NanoWrimo Fail

I had made my second year attempt! and failed. It started off slow but I still had hope. For those of you who don't know what that is, its November's Novel Writing Month where you write a novel in a month and it has to have 50,000 words by the end. You dont win anything, you just getting a finished draft of a novel to work with, which is a step in a good direction.
It comes down to writing 1500 words a day, which I thought would be easy since in an hour I can smash out 1000. But if you miss a day....then another day, you're 3000 words behind and it lessens your chance at completing it. I had a rocky start.
October 31st we were out to pick up Martin's friend from the airport and when we had gotten in, we stayed up and gabbed a bit, so I, wanting to start of NaNoWriMo right, started writing right at midnight. Smashed out 500 words or more in a distracted mind set, but it was a good starting point. BUT that following night, I knew it was going to be an uphill climb. Andre, Martins friend, was staying in the living right by my work area, so it was hard to get around to even get to my desk, not keep our guest awake with my furious taping of the key board, and not be tired. We were out all day, then be home late so I was pretty beat after working and going out. This happened almost every night while Andre was down. So i missed a few days, but still wrote something. Then when he left I sat myself down every night and wrote and wrote and wrote but it felt like I could catch up. Not to mention my support group who were also doing it gave up as well. Martin said he'd start when Andre was gone, but decided it wasnt worth it. My brother Isaac just stopped because he had other non-job things to do. Steve ....well i dont even know what happened to him, he was so motivated at first! And Katie got a new job and also fell out of the running.
I got to about 10000 word or more before I did the math. I'd have to write over 3500 words a day to complete it in time. So I had to bow out of the running.
Its been different now, not writing at night. So I think I might work out continuing the Remastering of The Echoes, and get Fun Culture done. I like ending my night writing something and keeping warm by the computer, glancing over at Martin and watching him game.
Cheers mofos

My Year 2015

Around the beginning of the year, my boyfriend Martin and I went back home to visit for a few days. It was nice seeing everyone again and it really didn't feel like it's been more than a year since the last time I was down. I got to meet a few of Martin's friends and spend time with my grandpa whose not doing very well, but still kicking! When we had everyone at Brews and Cues, Cabana boy and Sam showed up and it was completely awesome to see them after two years! Even Cole showed up and hung out with us, met Martin, got to see my friends again since they all had fallen out of touch after I left. It was different seeing Matteo under the circumstances, the way we had left things and how things ended, he got to kind of meet Martin, but he was also busy seeing all his old friends who had showed. Matteo seemed like a good friend of mine at that time, not what he used to be for me, and I have to say, I think being close friends with him was what it was suppose to be, we could joke about our past and talk about our present with no hard feelings. Hanging out with everyone was just a blast!

When we returned to our home in New West, it was really like coming back to a home. Because of the time difference I make it my goal to wake up earlier (I had been struggling with getting a good nights rest and being able to wake up early. I felt like I wasted alot of my life sleeping) So I began waking up at 9 am then 8am and even as early as 7am. I started this routine to prepare myself for the TIU Bikiniseries that started in April! I would wake up (after 2-3 alarms) make coffee and watch some tv on netflix. I think we were still using the laptop for watching things since we only had a TV but no cable!

Right before Easter I got news my grandpa was taken to the hospital, he was coughing up blood and was placed in the terminal ward. I started to panic, it was a trip home I couldnt afford but knew I'd have to make and I wanted nothing more than to see my grandpa before he passed away. Of course my parents wouldnt let me, it was pointless to come and visit, then have to come back again if he passed away. So they told me to wait until he was gone to come back home. He got better. Miraculously. Thank God! I got to talk to him on Easter as well and see how he was doing. 

At this point in my life I was grateful for having a supportive boyfriend who was by my side and was there if I needed someone, I also had friends with me, new and old ones. My new ones, Amanda and Diora, are the friends that I've made that are now apart of my life. 

Amanda is that friend of mine, whose place I always go to and we play n64 for hours and drink wine. Or watch anime...and drink wine. Diora in the middle is who I work with, and we became instant best friends. She's my crazy to my logic. Working in a mall has helped me make friends and I gotta say, I do enjoy working in a mall. We go out after work for beers with the security guys, we know all the dramas that go on, we meet so many different people. The mall life lol. 

