The 500w a day challenge!

I'm doing it. No need to wait until NaNoWriMo in November, as @Inkyelbows has issued a challenge! Well not a personal challenge to ME type challenge but a challenge all the same.

I am in edit mode of my YA-soon-to-be-MG book, however throughout my travels I have had an abundance of new ideas and am itching to write something brand spanking new.

So why not 500w of newness a day? Totally do-able. And I can still edit my other book at the same time. I did a first pass edit of chapter one in 2 days. This is do-able, right? RIGHT?

I guess we'll find out.

Anyhoo, this is me starting.

And I'm looking forward to it.

Oh, and more adventures of Sarah in THE WORLD to come. This is just a sidenote.

Sairz

Long time no post! The WORLD and stuff

Hello interwebz!

Long time no see! Erm. Sorry about that.

I have finally stopped. Stopped being in a different city, state or country every 3 days. And I like it. :) And the internet works here! Half the places I've be

en my wireless has been in snooty mood so I would yell at it and it would yell back at me and then it would turn around with its arms crossed, muttering under its breath that I was the one

being unreasonable when it was the wireless that wasn't doing it's job and, you know. Working.

But we're back on speaking terms now, clearly it was having a bit of a tanty because we'd been moving around so much, but cos we're all settled down in Leeds it's a much happier computer.

So there ya go.

What was my last post? I'd just arrived at the conference eh? That was one awesome couple of days, let me tell ya. So inspiring, all those writers, editors and agents have so much to share. Many of us had complete fan moments and couldn't make

ourselves go and talk to some of the other attendess. For instance, FINALLY, after seeing her around a lot, I went over and talked to Holly Black.

And you wanna know what? She was just as lovely as I though

t she'd be. But it's funny, since her books are set in New York I just assumed she was from New York. But she's not. I hadn't been to New York (at the t

ime) so clearly she writes convincingly for me. Which means I can write about characters anywhere in the world too!

Anyhoo, I also met Jay Asher,

in a quite bizarre way - I had my fan girl moment while he was in line to have his fan boy moment with Holly Black. Pretty funny.

There was so much talent all over that conference. So many writers who are as yet unpublished, but have books that sound like awesome reads. They just haven't found the right home yet. But I know they will.

The Childrens Writing world is such a friendly sphere. I c

an't wait to go back to the conference next year. You know, if I c

an afford it. What with planes, and hotel rooms, and conferences fees. It's totally worth it though.

Let's see, after LA was Vegas. And I have to say, Eleanor and I were a bit stupid. What were we thinking going to the desert in the middle of Summer? But the good thing about this desert is that you barely need to leave your hotel. Cos it kind of has everything. Including air conditioning. Oh yeah, you heard me. AIR CONDITIONING. :)

And of course the casino, which spills into the bar which has pokies machines set into the table top. That's kind of mental. But anyhoo. We had juggling bar tenders,

and a live show outside our hotel window with sirens singing, pirates drowning and cannons blasting four times a night, there was room service, and Cirque Du Soleil IN THE HOTEL. We didn't even have to leave the building and brave the desert heat to go to a show. For HALF PRICE. In the FRONT ROW. Right on the side next to wh

ere they run up and down stairs and stuff. Sometimes the eye contact with the cast got a bit awkward.

We did however leave the hotel on occasion.

Caesar's Palace's mall, The Forum is insane, with marble statues, and fountains and spiral staircases and paintings on the ceilings. And walking around the Venetian with it's cloud covered ceiling and canals filled with gondalas... And seeing the Eiffel Tower on one side of the road, with the Empire State Building on the other was a bit surreal.

Oh, hello. There's a naked man in a window opposite mine. Anyway, where was I.

All up and down the strip, you'd have men and women handing out cards, mostly they didn't try and give them to me but the odd person did and I discovered they were for prostitutes. These cards were littered all over the footpath, too. Can you imagine growing up in Vegas? Like, being a kid in Vegas? I have a feeling you'd grow up fast.

