Superlatives for the Books I Read this Year (2017 Edition)

Looking back at my book log for this year, it appears I only read 17 novels this year. And to think, I was disappointed in myself for only reading 19 books the year before. Sigh.

Side note: I’ve been composing my list of 2018 Resolutions, and one of my goals of next year is to read at least 22 books. Two books per month (not counting November, because I’ll be busy writing that month) seems pretty reasonable. Maybe. I’m hoping for the best, anyway. Also, the fact that I have 22 unread books currently sitting on my dresser is a mere coincidence, I swear.

Much like last year, I decided to have some fun with my rather measly amount of books that I read in 2017. I mean, I don’t know about you, but after reading so many “Best of” lists at the end of the year, I don’t care to read another review. So you get book superlatives instead.


Best Sequel

A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT by Sabaa Tahir

The novel is told in three different character perspectives, and I honestly don’t know which one I preferred reading the most. Part of me wants to say Helene, but I also liked Elias. I guess not Laia – sorry, girl. Anyway, each character had a very distinct story arc and I think Tahir did a nice job at making each one worth reading. Their journeys were intertwined, but it wasn’t like there was one character that solely had their arc wrapped around another character’s story. I appreciated it. 

The Only Stand-Alone Book I Read

TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN by John Green

First of all, it’s it pathetic how I only read one book this entire year that didn’t belong in a duology or a trilogy. I need to change that. (But judging by my current stack of books, probably not anytime soon.) Second, I briefly talked about this book in my last blog post, so I won’t repeat everything, but I think it’s interesting how, even within the novel, the protagonist and her friend talked about how sometimes there is no proper ending to a story. Sometimes you only get to read about a particular point in time.

“You pick your endings, and your beginnings. You get to pick the frame, you know? Maybe you don’t choose what’s in the picture, but you decide on the frame.” (p. 277) 

So by that logic, perhaps there is no such thing as a “stand-alone” book. Maybe all stories exist before and after their chosen focus of time, but what happens beyond those pages is just a great mystery. Life marches on. (Another theme that the novel touches upon.)

Runner-up: THE FORGETTING by Sharon Cameron

This book gets half a point for being a “stand-alone”. Its companion book was released in the fall, so it takes place within the same world, just in the future and with different characters. (Side note: I did not read the companion book yet.)











Best New Author to Me

Katharine McGee for THE THOUSANDTH FLOOR

Despite how many characters the book focused on, each of them felt unique to me. And I loved the futuristic world (New York, in particular) that McGee built, which could totally be a character itself. Also, lots of societal drama. 

Runner-up: Kiersten White for AND I DARKEN

I’ve definitely seen this author around on bookstore shelves for years, but I never actually picked up a novel from her until I saw this book. The cover was awesome, and I was intrigued at an Ottoman Empire story, loosely based off of the Impaler, Dracul – with the gender reversed.










Book That Made Me Cry

THE MIDNIGHT STAR by Marie Lu

Ugh, that ending. Lu is very good at finishing each of her books series with a bittersweet note. I have to reach for tissues every single time. You earned my tears.

Longest Book

CROOKED KINGDOM by Leigh Bardugo

Bardugo won this title for the second year in a row. The novel clocked in at 536 pages, so it beat last year’s record. I’m always impressed at how Bardugo managed to write a fantasy heist duology that continuously pulled surprises out of me. 

And in case anyone was curious, I read a total of 7,522 pages in 2017. That’s an average of 442.47 pages/book. (Yay, math! Wish I knew the word count for reading that many pages, though.) Hopefully, I’ll achieve my goal for next year and read much more pages (and books) than that. As always, I’ll keep you updated on my progress.



P.S. Fun fact of the day, but I discovered this morning that the word “run” is the most complicated word in the English language, due to its 645 meanings. Who knew? (Well, clearly I didn’t.) Can you imagine creating a list of meanings for just one word, five days a week, for nine months, as your job? For me, I’d probably never want to see this word for the rest of my life. But I suppose someone, somewhere, could compose a doctoral thesis about “run”…

All the Updates

Quite a bit has been going on with me in the past sixteen days since I posted. And because I like lists, guess what format you’ll be reading this blog post in? That’s right, a list! Which will be broken into two categories: life, and creative/literary pursuits.


Life Updates:

· Finished my internship

     o It’s already been almost two weeks since I’ve completed my fall internship. Kinda missing that newspaper smell when I would arrive into their office, though, haha.

· I’ve been sick

     o Last Tuesday, I knew I was in trouble when my throat was hurting all day. And despite dramatically increasing my Vitamin C that day, I still woke up the following morning with a cold. As of today, I’m probably about 95% better now. I still occasionally have a cough, and my voice seems raspy at times, but at least I feel like a functional human being now.

· My sister’s Floridian friend; snow

     o My sister officially graduated from college last Saturday (even though she technically finished school back in August), and her best friend from Florida flew up to witness the ceremony. She arrived on Thursday and left very early Sunday morning. The entire time, I was worried I was going to get her sick, since she was living in our house during her stay. (I had never met her in-person prior to last week.) In the end, she did get sick, but it seems like she caught her husband’s flu virus (that he had before she came to visit us).

     o Last week, here in Michigan, we were also dumped with a ton of snow. The first real snowfall of the season this year. The Floridian had only ever seen snow three times in her life before her trip, so she was pretty excited. As for myself, I was not happy at how many times I had to unbury my car because I have to park outside. (But at least the engine has been starting!)

· A mountain of emails

     o Do you remember me once stating how I graduated with my second degree last December? Well, it’s been a year now, so my email account for the school officially disappeared yesterday. Last Wednesday, I finally buckled down and began sorting through all 724 messages in my inbox (my outbox had 100-something), trying to decide what was worth saving. On Sunday, I sat down and had to forward all those important messages to my main email. It took a little over three hours, and I managed to save about 20% of my emails, but I did it. The task was incredibly time-consuming, though.

· Scrambling with Christmas shopping

     o Like many other people, I got behind with all of my gift shopping this year. I was originally planning on going out last week, but between the snow and me getting sick, I was in no shape to go out. On Monday, I literally had only two small items – clearly not covering anyone on my list. And Christmas is officially less than a week away. I hate going to stores around this time of the year because of how crazy busy it gets, but I didn’t have much of a choice. (I really wish I could just give everyone a book. It’d make my life easier, and I’d have so much fun picking out each novel for everyone. But alas.) So I was in a mild state of panic, trying to accomplish all of my shopping. Luckily, as of today, I managed to finish buying all of my gifts.



