Dress Like Dylan!!

 I don't in any way want to trivialize or make light of what happens in "Documentary" because it is something that is very important to me in terms making sure we never stop talking about it and no one who has been there ever feels like no one else recognizes their stories. But I want to make sure I can still talk about the relationships and the romance and the friendships and every thing else, too.

Switching gears, I wanted to talk about how incorporating fashion into my characters' lives is something I love to do because I am a stereotypical girl when it comes to clothes. I LOVE THEM.

So, I've started this Pinterest board with some of the fashions that were mentioned throughout the book, and also just some pictures that inspired me for some of the looks. Basically, in my mind, the way I thought Dylan would dress. You can access the Pinterest board on the right sidebar too.

Here are some instances where clothes were mentioned:

 At the charity party: scooped out back mini dress

At the venue in New York: Black sweater, red skinny jeans and black pumps

Orlando at Velvet: sheer top, black skinny jeans, black booties, cropped leather jacket

Vegas: One sleeve mini dress

At Wintervention Redux: romper

I don't know if people really care about this, but I tend to pay attention to clothes when I'm watching a show on TV. I'm going to list my most favorite stylish TV ladies:

"Lifetime Achievement Award" -- Serena Van Der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf, Gossip Girl (taking the torch from Sex and the City)

Emily Thorne, Revenge (first season especially)

Naomi Clark, 90210

All the girls on The Lying Game

Aria Montgomery, Pretty Little Liars

Spencer Hastings, Pretty Little Liars

 I think that's it (I watch a ton of TV!)!

Anyway, follow the board if you like! If there's a lot of interest, I'll definitely do something related to fashion, the book and a contest! =)

Sometimes I read: CRASH by Nicole Williams

 (For the record, I'm not a book reviewer by any means. I'm just super peppy and chipper and positive--a wee bit sarcastic and irreverent--and overall I love sharing good things. I will never tell you I didn't like something about a book because often times, there isn't anything I didn't like (I'm THAT girl), and honestly, what I didn't like is my issue, and I shouldn't influence you with negativity--unless it's about myself because I think it's funny when I make fun of me. One can never take themselves too seriously. I prefer to influence you about the good things with other authors!)

Crash is the first book of a trilogy about the love between two teens. 

 
Here's my 4 sentence summary:

Lucy, ballerina and daughter of emotionally distant parents, meets resident bad boy Jude. Jude and Lucy fall for each other pretty hard. Perfect, right? Except for that thing they both don't know that they both know yet.

AH, YOUNG LOVE!!

My three favorite things about the book:

1) There's a bad boy: Is there more to say about this? I mean, really. And Jude is smarter and sweeter than he gives himself credit for.
 
2) Secrets: I actually gasped. I'm a gasper. I love a good reveal, and I gave Nicole Williams an imaginary high five. 

3) Lucy's mom: Nicole Williams brought the hurt with this character. My insides would twist every time this woman spoke. I would actually start cowering when she hit the page. Wow. Sometimes, I want it to burn. And it burns.

Goodreads

I'm offish on Goodreads. Add me as a friend.

Kai's POV -- UPDATED!

Josh Bowman, but pretty much my ideal Kai White in the looks department

 I've been thinking about writing from Kai's point of view lately...because he started out as this shallow party boy in my head. The story went way differently back then before it evolved into what it is now. But then I kept wondering what his story really was.

Here are some Kai POV stuff. Short but fun I think. And there's Wes. =)

http://ajswritingreallyblows.blogspot.com/2013/02/bonus-scene-kai-and-wes.html

http://ajswritingreallyblows.blogspot.com/2013/02/kai-wes-bonus-scene-spoiler-if-youre_8.html

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who picked up "Documentary" already. I hope you like/d it. If so, please write a review, and please follow the blog or me on twitter:  They're lonely. When I get to twenty followers on either, I'll post a teaser from the next book. In the mean time, check out the playlist if you haven't already. I'll post which scenes they coordinate with in a later post.

Florence + The Machine - "Seven Devils"

Blue Foundation - "Eyes on Fire" (Unless you've been living under a rock the last few years, this song should sound pretty familiar) 

Ed Sheeran - "Autumn Leaves"

Ed Sheeran - "Give Me Love"

Andrew Belle - "In My Veins" 

Joshua Radin - "Winter"

Snow Patrol - "New York"

Lady Antebellum - "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"  

Fail.

"Documentary" was up on Amazon, but due to some tech difficulty either on Amazon's part or mine, it's down again. Probably their fault. Blah, but hopefully, it'll be back up again soon.

Look who joined Twitter?

