I wrote a really Debbie Downer post earlier...

So I figured I'd re-post the playlist that got me through "Documentary" again. No one was reading this blog when I posted it HAHA. The links will take you to You Tube. 

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"

Today sucks

It's World Cancer Day.

My grandmother beat it. Her daughter, my aunt, didn't.

With all the gains we've made on the fighting cancer front, it still feels full of losses.

I know way too many people whose lives have been touched by this awful disease. Kids without parents. Wives without husbands. Brothers without sisters. All members of a club no one really wants to be a part of.

My cousin has spent the entirety of her teens without her mom. She's still just a kid. She's a strong, bright and kind kid, but she carries the burden of the loss with her every day. Her mom was her best friend. I held my cousin's hand five years ago in the hospital room when the doctors told us there was nothing more they could do. It's by far one of the worst days of my life. If not, the worst. It never leaves you. I can still smell the room sometimes and hear the sounds of the machines. I can't begin to imagine what it was like for her.

You just feel powerless when you see something like that. Makes you realize what it means to be human. Cancer killed 7.6 million people worldwide in 2008; my aunt included.

Goodness, this is so full of Debbie Downery, but I guess I keep hope alive today for my cousin... because maybe she won't have to be the 3rd generation of this cancer cycle. According to the National Cancer Institute, cancer rates are dropping for both genders, across ethnicity lines and for all different types of the disease.* Maybe we will all know of cancer deaths less and less. Maybe someday, for future generations, it will be like what polio is in the U.S. today.

Today is supposed to be about awareness and early detection. It's supposed to be about knowing how far we've come. There are curable cancers and a diagnosis isn't automatically a death sentence. There's a huge push for a healthier lifestyle these days so that we can reduce our risks as much as we can. All of these things give me hope.

I just want days like today to suck less.

 
* HPV-related cancers seem to be on the rise though.

Twenty-five reviews = ....?

Thank you to everyone reading "Documentary" =) And if you like it, please take the time to rate or write a review, or even drop me an email: ajajajsand@gmail.com. 

Speaking of reviews...
 
Twenty-five individual ratings and/or reviews total on Goodreads and Amazon, whether good, meh, bad (or good-challenged as I like to say), gets you a teaser from the follow-up to "Documentary."

 So even if you ABSOLUTELY HATED it and wish you had that Men in Black device to erase your mind back to the time before you read it, even if you straight up decide to DNF it, please help the people out who loved/liked it. It's a win-win! You get to say your piece and never see me again and they get a teaser!

What inspires...?

Kissing scenes.

Don't you just adore this picture?

This is honestly one of my FAVORITE parts of books and TV shows. KISSING! It's a pretty great activity, isn't it? =) 

 

So much goes into putting together a kissing scene for me, and I spend a lot of time looking at pictures of people kissing. Creepy, right? Totally. I have SO MANY kissing pictures from Tumblr and Pinterest on my laptop. I'm a pretty visual person, and although I'm a veteran kisser (lol), I really need to be aware of where people's hands are, how are they standing, whether they're standing or lying down, whether one person is more into it than the other, what the feeling is like in their chests and stomachs, the body language, what they might be thinking, what they were thinking before the kiss, whether they are kissing for the first time, whether they are kissing after a fight, whether it was an impulsive kiss or a make up kiss or a routine kiss, whether it will lead to sex, whether it is a good night kiss, whether they're drunk or sober, etc. All of that factors into how I approach this simple act when I'm writing it down.

Love it.

Here's my fave kissing scene between Kai and Dylan, obvi:

Gripping the back of his neck, Dylan pressed his lips against hers and her body mashed into his. She wanted to lose herself, fall into him. She wanted to sink into an abyss where this moment existed forever. And there was a kind of conviction behind the way he held her as he took control of the kiss, tipping her back until she was slightly off balance, and his fingers pressed into the base of her spine as his lips moved with voracity and a craving against hers, like he wanted not to consume, but meld with all the essence of her. Maybe it was even an unspoken declaration that he belonged to her. Dylan had never been kissed like this before, and she never wanted to be kissed again if it wasn’t this.

Friggin hot!

Hope you thought the kissing in "Documentary" was delish! 

(Photos taken from Pinterest and Tumblr, but I have no idea who owns the rights. Remember most photos are copyrighted, so if you take them, you'll be responsible for any violations. Much like I am lol)

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

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