*Shudders With Delight*

**Contains blocked spoilers; to read, highlight with mouse**

Oh, this week's entry was by far the most awful and fun chapter to write. It involved a lot of research, including rereads of my favorite makeout scenes by Cassandra Clare in every book of the Mortal Instruments series, and by Sarah Rees Brennan in Demon's Covenant, particularly her DSRooftopS.

See, Cassie recently gave her fans a teaser about a DSAS--a Dirty Sexy Alley Scene. In reality, it wasn't dirty, just...passionate. Alex and Sascha liked the idea so much that they wanted to do one too, and it just so happened to fit in perfectly! Unfortunately, there are no alleys in the Academy. It became a DSSS, and I let you figure out what the S stands for, which you can do by reading Ch 49: May 24-May 27. This is a pretty intense chapter emotionally, and in a completely different direction from last week. Not only do Alex and Sascha have a pretty intense makeout session, but they also say the fated "L" word. I spent two whole days trying to get these specific scenes tweaked just right, and will likely rewrite them a thousand times over. It's all good, though.

The song that really stuck out to me this week was
Listen To Your Heart by DHT

Hope everyone enjoys their week, and the nice DSSS to wake up to Monday morning.

Oh, and also, for my lovely writers out there who read this, I just wanted to say that for the past year and a half that I've been writing Diary, Abby did not have a full name. She has always been just Abby or Abigail. I figured this was normal, I know names sometimes take a while to present themselves to authors, but I couldn't help but think that I'm almost done, and still don't know her name. It hit me the other day: Abigail Priscilla Dupree. Actually, as far as the main characters go, I knew Alex's almost immediately, learned Sascha's about nine journal entries in, learned Evan's last name a few months ago, and learned Abby's two days ago. I still don't have a middle name for Evan, really. The moral of this paragraph is that if a name doesn't jump out at you, don't make it. Write in a placeholder name, and once your character tells you what it really is, change it out. Don't make the characters do or be anything they don't want to.

For those on spring break, I am envious, pleased, and angry at you all at the same time. Envious because I have work while you can play, pleased because your desire to play gives me more hours which equals a nicer paycheck, and angry because I have more hours this week and less time to play before I go back to school.

Anyway, love you all,
Jordan

The Music Behind The Madness

Alright, so you may have noticed that on the side of this blog is an ever-growing list of songs and music videos.

There are two that I really want to point out right now.
The first, I think details the lives of our JoCad friends quite perfectly, especially Sascha, Jack, and Alex:
Michael - Bedlight for Blue Eyes

The second, I simple think is a really cute song with an even cuter music video:
Crossfire - Brandon Flowers

Thanks again for all your support and comments on yesterday's chapter.
Love you all!
-Jordan

Let the Killing Commence

Because it wouldn't be an action spy novel if everyone lived at the end, nor would it be realistic if only the bad guys died. So, with the end looming ever near, the first character in Diary dies this week. I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I had to put up with a week of scowling from Alex, Abby, and Evan, and total outright hatred from Sascha.
Without further ado, read Chapter 48: May13-May17 here.


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Yay! I made you feel! This makes me happy! It probably shouldn't be that way, but each time I read comments like, "Oh my...that ripped my heart out", and "that was heartwrenching. D:" I smiled, because that means I made my readers feel, and that means I crafted those entries well. So read on, dear friends, and allow me to gleefully embrace my life as a Killer.
Ok, I'm not completely heartless. I knew this was going to happen for a while, is all, and so I've had time to cope with it. I don't enjoy killing off characters, especially that one. There are a few that I'll gladly allow Sascha to shank. In perfect honesty, I'm really sorry that Jack is dead. (Spoiler Prevention, highlight to read) I don't purposely hurt my characters like that!

-Jordan

My Characters are Poltergeists!

