Changing Tastes & Critique Partners

Since I finished my third draft, I decided that I should really get... meet... whatever... some more critique partners. Unfortunately I just missed the Teens Can Write, Too! blog critique matching up at the beginning of June, because that would've been awesome! I like the idea of critique partners close to my age (even though I am more quickly than I'd like to admit leaving teenagerdom...) 

Anyway, if you're looking for someone to critique your manuscript or anything I'd be happy to be your CP. (or even if you're not!). As a teenager and avid reader of YA, I think I could be useful. (Especially if you write YA. But I looove MG too, and I just worked in an elementary library for a year and with tons of MG-obsessed kids!) :) 

My desk at the library I worked at.
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Another thing I wanted to talk about is how my tastes have changed. I started this blog three years ago, which is crazy. I feel like I've changed a lot and my blogging tastes have changed a lot (I am definitely not proud of everything I've posted). I haven't come as far as some people do in three years, as far as followers and such, but I have come a long way as far as writing and reading blogs.

I haven't really managed my subscriptions at all for three years, but now more than ever I notice I'm only reading a couple of posts when I used to devour everything like crazy. Laura's talked about this before, how you read the posts you need to read. (She is so cool, go follow her!) I've also noticed what posts and blogs I'm attracted to. I'm less attracted to the huge group blogs or really popular blogs by aspiring authors. I like the smaller blogs, and my favourite posts are just the ones that ramble on about life and what's new with their writing. I used to skip those kinds of posts. But now those are my favourite. Laura, Raven, and Rachel  all write blogs that I really like right now. Oh, and I also still read almost every WORD for Teens post.

So anyway, if you have any suggestions for critique partners or smaller, more personal-style blogs, let me know! (Or even just blogs you really really like).

Kreativ Blogger Award

Hey... so Anna Waggener recently awarded me with the Kreativ Blogger award. Er... a couple weeks ago, I guess. I'm supposed to link back to the blogger who gave me the award, say 10 facts about myself, and then pass it on to six new bloggers.

Anna's blog is here, and you should definitely check it out because it is BEAUTIFUL. She also has a book coming out... no idea when but the cover is amazing.

Isn't it gorgeous?? I love how completely unique, yet kind of scary, yet kind of simple it is. She has a contest going on as well to win a copy of GRIM and you can find the info for that here.

OK, anyway. 10 facts... I don't know, I always feel like it's kind of boring just talking about myself so I asked my sister to say 10 facts about me instead. This is what she came up with, and not everything is necessarily true because she likes to be silly:

1. I'm silly.
2. I love to draw.
3. I love to read my Bible.
4. I do crafts.
5. I go to school.
6. I'm graduating.
7. I'm moving to the Phillippines.
8. I take pictures.
9. I'm goofy.
10. I'm nice to my cats.

Now the 6 bloggers, and I'm going to give them to the 6 awesome bloggers who commented on my last post.

1. Angela Brown
2. Nhim
3. Natalie Aguirre
4. Nick Hight
5. Brittany Clarke

and... last but not least, 6. Laura Wise, who I have to say is an amazing commenter. She always has funny or insightful things to say, it seems! :)

Pass it on and thanks for the award, Anna! :)

Would I Be Less Impressed? I Think Not

I actually wrote this post a few weeks ago so some of the information is a little bit outdated... but I decided that I liked it so now I'm posting it. :)

I had the scariest dream EVER the other night... I was dreaming that I went into the living room late at night to get a book from the bookshelf where we keep the library books that we get out, and my library books WEREN'T THERE. And I was like, OH NO I took all the library books back and I WASN'T DONE ALL OF THEM!!!! And there were some really good books in there that I wanted to read, too!! What a nightmare... thankfully, I woke up, and all my library books were still there. YAY!

OK, anyways... my book-related nightmares are not the subject of this post. Actually, I wanted to talk about a question that YA author Elana Johnson asked last week . She was talking about all her online acheivements when she asked: would you be less impressed? 

The pressing question is this: Would you be less impressed? I honestly want to know. In this wide world of blogging, have we allowed ourselves to get carried away? Have we somehow deluded ourselves that our blog matters? That we can't write good books without blogging? That people will be disappointed in an author if they don't have a blog/Facebook/twitter?

