Crap! … Nano

So it’s October… yeah… am I the only one who just came to that realization; or just now began to comprehend the fact that November comes after October? Does that happen every year? I’m pretty sure it didn’t last year.

My point:

HOLY CRAP NANO IS NEXT MONTH!

It’s rather pathetic that I just thought of this yesterday, you know, considering it’s the 15th of October and there is only 2 1/2 weeks until November begins.

I’m not entirely sure If I can accomplish Nano this year… Why? Because a writing blogger not doing Nano is disgraceful, but I’m very busy on other types of writing.

You see,  It’s my Jr. year of high-school, and that means scholarships, scholarships, scholarships! (what fun!) Anyway, I’m applying for two HUGE  MASSIVE GARGANTUAN  scholarships (like the ‘if you win me you get into any college in your state for FREE’ kind of huge scholarships) The first is called GSP (Governor’s Scholarship Program) and it consists of a 30 page resume and 2 essays that have to BLOW PEOPLES MINDS, and 3 letters of recommendation that basically outline how awesome you are. The second is GSA (Governor’s Scholarship of the Arts) and this one is really exciting! Its a scholarship for any of the arts (hint: writing, photography, dance, etc.) I must have a portfolio of my chosen media. I can’t decide if I should send in my writing, or my photography… If I do writing I have to submit two pieces that also have to blow people’s minds to pieces with their awesomeness! (I just think I might die trying to decide.)

Either way I have a TON of writing to do, as both applications are due by December. DECEMBER!

Which means working on an entirely new novel is basically impossible. I will probably just lay down and die if I attempt Nano this year.  But then again I’m kind of desperately wanting to start a new novel that I have this great idea for… ugh! My life.

I’ll probably end up making January my own Nano (or… um… Jano?) That way I’ll have a week of winter break in January and all this scholarship craziness will be over!

*stress*

Anyway, who has more gumption than me and is actually doing Nano this year? What do you plan on writing?

 

My First True Love(s)

From the time I was little I was in love with stories. Movies, plays, books anything that wasn’t kindergarten napping and hopscotch I was into. I desperately wanted something exciting to happen to me, something that happened to characters in books. I wanted to sprout wings, or find out I was a missing princess like Anastasia.

Naturally then, I had my favorite stories, and my favorite characters. I had particularly bad little girl crushes on Peter Pan and Dickon from The Secret Garden.

To This day I’m not sure what the appeal of these two were as compared to the princes of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Maybe it was the fact that Peter Pan was utterly wild and incredulous, while the Princes of Disney had little else but their title.

Oh Golly! If you don’t find this adorable you’re on crack!

Peter Pan always held a special place in my heart. He was unruly and lets not forget musical (pan pipes). Not to mention an excellent leader (he could rally 12 boys under the age of 13 and that’s a tough job for anyone). Besides that he was an extraordinary fighter (beating up a  pirate 3 times his age and half his wit). And boy was he witty. Even at 7 years old I  couldn’t help but falling in love with people’s wit and Peter Pan’s was no exception.

Then there was the fact that he was utterly magically, and could freakin’ fly! If that wasn’t reason enough to want to marry him then i don’t know what is. So there is my explanation for being in love with Peter Pan. Makes sense.

Then there was Dickon. Oh Dickon, sweet, adorable, animal charmer Dickon! That should be enough to make any girl swoon right there. Let’s not even MENTION the fact that he has an accent (an adorable little scots-irishaccent)! Plus he’s all in love with animals and the wind in his hair and stuff like that and as a little suburbs

It’s like The Notebook for 10 year olds! *I’m squealing on the inside*

girl I wanted so badly to run out on the ‘Moore’ with him. Plus, he could tame a WILD PONY. Every little girl wants a pony and if a boy could tame a wild pony and give it to me I’m pretty dang sure I would marry him to this day. Nuff said.

Oh and on top of that he would Push Mary on the swing in the garden and that was just too cute! He was a perfect little gentleman, which is the complete opposite of Peter. Who in retrospect was a total player who flirted with Mermaids, and probably joked around with Wendy way too much. He will just never grow up. So immature (haha)!

What do my fictious love interests have to do with writing.

