Hey guys! As I said in the title, every plan that I mention below is subject to change at any second, but that's just how life works, a...

Writing Update #3: Summer Writing Plans (subject to change at any second) and News

Alexa Mintah

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Hey guys! As I said in the title, every plan that I mention below is subject to change at any second, but that's just how life works, and as of this moment, here is what I hope to do with writing in summer 2016:

Plan Thing 1: Low Expectations

I’ve kinda taken a break from Low Expectations because it is so close to my heart and I worked on it for years nonstop, only to experience a lot of rejection. Not gonna lie, that really scared me off of publishing the project and kinda made me wonder if LE could really do it. Ever. But this summer, I’m taking the dive--again. I’m going back, reading over notes I’ve received from beta-readers and notes I made myself; once I’ve edited to the best of my ability, I’m kissing that fear goodbye and either self-publishing or going back to querying (aka getting on my hands and knees and begging people to publish me. Just kidding. I am a professional adult. Not really.)

Plan Thing 2: 100-4-100

100-4-100 is back on GTW and I am SO EXCITED! I'm pretty sure I've done it every time they’ve had it, and it’s basically the coolest writing thing ever. I might not sure I'll ever actually use the project I’m working on, but it’s just so refreshing for me to actually be writing something new, especially when I’ve been focused on the same projects for so long. (side note: you can’t technically sign up with them anymore, but I’d encourage you to check out the link and do your own little 100-4-100 anyway. Seriously, it’s so helpful and you get way more done than you’d think.)

All right, that’s all the plans. Now for news:

News Thing 1:

I TOOK SECOND PLACE IN MY LIBRARY’S POETRY CONTEST!!! Yay, me! lol. So yeah, they didn’t exactly tell me I was the next Maya Angelou, but clearly, I was not awful. So. Seeing as I thought I was really a terrible poet most of the time, I’d say that went fairly well. ;)

Also, braggy sidenote, my 12-year-old brother actually took first in his category. No, I’m not strutting around with pride. Whatever made you think that? ;)

News Thing 2:

As of yesterday, I finished my readthrough of The Wizard Apocalypse, my NaNo project from last year, and it’s... it’s actually not as bad as I thought it was. Which is pretty awesome. There are definitely some edits that need to be made, but they’re not as intense as I thought they would be, and overall, I really like this story and I’m thoroughly in love with these characters. So. As narcissistic as this may sound, I’m minorly in love with my own writing right now. Which, we writers know, is a rare and remarkably wonderful feeling

And now for the not-exactly-promised snippets! For context, it’s close to the beginning of the story and the gang (Irie, the MC; Charmaine, Irie’s best friend; Saxen, Irie’s boyfriend; and Todd Blake, Saxen’s cousin, who has just been cursed with telekinesis/radioactive powers) has just been attacked by the baddies for the second time and are attempting to escape from where they were trapped (Char’s apartment complex). Except for Char, I introduce all the characters in the above post, and Char is... well, kind of hard to describe. She’s a hardcore fangirl, Irie’s, best friend, and Irie’s brother’s fiance. Beyond that, well, I think the following scene is pretty characterizing:

“What the heck was that?”

“Irie, what were you thinking?”

“Were you trying to get me killed?”

Charmaine, Saxen, and Todd. In that order, in case you were wondering. All asking me questions like I ought to know the answers.

Classic. I am so not leading a resistance, guys. Honestly.

“It was the explosion of Todd's powers, like I told you about earlier,” I answered Charmaine as we hurried past the person at the front desk of her apartment complex. “I was thinking that if Todd was in immediate danger, he might explode again,” I answered Saxen as we sprinted out the door. “And n-- what the heck is in your trunk?” I started to answer Todd, but came full-circle and ended up with a question for Charmaine as we arrived in the parking lot, she popped open her trunk, lifted what I now knew to be a false bottom, and saw that she had a full-on Winchester set up: guns, knives, other survival equipment, first-aid box, and both healthy and unhealthy snack foods that would last approximately forever. “What. The. H--”

“I told you we would need all of this someday,” she said as she stuffed the Raid and the pepper spray next to a set of fighting batons.

“Where did you... When did you... Can you even use half of this?”

“The guns? Yes. The knives only a basic stabbing motion and the batons basically the same only with swinging.” She closed the trunk, we leapt into the car, and she started it up. “But I'm getting better. I plan to be a full-on Bobbi-Morse-fighting-machine by the time I'm thirty-five.”

“I-- if you can s-- shoot a gun,” Todd asked, still shivering from excitement and terror,  “w-- why didn't you have one in your appartment with you?”

She scoffed. “You think I'm stupid or something, Blake? They won't let me have one in the building. And I haven't gotten to the part in my training where I learn how to get a concealed weapon past security guards.”

I gaped. “Where are you even getting this training? The Red Room?”

“Don't be ridiculous. Your brother and I want kids, remember? It's perfectly legal gun training at a perfectly legal local range. Supplemented by YouTube and Google search.”

“Unbelievable,” I muttered. Although with Char, nothing really ought to surprise me by now. Honestly, I knew I was crazy--like best friend on all of the Disney Channel shows crazy--but she was downright insane.

“Wait,” I asked as she sped down the roads and Saxen started praying that no police would catch us because we would all surely spend some time in jail if they found her going that fast with all the stuff in her trunk, “where are we going?”

“To pick up your brother, of course. There is not going to be a part where this wizard person or whoever kills my fiance to get to us. Very heartbreaking in the YA novels, I'm sure, but I ain't dealing with that crap today or any other.”

And that’s the snippet! Needs work, I’m sure, but I kind of adore these kids <3

So how has your writing been coming? Any epic summer plans or snippets you’ve posted recently that you’d like to share? Leave a link in the comments; I would love to read it! :D

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