long time, no post

Sheesh, it's been forever since either Kylie or I posted on this blog. Sorry, life has been hectic and crazy here lately and I'm not even sure why. 


My month of May is super-duper crazy with trips to GA and FL in the beginning and ends of the month for different homeschool conventions (to work in The Old SchoolHouse Magazine booth - come see me if you're at CHAP, GHEA or FPEA, for sure!) 


Kylie and I have not been writing much lately because of the busyness in our lives but like I've said, we've started Much Love, Morgan - the book that comes after Becoming Bekah. I thought I would post the prologue to our story so that you have some idea of the writing style of book 2!

Enjoy!


Oh and consider now that Leighla is married and has been for quite some time when this book starts. Just in case you were confused by the way things are going. :) 


~~~~~~~~~

Leighla sat on the couch watching a movie with Channing. She was starting to feel fat and ugly and was already ready to have the baby growing inside her. She was trying not to get discouraged, considering the fact that she still had six months left to go in her pregnancy. Oh boy, this should be interesting for poor Channing.
She almost felt like crying about it. Of course, she cried about everything now that she was pregnant.
Especially this stupid, sad movie that they were watching. She had been crying since the beginning and she needed to stop. She was now blubbering and acting like a total idiot.
“Are you okay, Leighla?” Channing placed a hand on her arm and gave her a smile.
The smile cheered her up a little bit. “I’m fine, Channing. Just a bit emotional.”
“So I see.”
“This movie...is just....so....sad.” She said between breaths.
“Yeah....”
“It’s sad, Channing Kinglsey!”
“I know, Leighla Kingsley! I’m watching it too, ya know.”
“I know that.” She sighed. “We need to watch an action movie next.”
“You don’t like action movies. And you’d probably cry at that too.”
“Oh, shush.”
Leighla was seriously blessed to have Channing as a husband. She didn’t know what she would do without him. He was her sanity since she got pregnant, someone who stood by her through everything. She was thankful to have him in her life.

She put her fingers in between his. “I love you, Channing. Thanks for being my best friend.”
Channing smiled and kissed her on the lips. “It was my pleasure.”

Becoming Bekah

I'm hoping that Miss Kylie won't get angry with me for posting this, but since it's Saturday and I can't take it anymore, I am posting it anyway. 'Cause she'll get over it, I'm sure....
Right, Ky? 
Right.
Okay.
I am posting the video that Kylie - our wonderful, amazing Kylie - made for our story Becoming Bekah. If you've ever seen a book trailer before, you know that it definitely takes some time, but in the end, it looks cool. I actually tried to make one...but I couldn't get myself into it enough to actually finish it. 
I didn't even mention that to Kylie and a day later, she told me that she had made one. I guess that was our best friend telepathy sinking in, wouldn't you say? Yep. Me too.
So with further ado, here's the video! 
Enjoy! And let us know what you think too! 
~Ash

10K already!

There's a time in Kylie and my writing when we know that we are pretty much "in-tune" with our story and characters. 

I think that time is now.

She and I started Much Love Morgan, on April 16th. 

It is April 20th - 4 days later - and we have already hit our first milestone.

The 10K mark.

I did that this morning, actually, my writing a super long part. 

(which I tend to do when our stories get interesting and I wanna know what's going to happen next). 

Much Love, Morgan is actually coming along really quickly and if we keep writing in this way, we'll be done with it in only a couple of weeks. 

Becoming Bekah came along really fast too, at first, so I'm expecting it to go quickly at the beginning and then slow down at some point. 

But I'm hoping that doesn't happen, even if it seems inevitable. 

We started the story: 4/16/11

We hit 10K: 4/20/11

~Ash

Red Oranges and Ridiculous Characters

Last night, we finished Becoming Bekah, and I'm STILL excited! :D Today Ashley and I talked on the phone about our recent accomplishment, and about our next story, called Much Love, Morgan. It picks up right after BB ends, so we went ahead and started it today.

