As we all know, it's Thanksgiving, a time for thanks, giving, and good food, specifically turkey. I owe so many people thanks: for support, for love, for kindness, for changing me for the better. Mom, who makes me tea after I kill a character because she knows I need the soul-support. My dad, who never refuses to help me with math homework and listen to my highschool woes.Friends reading the blog, you know I love you and thank you so, so, so much for accepting me & all the trouble that comes along. You're the best, FAM.
But I especially owe a HUGE thanks to the YA community on Twitter. Ladies and gents, y'all are the best support system and network of friends a reader and writer could ask for. I hope someday to join your ranks, to cry over character death and admire all the awesome. I nearly quite writing last year after a certain event happened and through reading your books, seeing your friendships, I knew I couldn't quit. That, and the ideas wouldn't stop coming.
I must also thank my cello squad. Y'all have a special, cello-shaped space in my heart.
Thank you, too, readers, for clicking on the link time after time, reading the stuff in my head that splattered on (virtual) paper. You guys are amazing.
So, on this day of Thanksgiving, tell your family and friends you love them. Just hearing it, those three words, can turn an entire day around.
There's a hashtag on Twitter that is ALL ABOUT ThanksGIVING called #GiveABook. Penguin Random House started it, and for every tweet, they'll give a book for a child in need. It's simple, those three words. But they make a huge impact. As we enter the season of giving, Tweet the hashtag. Reading saves lives. (Another three words to take note of.)
Happy Thanksgiving,
Kaelyn
P.S. PIE is also life, particularly pumpkin pie.
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Note: the events of yesterday were incredibly horrific and shocking. I'd write a post about it, but I have no words, only feelings of sorrow for France and the other countries who experienced tragedy yesterday. Now, onto the actual post.
Here it is: my first book review post!
Simon Versus the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his
drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong
hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now
change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone
before he's pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising
himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing,
adorable guy he's never met. (Synopsis taken from Amazon because I can't summarize.)
I finished this book around 8:42 this morning and promptly exploded from that rare, awesome feeling that comes from truly great books. Simon is such a compelling character; written in first person, it's never boring as Simon actually feels things that teenagers like myself feel. I noticed myself nodding along to his thoughts, thinking "yes, I've thought that, hang in there buddy." It's not a book that's strictly comedy or drama--it's believable. This is a story that could happen, could be happening anywhere and all over, perhaps playing out at this very moment.
The story kept me guessing as to who "Blue" (Cute guy at the other end of Simon's emails) was in real life. While Albertalli gave enough clues to his identity for the reader to figure out who he was, it's not something you could figure out right away. I actually found myself waiting for the big reveal; I wanted to observe it like Simon would, to be fully immersed in his thoughts and feelings instead of my own. Albertalli didn't disappoint, let me tell you.
While reading Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, it was impossible to stop turning my (virtual) pages. Albertalli's fantastic at creating those tense scenes, where the tension is completely in the MC's head and everything seems fine on the outside to his world. Also, the complete adorbs of Simon and Blue via email is EVERYTHING. I blushed, I cried, I laughed myself silly on a bus full of high schoolers.
My favorite part is ---------. Sorry guys, spoiler right there. But I'll say it's deliciously romantic and OMG SO CUTE SHIPSSSS.
I'd recommend this book to everyone I know--teachers, friends, strangers at Starbucks, anyone and everyone who will listen, but especially my fellow teens. This, dear friends, is a book that gets it. It's realistic about being a teen and how school is hard, friends are hard, being yourself is hard.
So get thee to a library! Read this book!
Here it is: my first book review post!
Simon Versus the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
I finished this book around 8:42 this morning and promptly exploded from that rare, awesome feeling that comes from truly great books. Simon is such a compelling character; written in first person, it's never boring as Simon actually feels things that teenagers like myself feel. I noticed myself nodding along to his thoughts, thinking "yes, I've thought that, hang in there buddy." It's not a book that's strictly comedy or drama--it's believable. This is a story that could happen, could be happening anywhere and all over, perhaps playing out at this very moment.
