My students are back to school this week and my agent has come back with the green light. God, it's been the rockiest road the last three years. Waiting and waiting and FINALLY things are happening. I just might write some Raven Cycle fanfiction to celebrate, just maybe. Yes, yes, I think I will, before Maggie publishes the book in September and flips the plot on me. This is a piece I call Chain, intended to follow book 2 of the Raven Cycle, The Dream Thieves. It's rated PG-13 because I roll that way and I don't seem to have a filter (blame my sheltered Judeo-Christian upbringing). Please refer to my wattpad account for my latest fanfic, Chain: http://www.wattpad.com/user/AmalynneO

In other news, I have gone red, spectacled and voluminous. I have also fallen in love with Guardians of the Galaxy, but I knew I would. Please review, Chain, it's a lazy catastrophe but maybe you'll like the concept. 

Best,
Ama

P.S. Play the Guardians of the Galaxy theme when you brush your teeth in the morning, you'll feel so badass, I promise. 

Wattpad has been buzzing, I've been called names--mean ones, actually, by my readers across not one but three forums, so I suppose it's time to address Sirius... because I'm very sensitive and I can't stand not to be anything short of loved... Fuck, I'm an egoist. 

So, to assuage fears that Sirius will not return I am sharing with you a preview--brief as it may be--that the future does hold Sirius...


The Not-So Secret Diary of Sirius Black 
Ch 2: Leaky Problems 

What James knew about impressing women he had learned from stolen copies of Playboy from his younger uncle’s stash on summer vacations in Bath. He’d scoured the pages, reading artfully worded snippets about how to seduce women, how to “build your black book”—which often reminded him dreadfully of Sirius, and how to effectively “Peacock.” This term he’d taken to heart most ardently, rather reveling in the messiness of his wayward black hair and a sense of humor that was louder than a dragon’s snore. Playboy had failed James Potter miserably as it concerned Lily Evans.

The past year’s events, however, while dissolving his hopes in gentleman’s monthly publications, had somehow landed him next to Evans… on London streets, hand-in-hand, with cappuccinos. And he didn’t even like cappuccinos. He had done this by the remarkable feat of being himself, admitting he liked the crooning beats of Wham!, and having a mother that had baked her way right into Evan's heart. It all seemed so perfect, but James could still hear Sirius’ words, an echo and an itch in his ears, she’s just taking the piss at you. If she were in fact taking the piss at him, James thought, it was altogether elaborate, considering the time spent snogging breathlessly in the back of an empty London bus. Now it wasn't about impressing Evans, that could easily be done in dim light, but about impressing the doubters, the Sirius Blacks in the world. 

It was probably a bad idea, but he was taking her into the Leaky Cauldron today, partially because it was dodgy and rustic but mostly because Sirius was there and he wanted to rub it snarkily in his mate’s face.

-PAUSE-

There, I have set the scene for Ch2 and I won't share anymore. I have Tuesday off so I'll be able to finish and post it then. Readers, if you have any ideas or preferences, now is the time to voice them. 

Many thanks, 
Amalynne

And while you're here, get some Wham! in your system, it's so flamboyantly eighties, you really owe it to yourself to be infected...

I, Amalynne, have had an interesting few months. Chaos and creativity have taken me from East to West Coast, to the highest point in my life and the lowest, and somehow, I'm left feeling miraculous, successful and more empowered than ever. I know vagaries don't do anything for you, but I just had to get that out... because I've been gone and I'm back... and I hope for a while.

Today is my first day off in a long, long time. I woke up last night, bolt upright, and had a panic attack about all the things I want to do in this life, while my ass is still firm, while I still get taken for a high school student, while I still use too much profanity, while I still think 40 sounds old, while college is still a pleasant echo away, while Lulu Lemon is still too expensive... though I did buy a pair of pants from them--regrettably. I made a lot of concessions this year, some big, some small. I bought a mac when I'd vowed for years not to, committed to an apartment even closer to the beach, took on more clients even though I was starting to resent them, got a trainer, and actually started going to the doctors. Big girl, this has been a big year and it's only April. 

I was also diagnosed with Lupus.

I didn't realize what kind of changes this would mean for my life, most of which I cringe at, but are for the best. More conscious of my human frailty, I've started taking my health more seriously and this is just another thing I must sigh about... adulthood is so obnoxiously serious. Fuck it. Really. I'm in a stage in which I'm rebelling against my adulthood and finding myself regrettably converted--in those banal, financial areas of life. I'm still not the person you want teaching in a public school or in a government position, or even corporate, because I am fabulously free of filter and if my clients don't like it, they can just as easily find a digital marketer with the same kind of specialized portfolio and bend-over-backwards-until-your'e-happy commitment (sarcasm). This is the beauty of self-employment and the beauty of the hustle. I think of one of my favorite TedTalks, Rethinking Unpopular, by branding genius, Erika Napoletano. If you have an ample 20 minutes I recommend watching it, but if you don't Erika is merely arguing that in order to stick to your target market, your key customers, you have to be true to yourself, you have to be unpopular. You can't meet the demand of the entire market, you can't be everything to everyone. In fact, if you're small, if you're a little guy, you should be niche, you should be specialized, perfect for some, unpopular to others. My personality plays into this a lot. I believe in a reader's digest approach to life, tasks, and interactions with clients--except of course when I'm venting on my own blog. I'm a fabulous hypocrite sometimes.

