood and wanting to dance. You can skip songs on Spotify as well, but you will run out if you use too many. 

There is an premium version of Spotify that costs $9.99 a month, and allows unlimited access to their entire library of music. 

There are other ways to listen to music on Spotify, including Spotify Radio, and mood playlists created by Spotify. You can also listen to albums (on shuffle) or just play your favorite artist on shuffle. 

The reason I like Spotify so much is that it allows you much more control than Pandora. The only downside is that it does use more data than Pandora. 

Next, let's go over how to find good music.

This is the best tip I can give you for how to discover good music. 

Think of a movie that you watched and thought "I really like this soundtrack". Search for that soundtrack on iTunes or Amazon Music or Google or however you buy music. Then look at the recommended albums or similar albums. Whatever the official name is. You guys know what I'm talking about. 

I could literally go on for hours, clicking on recommended albums and listening to samples. 

The Music! The Feels!

If you don't want to spend hours searching for music or you've never paid that much attention to the music in movies.....here's my handy dandy list of composers and movie soundtracks to listen to, arranged by mood and genre: 

(Composer - movie soundtrack, movie soundtrack) 

Quiet, Piano and String Driven (Contemporaries or slow or intense scenes) 

All of these have some slighter songs and some really really dark sounding songs. 

Dario Marianelli - Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Atonement 

Rachel Portman - Chocolat, The Cider House Rules, The Duchess

Thomas Newman - Saving Mr. Banks, The Help, Finding Nemo 

Alexandre Desplat - The King's Speech, The Imitation Game

The Age of Adaline Soundtrack Album

By the Sea Soundtrack Album

Ada and Inman, Love Theme, and Ada Plays from the Cold Mountain Soundtrack album 

Standout Songs: 

We Had Today - Rachel Portman Sweet, sweeping song that makes me imagine a romantic montage of a relationship, and then the couple parting at an airport.  With a cliche "rushing back for one final kiss" and everything. It's the romantic in me. 

Liz on Top of the Worldd - Dario Marianelli This is a beautiful, intense song. It's also on the short side. Perfect for depressing scenes with some punch to them. 

Road to Perdition - Thomas Newman Really, really nice piano driven song. Ugh so many feels. Its hopeful yet sad at the same time. Good for bittersweet resolution scenes. 

Cinematic, BIG, Fast, Moving (Mysteries, Action Adventure or chase scenes) 

Hans Zimmer - Man of Steel, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins 

John Williams - Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park

Harry Gregson-Williams - The Chronicles of Narnia, X-Men Origins: Wolverine 

Alan Silvestri - The Avengers, The Mummy Returns, Night at the Museum 

Howard Shore - The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit 

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl 

Any Superhero/Marvel Movie - Captain America, Iron Man, Transformers 

Standout Songs: 

What are You Goind to do When You Are Not Saving the World? - Hans Zimmer 

This song starts slow and then builds. And man, does it build! Great for a deciding moment that leads to battle. Idk man, I'm getting ready to fight over here. This music just gets me. 

New Avengers - Avengers:Age of Ultron 

This song sounds majestic and like it should be played at the end of a rough battle. Yay for the good guy always coming out on top! 

Prime - Steve Jablonsky 

Another cool, majestic but ominous song. 

Fantasy/Sci-Fi: 

These albums/artists are specifically from video games or are independent albums released by composers directly onto the internet. A lot of them would really (in my opinion) only be suited for fantasy or sci-fi just because of the presence of vocals on lots of the songs and some of the different elements in the songs. Of course that's just my opinion, feel free to check these out even of you don't write fantasy, because there are some really great songs. 

Composers: 

Two Steps From Hell

BrunuhVille

E.S. Posthumus

Audiomachine

Video Games:

Assassin's Creed (the entire series) 

Defiance 

Call of Duty 

Halo

Standout Songs: 

Venice Rooftops - Jesper Kyd 

This is just a really, really fun song. This would be great for a chase scene (as you might be able to tell from the title). 

