Teffy

This has absolutely nothing to do with Teffy, but I do love Percy Jackson, so I couldn't resist making this Percy Jackson video. Enjoy!

I have some stinkin' exciting news... I finished editing the second draft of Teffy and the Golden Spoon yesterday! YAY! But that's not all I did... I wrote a synopsis, AND today I drew the cover!

It finished off being 37 chapters, 162 pages. I think it'll be around 300 pages in book format. Yes--much shorter than the first, surprisingly...

Here's the synopsis (work in progress, mind you): Teffy, upon recieving her well-deserved hero's welcome, comes across a strange golden spoon at the dinner table. Only after she eats her chicken soup with it does she find out that the spoon has the potential to be one of legend--an enchanted utensil that transforms those who use it into whatever they ate. Needless to say, Teffy isn't surprised when she awakes the following morning in a chicken's body. Her loyal friend Ninky sets out across all of Calda, racing against time, to gather the needed ingredients to brew an antidote for Teffy before it's too late....

And... here's the cover! Done with Gimp:

Bada-bing! What do you think? Check out the Teffy 2 page in the navigation bar above for more Golden Spoon updates!

Well I can say one thing: I've gotten a little better at it, and it ain't as bad as I remember from last time. =) Also, I learned some AWESOME tips from my Creative Writing class I took last Fall. I plan on going through it at least four times. And one of my friends has agreed to help edit, which will be very helpful. My mom's pretty busy, so I'm not too sure if she'll get around to it, but I sure hope she does. I realize that I made buckets full of mistakes last time; I hope not to do it thise time.

I even wrote up some editing tips for me to follow:

1. Treat your editing like it's your job. I've found this to work quite well. You clock in, just like you would at work, and clock out. You determine the amount of hours a day (or week) that you want to work on your writing. Set some time apart as if you were scheduled to work then.

2. Step back and read it as if you didn't write it. If you were just a reader, would your writing catch you? What do you need to add to make it appealing? Is the hook strong enough? Are you speaking in a way that people can understand? (A lot of times we write the way our brain processes thoughts; sometimes it can be hard for people to understand our thought process. Who can blame them?Nobody's in our head but us.)

3. Don't be too hard on yourself. We all make ridiculous mistakes. All of us mix things up. That's why we edit: to hide our idiocy. Just kidding.

4. Don't hide your writing. Don't be afraid to share; get advice from everyone and anyone you can. It's very beneficial. Several minds are better than one.

5. Get motivated; be excited! You're working on something that has the potential to be the next Nerk York #1 Seller. It could be a great piece. It might make you rich. Hollywood might want to buy it. It could be beneficial to others. You might gain hundreds of fans that'll swarm around your table at a book signing. Get excited and stay excited for the potential your writing has; edit it up to reach that potential.

6. Edit it how you want it. Sure, we got to make people happy, but don't annihilate your happiness for the sake of everyone else. Make your writing the way YOU want it. Sometimes you need to ignore the opinion of others to do this, and it's really hard. But remember: IT'S YOUR WRITING. If you want the old man character to talk like this: "Yo dude, what up foo'? Like, ya wanna go to the, like, beach?" then DO IT! When people write how and what they want to write, it is often fresh and unique and most likely more people will like it because it has a voice. Don't let editing take away your voice.

Other tips I learned from Advanced Creative Writing:

- Every work of literature has to stand on it's own--even if it is a sequel.

- Do research so that you can be accurate when you write about things.

- Characters need: desires, fears, and a conflict that prevents them from getting what they want.

Well, so that's about all I'm doing. And also I'm trying to find ways to make money so I can fund my trip to England. I'm getting so excited! I'm gonna have so much fun, see so much, and learn even more! Before I go I have to read a Jane Austen book as part of the course, so I am currently reading Pride and Prejudice. Jane's way of writing is a bit hard to understand, but witty and fun.

And I'm also excited for... PERCY JACKSON! I just finished reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The BAttle of the Labyrinth on Monday night. Excellent book. I love them all. You should read them. Rick Riordan is a genius. I'm sad though because there is only one book left in the series... I have fallen in love with these characters and it's so hard to say goodbye. Someday I hope to be able to create characters that erouse the same sort of emotions in my readers. ;)

Here's a Percy fan art I did. This is an instance that happens in the first book.