The story kept me guessing as to who "Blue" (Cute guy at the other end of Simon's emails) was in real life. While Albertalli gave enough clues to his identity for the reader to figure out who he was, it's not something you could figure out right away. I actually found myself waiting for the big reveal; I wanted to observe it like Simon would, to be fully immersed in his thoughts and feelings instead of my own. Albertalli didn't disappoint, let me tell you.
While reading Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, it was impossible to stop turning my (virtual) pages. Albertalli's fantastic at creating those tense scenes, where the tension is completely in the MC's head and everything seems fine on the outside to his world. Also, the complete adorbs of Simon and Blue via email is EVERYTHING. I blushed, I cried, I laughed myself silly on a bus full of high schoolers.
My favorite part is ---------. Sorry guys, spoiler right there. But I'll say it's deliciously romantic and OMG SO CUTE SHIPSSSS.
I'd recommend this book to everyone I know--teachers, friends, strangers at Starbucks, anyone and everyone who will listen, but especially my fellow teens. This, dear friends, is a book that gets it. It's realistic about being a teen and how school is hard, friends are hard, being yourself is hard.
So get thee to a library! Read this book!
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Stalling for Time
As you all know, I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). That's been going well; after four days I realized high school + NaNo + a truly insane amount of homework meant I'd need to cut back on writing so I could actually get sleep at night. At least, enough to function on a level higher than "extra on The Walking Dead." Overall lesson? Don't bite off more than you can chew unless it's your absolute favorite dessert and you can swallow it all at some point.
NaNo's taken me through some of the harder parts of my story, through scenes that didn't automatically write themselves (every single one of them except that slightly good bit in the middle). Now, I've reached the dragon to slay: the scene that I don't want to write because it's scary/I'm inexperienced/oh gods why must I torture my characters this way? It's painful.
So I'm being human and stalling.
I've been stalling for two days (not doing anything nice to my wordcount, I tell you) and the fear of writing this scene is nearly crippling. I can't continue past twenty words--it's awful.
Then I remembered something I read on the Internet somewhere, something about many tiny words + time = eventual progress.That sounds great, but I'm more likely to put the writing off for years and years instead of contribute consistently. Then came my dad's favorite piece of advice to give: eat the frog. It's very similar to "bite the bullet" except it conjures a mental image that's nearly as revolting as whatever you're stalling for. Also, don't play with your food before you eat it, though I'm sure that doesn't apply here.
The stalling ends now. I'm not particularly hungry but there's always room in our stomachs for a frog.
Still stalling.
Can't stop stalling.
Maybe I have a problem.
This scene is a problem.
Urgh this frog's going to taste nasty. Dad didn't mention anything about frog stir-fry...
NaNo's taken me through some of the harder parts of my story, through scenes that didn't automatically write themselves (every single one of them except that slightly good bit in the middle). Now, I've reached the dragon to slay: the scene that I don't want to write because it's scary/I'm inexperienced/oh gods why must I torture my characters this way? It's painful.
So I'm being human and stalling.
I've been stalling for two days (not doing anything nice to my wordcount, I tell you) and the fear of writing this scene is nearly crippling. I can't continue past twenty words--it's awful.
Then I remembered something I read on the Internet somewhere, something about many tiny words + time = eventual progress.That sounds great, but I'm more likely to put the writing off for years and years instead of contribute consistently. Then came my dad's favorite piece of advice to give: eat the frog. It's very similar to "bite the bullet" except it conjures a mental image that's nearly as revolting as whatever you're stalling for. Also, don't play with your food before you eat it, though I'm sure that doesn't apply here.
The stalling ends now. I'm not particularly hungry but there's always room in our stomachs for a frog.
Still stalling.
Can't stop stalling.
Maybe I have a problem.
This scene is a problem.
Urgh this frog's going to taste nasty. Dad didn't mention anything about frog stir-fry...
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
No Energy
Blah.
Blah blah blah.
Blaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh.
Some days, that's how we feel. No motivation to write; no excitement. That's me today, on the 3rd day of NaNo.
I don't even feel like writing this blog post, but I still have a word goal to reach. I'm discovering the varying types of writing days: good days that go downhill, bad days that go up, some that stay the same, and the rare, golden writing day when the words seem to flow effortlessly.