Well, just recently I realized that right there (those two characters) are excellent examples of how to make love interests interesting. They (even as children) had the makings of great men. And so I will now got pat myself on the back for discovering that I have great taste in fictitious boys. Their characters would be excellent models to form an MC or a secondary character with! Now, don’t you feel like you learned something?

Did anyone else have kiddie crushes?

Sorry this post is late… Microsoft is lame and windows live didn’t post it for me! UGH! Technology

Quotes for Writers

Just got back from a homecoming dance and it’s 11:52  that means I must do a post quickly… so enjoy these lovely quotes about writing and writers!

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

- Douglas Adams

It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.

- Robert Benchley

Being a poet is one of the unhealthier jobs–no regular hours, so many temptations!

- Elizabeth Bishop

 

A best seller was a book which somehow sold well simply because it was selling well.

- S. Boorstein

Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.

- Orson Scott Card

I firmly believe every book was meant to be written.

- Marchette Chute

A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just begins
to live that day.

- Emily Dickinson

If you start with a bang, you won’t end with a whimper.

- T.S. Eliot

At one time I thought the most important thing was talent. I think now that the young man or the young woman must possess or teach himself, training himself, in infinite patience, which is to try and to try until it comes right. He must train himself in ruthless intolerance–that is to throw away anything that is false no matter how much he might love that page or that paragraph. The most important thing is insight, that is to be–curiosity–to wonder, to mull, and to muse why it is that man does what he does, and if you have that, then I don’t think the talent makes much difference, whether you’ve got it or not.

- William Faulkner

Don’t be dismayed by the opinions of editors, or critics. They are only the traffic cops of the arts.

- Gene Fowler

I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose.

- Stephen King

 

Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.

- Barbara Kingsolver

What are your favorite writing quotes?

{THINGS I DIDN’T SAY} Thoughts on Life and Swedish Fish

Hey all, I got super busy today, but will have a proper post for you all tomorrow I promise. In the meantime I dug up this old thing. A draft that for some reason I never posted. I guess I  was feeling philosophical on the 13th of June 2012 because this post is rather wishy washy hipster-esque. Still, it isn’t dreadful and I find it interesting to see what I was thinking while working on old manuscripts.If  you would like to see the post that began just before this take a click on over HERE. Otherwise enjoy!

I am sitting in my room with a bag of Swedish fish and a bottle of SoBe. I was writing, and should be writing now. But for a second, between bites of candy and sips of orange flavored water ,I stopped. I feel like this isn’t where I’m suppose to be.

And no I am not getting down on myself. Especially not after yesterdays post.I was just thinking that I’m in some kind of suspended animation, or full of so much energy that I can’t sit still… ha, then again maybe that’s the sugar! I just think that I have potential.(but not in the way your thinking)

I feel like what I’m doing now is just building up to something crazy good. I just kept writing, but it’s in someone else’s voice. I don’t know how to say it exactly. It’s like I’m about to jump out of an airplane,or rush down a hill on a roller coaster, but until then I’m just at the top waiting.

There’s a story in the back of my mind right now, and it feels insanely close to me. It’s a really personal story, and I don’t feel like I can write it. Right now I can’t or else I’ll ruin it, because the moment I tip over the hill there is no stopping it and there is no knowing where this coaster would take me.

And I’m just kind of here on the precipice of everything. waiting… so I suppose it’s a good thing I have candy.

They were the Hipsters before Hipsters.

Friend: “… and thats what a hipster is.”

Me:, “I’m sorry but you just described every writer I’ve ever known.”

The soap box is coming out folks because this whole ‘hipster’ business, it’s ridiculous. These people were totally are  just copying writers! They just made up a new name for writer and decided to be ‘deep’ out from behind a desk. Think about it.

People say hipsters are (for one) apathetic/lazy. That’s every stereotypical writers ever mentioned! All writers do is complain and laze about until they absolutely force themselves to write something down. They work in their pajamas for heaven sakes! It doesn’t get much worse than that.

Second of all hipsters read and then apply what they read to sound ‘deep’ and ‘philosophical’. W.R. I.T.E.R. Writer. All writers do is read and then pretend they have any clue at all about what they are read. Then they write it down slap a stamp on it and send it out to other people to absorb their genius!  Actually I can’t think of a group more apt to sit down with a stack of books, meditate on it, and then philosophically or ironically (another characteristic of hipsters) discuss them than writers.

