CSI TV :)

Yes! I finished the storyboard for my newest idea. It took me a while--24 pages, single spaced...but I'm excited now. I can actually...start writing.

I'm also excited about the new Psych episode tonight...but that's in eight hours and I'll be able to get a good amount of writing in between now and then...hopefully!

First, though, I have a quick (maybe quick) something to ponder. Who likes CSI TV shows? (Me!) There's been a lot of debate about those lately, so I'm just wondering people's opinions. To me, NCIS is the holy grail of TV shows. My favorite part is the character--well, characters! The mystery is my second favorite. Each episode of that show has a new, original plot as well as continuation of the overall series/season plot. I'm sure some of the CSI technology is exaggerated, but I've answered more questions correctly in science due to that show than any other... I consider that pretty cool ;)

A close second favorite show is Psych. One, it's hilarious. Two, the usage of the tiniest details to solve a crime--or help the psychic facade--is so interesting. Three, it's not as gruesome as a lot of the other series are. (I can handle the gross stuff--it's just a nice change.)

My third favorite CSI show is Bones. I realized yesterday when watching an episode that Brennan has one of my dream careers--forensic anthropologist slash bestselling author. How cool!

So in my opinion, even with exaggeration of the forensic technology, those three CSI shows are great to watch. They're the kind of TV I like--they make me think, because I'm the kind of person that tries to solve the crime first!

(Is anyone surprised I'm taking a CSI course in high school? I'm definitely excited :)

All right then. Writing time!

Links

I'm featured on the Teen Seen blog today! http://teen-seen.blogspot.com!

Also, I am mentioned in Karen Syed's PopSyndicate post at http://www.popsyndicate.com/column/story/a_world_without_words. Thanks Karen!

Teen Seen

Tomorrow's my turn on Teen Seen! You can see my blog entry then at http://teen-seen.blogspot.com/.

Distractions, distractions...

I always seem to get distracted the most when what I'm am being distracted from is something I really want to be doing. Right now one semi distraction is that I'm trying to compose a playlist that's the right mood for my newest story idea (that I'm in love/totally preoccupied with!)... I have a random tip for writers trying to block out distractions (and I need to listen to this tip myself): make a playlist of songs that fits the mood of your story/scene, but make them songs you know pretty well so you're not subconsciously trying to understand the lyrics while you write. If they're songs you've heard a lot, it fades into background noise, which not only sets the mood but blocks out other distractions as well--especially if you use those huge silencing headphones :-)

...Unless you're like me and writing a blog post when you should be storyboarding.

That's another thing I love. Storyboarding. My form of storyboarding is blurting out everything, every idea for the story in chronological order and in whatever kind of formal or IM speak way I want, in one long document. Then I have everything down and it's time to write. (An added bonus is no one can understand the storyboard but me.)

Anyway, I've been trying to storyboard a lot today, but keep getting distracted by things like email and facebook and twitter (which I'm new on. Like, today-new. I think I'll be slow on there for a while until I get the hang of it!). Also I've been on the Harlequin Teen Panel forum page on and off, something I haven't done in a while. I had Taekwondo class today, though, which got me motivated again, so I've been working pretty diligently until about...now.

I'll get back to that then :-)

Inspiration & Taekwondo

I love inspiration! It's a great way to get motivated to write, write, write, and, um, write. And it's also a superb excuse--wait, did I say excuse? I meant reason--to forgo working on that correspondence course and instead sit at my computer for hours researching to perfect the plotline. That means lots of Google. Google was my best friend today. Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Directions, and even regular old Google all were invaluable. If you looked at my Google history, you'd think I'm crazy--there's everything from "how to treat linear skull fractures" to "where is Hoopa Airport" and et cetera. It took me forever to exhaust my "I wonder..."s, but it was worth it.Yep. I did healthy yesterday. Today I'm computer potato.

Well, that's not completely true. I actually just got back from Taekwondo class, and I feel great. I've been doing Taekwondo almost exactly a year now. It's funny--I started for two reasons, and neither of those are the reasons I continued. The first reason is that I had been an ex-skater for a year and I needed to try a new form of excercise. Running was great and all, but it didn't require the same level of focus and coordination as skating had. The second reason was that I was in the middle of writing a novel (Rain!) about a spy, and I figured a spy would know hand-to-hand combat like the back of her hand. I, however, knew hand-to-hand combat like the face of a thousand dollar bill--I didn't. So I had myself think of the class as research.

I started in the beginning of September 2008. I loved Taekwondo right away, and I still do. I always leave class feeling good overall, strong, and ready to write some really great action scenes :) The other students are fun to work with and the instructors are just plain awesome. My self confidence has also improved drastically this past year. I recommend Taekwondo to anyone who wants to improve coordination, fitness, blow off steam, learn self-defense, or write an action novel. I get a lot of my best inspiration during class...I'm sure if you're a writer you can appreciate that!

