No Internet = Productivity.

I haven't had internet for a while now, which kind of contributed heavily to my surly mood. I don't think I'm a, well, sort of, addict - but yes, running multiple fansites - and ones as huge as LunaFans.net and Hunger-Games.net, it's really tough to forego the web.

I recently conducted a contest for LunaFans.net, a sponsored one where the winner got a Luna Lovegood attire complete with the wand and spectrespecs and all. It was pretty cool to put a smile on someone's face.

Well, anyways. I did spend some time on the writings. I outlined the current WIP with characters and ending. I'm kind of unsure about one aspect of the ending. I could reverse it as the project progresses.

I really want to complete this trilogy, because it draws on every core issue that bothers me: wars, single-parent problems, inner conflicts and choosing duty over love.

I've begun writing, almost 5k words are complete, and I'm really looking forward to where my MC takes me!

What Really Went On

In the year that I had all disapparated, there was lots going on. My first query, my first partial request and my first rejection.

It happened over a span of three months. Three thrilling months. Even though it ultimately got rejected because hello - it was a NaNoWriMo, edited only, like, five times. I did the obvious - the obvious that I had promised not to do.

I queried immediately. My query, even if I do say so myself, was near perfection. I had found the perfect selling point of my book, and the perfect summary.

But then I scrambled to edit the manuscript and found tremendous grammatical errors. It made me angry with myself. What was I doing?

I put it away. I wasn't disappointed, and I say that with complete honesty - I was just annoyed at myself. I blew my opportunity.

But that all gone, I sat down to revise my story. With the same plot, I completely ripped apart the first three chapters and the main Hero. With that, I know I have a long way to go.

In the meanwhile, I started work on a lot of projects and then some things in my personal life fell apart which caused a lot of friction and I stopped writing.

Over the past few months, I picked myself together again and I restarted work on the edits, I'm loving the new personality of my MC. But like I said, there's a lot of work.

I now have three other projects going on. I'm probably going to finish one of them before I return to the edits of Fray. That way I'll have fresher perspective.

I don't know whether my approach is right or not, but I do know I have many plots I want to work on right now, and so I will.

Books to Movies: Romeo and Juliet & Wicked Lovely!

[Pretends never disappeared and resumes blogging just like that. Yeah]

So, this just broke. Maybe yesterday. I don't know - but I just heard that Ed Westwick, who most of us know as THE Chuck Bass will be playing Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet! This is so exciting!

I can't wait to see who Romeo is!

The actor has already made waves on The CW series "Gossip Girl" and we'll get a chance to see him on the big screen in Clint Eastwood's Hoover biopic, and now Ed Westwick landed himself another film role. Variety reports the actor is set to play Tybalt in a new adaptation of Romeo and Juliet from Italian director Carlo Carlei which already has True Grit star Hailee Steinfeld as the titular female lead in the tragic romance. For those who haven't dealt with the Shakespeare play in school, or seen any of the various film versions, Tybalt is Lady Capulet's nephew and the arch rival of Romeo, which does not bode well for him.

Books into movies is so expected these days, it's like it's the parameter for the success of books. Especially YA novels.

In other books-to-movies news, Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely has also been taken up to be turned into movies. I haven't read the books because faeries are just not my thing, though I've heard so much of them. Very excited for the movies, though.

Paranormalcy and Girl Power!

Even if I do say so myself, I should be up for the Laziest blogger Award, and totally win it hands down!

It has been way too long since I even logged on here - except of course, heading everyday to Kiersten White's hilarious and yet very informative posts.

Kiersten reminds me, her debut novel Paranormalcy can now be pre-ordered at Amazon. Or have I mentioned that before? Either way, you know I'm really excited for Paranormalcy cause I'm already in love with the way Kiersten weaves words!

What's up with me, though? Things have been slightly on the down side, but hopefully I'm back up.

OH - AND, of course, my query process has finally started. I'm so excited - and nervous. But it's good to be nervous, it does some good to be on your own guard.

