Turning Over A New Leaf

It's been over two months since I've written anything, partly because I'm busy trying to experience as much as possible, and partly because I wasn't sure what to blog about that people might find interesting, relevant, important. But alas, I have a lot to say to those who are reading:

I just read Writer's Digest's May/June issue and immediately flipped through their annual list of 101 Best Websites For Writers. For the past three years, I've scanned the list, but this year's really resonated. Bloggers all over the world are on the list, offering free advice for anyone who wants it. They discuss getting published, writing in general, query letters, and more. So of course I chose to "follow" many of the blogs, and my dashboard is now cluttered with more entries than I can possibly keep up with. Here's last year's list if you're interested. This year's list isn't up on the site yet.

On the list, I discovered Chris Guillebeau, a man who may have just succeeded in changing my life. Chris's website, The Art of Nonconformity, is ladden with advice, his blog about his world travels, and free pdf files that really guide people who want to make something of their life. The first of two manifestos, entitled "A Brief Guide to World Domination", captivated me. While I don't want to take over the world, I think my goals are on par with that. I want to publish a young adult novel while I'm still a young adult. I want to graduate college with a published novel. When I tell people I wrote a book, most of them look at me funny. Not in a "you must not see the light of day" way, but more in a "I wish I could do that" way. Apparently it's not every day a 17-year-old sits down and writes away until two in the morning, after working all night at Rita's Water Ice. I admit, there were times I didn't even change out of my uniform because I couldn't type fast enough. I had to get it all down before it escaped. Sometimes, I stop and ask my friends what I was thinking. I ask them if they remember how it all started. And they do. They say "You just said you wanted to write a novel." So I did. And I'm working diligently on a second novel.

The second bit of information I gathered from the list? I think I love the writing style of Allison Winn, a novelist whose books I've never read or even heard of. She had excerpts on her website so I read them, and BAM, after the first few sentences, I was hooked. I think there was something magical in her characters' tone that captured me and reeled me in. It's something I don't find often in YA lit and I'm not sure if she even classifies herself as YA or women's fiction or what, but it signifies something greater for me. During my junior year of high school, I went through a phase where I made trips to the local library several times a week, devouring YA fiction - the good, the bad, the ugly. And my ultimate goal in being published is this: I want to offer teen girls something worthy of reading, something they can't put down. Because as bored as I was, there were times I could have put the book down it was so poorly written.

So if you're like me and you need a push, check out the list. It's given me a new bought of determination, and if you know anything about me at all, you know that once determined, I make things happen.

Just a heads up that my article for the newspaper made it onto the home page of the website! So here's the link if you want to check it out. I just finished writing another one that they're hopefully editing and we'll see if that one turns out good. I still feel so new to this. It's honestly been probably 8 years since I wrote for any kind of newspaper (fifth grade, for some quick math) and that was a joke. This is the real deal. I just hope I'm cut out for it.

I realize I haven't been updating nearly as frequently, and while I'd like to blame it entirely on my new and busy schedule, full of classes and group meetings and just running around doing errands, I feel like that's a major cop out. On the up side, I do have good news. I just went to the open house for The Breeze, which is JMU's biweekly newspaper. As of, well, tonight, I'm a contributing writer for the news section, and I already have my first topic. If all goes well, I'll be published in next Thursday's edition and well on my way to sparking my creative writing skills! I've only read about a thousand Writer's Digest articles that encourage aspiring writers to enter contests, write short stories, or just generally exercise their brains with some form of writing on frequent occasions. I'm hoping this shift will be a step in the right direction - both socially as well as for my writing. To be honest, I ultimately got myself there because of the social aspect and the well-advertised mention of free pizza. But now, having talked with the news editor, I'm genuinely excited to see where the whole endeavor takes me.

Now that I have a blog, I'm much more exposed to blogs in general - the good, the bad, the ugly. And it's my conclusion that some blogs have a ton of multimedia- you know, links to other blogs in the sidebars, photos, embedded video files, etc.- and others are minimalistic. Both come with pros and cons, but some of the blogs that are dripping with photos just bore me. Maybe they're not set up right and it's just an endless page of scrolling through half-loaded pictures of some stranger's life.

Just today, I started taking a class in web design and the professor threw out a whole laundry list of vocabulary used that I didn't really know much about at all. However, by the end of the 8-week class I will have to have 2 designed websites, so it's my hope that I can incorporate my education into this website, maybe changing up HTML, adding some more pictures, and cleaning it up. Functionality says a lot about websites these days and a poorly designed website turns people away quicker than most companies or organizations probably realize. I'm hoping that this class helps me spruce my website up and attract more readership.

On a side note, I'm also starting a class that's focused on Photoshop CS4 and maybe if I'm getting the hang of that I'll be able to put together a mock book cover for Keep In Touch using my new skills. No promises though. Make sure to check back and see how the classes are going, and maybe you'll be more inclined to stick around if I put my skills to use on this site!

Yesterday, somewhat in honor of Brittany Murphy's death and somewhat because I just felt like it, I watched Uptown Girls. Like most people, I'm rather curious about the circumstances of her death, and after searching the web, I've come to no further conclusion. Most of the articles I found were on fan sites or tabloids. Anyone know anything else? The fact is, pretty much everyone wants there to be some outside influence - drugs, alcohol, whatever - because she was so young. And thin and seemingly healthy. I think that's what Hollywood has taught us to think. So for now, we're all searching for answers.

Paris who?

The other day I was reading the news on my phone, which just says something because that's the only time I actually read the news, and CNN had an article about Paris Hilton. I kinda forgot about her, and didn't really care to be reminded, because I'm struggling to wrap my head around what she's done that's really been worthwhile. However, the article is even more ridiculous because it was written based almost entirely on the premise that Paris dropped off the face of the Earth and hasn't been in the media scene for quite some time. The correspondent devoted probably 2/3 of the story to a discussion of why this is, what might be going on with Paris, and if we're going to see her again. He redeemed himself only by mentioning that she just launched hair styling products a few weeks ago. And now that CNN told us, it's not such a quiet, intimate release, is it? Nope.

Surely we've stopped ourselves in a grocery or department store aisle countless times in late autumn, recognizing the familiar sounds of Christmas music broadcast over the speaker system. Sometimes we don't even notice because we're too wrapped up in our busy lives, shushing the bickering children or scanning the aisle for a great bargain. However, it's been my experience that when it's quiet, you can't help but notice. As a college student, I consider myself in a bubble. Not that that's a good thing, because really, I should know more about what's going on in the world. Which is why I hadn't been privy to Christmas music this season until I came home for Thanksgiving break last Friday.

I work at an outlet center selling baby clothes, and when I stopped in to check with them about my schedule, I heard the music. And they informed me, to my disbelief, that the CD they're required to play (as decided by the company's corporate office) has been subliminally sneaking in a Christmas song every other song or so since early October. Wasn't there an unspoken rule just a few years back that Christmas music comes on the radio on Black Friday? Or did I miss the memo that anytime after September is fair game? Don't get me wrong--I'm fully engulfed in the Christmas spirit now and just made a Pandora station that's all Christmas music, all the time. Yet are we forgetting that fall is enjoyable for other reasons, other holidays? There's lots to love about Halloween and Thanksgiving, both of which revolve around one of America's favorite commodities: food.

On one final note, I will admit to putting Christmas fleece pajamas out for sale in August at work before I left for school. It should have occurred to me then that this whole Christmas shopping thing has been stretched out just as far as it possibly can be.