Whilst Eleanor went on a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon (I went there 8 years ago, and declared it to be "just a big hole") I went to the Blue Man Group! I had no idea what to expect, and was a bit surprised at my 3rd row seat being classified as "the wet zone" and I had to wear a poncho. Woah. I didn't get wet though. Which I'm glad abou

t, cos those who did get wet, it was in a kind of gross way.

Great show though. How DO you describe the Blue Man Group?

Well this is pretty much what they do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDBL8nBRwVA&feature=related but they're funny too. You know. Without talking. And they're Blue.

After Vegas was New Orleans. And I thought Vegas was hot. Actually, no, New Orleans wasn't hotTER than Vegas. It was just wetter. With 99% humidity I just about

died. Felt like I was sweating ALL the time. Had a shower one afternoon and my hair just wouldn't dry.

Made friends with some lovely Italian boys and an American chick who we hung out with a lot. We all went Swing Dancing, and into the French Quarter and Bourbon Street on a Saturday night - absolutely mental, let me tell ya. Eleanor and I also went on a swamp tour - a lot prettier than they lead you to believe

- and to a Plantation House which was also purty.

Then I put on a bracelet I bought in a voodoo shop and everything went to crap.

Tell ya about that and the rest later. :)

Sairz

Week One USA & SCBWI Nationals 2009!

Must be quick.

Must go to bed. Long day. Actually, long dayS. But it's okay. I can deal. I'm in a fancy schmancy hotel right near Beverly Hills right now. Hostels are a lot harder to live in than anticipated.

Feel dirty all the time, one bathroom between 8 people. Nowhere to put your stuff other than in piles beside your bed. No air conditioning in SUMMER in California.

But none of that applies now. Cos we're in LUXURY.

Didn't have to worry about the heat in San Francisco cos it was about the same temperature as the Melbourne winter we had just left.

Eleanor, my travel buddy was somehow upgraded to premium economy for the flight (old business class seats) so after a bit of umming and aahing, she buggered off to enjoy the luxury. 14 hours in Economy isn't the easiest thing in the world, but that was to be expected.

San Fran - we explored and saw Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39, Chinatown, Little Italy, Union Square (became very familiar with Union Square) Haight-Ashbury - COOLEST vintage shop ever there - the Painted Ladies, and we did a historic architecture walking tour...AROUND the hills. It was really fascinating, actually.

There were lots of homeless people begging which was sad, and there were lots of teeny tiny dogs being carried around which was...weird.

We walked across the bridge, and went to a local bar one night. Had some lovely Dutch room mates one night and German ones for a couple of others.

Flew to LA - the security was insane, had to take off your shoes, belt, empty all pockets and go through a machine with your hands above your head and most people were frisked as well. A bit scary, and that was just to get from one part of the state to another!

We were staying between Hollywood and Sunset and let me tell ya, if ever you've wondered where prostitutes and exotic dancers get their clothes? It's Hollywood Blvd. Even the mannequins had big...er...assets, to cater for the...well endowed.

Caught the Red Line train to Universal Studios which I loved as I dream that maybe ONE day I'll have a movie or TV show filmed there. Such a shame that their city sets - like New York, and the clock tower from Back to the Future were destroyed in the fires last year or the year before. But they're being rebuilt. The War of the Worlds plane crash set was pretty amazing though. Of course, as soon as we started the tour my camera died, so...

We were at the front of the queue in The Mummy ride when it broke down, so there was an EXTRA long wait. At least we weren't the ones stuck INSIDE the ride when it did. Favourite ride was the Jurassic Park one. It was very wet. And the day was hot. It was the second ride we did, I think. The Simpsons simulated motion ride was good, but a REALLY long wait in line. At least the line moved quickly. The Shred 4D was pretty cool, too. Not often you're sitting watching a movie and a character sneezes and you get wet.

Really enjoyed wandering around Century Walk, a radio station was broadcasting and each Wed for a couple of weeks had an unsigned band play and the hip hop band we saw were AWESOME. Audio something. They were so good live, really polished. I hope the CD sounds just as good. They're launching a CD at the Viper Room soon. Check it out if you're around. Not that you can really tell who I'm talking about with the lack of details I've given you.

