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Prophecy (The Owens Chronicles Book One)
I published my second book! Prophecy is the first book of the Owens Chronicles, a Paranormal Trilogy I have been dreaming up for years. Lucy Owens never really fit into the small, New England town she grew up in. Her first week of kindergarten she was dubbed “that weird Owens girl” and her social status never recovered. She lives a quiet, sheltered life with her guardians, her best friend, and frequent visits from two mysterious young men, Embry and Gabriel, who claim to be friends of the family. On prom night, things take an unexpected turn when Lucy is forced to escape the dance through a window and brought to…
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Thanksgiving Weekend
The boyfriend was able to finish work early, so we left mid-afternoon for the 6-hour drive to Montreal, grateful we weren’t a part of the car crashes that delayed us, stopping a few times for gas and at The Big Apple for supper. Even though I told him a million times how delicious their apple bread grilled cheese with bacon is, he still chose some smoked pork sandwich and must have regretted it the whole time we were eating. On Saturday we had a First Aid Class at my grandparents’, so we would all know what to do in case something happens. The boyfriend was awesome and stayed for the…
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~*~ Full ACTRA Member ~*~
Most of this week has been spent wearing my writer and producer hats. We had 3 production meetings for Little Bird (which goes to camera next week!), and I am pushing through a new draft for Prophecy (which comes out next month!). I also made time for a tiny but momentous acting task… Getting my FULL ACTRA MEMBERSHIP!!! For the non-actors out there, ACTRA is the Canadian actors’ union (on the English side). There are multiple ways to join (background work, theater school, a role) as an apprentice, but then you need 3 credits to be a Full Member (unless you get in through a reciprocal agreement with SAG…
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Montreal Sets and Little Bird
Even though I was in Montreal last week, I still spent 3 days on set (okay, 2 days on set and 1 in holding). One of them (the day in holding) let me get so much writing done, while another transformed me into a cartoon. I have no idea how this will work or what I will look like, but I am excited to find out. After working for my uncle and spending the evening with my parents and brother, I spent my last day on set as an actor. I didn’t have any lines, but I got to catch up with friends, hang out with actors and act! I…
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Find a Job You LOVE
Last week I had the honor of being one of the female Air Force pilots in Boundless, a short film set in the 1940s. They are hoping to turn it into a miniseries, which I really hope happens, because these stories deserve to be told and I would love to be a part of telling them. I also spent another 4 days on set, meeting all kinds of cool people and having really interesting, deep conversations. There is something about movie sets that sometimes makes strangers feel like trusted friends. My guess is it has something to do with early mornings and exhaustion, but I’m one of the weird ones…
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Books, BBQs and ACTRA Con
After finishing a new first draft of Prophecy as the first book in a trilogy, I spent last Monday reading it with a notebook to keep track of things. I find it really useful to write down any important information I reveal about characters (eye color, likes and dislikes, dates, etc.) or the story, so that I don’t contradict myself. It is especially useful when you are writing more than one book in the same universe. In addition to facts, I make myself a list of things that need to be changed or added. This can be for mistakes (if I wrote that she was 12 a decade ago, then…
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Hikes, Trains and Prophecy
Monday morning my mom and I went for a very early morning hike, then I went home and wrote for a bit before we tried a new Body Pump class with my aunt. I did not like the class, at all, but I must have gotten a good workout because my thighs hated me (and stairs) for days afterwards. I spent the afternoon cooking and doing a bit of writing before going to hang out with my grandparents. After supper I hung out with one of my new favorite people for an hour or so, definitely overstaying my welcome, but it made my day/week/year/life. When I got home I watched…
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How I Published My First Book
Monday marked my first month as a published author, so I thought I would share my experience with self-publishing 🙂 Pre- My writing process for Shards of Glass was not typical. I came up with my characters back in 2003. I know the year since I originally made Rachel 13, my age at the time. I started with random snippets of her life, such as conversations with her siblings and an essay that reads like a diary entry. I discovered Nanowrimo in November 2014, so I decided to make a book out of Rachel’s stories in July 2015. The campnanos don’t have a word limit, so I set mine at…
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Sets and Rents
Being on set every day last week was only part of what made it awesome. I played a high school student, a cop, a bookstore patron then wrote my book in holding without ever being brought to set on the fourth day. Not a single one of them lasted the full 8 hours, so I made it to Jiu-Jitsu on Tuesday and Wednesday, got a whole bunch of writing done and had supper with my parents. Their visit was the other thing that made this week so much fun. My parents drove to Toronto on Friday to hang out with me, so we had supper before I asked my dad…
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Babysitting, Holters and Catching Up
On Monday I had a meeting with the cardiologist, to try and figure out why I fainted. I did a stress test first, where I had to walk on the treadmill at increasing speeds and inclinations while they measured my heart rate. Then I got hooked up to a holter heart monitor that I got to keep with me for the next 72 hours. The holter monitor wasn’t so bad, it just kind of felt like I was wearing a purse 24/7. I kept reaching to take it off and remembering it wasn’t a satchel, it was my heart monitor. The worst part was definitely the stickers. The stress test…