Heart of Courage - Two Steps from Hell 

This might sound familiar to you. It's been used in a ton of movie trailers because it's SUPER epic.

El Dorado - Two Steps from Hell

AMAZING song! It starts out with a really cool beat that almost sounds Arabic, and then turns into this great dramatic theme that makes my heart pound. MUSIC LOVE. 

More specific, individualized soundtracks: 

Tropical, exotic, Indian feel: 

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (and The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) 

He Named Me Malala 

The Hundred Foot Journey 

Punk, Electric, Modern: 

Tron:Legacy 

Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer) 

the Person of Interest soundtrack albums by Ramin Djawadi 

Inception 

CREEPY: 

Danny Elfman is really great for this. All of his compositions have this really weird vibe to them. 

Seriously. If you want creepy? Danny Elfman is the master. And he's composed so many things, I don't even need to give you another name. He's enough. 

Celtic/Irish:

Outlander and Outlander Vol. 2 Soundtracks by Bear McCreary 

I hope this gives you a head start to looking for writing music, and inspiration for creating a writing playlist. If you stuck with me all the way to the end, many hugs and a chocolate cupcake with lots of frosting to you! I know it was a super long post, but I hope it was helpful. 

Who is your favorite composer or soundtrack album to listen to? Do you listen to music at all while writing or does it distract you? See you in the comments! 

Month in Review| February 2016

Hello! 

I'm starting a new feature on the blog, called the Month In Review!

This post will go up on the last Thursday of every month, and will be a review of what happened on the blog, in my writing life, and in the book/publishing world this month! 

I will also share a writing song that I've been loving, and some of my favorite blog posts and websites of the month. 

Here goes! I hope you guys enjoy! 

Book Therapy 

There's going to be another Harry Potter book. 

*cue internet explosion* 

J.K. Rowling announced that the play she co-wrote, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" will be printed in two parts and released on July 31st, 2016, one day after the play premieres in London. 

Ruta Septys, author of Between Shades of Grey and, one of my favorite books, Out of the Easy, just released another book on February 2. I'm super excited to read this one, guys! 

It's called Salt to the Sea. 

Winter, 1945. Four teenagers. Four secrets.

Each one born of a different homeland; each one hunted, and haunted, by tragedy, lies…and war.

As thousands of desperate refugees flock to the coast in the midst of a Soviet advance, four paths converge, vying for passage aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship that promises safety and freedom.

Yet not all promises can be kept.

Inspired by the single greatest tragedy in maritime history, bestselling and award-winning author Ruta Sepetys (Between Shades of Gray) lifts the veil on a shockingly little-known casualty of World War II. An illuminating and life-affirming tale of heart and hope.

Glass Sword, the sequel to the immensely popular Red Queen, released on February 9.

I read Red Queen and really, really, enjoyed it, and I'm definitely going to be reading Glass Sword. If you read Red Queen, you'll know that there was a pretty big plot twist at the end (no spoilers) so the drama is real, guys. I've been wanting to get my hands on this book since I read Red Queen last February.

It's been a loooong wait.

Spolier Alert! IF you haven't read Red Queen, skip reading the book blurb below. It contains spoilers. 

Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control. 

The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.

Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors. 

But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat. 

Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?

Link Therapy

I'm a huge fan of the blog Go Teen Writers, so if you haven't heard of it, go check it out!

Two pretty big announcements went up on GTW this month.

The first, at the end of August, Go Teen Writers will have a HUGE contest that wraps up their #WeWriteBooks series.

Jill Williamson, fantasy author and contributor at GTW, will be blogging her writing process throughout the year as she writes the first draft of a novel. She's posting in the #WeWriteBooks series on the GTW blog, and she's posting chapters of the book on her personal blog.

Following along with her series will help you get ready for the contest, which is geared towards helping writers get their novels prepared for submitting to agents. The first round will be require you to submit the first chapter of your novel, and a synopsis. The second round will be the first three chapters, and a synopsis. The contest will be open to anyone under 21 (since it is Go Teen Writers).

