Random Monday: Letdowns and Vacations

*Shrugs* C'est la vie.

Vacations aren't good on inborn procrastinators. You know very well with me rambling about my tendency to push things off... I've had two vacations recently, one for my birthday and one for a trip I was supposed to have. Both were soured.

The birthday didn't go as expected, as a lot of people I know forgot (despite it being on their Facebook feeds), as well as a few other reasons. Let's just say my wallet is hurting right now. Also, I was meant to have a writing retreat on my birthday; as I did last year. It was cancelled last minute. ): The trip I was meant to take on the second vacation didn't happen either...

So, yeah. While vacations aren't good on inborn procrastinators, letdown-vacations probably aren't that great either. At the same time, forcing a work ethic on procrastinators isn't that great either. Keeping up on blog posts during the school year (seventeen days...) isn't something I'm good at, so while I promise to keep up; don't believe it.

Procrastinators also break promises when they don't want or mean to. :/

This sort of seems like a depressing post, but I'm not really depressed. The only reason I've really got to depressed is the fact I ate an entire bag of chips on my own yesterday for no reason.

I need something to make this happier... Here, have a sleeping lion.

By the way, there's going to be an INTERVIEW SATURDAY this weekend!!

3W: Backscratching

Yeah, weird title; I know.

Thing is, there's something I've known but more or less ignored since I got back into blogging (three times now). When you have a  blog, if you want readers, you have to acknowledge those readers. You have to let them know you appreciate them as much as they appreciate you, enough to go visit their own blogs.

Like I've said before, I'm pretty self-centered. That self-centered gene rears its head after I finish preparing blog posts and says, "Oh, go write. You can worry about your readers later."

Well, I want to end that stupid little self-centered gene's input! Therefore, I've placed a folder on my desktop with a bunch of blogs in there and hope to make myself check it every few days.

Aside from the blogging acknowledgment, this is also an incredibly vital part to forming the elusive "platform" agents and bloggers and readers all strive to obtain. As it goes... "You scratch my back, I scratch yours." So I'll try and scratch all of your backs as much as I can. I've let the itch really grow, haven't I? (As I type, my back itches. ): *Rubs chair*)

Have a good Wednesday, everyone! Keeping it nice and short for ya.

A Break and a Rebirth

January?! That was my last post?!

Wow.

Have you missed me? Wondered where I was? Questioned if I died and fell off the face of the earth? ...Didn't care? (That's cold.) Heh. Well, anyway, hi! If you don't remember me, my name's Kendra and I run this nice little fiery blog here.

The one I abandoned for a while in January.

See, though, I've been busy. Here's a small overview of what I've done.

- Become Homecoming Queen of my school
- Prepared a valedictorian speech
- Prepared a song for my graduation on Friday
- Met one of my best friends from Ohio
- Went to prom with said friend
- Applied and was accepted to a two-year college
- Got a full ride to said college
- Won first place in two divisions of a business contest
- Went on a Senior Skip Day and almost died in a war between projectiles flying from cars
- Opened a bank account
- Went to Chicago
- Writing wise, I finally finished the initial editing process of Book 3 in my series, started the editing on Book 2 (don't ask), and wrote a novella.
- And more!
Future events?
- Wednesday: Class of 2013 Bachaloriette
- Friday: Class of 2013 Graduation
- 18 and 21: Dinners for being valedictorian.

I've been a busy bee, and I just kind of gave up blogging/tweeting/etc in favor of these activities. I didn't want to force myself to do it, or I knew the work would be shotty. Anyway, I'm going to try and get back into the groove of all this.

So, my break consists of doing LESS drafting of works, and MORE querying/blogging/tweeting. I should be able to keep up! I thank you all for your patience, and hopefully soon, I'll be back into book-reviewing and maybe some posting about writerly things!

To conclude, I want to share the great news of Danielle Shipley, A.K.A. Ever On Word:

SHE'S BEING PUBLISHED. TWICE! One in an anthology, and another for self-publishing. Please, go see her here and give her all of your support!! You won't have to wait long to grab these books and enjoy the heck outta them!

It occurs to me I didn't proofread this. ...Oh well. Please ignore errors.

Bringing in 2013!

My school has its homecoming in January. This year my class, the Junior class, won the contest we have during homecoming week. We all participate in a bunch of different activities and gain points, and the winner gets the Spirit Stick. The Seniors decided to tear up the poster our class made for homecoming week, so they were disqualified…which sort of helped, but hey, we still won the contest!

In February a friend and I went out job-hunting in the local area. It was rainy and it was cold. However, it was pretty fun—though stressful—since the next day she was like “I’m turning my apps in!” and I was like “OMG BUT I HAVEN’T EVEN STARTED!” Regardless, since I don’t get out very much, it was a social and fun experience for me.

In March, I went to see the Hunger Games. Enough said.

