Almost My Birthday - and Other Updates

3/19/2013

So I haven't blogged in a while (I'm sorry, don't hate me), because I have been super busy working, entering a writing contest, and writing the OR Trilogy. 

I just wanted to say a little bit about my birthday.  As some of you may know, my birthday is on April 3rd, so it's coming up soon.  As I get older, my dream of becoming a full-time writer slowly diminishes - of course, it will never truly go away, but the possibility of turning that dream into reality seems to be a ticking time-bomb.  I know for a fact that if anything, I will get this trilogy published, one way or another (by publishing or self-publishing; but I'd much rather find a publishing company than go through the process of marketing all on my own).

I originally hoped that my series would be complete and published by my birthday this year (no, I won't tell you how old I am, so don't ask); however, it does not seem that I can get all three of my books published within the next fifteen days.  Holy crow, that would be cool. 

My goal is to have at least one of the books published before the end of this year (my manuscript for book one WILL be sent out this summer, no questions asked).  If all goes according to plan, book two should follow within the next year, and maybe even book three if we are lucky. 
I am really hoping to find a reliable* person to be my agent.  Most publishing companies require an author to have an agent before seeking publication.  A reliable agent has been hard to find. 
[*Note:  Reliable in this case means someone who will not slack-off, wasting precious time when something achievable and reasonable can be done.  The reliable agent should be on top of things at the appropriate time(s).]

I want to thank all of you for the support and anticipation that you have all shown me.  I can guarantee you that I am as excited - if not more - as all of you are to have this story/trilogy in circulation and in the hands of all of my curious little readers.  (Oh, and I hope you know that this trilogy is in the Science-Fiction/Fantasy genre.  I've also been told that it includes some horrific aspects [though I'm not sure those alone constitute a place for my books in the Horror genre], so I hope you're ready for that.)

I can also tell you that this series is not meant for young children.  It is meant to be a young-adult and adult read based on some content that may or may not be suitable for people of a young age.  But who am I to stop you from allowing your children to read my books?  It's all up to your discretion.  

So, I guess this is my way of telling you, my fans, friends, readers (if there are any of you Kaider-ites out there [lol]!) that the books are still being perfected for all of you, and that I hope you can hang in there a little longer.  You'll all get a chance to read my book in the near future.  That I can promise. 

With much love and anticipation,
Sarah A. Kaider
Young Aspiring Author

FACEBOOK IS DOWN, EVERYONE TAKE COVER!

12-10-12
I am writing this solemn letter at 6:24 E.S.T. which should be noted by all of you, the time of impending doom. It seems we were all wrong about the apocalypse occurring on December 21st, 2012. No, no, we were very wrong. As I sit here frantically hitting my refresh button, I realize our time here is coming to a sure and terrible demise.

Facebook. Is. Down. Call in the military. Call in the air force. Call in my Grandma. Get SOMEONE.

And so I say to all of you who will probably miss my thousands of posts a day, my FarmVille requests, the 75 notifications to your inbox an hour, I am so very sorry that our relationship is dying out the way we all surely will this next week.

Goodbye everyone.

Looks like you will all only be able to find me on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Gmail, and Tumblr now.

I feel so secluded. My informational database: gone. My one place to talk to friends and family: gone. My connections to people around the world: gone.

Please, don't leave me in the dark!!! I'll be so lonely!

Find me on:
Twitter: @sarah_a_kaider
Instagram: @sarahakaider
Tumblr: @sarahakaider
My Website: www.sarahakaider.weebly.com
My blog (where you currently are): www.sarahakaider.blogspot.com

Thanksgiving Thank You and Topic of the Day

11/22/12
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I am so thankful for all of the wonderful friends I have acquired this year, all of the people who have stuck with me throughout my endeavours, and my wonderful family that has supported me no matter what. I love all of you, and hope you have a wonderful time with your family and friends.

NaNoWriMo Anyone?

11/12/12
Hey everyone!

Sorry for such a delayed time between my last writing post and this one.  I have been extremely busy lately, and have not had time to blog.  (But I have had time to write, don't worry.) 

Is anyone out there doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)?  www.nanowrimo.com
I am attempting to write a whole new, totally non-related-to-previous-work novel for NaNoWriMo.
Add me (sarahakaider) if you have an account of if you are planning on making one for next year. 