Creative/Literary Pursuits:

· Post-NaNo

     o I’ve been slowly chipping away at separating my NaNo stories from its central document. I’m not transferring all of them into their own document - only the ones I deem “good” or “has potential”. (The number is 20, so I guess it’s a majority of the stories, haha.)

     o Once I’ve pasted each story into its individual document, I’ve also been reading through them and doing simple proofreading edits. A couple of my errors have me shaking my head at the silly mistakes. For example, in one story, I had wrote, “His sleeves were rolled up to his sleeves.” The last “sleeve” is supposed to be “elbows”, but all I kept imagining were an infinity of sleeves on this character’s arm, constantly rolled up to expose another set of sleeves. In another story, I had accidentally renamed a cat near the story’s end. Twice. This is why it’s important to read through your work, everyone.

· Wrote a poem

     o First off, I am not much of a poetry person. I can totally appreciate the art form, but I’ve never quite had a knack for it. Since 2011, I tend to only write two poems a year. (I don’t set out to do this; it’s just a Thing that I discovered about myself.) Anyway, the poem I wrote last week became my third poem this year, so that’s pretty good? Quality-wise, I think my February poem is better, but this December poem is better than my August poem, so there’s that.

· Books

     o On Dec 12, I finally finished Roth’s book. (It’s about time.) Of course, what happens? I pick up a new book the very next day. Instead of grabbing one of my older books sitting in my pile, I reached for the most recent one: TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN by John Green.

          § The book was everything, yet nothing, what I expected when I initially cracked it open. The book is more on the shorter side with 286 pages, and I blew through it within five days. In fact, my entire to-do list on Dec 14 was basically thrown out of the window while I tried to read as much as I could that day. Highly recommend Green’s novel.



So, yeah…that’s what I’ve been up to lately. I wasn’t kidding when I said I’ve been busy.



P.S. Stay healthy, everyone! Being sick during the holidays is not a fun thing. (That is, unless you’re taking drastic measures to avoid your relatives. Then by all means…)

NaNoWriMo '17 (aka: The Year of Many Stories)

NaNoWriMo officially concluded four days ago, and I must say, this year was an interesting one for me.

But what you’re probably most curious about is whether I actually won again or not. Or maybe you know me well enough now that you already know the answer.

Either way, I did indeed win! Fourth year in a row. I finished with a total of 52,218 words. And in case you’ve been keeping track of my past years (which you probably haven’t; I would be very impressed if you did), I actually set a new record for me this year. Previously set back in 2014, I surpassed that record by 99 words.

^Ignore the top where it says how I won with 52,282 words. When I went to validate my “novel” on the website, it added sixty-four words to my total. I trust the word count on my actual Word document instead.

As you can see, I’m still very disciplined when it comes to writing daily. (Isn’t the accumulation graph pretty?) However, for the first time since I began winning, I spent two of those days not quite reaching the 1667 daily word count (see days 11 + 13). So the very next day, I had to tack on those missing words with my regular 1667 words.

Here is my daily word count graph. Because one graph is not enough.

I did end up going with my “plan” of writing a bunch of stories until something stuck. Except a story never actually stuck, so I wrote many short stories/flash fiction/scenes that could belong in a larger piece of work.

By mere coincidence, I actually wrote 30 stories. For 30 days. Granted, on that last day, I was itching to write something new, but I liked that thirty number, so I stretched out the last story. (I spent the last four days of the month writing various scenes for a particular character within her world and, well, by the middle of it, I found myself changing the narrator’s voice. Oops.)

I wish I could say that I worked on a completely new story for each day of the month, but it didn’t happen. On my “bad” days, I would work on 2-3 stories in one day; on my “good” days, I would continue writing the story that I had worked on in the previous day.

It was certainly a good exercise for me creatively, though. I dabbled in all sorts of genres. (It reaffirmed my conviction that I like writing adventure, because those were the type of stories I found myself writing more for. And I felt like the words came easier to me.) I also picked up reoccurring themes that I kept writing. Unfortunately, with a handful of them, I didn’t finish the particular story arc before I moved onto something else, simply because I couldn’t figure out how to end it and I got bored.

And unlike my previous years, I actually got some sleep! Instead, I sacrificed basically every other type of entertainment I would typically fill my free time with. Sorry Stranger Things 2. Haven’t gotten around to watching you yet. And the Veronica Roth book that I stared back in October? Yeah, I’m still in the process of reading CARVE THE MARK. I finally have 46 pages left, so at least I’m nearing the end. (I just didn’t think it’d take me so long to read it…)

Anyway. Here’s my annual grainy photo from my webcam with me and my lovely Winner’s Certificate.

Updates + Impending Panic

Well. It has been an interesting last two weeks for me. It’s also that time of the year again when I begin to enter panic mode. (Which I will get to in just a moment.)

But first!

My birthday happened two weeks ago. I’m now officially a quarter of a century. Some days, I feel so old and wonder what in the world am I doing with my life. (Which is still a struggle.) Other days, I still feel like such a baby because many of my friends are a good 2-3 years older than me, so they’re obviously much further along professionally, and in life. (It doesn’t help that I went back to school for another degree and had to start all over.)

And because it was my birthday, I – of course – asked for more books. As if I didn’t already have a large stack of unread books waiting for me. In the end, I got to add five more to my collection. Here’s what I’m dealing with:

I have a problem. I will admit it.

I’ve also been reading CARVE THE MARK by Veronica Roth for the past three and a half weeks. Unfortunately, I’m only 275/468 pages into it (which equals to roughly 58.8% complete). I’ve certainly been slacking. And I’ve already accepted the fact that I probably won’t surpass nineteen books by the end of the year. Roth’s novel is only book number fifteen. I can’t imagine reading another five books in the next two months because…

NaNoWriMo officially starts tomorrow.

Good-bye, sleep. It was nice knowing you.

Like I mentioned in my last post, I still don’t have a plan of action for this year’s NaNoWriMo. I figured that I’ll just wing it and see where it takes me.

It should be good for my creativity, though. It gives me a chance to play around with ideas. I just hope something sticks at some point, so I’m not spending the entire month scrambling for something to write every day.

All I know is that I’m determined to win for the fourth year in a row. (Although, this is now my seventh year participating.)

Also! Just like last year, I plan to be absent from this blog for the entire month of November. All of my free time will be dedicated to marathon writing.

Therefore, see you in December with whatever’s left of my sanity!



