Sunday, February 21, 2010

Answers, Suggestions and Unplugging


I've got a lot of stuff to talk about, so instead of talking about each thing in three separate posts, I thought I'd just talk about them all right now! First up...Answers!!! We got five awesome questions from readers in our Q and A post and here's what Aaron and I have to say!

Kristi Faith asks: What kinds of things do you do in Alaska for fun?
Aaron: In the summer I like to work, write, walk, hike, berry pick, and swim. Sometimes I go to the bridge and read while my brothers fish. In the winter I like to do homework, work, write, read, go to the track, sled, and workout indoors. I’d prefer to workout outside in the winter, but it’s too easy to overheat when you workout outdoors in the cold weather.

Ella: I like to read, write, watch copious amounts of TV/movies on Netflix (right now I'm obsessed with the TV series Robin Hood, the BBC version and The Wonder Years!) and blog like a mad woman! :P

Bethany Mattingly (aka our fab critique partner :D) asks: If you could each plan out a perfect day, what would you do, and who would you spend it with?
Aaron: Well, I’m president of a club, go to school, do student teaching, volunteer, and work so my perfect day would definitely involve a distinct absence of all of the above plus people. I’d probably get up early turn off my cell, unplug my Internet, and disable my wireless. Once that was taken care of I’d grab some breakfast, go to the track for an hour, grab pasta at my favorite deli, and treat myself to a bag of rice crackers from the organic market. Then I’d spend the afternoon at the library either writing my book or rereading one of my favorite books. After that I’d go home and eat the deli takeout I’d snagged at lunch, watch a little TV, do some yoga, and research tigers until I feel asleep. All of this is subject to change, but the one thing that will always stay the same is that the only people allowed in my perfect day would be random people that I don’t know and who don’t know me. Perfection.

Ella: Ooo, I would love to have one of those! Let's see, if I could plan out my perfect day I would sleep in, shut off all electronics (except my computer, but I would disconnect the Internet!), go out to a restaurant (like IHop) and have a fabulous breakfast, then I would go to a coffee shop and write to my heart's content, and then I would spend the afternoon in a bookstore (where money is not an issue) and buy as many books as could carry and then I would end the day with a fabulous dinner somewhere (like Red Robins or Dairy Queen), then go home and take a long, luxurious bubble bath, snuggle up in a robe and slippers and eat chocolate for dessert! :) AndI would spend this perfect day either by myself or with a small group of close friends. (Any takers? :P)

Lisa R asks: What I'd like to know is how do you two have time for reading for pleasure much less time to blog about it. Do you two get any sleep?

Aaron: I’m one of those freaky people who compulsively plans, so if I have an open box in my schedule for sleeping, reading, and blogging it gets done. All hail the mighty schedule!

Ella: I don't schedule much except when it comes to school, the fun stuff I save for night time or when I'm done with homework. :)

Lisa and Laura ask: How do you decide what books to buy?Aaron: It depends on if I’m buying fiction or nonfiction. If I’m buying fiction I usually check which of my favorite authors have new books coming out before I go to the store, but every once in a while I’ll make an impulse buy if the cover and the first page look good. If I’m buying nonfiction I usually buy a book about whatever topic I’m currently researching.

Ella: As you probably already know I love to read/write YA fiction, so on the rare opportunities that I get the chance to go into a bookstore, I normally head straight for the YA section, no questions asked :) Once I'm there I look for any new releases that my favorite authors have out and then I browse other new releases. An interesting cover and a kick ass summery are usually the only things I look for before deciding to buy a book. I'm not too picky :P

Frankie Daine Mallis asks: 1) How did you guys decide to blog together?
Aaron: We used hang out when Ella would come down to visit her grandmother, and then after we graduated high school we ended up going to the same college. A lot of strange stuff happens at our college, and we talked about starting up a blog to vent about all of the different crazy stuff that happened to us but it never really went anywhere. Then last summer Ella e-mailed me about starting up The Blogger Girlz, and here we are.

