Wattpad Writing Contest

Hi, friends!

Wattpad is holding a contest called #ToAllTheBoysContest and I’ve made an entry.

You are restricted to 500 words or less to write your crush a letter professing your feelings for them.

See, I’m a taken women who’s very in love with her man, so I can’t relate to having a crush. So, instead, I’ve written a letter as a fictional character. It ended up perfectly lining up with an old story I wrote, so even if I don’t win, I’m going to continue the story.

I am curious to see what you think of it. Please take a look and comment your feelings on it–and heck, if you like it, please give it a vote!

Link to the Wattpad story here: Goodbye, Nolan

Thank you, thaaaank you! And if you have a story on Wattpad you’d like me to read, please leave the link below in the comments!

Operation: Aspiration – Chapter Three

New chapter posted on Wattpad!

Find it here!

https://www.wattpad.com/613868845-operation-aspiration-chapter-two

 

Operation: Aspiration – A Wattpad Story

After years of talking about it, I finally did it! I have begun my web series “Operation: Aspiration” on Wattpad!!!

It’s a story I started over ten years ago inspired after my own move to New York City when I was eighteen. I, too, dreamt of being a Broadway star. I had created Devina to live vicariously through her.
New York City is forever my favorite and I am going to have so much fun sharing her story with you all.

Quick Blurb:
Devina has spent a lifetime dreaming about moving to the center of the universe, New York City, to perform on the grandest stages of all, Broadway. After years of internal debate, she finally decides to take the leap of faith to the opposite corner of the country and begins her new life chasing a dream. Follow along and experience the struggles, the friendships, the romance, and joys as Devina encounters them herself.

Every Saturday I’ll post a new chapter, but be on the lookout for additional, bonus chapters throughout the week.

I want to thank everyone who has kept me motivated to chase my own dream, writing.

Link to the story: Operation: Aspiration – On Wattpad
My Facebook page: Sky Tillery on Facebook
My Goodreads profile: Sky Tillery on Goodreads

Be on the lookout on my pages for giveaways!

Journal Post — June 12th 2017

How is it already June? This is why I can’t have nice things.

I make a writing goal, it goes splendid for the first few months, and then–BAM. Middle of the year slump due to inevitable procrastinating because .  . . THINGS are HAPPENING and my mind becomes a black hole where brainstorms go to die and vanish.

*clears throat*

All right, that was a tad over-dramatic–but for real–how is it already June?

Progress Update: My Young Adult book I was trying to complete before the end of this year was nearly finished and at a vital moment in the story, I was finally able to identify that nagging feeling I had throughout the writing process. My main character, Jasmine, wanted to speak for herself. So what did I do? I went back and re-wrote the ENTIRE book in first person . . . present tense. I blame Jasmine for it all. She’s just as stubborn as I am.

This brings me to my question for this month: As a reader, do you enjoy reading in first person/present tense? Do you loathe it? Or do you not mind either way? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Thank you!

Let’s Chat: Music with Writing and Other Muses

Art by Hanne Lore Koehler

There’s something magical about music. It has the ability to translocate you to another place and time, to uproot emotions you’ve felt so long ago, and help you feel parts of your soul you never knew existed. These are some of the reasons why I am able to write as I have a playlist of my favorite melodies playing in the background.
That’s not saying I absolutely can’t write in total peace, because I can; I just have a stronger connection to the words I feel in my heart as I put them onto a page, out of the mouths of the characters that are born from some of my deepest emotions that are reminded by a simple tune, or lyrics with a familiar story.

Music isn’t my only muse, but it’s definitely one of the top drivers for me.

Other factors of inspiration for me are: being out in the sun surrounded by nature; or hanging out by a window during a loud storm; the impression people leave on me when we first meet; and so many more than I can list right now.

Here are some of my questions for you:

1) Maybe music isn’t what drives you. What keeps your muse alive?

2) Do you prefer absolute silence when you write, or do you have a song playing softly in the background? Or maybe both work for you?

3) Can you remember the first story you ever wrote? What inspired you?

Have any questions for me? Post below! Let’s have some fun! 

Random Journal Post: Why I Write

A passion for writing seems to be in my blood; I was born to write.

My family is full of composers, poets and storytellers–I suppose it was only natural when I came into this world, my love for the written word would be instant. Today’s random, silly ramble, is all about the reasons why I love to write.

I write when there is nothing better to do; I write because there is nothing better to do.

I write when my mind travels to far off places; I write because I dream to visit many places.

I write when my heart aches; my heart aches when I cannot write.

 

 

 

 

I write when there is a song in my heart; writing keeps the song in my heart. 

 

 

 

 

 

I write things that I will never be, because writing gives me the power to be anyone I please.

I write when romance strikes a chord in my heart. When I feel loved, I take my pen and pour my heart onto paper to remember and cherish every beautiful moment.

I write when mystery lingers in the shadows, to discover what awaits on the other page that kept me on my toes.

 

 

Art by bjornbarend

I write when my heart races, a dream of monsters with many faces.

