weathered things

I forgot to schedule this, so it's late, but here ya go. | | | This is a new series I'm going to start, telling the inspiration for whatever story I'm writing in an aesthetic way. This is going to be the story of how I came up with the idea for Mended and Torn , my current WIP. | | | It's 2012. I've read this amazing series called The Gallagher Girls  by Ally Carter, and it opened my eyes to the world of espionage. I mean, I've always been interested, but this... these were teens who were being trained at a secret academy. The main character spanned sophomore to senior year, ages 16-18, and everything was so compelling. I started writing something that was pretty much fan fiction with my own characters, too young to figure out that I can take this inspiration and weave my own story, completely different. It captivated me, and I found myself planning it into a 5 book series, with eleven chapters each book. Around book 3, I got bored. It's too...

Holy crap, Olivia, where the heck have you been? I know, I know, I haven't done a blog post for... *checks timeline* Jeez, May 19th. I am so sorry. I have got some stuff going on, and if you follow my Instagram (@the.real.olivia.ann) you know bits and pieces of it. Long story short, I've got blog posts coming out. Next week there will be one looking back on my experiences of the Minneapolis Young Writer's Workshop, I've got a flash fiction I've been meaning to post, and I've got a few writerly things I want to post. For now, I've got a few things to share with you. First off, yes, my blog changes a lot. I'm trying to get it to fit my aesthetic and I am never content with it, but I'm actually okay with the design now. Anyways, onto the whole thing that I just realized I didn't share with you when it happened. I am now a represented author. And here is the story of how it came to be. | | | 2013, I had a story in my head I wa...

I didn't write a post yesterday! I'm sorry. Finals is horrific and I may not be able to post on schedule for the next bit. Either way, I decided to go the easy route and just copy-paste a section of my story in. I hope you enjoy this excerpt from The Sleipnir Chronicles Book 1: Mended and Torn. | | | Mended and Torn The Sleipnir Chronicles by Olivia Ann Schwab Excerpt One: Chapter One Leaning my backpack against the chair, I glance over her shoulder and see what’s pulled up on her laptop—the name of a lawyer. A divorce lawyer. “I’m sorry your parents are getting divorced,” I tell her. “I know how hard it can be to lose them.” She whirls around, fury and hurt welling up behind her dark eyes. “What?” I lean forward, forearms bracing against my desk, any and every hint of care dissipating from my voice. “Your parents are getting divorced. Must suck, but, hey—nowhere near as awful as being an orphan.” Her hair violently whips her face as she shakes her...

Hello lovelies! Yes, this isn't posted on Monday, I know. I'm going to be busy over the weekend, and I want to get this out now, so... yeah. Due to the fact that my book is going to be available for purchase soon, I've decided to compile this little post in order to reveal a few things and explain! First off, I want to thank everyone who has supported me and been excited for this release. I'm so excited to finally share Harper's story with you, and I really hope I don't let you down. Before I get into any of the itty-bitty details and before the book releases, I just want to ask you to be honest. If you read it and you like it, let me know! If you didn't--say it nicely, but let me know (I'm pretty much an emotional squishy blob that is hiding beneath a robotic exoskeleton). If you like the book, please, please  share with friends! It means the world to me if you care enough to share it with someone else. Anyways... here we go. For constant ...

HELLO EVERYONE!!! Hi, people! *spastic wave* The picture doesn't have a reason, it's just aesthetic so I put it in here. This is probably gonna be a rant post, just... because I don't really have a reason for this post I just hacked into Olivia's blog and... yeah. Okay, so my name is Jess--that's short for Jessamine, by the way. I honestly don't know what I'm going to be writing about for this. I mean... to be honest, I'm just listening to Glee songs and show tunes and staring at the computer screen trying to figure out what to write about. Well, Harper told you about herself... so I guess I could do that. My name is Jessamine Claire Ford. I'm 17 years old. I'm a techie (it's an obsession). I'm a fourth Chinese, although you'd probably not know that by just looking at me (white blonde hair, bright blue eyes, snow skin... the only thing that's Oriental about me is the shape of my face and the shape of my eyes). My ma...

Hello lovelies! Olivia is back (for this week at least, who knows what will happen next week). Anyways, I received a comment from Katie Grace, asking for a sneak peak into the world of self publishing. So, without further ado... Self-publising isn't easy as you all may have guessed. But, it is easier than traditional publishing in a few aspects. For one, you don't have to deal with picky agents and publishing companies that don't want to take chances on new authors. But as I said, It's not easy. You now are in charge of everything. And for a phone-anxiety-plagued-introvert like me, it's not always fun. I have to sit in calls for an hour or more, chatting with my cover designer and interior layout designer. The plus is they're great, so I don't have to stress too much. But I'm the one that has to come up with a title, write a black cover blurb, write an author bio... all this is so new to me, but I'm getting the hang of it. Being the cheap...

QUICK THING: True Colors, the cover by Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick (from the movie Trolls although the original was by Cyndi Lauper) is GORGEOUS and I like it so much better than Lauper's original version. The harmonies, the guitar, everything is much more emotion-evoking and meaningful. If you want to hear it, here are the links for the Film Version and the Professional Recording both are gorgeous and I suggest you give them a listen. As we get closer to my book being able to be bought (look here for more info on that), I figured I should share some quotes and stuff about it. First off, lets start with some aesthetic quotes. Harper's life makes me both sad and happy Jace is my darling son - he's turned out a lot sweeter than I had originally planned but THAT'S FINE my book isn't all sad... just mainly sad little bb Olivia makes a cameo - except my eyes are like a weird shade of green that changes color literally based on my m...

Okay, so it wasn't released at 1. I'm just so excited I bumped up the time! I am so excited to announce this, because it's something that's taken up my life that past two or so years. Well, let me fix that wording. I've been working on this 8th rewrite of it for two years. I came up with the original idea back in 2011. I cranked this thing out when I had a dream that turned into my plot (with a few additions and changes, of course), and I instantly went through and kept editing it. Now, on the eleventh draft, I've finally decided that I am going to publish it. Self-publish, that is. *deep breath* *pterodactyl screech* YES FRIENDS, I AM SELF-PUBLISHING MY BOOK. I cannot tell you how excited I am. Now, I know I said I'm looking for an agent, but honestly, none of them wanted it. They said "while this is interesting, I don't think it's right for my agency right now." All I can say is this: I've talked to so many people...