Ella: What she said, lol :P No, seriously though, we had talked about finding a way to vent about the pressures of school and life and came up with the idea of starting a blog together and after that first conversation the idea never went anywhere until last summer I just decided that then would be the perfect time to go ahead with our idea and the rest, as they say, is history (and boy am I glad that we went through with this blog, it's been a blast! :D)

2) Who's your favorite author?

Aaron: At the moment My favorite author is either Joanne Fluke or Charlaine Harris.

Ella: Oh I have sooo many! My favorites are J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, Stephen King, Jackson Pearce, Kimberly Derting, Cayla Kluver, Bree Despain, and many, many more!

3) What's your favorite book series?

Aaron: My favorite book series is either the Southern Vampire Series or the Hanna Swenson Mysteries.

Ella: Again, I have a ton, but at the moment my favorite series are The Sisters Grimm series and the Vampire Academy series (as a matter of fact I just finished reading the first book in the series a few days ago and absolutely LOVED it! :D)

4) What are you currently working on (WIPs or short stories or poetry?)

Aaron: I am currently working on a fantasy book called “The Tiger,” which is about a college student who can turn into a Bengal Tiger. Other than that I just submitted two short stories to a contest that my college is holding. One was about an aunt whose nephew just got kidnapped and the other was about a vampire.

Ella: I'm currently working on my WIP entitled Devour, a modern day retelling of Hansel and Gretel and soon I might also be working on a short story (but I'll get to that in a minute :))

Next up, I need your help! Every year, my grandma (God bless her!) calls me up and tells me about an annual writing contest being held in Alaska, in the past, whenever this would happen I would just smile and say I'd think about it while knowing that I would never have anything ready in time. Well, the day before yesterday she called me to let me know about the conest and encouraged me to submit a piece like she always dose. My reaction was the same, but this time, after I let the idea sink in a little, I decided, why not? :) So, this is where you come in! I have some ideas about what I'd like to write for the contest, but I also want to hear your guys' ideas! I don't know too many details about the contest yet except that the piece can be fiction and up to 20 pages long. So, suggestions? :)

And, last but not least...I'm unplugging! The concept for unplugging was created by blogger B.J. Anderson, here's the description from her blog: "If you get tired of networking and need a break, join me for Unplug Week. It starts the third Monday of each month and it's a chance to just write. Go ahead and check your emails once or twice a day or anything else that will stack up while you're gone, but after that, turn off your computer and go write. Unplugging means no blogging, facebooking, myspacing, twittering, or anything else that keeps you from writing. Good luck and happy writing!"
Doesn't that sound awesome? Now, I realize that I'm a little late in starting this (the last Unplug Week started on February 15th), but really I think any week can be Unplug Week and that week for me begins this week! I decided to do this at the spur of the moment as an experiment to see how much willpower I actually possess when it comes to not blogging (the other things I don't do as much but blogging...ooo, that's gonna be a hard one to give up!) and to see how many words I can actually type in a week minus all the added distractions on the Internet. So, as much as it pains me to say this, from Monday, February 22-Sunday, February 28 (or the 26th, we'll see how long I'll last!) I won't be blogging, facebooking, myspacing, twittering, or doing anything else that keeps me from writing! (The only time I'll come online is to check e-mail and to update Devour's weekly and total word counts!) See you in a week!!!! :D

~Ella

5 comments:

BK Mattingly said...

awesome answers!

Frankie Diane Mallis said...

Woot thanks for answering the questions:-)

Kristi Faith said...

That was a great post. I enjoyed your answers and getting to know you better.

Enjoy your unplug week!

B.J. Anderson said...

Great post!! And thanks for unplugging with me! :D :D :D

Aubrie said...

Thanks for following my blog! I'm following yours too!

That's a pretty cool dream boyfriend on the side bar! :)