As we were leaving there were people taking photos of a set of female blond twins with really shiny hair. Apparently they're in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Should have gotten a photo with them but I didn't actually know who they were.

Did 2 bus tours (one was free - YES!) up into the Hollywood Hills and beautiful homes of the rich and famous, saw the Hollywood sign from the closest point you can actually get to it. Did you know that it was actually a real estate sign, back in the day? Yeah. Advertising Hollywoodland real estate. But they kept it. How weird, huh? But awesome.

Then we did another tour which took us through Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, the Sunset Strip, past Paramount Studios and all the offices of producers and screenwriters...sigh...one day...

A couple of blocks from where we were staying on Hollywood Boulevard a new movie called Valentine's Day was being shot, which has Jamie Foxx, Ashton Kutcher and Julia Roberts in it. Didn't see any of them, but still pretty cool. There were a couple of films being shot, actually.

While out on our bus tour there were police helicopters flying around, and when we moved to the Hyatt, we saw on the news that 3 homeless people had been stabbed, right around where we had been staying. Two of them have died, too which is sad. But they got the guy, which is something. And we're not there anymore.

I was down in the lobby of the Hyatt - SO nice to be in a real hotel!!! Trying to use the internet (neither my phone nor the internet have been working at all here) and was asked by a group of SCBWI peeps if I wanted to join them (hello ladies!) and among the group was my agent, Jill Corcoran! I met Jill and it's been great getting to know her and hanging with her and other writerly world people.

In Sherman Alexie (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian)'s keynote speech today, he mentioned that the kids book world is a lot more friendly than the adult book world. And I thoroughly agree. Though he had a different reason for thinking so, part of it I think is cos you're among other people who GET it. They get YOU, they get your CRAFT. At least that's part of it for me. I'm just so excited to be around other people who understand.

Wow, this was supposed to be short.

Been a great day though. Went to Jordan Brown, editor at HarperCollins's session about openings to your books and it was really interesting and he was a great speaker too. Sherman Alexie's keynote was amazing as well. Funny and touching and...the man knows how to hold a crowd.

Whilst I was enjoying all of this, Eleanor went shopping on Rodeo Drive, and lounged by the pool. And she got sunburnt. HAHAHA!! I'm a good friend.

Must go to bed and prepare for day TWO! And the Blue Moon Ball tomorrow night. I wonder who will dress as a Moon?

Will blog again when I can!

Sairz

The day before the day before the adventure begins!

Okay. Can tidy the room now. With clothes, paper and stationary spread all over the entire study which I have been using as a bed room for the past 5 weeks (Bed room. Really it was a couch room. I been sleeping on the couch) I can now tidy it all away, stuff it into drawers and cupboards. Why you ask? Why all of a sudden NOW can I tidy this room? Because I'm all packed and good to go!

Woo!

The time is nigh. The adventure is soonish.

First stop is San Francisco. I hear it's 15 degrees there. In Summer. Which is what it was today in my part of Australia. In winter. Thinking I may be needing some thicker coats than anticipated. I'm really looking forward to San Fran for a more mundane reason than all the amazing stuff we're going to do there. I'm looking forward to sleeping in a real bed again. Ah.

Then comes LA with the home of Mickey Mouse and the Hollywood sign poster at Universal Studios, celebrity sightings and gang wars. And the SCBWI conference!

Then off to Vegas, not so much to gamble but very much to visit Elvis in his wedding chapel. I'm not getting married. But I am going to snigger and giggle behind my hands as someone else gets married. By Elvis. In his Chapel. Awesome.

Then to Naw'lens (New Orleans) for some jazz, swamps, crocodiles with a touch of voodoo on the side before hopping a plane to Miami. With or without Key West. That remains undecided, considering it's the rainy season and the weather just might make the ridiculously long and expensive bus ride not quite worth it.