Are we less impressed by the author who doesn't have an online presence?

So I think somehow this is backwards... if anything, why would I be impressed by an author's online presence? An author is not a blogger, nor a Facebooker, nor a twitterer. An author is someone who writes books. If anything, I should be impressed by the author's writing.

Before I joined the online writing community, I had absolutely no idea so many authors had blogs and websites and such. I read books, I read LOTS of books. And if I so  happened to fall in love with a book, then I would want to devour everything I could about that book, or more. If that meant scouring the earth for another book by the same author, so be  it (uh... actually, I still do this...) and usually I would do this by looking at an author's website, but pretty much the only thing I would click there is the "BOOKS" link, and then subsequently put all the books available by the author in my library on hold. To be honest, the author as a person didn't really matter to me - just the author as a writer.

If an author wants to impress me, they should put all their efforts into practising writing, honing their craft, trying to be the best they can be so their writing shines and when I'm done their book I sit back and go "ahhhh" in contentment.

I have an example for you... so, I read these books by this author, Megan Whalen Turner. The books were The Thief, Queen of Attolia and King of Attolia. I was seriously blown away by this woman's ability. Her writing was so clever and amazing and surprising and utterly perfect my jaw was dropped in awe after each new book in the series. I didn't find her online. Even after I read her books, I didn't find that she had much of an online presence. Was I less impressed? No, because that's not what mattered.

I think I shall use math to make my point:
Loving book leads to finding online presence > online presence leads to picking up book

I know there are lot of people who are online and find books that way (honestly I add more books to my TBR list from review blogs than books of authors whose blogs I follow) but there are a lot of people who find books other ways, too.

So, to answer the question: "would I be less impressed" the answer would be, I wouldn't even care if I never saw you online. As long as you give me a good book to read. ;)

What do you think? Would you be less impressed?

Random Stuff (Including But Not Limited To Blog Awards)

Hey everyone! So Halloween is over and we're in the midst of the craziness of NaNoWriMo (which I'm actually not doing but anyway) and I have some stuff I need to get done... like doling out some more blog awards I've received!

First of all, Monica from Breaking Fantasy gave me the Versatile Blog Award.

The rules are 7 random facts about yourself, plus give the award to 7 awesome bloggers. I always seem to spouting random facts about myself (and my family), so instead I'll just list 7 things on my wall (I'm in the basement right now at my desk, and the wall is stuccoish thing so you can stick tacks into it):

1. "Save the Polar Bears" poster I drew in grade 8 for some contest (obviously I didn't win as I never handed it in).
2. Small piece of paper from a notepad with "Weird Expressions" listed on it.
3. A shelf that I painted white with multicoloured spots that has a red candle on top of it.
4. A picture of me and my friend when we were six, riding on a plastic red seesaw in my backyard.
5. A clown that I bought from Dollarama (or actually, my grandparents bought it for me).
6. A happy face printed on cardstock.
7. A Christmas card my sister made me.

...those are just 7 things, though, I actually have more stuff on the basement wall (that I took over) than that... :)

I also received the One Lovely Blog Award from Julie, who also hosted the Oh, The Early Work Blogfest that I participated in here. I had tons of fun going through some of my old work, and guess what? There was a contest with the blogfest, and I won! Yay! :)

Okay, so now I would like to pass on the awards to... (oh, and whoever I give the award to can take whichever one they want :D)

1. Nick Hight at Writing Fire - I always find his posts funny and insightful and most importantly, interesting.

2. Belle at Belle's Bookshelf - This is a great book blog that you should definitely follow. Everything is very organized and all the features she does are interesting and fun.

3. Alison Miller's blog is also a fun blog that I've recently started following. She's really fun and interesting and she's also a part of the team at YA Confidential which is a new group blog on the blogosphere... hey, can I give awards to group blogs? Is that allowed? Because then...

4. YA Confidential - This blog is super cool and if you're a YA writer/author (or even if you're not), you should definitely follow it. Their entire mission over there is to get into the minds of teens, and do they ever do an amazing job! I'm also one of the "teen analysts" over there if you ever see them referencing the analysts, know that I'm one of them! Haha. ;)

5. Sarah Enni - She is so cool, I love all her posts. There's something to be said about bloggers who can get their points across with amazing clarity, and Sarah Enni is one of those bloggers. Also, she gets bonus points for awesome organization. :D (One of her recent cool posts is this one).

