The Infamous New Year's Post

Well everyone, it's 2012. There seem to be a lot of people on the internet conflicted about New Year's Resolutions. No one seems to know what to make of them. (Do you make one, and forget about it three weeks from now? Or do you not make one and feel like you are entering another year of aimless wondering?) Because I am planning to make this post ridiculously long,  here are my thoughts on the subject:


The Three Most Important Rules for New Years Resolutions


1. The first rule is the most important. And no, it's not "stick with it," as some might say. The No. 1 rule for making New Year's Resolutions is to purge yourself of guilt. That's right. Resolutions aren't supposed to so gruelingly difficult that you don't look forward to keeping them, or that you beat yourself up about them if you slip up. So take a minute right now and repeat after me: "I will not feel guilty for not keeping my New Year's Resolutions."


2. Enthusiasm. That's rule #2. That might seem hard at first, especially if your resolution happens to be anything but fun. But if you look at your resolution less as something you have to do or you'll feel terrible about yourself (while simultaneously feeling terrible about breaking our "No Guilt" rule), then you are more likely to give up because the pressure is just too much. So, take a minute right now and repeat after me: "I vow not to hate my new year's resolutions, and if I do, to find some little part of them to be enthusiastic about, because if I try and can't find some part of them that I enjoy, then they are not worth keeping."


3. Make it legal. (Or at least, in the personal sense) Rule #3 is to find some way of making your resolutions permanent. Keeping them in your head is important, but thoughts are fickle things, my friends, and our flawed, human brains can't be counted on to remind us of our resolutions all 365 days of the new year. So take a minute right now to find a piece of paper or a typewriter or word doc on your computer and write down your resolutions, including Rules 1 and 2. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.


And now that we've looked ahead a little bit, let's take a moment to look back on 2011.


This year I:

• Started my Junior year in high school
• Took my first really helpful/productive/inspiring creative writing class
• Learned to drive
• Worked my butt off writing music for the school play
• Visited Cloudcroft, New Mexico, where I've informally decided to move to if I ever get the chance and/or enough money
• Discovered my new fav author, Thomas Mullen
• Saw my new fav author, and many others, at the Texas Book Festival 
• Won a regional Silver Key from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
• Had a Wind in the Willows themed Christmas

I could go on, but I'll spare you the more boring details :) And now:

The two major accomplishments I hope to achieve in 2012 are:

• Getting accepted to the Iowa Young Writer's Studio this summer
• Winning an award for a Senior Portfolio from Scholastic Art & Writing 

Today some friends are coming  over to eat cabbage (for money) and black-eyed peas (for luck), so I better wrap this up. Before I go, I'll leave you with this picture:

Cheers! 


Enjoy 2012!

One Moment

As writers, we are obsessed with plot. (Or at least I am) We tend to look at the big picture: how does this event affect that? What happens when someone tries to resolve a conflict and three more arise? Of course, real life doesn't move in a compactly plotted arc, and the effects of life changing events are often not realized until years after the fact. The truth is, life is just a string of moments stuck together in this thing we call time. Moments are like the atoms of life.  And, if atoms are the building blocks of life (people, plants, and animals), then moments are the building blocks of lives. 

So much can happen in a moment. And so little. Think how many moments you spend sleeping. Or eating. Or listening to music. Or laughing. The list goes on! What about those rare moments when you actually connect with a fellow human being. So much can pass between people in a few seconds of eye contact. Some of my favorite moments are the ones spent listening to music. Like this:

Did you like that? Yeah, me too. With the holidays approaching quickly and many memorable moments to come, take some time to calm down, stop the stress, and remember what life is really made of.

Texas Book Festival: (Belated) Recap!!

The Texas Book Festival was: Awesome! Inspiring! Funny! Creative! And basically an all around good time. The capitol was the perfect place to have it. Book lovers and writers alike (is there really a distinction?) could be seen hurrying through it's majestic halls and climbing it's stoically ornate stairways to get to their next seminar. The capital grounds and much of Congress Ave. were covered in white tents full of books. It was overwhelming the number of books in those tents! How could anyone hope to look at them, much less read them all! Of course (because writers are cool), the seminars/interviews/panels with different writers were all wonderful, and believe me, there was something for everyone. But- I'm getting ahead of myself. Because I know you're all dying to see them, here are some pictures!