The second, a challenge for the month of March. Write 300 words for 30 days!

Signing up for a challenge like this can be a great way to give your word count a big push. Personally, when I write my name down on a form, I actually write the words. When I challenge only myself to write a certain number number of words every day, it doesn't always get done. There's a bonus! If you complete the challenge, at the end of the month you'll be entered into a drawing for a $20 Amazon gift card!


I stumbled across a writing blog that has a really amazing series going on. It's a good blog in general, but this series is something that I've wanted for a while,  but I didn't know quite how it would be put together. Victoria Howell figured it out! 

The series is called So Your Character Is and it explores various aspects of characters that you might not know all the answers to. The latest post is So Your Character Is From Australia. Past posts include, So Your Character Is: From the South, Adopted, and Homeschooled. Victoria interviews authors and bloggers that know about the subject, and then puts it all together into a blog post.

It is so helpful! Research can tell you a lot, but the day to day mundane things that you become familiar with when you live in a certain place aren't really researchable. You really have to talk to someone that lives there to find out what you need to know. So Your Character is from Australia kicked off the new series in a series, So Your Character is from Another Country. Canada, England, and New Zealand are just a few of the posts coming up in this series. Go check out this great series! 

Another post I enjoyed this month was one on creating content for blog posts. It can be challenging to come up with new content all the time, and this post had some really great ideas for how to get inspired. Nellie and Co is a blog on blogging (say that three times fast) run by Amanda. There are some really great posts on the blog, but if you're struggling with content inspiration, check out 4 Methods for Generating New Blog Post Topics and Ideas. 

Writing Therapy

I finished the first draft of my work in progress! This was a huge accomplishment for me, as I've been working (sloooowly) on this draft for about six months now. 

I moved on to the editing about five days after I finished the first draft. Yes, it was a short break, but I'm entering a contest in August (see Link Therapy above for more details about the contest), so I'm trying to get in as many revsions of the book as possible. 

I'm working on a post about my editing process, so I'll have that up in a few weeks! 

Music Therapy

Black Heart by BruhnuhVille

This song is from the album Aurora, and I just love it. I got chills the first time I listened to it. I imagine some sort of romantic scene at night. 

The melody from a music box is the main theme, but a violin comes in about halfway in. The song builds as it goes along, and explodes into awesomeness near the end. 

It would be great for any dramatic, romantic scene. I still imagine it happening under a sky full of stars. *makes unintentional Coldplay reference* 

Blog Therapy

Here are some links back to my posts this month: 

Why Not Writing Can Be Just as Important as Writing

The Get to Know Me Tag

Let's Get Real...

A blast from the past post: 

Writing What People Love Without Sounding Like Everyone Else


And previews of what will be coming up in the next few weeks:

How I Make Writing Playlists

5 Reasons to Give Your Novel a Break

The 3 Tools I Use for Every Novel

I hope you guys enjoyed this! Share your thoughts below about any of the blogs, books, or songs I mentioned, or tell me about anything interesting or noteworthy that happened to you in February. 

Thanks for reading!

The Get to Know Me Tag!

Hello! 

Yes, it’s not Thursday, my usual posting day, but this is just a fun extra post that I’m doing because I was tagged! 

Hannah@Ink Blots and Coffee Stains tagged me in the Get to Know Me tag! 

I’m not going to answer ALL the questions because there are about 25976103, but here goes….

Vital Stats

Name: Olivia Nash

Nicknames: Livie, Liv, Liver, Chopped Liver (don’t ask) 

Place of Birth: Nashville, Tennessee. I’m southern, y’all! 

Star sign: Gemini 

Firsts 

Best friend: Hard to say because I grew up with a lot of kids my age, who were my parent’s friends kids, but the first friend that I made on my own is named Caroline and she’s great! Also can’t forget Abigail, who is my bestie ’til the end.