This is not a post telling you how to get a rare, golden day. This is a post for getting over road blocks with. What's keeping you from writing?
1) Time
Time is one of the biggest factors in writing progress. Writing takes time. And if you don't have much of it, there's not much time for words. I've often read on Twitter that writing takes the time you make for it; it lives in the handful of minutes scattered throughout your day while you juggle fifty billion other things.
2) Enthusiasm
I think this one's blocking me today: there's no excitement for what you're writing. You just don't feel like it today. And somedays, I'll give myself a pass and say "tomorrow." But all too easily that turns into a string of tomorrows and no words written. This is the time to eat the frog, as my dad would say. Eat the frog and get it over with so later you can have chocolate.
(Don't actually eat a frog guys, at least not raw.)
3) THE UNIVERSE doesn't will it
At least, that's what we think, that the entire Universe is conspiring against us and that no matter how much we want to write, everything is standing in the way of you and your computer/notebook/fancy-speak-into-and-write thing.
How do we combat this?
I'm all in favor of a change in scenery; sitting at a desk/on your bed for hours at a time looking at nothing but a computer screen gets pretty boring after while. Go for a walk. Ride your bike. Take your kids/spouse/pet/someone out of the house and out into the world. It's a different set of stimuli to refresh, focus, and pick up where you left off. A few days ago, in dear old October, I shuffled to my desk, ready to shackle my hands to my notebook and focus solely on NaNo prep until I fell asleep. I could hear every word of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie my littlest sister, here known as G, was watching in the living room.Then my dad asked if I wanted to go to the gym with him for a change in scenery.
At first, I thought, no way. It'll be smelly, loud, and I'll never be able to get anything done. But I'd been spending so much time trying to prep for NaNo that I'd been neglecting my family. So I went, sat down at a round red table, and wrote for a solid two hours while Dad worked out.
Discovery? Football games make excellent white noise. Movies? Not so much. The gym was also a lot cleaner than I expected and smelled rather nicely of Febreeze.
A change in scenery is one option; another one I've heard of is Taking A Break. This, dear readers, is when we pry ourselves from our desks and Do Other Things until we feel ready (ish) to get back to writing. Constant writing or forced writing without a break or two is a good way to start the path to burnout and guilt because you want to write but don't have the mental energy.
I think I'll go change my scenery and Take A Break; the AP European History homework is really piling up.
Then I'll sit down, get my head in the NaNo game, and make up for the four hours of nothing this morning.
Blah blah blah.
Blaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh.
Some days, that's how we feel. No motivation to write; no excitement. That's me today, on the 3rd day of NaNo.
I don't even feel like writing this blog post, but I still have a word goal to reach. I'm discovering the varying types of writing days: good days that go downhill, bad days that go up, some that stay the same, and the rare, golden writing day when the words seem to flow effortlessly.
This is not a post telling you how to get a rare, golden day. This is a post for getting over road blocks with. What's keeping you from writing?
1) Time
Time is one of the biggest factors in writing progress. Writing takes time. And if you don't have much of it, there's not much time for words. I've often read on Twitter that writing takes the time you make for it; it lives in the handful of minutes scattered throughout your day while you juggle fifty billion other things.
2) Enthusiasm
I think this one's blocking me today: there's no excitement for what you're writing. You just don't feel like it today. And somedays, I'll give myself a pass and say "tomorrow." But all too easily that turns into a string of tomorrows and no words written. This is the time to eat the frog, as my dad would say. Eat the frog and get it over with so later you can have chocolate.
(Don't actually eat a frog guys, at least not raw.)
3) THE UNIVERSE doesn't will it
At least, that's what we think, that the entire Universe is conspiring against us and that no matter how much we want to write, everything is standing in the way of you and your computer/notebook/fancy-speak-into-and-write thing.
How do we combat this?
I'm all in favor of a change in scenery; sitting at a desk/on your bed for hours at a time looking at nothing but a computer screen gets pretty boring after while. Go for a walk. Ride your bike. Take your kids/spouse/pet/someone out of the house and out into the world. It's a different set of stimuli to refresh, focus, and pick up where you left off. A few days ago, in dear old October, I shuffled to my desk, ready to shackle my hands to my notebook and focus solely on NaNo prep until I fell asleep. I could hear every word of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie my littlest sister, here known as G, was watching in the living room.Then my dad asked if I wanted to go to the gym with him for a change in scenery.