While working at the theater today, I experienced my first real taste of sexism. Apparently, the head usher at my theater, a man, was quite disgusted to learn that two girls were assigned to usher with him. So much so, in fact, that he complained to the manager who makes the schedule. It's true, most of the time, only the guys are scheduled to usher. Not to be sexist, but simply because there are many more male employees, and the females have better track records with working the registers and customer service. The odds of the only two ushers being girls are actually pretty slim. By way of context, this is one man I really don't like, which is odd, because I like almost everyone. I do not, however, like men 10 years my senior throwing popcorn on the ground as I sweep everyone else's trash, and after I've swept his mess up, have him joke that he was just trying to see if he could make me angry.
Well bud, mission accomplished. Not like I'll ever let you know that. Why on earth would I give you that satisfaction? So you could blemish my perfect record at this job with an event that you created? No, not at all. I'll just furiously blog about it.
And then sic my characters on you.

See, even though this guy is head usher, he never really ushers. Our job is to make sure the theater is always clean, focusing on cleaning up after each movie. Yet I've never seen him walk into a theater with broom in hand. Liz and I cleaned over twenty theaters today, supposedly while under his direction, without him ever setting foot in the theater. Abby has assumed full responsibility for both toilet floodings in the men's room during rush hour, when only Pig would be available to handle them, and a few other random mishaps. Alex and Evan might have sent a few angry customers Pig's way, which only he, as shift lead, could handle. They also did their best to keep Pig away from me. Honestly, the guy gives me the heebyjeebies. He's always standing a little too close, hovering, looming, smelling of weed or whatever it is he smokes to get high before work. Can you imagine Alex and Evan standing guard at the theater doors as I cleaned, making sure Pig stayed away? Or cleverly coming up with ways to keep Pig in the lobby, far away from us girls? There are benefits to having close contact with two strapping young Academy students, as well as a nice young lady who's willing to play poltergeist. Sascha admits that she was standing watch as well, but mostly from a distance. She's pretty angry with me at the moment, but you'll find out why on Monday.

So yes, in case you're wondering, I'm a little mental, and my characters are pretty real to me. But hey, when imaginary protection is all you have, might as well embrace it, right?

The Stranger...

...and The Kisses

Chapter 47: May6-May7 is now up. It's a bit shorter than the entries have been lately. It felt really unfinished when I put it up, but it's gotten a couple good reviews so far, so I guess it works. One of my friends called me Jordy today, and I had to laugh a little. You should probably be aware by now that Jordan is my pen name, but she's also become as much of a character, and in a way, alter ego, as Sascha. It's been so tempting to introduce myself as Jordan somewhere.

Sigh. I love when Sascha and Alex kiss. It's like, the equivalent for them as 'all the way' is for other couples. They're both pretty old-fashioned in that way. Poor Evan. He learned in this chapter that dead jellyfish still sting.

Anyway, next week's chapter is sure to make a few people feel very many emotions that are very different from those felt this week. Abby and Evan are headed out to the woods for their field test, while Sascha, Alex, and a few others are headed back to New York.

Hmm, I can't think of what else to write...so I'll stop writing.

Love you all, enjoy reading the latest chapter, and have a great week!

-Jordan

**Edit**
THANKYOU Stumbleupon, for leading me to this: Date A Girl Who Reads

So...Sleepy

Chapter 46: May 3-May 5, or 'Story Time of Holy Fishcakes Proportions', is officially posted on Goodreads.

By way of announcement, in five weeks I am moving back up to Idaho from my sunny California city, to start school again. I'm really hoping to finish Diary of an Agent's Sister before then. This may mean the posting of more than one chapter a week, who knows. I'm still working the kinks out. Obviously, at that point, the story will be (somewhat) finished, but the writing will not be. This is where my lovely friends and readers come in handy. Once I write the final Diary entry, I will begin the process of editing and revision. I refuse to print out a copy for myself until I know I've taken care of all the typos. It's a HUGE task to take on myself, though. So, if you're interested in being assigned a portion of Diary to read over and check for mistakes, please let me know! I'm not talking about the posts on goodreads. This will involve me emailing you pages of my third draft--the one typed on Word. (I'm on a Mac, so I can give it to you on Pages as well). The more people who offer to help, the less work for everyone. Ultimately, I'll be reading the whole thing over again to double check, but I like your eyes, too, so if you'll let me, I'll use them.
Like I said, if this interests you, let me know. You can do so via either commenting on this post, or messaging me on goodreads. I'll keep you in mind and contact you later with specifics.
Thank you!
Now, as the title suggests, I'm dog tired. Go read Ch. 46, comment on it, 'like' it if you do, and make me infinitely happy. Did you guys know that my story is pretty high in the popularity charts? Less than half-way down the lists for the week, month, and year. This helps me show my story to others, so please read and 'like'! It'll boost my ratings even more!