Right now, we are writing, and we have three and a half thousand words. Currently, we're writing about red roses, except I typed "red oranges" instead. I don't know about you, but that has to be the weirdest typo I've ever done. O.o

When Ash & I were on the phone, we brainstormed some more of our plot and came up with a couple new ideas. One of them involves a new character, Emily. We decided that Cale & Emily would like each other and become friends. This was Cale & Emily's reaction:

Cale: NO! THERE IS NO WAY I'M BEING FRIENDS WITH HER!
Emily: HOW COULD YOU MAKE ME BE FRIENDS WITH HIM?!

So... yeah. This is what it's like when our characters rebel.

Hehe. Welcome to Ashen Sky Life.

-Sky

A milestone!

Ash:We have some exciting news to tell you all, that’s why we’re posting for the second time together. But first!!!! I have something else to say! Or sing.
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear KYLIE!!!!!!! Happy birthday to you. :)
Sky: Tehe. Thanks! I’m blushing. ;)
A: No problem! So I think that we have some news to share with our ever faithful readers, don’t you think, Ky?
S: Just a little bit. This is a momentous occasion in the world of Ashen Sky.
A: Yes, of course it is. Well, tonight, Kylie and I have been writing like crazy-people in our story - Becoming Bekah - which you all know a lot about, thanks to us! :)
S: Yeah. You wouldn’t know anything about Bekah, Dereck, Leighla, or Cale, if not for us. ANYWAY... we ended up, well... finishing the book.
A: Yes! You read that right! We finished BECOMING BEKAH! And I’m writing this LOUDLY! The exclamation points mean that I’m excited!!!!!!!
S: I’M MORE EXCITED! BECAUSE THIS IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER! AND THE STORY ENDED BETTER THAN I EVER KNEW IT COULD!!!!!
A: That’s because we never know EXACTLY how our stories are going to end, until they actually do. And they always surprise us, in a good way!
S: Exactly! So, when exactly did we start this story, again? *goes to look*
A: I’m not sure, in January sometime.
S: January 8th, 2011.
A: See? I knew it was in January. I have smarticle particles, remember?
S: Yep, I knew this! ;) Now I must go eat Chipotle for my awesome birthday dinner. Then we’ll watch Tangled.
A: Oooh...sounds like fun! I wish that I was there with you, but instead, I’m here...yeah. Here. Okay, so now that Kylie’s leaving, I guess I should wrap this up, seeing as it could never be near as fun without her. So anyway, ciao ya’ll!

Too Bad They're Not Real...

^ Our laptops. Mine is on the bottom, Ash is on the top. The size difference is... obvious. :P

From our Twitter:

• Reason #1 why it's bad to fall in love with fictional characters: they are not real. -Ashley
• Reason #2 why it's bad to fall in love with fictional characters: They are from YOUR imagination. Vain much? -Sky
• Reason #3 why it's bad to fall for characters: They most of the time LOOK like someone, so you actually fall in love with the look. -Ash
• Reason #4 not to fall in love with fictional characters - They can never die, but they will never live. -Sky
• Reason #5 not to fall in love with fictional characters - ... you can't go into their lives and live an amazing life. Reality calls. -Ash
• Reason #6 not to fall for your characters - your characters will always seem better than other people, even though they're NOT. REAL. -Sky
• Reason #7 not to fall for your characters: they can't pop out of the pages of the book and be your boyfriend. But that would rock! -Ash
• Reason #8 not to fall for your characters: you might love them, but they can't love you. They're too infatuated with YOUR girl character.

• Reason #1 why it's COOL to fall in love with fictional characters: you can make them exactly who you want in a man...cute and nice. -Ash
• Reason #2 why it's COOL to fall in love with fictional characters: They tend to be perfectly amazing. 'Nuff said. -Sky
• Reason #3 what it's COOL to fall in love with fictional characters: If they make you angry, you don't stay angry long - they're not real. -Ash
• Reason #4 it's COOL to fall in love with fictional characters: You can know everything about them and they can STILL surprise you. -Sky
• Reason #5 it's COOL to fall in love with fictional characters: they can ALWAYS be cute! :P -Ash
• Reason #6 it's COOL to fall for fictional characters: They may not be real, but hey! They'll never get any older than you want them to be. -Sky
• Reason #7 it's COOL to fall for fictional characters: you decide what they wear, what they do, and who they are. Can't do THAT with a bf!