Have a great day!

Heya!

Just an update to let anybody who might be reading this know that there are going to be some drastic changes to the website going on. I made this when I was a stupid immature little kid... (no seriously, I think I was like 16 when I made this thing, so everything is out of date and just, well, retarded.) I'm going to be updating information, putting up some new stuff that ain't up yet, changing some pictures around, and making the website more informing without all the junk and more interactive. It'll be a lot of work and might take a while.

Wish me luck and thanks for stopping by!

Well I guess it's time, and an exciting time at that, to announce the name of my sequel to Teffy: The Search for Nephew Ninky. And the sequel (which's manuscript is now up to 127 full pages) is: Teffy and the Golden Spoon.

I'll let ya all in on a little exclusive secret... this book was inspired by a little golden spoon, which came in a set of assorted mini jars of jelly. The jellies were a Christmas gift to my family, and I adored them because they were cute and small (the jellies themselves weren't so great.) The spoon was odd, but a little treasure. It kicked around the kitchen for a while and every time I saw it I thought, hmm, what a cool little spoon. It was shiny and little and curvy and just, well, sweet! Needless to say, I looked at the little spoon a lot, and my big brother used it quite often to eat cereal, just to be an idiot.

So I ninja'd the spoon one day and thought up a story... That basic plot idea, I realized, could be added on to the manuscript that I was currently working on at the time, which was TTSFNN (Teffy: The Search for Nephew Ninky.) And actually, because of this sequel, there is now in planning a third and even a fourth novel in the Naytel Journal series. So basically you could say that this little spoon inspired three entire books. Crazy, eh?

Did I ever mention that the Naytel Journal series I have planned out was inspired by a horse mask I made when I was 14? And my first book was inspired by a tiny handcuff key. Crazy how the brain works...

Teffy and the Golden Spoon already has a self-publishing contract with AuthorHouse and I hope to have it out by this Fall. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment:

Last week, I finished an excellent book, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. It is awesome! It may be for 12-year olds but I don't care, it was brilliant! Fun, fast, and hip. Modern Greek Mythology--who thought that it would happen? Just read it. Thoroughly enjoyable, and yes, it is different from Harry Potter.

And... THEY'RE MAKING IT INTO A MOVIE! Comes out February 12, 2010. Check out the trailer:

Hello, humanities lovers...

As would say my Humanities teacher, I on the other hand, would not. I would say, "Hello, Teffy Lovers," or "Hello, Carrie Lovers," or none of the above, because I really doubt that anyone ever reads my blog. Hmm... maybe if I made it a more frequent and regular thing with interesting stuff, then people would! And maybe I definitely should because there's a scholarship just for blogging. Crazy, I know. www.collegescholarships.org%2four-scholarships%2fwomen.htm&s=4442 There, I ain't selfish, I'll share the sweetness.

Okay, so lots of stuff's been going on. First off, know that I am in pain because I have Corn Rows in my hair. One of my roommates insisted. Boy you should see the looks I've been getting walking around on campus today... oh boy. Oh, and you should know: I LOVE BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY IDAHO! It's an excellent place.

So, BYU-I does these Study Abroad trips. I've been interested in the British Literary Tour forever--they go to England, Wales, Ireland, and Paris, and learn about Shakespeare and all that lovely stuff--so I applied, and guess what? I GOT ACCEPTED TO GO! I'm now trying to save up the money to go... $3500+ to be exact. I don't have a job, and I doubt I'll find one because the economy back home is terrible... especially when it's not summer time. I was thinking about trying to sell a bunch of Teffy books as a fundraiser, but I don't know how well that would work. If I could just find 3500 people to give me $1 each, I could have it. Ain't it insane how such small tiny things like $1 can make a HUGE difference in the larger scheme of things?

I am dying to go to England. I'm sure I'll find a way. I'm just super excited about it, and thought I'd share.