P.S. Happy Halloween!

That pumpkin on the right will be me by the end of November, haha.

When Characters' Voices Get Too Loud (aka: So Much for Making a Plan)

Remember how I said that I’ll work on only one story during the entire month of November? And how I might get a head start on it and begin writing the project in October?

Yeah. Forget I said any of that.

I didn’t spend a whole lot of time developing the plot for the aforementioned story (like I said I wanted to), but the major characters were coming together. Except…there was another set of characters that kept pushing the other story characters out of the way in my head. (Do I sound like a crazy person yet? All writers are somewhat crazy, right?)

These “new” characters? Well, they belong to the story I had worked on during the bulk of NaNo ’16. I haven’t touched that particular story since I finished last year, but I did re-read it back in the spring. It definitely needs a round of edits (as all NaNo writing desperately do).

Obviously, these characters have not left me since then. Something about them keeps tugging at me. In fact, I’m pondering about possibly adding another perspective or two into the story. (The story is written in first person, but if I include more points-of-view, they’re both probably going to be in third person.)

In addition to adding extra voices, I’m also thinking about altering the plot just a bit. Veer a little more toward sci-fi rather than post-apocalyptic. I’d still like to keep the adventure element of it, though. Of course, it basically means that I'll be doing some serious re-writing with the particular story.

Therefore, now I’m thinking about writing a bunch of short stories or various scenes of larger projects during NaNoWriMo next month instead. I mean, I haven’t written creatively since July (yikes), so I feel like I’m going to need a warm-up story or two.

This is what I get for trying to plan ahead for NaNoWriMo. I end up not following through with it, and resort to what I end up doing anyway: having no plan and just write whatever pops into my head.

At least I can’t complain it doesn’t work for me. I’ve won the last three years doing this strategy, after all.

Maybe it’s best not to mess too much with winning results.

And who knows? Perhaps I’ll create encounter more characters in November that’ll drive me insane again, and won’t leave me alone many months later.

Organization and Order

Earlier last week, I had decided that I’d spend part of my weekend doing more brainstorming for the story I mentioned in my last post. There are two different paths I could direct the plot, but I figured that I’d finally sit down with my handy plot chart and decide which route I should take. Because at my current rate, there’s no way I’d be ready to start the actual process of writing in two weeks. (Life kinda got in the way and I had to push my project to the side.)

Except I did none of that this weekend.

Instead, I was drowning in photos.

On Friday, my dad finally decided to develop all the photos that have accumulated on the family camera and on his phone (plus a handful on my phone). Since I’m basically the family historian, I’ve been pestering him since January to take the photos to Walgreens already so I could fill in the photo albums. After all, there was a year and a half worth’s of pictures, and I wanted to have them in my hands as soon as possible.

Of course, nothing is ever as easy as you think.

We had to take four trips to Walgreens. Something about the app didn’t want to function properly on my dad’s phone, so there’d be gaps of pictures that didn’t get printed. And then some of the stacks that I received were all out of order. I had index cards to look off of for any photos that were derived from the camera; however, most of the pictures were pulled from the phone. That meant, when it came time to place the photos in their proper order, I had to constantly look at the phone’s gallery. Plus the camera itself, for the index cards doesn’t actually stamp dates on them.

On my quest for photo organization, I fanned everything around in me in a circle and began to sort chronologically. Everything to my left belonged to 2016, everything to my right were taken this year. One would think that I was about to engage in some sort of ritual. The albums were marked with post-notes of their pictures’ dates. (I can’t physically write the dates down yet, just in case I have to shift photos around and the days no longer matched.)

As of now, I’m only halfway done inputting all the photos within the albums. I don’t know the actual total of how many pictures I’ve been dealing with, but I know that it’s upwards of 700 photos.

While I’ve been figuratively crying to myself in a corner during this whole ordeal, it reminded me of the dreaded step of when I near the end of a large writing project. You see, once I finish writing the beginning of a manuscript (about 10k words), I then start skipping ahead. I have an idea of how I’d like the story to end, so I begin to write the scenes out of order. Basically, I write whatever I’m in the mood to write, because sometimes that’s the only way not to burn out or experience writer’s block. Once I’ve determined that I’ve written everything I can, then it comes time to piece everything together. I can’t even describe it as a puzzle because not all of the pieces are even there. I have to eventually fill in and write more scenes so I can thread all the already written chapters together and try to create some sort of cohesiveness. Overall, it’s very headache inducing.

And that’s what I’m dealing with in regards to these photos. For the most part, I know the order of events. But there are some minor details where I just don’t have a clue. (Like, why are there so many pictures of cars? At what point in time or event were they taken?) But like the entire writing process, sometimes things have to get messy and disjointed before they can finally come together to achieve your vision.

That’s always the hope, anyway.

Thinking Ahead

…Is it too early to think about this year’s NaNoWriMo? It doesn’t occur for another seven weeks, but I’ve already decided on what kind of project I’ll be working on for the month of November. (Of course, anything could happen within that time period and I could always change my mind.)

Perhaps I should rewind for a bit and explain.

Early last week, I decided to browse through some short stories of mine that I had saved on my computer. I felt like getting back into the swing of writing, but I was coming up a bit short on inspiration. Most of the stories I was rereading were pieces I had worked on back in the spring. Also, most of them were incomplete stories, but I just wanted to revisit them.

Once I opened up one particular story that I had written back in March, it sparked something inside of me. The “story” consists of only one scene, and sits at 681 words (so, three pages with double space). I actually stopped writing it in the middle of a conversation between the three characters, if you can believe it.

I didn’t have much of an overarching plot for this particular story, but I liked the characters I had created. On a separate Word document I saved during March, I had even (very) roughly sketched out four other characters that hadn’t appeared within that scene, along with a basic description of their main settings.

So naturally, I soon found myself brainstorming more about this story. I broke out my character development list in order to flesh out the major players. I haven’t reached for my plot charts yet, but they’ll be coming soon because I already know that this will be a large story.

And since I’m aware that this story could take me a while to finish, I figured NaNoWriMo might be the perfect time to write it. I have to crank out 50k words during November anyway, so I might as well. Especially since I haven’t worked on a single project for NaNo since 2013. (Yikes. Has it really been that long?) In the past three years, I usually write multiple stories until something sticks.

But a part of me goes, “Amanda, why don’t you begin writing this project in the middle of October? It’ll probably go beyond 50k words, so you might as well get a head’s start because you’re not going to want to write in December. It’s going to get difficult during the holiday season.”