Then you have the denial aspect of ‘hipster culture’. Anyone who is a hipster supposedly denies their hipsterness. HELLO!!! Writers have been doing that for eons before the word hipster swung around the block. You ask someone if they are a writer they will usually say “no, not really, I write but I’m definitely not a writer.” I rest my case.

Of course hipsters hang out in cafes and drink herbal tea and no one does that right? Uh no, not except writers! Writers have been lining Starbucks and every other teashop and coffee house in the nations pockets since cafes existed! In fact writers will sit there for hours and work in mysterious silence sipping their drinks till they go cold. Or even better letting them go cold next to them because they are just being so philosophical that they can’t pull themselves away from their screens. Top that hipsters!

And so, my dear readers let us give a round of applause to those who were hipsters before hipsters:

Lois Lowry (The Giver) Not only is she sporting an edgy non-mainstream hair cut ,but she’s also wearing over-sized glasses, a turtle neck, and she has a shelter dog with her. She is so much better than any hipster that It’s just unspeakable!

Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter) Flaunting his mustache. Wait people had facial hair before hipsters!? No way. O.o

Jane Austen… Sporting a vintage hat. That’s right hipsters she wore a hat before you!

I hope I have brought to everyone’s attention that hipsters a totally just copying writers! Any Hipster want to take that up with me? Or am I too philosophical for you?

 

*I really hope everyone took this as a joke about hipsters haha

 

3 Writer’s Essentials

Post: 4/17

I’m so tired from this week, and so I’m just going to be a bum and make a list for today’s post. 3 cheers for my level of motivation! So here are three writer’s essentials.

1.Post it Notes. Why? Because they are genius! You can stick them in your car/bag/locker/notebook/planner and darn near anywhere else and instantly be able to have a place to write down ideas! On top of that they are colorful and who doesn’t like colorful paper squares? Crazies, that’s who.

2. A Fancy Pen. I feel like all writers need at least one fancy pen. It makes you feel all professional, and on-top of that it might make you like editing! (Yeah that’s a lie.) Even if it doesn’t, at least you can carry it around and look like you know what your doing, because honestly I rarely do. It just makes you feel writerly!

3. A Comfortable desk chair. I only say this because my pretty staples desk chair( of 4 years) broke and so I’m using a fold-able right now and my back has no support. This is no condition to sit in folks, especially when you are falling asleep at your desk. I never realized until now how much I desperately need a good chair. Thus, you need one too. If you’re spending hours in that chair it better be good!

That is all. Continue about your day citizens.

 

GoodReads is a Paradox

Post: 2/17

There are few things in life that consistently shock me over and over again. That incredibly short list has a large star next to finding out someone hates a book I love. It baffles me. How anyone could hate a book that I love t is just bizarre. You have to wonder what goes through their head as compared to yours. Is it even possible that someone could disdain a  piece of literature as much as you love it? It’s likely the most dysfunctional paradox ever.

The reason I bring this up is because my dearest bookish friend just finished FIRE by Kristin Cashore the other day. And oh my goodness I am absolutely in LOVE with that book. I love everything about it; the characters, the plot, the moral, the world building. It’s all simply genius and I was so excited to have my friend read it. It’s a beautiful piece of writing and I couldn’t wait to rave and rant about it with her when she was finished.

So, I decided to GoodReads creep today.

And what I found was astonishing. She’d finished the book… and she’d given it TWO STARS. TWO STARS! Was that even legal? I was sure she’d miss-clicked, but no, her review said she’d given it as much. When I asked her about it she just kind of waved it off, “It was alright” she said. And this is where I’m dumbfounded.

I just think it’s funny how one book, the SAME book can get such opposite reactions from two seemingly similar people. My bookish friend is indeed quit similar to myself. In fact we are often told that we are “the same person” (jokingly of course) it doesn’t help that we say things in unison at times or finish each others sentences. And it’s like that all across the board. People all have a varied reaction to every novel. Matched by Allie Condie for instance. FAILURE. JUST FAILURE if you ask me, but there were plenty of people who gave her a five-star review!