Feel however you may, but I'm not suited to deal with bullshit and I've tried corporate, laughed in its face and surprised myself by conquering on my own in the last two years. Everyone is different and I don't feel the need to explain it to my peers to seek their approval anymore. I used to try to say that I had issues with corporate ethics, that you were just a number, that opportunities for advancement in this economy are meager... but that's not really the truth, as far as I was concerned. 

I hated being told what to do by people that I didn't respect. I hated making decisions I knew were wrong because someone with a higher pay-grade told me to.

I hated it so much I used to come home and cry. I wasn't going to tell my old college friends this, and I don't need to. I don't need to, because the hustle is enough for me now, the next job and the next, the game of planning, the game of landing that bigger, better job. I used to wait tables and there was something addicting about that kind of hustle. Freelancing is a different kind of hustle, it's a lot less of one job description and all lot more of many, it's being a writer, a consultant, a teacher, an artist, a programer, a researcher, all in the areas of marketing for small business...bigger businesses, even bigger business, and ultimately big business. 

But... I, in all this discovery, find myself void of the time needed to follow my first passion, and that is writing. Today I've taken about thirty minute to shower you with my feelings because I just.really.need.to. Camping out at my absolute favorite coffee shop in my little beachside community, JC Beans, I sit with my headphones wedged in snuggly, listening to the chill, steely beats of Tame Impala, ready to fix what need be fixed, edit what need be edited, so I don't put my dreams on hold any longer--or send my publisher over the edge with impatience. [Now that was a run-on sentence!!]

ALSO! I've noticed lately that my oldest of old fan fiction, The Ever Secret Diary of Sirius Black, has been getting some serious action on Wattpad. This year marked the ten year anniversary of this very old, very beloved fan fiction and it is STILL, to this day, getting so much love. I want to thank my loyal fan-ficianados over the years for your readership, you are tirelessly fabulous! Also, I have been writing some new fan fiction for my current obsession, The Raven Cycle, by the talented Maggie Stiefvater. I'll be posting it to my tumblr eventually or any of the appropriate fan fiction mediums out there today. Tumblr and Wattpad kind of seem the hubs for that sort  of thing. 

So, with that long-winded update, I shall leave you with my current, lumbering obsession: 

Lately I've been working on a lot of edits... over a span of a great many things. One thing I've discovered about myself--if this isn't too completely revealing--I hate romance, the kind where you run off into the sunset, and hold hands, and embrace the futility that is a "happy ending." Not that I'm not a romantic--very far from it--but I'm a tragic romantic, I love me some love/hate. While I'd never want it for my own life, I gush over the twisted beauty of flawed characters and difficult feelings. One dimensional love affairs bore me, and if you cut to the chase in the first book or the first five minutes I'm annoyed. String me along, make me guess, make me hate you, but don't settle affairs before I can open my laptop to pummel you on Goodreads or Rotten Tomatoes. After this recent pondering, I thought I'd share all the reasons love/hate is great--to me. If you like fluffy clouds and unicorn romances, that's coo' I don't judge (at least not out loud).

Below is a fabulous musical accompaniment for the subject: 

Love/Hate Pairings that have inspired my fiction (Fan fiction readers, you know what I mean on this front):

Wuthering Heights (Heathcliff and Cathy): my all time favorite novel got me hooked on love/hate when I was about thirteen. I borrowed the book from the library and never returned it, covetously hiding it under my bed until I needed the gut wrenching prose of Bronte. I've never seen a movie rendition that rocks my world though... "Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living. You said I killed you--haunt me then." Heathcliff, you have a thing for melodrama, but it works for you. 

Pride and Prejudice (Darcy and Lizzy): The ice cube and the stinging flame, Darcy and Lizzy meet each other with imagined detachment and Austen puts us through a journey of deception until, of course, this love/hate couple finally prevail. I quite like Darcy and Lizzy although they have been overdone in almost every sense possible. “She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me.” Oh Darcy, your denial is wrenching.   

Star Wars (Han and Leia): "I love you" --"I know." Need I say more, it doesn't get any more boss than that.

Inuyasha (Inuyasha and Kagome): I'm a geek, I'm a geek, and hulu gave me such are terrible excuse to revisit all my favorite episodes. Inuyasha's faked indifference and Kagome's denial, it just works so well. I fangirl over this show and its on the pathetic side. "Osuwari!!" 

Ranma 1/2 (Ranma and Akane): Basically the same story-line as Inuyasha but less angsty and completely hilarious. The voice actor for Ranma and Inuyasha is actually the same. It's an adorable show. "Akane, you are so uncute!!" 