• Reason #8 it's COOL to fall for fictional characters: Hopefully, they can buy any engagement ring for your girl character that they want! -Sky

The Tale of Busyness

It appears that Kylie and I have both been super busy lately. We actually haven't talked on the phone in quite a few days (and this is unusual for two girls who normally talk every day) and on the computer we haven't truly chatted in quite a long time.


For this reason, we also haven't been writing. Bad Ashley and Kylie. You can leave a comment and yell at us if you want to - maybe it would help get us back into writing. We have hit 73K and are slowly getting to the end of the story.


We've actually got a lot of plot left to write out, but because this book itself is going to be a series, some of the plot that was supposed to happen in this book, may be pushed to the beginning of the next story - Much Love, Morgan. Which, in all actuality, really needs more plot than it already has. We know what we want to happen more toward the middle and end, so it'd be nice to have something to write at the beginning of the story and not be totally lost in the dark. 


But anyway, yes we are busy, no we haven't been writing, and yes, I wish that we were. It's hard when I, Ashley, am trying to finish this school year up (Senior Year, here I come), babysit once a week, work once a week and also do random things around the house. It's been super-busy and I know that May is only going to be worse. *insert deep, long sigh here*


Oh! I must go. 
School calls.
Yuck.
At least I don't have to do Science and Government anymore. I have completely finished up those books. Now I only have Bible, Math (Yuck!), Language and History to completely finish up the school year.
I can do this.
Encouragement would be nice! 
And helpful. ;) 


What was I saying?
Oh right.
I have to leave now.
~Ashley

Because we don't have enough stories already...

Okay, first, I need to put up some stats, since we hit 70,000 words in Becoming Bekah this weekend.

Can anyone say, "Woot, woot!"?

Thank you.

we started this story: 1.8.11
we hit 20k: 2.2.11
we hit 30k: 2.7.11
we hit 40k: 2.9.11
we hit 50k: 2.15.11
we hit 60k: 3.20.11
we are: close to the end!!

Speaking of being close to the end of Becoming Bekah, we've already begun the planning process for the second book in the series, which focuses on Bekah's best friend. It's called Much Love, Morgan. It's actually going to be different than anything I've ever written, because it's got a bit of action in it, which is kind of strange, but amazing. Ashley had an amazing dream last night, and as she was telling me about it, I said, "WE NEED TO PUT THIS IN A STORY!"

Hence, the plot for Much Love, Morgan was born.

But now we've got three stories on our hands - Love Someday, Becoming Bekah, and Much Love, Morgan. We have too many ideas, people! Help!

I guess I have just one thing to say.

Life is short. Write fast.

*goes away to start typing*
-Sky

Writing

We have officially begun the writing process of Love Someday - the second book in the "Love Series". 


Since starting it yesterday, we have 3,000 words. We're hoping this book pretty much writes itself, because our plot is simple and easy to grasp. Easy to write, too, hopefully. 


We're super excited for this story, hoping it'll turn out as awesome as the plot itself sounds. And the story in our head.


I dreamed about it last night, actually. The plot itself. It was a good dream, if nothing else. 


Anyway, I must get back to writing my part in the story! :P 


~Ashley

Brownie Sundaes and Hayden&Tori

S: Hello, and welcome to another episode of Ashen Sky Life!!!
A: Wow, exclamation points. They make me happy!
S: As Adam Agee said on Twitter once, when people use exclamation points, it makes me read it LOUDER IN MY HEAD!!!
A: Exactly! That’s what I always think when I see them! I like to read loudly!!!!!
S: I know!! It’s so awesome!!! I’m excited now!!!
A: I’ve been excited since we talked on the phone this afternoon and figured some things out for a “new” story.