At first, I thought, no way. It'll be smelly, loud, and I'll never be able to get anything done. But I'd been spending so much time trying to prep for NaNo that I'd been neglecting my family. So I went, sat down at a round red table, and wrote for a solid two hours while Dad worked out.
Discovery? Football games make excellent white noise. Movies? Not so much. The gym was also a lot cleaner than I expected and smelled rather nicely of Febreeze.
A change in scenery is one option; another one I've heard of is Taking A Break. This, dear readers, is when we pry ourselves from our desks and Do Other Things until we feel ready (ish) to get back to writing. Constant writing or forced writing without a break or two is a good way to start the path to burnout and guilt because you want to write but don't have the mental energy.
I think I'll go change my scenery and Take A Break; the AP European History homework is really piling up.
Then I'll sit down, get my head in the NaNo game, and make up for the four hours of nothing this morning.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
NaNoWriMo Season Begins!
As we all slept off our sugar hype from last night, something snuck up on us in the night, and no, it wasn't the fallback from Daylight Savings Time.
No, from the moment the clock struck 12:00 AM, November 1st, writers all across the country started on the challenge known as National Novel Writing Month, including yours truly.
Commonly called NaNoWriMo, it's a month full of writing goals and months beforehand of preparation. To all of my friends: I apologize if I don't talk to you at all this month. I'll make up for it Christmas, I swear.
This is my first time doing NaNo, I'm pretty excited/nervous/oh god what have I done. NaNo gave me some great writing advice: Sometimes it's necessary to turn your inner editor off (or imprison them in a concrete cell with water and biscuits) and just write, because the story is what you're really chasing for one focused month. I know this is what I need, as well as what some of my friends need.
So I encourage you to participate in NaNo next year--you've got plenty of time to start cooking up ideas and exploring them before actually writing them down on a blank Word document in your computer's universe. But for the people actually writing and reading this blog (FINISH THE POST THEN GET BACK TO WORK), here are a few NaNo tips:
1) GOALS
These, I find, are some of the most important parts of writing. My word goal today, a little higher than the NaNo standard, was 2,000 words minimum. It's not a 5k, or a 15k, which would certainly kill me. It's attainable with a little bit of effort. That's the key. And don't forget to log your words on the NaNo website--they've got some awesome graphs to track your progress throughout the month <3 that's the way to my heart, for sure!
But GOALS has a second part: REWARDS. I watched a vlog post (link at bottom of the post) from author Victoria Schwab (check out her insanely amazing stuff) about her calendar system, which works as a visual reward system. She has a desk calendar and for every x amount of words, she puts a color-coded sticker on the day and keeps going. I'm trying this (s/o to sparkly star stickers) and loving it, not just for the RAINBOW SPARKLES but the feeling of rewarding myself with a sticker. Like high-fiving myself.
2) PLANNER VS. PANTSER
We all have a unique writing process. Some people plan out every little plot detail, having everything planned to the nth degree. These people are known as "Planners," to different extremes of course. Their prewriting stage can last for a while, or they'll plan everything out in one highly focused laser beam day/hour/second.
Then, there are those who sit down and write whatever, feeling their way through their story blind. It's a constant adventure for them, full of discovery and wonderful twists and turns. These people are called "Pantsers" after the saying "flying by the seat of your pants." Their prewriting stage may not happen at all; I think it happens along the way, like the gray load bar racing ahead of the read "have watched" bar on YouTube videos.
It seems so cut and dry, carefully laid out. You're a Planner or you're a Pantser. I disagree.
There's a third category, according to Victoria Schwab (Her Royal Majesty), called the "Connect-the-Dotsers." These people plan a bit, laying down a structure with Point A and a Point B but any number of points along the way: A.1, A.2, A.67, etc. They've got a destination but are carving their own routes. I'd say I'm a Connect-the-Dotser, swinging from Planner one day to more of a Pantser the next. And like I said: everyone's process is different.