Then after all THAT comes Noo Yawk (New York) with that big green lady and that super tall building, a big park and Tyra! Or Jimmy Fallon. But I think it's Tyra! Though I'd prefer Jimmy Fallon. We'll wear our business casual and sit in the audience, if we get our tickets.

And that's when I say goodbye to Eleanor and venture off ON MY OWN...

Off to London. To collapse in a heap for a couple of days and recover from America. Where I will NOT have been shot (looking at YOU, Dean). Then to do touristy Londony things from my base at a backpackers somewhere in the city. Somewhere. Probably will NOT be going to Sheffield Bush...I don't think I got that right...the aussie section is what I'm talking about. Cos why be in Britain and hang out with a bunch of bogans? :) I coulda done that at home.

Anyhoo then off to ITALY for my 3 day tour, plus I'll do a day or so in Rome and I really wanna head over to Venice as well. I hear lots of people speak English in Italy. Which I hope is not a lie. Cos if it is a lie, then I am how you say...oh. Right. SCREWED.

Then back to England and probably about time to head to Leeds and my new home for the next 5 months. Let the learning begin!

I think/hope I have the money to go on a tour in Egypt at the end of my trip. And I have 2 nights in Hong Kong planned. And I'm pretty positive I'm doing a 3 day trip around Paris.

I mean there are heaps and heaps of other places I want to go, but I'll see how the funds treat me.

I will be sitting on my bum cheeks for a good 14-16 hours straight, including the Melbourne to Sydney flight. Aw man, that's NOT including the 2 hour trip from home to the airport. Considering I squirm at the uncomfortableness of the cinema seats in Morwell and can't even handle a 2 hour movie in them I might be in a bit of trouble with this one. But we'll see.

So excitement. No. Really. SO excitement.

Later!

Well. Later from SOMEWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD!

Sairz

A new addition to the family

On Saturday we were blessed with a new Billington. His name is Henry and he's adorable. He's a PUPPY! By Puppy I mean small dog of 2 years old. He's not a PUPPY puppy.

We've had a pretty tragic year this year, with my parent's 2 dogs both passing away within the last couple of months. My dog Tessa lives with them now, and she was getting very quiet and sad and not playing anymore. We gave her time to grieve, but for such a boisterous dog, she was slowing down and not herself.

So she has a new friend now.

We took her with us when we went to The Save A Dog Scheme in Tooronga, which is an animal shelter where they foster out animals to people's homes, so that the animals don't have to spend forever in a cage at the pound. That's how I got Tess, actually. I was going to be her foster mum but then I fell in love and adopted her. Save A Dog Scheme don't give dogs expiration dates, either. They don't put animals down after a month just because their time is up. They do some fantastic work.

Anyway, we took Tess with us so that she could meet any prospective new family member first and give us the seal of approval or say "No WAY is THAT coming into my home". It was so great to see her playing and they got along from the get go. We tested what he was like with cats and he's more afraid of them than aggressive but mostly ignored them completely. So he passed! And that's how Henry joined our family.

And Tess and Henry play ALL the time, so much so that my parents bed is an out of bounds area for Henry, because Tessa needs to get away from him SOMEHOW. So she jumps up there, panting, rests and then dives down into the fray again.

It's funny. She's a blue heeler, and he's a corgi (we think jack russel) x heeler, so he has her face but itty bitty legs so he runs underneath her tummy. She's body slammed him a couple of times in their games.

Not much is known about Henry. He was a stray so we don't know where he's been or what he's been doing for the past 2 years of his life. He's toilet trained though, and he's a smart cookie, he knew his name and was coming when called within a couple of hours of having him. So yeah, WELCOME HENRY!

I was told today that for someone leaving the country in eleven days, for six WHOLE months, I'm really not acting stressed out enough.

I have lots to do but I'm cool as a cucumber. The days have been going by so fast on me that I actually hadn't realised it was coming up so soon. But now that I realise I think I'm reaching appropriate stress levels.

Must make a To Do Before Leave list.

And must do a practice pack of my suitcase. Well, my sister's baby pink well worn suitcase that I'll be taking with me. I'm starting to think there really isn't enough room for all the stuff I want to take with me. But we'll see.