S: Actually, it’s a new/old story. Remember last week when we talked about our very first novel, Love Anyway?
A: Well, if you don’t, you can go back and read over the last typecast. Anyway, we had a sequel going for Love Anyway, but it just wasn’t working the way we had wanted it to...
S: To put it nicely, it stank. We only realized this recently though. I’m glad we didn’t get too far into it, because we’ve decided to chuck the whole thing out the window.
A: Which will actually be kinda fun. We’ll get to start fresh with something new. We’ve got some ideas up our sleeves and can’t wait to get them written into the story line. The first time we wrote this one, it was just dramatic and full of things that just aren’t...real. So yeah. We’re chucking that one and starting fresh.
S: I feel like while Love Anyway was amazing, we kind of lost that once we got into the sequel. It wasn’t like the first book, and we kind of lost the sense of who our characters really were. We are going to get that back though by starting over, and writing it the way we should have all along.
A: Yes, I was going to say that we lost track of who our characters were, but I see that Kylie already beat me to that. Thanks Ky. But yes. I’m excited to start anew and figure all this out again. it should be a fun way to do it. I’m usually kind-of skeptical to start a book over but I think that I’m excited to do this one because the characters are real to me, even though they weren’t so much in the second book.
S: They were a lot more real in Love Anyway, and I think that by starting over, we’ll go back to the realness and awesome connection to our characters that we had before.
A: I am so excited for that! I miss these characters. It has been a while since Kylie and I have written anything with these people. I guess it would be easier if we said their names so we wouldn’t have to keep saying the “characters.”
S: Yes, our main characters are Hayden Lasseter & Tori McGregor, and Hannalee Lasseter. Hannalee and Hayden are siblings, and Hannalee and Tori are best friends. And Tori and Hayden are friends. If you read last week’s typecast, you’ll remember that Tori helped bring Hayden to Christ.
A: Yes. These were the first “real” characters that Kylie and I ever created together. We had a story or two before Love Anyway, but they weren’t anything to … write home about, I guess. They were juvenile and well..stupid. So when we came up with these characters, we were pretty excited and couldn’t wait to get writing the book.
S: And I have to say that they still remain some of my favorite characters today. They’re sort of like the first characters of ours that I ever bonded with, so they have a special place in my heart.
A: Love Anyway was the first book that I ever actually finished that was more than 35,000 words long. (Love Always came in at 73,000.) I, too, feel a special bond with Hayden and Tori, because just like Kylie, they were some of my favorite characters.
S: And so we’re really excited to start up again with Love Someday - our second book. Because this time, we’re writing it the way it SHOULD have been written.
A: But I think that now, as we’ve grown as writers, we’ll be able to write it a lot better. I think that as Kylie and I write together, we both grow as writers. I know that I’ve learned a lot from Kylie. She’s an amazing author.
S: Aw, thanks! You’re the one who makes these stories amazing, dear. Everyone knows that. ;)
A: Nah, I don’t agree at all. I think that together we make the stories amazing.
S: Don’t you mean AMAZEENG? ;)
A: Sure, that’s exactly what I mean!
S: So, I had an idea.
A: I love ideas. You know this.
S: Of course. Since we’ve already done a Q&A typecast, what if we ask our readers questions this time?
A: Mmm....good idea! This time? Or in the next typecast? I need some time to think up some questions!
S: How about next typecast? That way we can build up the suspense and all that.
A: Yes, definitely! I love that idea. I’ll be thinking up some questions for the next time! :D
S: Me too! And what’s our free virtual gift this time?
A: Mmmmmmm. I’m watching a cooking show. Maybe we should give away some food.
S: What kind of food?
A: Brownies!!!!!!!!!! And ice cream!!!! And caramel sauce!!! Brownie sundaes! More exclamation points!!
S: You’re weird!!! Oh, guess what?!!!
A: We hit 70,000 words in Becoming Bekah?!
S: That would be it!!
A: That’s all we have for today, people! I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about our newest story.
S: I know I did. ;)
A: I did too! Okay, so...ciao ya’ll!
S: Adios!