Award: I won a spelling bee when I was ten? I think that’s the first actual award I got that my mom didn’t make for me. Because those kinds of things don’t really count. 

Sport: Aha. Hahaha. No. 

Real holiday: The beach when I was one and a half. I wore a hat and ate sand. 

Concert: I’m not exactly sure what qualifies as an actual concert. I went to a Blues Clues Live! thing when I was five or so, but the first BIG concert that I actually found myself and went to was TobyMac at Bridgestone Arena. It was awesome. (Blues Clues was the bomb as well in case you were wondering) 

Favorites

Film: Runaway Jury. Now You See Me. And I can always watch the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Darcy never goes out of style. 

TV Show: So…hard…. my life goal is to watch ALL THE SHOWS but a few of my favorites are The Mentalist, Sherlock, The Closer, The Middle, Agent Carter, and Downton Abbey. Not sure why half of them start with the. 

Color: Blue! 

Song: Okay no. I play the piano and guitar and I’ve sang in choirs since I was six so there is no one answer to this question. To even start to really answer this I’d have to break everything into sections (Instrumental, Soundtrack, Musical, Pop, ‘70s,...) okay it’s not that bad but… Bluebird by Sara Bareilles, or anything from her, Pretty Funny from Dogfight, Samson by Regina Spektor, anything ABBA, The Cave by Mumford and Sons. I’m currently obsessed with the Matilda the Musical Album because I just saw the show and it’s A-MAzing.  I didn't even start to talk about my favorite writing music here because then I would really get off track, but there's going to be a post coming up about that soon! *grins*

Restaurant: Maggiano’s, an Italian restaurant in Nashville. Pasta. Bread with olive oil and mozzarella for dipping. Tiramisu. Enough said. 

Books: I’m a writer. This is hard. Pride and Prejudice, Meet the Austins by Madeleine L’Engle, A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck, Dangerous by Shannon Hale, The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, I could go on and on…

Currently

Feeling: Slightly exhausted, but excited for future things in general. 

Single or taken: Single and ready for a Pringle, baby. 

Eating: Nothing? But now that you mention it, I am hungry…where did I put those Reese’s? 

Watching: Bones! In about five minutes. 

Wearing: Pajamas. And I’m not ashamed at all. 

Future

Want Children: Yes. 

Want to be married: If the right person comes along, yes. 

Careers in mind: I’m planning on getting a degree in Social Work, but ultimately I’d like to be a full time (published) writer. Although that doesn’t necessarily guarantee that I’ll be making any money. *sigh* 

Where you want to live: I love Tennessee, but I’ve always thought it’d be fun to live in a big city like New York or Chicago. I’ve visited both of them and absolutely loved both places. So I think it would be fun to live in a big city for a little while as a younger human bean. Probably not permanently. 

Do You Believe In

God: Yes. 

Miracles: Yes. 

Love at first sight: No. Lust at first sight? Yes. Love is an action, an everyday, no matter what, hard decision that you make to put the other person first no matter the circumstance. 

Ghosts: eeehhhhh not really? 

Aliens: The typical 21st century alien description, no. 

Soul Mates: No. I think that there is more than one person out there for everyone. 

Heaven: Yes. 

Hell: Yes. 

Kissing on the first Date: Depends on how long you knew each other before the first date = ) 

Yourself: I mean, I think so. Wouldn’t this all be a neat trick if I really didn’t exist though! But - if this question isn't a trick and means having confidence in myself- then yes, I do believe in myself! 

OK, that's it!

Thanks for tagging me, Hannah! You guys be sure to go and check out her blog, it’s really great! 

I tag anyone who is reading this and wants to to do this tag. 

You get tagged, you get tagged, EVERYBODY GETS TAAAAGGGEEEDDDDD! 

Okay, let’s end with an Oprah quote.  

Hope you enjoyed getting to know me a little better! 

Let me know in the comments if you are doing the tag (so I can come check it out), or answer one of the questions above. I'd love to get to know you!