April was so much fun. I went to my school’s prom. Since I’m not a celebratory person or a social person at all, I didn’t plan to go until a friend convinced me to. So after a few days of panicking over what I’d wear, make up, hair, etcetera; the night finally showed up. I went, everyone freaked out because they’d NEVER seen me dressed up, and I more or less had the best night of my life. No words can describe how much fun I had.

School got out in May, turning me into an official Senior. We have a “Fun Day” like the second to last week of school, and this year, the Juniors got together and had a cookout off of school grounds. The food took longer to prepare than expected, so some of us decided to disregard the bell saying we had to be back on school grounds—me included. We were forty minutes late. Therefore we were grounded to the cafeteria for forty minutes. I had no problem with this. Everyone else was just stunned that I’d “turned into a rebel.”

June was the month my blog was revived and I met alllllll of my writing friends on AgentQueryConnect! Kela, Cat, SC, Charlee, Utsav/Brighton, Krysten, you’re all awesome!

July was when I met the rest of my buddies! I entered a blogfest and met a bunch of amazing people, notably Danielle (and her sidekick, Will!). I also turned seventeen.

I left my home for three straight days to stay by myself for one sole purpose in August: writing. I wrote 13,000 words in that time. That’s a lot!! I finally got out of my writing funk for the MAIN work-in-progress I have, and my senior year started.

September was relatively boring aside from a sleepover I had with a friend of mine. That sleepover consisted of scary stories, WiiFit, and Truth or Dare. One of the dares in the game was to drink soy sauce. Another ended up with me saying the words “playing charades in bed”. Ah, good times.

In October…well. I got VERY, VERY excited. I received an offer of publication for my book. However, over the next two months, I did some research and tried to prepare myself for the things I’d face after it happened, and determined I wasn’t quite ready. Issue is…I still haven’t told them…so… HEADWALL. My fault. Now I'm scared to contact them.

November: Breaking Dawn Part II! Aro’s laugh! Enough said!

Of course, the one thing that someone would normally speak about in December is Christmas. Christmas WAS indeed amazing for me—I got all seven seasons of Supernatural and my new laptop—but as of yesterday, I finished the first draft of my third novel. The same one I was talking about in my previous blog post. It was a grievous thing to write, and at the same time so fun. I did indeed succeed in writing the full-on tragedy. Now I’m editing it, for it is 274,000 words, and I HAVE A LOT OF EDITING TO DO.

Now, you know how my year went. Share yours! Most of all, HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR! Good luck in all of your resolutions for 2013!

 

Arrrgh, Mateys!

I caught up to this blogfest before the first day was out -- grr, otherwise I might've had to send someone over the plank! *Waves hook around* So now our brigade of lads and lasses are sailing together o'er the seven seas, and...what, too dramatic? Oh, fine. We're led by Captain Sharon Bayliss and Captain Court Young!

Make sure you head over and check the blogfest out with the button o'er yonder --->
(Somewhere on the right side of the page. Ye'll know it when ye see it!)

Well, it's July 9th, which is INTRODUCTION DAY!

Don't comment on the cat on my shoulder. I don't have a parrot. Lemme give ye contact info first.

TWITTER: twitter.com/Kendra503

This is my blog, of course. And for some privacy reasons I'll withhold my Facebook account. If you wish for my e-mail for any reason please contact me on Twitter and ask for it. If you really want my Facebook account, you can ask for that too. Arrrgh.

Info-time! I'm a 16-year-old writer of YA, as of yet, not published. I have a ton of WIPs, but my top priority is one about elemental-users. Currently in the editing stage. You'll learn more next week! I started writing when I was in 3rd grade. The book I wrote (31 pages long) was about psychic kittens. I planned to make it a big series, but I lost the sequel to the first and gave up after that.

As for genres, I stick to Urban Fantasy. I'm exploring Fantasy and Paranormal.

I have a bunch of interests that don't pertain to writing...I think. As so many of you will see by exploring my blog a little, I love weird music. Think the background music of Final Fantasy. That's what I listen to. There's another interest: Final Fantasy. I loved Final Fantasy XIII. I also enjoy Kingdom Hearts.

Er... I like almost any kind of book, as long as it has SOME supernatural element in there somewhere. And as long as the characters have a good voice and are likeable. I really need a new bookshelf.

I live in The-Middle-of-Nowhere, IL; USA. I'm a senior in high school (or, at least I am in August). I'm currently jobless, but you know, maybe I'll be a published author before long. Maybe. Wouldn't it be awesome? Hm, what about some other hobbies... I like to drive for no reason (my parents get so angry about the gas-guzzling), I like to run, and I like cats. I like dogs too but I have cats, SO.

I don't really hang out with people in RL. Sad, I know. But that's what school is for, for me. :P But I DO have friends in RL...I promise.

That's all I've got for today. If you're curious for more, go to my About Me page. (: With that, mateys, take a gander to the rest of the wonderful crew mates participating in this lengthy voyage for the treasure we call exposure! Also, I'VE GOT A JAR OF DIRT~