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...

First off, sorry this is late. I was going  to  paint my room this weekend, and I wanted it yellow. We brought the swatch in and they didn't have the color so they had to mix it. We poured out the color into the pan and it looked right, so we painted it the yellow color I wanted--but when it dried it turned a disgusting shade of green. So, now I'm sleeping in the basement for 5 days and we're repainting it the color it originally was. Chaos has happened, and I didn't get to write. But here's the post now! | | | As I get older, I realize a few things. One of them being I’m no longer a kid. I don’t get all the freedom I used to, but in some ways I get more than ever before. I am not allowed to be childish and joke around because I’m supposed to be mature. I'm not allowed to waste days away just hanging out with friends,  because  there are things I need to do, and just one day off can mess up my schedule. I can't go to parks unless I...

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 ...

WOOOOOO HAPPY NEW YEARS! For those in the Central Time Zone like me, I'm posting this at midnight b/c New Years. WOOO! WELCOME TO 2017! Hopefully it'll be better than 2016. Sorry about not posting this last week, I was on Christmas break and I was working on finalizing my book so... I didn't have time to blog. Anyways! I did a lot of fun stuff this year, so let's recap: Life • June       • I started this blog! With the help of some people from the Minneapolis Young Writer's Workshop, I was able to get this up and running.       • I attended the Minneapolis Young Writer's Workshop! It was so fun. I met so many amazing fellow authors and I've kept up contact with most of them. I'm going to be attending again come June, and if you want to hear about my past experiences you can click here , and if you want to register to attend yourself, you can find that here ! The lineup for this year includes Jonathan Friesen, Sabaa Tahir, Shannon Hal...

I. AM. NOT. A. CUDDLE SNEK. Let's get that straight right away. I'm not a cuddle snek. I am a giant snake that wraps around Midgard and can crush the earth any minute. Don't mess with me. Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet. Hey, I'm Jormungand. But seriously, I'm not a cuddle snek. I'm a snek. I like to cuddle. But I am not a cuddle snek. A cuddle snek is a cute, little, squishy snake that uses its own tail as a blanket. That's not me, bro. I'm a giant killer snake who can destroy the world with sneeze. Well, not me as in me myself actual human me, but my namesake. You may wonder, "But Jormungand, why is your name so weird?" or "How do you pronounce that?" or even "Do you have a nickname?" Slow down, let me explain. My name is weird because it isn't my name. Jormungand is my assassin name. My real name is NC-208. HAHAHAHA but no seriously. My real name was erased when I was...

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...

Hello lovelies! SO, if you're new to this blog (which I'm not sure if anyone is but if you are hey sup welcome), I do these every month to wrap up my goals for the month and what I accomplished. SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO! Life • I've begun to be more outgoing. WAT AN INTROVERTED AUTHOR BEING OUTGOING WAT HAPPENED? I'm honestly just not filtering my speech as much. Usually I over-analyze literally EVERYTHING I say, and I'm not doing it that much. I've actually managed to make a few of those annoying little generic #swag boys in my school fear me because I've begun to speak my mind, and I am very proud of that. They're not good kids, and honestly I could see them being arrested for Sexual Harassment. I feel I'm doing my duty and protecting my fellow women, cus if they're scared of little 'ol me, they got a rude awakening. • I've begun to pursue my acting career. As I talked about in my  Life Choices  post, I plan on being both ...