Sunrise on the way to Austin.

Authors on parenting spoke in the Senate Room. (My parents wanted see this, but it was actually more interesting than I expected)

My Dad and me 

This was a wonderful sight- and there were more like this. A lot more!

Yes, that's Louis Sachar and Mary Worlitzer!

Mom and me on the Senate Room floor! Those chairs are comfy!

Just had to take this. So beautiful!

Austin's two most famous domes! (One is a little more famous than the other...)

BEST INDIAN FOOD EVER!!!

We went on a nighttime tour of the State Cemetery. There was a HUGE crowd, so it wasn't quite as fun as we'd hoped. That, and we were tired! 

There's Thomas Mullen!!! (Second to last on the left) This was a panel on Genre Bending fiction. A lot of people were there to see  Erin Morgenstern, author of The Night Circus (which I am planning to read, eventually), but I wish more people knew about Thomas Mullen. He deserves more notice!

This guy was great! He read a passage from one of his middle grade novels inspired by the Hardy Boys series. It was highly entertaining!

View from the Senate Room balcony window. Look closely and you can see the tops of the white tents!

One of the best panels was one with Kate Dicamillo and Rebecca Stead. Those two could be stand up comedians! I wish I had a picture to show you, but we were so mesmerized by all that energy in one place, we never got a chance to take one! If you EVER get a chance to hear either one of them speak I highly recommend it. 

Anyway, I had a great time (can you tell?). The weather was perfect, the people were friendly, and the writers were inspiring. I came home with three book marks, a (signed!) copy of Thomas Mullen's The Revisionists, the book Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris,  a free sample from Penguin with the first three chapters of 9 different books, and-get this- a free notebook! I've got so much reading to do,  and no time at all! But I'm so glad I went to the Texas Book Festival, and (as if I haven't said this enough) I recommend it to anyone and everyone. Hope to see  you there next year!

Off to the Texas Book Festival!

Today really felt like a Friday. Do you ever have those days? Ever since I joined the live music ensemble for our school play, my life has been taken over by after school rehearsals and loads of homework. I have something to look forward to, though!  This weekend will be both a breath of fresh air and a subversive experience into my two loves: reading and writing. I'm off to the Texas Book Festival! Here are some of the things I'm looking forward to:


1. Doing something different. Ever since rehearsals started I sometimes feel like I've fallen into a monotonous daily routine. This will be a nice (and much needed) break!
2. Listening to some amazing writers: Kate Dicamillo and Thomas Mullen are two that I'm especially looking forward to seeing. All you have to do is read Kate Dicamillo's Journal of sorts  to see what an amazing writer she is (if you haven't read Because of Winn-Dixie or any of her other fabulous middle grade books, that is). I also just found out about Thomas Mullen, whose new book, like his others, sounds absolutely fascinating. (You can read my review of his book, The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers, here.)
3. Being in Austin, one of my favorite cities. It's also a great place to go for a fresh change of scenery.


Now, you didn't think I would go off and leave you without any information, did you? Here is the website for the event, and when I get back I will post pictures and stories! Hope you all have a great weekend, and as usual, thanks for reading :)

The Merits of Eavesdropping

"It's not about the sandwich!" I was eating lunch on the patio of a local taqueria when I overheard a woman saying this into her cell phone. Instantly my inner writer started asking questions. Who is she talking to? What does she mean? What kind of sandwich is it? And, if it's not about the sandwich, then what is it about?

It's human nature to be curious about other people's lives, and as writers it's even more important that we pay attention and ask questions about the things around us. We want to be truthful in our writing, and to do that we must watch, smell, and listen. In her book, Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg writes:


"When you are not writing, you are a writer too. It doesn't leave you. Walk with an animal walk and take in everything around you as prey. Use your senses as an animal does. Watch a cat when he sees something moving in a room. He is perfectly still, and at the same time, his every sense is alive... This is how you should be when you are in the streets."