3) EYES ON YOUR OWN PAPER
I heard this on Twitter from numerous authors: keep your eyes on your own paper. Don't compare your first (and VERY STUBBLY ROUGH) draft to someone else's final (WELL-TRIMMED BEARD) draft. It will do you no good, and your inner writer will feel self-conscious and full of doubt.
Don't do that to yourself--your writing is something special and totally brand new, like your DNA. DNA,while a combination of your parental units' genes, arranges you in a way that doesn't make you an exact copy of Parent 1 or Parent 2. Something new. Something you.
I struggle with this--some part of my mind is always whispering poison in my ear, saying "Neil Gaiman could've done it better" or "Do you even deserve to be in the same room as Holly Black with this mess of words on your document?" NaNo is the time to shut this voice up and take some time for you and only you. As for me, I'm locking up my books for a bit; while I love to read, the temptation to compare is right there, and goodnesss knows I'm a sucker for books. It's not healthy for me, or my writing, to constantly compare and ultimately end up thinking I suck and should never write again.
4) TURN OFF YOUR INNER EDITOR
More solid NaNo advice from NaNoWriMo themselves. Imagine your inner editor. Maybe they're a person, an object, a purple-spotted alien from Saturn sent to torment your grammar with its impeccable grasp of the English language.
Now imagine it locked away/on vacation/back on Saturn, light-years away. That's where they'll remain for all of NaNo, letting Writer You out of the box and onto the page. Be free.
(It's a little ironic that my inner editor is the spelling/grammar check/squiggly lines on Word and that I shut it down like a computer yet write almost entirely in Word.)
5) ENJOY YOURSELF
This month is entirely about you, your writing, and what you feel like accomplishing. It's a challenge, a dream, and a reality. It's an attainable goal that's still hard enough to make you want to go the extra fifty miles and get to that place where everything feels "write." Remember to take care of yourself: writing is important but so is physical health. Get up and stretch, take a breather, then dive right back in. Eat healthily (my personal challenge--writing often activates my sweet tooth) and exercise to relieve some of the stress of NaNo.
Don't bite off more than you can chew. If you've got a 3-page English essay due the next day and haven't hit your word count and are acutely aware of the dishes piling up in the sink and starting to smell, then it's time to step back and prioritize. Perhaps this means you'll have to make up the NaNo distance the next day so you can finish the English essay and finally take care of those dishes. If you've got enough to chew, chew it well, swallow, and take another bite.
That's all for my NaNo spiel today--I'm going to take a knitting break, get some sleep, and do this all again tomorrow. I might be posting a bit on the weekends, though I can't promise anything; NaNo is fun but eats time like I eat candy.
Good luck to all my fellow NaNos! We can do this!
No, from the moment the clock struck 12:00 AM, November 1st, writers all across the country started on the challenge known as National Novel Writing Month, including yours truly.
Commonly called NaNoWriMo, it's a month full of writing goals and months beforehand of preparation. To all of my friends: I apologize if I don't talk to you at all this month. I'll make up for it Christmas, I swear.
This is my first time doing NaNo, I'm pretty excited/nervous/oh god what have I done. NaNo gave me some great writing advice: Sometimes it's necessary to turn your inner editor off (or imprison them in a concrete cell with water and biscuits) and just write, because the story is what you're really chasing for one focused month. I know this is what I need, as well as what some of my friends need.
So I encourage you to participate in NaNo next year--you've got plenty of time to start cooking up ideas and exploring them before actually writing them down on a blank Word document in your computer's universe. But for the people actually writing and reading this blog (FINISH THE POST THEN GET BACK TO WORK), here are a few NaNo tips:
1) GOALS
These, I find, are some of the most important parts of writing. My word goal today, a little higher than the NaNo standard, was 2,000 words minimum. It's not a 5k, or a 15k, which would certainly kill me. It's attainable with a little bit of effort. That's the key. And don't forget to log your words on the NaNo website--they've got some awesome graphs to track your progress throughout the month <3 that's the way to my heart, for sure!