Other than that, life is pretty solid. Martin and I traveled out to the interior for May long weekend, and it makes me wanna move out that way. Once I become a successful author, I'll live out in Summerland and enjoy the dryness and the valley. 

I usual life routine consists of waking up before 8 (since it's always different) have a coffee, sometimes I work out, sometimes I just chill. I go to work, eat my prepared meals, (no one chicken cuz i realized I fucking hate chicken and was just wasting it) usually, chili, stew, steak, salmon or eggs. After I come home, write or game, stream on Twitch (right now only Martin) On my days off I clean and meal prep. Maybe hike with my brother or off to hang with Katie, my newest friend, where we chill and I cuddle with her cat Harli. 

I look back and see the life ive made so far.,...and its pretty fantastic. I still talk to everyone from Windsor, I still talk to my parents. When my friends need me, I'm there for them. (Baker and Ayla going thru break ups and they call so we chat. I snapchat Jen and Chelsey to keep her in the loop of my life, and all the funny shit that happens.

My life is playing out nicely and Im enjoying every moment!

Hello, it's me (probably the most overused phrase atm lol)

So it's been awhile! I had to take a break from blogging since I couldn't keep it up on a regular basis, plus I was also getting thefunculture.com website up and running. Yet I seem to go in and out of bouts of consistency with interests. Tons of stuff have happened in my life like moving into a bigger apartment then obtaining furniture, making permanent friends (I hope) I started with two and have recently made a third friend (they're actually from Windsor as well!) And this past summer was spent travelling BC, heading to the interior and having friends and family visit (Jen and Allan, my mom and dad, Baker and her girlfriend, Andre, Heath and Marc Baker, Alex and Mike) there was alot going on this past year!
My next post will have photos, this post is straight from my phone. I may not be as frequent on this right now since I'm currently doing NaNoWriMo for the second year, and also the remastering of The Echoes. I will do my best!

Cheers for now!

Moving Sites!

I will no longer be using this blog. Instead you can find my posts here:
thefunculture.wordpress.com

Check it out!

FUN CULTURE final scene

Again, another raw scene. Enjoy!

Dawn of the Final Day

                If only there was a way I could go back to the moment I met Dante, to warn him how much this was going to suck. Every ounce of me wanted to turn around and say how much it meant to me, how I wouldn’t have made it through the summer without him, how different and strange my summer would have been and that I can look back without anger or resentment. All the things I felt the night before Grand Bend weekend and how much I wanted to pack and leave the minute I told my brother I was coming out to Vancouver to live with him.

                I didn’t have any reason to stay other than school, and even then I wanted to drop out and run away. The first decision to leave was to run, I was suppose to pull a Lion King, escape from my past and start a new life. But I wasn’t escaping anymore, I was moving on and getting stronger in the process, becoming a person who people loved and didn’t want to see leave.

                Yet, in the midst of the commotion of the airport, after checked in my bags and said good bye to my parents, I stood there, trying hard not to break down in front of Dante and his friend Kole. Dante had a strong face on, but Kole’s eye’s were a giveaway. When I turned around to give Dante a hug, he immediately made his way to me, sliding his hands around me as his head bend down to kiss my cheek. Why did this have to be sad? All I knew was that he was bound to move on.

                Dante had been a good catch and I didn’t think he’d stick around this long. Even during our late night talks after sex, he always made it seem like this still was just a fun little fling. Looking at him now, sad and distant, I knew I somehow left tiny footsteps in his heart without meaning too. I could count the times he made himself out to be a player, yet the kind words he would say, full of genuine feeling and meaning. And that’s what made him a good actor.

                Now, as we held each other in the center of people trying to make their flight, there was no acting, no hint that he didn’t care about me, and that’s what made it a lot harder to leave. He sniffled and I started to shake as this overwhelming emotion hit me when I realized what we had was the closest to love I felt. After had been broken for so long and treated like shit by my Ex, Dante was the thing I needed to give me hope again that I did in fact deserve better, that I should have been treated and actually loved.

