WMTG

I've been sort of noticing a decline in my optimism or even just general happiness lately and it's completely unjustifiable because my life, though hectic, is bordering on fantastic. So I don't know what brought about this silly mood, but I know what I'm going to do to change it.

Today I created WMTG - "What Made Today Great".

It's pretty self-explanatory, really. My plan is to take a few moments everyday and just think about the experiences or whatever that happened over the past twenty-four hours which made my day particularly great. I may include more WMTG posts in future, or I may just keep my personal affairs to myself... but where's the fun in that? haha

Anyway, the reason why I'm blogging about it today is to put the idea out there. In case anyone else is feeling the winter blues or going through some difficult times or school is already starting to stress you out - whatever your situation, I'm sure WMTG can't hurt it :)

So here's my WMTG for Thursday, January 12, 2012.

1) I made an amazing thrift store purchase today. Brand new H&M dress with the original tags and everything [ for dirt cheap! :D ]

2) 30 Rock has finally come back with their newest season! :)

3) I got to write Jan 12/12 at the top of all my notes in class today.

4) I came home to find that my mom had ordered my favorite take-out for dinner.

5) I went to the archery range for the first time in a few months.

6) My fortune cookie (from my above-mentioned favorite take-out) read: "Your present plans are going to succeed" ... which means I should really start making some plans to do something! lol

7) I finished my first assignment of the semester and handed it in.

And 8) My dad gave me some really great advice in the car on the way to archery. His words have already helped me breathe a lot easier.

What's really great is the fact that I could still add more to my list! It's funny, when you start to look for the good stuff, you'll usually find a lot more than you were expecting. I hope it's the same for you! Even if you can only find one thing that made your day a little brighter, then WMTG has helped.

I may not blog about it, but I think I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for things to put on my list tomorrow! Might I recommend you do the same? You won't regret it ;)

Keep it real!

The End?

I'm an avid reader of YA (young adult) fiction. Sometimes I call it research - that I'm studying the ways of authors who've succeeded in the genre I write for - but it's more than that. I find YA just contains my favorite writing style. Fast-paced, relatable and sympathetic characters, adventure, romance - yes, all of those things at once. It's quite the feat, really. But one thing I'm getting really tired of is the endings.

I just finished reading The Hunger Games (I literally couldn't put it down), but it's only the first novel of three. It ends... but not really. I'm satisfied... but I already plan to buy Book 2 over my lunch hour today. I came to the end of the book, but no where near the end of the story.

Whatever happened to the stand-alone book? It's like everything is a part of a series these days. Maybe this isn't the case for all book genres and my perspective's slightly skewed from never looking past YA, but it seems to me that movies are taking this direction too. Is it a money-grab? Is it because our attention spans have been shrinking as the years have progressed? Is it that our imaginations have shrunk too? We can't think of our own stories for our favorite characters and we like them too much to let them go so we expect the author to continue their stories endlessly?

This series idea seems novel, though when viewed within the history of the story itself, 'new' can even encompass the last few decades, if not more. Look at J.R.R Tolkien. His publisher was given one giant book (granted, it was divided into nine parts - but it was meant to be sold as one story) and he decided to make it into a series of three books. Why?

I'll admit, the aspiring author in me has plenty of series ideas up her sleeve. But I miss the C.S. Lewis series. The way The Chronicles of Narnia contains seven books, but each can function as a stand-alone book. I like reading the words 'The End' and knowing that it really is the end. That the good guys will stay out of trouble, for the most part; that the bad guys have really, seriously been vanquished. My brother and I watched the third Transformers the other day and found it hysterical that they've managed to drag out the same villain for all three movies. Megatron just can't die. It's funny until you think to yourself, "Really? That's the best we can do?" Again, it's Michael Bay so I know it isn't the best our society can do - at least, not when it comes to story.

Don't get me wrong, I loved The Hunger Games, and if it's my money they want, it's my money they'll get. This afternoon at 1 o'clock, I'll be purchasing my copy of Catching Fire and, if it's on sale, Mockingjay. But I just miss the old-fashioned ending...

Is that what it is? Old-fashioned? To say 'it is finished' and actually mean it?

Anyway, I need to get to work so I can make some money to feed my reading addiction...

Keep it real!

out there

Alright, I've got good news and bad news.

Let's start with the bad news first 'cause I'd much rather end on a good note.