 

 

I write when I feel lost, because I know within the words I write, my heart’s desire will be found.

 

 

 

Writing gives me a voice when I feel like I can’t be heard; writing allows me to be the voice for others who cannot speak.

 

 

Writing is like bottling up memories, saving them for another time.

I write because in my dreams, I’ve made new friends who all have stories of their own to be told. 

I write because the overwhelming sensation of first kisses are quite an addiction.

And most importantly, I write because a world without imagination and adventures to be had, would be a bad kind of hell. 

My Current Project—well, an old one, but it’s finally clicking!

It has been nearly two years since I have completed any work at all and when I think about that, it feels a little dispiriting. Last night, though, something came to me randomly; I suddenly felt a strong urge to pull out the notes to an old idea that I had been trying to revise the last few years but had no luck after running into that damned proverbial wall over and over again–new ideas were just not clicking . . . it didn’t feel right.
Last night changed everything, though.

Ideas were rolling in one-by-one, my pen was flying across the page, my nose was just about to the page itself as I wrote in excitement, the story was literally pulling me in! I finally had that long-awaited, “ah-ha!” moment! I may have gotten awkward looks from a couple co-workers, but hey! I did it! Everything finally CLICKED!

Here’s a little background on the chaos and inspiration of this story:

So, as I mentioned above, it’s a young-adult novel that I had been working on since I was thirteen which technically does not have a title as of yet but one that I affectionately refer to as, Project Denali.  I was an extremely nerdy kid—not to say I am not anymore #proudnerdherd— and was always researching different places there are in the world. That is when I discovered the perilous hike of Mount Denali in Alaska.

There are many factors that tie into the inspiration of this novel, one of which is my love of hiking and after seeing the dangerous terrains and reading about the thrill of the least-traveled paths that a good, long hike could offer, my imagination immediately went wild. Shortly before my unearthing of devotion to Denali, I was working on another little story about a young girl witch who had strong, magical, Celtic roots. That’s when it hit me, the premise for this story. What other mysteries lie under and around the treacherous plains of Denali, what are they hiding?  (Silly? I was just a kid when I thought of this, dangit!)

I am trying to keep the main and more depth premise of this story hush-hush for the moment because this is one of my dearest, biggest, and most fun projects and would weep for ages if I see something similar published before I get to it. After some time letting it rot in the graveyard of my scrapped work boxes after some doubt, I have come back to revise it; and now being my older and more mature—or at least I like to think so— I feel more confident on fortifying it as a story that will hopefully resonate with a younger crowd of today. That is my goal.

Please wish me luck!!!!!

My Muse Strikes Again #amwriting ;)

*Journal Post*

Wow. It has been a while since I’ve updated this page–almost a year ago!
Sadly, it was all in due of my missing muse. Seems as though she had ran away from all the chaos happening at work and other parts of my life. I don’t blame her. The progress of my first full-length manuscript for a novel came to an abrupt stop. I have a feeling why she left, but I will get into that below.
Anyhow, she peeked her head in today and it looks as if we are well on our way to a new relationship. 

I have been struggling the last several months with being able to organize my scattered brain. Then all of a sudden, my brain just shut off–my pen would just hover over my notebook paper, nothing but ghost words being written on the blue lines; or I would be left drooling rabidly at a blank MS document all night before bed.

Think. Think. Think. Brain, are you there?

I couldn’t even pick up a book to read because I was so angry with myself that I hadn’t written anything in so long. I was seriously beginning to wonder if my mind had actually picked itself up, sick of my crap, and ran for the hills.
Previously, after working long hours at work, my mind was bursting at the seams with ideas as they accumulated by the minute, absolutely overflowing and waiting to be jotted down. My mind has always worked like that, even as a child; but, life was easy then, right? Plenty of time to diddle-daddle all day long. *grumbles*
Well, it all just built up the longer the work day and by the time I had a day off to finally have an opportunity to sift through my ideas, everything came pouring out–like a volcano of alphabet and pictures vomiting all over my desk! *pouts* And if I had successfully reined in one thought from a cluster of other thoughts, more ideas spawned from that one. So down goes the pen, off goes the computer and into bed and Netflix I go. *falls over*
Drove me absolutely batty! Damn bunnies.

The bunnies. They bite the hand that feeds.

It’s a constant battle between what I want to focus on and what else I want to get into. However, lately, I have been close to finishing up organizing every important thought and idea onto paper; outlines, notes, sketches–leaving me with very little to fuss over. Today, something beautiful happened. I printed out the final details of my paranormal adventure I’ve been working on the last couple years and on the drive home from work and all the way into the shower, my characters spoke to me–and they would not shut up.

