April 11, 2011
What's on Pandora: Adiemus, Dawn Dancing| Adiemus III: Dances of Time
What's on the Nightstand: John Campbell|Hero with a Thousand Faces
Save the Words Word of the Day: Locupletative (adj) tending to enrich
Amongst the many suggestions to, I finally picked up John Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces. Friends, peers and colleagues suggested I do so after they had started reading the atrociously long and complicated rough draft that is The Last Scion, the first Shadows Saga book. While TLS has religious overtones, it is not a book about the dawning, craft or practice of any one religion. Nor does it explore man's entwined spirit with anything devine. However, it is an epic adventure story, one of heroes, antiheroes and battles amongst good and evil, even with the "good" are just not as "evil" a group as the antagonists. With that being said, and for those who don't know the history of TLS, it is a story that is the compilation of nearly two decades of whimsical writing more based on character study than that of what they are-otherworldly beings touched by the planes beyond this world's realm.
Since reading and nearly finishing Hero with a Thousand Faces, if TLS wasn't nearly two decades worth of time, research and fun writing, I'd scrap it. I don't want to say it is so cliche it is not worth continuing as I can see now that the concept and story line is nothing new.
What I CAN say about it is, it is written differently than what IS similar to the type of stories out there. I can also say I know now I can change this from being a historical literary epic vision to a story more about the characters and their ability to overcome tyrrany in a historical setting and a damned creature learns from humanity.
Posted by Michelle Smith. Posted In : What I'm doing
March 25, 2011
What's on the Night Stand: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood & The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larson What's on Pandora: Adiemus, by Karl Jenkins from the album: The Journey--The Best of AdiemusSave the Words word of the Day: Panchymagogue (n) medicine purging body fluids from the body. 100 Things about Me,
okay 56 because I couldn’t think of 100 things.
You must know,
obviously, if you read the “posted” by in the blogs, my name is not really MV
Merchant. It is of course a pseudo... Continue reading...
Posted by Michelle Smith. Posted In : Who, What, Where, When, Why
March 22, 2011
What's on the nightstand: Nothing but dust and dirty tissues. Catching up on industry news and friends' blogs. What's on Pandora: Elegia by Adiemus| The Journey....the Best of AdiemusSave the Words Word of the Day (don't let good words die, rotate them into your vocabulary!): tortiloquy N| Dishonest or immoral speech.
Blog, (what a funny word, I know, it's a hybridized mash up of web log, but still, weird word) I apologize, I do not feel like I am obligated to you. In a good way. But it seems... Continue reading...
Posted by Michelle Smith. Posted In : What I'm doing
February 21, 2011
Dear Margaret So many of my friends have sung your praises. One of them being my muse featured in the margin over there to the right. The Blind Assassin is one of her literary favorites. I loved your story Children of Men**. Granted, I have done a horrible thing, and, as a writer, I should be ashamed. I have not read the book. What I know of your story is from the movie with Clive Owen. But, first, in my defense: CLIVE OVEN. OVEN? OWEN. See? I get so excited about him I can't even spell his na... Continue reading...
Posted by Michelle Smith. Posted In : Daily rant
February 12, 2011
With Ulterior Motive at a friend's who is an editing whiz (she should do this professionally!) and the Gingerbread Man currently being reviewed and critiqued by friends/fellow writing colleagues, the question is, which manuscript should I tackle next? It could take a few months before Ulterior Motive is back to me to rewrite, and same with the Gingerbread Man so querying them might actually not be feasible until beginning of 2012. Perhaps that's not a bad thing. With so many literary agent pow... Continue reading...
Posted by Michelle Smith. Posted In : What I'm doing
January 14, 2011
Boy, are literary agents busy with the New Year Resolutions of aspiring authors... I wonder what they'd say if my query started with: Yup. You've found another New Years Resolution to submit a query in your slush pile. I did that once. Not ever again. Though, my astrology chart tells me this week is the PERFECT time to submit a manuscript. Or so I interpret. Continue reading...
Posted by Michelle Smith. Posted In : What I'm doing
December 12, 2010
Because 2011 will be the Year of the Query, I've been doing the usual lather, rinse, repeat polishing and editing of the first of the two manuscripts I want to submit. The first being Ulterior Motive. I've not touched it since my rewrite of earlier in the year, looking at it with fresh eyes has helped my discerning editorial and growing writing skills continue to chop it into a flowing, tightly written story. I've also come to realize that reading it in paper form, rather than at the computer... Continue reading...
Posted by Michelle Smith. Posted In : What I'm doing
November 13, 2010
As I writer, it's cringe-worthy when such dubious buzzwords are inducted into the dictionaries like McJob and soul patch while other words, albeit archaic, whither away into extinction such as tudiculate, which means to pound or bruise. Now see, tudiculate is a descriptive word with a purpose! The working breed of vocabulary. What we have now our ridiculous words that seem to be hallmarks of are hallmarks of a pop-culture saturated society. But there is one word that I've come to love and hat... Continue reading...
Posted by Michelle Smith. Posted In : What I'm doing
October 3, 2010
So, I'm giving some manuscripts--those I'm planning on selling hard next year--one final read through and spit-shine polish before I start crafting my queries. I read somewhere that as some part of a New Years resolution, agents get slammed with queries at the beginning of the year and during the holiday season. It's often contributed to that age-old ritual of "this will be the year" mentality and just having enough time to breathe during Christmas vacation to send of a query like a shot in t... Continue reading...
Posted by Michelle Smith. Posted In : What I'm doing
September 16, 2010
This year my writing world has been productive. More productive than it has been in the last 3 1/2 years (basically since I started & finished my bachelor's program). This summer I made it a point to get more involved in the industry. I read from the genre I love to write in and completed the entire Sigma Force series, the entire Millennium series (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series), and tried as best I could to get through Oryx and Crake. I'm all for a apocalyptic stories, whether the ... Continue reading...
Posted by Michelle Smith. Posted In : What I'm doing
|
The Writer
|
My daily rantings and ramblings on the epic journey of becoming published.
|
|