Topic of the Day 11/1/12-11/7/12



Topics of the Day 10/14-15

Candy Corn Poem

Copyright © 2012 by Sarah A. Kaider

Copyright © 2012 by Sarah A. Kaider  www.sarahakaider.weebly.com

The Water of Bodies, part 1

9/29/12

   Livia and her mother walked down the windy path strewn with crumbling orange and red leaves.  They had been on a morning hike, hoping to strengthen their cardiovascular systems; or at least, that is what her mother wanted.
   Livia was 14 years old, but anyone that saw her would have told you she was 17 or 18.  Her hair, tied up in a bun was frayed in spots, her clothing was small, and tight for her tall frame.  She had the looks of someone much older than herself.
   The path branched off into two directions, and neither remembered to bring a map.  They looked at each other, concerned, and separated, promising to run right back to the fork when they figured out which way to go.  Pulling out her cell phone and putting it on the highest ring setting, Livia took the path to the left. 
   Distracted with her phone, she wandered farther than she expected to go, and decided she should go back to see if her mother's path had been any better.  She turned around and started to walk back. Perhaps because she hadn't been paying close attention on the way out or maybe because she was getting a little nervous and walking faster and faster, the route back to the fork didn't seem to take nearly as long.  Leaning over with her hands on her knees to catch her breath, she began to think it odd her mother had not returned to the fork.  As she rose to get a better look around, her heart stopped. This was not the fork where she left her mother.  Here the path forked into three paths instead of two.  She took her cell phone out of her pocket again, her hands trembling slightly as she dialed her mother's number.  No reception.
   She ripped a piece of her jacket and tied it to a branch to remember where she had been and took the path farthest to the left, hoping to circle back toward her mother.
   "Mom?" she called.
   No answer.
   "MOM?" she called again.
   Nothing.
   She was walking fast now, almost jogging.  Another fork.  And now there were four paths.  She tied another piece of her jacket to the branch of the tree closest to the left most path and noticed that someone else had the same idea.  There was a red piece of fabric on the branch next to it, contrasting her blue strip.
   "Hello?" she called out, hoping someone would find her.
   Fog started rolling in, and the further she walked, the harder it was to see.  She reached another fork. and there were four strips of cloth on the tree close to the middle path.  One red matching the last, a dull olive-green strip that had obviously been from a t-shirt, a beige one that could have been pink at one time, and a polka-dot one, being the newest looking one of them all.
   Slightly panicked now, she decided to follow that path, for it seemed others had done the same.  She tied her strip and ran.
   "Hello?" she called, again.
   Again, there was no one to answer her. 
   She reached the end of the path, at a full sprint now, trying desperately not to fall over roots and rocks, the fog is completely consuming her the closer she ran to the end.  She can see more light as she reaches those last few steps before hearing crunching and seeing the ground below her toppling over. She skids to a halt as the first few inches of ground pummel over the edge of a cliff.  She stepped back, every foot down made more ground collapse below her.  She started to feel like an elephant treading on a balloon.  Finally she reached sturdy ground.  She was completely lost.  As she turned around, time slowed to a crawl. Through the fog, a face slowly emerged.  A woman with a polka-dot sweater, teeth bared, arms outstretched, came out of the fog.   Before Livia could utter a sound, the woman had launched her off of the cliff.
   The surface of the water below crushed the air from her lungs.  Deeper and deeper she sank, stars dancing around her eyes.  Summoning every ounce of strength and will, she struggled to the surface, gasping moist air and icy water.  Coughing and desperately trying to pull in more air than water, a hand brushed against her leg and she gasped again, sucking in a big gulp of the nasty water and slipping back beneath the surface.  There were other people sinking and floating around her.  Only, they weren't alive.
   She reemerged from the surface and coughed out a scream, swallowing a big gulp of the nasty water.  She looked down below.  There were dozens of bodies below her.  She recognized the red coat from the strip that was in the branch, and gasped, disgusted.  She had been lured, and, apparently, so had dozens of other girls.
  

Buce

Sniff, sniff.
Looking around.
What was that?
Stand guard.
Snort.
Growl.
Chase.
Sniff, sniff. 
Where'd you go?
Oh look, a squirrel!
Human.
Sniff.
Lick, lick, lick.
Sniff.
Stare.
Snap.
Why are you crying?
I'm sorry.
Human?
Come back.
Wait, I don't want to go to bed.
Chase me.
Come back here.
Love me!

Forensics and its Flies

Thanks to Forensics
whenever I see a fly,
I cringe away from it, yelling,
"I'm still alive!!!"