I'm not detailing professional stuff here, obviously but I'm pretty chuffed right now.

The only other thing worth mentioning in my mind is how awesome it was that Kathryn Bigelow won Best director for The Hurt Locker, over her ex-husband James Cameron's Avatar. Not that I hate James Cameron - I can't after Titanic, come ON - but I'd like to call this defeat Karma: you should not go around stealing plots from Pocahontas, or refuse to sign autographs for fans and abuse them. Oh well. Whatever.

Girl power FTW!

The Bird Flies At Last

You know, my day's starting was so dull, I thought nothing could be more pathetic than moving around the city like a zombie, changing metros and then landing at the University.

Not until I had had the sense of putting in my microphones and tuning into some of Lady Gaga's tunes, and opening mobile web did I got the totally explosive news: the title of the third book in The Hunger Games trilogy is out!

I immediately got myself excused from the class (being as polite as a hyperventilating young adult could be) and rushed straight down to the college's study room.

MOCKINGJAY

So uber cool!

Also, the beautiful cover:


Do you realize something? Check out all the three covers below:



With the black cover, we had a story of no hope, desolation, blackness. With the fiery red cover we had the rebellion and extremities against the Capitol. What do we expect out of pale blue calmness?

Secondly, with each book, the mockingjay is getting more and more... alive? Until now on Mockingjay, it's actually flying away!

I've so many theories, I'll practically burst!

If you're a Hunger Games fan, don't forget to check out Hunger Games Network!

Detour #1

Often, I do take a detour from writing - like any other teen, who's neck deep in the last semester of first year in college and knows this is one term that'll make all the difference in the final grade.

THAT is not the point.

I just was appalled at this news that I came across yesterday morning: Chinese woman seeks “Jessica Alba” makeover to win back lover.

WUT? WUT?!

I am absolutely horrified at the length the woman is ready to go to for reasons unreasonable! I am not qualified to really express disapproval at her state. It is her personal matter, but as a fellow woman, I feel deeply for her.

You don't achieve love by hurting your autonomoy - that way you're forever more dependent on other(s) for love, life and your very existence.

Maybe this seems a completely unnecessary rant on my part, for you'd say, I'm a writer - what I am doing does not include looking good (haha), it involves brains and that's just about what I should be concerned about.

But I want to look good, too. I suppose a woman - every woman - wishes to look good, be it a writer or a model, for example: I think JK Rowling to be very pretty, and I think Tyra Banks to be pretty too.
They're both great women.

I really feel despondent sometimes when I see things like these in the media. But of course, being unhealthy isn't what you're supposed to be happy with, it's about finding the right balance.

Honestly, who defines 'ugly' or 'fat'? Is being either of those things from others' point of views worse than being, say, mean? evil? jealous?

I don't know what else to say, because there's nothing to explain on an idea like this, it just makes me feel more pathetic.

I hope - beyond hope - that young girls address themselves as respectable individuals rather than society dolls.

Exams over and Lilith's Back!

My exams are finally over, and it really made a difference to my daily schedule.I am back to my writings, and in the process of re-writing Chapter 5.

So, it begins again.

After I'd finished the first draft - 19th November, I got my oh-so-awesome friend - who we'll call O, to read it.

I shouldn't have. She was all praises for it - which is how I knew instantly that I need to work on it, badly. I recieved no critique, except the little "it's rushed". Did help, though.

O is too sweet, for her own good. And mine, in this case.

Anyways, I'm right now pretty happy with the way my latest revision of the query turned out. So, I'm taking a two-day break, in which I'm reading Hunger Games, again :D

Also, if you didn't know, an excerpt from the third book in Kelley Armstrong's The Darkest Powers series, titled The Reckoning can be read online for free!

Plus, as I had a bit too much free time, I googled up the sources of my story's mythologies and from the nooks and crannies found a photo that looks almost exactly what I imagined *someone* in my story looks like:




PS. NO. THERE. IS. NO. VAMPIRE. STILL.