As far as an update on my second book goes... umph, ugh, uh... heh, yeah. College. That's my excuse. What was my excuse for the past year--for it has been a year that I've been working on it? Um... College. Work. College. Ha! But I'm half way done writing the manuscript, and it's going pretty good. I've got everything all worked out. And I hope there aren't going to be as many mistakes in this one this time, and I promise I won't leave an entire chapter out.

Well, I've got to go practice my violin and take these corn rows out. I will talk to you another time!

"Failure is freedom." (That's the quote of the day, and I cannot recall who said it... someone quoted it at an English conference a few weeks ago.)

- Carrie

Hey nobody!

I just wanted to post an update, 'cause it's been a looong while. I had a very busy summer; I worked a lot, and every day seemed to last like only an hour. I was kind of bummed about the busy-ness because that left absolutely no time to work on Teffy. However, I WILL get to work on it immediaely, because my cousin demands it.

I'm headed up to Idaho now though for school. It should be a lot of fun; I'm signed up to take some pretty sweet-sounding classes.

So, that's how things are going, and I'll update ya all later!

Hey there!

I've spent this last couple of days in Yosemite National Park, which is totally amazing. I've been there before, but I couldn't remember much, but anyways... I got some totally sweet pictures, but they honestly don't do the real thing justice.

There was this one part that really reminded me of Hussa Valley. So this picture below is how I kind of imagined Hussa: steep peaks that shoot out of the ground, secluding a valley, with one waterfall. Just needs fewer trees (and red wood trees for the few that should be there), tons of flowers, colorful ponies, and some gnomes, then it'd be perfect!

And here are some more of my fantastic adventures. I hope you enjoy looking at them and I highly recommend visiting Yosemite National Park; it's a really cool place. Just go there in the Spring, 'cause that's when it's at its best.

Oh, and I just got an order of some books in. I'll be posting a few more updates about that as they come. But anyways... on to the pictures! (Sorry, I do that a lot.)

Some crazy person's climbing rope on El Capitan:

Yosemite Falls:

Rainbow and Half Dome:

Yosemite Falls:

Half Dome at sunset:

The sign says it all...

And me at the top of Yosemite Falls. Killer hike, but awesome view.

Of course I have a ton of other pictures, I'm just too lazy to put them ALL up on here. Anyways, hope you have a splendid day, stay minty fresh, I'll keep you posted on things, and... yeah.

I feel an awful lot like Teffy lately, as I work at a Garden Shop, hehehe! I have lots of fun with it. And I didn't complete my goal of having the rough draft of the sequel finished by April 30th, but I am pretty close.

Anyhow, I'm going to go find something to eat now so... Teffy ya later!

Hello there!

I've finally sketched a completed (well, mostly...) map of the four kingdoms of Calda. In other words, I've drawn a little map of Calda, the planet, in Naytel Galaxy, AKA, the planet in TTSFNN.

I hope to be able to draw a full scale, easier to read map soon, and it'll appear in the second book. I also would like to make somewhat of a virtual tour, and make it so that you can view zoomed in views of certain kingdoms and such. Also, eventually, I'll draw a wider collection of drawings of various places throughout the enchanted planet. I have all the images in my hea,d I just need to put them down on paper.

Anyways, so there are a few of my plans, and here is the sketch:

Wow... that's surprisingly big. Oh well, maybe now you can make out a few of the places! And oh yes, all these places (more or less) await you in the adventure that will follow Teffy in the next upcoming book...

Besides that, my only other updates are that I have been working on Midterms, and writing, not as much as I should, but still making progress little by little. In fact, I have written myself out a little schedule, that I'll put myself in a world of trouble if I don't stick to lick a lollipop sticks to carpet...

I hope to have the first draft finished by the 30th of this month. (That is also when I plan to release the title to the sequel.)

By May 31st, I hope to have proofread the manuscript one time, and at this time I shall give it to my "editors."

They better be done tearing it apart by July 31st, for that's when I hope to go through and revise it. (Again; I plan on reading through it while the editors pick at it, too.)

By August 31, I want to have the manuscript ready to ship away to AuthorHouse.

There, now ya know, so get me in trouble if I don't stick to my game plan. ;)

Talk to ya later!