I have to say, the thing I'm MOST psyched about is the SCBWI conference in LA. I. Can. Not. Wait. It's going to be amazeful and spectaperb. Being around so many other writers, agents and editors and people who just...get it. You know? They get it!

Yay yay yay!

I'm in edit mode for TWO books now. I have my wonderful agent's notes and am doing lots of pondering and thunking for a couple of new scenes, but mostly it's a case of Americanising some of my language.

Like my students are not in year eleven. They're juniors. And HELLO - you don't walk on foot paths over there, it's a sidewalk. I better not have any singlets visable either cos Tank tops are WAY cooler.

I feel a bit sad about getting rid of the word "mate" though. Mate sort of, it has a different meaning than the word friend. Friend is blah. Mate is more...friendly. To me, anyway.

Doesn't matter, fingers crossed and touching the nearest wood, I'll be getting published in Australia too so can keep my aussie language for the aussie edition!

That's all for now.

Enjoy the beauty of today! It's pretty out, doesn' t even feel like winter, but I feel I might just get blown over if I went outside at all. Eep.

SAirz

What I'm reading and doing

Taking the blissful moment of internet usage on MY amazingly awesome (in comparison to family's shockingly awful) computer, whilst at a friend's place with wireless internet, to do another blog entry.Wow. That was one of the most roundabout sentences ever, huh? If you kept up, good work! Cos I'm sure it took some squinty eyed head scratching and rereading.

Yes. Carrying on.

As I've been in a slight holiday mode I've been reading

up a storm. Well okay so I've read 2 books from cover to cover but have been scrounging books and getting excited at the PROSPECT of reading several others.

I read:

Which is a great great book. It sorta makes you a bit worried cos really, it's a book for teenagers about a futuristic world in which every district

(essentially states...sort of) has to choose a boy and a girl out of a lottery, to play in the biggest reality show of all time - a battle to death until there's on

ly one teen left standing.

I would have thought the censors would have had a field day with this one, but to my knowledge they haven't. Let's face it, it happens on the big screen, why not in fiction? I guess fiction, since you're reading it in your head, and it's a solitary pursuit, it

's more personal, you know? Plus the whole first person narrative thing definitely makes it more personal.

But it's a great book. Looking forward to the sequel in September, and I've heard some buzz that there's going to be a movie coming too!

Ooh, speaking of awesome books being turned into movies, my all time hero author John Marsden's Tomorrow When the War Began series is being turned into a movie! If I've I have this right, Tomorrow When the War Began will be a movie and

the rest of the books are being turned into a TV series whi

ch is uber exciting.

I always wanted to be the one to write that movie, or tv show, but never did. But I'm glad it's happening. REALLY looking forward to it.

Also looking forward to HBO's Band of Brothers - The Pacific, the original was so fantastic, this one should be as well.

Right, books I was reading. I also just finished:

Which I really enjoyed. I wasn't that into the last one, Plu

m Spooky and it made me sad cos I thought, I've been reading these books since 1998, I didn't enjoy it, does that mean...am I over it? Do I just not care anymore? But no. Not the case. It was good fun. Lula is a star. :)

I just bought today:

Which I'm looking forward to getting stuck into when I finish writing this blog tonight. Curling up in bed with a good book. Sigh. I love the Cabster and I really do aspire to have her career one day. Okay so not HER career cos I'm pretty sure she still wants it, but one of my own just like it. Ya dig?

When it comes to my own writing, I'm knee deep in note cards at the mo.

And what I mean by that is I am writing down every scene of MJs story, what is already in the book and what I reckon SHOULD be in the book, onto note cards. I'm getting a little carried away with the details on each card but that's a minor note. I've never tried this technique when it comes to editing before, and by jove I think I like it. (By jove? That's the saying, right? Or am I looking like a tool right now?)

Tomorrow when I get home I'm going to stick 'em all up on my wardrobe doors and scowl at them and move some around and scowl some more until the book looks right. Then I'll move words, delete words and add NEW words to the book in the computer. And hey presto! At least that's the theory.