Why?

Because readers bring something to a novel that the author can never expect. An X factor that changes with each one. A readers past experiences, values, and knowledge, all effect how the book is read and in turn experienced and received. The reason people hate books you love or love books you hate is because they see something you don’t or don’t see something you do in the text. When people say it’s all about how you look at things they are right as rain.

This my friends, is why GoodReads is a Paradox.

So go ahead and tell me about books your friends hate and you love or vice versa!

A Notice From Life

Hello, I am Life and I will be guest posting for Ally today as she is absent once again. I would just like to let all her readers know that I have gotten in her way a lot lately. I made her start school (taking dual enrollment college classes), actually chorused her into having a social life, and also made her bake several batches of scones. How delightful, isn’t it?

All this aside, I have made her neglect this blog, her writing, and anything else that she may find even remotely important and amusing.

Unfortunately, she is at this very moment making a concentrated effort to thwart my plans for her by writing a post that will (if she succeeds be posted here tomorrow). Oh, but how naive she is. Doesn’t she know I have plans for her? Silly girl!

Either way she is feeling rather bad about all this, not that I care!

-A Notice From Life

20 Things Writers Do

1. Fall asleep thinking about characters and plots, but be too lazy to find a pen and paper and scribble it down because you’re just about to go to sleep. Wake up the next morning and forget about it, and have it haunt you all day.

2. Ease drop on other people’s conversations to get novel research.

3. Keep notebooks with tons of random facts in them. If you’re ever murdered and the police go through your stuff they will think you were crazy. Then someone will tell them you were a writer. OH.

4. smile randomly in public because you’ve just figured out your plot hole!

5.  Jump around the house and dance because you’ve finished your first draft! OMG It’s done!

7. Stare at the computer from across the room, and then never get up.

8. try to flatten dog-eared page in library books.

9. Look at baby names sites for hours and not be pregnant.

10.  Keep checking your word count. No. No, it hasn’t changed

11. Write a sentence. back space. repeat.

12. Kill people frequently… fictional people of course! … O.o

13.Embrace imaginary friends.

14. Space out. A LOT.

15. Let coffee/tea/soup/and food in general go cold if you take it to your desk. The computer is enough to fill anyone up. Not realize it and thirty minutes later take a sip…. ICK!

16. Miss major events in the world. Oh there an African-American president? Oh a guy just shot up the batman movie? Sorry! I was in a writing comma.

17. Yell at inanimate objects. Books, computers, imaginary people in your head.

18.Hoard notebooks.

19. Talk about writing to anyone who will listen. If they don’t who cares! Go on to forcibly tie them to a chair and tell them about writing anyway.

20. Not write,  make a blog post instead. Like this one.

Apparently I Need a Cat to do This.

Does every writer have a cat? While perusing a couple of writing blogs I began wondering this, and as I continued my daily rounds I realized it was true. Holy crap! Beth Revis has a cat! so does Maggie Stiefvater, and Libba Bray, and holy crud Jackson Pearce’s site even advertises her cat ownership!

I was utterly shell-shocked.  I do not have a cat to lay on my keyboard and interrupt my writing, I realized. All I have is an overweight coyote looking dog that lays next to my desk and snorts in her sleep. If she tried to lay on my keyboard she’d break the computer!

As I continued to mope over my overweight dog I came to the realization that I also don’t drink coffee or tea… I don’t

My overweight coyote-looking dog.

even drink mountain dew! Every writer on earth seems to mutter over sipping on coffee or stirring their tea as they write at their desk in the morning or haul through a tough NaNo night. Me? i hate coffee and tea.

So there I am, Cat-less, and ready to go brew a thing of coffee just to let it go cold on my desk when  I realized something. If I had a cat instead of my bum-ish over fed dog I would probably be chasing it off the keyboard every five seconds or teasing it with catnip. And on top of that if I was drinking coffee I would never be able to sit down. I get bad sugar highs and if you handed me a bottle of caffeine I would probably have a heartache attack and never write another word ever again.

So, I came to the conclusion that even though I apparently need a cat to do this thing called writing. It’s probably a good thing I don’t have one.

Anyone else notice habits writers have that you don’t?