I rinsed my hair as fast as I could and just about skipped the towels as I broke out of the bathroom and fled to my desk to transcript every word before they escaped me yet again. My little fingers were flying all over they keyboard, and before I knew it. I finally had . . . my . . . first . . . CHAPTER WRITTEN! The chapter opening for this damned book that has been cycling through EIGHT ideas before my finally giving up. It’s done! Afinado! 
Now, before I get too excited and get stuck writing the second chapter, and this book takes me thirty more years to write (I can’t imagine the trouble with my concentration now being magnified, I don’t even want to think what it would be like going menopausal *shudders*) . . . there goes my ADD again. *coughs* But as I said, before I get too carried away thinking my Muse is here to stay, I have more kinks to work out to the final touch of the outline of the overall story and all I ask is a small favor–for you to send good thoughts my way! Maybe even stop by and poke me and remind me; motivate me to keep going, because on top of all that other lunatic babel above, I still have my doubts clouding my motivation and I know we all have been there before.
If there is one dream I want to accomplish more than anything else I have ever dreamt, it is that I will have at least one published full-length novel to share with the world! I think that’s what hurts the most with this mess, when my mind off and runs away without bringing me along for the ride while she has all the fun, leaving me in the dust with nothing to write about! 

I also had a few more musing for previous mentions of other novels I am working on. I am pleased to say that the characters from my; contemporary romance, my crime/thriller, and New Adult novels, are also in their final stages of outlining and a chapter or so have been written in them. Pretty soon, I will need beta readers, and I would love and appreciate all honest feedback! I will post more when the times comes. In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed for me that my motivation and clarity stick around for a while! *snickers*

Au revoir!

 

Big Ebook and Treats Giveaway Event!

In the spirit of Halloween, a friend of mine and talented author Tina Pollick has put together a huge giveaway to celebrate authors indie and alike. Ebooks, bookmarks, gift cards and other treats. It’s going on until the 28th, so act fast!

Here’s the link for the Rafflecopter to sign up for: http://tinapollick.com/all-treats-no-tricks-giveaway/

Don’t miss out! This is a wonderful  and fun opportunity!
I will be organizing a giveaway of my own soon when I have completed my first novel, for all those details, check out and keep an eye out on my Facebook pages! Your support means everything to me, and I want to do something in return for you all, very soon!

Facebook page for Alexa Chase–my naughty side 😉 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alexa-S-Chase-Author/199567096885396

And my main page for all other novels: https://www.facebook.com/SkysWriting

Hope to connect with you soon!

Plot Bunnies!

So this is the first day into my vacation, and I have my mind totally devoted to writing for the rest of the week.  I am dancing around the house, cleaning and thinking. It’s amazing how you can think up one thing for a current WIP and then all of a sudden be slammed with a whole, entirely OFF TOPIC idea for another story. I’ve come to realize, though I have been writing for *years*, and have written about some of my special subjects, I’ve been forgetting some of my biggest passions. Things like Ancient Mythology and history. I have yet to write a Historical Romance! That’s when I got slammed with yet another idea, what better to start writing historical romances than starting with Ancient Egypt?! (A FAVORITE topic of mine) Right off the bat, a story came to me, and I dropped everything I was doing to run back to my desk and jot down the ideas. It’s too early to tell you all right now exactly what it is, only because I have yet to read anything like it before and I don’t want to let it slip just yet. It may not be the best story ever, but it’s mine LOL! Just playin’. But seriously… I am so excited about this!

 

 

 

 

 

My only problem… I have up to TEN WIP’s now! *mind spinning* How am I going to keep on track??
Here’s what I am working on: (will lack synopsis, I still have Copyrights to work on!)

1) A Urban Fantasy set in Alaska with magic and shifters (A big big revision of a story I worked on many moons ago, was originally a YA story but I have changed it to better suit my style now that I am an adult…or mostly :P)

2) A Halloween short for an Anthology a friend is hosting – A fallen angel who was banished from hell is accidently summoned

3) A contemporary romance: Heartstrings – Between a band guy named Cameron and broken girl Ava (Synopsis later) this story means a lot to me, so I say it will be published soon, but not sure HOW soon.

4) Paranormal romance – Another fallen angel story (my favorite paranormal)  Fallen Angel is a female

5) Fading Song: Another paranormal romance in subject of Sirens- This will be published by my penname Alexa Chase (Story is going to be a little naughty 😉 )

6) Urban Fantasy – Thriller – I really reallllllllllly cannot tell you what this one is about. It’s going to be very unique, I have literally never seen anything such as this done before. Only a few close friends know exactly what this is. It may even come out to be a little silly, but as I said before, if Sharknado can be a movie, then this could be a story DANGIT! LOL!!

7) Erotica Romance – in the country – Will be published under my penname Alexa Chase and most likely will be a novella

8) My blog series – Operation Aspiration. Overly ambitious girl sets out for NY– comedy, romance, so on. Been working on this for years. I have written it in several different styles. Finally decided to make it a blog series.

9) Some contemporary romance based on gaming and the people you meet – This one is special to me for multiple reasons as well

10) And this is my other big baby, my precious… a Romance, filled with crime, thrills, and suspense.

And now I have this Ancient Egyptian story stuck in my head! My 11th WIP *Sigh* Wish me luck, please! I will need it LOL

 

If you are interested in becoming a beta reader for me, or want to keep up with my updates, here’s my Facebook page, feel free to leave a message!
https://www.facebook.com/SkysWriting