Anyway, Taekwondo and writing are my physical and mental outlets, and it's great when they come together in the form of an epiphany. Try it sometime!

Kier

Forensics!

Whew!

I just had a fun-filled (and I mean filled) three days in DC with three of my best friends. It was a blast—we toured the Capitol Building and hit the Smithsonians and the National Gallery of Art, took lots of pictures, saw the concert at the Air Force memorial Friday, and—of course—swept through the five-story mall. Thanks again to everyone for such an awesome weekend!

By far the coolest thing I experienced on the trip was an exhibit in the Natural History Museum—a huge setup of forensic anthropology! The displays showed everything from “How To Tell if a Skeleton is Male or Female” to “Reconstructing Facial Features Based on the Skull.” They also had a section about the Chesapeake Bay discoveries and skeletons from the site. The best part was the bone lab at the end—they invited you in to examine, ask questions about, and touch multiple bone specimens. Can you say awesome?? I chatted with some of the volunteers there about forensic anthropology, career options, murder mysteries, and our favorite CSI TV shows, like (of course!) Bones and (my favorite:) NCIS! It was a good experience, and it definitely has me in the mood for crime novels!

Anyway, if you’re in the DC area I definitely recommend this. I also recommend sunscreen and a personal fan. It was hot out.

Hope everyone’s weekend was as good as mine!

~Kieryn

Blurb, Take One

I spent a while yesterday trying to come up with a blurb for my novel RAIN. It's hard. I think it was easier writing the book than trying to condense it into half a page! I finally decided to keep with the espionage theme of my story, so here's a sneak peek:

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

LOCATION:

Rochester, New York to Brisbane, Australia
ISSUED TO:
MEL: tough 15-year-old female spy
ASSETS AND PERSONNEL:
THOMAS SYME [KNOWN AS: SHADOW]: principal of Watson Institute and Mel’s guardian
RAY: meteorology prodigy and Mel’s best friend
CAIDY: jealous student who may know more than she’s letting on
BONNIE ROBAR: Ray’s mom, also a meteorologist, whose whereabouts are unknown and who may have left behind a project with dangerous potential
MISSION:
Follow the trail of stolen birth certificates (including Ray’s) which uncovers a plot that involves more than anyone had anticipated.

PS--I have an ISBN number! Wahoo!

Lack of Creativity

It’s one of those days where I can’t seem to be getting anything done.

In fact, that sentence was about the most productive I’ve been all day, if you don’t count going on the treadmill earlier.

It’s also one of those days where I have a list of things that need to be done—the storyboard for Rain’s sequel, algebra review, correspondence course, website ideas (website coming soon, btw. www.kierynnicolas.com), taekwondo practice, and this blog. So I’ve finally given myself a metaphorical push. I’m starting with the blog. It’s four p.m….the evening’s still young, right?

…Yeah, that was nothing short of sad. I was so worried about my lack of motivation earlier that I looked up my symptoms. I think I’m suffering from something called Procrastination. It’s a common affliction among teenagers, and I’m told the effects heighten in the summertime. It is apparently caused by an excess of distractions or extreme feelings of boredom concerning a task at hand. I think I have a combination of both.

Really, I have nothing to complain about. It’s summer! I’m getting published! I’m off to DC with my best friends this weekend! Still, I have a hard time remembering that when I’m working my way through the world’s most boring correspondence course, even if I know that if I just finish it now I’ll have a free period in my schedule come school season.

Last time I was procrastinating I ended up fiddling around on my computer putting together book cover ideas. Earlier that day I’d had a photo shoot with my best friend posing as Mel for a promo cover for Rain. RAIN is my novel that is being published by Echelon Press next year. Anyway, I was using some of those pictures on the basic pho

to-editing software my laptop provided, and I sent one or two to my cousin Henry for critique.

His response was typical Henry: something along the lines of “it's too pixilated, the image quality is low, and the font is a little too plain.” Of the second he said, “your choice of fonts it utterly terrible, I am sorry, but it is. I like the idea of it. I am going to do some changing.”

Next thing I know, he sends back this version of my second idea that has all these special effects and large title (with a Henry-approved font, of course) and he was going on about the SFX and inversion and magic wands and, well, my jaw literally dropped. I sent him all of the photo shoot pictures and said, “sic ’em.” After a while he sent on a few more versions. The general favorite (and my favorite as well!) is shown here.

Guess what time it is now? It’s almost 9 pm. (I had to go somewhere, so I took a break from writing this from about 5-8:30. I’m not that affected by procrastination…yet.) I’m going to wrap this pilot post up by saying, well, that’s a wrap, folks. Thanks for watching. Tune in tomorrow for…well, something.

~Kieryn

P.S. I was having trouble thinking of a blog title—I kept coming up with bad puns, so I just went with my name. Sorry for today's lack of creativity!