When you eavesdrop, you are using your animal senses. Listen to the way people talk. Do they have an accent? Does their tone of voice fit with what they are saying, or is there a deeper current of excitement, or irritation, or sadness behind their words? Eavesdropping is like taking a snapshot with a polaroid camera. You capture a moment, but you also get a glimpse of that person's personality, their past. It's not the whole picture. Not by a long shot. But it's better that way, because soon you'll have more snapshots then you know what to do with, and you can pick and choose, taking bits of personality here and there. By doing this, by learning from real life, you are closer than ever before to one of the things all writers strive for: the truth.

Making Time to Read

Reading is medicine. It is a way to loose yourself after a long day, or ground yourself when everything feels like it's up in the air. Readers know this, and so do writers. But sometimes, such a simple act can feel like a waste of time. When asked, "What did you do today?" I sometimes feel ashamed of saying that I read a book. How could I have not done anything productive? I could have worked on homework, or called a friend, or studied for the PSAT. Sometimes it's easy to forget just how valuable reading can be.


But I'm not going to lecture you on the merits of reading. With the speed at which our lives move, even those of us who realize its importance have a hard time finding a minute, much less an afternoon, to sit down with a good book. Always, I hear other writers say, "Make time to write every day." Well, I say, make time to read, too. 


Here are some ideas to help you do just that:


1. Keep your books in one place. Not all your books, of course. Just the ones you're reading at the moment. Try to make it a place that you go often, like on a table next to your favorite armchair, or on the floor by your bed. Few readers can resist a lonely book begging to be picked up and savored.
Tip: Don't keep your books near your workspace, or it will be too tempting to stop what you're doing and read all afternoon. That is one instance where reading is a time waster!


2. Pick one to carry with you. Some people find it hard to wait until evening, when they're at home in their favorite armchair, to read. Or maybe they get home late and can barely make it through a page before falling asleep. If thats the case, then try carrying your book with you. If you have a Kindle or other electronic reading device then you have it easy. I, personally, am a fan of the "real thing," but maybe I'm just old fashioned. Heck, I still write on a typewriter! Anyway, if you have a spare moment, pull out your book and indulge yourself. You'll be surprised by how much more you read when your book is readily accessible whenever you have a moment of down time.


3. Limit the number of books you read at once. I know, easier said than done. Still, if you have 12 books going at once, you may spend more time deciding which ones to read than actually reading them. I try to limit my number to two or three, which I've found to be a pretty good balance.


4. Keep a book journal. Like me! You can buy ones specifically for books, or you can simply choose a regular notebook, but the important thing is to keep a record of the books you read and what you thought of them. This, while slightly more time consuming, is a great way to make reading feel less like wasted time, and more like enrichment to your life and your writing (which it is). Not only will this make you want to make more time for reading, but the end result is a record of every book you've read. And who doesn't want to that?


5. Don't feel guilty! Don't feel bad about not finishing a book, or having to put it down because it's just not speaking to you. (Kristan Hoffman wrote a great post about this on Writer Unboxed.) Beating yourself up about your reading habits will just make the whole experience less enjoyable, hence defeating the purpose, which is to read more.


Well, I hope this was helpful! I'm going to go follow my own advice now and sit down with Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth. If you'd like you know what else I'm reading, you can always look in the side bar to the right. Enjoy!

Confessions of a Notebook Addict (Part Two)

I have so much to say, and I don't even know where to begin! At times like these, there's only one thing to do: Make a List.


List

• First, let me say that it's so good to be blogging again! School has been crazy. Enough said.
•  Am I a bad person for losing a library book? It's true I'm not the most responsible book borrower, and while I've been known to rack up an impressive fine, I've never lost a book before. This is when I really need the accio spell...
• Speaking of books, I now have a book journal! It's like a birder's life list, except for books. My mom and I made/bound it ourselves while working on an English project.
• I think book-binding is my new hobby.
• Also, for those who were wondering, I'm really enjoying my creative writing class! I was also made president of the creative writing club, which is amazing and a little scary at the same time. (I'm not a very good leader, but I'm trying to improve!)
• And this list could go on forever if I don't get it under control... I think its time to start the actual post.