By Sarah A. Kaider

The Girl With Peacock Feathers In Her Hair

   Ava sat down on the bench after a long run and cried.  It was cold, windy and rainy, but she cared not.  People passed by with umbrellas and gave her long cold stares.  Nobody offered to share.
   She wiped her eyes with a sigh, shivering and blubbering, but she couldn't force herself to get up.  The weight of the world was weighing down on her.  She put her face back in her arms and continued to sob.
   "Hey," said a voice near her, and she defensively jumped up, ready to run again.  When she caught a glimpse of the guy that had spoken to her, she realized that he was just a passerby.  She relaxed a bit.  "Are you alright?" he asked.
   "I'm alright," she said, pulling on a happy face, but it was all too apparent that it was fake.
   "Right," he said, slipping into the bench next to her, making a squishing sound as the rubber from his coat rubbed against the wet wood.
   Ava looked at the stranger, worrisome, hoping that he wouldn't be of any harm to her.  He was around her age, young, about 17 or 18, his chocolate brown hair popping out of his hood in places.  She knew him from somewhere. 
   "Why are you crying?" he asked, handing her the umbrella that he insisted he did not need, due to his coat.
   She covered her head with the umbrella and sighed, "A group of boys were chasing me.  I was around the Lasker Pool and Rink, and they..."
   She couldn't continue.  She was traumatized.  He put his arm around her shoulder, trying to comfort her, and coax her to continue.
   "They didn't like my hair," she gestured to the now tangled brown mess on her head with soaking wet peacock feathers running through.  "So they chased me down to the Lock, and on the way, one of them grabbed me and pulled me to the ground.  He was a big guy, vicious and rude, and when he landed on me, my leg made a crunching sound.  I think it is broken."
   The boy's face was neutral, though he had anger rising in his mind. He helped her turn in the bench and held her leg up on his lap for elevation.  Her pants were too tight around the leg to take a look at, so after asking for permission, he cut away at the pant leg with his pocket knife up a little bit past where she said her leg was hurting the most.  Her leg was swollen, and purpling around the area she complained about most.  When asked to bend her leg, it would not move, and she began to cry some more.
   "Definitely broken," he said, and pulled out his cell phone.  He called the ambulance, and they promised to meet him in a matter of minutes.  "How did you get here?  How did you get away?" he asked her.
   "I hit the guy that knocked me down, and rolled out of arms reach from all of them trying to attack me at once.  I grabbed the trunk of a tree to pull myself up, and continued to run for it..."
   "On this leg?" he asked, shocked.
   She nodded, "It wasn't easy."
   "Then what?" he asked.
   "They chased me to the lock, where a lot of hikers were, and I weaved through the hikers and through the wooded area away from the path.  They weren't able to catch up, and I evaded them somewhere along.  But they haven't found me yet."
   "Nor will I allow them to." His eyes flashed with anger.
   She still couldn't figure where she knew him from.  All she knew was that this stranger was completely compassionate and understanding.
   "You still haven't told me, stranger," she said with a weak smile as a shot of pain rushed up her leg, "what your name is."
   His smile turned to a neutral face again.  "You don't remember me?"
   She felt bad, "No, I recognize you, but I cannot figure out who you are."
   "You must have hit your head as well.  Do you remember anything other than what just happened?"
   "I remember that I really liked these feathers," she admitted.
   "You don't remember anything else?" he said, starting to frown.
   "No, not especi---"
   "Well if it isn' our little bird!" a voice called from behind the trees.
   A group of boys emerged from the wooded area.
   "Thought you could escape us, didn't you?" said another boy with deep red hair.
   "Knock it off, boys," Ava's stranger called, getting up and stepping in front of her.
   "Look, boys.  Birdie has herself a little sparrow," the mousy looking boy said.
   Ava's stranger stepped closer to them.  "Her name is not Birdie, and you have no business playing with her like you have been."
   "Why, is the sparrow jealous?"
   Ava's stranger socked the guy in the neck.  A huge fight emerged, and she realized that one of the members of the gang had been missing.  The Vicious One. 
   Her stranger had been really good at fighting them all, until the mouse jumped on his back. They had him on the ground, one boy stomped him in the stomach, another kicked him in the face, someone was punching him in the side.
   "Stop it!" She shrieked.
   "Fly away, Birdie," a boy taunted her, "fly away with those wings of yours."
   "Leave him alone!" she cried.
   "Fly away," her stranger called to her, "Leave!  Go somewhere safe!"
   She started to get up and turned toward the opposite direction.  The Vicious One was right behind her, smiling in her face.  She froze as he continued to stare her on.  He laughed, and then moved to the group of boys.  She turned back to them to see the boys back up and The Vicious One moved toward her stranger. She became frightened at the thought of her only hope being killed. 
   The first punch hit her stranger and she could not bare it.  Everything was slowly coming back, her name was Ava, she lived in New York, she had been visiting the Rink, she was a junior in high school, her best friend was Mariyam, and she was currently dating...
   "James!!!" her cry echoed around the woods.
  She had a sudden adrenaline rush, got up and ran toward The Vicious One and scissor-kicked him in the face, she stumbled on her landing and grabbed the red-head that charged next and rammed him into the mousy kid.  One by one she fought them all, she knew she couldn't harm them, but that she could hold them off.
   Where is my ambulance? She thought, still favoring her left leg.
   The Vicious One came back and hit her in the gut, but she managed to sweep him when she fell and punched him continually in the face.
   The sirens echoed across the land and the boys were getting nervous.  All of them ran except for The Vicious One and the mousy one.  Ava had the mouse in a head lock between her legs and wrestled against The Vicious One.
   "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" cried the man from the ambulance crew.
   "You're late," she said, crying and letting go of the boys, hopping to her love, James, who was left unconscious trying to save her, still favoring her left leg as the idiot boys were cuffed by the police that arrived shortly after, and the ambulance crew lifted James onto the stretcher, and then her.