Me: http://twitter.com/ajajajsand

And, of course, I'm starting with the obligatory: "Hello, world" tweet. =)

Follow if you like. The gadget to add tweets to one's blog is down according to blogger, so I can't do that just yet, but soon.

I have a small Abbi Glines obsession

 Because how can you not?   

And by small, I mean "huge and crazy." 

Screen shot of my Abbi Glines books on my Kindle app:

 
The Vincent Boys was the first book of hers I ever read and I've been hooked since then. And of course I fell for the very much in high school Beau Vincent. Because how can you not?

(For the record, I'm not a book reviewer by any means. I'm just super peppy and chipper and positive--a wee bit sarcastic and irreverent--and overall I love sharing good things. I will never tell you I didn't like something about a book because often times, there isn't anything I didn't like, and honestly, what I didn't like is my issue, and I shouldn't influence you with negativity--unless it's about myself because I think it's funny when I make fun of me. One can never take themselves too seriously. I prefer to influence you about the good things with other authors!)

The Vincent Boys: 

(You can't actually look inside because I lazily pulled the image from Amazon and violated all sorts of copyright laws, I'm sure).

Here's my 3 sentence summary:

Ashton, and cousins Beau and Sawyer have been friends since they were kids, but Ashton is dating Sawyer as a teen now and has become estranged from Beau. With Sawyer out of town for awhile, Ashton and Beau re-connect in a way that goes beyond friendship. Sawyer comes home.

JUICY!!

My three favorite things about the book:

1) The Southern details: Southern boys... HELLO! I've dated a few (dating one now lol), so I recognize them when I see them! This is clearly a woman who knows a thing or two about a twang, old trucks, creeks, field parties and drawls. A southern girl lives inside of me and she wants this life!

 
2) Abbi's keen ability to capture the joys of falling for someone when you're young, and especially when what you're doing will ultimately hurt someone else. She made it easy to empathize with their situation because the feelings go deep. I thought she really showed how tough it was for these two people who want to be together so badly but will destroy someone else in the process, and that struggle. There's nothing romantic about a love triangle ever, IMO...even if it's between Salvatore brothers, by the way.

3) High school. Ick. Loved mine, but soooo glad it's over. Mean girls galore in this book. I thought Abbi did a good job of showing how vicious girls can be to each other sometimes. There are scenes that just break my heart for Ashton.

So anyway, read it, love it, come back for more of me acting crazy over Abbi!

welcome! hello!

Oh my gosh! Welcome to my blog, and I hope you're here because you liked "Documentary."

Um, let's see... what to expect...

1. I'm a reader as much as a writer so I plan to talk about all the books I've read/I'm reading. I'm not a reviewer so it won't be a review or anything close, just me chatting about the books.

2. Giveaways. Maybe you haven't read "Documentary" yet and you want to win it... cause you're like, "Girl, I don't know you. Your book might suck...and still I want to read it, but only for free." I totally get it.

3. Sneak peeks and teasers so you should definitely follow the blog! Those are always fun, right?! "Documentary" is the first of a series, but some of the books will be standalones, if that makes sense. Probably not. I wrote a book full of characters I want to explore more so who knows how long it'll go. The easiest way to get the sneak peek and to get them faster is to follow. So share the book if you like it because I'll definitely post teasers when I reach following milestones. I'll post the prologue to the next book when I'm at 20 followers.

4. Playlists. I have one for "Documentary" and it's right below this one! I think it's pretty cool. 

5. Lots of things that inspire me. 

6. Things about me. This will be boring. Almost as much as my writing. I should get twitter.

Well, that's it for now!! Thank you for reading "Documentary," thank you for being interested in it and if you're here because you somehow heard about it by perusing the internet, cool!

Documentary Playlist.

I'm pretty sure no one is actually reading this blog, which is hilarious to me, but when I'm talking to myself at least I'm talking to someone who wants to hear/see me talk, right? 

Anyway, here's the playlist for Documentary. In another post, I'll say which scenes they specifically go along with for me, but I want to wait so as to not spoil my own story 'cause that would be really AWK. I adore all these songs, and they really really helped me find a way to connect to what was going on between my characters and setting up the scenes. Hope you like them!!

Florence + The Machine - "Seven Devils"

Blue Foundation - "Eyes on Fire" (Unless you've been living under a rock the last few years, this song should sound pretty familiar) 

Ed Sheeran - "Autumn Leaves"

Ed Sheeran - "Give Me Love"

Andrew Belle - "In My Veins" 

Joshua Radin - "Winter"

Snow Patrol - "New York"

Lady Antebellum - "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"

That's it, officially. Enjoy.