Jordan, if you're finally done fishing for compliments and begging for friends and attention, you should probably finish this post, before you embarrass yourself any more.
Oh, ok, fine. I'll just go then. To Sleep!!!

-Jordan

The Ramblings Of...

...a slightly insomniatic author.

Who's also pretty sure she just made up the word 'insomniatic'. Well, it's a little after midnight...12:24 to be exact (at which point, my mind goes: Ooo 12:24 like 12/24 it's Christmas eve time! For the record, my mind also does this for other times with meaning, like 12:34, 12:31, 10:31, 3:14, 9:11, and a few others.) Regardless, it's late, I'm at 36% battery life, and felt like blogging. Let's see if I can do this before my computer dies.

First, I had a mini panic attack late last night when I misplaced a page of Diary. When I realized it was missing, this was my train of thought: hahahahahahahahahahahaha crap. Now, I'm not talking about a page from December, or the one I was writing on at that very moment, which maybe had ten sentences. I'm talking a full page, covered front and back with content from the upcoming chapter, that had not been typed yet. If you know my process, you know I handwrite everything, and then type it. There have only ever been two exceptions to this process: First, Alex's homecoming kiss, which I had been working on for two months--in Diary time--by typing first, then writing when I got to that actual scene, and then typing it again with everything else. The second exception actually goes to last week's chapter. The camping bit is all there, on blue-lined paper, written with a black Zebra Z-grip ballpoint, but the written documentation ends when Sascha asserts her independence. Wow, ok, long pointless detour that was entirely unnecessary. So I thought I lost the page, and searched everywhere: the purse I had taken that day, the new notebook, the old notebook, the floor of my bedroom, my bed, behind my bed, everywhere. Or so I thought. See, I've taken to folding up the pages of Diary that I'm working on, and sticking them in my purse, or in my back pocket, next to my ever-present pen. That way, if there's ever downtime at work, I can pull out the paper and pick up right where I left off. When I get home, I take the papers out of where ever I shoved them and place them nicely into my binder. And wouldn't you know, after all that searching, that the missing page was in the back pocket of my work pants all along? Guess I need to check those more thoroughly. Can you imagine my horror if it went through the wash!

Then we come to tonight. So there I was, swelling upwards with the momentum of writing some very important Diary entries, when my friend JF calls. Now, JF and I have been friends since the dawn of time (or at least, sixth grade) so usually, no matter how much I may hate him, I always answer the phone when he calls, because that's what eight-year friends do. (Especially when those eight years account for almost half your life.) Unfortunately, JF is that friend that you love and hate, all at the same time, without fail. They always have the worst time in the world, except for when they have the best timing in the world, and that makes up for all the crap. Anyway, JF called around 10:30. An hour and a half later, I finally hang up. For me, this is bad. For Diary, well, now I have to build momentum back up, and that stinks. I'm at the beginning of the end, and it's all very intense right now, and a lot of major things are happening for our friends at JoCad. Remember how I said this blog might be used for things like teasers and spoilers? Well:

***Spoiler alert!***
Remember Zio? He's going to come in handy soon. Those black outs weren't random accidents, after all. (Or were they?) You know how Alex is the only one who really knows all about Sascha? That's going to change. You know how no one knows anything about Alex? That's going to change too. **end spoilers**

Wow. Parenthetical Aside-count for this entry: 4

Listening to: Two analog clocks ticking out of sync with each other. This is a problem.
Eating: Brownies with caramel (pronounced CAR-mel). Dang it. 5 parenthetical asides.
Drinking: Ice Water - the drink of champions

Bleh. Ok, anyway, so in conclusion, I need to not be distracted when writing, a vast amount of interesting things are happening at Johannesburg Academy, I should sleep (psh!...6), there are a lot of old books that I really want to read right now but don't have time, and I'm going to end this blog update before I ramble on in a very unbecoming manner. I'm well aware that these aren't really read anyway. I just like...seeing...myself talk. Ok. Back to Diary.

-Jordan