I should soon be receiving edit notes from MY AGENT on my other book. As soon as I sign the contract. Which is going to be very soon.

I booked my trip to Italy yesterday. Squee!! And I'm pretty much decided on Scotland and Ireland. It's all big and exciting and real. I'm definitely going to need to work a bit while away though. Back to video shops it is for me!

In the morning I'm picking up our friends' doggie, Mahli (is that how you spell it?) because she's getting a bit lonely at her home with all the kids flown the coop and mum and dad at work all day, and my doggie Tessa is getting lonely for some doggie company since both CB AND Tinka died within the last couple of months, so we're going to dog sit for awhile. Yay!

That's all for now. Reading time! Sleeping time might actually merge into reading time...

Sarah

Ceeeeel-a-brate good times, COME ON!

Well I am back at my parentals house for the next 3 weeks, sleeping on the couch, surrounded by what looks to be a wardrobe explosion which in actual fact is the stuff accumulated of too many people living in too small a house.

But I'm dealing with that. And if you're a FaceBook bud of mine, or Twitter follower, you will probably have already seen me write that my computer isn't hooking up to the wireless here for some reason, and SOMEHOW my sister's computer got a virus and keeps opening up porn websites, so now I am using my parent's computer for all my internet needs. And it is the slowest of slow crap slow computers ever. So there's less Sarah Billington wafting through the intertubes of late. Though I AM trying.

Okay so looking at the above paragraph, you may very well be scratching your heads and pondering this blog post's title. It really hasn't been very celebration worthy.

But the next bit is. Wanna know what's going on? You do, don't you. Come on. You do. Just admit it.

WELL! What's going on is that I have an agent now! WOOOOOHOOOOO!

Two agents had my full, and though the other agent still hasn't gotten to finishing reading it, ONE Agent has, and she's awesome. Over the past couple of months, she's kept me posted, apologised that it's been taking awhile and we were discussing a couple of points, such as the beginning of the book seems more like a MG than a YA, and what were my thoughts on that?

Anyhoo, my fantabulous AGENT, Jill Corcoran of the Herman Agency in Noo Yawk has been constantly positive about my work, and though it took her awhile to make a final decision - it was because she was busy with her ACTUAL clients work. Which if I was going to be her actual client, that's the kind of agent I'd want, you know? Putting me first? So now I AM an actual client of hers, and I'm very happy with the situation. :) And by becoming Jill's client, she's opened me up to a whole bunch of other writers! So now I can introduce myself and meet and hang with her other published writers. I'm in the world, now people. I got my ticket. Next step...signing that book deal!

Okay so the real next step is doing an edit for Jill, and THEN get that book deal. Okay so FIRST I have to OFFICIALLY sign the contract and then do the edits and THEN get the book deal! Okay so there's not actually a book deal on the cards right now, but I have faith that there will be.

And in the meantime I've bitten the bullet and am tackling It's MJs Blogiverse (and you just live in it!) editing wise, and it didn't hurt either! The bullet? Biting the bullet? It didn't hurt...do you get it? Never mind.

I've actually decided this is NOT the book of blog posts and chat room conversations that it was going to be, that's going to have to wait, therefor the title is history. I'm thinking it's new working title is "MJ and the boy-only disease of buttfacedom". But I don't know. It's quite long, huh? And MJ could be a guy's name so potential book picker-upperers might think it's about a boy with a disease. Yeah, I'm still working on it. Anyhoo, turns out there are lots of gems in the original book, but also lots of bits - like everything about the blog - that I need to hack away which makes me nearly cry. That's an exageration. But whole chapters are going and it just feels like lots of work. Which it will be. But it'll be fun work too cos I've been coming up with lots of brand spanking new ideas for it which should be funny and moving. We'll see, won't we?

Okay, that's it from me for now. I wanted to find a really cool graphic to put up here, as a WOOHOO, celebration! thing but I couldn't. So I leave you with this:

Buh bye for now!

Sairz