Ok, well as promised, this is part two of my Confessions of a Notebook Addict post. An update: My condition hasn't improved. Of course you could probably tell that by my mention of my new book journal. Here's a picture:

Isn't it beautiful? I think it is. But enough of that. On to the good stuff. You, like me, are struggling with an addiction. You may have hundreds of unfinished or untouched notebooks. You ask yourself, "What am I going to put in all those pages?" Hopefully, this post will help. But before I give you ideas, here are some things every notebook owner should think about.

1. How does this particular notebook make you feel? Ok, I know that sounds silly, but really think about it. Is this a notebook that gives you permission to write horribly? (Example: Cheap spiral that you found at the dollar store.) Or is this the leather bound journal you bought at the stationary shop at the mall, right next to the 600 dollar pens? If you can abandon your stereotypes and feel fine doodling and scratching out whole pages in your leather bound journal, more power to you, but most of us don't share your point of view. Make sure you feel comfortable enough to write freely and try new things in the notebook that you have. The leather bound one will have to wait.

2. Is it portable? This is important. You can do more with your notebook if you have it with you when inspiration strikes. I have a small black notebook that goes everywhere with me. I write in it at school, at home, in restaurants, and in waiting rooms. My dad caries a thin blue one in his shirt pocket. And ladies: the bigger the purse, the bigger the notebook you can take with you!

3. What do you want it to be? Think about what the purpose of your notebook is. My small one is my idea book; it has descriptions of places I go and people I meet. My book journal is, well, just for writing about the books that I read. And I turn to my personal journals when I've had a bad day. Before you start writing, ask yourself what your notebook means to you. You can use any of the ideas I list in this post exactly as they are, or you can change them and make them your own. Stretch my suggestions to fit your personal needs. If your notebook is all yours, finishing it will be all the more sweet.

And now, without further ado, here are some ideas to help fill those blank pages:

1. Make a list of: dog breeds, ice cream flavors, story ideas, all the things around you that are blue, crayon names (Ex: Caribbean Sky, Dorsal Fin Gray, etc.), interesting books you see in book stores, cool words, and character names.

2. Draw (no matter how bad you think you are): monsters, the person sitting next to you, a character you're thinking about, eyes, mouths, or hair cuts.

3. Write your bucket list. Close your eyes, run your finger down the page, and stop. Make a character in a story do whatever item your finger is pointing to. No cheating!

4. Write something from the point of view of something else. Anything else.

5. Write what you think the person nearest to you is thinking.

6. Draw a map and name all the roads and forests and rivers and lakes after people you know.

7. Put one character in several different settings. How do they react? What do they do differently (or the same) in each?

8. Write a story about a department store while in a department store.

9. Write down any interesting quotes you see, no matter where you are.

10. Glue these into the your journal: ticket stubs, receipts, coupons, random pieces of paper you find in parking lots, other people's grocery lists, polaroid photographs, fabric swatches, strange metal objects (flat, like washers), leaves, pressed flowers, and wood chips.

11. Reserve one page of your notebook for writing in glitter.

12. Make a list of everything you win from gum machines. 

13. Write letters (of the "Thank You" variety or not) to the following people: Your future self, your parents, your pets, your role model, your favorite celebrity, your favorite author, your favorite fictional character,  your favorite historical figure, and your elementary school teacher.

14. Try your hand at writing with a dip pen.

15. Write a poem inspired by whatever song you happen to be listening to at the moment. 

16. Create a virtual Facebook profile for one of your characters.

17. Reserve one page for writing completely in texting language. (Just make sure all your pages don't start looking like that!)

18. Reserve one page for all the words you misspelled on all the other pages, and place them next to their correct spellings. This could actually become a very useful tool.

19. Write down made-up words and their definitions. Who knows when you'll have to make up a new language for a project you're working on!

20. And finally, HAVE FUN!

Well, thats all I can think of, but I hope now you get the jist. Please let me know if this was helpful, and feel free to share any ideas you have in the comments. 

Wow! I didn't realize this post had gotten so long! Once again, thanks so much for reading :)