                This was the closure I needed. I didn’t need to see my Ex, and say a last goodbye to him. Fuck him, he was no where close to deserve my attention. Instead he got to continue his sad existence, not caring about anyone else but himself. He got to use his friends to get ahead, be lonely and drink beer all night wondering what the fuck he was going to do with himself. He got to go downtown and be one of those sleaze balls you see, only buying you a drink because you’re cute and he wants to get laid. Quiet the life he got to live.

                I was leaving footprints, because it didn’t matter how much money I made, or the things I did this summer, it was what I was leaving behind that made everything worth experiencing. I experienced a lot with Dante, and Kole, and it was this moment of leaving them that I knew I was leaving something with them. Even as I felt Dante’s tear fall onto my cheek, I had to say one thing that was he was going to take to heart.

                “Thanks for giving me the best summer,” I whisper into his ear as we pull a little apart, but still hang onto on another.

                “You’re going to do great out there,” he says, trying to smile. I could hear the sadness break through his voice and a little piece of my heart breaks too, not in the way it had back in December, but in a way that the piece that broke was worth breaking because the person took it was going to keep it forever and cherish it.

                We kiss and kiss again more intensely. How I just want to make out with him at that moment but instead I got up onto my tipy toes so my lips are next to his ear.

                “I love you.”

                “I love you too,” Dante says before realizing what I just said. “Wait, did you just say that?”

                “Yeah, because I really do.”

                “I love you too, for a while now.”

                That’s all I needed to hear, the confirmation that all the times he did say it, he did mean it. I don’t know why he had rejected my response whenever he said it to me. I began to just take his ‘I love yous’ as an automatic response with his good byes, like saying it to his mother and his best friend. He was Italian after all, the most passionate lovers or at least that’s what people say and from this summer’s occurrences, a true fact.

                Dante saying that had made me a little stronger with the goodbyes, or so I felt at that moment. Suddenly the atmosphere around us dissolves and the look in his eyes makes me crazy, just like they always have done. There was so much I wanted to say to him, but just couldn’t and it was all my fault. I had guarded myself from the beginning because I didn’t want to get hurt again. I didn’t want to give him all of me since the last person I had done that with, threw it all away, spit me out like some bad taste in the back of their throat. But not Dante.

                The first few days we hungout after Grand Bend, he had already shown me a lot of himself, without shame or regret, but with confidence and strength. I remember, getting into his car and telling him, “No falling in love now.” And he laughed and told me not to worry but I already knew we were both doomed.

                We had one job. One job and here we were, crying and already missing one another. We failed ourselves yet still lived with no regrets. And when we finally broke apart so I could say good bye to Kole, all I wanted to do was be in his arms again, to hold him forever and say I love you a million more times.

                Kole spread his arms like a wing span and embraced me. That’s all it took for the tears to finally burst from hiding and stream down my face. These people I was losing were people I’d never be able to replace. I couldn’t even stand that thought. All this time I thought, ‘oh, I’ll miss my friends,’ and I was never really sad about it, since I knew they were always going to be there. But now it was like, I’ll never be able to replace my friends, even the new ones I made this summer and found myself closer than ever. Kole was one of a kind and proved to place himself in the top standing with all my other close friends. He proved that age didn’t matter in friendship and that I could count on him as one of my best friends.

                I wish I could relive the start of all this, slow it down and watch our favourite parts, where we could’ve been more careful, or maybe, a little more sincere. As I said good bye and gave Dante one last kiss then watching him leave, all I could feel was sudden excitement. Yes, I was upset at having to leave a wonderful person like Dante, to the leave behind my friends, but that excitement dawned because I was intrigued to see what was going to happen next. What would become of us?

