Time Matters

Today I have a wonderful post from the fabulous Michelle Moloney-King. Everyone should take the time to visit her wonderful blog! She has wonderful guests posts and as you can tell by her guest post on my blog, she has a lot of great things to say and things we can learn from!

“I wish it was Friday,” this was my constant wish when I was in school. Then, when I was in college it was; “I wish it was rag week* already.” In my twenties it changed as my friends got engaged, I would wish on their engagement rings; “I wish I was grown up enough to get married.” Before I knew it I was in my thirties, working in a job I detested, in a city I hated, with people I would not even break bread wishing; “I wish I could retire.”

My life - up to a few months ago - was spent with me was wishing it away. Of course the TV helped. At the end of a school, college, work day I would numb it all by watching some TV. Until one day....I was studying for my post graduate Irish exam and something about the language made my brain click. I started to write, then blog, then tweet, then plan a book, and before I knew it I was wishing; “I need longer days.” Having a creative outlet has been more important to me then all of my sports pursuits. Time matters to me now, time sees my progress; my success and my joy.

If I could have just one wish for all of you....I would wish for two! Then I would wish everyone had some sort of a creative outlet and everyone had more time. Enjoy your youth, may age always be just a number to you and may you have as much time as you need.

*Rag week is a week of fund raising for charities organised my universities, we mainly raise the money by going to the pub for events and drinking a bit.

Michelle Moloney King grew up on a farm in Co. Tipperary. Her lullabies were tails about banshees and fairy forts from her banjo playing poetic father. His last words to her were; “you won’t remember me, your too young,” started her penning down his stories and thus began her creative writing. She has a Bachelor of Science in IT with University of Limerick and recently completed a Post Grad in Primary School Teaching with Hibernia College.

She started a blog in April 2011 where she shares stories about teaching, the IFSC, creative writing, flash fiction, ICT, art and much more.

What the peeps are saying about Michelle's blog:

Most people stamp out their inner voice for fear of ridicule but you are stamping yours upon an ephemeral medium and being heard. Your self-leadership is a beacon to follow.
Onwards !
Mike

https://twitter.com/#MoloneyKing

http://TeacherMoloneyKing.com

Heads up...7up!

I don't know if anyone knows that game, but it was fun in school. It was wayyy better than the quiet game which is just a trick!

Anyways, this is a real heads up! Tomorrow I will have the lovely Michelle Moloney-King guest posting on my blog! I will also guest post on her blog tomorrow. So make sure you check her blog, Michelle Moloney-King! It's pretty amazing!

This is probably done poorly, I'm on my I-touch because I'm on campus and waiting for class!

Ciao, Ashley

"I was hiding under the porch because I love you!"

Last night I watched the Disney/Pixar movie UP and it killed me. I cried so much. ughhh.  *spoiler* ....although, I hope all of you have seen it!!

So, all I could think of is how horrible it is to lose someone you love. And it's tough to imagine that pain without actually experiencing it.

It's hard to write things without experiencing them. What's love like? It's abstract until you know the feelings, then you use some sort of metaphor to explain the feelings. While it's abstract, I use movies like UP to figure out how things feel. Like loss, since, fortunately I have no current experience with...and like all of us, hope I don't for a long while.

What was so heartbreaking, however, is all I could imagine is 'what if something happens to my daddy?' how would I feel? Horrible, awful, numb. My daddy is my rock. He encourages me in every way possible, even if he doesn't quite understand what I'm doing.

I've always known I would need someone just like him to keep me going if anything happens to him. Fortunately, I realized last night, my boyfriend is just like him. Weird, isn't it?

Anyways, here's a picture of my Doug. The dog in the movie is named Doug and before I watched UP, I got this dog from my sis when I was having a bad day. Isn't he adorable?!

I hope all of you have someone to make you happy whether your dad, husband, bf, or a wonderful stuffed pet. Or all of them! :)

St. Jude's Children's Hospital

Hey guys! I just wanted to take the time to tell you about a good cause and my wonderful, amazing nephew.

He's raising money to help St. Jude's Children's Hospital by breaking boards (he's in Tae Kwan Do). He's a Sr. Green Belt. If you'd like, you can check out his page here!

Recently he's been elected President of his seventh grade class. A feat we are all very proud of him for because he deals with bullying at school. Just goes to show sweetness outweighs bullies! He's a member of the National Junior Honor Society, and he's a straight A student! He's also great at breaking boards!

Once he was supposed to break on with his foot, and he lost concentration. Because he didn't break it with his foot, the teacher said he had to break it with his hand. He had never done this before, never been taught or anything and broke the board with his hand!

Anyways! Just a little about my nephew, and if you'd like to donate anything, it would be much appreciated. :) If not, you now know I have an ingenious nephew!

Just wanted to let everyone know...

First of all, you're all beautiful. Yep...all of you, even the men! haha. No, seriously though--every time you look in the mirror, find three traits you love about yourself and focus on them. : )

I'm taking a class over body image versus reality. So, I'm gonna try this and see if I come out feeling better about myself. 

Also, in May of 2012 (after I graduate from University) I get to go to Cuzco and Lima, Peru!

Here's Machu Picchu: 

But by then I'll  have lots of pictures I actually took myself to show you! It's a long way off, but very exciting. My boyfriend's mother's family is from there. I met his aunt and uncle. I speak little Italian and not very well but they said, "We understand your Italian more than your English" hahaha. 

And it's wonderful to see them speak of Machu Picchu. It's such a spiritual place...you can just see the admiration in their features. Just wonderful. 

And so you can imagine how excited I am!! But as of now, I have to go to class. 

Ciao 

Ashley 

A Day in the Life of...my schedule

Not really. I just thought I'd tell you guys about some classes I'm taking this year. lol.

