For several reasons, I'm moving to wordpress.
1. I like being able to tag my posts with more than 3 labels.
2. Their blog creator is more secure.
3. I like it better.
You can now find me at www.courtneydiles.wordpress.com, where I will be posting every day for the rest of the summer.
Thank you so much for your readership!
Friday, June 26, 2009
Southeastern Writers Workshop Contest!
All right, I have to take this chance to recommend to all aspiring writers out there, if you're in the south, the Southeastern Writers Workshop is an ideal place to start. That's where I began my journey, and it has given me the boosts I need. I didn't understand why I needed to go to conferences, honestly, and I got much more than I bargained for. On my record now are:
The SWA Juvenile Writing Award - 2nd place and $30
The Smith Moseley Poetry Award - 2nd place and $30
The M.L. Brown Award for YA Lit - 3rd place and $10 (2008) & 1st place and $50 (2009)!
So those cash prizes aren't extravagant, but the thing is those awards are perfect credentials for a query letter. If you want to be published, people, build them up!
I'm going to be posting every day for the rest of the summer and quite often after that. Hold me to it, please! I don't mind nagging. =)
~Courtney
The SWA Juvenile Writing Award - 2nd place and $30
The Smith Moseley Poetry Award - 2nd place and $30
The M.L. Brown Award for YA Lit - 3rd place and $10 (2008) & 1st place and $50 (2009)!
So those cash prizes aren't extravagant, but the thing is those awards are perfect credentials for a query letter. If you want to be published, people, build them up!
I'm going to be posting every day for the rest of the summer and quite often after that. Hold me to it, please! I don't mind nagging. =)
~Courtney
Monday, February 2, 2009
Let's go again!
Status: Happy =)
What is the anime freak listening to now? Lips of an Angel by Hinder
Dream Diary: I dreamed about sparks.
Well, it's been a while. I've been concentrating my energy on my rewrite and my schoolwork, but I'll take a break and write a blog again.
I discovered a new method for breaking writer's block a few weeks ago. I used the Disney movie method, going back to the basics of telling a story. I watched Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Aladdin, etc.
I started noticing patterns between the movies. For example, the only main female character in the Disney realm who has a mother is Mulan, and she is not a princess. If you study the Disney princesses, none of them have mothers. Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora are orphans, and Jasmine, Ariel, and Belle each only have a father.
I think this is interesting.
Likewise, the Prince Charmings of Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora are generally characterless, but Aladdin, Eric, and the Beast are a little more interesting. I think I'm going to research a little more about Mr. Walt's life and times in accordance with these movies and report what I find out.
Till then,
Courtney
What is the anime freak listening to now? Lips of an Angel by Hinder
Dream Diary: I dreamed about sparks.
Well, it's been a while. I've been concentrating my energy on my rewrite and my schoolwork, but I'll take a break and write a blog again.
I discovered a new method for breaking writer's block a few weeks ago. I used the Disney movie method, going back to the basics of telling a story. I watched Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Aladdin, etc.
I started noticing patterns between the movies. For example, the only main female character in the Disney realm who has a mother is Mulan, and she is not a princess. If you study the Disney princesses, none of them have mothers. Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora are orphans, and Jasmine, Ariel, and Belle each only have a father.
I think this is interesting.
Likewise, the Prince Charmings of Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora are generally characterless, but Aladdin, Eric, and the Beast are a little more interesting. I think I'm going to research a little more about Mr. Walt's life and times in accordance with these movies and report what I find out.
Till then,
Courtney
Monday, October 13, 2008
Amendment to Dream Number One: Before I'm 20!!!
I am: in my Venturing uniform.
What's the anime freak listening to now? Leave out All the Rest by Linkin Park
Dream Diary: Dream Number One, Dream Number One!!!!
I had a confrontation with my dad today. I told him I don't want to be so involved in Venturing, that I'd rather dedicate that time to my book. Every once in a while I get panicked and anxious like this. In a way, it's desperation, but it's not reckless desperation; I channel it effectively. I like to call it printlust. Lol.
I feel rededicated to this chase today. As I told my dad, if I can get an agent this semester, I still could be on the shelf I turn 20. But I have to get an agent before my 18th birthday, and even that might cut it too close. . . .
I think he was impressed I had this calculated. He knows I'm giving my all to this.
