A Thousand Words

Something you should know about me: I love ARCs. Thus, I enter a lot of contests. One such contest was the one held by the lovely Lisa Mantchev on her blog here where she calls for Professional Pie-Flingers to PIE SOMEONE IN THE FACE...for an ARC of So Silver Bright, the final book in the Theatre Illuminata trilogy. ^_^ I've loved the series for quite some time, so this was one contest I had to jump on post-haste...

...and here is the result. XD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGJL5U8enIA

The description box on the video hates me for some odd reason and won't let me include the info on the video. Boo. Enjoy slow-motion pie-ing and fairy mischief to epic music!

Okay, so I'm a horrible blogger. I'll admit it. But I have good reason...mostly in the form of school. It stunted my progress quite a bit during the first half of this month, but I'm happy to say that it is now over and done with and the real writing can begin! I'm officially a college graduate. I've even got the Bachelor's Degree to prove it! ^_^ Progress has been made...just not the noveling kind.

 However, I'm happy to say I spent the majority of the day writing at Starbucks with my friend Missy, and then the evening writing with my friend Audrey (technically when Audrey and I get together, writing quickly devolves into drawing, but hey! I've made some good progress story-wise. Can't knock that!)

 Hopefully the next couple days will also be kind to me. Now that school's out of the way, I actually have time to FOCUS. I don't have to worry about last minute papers or finals or portfolios. This is the summer 'The Book' gets finished. So help me...

 I hope the other participants of the challenge are doing well in their noveling! Can't wait to hear success stories!

It's here! Day 1 of the YA Novel challenge! It's June 1st, the weather was buggy today, I picked up my cap and gown for graduation next friday, and I've still got to finish my psych paper before I start my revision/writing work for tonight. Naturally, I'm starting things out the way I seem to start everything out: with a heavy dose of procrastination but a dogged determination to get things done.

Seeing as my homework for my independent study is to revise chapter 8 and finish chapter 9, that's what I'll be working on tonight. We're just starting to get into the meat of the story by this point, and I'm excited to see how it all develops. The story is kind of under construction at the moment. The majority of the first draft is written, save for a few chapters near the middle and the climax. But the cool thing about doing this independent study is the amazing feedback I've gotten from my teacher. She's been a huge help in pointing out things that both are and are not working in the book. She's made me question my work and my characters, and it's gotten to the point where I find myself working harder to make the story better because I know Tara won't let me get away with being lazy. haha

 So! There are two hours left of June 1st. I'll finish my psych paper, turn it in, and get cracking! Let the challenge begin! ^_^

:EDIT: Day 1: SUCCESS. Chapter 8 is edited, and 9 is a complete first draft! *dances* 

Back in the summers of 2008 and 2009, I was privileged to attend the Alpha Young Writers Workshop for Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror at the University of Pittsburgh Greensburg. I have some super fond memories of those two workshops, in part due to the teachers we got to work with. We'd have four teachers per workshop who would come in to teach us for two days each on some aspect of writing. One of my teachers from 2009, Theodora Goss, has issued a challenge. And I plan on taking her up on it. In this post, she describes a challenge she and a few friends are going to do: Write a YA novel over the summer at roughly 1k per day from June 1st-August 31st. Seeing as I was such a fail whale this past fall during NaNoWriMo, I figured this was a chance to redeem myself. And seeing as Dora invited anyone who wants to write a YA novel to join the challenge, I thought this would be the perfect way to finish up that pesky first draft of book 2, and get book 1 in good order.

 SO! If anyone else would like to join me, get cracking on a novel you may or may not have thought about starting on, now would be the perfect time to do it. I'll be posting progress updates as I go along, probably every couple of days. It'll be a bit rough for the first 10 days or so, due to my finishing school and starting to get used to my new job, but I think I can do it if I apply myself...

Dora has a list of YA Novel Challenge participants on her blog sidebar if you want to follow any of the other writers working on the challenge. And definitely follow Dora too! This should be fun!

 Starting in 5 days, we'll begin a summer-long party!

Despite the fact that it's only March, this whole year has been one big to do list so far. Finish the book, get your financial aid packet turned in, survive winter quarter, finish homework, study for tests, finish the costume for the competition, etc. And all of these 'to do's' come with their own lists for how to complete them.

 I've become the rather unamused owner of more than a couple gray hairs over these lists. And no, I'm not joking. And it irks me to no end that I have said gray hairs at the ripe old age of 21. Ridiculous. Pfft.

 I'll admit. I've never been very good at finishing things. I'm a master at starting them. My parents have told me on numerous occasions that I try to do too much. I have too many interests, too many passions, and while I feel extremely blessed that God gave me the talents that I have, there are times I wish I was only passionate about one specific thing, maybe two. Maybe I wouldn't get myself into these messes.

 I'm a procrastinator by nature. My english teacher used to refer to me as her 'agent procrastinateur.' I'm that kid that leaves studying for tests until a couple hours before, crams for them, then gets a 98%. I'm that kid that starts her 6-8 page paper the night before it's due and only does a single draft. I'm that kid that, when given an entire year to work on something, spends most of that time being a total nerd while getting a thing or two done here and there before yanking most of the project out of nowhere with only a month to spare. That's the kind of worker I've been for as long as I can remember. I'm the queen of late nights, 1am is an hour I am well acquainted with, and even though I -know- that leaving things till the last minute will completely stress me out, I do it anyways.

 But it's a habit I'm desperately trying to break this year. There's too much to do, too much I -want- to do, to let procrastination hold me back. I have this feeling that if I were to rid myself of my bad habits, I could possibly become an unstoppable inferno of willpower and determination. And that's a me I'd love to get better aquainted with.

These last couple months have been teaching me that procrastination isn't the way I want to keep moving forward. There are opportunities for me to grab if I don't let them pass me by. So I won't. I have a drive to finish what I've started, and it -will- get done.

 That being said, I've made a list of things to get done today. They -will- get done, and so help me, procrastination will have no hand in it.

So let's do this. ^_~ 

I've never liked introductory posts. Mostly because they always come out sounding something like this: "My First Blog." Hi everybody! This is the first entry of my new blog! I hope you like it! Exclamation point overload! Emoticon abuse!

 Yeah. Not exactly a memorable first impression. So how does one go about introducing themselves in a way that's bereft of cliches? I'll start with the basics and see where it goes from there.

 My name is Briana Dyrness. I tell stories. Someday, I'd like to tell stories to an audience that extends beyond the realm of people I know personally. Hopefully someday isn't that far off.

 Through this blog, I will record my journey. Successes, failures, good news and bad, 3am epiphanies, and moments that start with 'face' and end with 'palm,' because that's the fun of it all. I intend to enjoy the ride. I'll cross my fingers that you do too. It's time to get started.

Game on.