But GOALS has a second part: REWARDS. I watched a vlog post (link at bottom of the post) from author Victoria Schwab (check out her insanely amazing stuff) about her calendar system, which works as a visual reward system. She has a desk calendar and for every x amount of words, she puts a color-coded sticker on the day and keeps going. I'm trying this (s/o to sparkly star stickers) and loving it, not just for the RAINBOW SPARKLES but the feeling of rewarding myself with a sticker. Like high-fiving myself.
2) PLANNER VS. PANTSER
We all have a unique writing process. Some people plan out every little plot detail, having everything planned to the nth degree. These people are known as "Planners," to different extremes of course. Their prewriting stage can last for a while, or they'll plan everything out in one highly focused laser beam day/hour/second.
Then, there are those who sit down and write whatever, feeling their way through their story blind. It's a constant adventure for them, full of discovery and wonderful twists and turns. These people are called "Pantsers" after the saying "flying by the seat of your pants." Their prewriting stage may not happen at all; I think it happens along the way, like the gray load bar racing ahead of the read "have watched" bar on YouTube videos.
It seems so cut and dry, carefully laid out. You're a Planner or you're a Pantser. I disagree.
There's a third category, according to Victoria Schwab (Her Royal Majesty), called the "Connect-the-Dotsers." These people plan a bit, laying down a structure with Point A and a Point B but any number of points along the way: A.1, A.2, A.67, etc. They've got a destination but are carving their own routes. I'd say I'm a Connect-the-Dotser, swinging from Planner one day to more of a Pantser the next. And like I said: everyone's process is different.
3) EYES ON YOUR OWN PAPER
I heard this on Twitter from numerous authors: keep your eyes on your own paper. Don't compare your first (and VERY STUBBLY ROUGH) draft to someone else's final (WELL-TRIMMED BEARD) draft. It will do you no good, and your inner writer will feel self-conscious and full of doubt.
Don't do that to yourself--your writing is something special and totally brand new, like your DNA. DNA,while a combination of your parental units' genes, arranges you in a way that doesn't make you an exact copy of Parent 1 or Parent 2. Something new. Something you.
I struggle with this--some part of my mind is always whispering poison in my ear, saying "Neil Gaiman could've done it better" or "Do you even deserve to be in the same room as Holly Black with this mess of words on your document?" NaNo is the time to shut this voice up and take some time for you and only you. As for me, I'm locking up my books for a bit; while I love to read, the temptation to compare is right there, and goodnesss knows I'm a sucker for books. It's not healthy for me, or my writing, to constantly compare and ultimately end up thinking I suck and should never write again.
4) TURN OFF YOUR INNER EDITOR
More solid NaNo advice from NaNoWriMo themselves. Imagine your inner editor. Maybe they're a person, an object, a purple-spotted alien from Saturn sent to torment your grammar with its impeccable grasp of the English language.
Now imagine it locked away/on vacation/back on Saturn, light-years away. That's where they'll remain for all of NaNo, letting Writer You out of the box and onto the page. Be free.
(It's a little ironic that my inner editor is the spelling/grammar check/squiggly lines on Word and that I shut it down like a computer yet write almost entirely in Word.)
5) ENJOY YOURSELF
This month is entirely about you, your writing, and what you feel like accomplishing. It's a challenge, a dream, and a reality. It's an attainable goal that's still hard enough to make you want to go the extra fifty miles and get to that place where everything feels "write." Remember to take care of yourself: writing is important but so is physical health. Get up and stretch, take a breather, then dive right back in. Eat healthily (my personal challenge--writing often activates my sweet tooth) and exercise to relieve some of the stress of NaNo.
Don't bite off more than you can chew. If you've got a 3-page English essay due the next day and haven't hit your word count and are acutely aware of the dishes piling up in the sink and starting to smell, then it's time to step back and prioritize. Perhaps this means you'll have to make up the NaNo distance the next day so you can finish the English essay and finally take care of those dishes. If you've got enough to chew, chew it well, swallow, and take another bite.
That's all for my NaNo spiel today--I'm going to take a knitting break, get some sleep, and do this all again tomorrow. I might be posting a bit on the weekends, though I can't promise anything; NaNo is fun but eats time like I eat candy.
Good luck to all my fellow NaNos! We can do this!
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