Let's see here. I have:

19th Century Art - Art History
The Tudor Dynasty - History
Body Image versus Reality - Women's Studies
Freedom of Greece - Classics
Poetry Writing - English Writing

Now, only one actually applies to my major, the rest are electives. I love electives. lol. You can probably tell I love history! Last year I had History of Ireland, wonderful class, though the History of Ireland is very sad. I imagine going through the Tudor Dynasty will be enraging at points. *shakes head*.

I feel as though, if we know our history, the history of countries, cultures, and people we're all better writers. Yes, we become better writers by reading, but how do we build worlds without knowing how ours work? Start wars without seeing how they begin? Form characters without knowing different personalities?

It's interesting when you have wonderful history classes. They will always make a comparison to the movies. Never are the movies accurate (mostly).

The Tudors:

Elizabeth: The Golden Age:

The Duchess:

They're all pretty faces! lol. Which is fine. This is entertainment. History is too, however, and if you have a good history teacher, he/she'll also be a good historian, an entertaining one and not make history so boring.

As my professor mentions movies that are historically accurate and wonderful, I'll tell you guys about them!

Ciao, I must write a free-verse poem.

Ashley

Epiphany...of sorts.

Today I realized my book is hard to pinpoint. It's not really like other books. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place for agents. :/

Query Questions! : 0

Okay...I have a few questions. I finally had some time to go over to Query Tracker and focus on my list of agents.

Up until now, I ignored agents who requested a cover letter...and now I'm trying to figure out the difference in a cover letter and a query. Anyone have examples?! The awesome Derek Flynn has been helping me with this question. (check out the music he posts on his blog, BTW!!!)

Now, I have a few questions, lol.


When agents want a query and author bio, what do you do? What's an author bio? I've always thought the author bio was part of the query...? idk!! Do I tell them what I'd tell them in a cover letter?

"Tell us briefly who you are, what your book is, and why you're the one to write it." <---And this isn't my query letter, but what is this considered? Do you organized based on their needs? *cough, Anita* lol...that's from The Bent Agency website.

I'm lost. : /

So, this is my idea for a new book...the name Soulless keeps popping in my head...so I guess that's the title! lol. Here's the introduction.

Something’s are unpredictable. Like my life, for instance. I'm not supposed to be here. My parents were murdered, my race was butchered until extinction...then there is me. Still breathing and vengeful.

I have one love.

It is for no human.

No immortal.

No living thing.

My love is for one thing--the chase. I hunt a distinct race of Elves called the Bloods, responsible for the extinction of my race. I am their worst enemy. They say I am soulless, I have no sympathy for any age of blood elf, for they only had sympathy for one of my race--and that just so happened to be me.

Who am I?

I am what is called an Arethia.

The only one.

My name is Sia. 

Yep! So...those are my questions and my book idea! : D I hope you like it!! Tell me what you think.

COLLEGE!! WIFI!!!

Today I moved into my apartment near campus. It's 11:01pm...I've pretty much been non-stop since 6:45am....that said, I'm so excited to be able to post everyday! I don't know what I'll talk about, but until school gets crazy, I'm finding something!

Now, I am gonna watch Pride and Prejudice...:)

Tomorrow I'll tell you about a new book idea. ;)

Blog Award and Exciting News!

I recieved such a lovely award from Caitlin Vincent, her blog, Musings ofan Ordinary Mind, is quite, extraordinary if you ask me! Here's the lovely award:

By what I read from Caitlin's blog, "Liebster" means friend! Odd to me since, in Italian, friend is "amica/o" lol.

Anyways, this is a wonderful award (as are all the others), and best of all, I can share it with five people who have under 200 followers! Here are the rules:

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the internet—other writers.
5. And best of all – have fun and spread the karma.

Here are my picks! :D (new and old friends!!)

1. E.R. King
2. Doralynn Kennedy
3. Jeana Watters
4. Kayeleen Hamblin
5. AderuMoro

Now, there are reasons these blogs are so wonderful, and everyone should check them out! There's so much talent in all five of these people! :) Follow them and see what I mean!

I made a new friend this past week. Her name is Deirdra! She has the most gorgeous hair in the entire world! And her blog A Storybook World, is just as amazing! She also gave me such a beautiful and wonderful award:

I just love it! Thank you so much Deirdra! I've followed you for quite a while and am so happy you've began to follow mine! :)

Now to some wonderful news! I received a call about a job at a bank! Now, I've worked in grocery stores for a long time as a cashier and they stress me out severely! The changing hours, the weekends dedicated to 8 -9 hour shifts just exhaust me and I do, quite honestly, feel miserable! I'm hoping that is about to change! On Wednesday I've been invited to fill out an application for this job! (I had to send in a resume and cover letter first). So whatever you believe in--God, Karma, Good Luck?--wish this for me!!! Please! lol.

I'm probably jinxing myself...cause I've told EVERYONE! But I cannot contain my excitement. I do believe, with this job, I can balance my already hectic schedule a little more!

Okay, now that that is over....

SPOTLIGHT BLOG TIME!!!

Sirra's blog, properly named, Sirra, is a wealth of information for any writer! Her posts are always informative, and have helpful writing tips for all writers. She also learns from experience because she has her own editing service! Check out her blog and see some of her wonderful tips! I know I've learned more than one lesson from her!

Another new friend I met on Twitter is Derek Flynn! His blog Rant, With Occasion Music is pretty awesome! He posts music (with lyrics), bits of stories, and rants! lol. He's also from Ireland! I hope he knows how luck he is to wake up to such beautiful country! :) I wish I could relive my trip there over and over again!

Check out these wonderful blogs! And hopefully I'll be seeing everyone more often in 8 days!!!