Of course, I would never record any words I’d write in October for NaNoMriMo. Not sure if it’s considered “cheating” to jump into the middle of the project on November 1st, but I’ve always been a NaNo rebel, so I don’t really care.

This way, I can spend the next few weeks brainstorming – the world building and actual plot still need a lot of development. And then I can start writing around my birthday next month, which will prepare me for the discipline of writing daily again when NaNoWriMo occurs. Not sure what my word count goal would be in October, but I’m leaning towards at least 1000 words/day. (In November, it’ll be at least 1667 words/day.)

At least, that’s my plan right now.



P.S. In case you were curious, I’m nearing the end of CROOKED KINGDOM by Leigh Bardugo. I’ve finished 497/536 pages of the book so far. I’m hoping to finish it either tomorrow or Tuesday; I’m going to really miss this series once I finish.

The Three Seasons

I almost titled this post as another "life update”. I did some brainstorming today about what I should write about in my blog, and I basically just listed everything that had occurred in my life in the last two weeks. And it wasn’t a whole lot of reading or writing.

Here are the things I’ve done in the meantime that pertain to reading/writing:

• I finally started CROOKED KINGDOM by Leigh Bardugo. Or what my family likes to affectionately call it: the dictionary (due to its red pages and thickness). It’s been sitting on my dresser for almost a year now…yikes. Unfortunately, I’ve only read the first ninety-six pages, so I’m not that far into it. But then again, I always knew it’d take me a while to read through it. (I’m really enjoying the book so far, though.)

• I haven’t done any sort of actual creative writing, but I have been devising ways on how to rework one of my larger stories that I wrote last year. I’m thinking about writing it in a slightly different genre. Of course, depending on how much I want to veer into the new genre, it could completely alter the actual story/plot. I’m not saying it’d be a bad thing, but I’m unsure if I’d like to travel down that road just yet. 

And that’s it.

But is that so bad?

I told myself a long time ago how there is a season for writing, a season for editing, and a season for absorbing. Plenty of writers or past professors of mine have recommended that I should be writing every day in order to develop the habit. And while I commend those people who spend a chunk of their day writing daily, this tactic doesn’t work for me. After a while, I become burnt out or I begin to view the act of writing as a chore. Obviously, neither of those things is good for me. Sometimes I honestly don’t have time to write and would rather sleep. It happens.

Just because I’m not putting my fingers onto a keyboard, though, it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m not doing activities which could improve me as a writer. Brainstorming the plot and outlining the characters are important aspects of fleshing out the story. Re-reading and editing my work also takes time, but only involves a certain amount of writing. Being out in the world and living life allow me to generate ideas for my stories, even though I’m nowhere near my laptop.

So I’m currently in my season of absorbing. So what? I shouldn’t feel guilty about it. Sooner or later, I will find myself back into my season of writing. I always do.



Disclaimer: If your job involves you writing on a daily basis, ignore everything I stated above. You have a deadline, and a paycheck to factor in. You probably don’t have the luxury of having a season of non-writing. Sorry.

The Opposite of Routine

The end of summer is just over the horizon – and perhaps I’m speaking too soon – but I had a pretty dull season. Now, I’m certain there are plenty of people who find their own lives boring. I mean, how many times have you heard a conversation similar like this?

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Nothing. You?”

“Nothing.”

“Well, no news is good news, right?”

It’s easy to fall into a routine. At least, I’m definitely guilty of this. (I am a girl who thrives on schedules, after all.) But the last straw of enduring another monotonous day occurred this weekend when I was trying to come up with a topic for this blog post.

In the last two weeks, I managed to finish Scythe by Neal Shusterman (which I started reading in July; the society within the novel was so fascinating) and then finished reading a novella. I didn’t do any writing because I decided to take a break from my July marathon, but I have been contemplating about editing/rewriting a NaNo 2016 story. And then I created more vocab cards.

After I looked at my dismal list of activities, I decided that enough was enough. If my brother could spend three days in Alabama last week for work, and if my sister could fly down to Florida yesterday for the next six days to see a friend, why couldn’t I partake in some kind of fun adventure, too? I don’t need to wait around for a friend or family member to have a free day; there’s nothing wrong with taking a trip somewhere on my own.

Therefore, I woke up earlier than usual yesterday and took a drive. I was only an hour away from home (no out-of-state activities, unfortunately), but I hadn’t been at the establishment since I was in junior high.

On my day off, dedicated to doing fun stuff, I decided to go...

…visit an outdoor museum.

(I’m such a nerd.)

I acquired so much trivia knowledge during my journey around the village. Like how apples originally came from Europe. Or how Heinz first bottled horseradish, not ketchup. Or that Daniel Webster only included one word of his own creation into his dictionary: demoralize.

Of course, as a writer, being immersed in a historic “community” made me wonder what kind of stories I could pull from this site. I mean, the world-building was already done for me as I wandered around the various time periods. There were even actors who roamed the streets, dressed in the proper attire from the late 1800s.

What I found amusing, though, was that by the end of the day, a couple of the museum guides began to recognize me. Turns out, when you walk around by yourself and only have the attendants to keep you company as you tour the houses, they remember. Some of the workers rotate to different exhibits later in the day and I’d show up at their new stations.

Needless to say, I broke the monotony of what could have been a typical Wednesday. I left the house and did something! (Running errands doesn’t count.) And now you (the reader) can get a slight break from reading a blog post of mine that doesn’t pertain to books or the act of writing. Look at me, breaking free from more routine-like stuff!

Of course, I could always loop my experience yesterday back to crafting stories, but I’ll spare you this one time. I’m sure you’re smart enough to reach your own conclusions.

All in all, sometimes I just need to go on a little adventure or try something new. It’s easy to become so wrapped up in my bubble of everyday responsibilities that I can forget how interesting the world is. So much information to uncover and places to see.

…I just wish I was more willing to plan these explorations earlier in the summer. Before I know it, it’s going to get cold here in Michigan.

Results of My July Writing Project

July is officially over, and so is my Writing Project for the month. Remember how my goal was to write at least 1,000 words/day, so that I could ultimately reach 31,000 words? Turns out, I wasn’t so good at that daily word count, but I did succeed in reaching my end goal.

Quick summary of what I accomplished in July:

(Warning: Yes, I do talk about math and numbers in the upcoming paragraphs. I apologize if you’re one of those people who receive headaches whenever calculations are brought up. The left side of my brain took over here.)