The bad news is that I heard back from the agent who'd shown an interest in my book and she said she won't be taking me or my story on right now. Of course, there's an excellent silver lining to this - she gave me some critiques on my story and I actually agreed with all of them. In fact, what she said encouraged me to finally do the thing I've been wanting to do but have been to afraid to actually follow through with... and that is to completely re-write my book. Starting from chapter one, page one.

It's an incredibly daunting task, to be sure, but it's definitely what I want to do. I began writing my book almost three years ago and in those three years I've changed so much in a zillion different ways and my maturing writing style (though my blog is hardly a good example of it) is only one of those changes... though I'll admit, it's the one of greatest prevalence to this situation.

Also - sidenote, part of this decision was borne from a lecture I went to a few months ago where I heard Kelley Armstrong (best-selling author) speak. She said that she wrote her first novel over the course of about seven years, finally thought it was good enough to be submitted to an agent, found an agent and then she and her agent decided it was actually the best idea to scrap what she had and start from scratch. Keeping the characters and the same general story, she went at it and produced what is now Bitten. So I'll be taking a page out of her book (not literally, though I do like her writing). I'm beginning the process again with all the knowledge I've gained over the last three years. Knowledge about writing, stories, drama, etc, but also the knowledge of my own characters. It'll be fun to see them in completely different situations that still tell the same story I set out to write in April of 2009.

Anyway, that's the bad news (with a bit of optimistic flare), so here comes the good news (and the reason for my blog post's vague title).

A short story of mine is going to be published! Although, it's on an online journal dealy, so I like the term 'out there' more than 'published'. Also, I had told myself that on the day I become a published author, I'll be getting the quill tattoo I've been hankering for, but it doesn't feel like the right time yet... thus, 'out there' is all my story is for the time being.

The story will actually be going up tomorrow (November 8, 2011). And the website is Commuter Lit. This is how the site's editor described my story in a nut shell:

"A tap on her shoulder in a grocery store line up, penetrates a young woman’s numbness. Losing Him by new contributor Larissa Benfey."

So... do me a solid and check it out :)

But I think that's it as far as news, good or bad, goes. That rewrite I referred to earlier? I'm already three pages in and have, like, pages and pages of notes, so to say I'm really excited about it would be putting it lightly. I'll keep you updated on that and any other writing slash acting slash modeling fun times that occur in the near future! Although, right now it looks as though I'll be bogged down with school work for the rest of eternity... someone please point out the light at the end of the tunnel! Mine's fading into oblivion!! :P

Okay, I'm going to go now... I'm far too behind in my readings to spend another minute doing anything else!

Keep it real!

shake, rattle & roll

I don't think my dad realizes that when I walk around the house in a sweater with the hood up, hunched shoulders and the fluffiest slippers you can imagine, it means I'm cold.

But I am.

I'm very cold. And it's becoming a re-occuring theme all of a sudden. Which can only mean one thing...

Winter is upon us.

It's only two months (to the day!) until Christmas. Two. Months. Can you believe it? If I wasn't so cold, I'd be pretty excited. I mean, let's be honest - I've been listening to Christmas carols for a good three weeks now.

Still, as much as I day dream about hot chocolates and glistening sunlight on freshly fallen snow, my mind can't help but reverting back to thinking, "Why can't I feel my toes?!"

And this is me indoors. Which brings me back to my father.

I caught him outside the other day (when I managed to shuffle out of my room in my warmest sweater and pajama pants), just sitting on one of the muskoka chairs on our porch. I asked him what he was doing. "Cooling off," was his only response. The sad thing is, he hadn't come from a run or a work out - he'd just been working at his desk inside. But apparently the 'heat' was too much for him. The same 'heat' that makes me afraid to leave my bed in the morning for fear of frostbite.

Oh, the joys of having a father (aka thermostat controller) with an internal heater!

If you're wondering where I am this winter when you're out having a snowball fight or ice skating or snowboarding... I'll be cuddled up in my bed, too terror-stricken to venture out into the cold hallway and further out into the probably warmer outdoors.

Lucky for me I've got enough movies to last a lifetime and a new bar-fridge in my room, so I can afford to begin hibernating a bit earlier this year! Of course, you won't get rid of me that easily - my computer gets warm enough to roast marshmellows over... which is probably a bad thing, but it sure beats last year's 'middle-of-the-room-garbage-can-fire'! ;)

Keep it real!

good news!