What's the anime freak listening to now? Leave out All the Rest by Linkin Park
Dream Diary: Dream Number One, Dream Number One!!!!
I had a confrontation with my dad today. I told him I don't want to be so involved in Venturing, that I'd rather dedicate that time to my book. Every once in a while I get panicked and anxious like this. In a way, it's desperation, but it's not reckless desperation; I channel it effectively. I like to call it printlust. Lol.
I feel rededicated to this chase today. As I told my dad, if I can get an agent this semester, I still could be on the shelf I turn 20. But I have to get an agent before my 18th birthday, and even that might cut it too close. . . .
I think he was impressed I had this calculated. He knows I'm giving my all to this.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Getting Personal
Status: At school.
What's the anime freak listening to now? Nothing, I'm at school. But I have Lion King music stuck in my head.
Dream Diary: I was saving someone again. I forget the rest.
Wow. The"blockages" on the school computers are so messed up. I can sign into my blog, but I can't view it. So strange.
I'm writing to log a new development, another milestone! I started sending query letters last week. I've gotten four responses, all No's. Three standard and one personalized. Woot woot! Personalized rejections are supposed to be a good sign, especially when feedback is all positive. It's good to know that nothing is wrong with my query letter.
I still have five letters out there, three in cyberspace and two in FedEx trucks. Plodding right along!
Meanwhile, it's still sort of awkward doing all of these things as a high schooler. It forces me to take many things much more seriously: my ability to lead, my public speaking skills, my composure when I'm trying to act professional. I gotsa be a grown-up.
I'm President of my school's Writer's Club, and I'm trying to think of way to bring all the things I learned in the conference (soon to be conferences!) to them. I'm going to start making photocopies of the handouts and such I received and try to give a 5-minute lesson of some kind at the beginning of each meeting.
I'm also going to come up with monthly writing prompts. October: What was happening in the world on the day you were born? At certain landmark moments in your life? Did they affect you? Could they be symbolic in an autobiography? Do they have any relation to you at all?
Just a concept that fascinates me.
Well, the lunch bell is going to ring soon, so this author is out! ^_~
What's the anime freak listening to now? Nothing, I'm at school. But I have Lion King music stuck in my head.
Dream Diary: I was saving someone again. I forget the rest.
Wow. The"blockages" on the school computers are so messed up. I can sign into my blog, but I can't view it. So strange.
I'm writing to log a new development, another milestone! I started sending query letters last week. I've gotten four responses, all No's. Three standard and one personalized. Woot woot! Personalized rejections are supposed to be a good sign, especially when feedback is all positive. It's good to know that nothing is wrong with my query letter.
I still have five letters out there, three in cyberspace and two in FedEx trucks. Plodding right along!
Meanwhile, it's still sort of awkward doing all of these things as a high schooler. It forces me to take many things much more seriously: my ability to lead, my public speaking skills, my composure when I'm trying to act professional. I gotsa be a grown-up.
I'm President of my school's Writer's Club, and I'm trying to think of way to bring all the things I learned in the conference (soon to be conferences!) to them. I'm going to start making photocopies of the handouts and such I received and try to give a 5-minute lesson of some kind at the beginning of each meeting.
I'm also going to come up with monthly writing prompts. October: What was happening in the world on the day you were born? At certain landmark moments in your life? Did they affect you? Could they be symbolic in an autobiography? Do they have any relation to you at all?
Just a concept that fascinates me.
Well, the lunch bell is going to ring soon, so this author is out! ^_~
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Very First Query Letter EVAR
Status: FREAKED. OMFG holy fizzy taxijacking shoe cow.
What is the anime freak listening to now? A Whole New World from Aladdin
Dream Diary: Last week I was doing a paper on nuclear nonproliferation, and I dreamed that the United States had decided to go to war with North Korea. A bunch of high school kids were drafted, and we got phone calls saying, "Don't go to school tomorrow. Be at this-and-this park to launch the nuke. Don't tell anyone! ^_~" o.o
Well, I sent my very first query letter today. *gulp* Of course, I sent to Krisitin Nelson, my dream agent. Barry Goldblatt is a close second, but it was Ms. Nelson's website that told me to "Go to conferences" and I obeyed immediately--resulting in the two awards my book has now received. I've been keeping up with her blog for most of a year now, and I've quite possibly learned more about the publishing industry just from that than I have anything else.