I wrote a total of eleven stories, which tends to be around my average whenever I do this sort of project for a month. Seven of those stories could be considered the opening pages of a larger piece of work, but the idea tampered off and I stopped writing for that particular plot. Three of my stories were more like snapshot scenes from a much larger story, but they at least could stand on their own. And finally, my longest story in the collection was complete at 16,750 words exactly (so, basically half of my overall word count of the month).

Also, I re-discovered my love for writing in the third person. Seven of my stories were written in this perspective, including my large story. I used to always write in third person, but in my early days of college, I started leaning toward first person. Now I’m really enjoying how I can hide certain things from the future reader while I’m writing in third person. (Of course, the fact that the last few novels I have read were written in third person might have subconsciously affected my own writing.)

Lastly, I was not a consistent writer this past month. During the first two days, I only reached a combined total of 1,278 words. So I had to make up for my lack of words on day 3. And that was basically me throughout the entire month. I was very erratic in my daily word count. See, here’s proof!

Yes, I did overachieve on the very last day. I could have stopped at around the 1,000 word mark, but I was determined to finish the story, so I kept going.

But despite all my (very) late night writing, not having a strategy on what kind of stories I was planning on writing, and having an irregular daily word count, I successfully reached my goal with 32,208 words. In fact, I actually beat my total word count from last July.

Good job, Amanda. I knew you could do it. (Now you just have to get back to a somewhat normal bedtime schedule. Good luck with that.)

OAR Guest Post #3

As you can read by the title, my third and last blog post is now up on the Oakland Arts Review blog! You can find it HERE.

This time, I try to help you (the aspiring writer) on how to overcome writer’s block. I wish I remembered my own advice last week as I was working on my July writing project. I was hitting my head against the wall while I tried to think of something to write at three in the morning.

Of course, trying to write that late in the night probably doesn’t help, but whatever. I’ve now been working on a particular “short” story the past four days. I’m thinking that I have another 2-3 days left of writing it before it’s finished. Once the story’s completed, then I’ll have to take my own advice on what to write next.

But I’m rambling now.

The point is, you (the reader) should definitely check out my OAR post. Especially since we finally got the physical copies of the journal last week. Sometime this week or next week, I’ll be assisting the group with mailing the books off to our contributors. (I’m so excited to have our gorgeous journal in my hands!)

If you haven’t read my previous two OAR blog posts, you can read them HERE and HERE in their respective order (or you can read them out of order, if you want, because it actually doesn’t matter).

Thoughts about My Upcoming July Writing Project

So…tomorrow is the first day of July. My first panicked thought is: Ah! How did half of the year escape on me already? What am I doing with my life? Which is then promptly followed by my second panicked thought: Ah! Tomorrow is when my month-long writing project will start! What am I going to spend that time writing?

I can’t do anything about the first panicked thought (unless you happen to know someone who can freeze time), but I have been pondering the second one for the past week and a half.

I’ve decided that I’m going to try and write at least 1000 words a day (sum total: 31,000). It worked well for me last July, despite my delay due to world-building brainstorms. One thousand words is a nice medium – it’s not an overwhelming amount like what I do in November, but it’s not giving me an excuse to write only really short pieces.

I also have a couple of playlists lined up for me to listen to while I’m writing. Because – like many writers I know – we like to have music in the background. It’s especially useful to have when trying to get inside a particular character’s head.

As for what I’m planning on writing for the entire month? Even I don’t have an exact answer for that.

For now, I’m just going to pick and choose certain stories, write them as much as I can, and see where it leads. My biggest problem is that I’m experiencing “story idea” overload. It should be considered a good problem to have, having multiple plots/scenes in my head, but how do I choose which one to work on? Which one will unlock doors and keep me writing?

Answer: I won’t know until I actually sit down and try to form them into being onto a Word document.

Basically, my writing strategy follows my current life mantra: I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’ll figure it out.

Mainly, I’m just hoping that I can succeed where I failed back in the spring. I’ll let you know the outcome in thirty-one days.



P.S. Two days ago, I officially finished reading my tenth novel of the year. I need to kick my game up if I plan on reading more than nineteen books before 2018.

Anyway, A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT by Sabaa Tahir is now sitting in my bookshelf instead of on my dresser. I enjoyed it greatly. However, I was tricked into thinking that the series was going to end with this book. But - oh no! - there are two more novels lined up. Of course, I’ll buy them all once they are published, but I was just frustrated at how Helene’s story arc was left off. You go get your revenge, girl! Destroy the Commandant!

When Books Surprise You (But in a Good Way)

Has this ever happened to anyone? (Because I’m sure everyone has experienced this at least once in their life.) You pick up a book and - even though you don’t know much about the author or its plot - you already don’t expect too much out of it. Maybe because you’re being forced to read it or you picked it up on a sale, so you bought it cheaply on a whim. Either way, once you start reading it, you find yourself surprised by it and discover how wrong you were about it initially.

Yeah, this is what I experienced this past week.

I chose a book from my unread tower last week, picking it deliberately because I wanted to read something that I could finish quickly. (The last book took me a month to complete. I didn’t want to dedicate so much time on another novel so soon.) This new book was slightly over 400 pages, so it wasn’t small in size at all. However, the author’s name was unfamiliar to me, despite having three other books published. I also have never seen/heard of my particular book in general out in the world, so I figured that she was more of an Indie author (which she was; my knowledge on Indie authors is limited). But the plot intrigued me, hence why I had bought it back in January during one of those Barnes & Noble online sales.

As I started reading it, I quickly fell into its charm. There were all sorts of twists throughout the story that I didn’t see coming. The parents were mentioned frequently (because parents tend to be absent in many YA novels, which is weird if you’re only a teen). There wasn’t any Insta!Love when it came to the protagonist’s love interest. And just as importantly, the writing itself was well done.

It was also a stand-alone book. I commend the author for that because, usually when I’m reading something fantasy or sci-fi, it tends to be part of a duology or trilogy. But, nope, this book was a complete story arc and I was satisfied with it by its end.

My only qualm about it is that the main antagonist started to get a little too villain-y at times. But that’s just me.

Anyway…it was nice to finish a book that surpassed my expectations of it. Too often I have picked up a novel and was disappointed by it due to its mediocrity.

Now I just have to figure out which book I want to tackle next…

Summer Writing Project(s)?

Tomorrow is already the start of June, which pretty much marks the start of summer. (I don’t want to hear about how summer doesn’t officially happen until June 21st. Here in Michigan, Memorial Day usually signals the beginning of summer.)