So... I was trying to come up with an eloquent way of relaying this information to the world, but it's past midnight and I'm running on three hours of sleep and way too much chocolate, so my brain just isn't functioning. Therefore, all I can muster are the blunt facts.

Remember how I always drone on and on about being an aspiring writer? How I've written a novel, tried to market it to agents, given up, reworked it, started writing another novel, etc etc? Well, I got some pretty exciting news last week. But let me just rewind a little further so I can fill in any gaps first.

In April of 2009, I started writing a novel. By about October of that same year, I found out about a competition for aspiring writers where the winner walked away with a publishing contract, so I started working on my novel everyday and finished the first draft by December 22, 2009. The competition closed on the 31st, so I literally just made the deadline.

In April of 2010, I found out that I didn't win. Somehow, that wasn't enough to discourage me though.

Fast forward a few more months and my novel was on its fourth draft. I'd let a few people read parts of it and was starting to learn how to take criticism, but - more importantly - I felt it was time to give the idea of getting it published another shot. I found ten different agencies in Toronto and queried each one. By now it was almost the end of the year again, so the fact that I'd lost the competition had lost its sting and I was once again feeling hopeful.

But with the new year came rejection letter after rejection letter and my hopes sunk again.

For a while I chipped away at it, but it was drawing close to the two year anniversary of its beginnings and after two years - especially for a commitment-o-phobe like me - it was becoming more and more difficult to keep the passion alive. So I started working on something new, brushing my first novel off to the side.

Once in a while I'd come back to it and try to make a chapter more interesting or take out some needless adjectives, but as far as I was concerned, I had bigger and better things to worry about. It had served its purpose by sparking the realization that I was interested in writing, so if it did nothing else, that would be enough.

And then May 2011 hit.

I received an email from one of the agents I had queries months earlier saying that the synopsis sounded interesting, so they were requesting the first five chapters. Extactic, I looked at my first five chapters and realized they could be so much better - so I rewrote them and sent them off.

Of course, once I had rewritten the first five chapters, it only stood to reason that I rewrite the rest of them. And that's what I did.

Month after month passed and I hadn't heard anything from the agency who had requested my chapters, but I figured that was okay. I has now on the fifteenth draft of my novel and it was four hundred times better than the first few drafts had been, so even if the agency disappeared into thin air, I'd still be a happy camper.

Now let's jump to October 14th 2011.

I was sitting in my car, parked in the driveway having just come home from a long day at work when I decided to check my email on my (amazingly brilliant) iPhone. My inbox told me that I had an email from the agency I had thought must've just fallen into a black hole since I hadn't heard from them in so long.

I prepared myself for the worst. The, "thank you for sending us your chapters, but I'm afraid this book isn't for us" shpiel I'd gotten so used to reading.

Instead, I saw the most glorious sentence a writer could ever read: "I've read your first five chapters and I'd like to take a look at the rest of your manuscript."

I think I may have squealed. I'm not even joking.

Needless to say, the past few days have been spent making sure my manuscript is the best it could be, and as of last night, the manuscript has been sent off.

So it's back to the waiting game.

But it feels a lot more exciting this time. And a lot less hopeless.

Of course, getting an agent is basically still a part of the first step in the publishing process. If this agency decides to take me and my book on as a client, it still doesn't mean a publishing company will chose to pick it up - and then, of course, the book stores can chose not to put it on their shelves. So there's a long was still to go, but it's really cool that I've made it past rejection alley.

Anyway, I thought I'd mention all this in case anyone's interested in what the journey's like for a story to go from idea to book. If mine ever makes it as far as book, you can bet your bottom that the whole process will be recored on my blog. Beginning, obviously, with today. Though I have been taking you through a lot of the ups and downs in previous blog posts...

But I just realized how long this post is - and the fact that it's one in the morning and I have to work tomorrow - so I'm going to end it there.

Keep it real! :)

lights...camera...

Not so much action. Mostly just talking. But not too much, don't worry. Just check it out!

Oh, and I may have exagerated my editing skills... this hasn't been edited at all.

Aaaand, yeah.

:) Keep it real!

muay thai!

Have you heard of the new perfume by Chanel called 'Muay Thai'?! It's totally rad, man. I bought, like, five bottles the second they hit the shelves...

Not!