Beauty and the Beast: Robbie Beson essentially playing the same domineering role as in Ice Castles but furrier. And yes the beast does transform into a bit of a beefcake Prince Adam, but honestly, would you complain if you were Belle--er yeah, didn't think so. "Flower, chocolates, promises you don't intend to keep," the usual. 

Any more love/hate shippers that rock your socks?? Share 'em!

Stellar title, yes? No, oh well. I write half aware, here and on my actual work related projects (do not do this). So I have been neglecting my fan fiction readers and it is an atrocity, I also have been neglecting my editor, neither of which I am proud of. It is stupid to commit to too many projects at once. So, here's a shout out to all those who think I have forgotten them, I haven't and I'm getting to you, I promise, I promise... and don't hate me, and I'm punishing myself, I'm promise (no Arrested Development or Mojitos). I've decided to take five minutes and mind vomit on you. 

Now that we've covered me being neglectfully evil, I'd like to move onto something called Androgyny. I don't like it, man, I mean, honestly I don't really care if you're a he or a she or an it, but given current social protocols it helps to know. It would have helped to know especially when I was in the service industry and approached a guest with, "How are you doing today, ma--erm, sir--erm, friend?" You don't know how many times teenage boys foiled me with long hair, and I totally humiliated myself by calling them "sweetie" as they looked away from me... it had that condescending effect that made me look like a jerk and simultaneously made them aware of their confused sexual appeal--unpleasant for all parties involved. ANYWAY!! Sometimes I'm sent art, for fan fictions, for original fictions, by really wonderful people who read my work. I love seeing how what I've described comes to life visually, but at the same time I worry about the effect an image can have on readers. I was asked recently why I haven't shared most of the art.

I don't know about you, but I read all the Harry Potter books before I watched the movies, now if I'd watched the movies and then read the book, I would have envisioned the characters as they were in the film instead of what my own mind was able to concoct from Rowling's words. Point is, I enjoy letting the reader explore the world and characters for themselves, though at times I do gush over fan art. I bring up androgyny because it seems the feminine artistic default, and though I dearly love sharing what has been shared with me, when an individual sees an image, especially of a depicted character, it can often color the way they henceforth perceive the character when they read. And with all the kindness and love in my heart I have to say, ladies, boys don't look like girls--not usually. I am not the hottest artist, when I draw people they all look like women so I really can't say anything. 

With this in mind, I want to announce that I will be sharing original fan art, but for readers to note that each picture is an original depiction of the artist and not necessarily my perception. And that's fine, because I want you to see the world as vividly and uniquely as you see it. Please note, however, I'm never going to prance around with an "not-approved" stamp, because well, that's just uncool. 

Explanation over I can now share with you the art that so inspired the discussion. Original Art of the Day by M.Ira

**To be honest, I wish I could go in with a sharpie and draw angry eyebrows, because this character is not the least bit woeful or angsty, but everyone it totally at liberty to draw what they'd like. I love you M.Ira <3**

To highlight the androgyny discussion M.Ira has created the following. Her original drawing was done via stylis on a virtual interface and treated with various Photoshop filters. The first image below is roughly the original sketch with a texture filter, we note here that he still looks coarse:

Alright, my dear Fan-"ficionados" (see what I did there :D), I have done the unthinkable. I have posted the second installment of Sirius' diary. It can be viewed both on my wattpad profile, or you can just click the image to the left and be transported. 

I had some very lovely fans request an update and I thought it wouldn't hurt to take a few hours and pump out a little Marauders era fiction for my readers. Fan-Fiction has really taken a back seat for me in the last few years, but every once and I while I go back to it, remember my roots. 

In this new fiction Sirius is starting his 7th year, his life is in a surreal state of limbo, and the wizarding world is altering by the day. I've decided to make the chapters shorter, the tone a little darkier, and Sirius snarkier. I hope you like and I hope I can manage to update more regularly. Siriusly, I love you all <3

-Ama

Last night I posted the last chapter of The Ever Secret Diary of Sirius Black, a lazy little project I'd been working on since my teenage years. I've still been receiving reviews even up until this year for it, so I thought I'd indulge my readers and finish it up as requested. It was a bittersweet moment... and frankly not much more than some harried paragraphs, but I hope the chapter at least ties up the ends and alludes to some mystery for my next fanfiction effort. 

Requests have poured in for a sequel to Year 6, and if I have time, I just might oblige. I need to work on my own projects, however because I need to pay the rent and all. Today, however I thought I'd share a piece of artwork that I fell in love with by Kristin Bergh, she used to draw Harry Potter fanfiction pencil art and it was lovely... I'm not sure who this is supposed to be in her depiction, but I love the style of art and thought it was worthy of sharing:

She also did the artwork I'd used in the original banner for The Ever Secret Diary of Sirius Black that you can see on my Stories page, however small it is.

Anyhoo, that is all for now. Off to try and bring more depth to things my editor has been after me about :D

-Ama