Similar to many people, I’m excited to take advantage of the warm weather and do summer-like stuff. Activities such as riding my bike or heading to my local metropark. And eating more ice cream than usual.

Unlike other people, though, I also use the summer months to work on a large writing project. I’ve only just started thinking about it, but there a few questions I have to answer before I embark on this year’s project:

1.) When should I begin?

Obviously, I’m not starting on June 1st, simply because I’m not ready. Two years ago, I began in the middle of June and wrote all the way until the beginning of August. Last year, I commenced on July 1st and only wrote for the month.

I guess it all depends on…

2.) What should I write?

If I plan on writing a story with a manuscript length, then I’m going to have to start early (aka: sometime in June). But if I’m just doing something similar like NaNoWriMo (where I just write a bunch of stories and see where they all go), then I could probably repeat what I did last year and begin on July 1st.

I haven’t written anything in almost two months, though, so my fingers are starting to itch on my keyboard. If I work on any stories in the next week or two, will that throw off my “groove” for whatever ends up being my summer writing project?

But if I wait until July, then I can spend some time brainstorming some ideas in June. Maybe pull out my handy dandy plot chart.


3.) Should I concentrate on having a word count? If so, what should it be?

Judging by how well my March and April writing projects went (yes, this is sarcasm), I think I need to impose some kind of total word count. If I don’t, I’m prone to skip days and not write, ultimately sweeping the whole idea away.

Really, it comes down to how ambitious I feel. If I want to have a more laidback approach, I try to write at least 1000 words a day. But if I’m really serious about working on a particularly long story, then I tend to kick it up to 1500 words/day. (Not like I’m doing anything exciting this summer, anyway.)



Yes, I really do think about all of this. As you can tell, I’m very much a Planner of Things. It’s a wonder that I actually do anything at all, haha.


P.S. And in case you were wondering, I did indeed finish reading AS I DARKEN by Kiersten White. I finally completed it last Thursday. Since I’ve mentioned it in my last three posts (yes, I am aware of it), you should know by now that I highly recommend the low-fantasy/alternative history novel.

Appreciating Power-Hungry Female Protagonists

One of the themes I have been noticing lately with YA fantasy books is that the female protagonist could basically be seen as an anti-hero. They thirst for power; woe to any character that gets in their way. I find their journey quite fascinating. (What are they willing to sacrifice to get what they want?) Obviously their authors and readers must feel like this is an important story to tell if it’s popping up everywhere.

Yes, I’m still reading AND I DARKEN by Kiersten White. (I’m on page 246. I’m gradually getting there. Don’t rush me.) Although I’m not finished with it, I can see where Lada’s story is heading based on her goals and personality. And I can’t wait to see her rise to power.

Because of this theme of ruthlessly focused female protagonists, I decided to scour my bookshelves and make a short list of novels that could be categorized within this category. Even if these girls may go about obtaining power through cruel ways, perhaps we should all admire their determination, strength, and perseverance.

Side note: As always, I may have included some mild spoilers. I want to say sorry, but since I keep doing it in my posts, I’m obviously not that sorry. Sorry?

Adalina from The Young Elites series by Marie Lu

What kind of list of power-hungry female protagonists would be complete with Adalina? Through her entire story arc, she did everything she could to become queen. And even after she got her status, she still wanted more. More territory, more power, more subjects. She was unstoppable…until her otherworldly powers began betraying her.

Helene from AN EMBER IN THE ASHES by Sabaa Tahir

First off, you’ll have to forgive me for not reading its sequel yet. It’s been sitting on my dresser since it came out in August. I haven’t been putting it off because I dread it or anything; I just remember how awestruck I was with the first book that I’ve been intimated to pick up the second one. And Helene isn’t technically a protagonist in AEitA, but she has her own chapters in the sequel. Is this considered cheating? Probably, but it’s my blog, so I can bend my own rules.

With the above said, I don’t know how Helene’s character arc is in the second book, but she definitely kicked butt in AEitA. She gave Elias a run for his money, ultimately becoming the Blood Shrike instead of him. Personality-wise, she isn’t hardened by the world or even considered a tyrannical character, but I admired her extreme focus and grit, hence why she made it on this list.

RUINED by Amy Tintera

Okay, this one I’m on the edge about including onto this list. I give Emelina credit in that she led her broken kingdom, decided to marry an enemy prince in order to gain information, rescued her captured younger sister, and tried to win a battle against her enemy kingdom. And she did all of this despite not being a Ruined – a person with powers, which her entire kingdom is known for.

However, I kinda want to include her sister, Olivia, instead. She’s not the protagonist - and we only meet her finally at the very end of the book - but she is definitely out for revenge and to reclaim her throne. I would not mess with her.

Its sequel, AVENGED, just came out two weeks ago. I haven’t bought the book yet, but I’m certainly intrigued to see how the conflicting ideals of the two sisters play out. 

And there you have it! I wish I could include more characters to this list, but all of my other possible candidates only pursued power because it made a sibling (usually a sister) safe. They were doing cruel tasks in the name of being a protector, not because they genuinely wanted to.

All in all, I realize how difficult it must be to create such abhorrent characters. To make them harsh, but not too evil so that they lose their humanity and become completely unlikeable. We readers want to root for these people, after all.

But I love reading how these characters claw their way to the top.



P.S. This September, when ONE DARK THRONE by Kendare Blake comes out, I’m hoping to include Katharine into this list as well. Judging by her last chapter in the previous book, I can see her brutally trying to cut her two sisters down in order to become the queen.

A Weird Month

For me, April has been the month where I felt like my mind was all over the place. I don’t want to say that I’ve been scatterbrained; it’s more like my attention has been pulled into many directions and I’m trying to re-evaluate priorities.

For one thing, after the failure of last month’s writing project, I figured that I’d try again for April. My goal was to write every other day. It went well the first three times, but then I skipped the next two times, and then only wrote one other time. So all in all, I only wrote four days during the entire month. How sad.

Also, as you can tell, I did not post anything during the middle of April like I’ve been doing the last three months. Honestly, I was drawing a blank on what to write about and then I got caught up with Easter festivities.

But instead of writing, you were doing a lot of reading, right Amanda?

Yeah….no. After reading McGee’s book, I couldn’t bring myself to tackle another book. I finally did on the 27th, which means that it took me a whole thirty days before I reached for a new book. (AS I DARKEN by Kiersten White, in case you were wondering. I’ve only read 88 pages in it so far, so I can’t say too much about it just yet.)