This blog is titled 'Muay Thai' because it's about Muay Thai - the real Muay Thai. As in, the mixed martial art that I'm told some people in the UFC are trained in. Oh, and me. Yep - I'm now going to make the list of people trained in Muay Thai. Yesterday was my first class. And can I just say,

Owww!

My ENTIRE BODY is sore today. Literally. Every. Muscle. Aches. Except maybe my fingers, which is why I'm even able to write this post.

But despite the stiff, ache-y muscles, I am in love.

We started off with a warm up. At least, that's what my instructor called it. I call it 10x more of a work out than I've ever done in my life. Forty-five minutes later (I was sweating buckets), we actually started in on the learning of fun martial art stuff.

To say it was intense would be putting it lightly. When we were doing our boxing stuff (like jab, cross, kick, etc), any time any class member dropped their hands away from their fighting stance, the entire class would have to do ten push ups. I can now say that I've been told to "drop and gimme ten". Which - contrary to most people, I'm sure - is something I've always wanted to hear. :)
So if you see me not sitting for the next few days, it's because it's too painful to move that many muscles at once. And the floor is so bloody far.

And yet next Saturday I'll be driving to my second Muay Thai class with a big fat grin on my face, eager for more.

There's just something about training the body - I find it fascinating. My instructor (his name is Kevin) doesn't make us do push ups and sit ups and crunches and skipping (and everything else under the sun!) because it will give us sweet abs or make us lose ten pounds. He does it to keep us in peak condition so that we can do more. Not look hotter or whatever other reasons people have for losing weight and getting fit. And when I find myself being able to do more, it feels so amazing. Just the fact that I made it through the entire warm up yesterday made me feel fantastic. Because I knew there was absolutely no way I would have been able to get through it if I had tried it a year ago. But since I've been training my body and keeping it healthy, I was able to keep up.

And then there's always the bonus of a certain confidence that accompanies most martial arts. Knowing that I could defend myself if I'm ever in the wrong place at the wrong time? Pretty dern sweet if you ask me.

So yeah. First archery, now Muay Thai. I'm loving all these new discoveries I'm stumbling upon.

Which reminds me.

General public, here is my statement to you: get out there and find something incredible to do! Make discoveries and go on adventures and just DO things. Because you only have one life. And it has so much potential for awesomeness.

:D

I'm still on a bit of a 'work-out high' I think. They're pretty much the best.

Anyway, I'm going to go write a book. So...

Keep it real!

curiosity killed the cat

And, quite unfortunately, it also killed my afternoon.

Remember that movie bucket list I spoke of oh so long ago? Well, I've been slowly but surely watching the movies from that list, but I'm beginning to think what started out as a fun idea is becoming a bit of a chore. And it's movies we're talking about here! They've never been a chore to me!

It started with Annie Hall a few months ago and culminated in the headache that was Breakfast at Tiffany's just this afternoon. Needless to say, I've made the discovery that I am very much a product of my time. I have very little patience - if I'm going to be staring at a screen for two hours of my day, there'd better be something worthwhile about it.

...Here's my idea of a good basic story: there's a clear beginning, a clear middle and an end. Within that there should be one or two likable characters - maybe even loveable, but I can deal with just liking them. At least one of these characters should have some sort of purpose to their lives and the story as a whole should probably have a conceise point. Sure, call me German, but I do like a little logic to my storytelling.

Annie Hall met none of those criteria.

And, the lingering headache confirms that Breakfast at Tiffany's didn't meet any of 'em either.

I know, I know - they're classics.

But I don't think I care about whether or not it's a classic - just tell me a good story and I'm yours, Hollywood.

I know I haven't dissected any plots in this movie review, but that's because there are no plots to dissect. Which is just hurting me inside. Both Annie Hall and Breakfast at Tiffany's had main characters who were all over the place in all the worst ways and the "plot" was much the same. One thing happened, then another, then another - no connections, no purpose, no nothing but a migraine on my part.

I apologize to everyone who loves the classics, and these two in particular... I know it's just a matter of differing tastes. But please never put me in the same room as either of these movies ever again.

At least Breakfast at Tiffany's had a dashing leading man. I can't say the same for Annie Hall, but I guess that's neither here nor there.

I need to go do something. After spending 2 hours watching nothing happening but pretty people having fun on a movie set... I need to get rid of some of this pent up energy. Apparently when high expectations come crashing down, it makes me a little wired.

I may have to wait a while before I take on the task of watching another "classic". Until then,

Keep it real!