                And when I board the plane, sitting in the back and wanting more than anything to listen to music and to sleep, I couldn’t help but feel a stir inside me, unknown yet wonderful. When you leave somewhere familiar, you’ll always have a safety net of security no matter your money or living situation. When the plane turns and shuttles off, gaining speed and trying to catch air for take off, I can picture the sky above that was about to engulf us. It wasn’t until we were 40,000 ft in the sky, surround by clouds that blinded me from seeing anything further, that it was symbol of my life at that very moment. I really didn’t know what was lying ahead, when my whole life I always had an idea of what was in store. So this excitement that had suddenly spawned itself within my aching heart, was the fact that I didn’t know where I was going to be a year from now, or how Dante was going to change if he did, or what friends I’ll have when I come home to visit. It was exciting and new, and I knew two things:

1)      I was broke as hell and had the drive to succeed to obtain my dream

2)      I was going to be okay

Knock on wood just in case. Deeper into the clouds I go and when I make it out into clear skies,  I’ll know. Know what? At that moment, I didn’t know, I had an idea. But I’ll just know when I get there I guess.

The Big Move

Well, it's been settled. I'm moving!

At the beginning of May on my older brother's birthdaym I messaged him a Happy Birthday and a following text saying: "Help me get out of here" Lol.

You see, lately I've been having missed feelings about Windsor. I grew up here and it'll alway be home, but something in my heart urges me to leave. I'm 24 and I've accomplished a lot. I have my Esthetics deploma, Can Fit Pro, Personal Support Worker cert. and I wrote a book! I feel that I've gotten what I can out of Windsor and it's time to move forward in my life.

My friend had re-added me to facebook and it's what he said that made me reginize what this feeling meant. He said:
"Courtney, we all have those friends, that after graduation I think, 'where are they even headed in life?'. I've never had to worry about that with you though. You have big dreams and big aspiration that you to go out there and get. You're too big for this city."

Not to be cocky, but he's right. And I think that's how I've been feeling, I need to escape, I need a change, and to be in a place with more oppertunity.

So I decided that I'm going to move to Vancouver BC. My brother already has a room for me to stay in while I'm there to get settled in. I'll be driving up there with my buddy, so I'm pretty pumped about the road trip!

I also plan on selling my book across Canada as we make our way to BC. Over all I'm pretty pumped. Money's the only issue atm.

Oh and there's a boy. But that's another story :)

The Ultimate Query Letter

I've been writing Query letters for Literary Agents and Publishers for about 6 years. Trial and error, rewriting and revising to make my query worth reading to the oh-so-busy agents.

So this is a format to write a unique-ish (cuz you can only be so different) and GREAT query letter that'll help you get noticed.

Agents read 100-200 query letters a day and it's only the first few lines that get them to ACTUALLY read your email/letter. So the first step to have a eye catching line, something that makes your email stand out!

1) Before you even put "Dear So & So" why don't you put your favourite line of your book at the top of the email/letter? It's draw their attention and intrigue them enough to want to read your email :)

2) After the Dear whom and who you need a good intro line. What I like doing it visiting the website of the agency I'm sending my query too. I do this to get an idea of what kind of person this agent is. Searching for their twitter account works too and gives you a deeper insight to either have a professional intro line, or to start it off fun!!!

3) The Body of the Query letter!! The hardest part if I don't say so myself. I find this the hardest thing to write because I can't, for the life of me, write a good paragraph on what my book is about. Hence all the years or rewriting and revising the damn thing!! So what I'd suggest, have a friend (who read your book and is generally good at writing as well) write one for you! That why you don't over explain things or go off on a tangent about something in your book that doesn't have to be explained. The power of a few words is important here!
Note: Keep it short BUT DON'T leave them hanging. Agents/publishers will stop reading right then and there.

4) Forth paragraph should be something about promoting your book, your dedication and drive to make your book number one. If you get your book published, you don't just sign a contract and bathe in the royalties, you gotta go out there and make people wanna read your book! So talk about your audiences, maybe how you'd promote you book and free samples. Everyone likes free samples :)

5) Always say thank you. :D

6) Even if they don't ask for it, send them 1-3 chapters of your book (unless they say NO in their guidelines on their website. What if you did such an awesome query that they want to read your book right away?! Give them something to read! OR if you have a unique and wonderful review from someone of your audience, adding that makes your query that much more different.


Hope all that helps. Over the years I've sent so many different query letters and following this format has gotten me the most amount of positive feedback/responses from agents and publishers. So try it out and you may get lucky :)