I did spend twelve days binge watching a series on Netflix, though. Does that count for anything?

I guess you can say that I just spent the month “absorbing.”

I was excited to witness all the trees in my neighborhood bloom two weeks ago. The Michigan temperature has been subtly increasing, but not enough for me. Nonetheless, we’re in the middle of spring and I’ve been enjoying it. (Can’t wait to bring my bike out of storage in May.)

I’ve also had somewhat of a social life this month. And by that I mean I’m getting out of the house at least twice a week and seeing people who I’m not related to. It’s been great.

But overall, I get the sense that I wasn’t as productive as I should have been during April. (I wish there was a way to function without sleep.) Hence why I need to reorganize my daily life priorities.

A new month is on the horizon, so at least I can get another fresh start. How a third of the year slipped away is beyond me, though. I gotta work harder on my New Year resolutions.



Randomness: Remember how I mentioned waaaay back in Feb 2016’s post how I wanted to do something different with my hair? Well…I finally did it on the 22nd…

             

                 BEFORE

      AFTER

It’s so short now! I chopped off five inches. My hair is now ready for the summer. (Not that the impending warm weather was the reason why I cut it.)

March Writing Exercise - Fail

On the last day of February, I made the decision to try and write every day for the month of March. I didn’t create a set word count that I wanted to reach by the end. My only rule: I had to write at least one hour a day. As long as I was not distracted during this time, it didn’t matter how much words I conjured up in a day.

Based on the title of this blog post, I’m sure you can take a very good guess on how it went down.

During the first five days, it went great. I wrote 5,348 words during this time. I was pretty much pulling the stunt that I do for NaNoWriMo – just write about any vaguely interesting idea and see where it takes me. For two or three of my stories, I didn’t even finish them because I couldn’t quite commit to its ending (and figured that I’d write its conclusion another day).

But then I didn’t write the next day, which was my downfall. I started writing either every other day or every two days. Writer’s block had its grip on me and I had difficulty shaking free from it. And I chose to do other leisure things (like reading or watch Netflix) instead of facing it head-on.

The last day that I actually did some creative writing was back on the 18th. Basically two weeks ago. I only wrote 11/31 days this month (about 35.5%, for you math nerds) and only wrote a total of 10,187 words.

Here’s what I learned for the experience, though:

• I like structure. I should have known this about myself already. But when I set a strict goal for myself, I do everything I can to achieve it because I hate the idea of failing. (Gotta love being a perfectionist.) I do better at actually sitting down to write when I’m trying to complete a certain word count rather than setting aside a set amount of time. Nothing like imposing a deadline to force me to take my goal seriously.

• Despite the fact that I type more when I feel pressured for a word count, I write better when I stop worrying about how much words I need to accumulate. My syntax feels less choppy and I become more descriptive when I take my time. Which is good to know because the ultimate goal is to be able to improve my craft, after all. 

Hopefully this doesn't mean that I'm screwed. I have to find a way where I can compete against myself, but at the same time, not sacrifice the quality of my work.

But knowing all this now, part of me wants to create an April Writing Exercise. Round 2 of trying to write regularly. Kinda create my own version of Camp NaNoWriMo (which actually takes place during the month of April). Maybe I should set a rather low word count and just write every other day so I don’t burn out?

Part of me also wants to attempt a second draft of the main story that I worked on in NaNo ’16. But then my project from last July is also tugging on me as well.

Basically, I don’t know what stories I’m going to focus on in the near future. But, hey, I don’t know what I’m doing with my own life, so why would this be any different? (It all works out in the end, right? Please tell me that it does.)



P.S. On Monday, I finished reading THE THOUSANDTH FLOOR by Katharine McGee. Guys, I highly recommend this book. It’s set a hundred years in the future, but it’s not a dystopian, and the world-building was fascinating. I typically don’t like drama/high society novels, but the interconnectedness of the characters and the world itself drew me in. I’m so happy to learn that it’s the first in a trilogy (the cover of its sequel was just released the other day).

Also, the book cover is extremely pretty. So there’s that, too.

Go Check Out My Guest Post: Part 2

Today is another very short blog post day. And as you can gather from the title, I have another guest post! Like last time, I wrote a little something for the Oakland Arts Review (OAR). In case you forgot, OAR is Oakland University’s international undergraduate literary magazine. I became involved with their team back in the autumn and, despite being a graduate now, I’m still giving them a hand with various tasks.

This time, I wrote about how to write without getting distracted. Because let’s face it. Sometimes you will find anything to do except to actually write. (My tips could also apply to homework in general or just trying to get stuff done on the computer.) You can find my post HERE.

Shameless plug: If you’re an undergrad and also a writer of fiction/non-fiction/poetry/comics, we would love to receive a submission from you. It’s totally free and it’s a great experience to get your work out there. And who knows? I might be one of the people reading your work. ;)

But in the meantime…head over to the OAR blog and read my post there. And then, if you feel inclined to do so, read some blog entries from my former classmates as well. They have great things to say, too.

Comic Books (specifically, The Kamandi Challenge)

This might come as a shock to some people, but comic books are not foreign to me. I blame my dad. He read them while he was growing up as a kid, faded away from reading them once he grew older, and then picked them back up again once I was born (and he has been buying them regularly ever since).

Therefore, I have all sorts of memories about comic books in general. When I was in elementary school, my dad would buy me and my sister red Swedish fish candy in a small brown bag that the store would sell next to the register. (It was super cheap and what kid doesn’t like candy? I used to look forward to these trips just for these sweets.) I’ve been recruited countless of times to assist my dad in stuffing the comics into their protective plastic covering. For the past few years, I’ve also been roped into categorizing all the comics into their particular series so that they can be grouped together in their cardboard boxes. (It’s like my family knows I like to organize things…)

Do I actually read any of these comics, you ask?

Well, I’ve occasionally picked up one or two here and there. Usually, it was just a thing my dad and brother did. It really wasn’t until fall 2015 when I started reading The Walking Dead series. And, yes, I have read all 164 issues. I look forward to the first Wednesday of every month in order to get my greedy hands on the next installment.

But last month, my dad recommended a particular series that just came out. And if you already read the title of this post, it’s called The Kamandi Challenge.

The story itself is intriguing: it follows the last man on Earth (Kamandi) and his journey during a post-apocalyptic world where animals are humanoid and in charge.