Plus Ally Carter's voice in I'd Tell You I Love You, but then I'd Have to Kill You matches my own voice better than the voices of all the other books I've read for agent research.
*is FREAKED*
More query letters will soon be out there as well, of course. I just take a lot of time to personalize my letters, so I'd rather create them one at a time.
Not the best thing when I'm on such a tight schedule, I know. I realize that "before I'm twenty" is setting the bar a little high. I'm 17 and a half exactly today. . . . lol
Wish me luck! ^_~
What is the anime freak listening to now? A Whole New World from Aladdin
Dream Diary: Last week I was doing a paper on nuclear nonproliferation, and I dreamed that the United States had decided to go to war with North Korea. A bunch of high school kids were drafted, and we got phone calls saying, "Don't go to school tomorrow. Be at this-and-this park to launch the nuke. Don't tell anyone! ^_~" o.o
Well, I sent my very first query letter today. *gulp* Of course, I sent to Krisitin Nelson, my dream agent. Barry Goldblatt is a close second, but it was Ms. Nelson's website that told me to "Go to conferences" and I obeyed immediately--resulting in the two awards my book has now received. I've been keeping up with her blog for most of a year now, and I've quite possibly learned more about the publishing industry just from that than I have anything else.
Plus Ally Carter's voice in I'd Tell You I Love You, but then I'd Have to Kill You matches my own voice better than the voices of all the other books I've read for agent research.
*is FREAKED*
More query letters will soon be out there as well, of course. I just take a lot of time to personalize my letters, so I'd rather create them one at a time.
Not the best thing when I'm on such a tight schedule, I know. I realize that "before I'm twenty" is setting the bar a little high. I'm 17 and a half exactly today. . . . lol
Wish me luck! ^_~
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
I'm In Love with my Bad Guy
I am: watching this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY.
What is the anime freak listening to now? Other than that? No Good Deed from Wicked the Musical
Dream Diary: Can't remember. Although I recently dreamed about a massive set of headphones.
When I created the bad guy for my novel, Dravvind, I had no idea how deep and dynamic a character he would become. I always hoped he would evolve into something memorable, something truly terrifying, but back when I tried to make him those things, I pretty much failed.
Lately, however, he has evolved all on his own. He has thematic significance, beyond simple "power corrupts." The themes of insanity, obsessive love, family, and sacrifice are all inextricably bound to his character, and they are all themes I wanted in my book. His biggest theme, however, is the theme of human goodness. He is not pure evil, and he will profoundly prove that before the end.
Do other others get this fascinated by their bad guys? Their villains?
I know of quite a few works in which the villain is obviously dynamic and powerful in terms of impact. Wicked the Musical, for one. (I'm addicted to the soundtrack to that, and I'm dying to see it!) Star Wars, The Godfather, All the King's Men, Nineteen Minutes, Macbeth, nana nana na.... Yeah, bad guys are everywhere.
But which bad guys do you love?
Obviously, I have to kill my bad guy. I tried to get out of it, but one of my readers said "No way. He must die." Okay, I'll kill him. But I will make you cry when he dies. xP
What is the anime freak listening to now? Other than that? No Good Deed from Wicked the Musical
Dream Diary: Can't remember. Although I recently dreamed about a massive set of headphones.
When I created the bad guy for my novel, Dravvind, I had no idea how deep and dynamic a character he would become. I always hoped he would evolve into something memorable, something truly terrifying, but back when I tried to make him those things, I pretty much failed.
Lately, however, he has evolved all on his own. He has thematic significance, beyond simple "power corrupts." The themes of insanity, obsessive love, family, and sacrifice are all inextricably bound to his character, and they are all themes I wanted in my book. His biggest theme, however, is the theme of human goodness. He is not pure evil, and he will profoundly prove that before the end.
Do other others get this fascinated by their bad guys? Their villains?
I know of quite a few works in which the villain is obviously dynamic and powerful in terms of impact. Wicked the Musical, for one. (I'm addicted to the soundtrack to that, and I'm dying to see it!) Star Wars, The Godfather, All the King's Men, Nineteen Minutes, Macbeth, nana nana na.... Yeah, bad guys are everywhere.
But which bad guys do you love?
Obviously, I have to kill my bad guy. I tried to get out of it, but one of my readers said "No way. He must die." Okay, I'll kill him. But I will make you cry when he dies. xP
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