But what made me pick it up is the challenge of the actual series. Basically, there are 12-14 teams of artists and writers. Each month, one team creates the issue and builds off of the cliffhanger from the last team. Then, in the editorial letter in the back, the previous writer will explain how they would have gone about moving the plot forward and removing Kamandi from harm’s way after the cliffhanger. The challenge is being done in honor of the legendary comic, Jack Kirby, to celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday this year.

For me, it’s super fun to try and guess what kind of direction the next writer will send Kamandi into. My dad and I also discuss which ending we prefer (the actual one or the one the previous writer would have done). It’s also cool seeing the variety of artwork in each issue.

I think it’s a really neat writing exercise, working on one particular story and making your own spin on it for a segment of it. (It reminds me of my role-playing days back in junior high and high school, haha.)

So if you’re not a comic book reader, I think you should take a journey to the nearest comic book store at least once and browse the shelves. The world-building that these writers do for these books is mind-blowing at times.

The only down side to comics is that they’re so short, so as soon as you finish the issue, you’re ready for the next one. But instead, you have to wait another week (or month) for the next one. The agony! How dare you make me wait!

Struggles of My Writer's Itch

I’m going to be honest with you guys…

I haven’t written anything creatively (i.e.: stories) since NaNoWriMo ended in November.

I tend to always take December off, but by the end of January, I’m usually back to writing again. It’s now the middle of February and I’ve actually been in the mood to write for the past couple of weeks. However, I’ve found that I’m really good at making excuses for myself on why I shouldn’t write just yet.

For a while, I didn’t really have any story/plot calling to me. I even have a Word document of possible opening lines and it still did nothing for me. There was a time where I doubted myself and wondered if I’m not an imaginative person after all and I’ve just been lying to myself for years.

Last week, I finally managed to jot down a few ideas in a notebook. But I’ve reached the point where I believe these ideas aren’t good enough and I don’t want to explore them further. Which doesn’t make sense because no one would read these stories, so who cares if they’re good or not?

This is when I know it’s been too long since I last wrote something. I become fearful that, maybe in the past three months, I lost all my writing skills and I’ve now regressed to where I was three years ago.

Sigh. I put too much unnecessary pressure on myself.

But to go back to what I was saying about story ideas…

A few weeks ago, I thought about all of my major writing projects that I have worked on throughout the years. And I realized, generally speaking, I’m writing about the same thing over and over again. The central genre, the organizations within the stories, and even certain personality traits found within my protagonist. (Although, I’ve noticed that over the last two and a half years, my protagonists are beginning to evolve into anti-heroes. I don’t know what that says about me.)

I’ve been told that this is common among other writers/authors. Some people are okay with this about themselves; others, they’re bothered that they’ve boxed themselves in. For myself, I’m not sure what to think. The fact that I’m basically writing the same thing, time after time, must mean I’m still trying to work the idea out. Obviously something about it must still interest me. But on the other hand, I wonder how it’s challenging me as a writer if I’m not working on new ideas.

Blah.

So anyway, to sum my ramblings up, I’ve been itching to write but I don’t know what stories to work on. And I think too much.

But what else is new?

A Busy Month (Another Life Update)

January signals the beginning of the year. Sometimes, I like new beginnings. It’s nice to get a fresh start in your life once in a while; things become exciting and new. Adventure blooms before your very eyes. (Can you tell that I’m ready for spring already?)

But if you’re experiencing the start of something new, then it signals change. Sometimes change isn’t fun. It’s difficult and anxiety-inducing. Sometimes you’re forced into this new beginning, not feeling very prepared, but you have to do it anyway.

As you may remember, I graduated from college again last month. Once the new year started and everyone began to trickle back to their work/school obligations after the holidays, I only had to return to my internship. I quickly churned out my manuscript reading for them due to my increased free time and simply because I missed the act of it.

I have also agreed to help OAR (Oakland Arts Review) out for the semester. Despite the fact that the class ended and I graduated, I hate seeing projects unfinished. I wanted to see it through before bowing out. I originally told myself that I’d pitch in with the little tasks, like mailing the booklets out in March. However, once our first meeting of the semester concluded, I was dumbfounded at how I managed to pick up extra roles. Hello, more submission readings! (For the record, I’m not complaining about my additional tasks. I was just very surprised that I ended up with more work for myself than expected.)

And between all of that, I’ve also been stalking job search websites and applying to a couple of places. It’s tiring work, crafting cover letters and whatnot. But I’m determined to find something. (Oh, if I only lived in New York. Then I could apply to work in a literary agency office.)

But that’s not all! I have also been more involved in my church this month because, for most of last year, I had to take a step back due to school getting in the way. It’s nice meeting new people again (and this is coming from an introvert).

So basically, contrary to what some (real-life) people may think, I’ve actually been pretty busy lately. But I don’t mind being busy. I find that, if I spend a lot of time doing nothing, I get too content and end up being afraid to step outside of my comfort zone for a while.

I just hope I can carry this momentum into February.



Randomness: I managed to read an entire novel this month, too. THE POISONED BLADE by Kate Elliot, in case you were wondering. I’m also about a third into THREE DARK CROWNS by Kendare Blake. (It’s so good, from what I’ve read so far!)

Maybe I’m on track to read more than nineteen books this year? I’ve already read more than I did last year around this time, so that’s reassuring.

Super Quick Post! (aka: Go Check Out My Guest Post)

Happy 2017 everyone!

Just wanted to share with you the guest post I did for the Oakland Arts Review. You can find it HERE. I talk about ways on how to tackle your jealousy toward another writer’s work.

The Oakland Arts Review is an international undergraduate literary journal from Oakland University. (So, yes, now you know where I earned my second degree.) I had a great time working with my class last semester, trying to get the second edition of the journal off the ground. I can’t wait to see the final product this spring.

If you’re an aspiring writer and also an undergrad, we would love to receive a submission from you! (It’s free, after all!) Unfortunately, I won’t read anymore entries due to the fact that I’m a graduate, but it’s a great experience as a writer to get your work out there. The act of sending your stories/poems/essays teaches you how to write cover letters, along with dealing with rejection (which is inevitable in the writing world). Plus, if your work is accepted, it’s a nice thing to include on your resume.

So hop over to read my guest post on the OAR blog. And if you have the time, read some of my classmates’ blog posts as well. They’re a talented group of people, discussing a variety of topics involving writing and books. I hope you learn something new.



P.S. Happy Martin Luther King, Jr Day! For those of you who had school or work cancelled today, I hope you enjoyed your day off and made the world a little brighter.