6. Julie at Rosewood Pencil Box - Fun person and fun posts and cool host of cool blogfests... haha. Anyway I like her posts. :)

I know that's only 6 blogs but... oh well.

So! I want to know how everyone is doing... are you doing NaNo? How's it going? How's life and such? See you later!

In Which A Blog Award Makes A Debut

I am awful at sending on blog awards... I said that I got the Liebster award on... um, August 9th. And now I'm going to finally post about it (yeah, and I started this post a few weeks ago and I put it off until... NOW). Oh, dear... except I HAVE AN AWESOME SOMETHING. Yes, stay tuned. My drawing is involved.

So I received the Liebster ("friend" in German, apparently) award from a whopping three other bloggers.

Jenny who said I was "spunky,  funny, and a teenager.  I love that there are so many young writers out there!" (First time being called spunky, yay! :D), Brittany who said that my blog posts are "sometimes funny and sometimes thoughtful", and Lizzy (co-blogger of Twin Moment who said "I don't know much about Gracie, but I know two things for certain: One, she writes. Two, she's awesome. Gracie is a sincerely creative writer, reader, and glue-gun wielder who just happens to blog. There's a great personality behind the writing, which makes it totally enjoyable to read. Trust me when I say it's worth your time!"

No, I did not share all those quotes because they make me feel warm and fuzzy and special (pffftttt *ahem*) but because it is obvious from the awesome things they say about people that THEY ARE AWESOME. There ya go. ;)

And now I will proceed to BREAK THE RULES because I am a rebel like that. (Ha!) The Liebster blog has five rules (uhh which I forget) and I'm breaking them because....

INTRODUCING....

THIS:

I have made my own blog award (in case you missed that from the "blog award" and the "made by gracie"). It is a lion because I am keeping with the lion theme of my blog. :) Also, because it is my award, I am going to make up the rules. So, rules:

1. When you receive the award, post the picture! (Hey, I spent a whole fifteen minutes on that Paint drawing. And it's pretty good, considering I did it on Paint, and only using my laptop touchpad. Well, except for the fact that the roaring lion actually just looks sleepy...)
2. Pass on the award. I don't care how many people, as long as you do it. :)
3. In case you haven't figured it out, if you receive the Roaring Lion Blog Award it means that you are awesome.

So the very privileged first-ever-people-to-receive-my-award are:

1. Twin Moment, a blog by two teens (Lizzy and Constance) who are cool.  Their blog layout is awesome, they like classical music, and they're really sweet. :)

2. Jenny, who I only recently started following but I love her writing style and the content in her posts. I'm looking forward to reading more. :)

3. Brittany of Hills and Corkscrews. Her posts are always thought-provoking and bring up good discussion. I like how she presents opinions and then encourages others to share theirs!

OK, then. I think that will be all for now. Go and pass it on!

Oh, wow. I just realized I gave an award to the three people who gave me an award. Honestly, I did NOT do that on purpose! I really do like these people and their blogs, and believe me it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact they gave me an award.

(Also, my brother said that I should stop doing "boring" posts -as the question series I did didn't interest him- and I have a few things planned okay, not planned but... I have ideas in my head... to come in the next week-or-so. Hopefully.)

Have a good week!

Where To Find Teens On The Web

EDIT: This post was written two years ago, and if you've spent any amount of time on the internet lately, you probably know it's a machine that changes in a snap. Some of these bloggers and teens don't blog anymore, or don't have an online presence anymore, or they have just grown up and are no longer teens. So be aware of that when you're clicking through the links! If I have time sometime, I'll try to make an updated list. Thanks! ~Alyssa

Is it even called the Web anymore? Wow I am supposed to be totally on top of all these terms... ANYWAY. Today I have decided to put a thing together of where you can find teens on the Internet (only a few of them, and they are mostly writers!) as well as some good posts to give you an idea of what teens think about books.

TEENS

-Taryn Albright, 18-year-old writer, blogger, reviewer. She also has an editing service with Kate Coursey called Teen Eyes.
-Aleeza Rauf, 17-year-old fun writer, blogger and reviewer who currently lives in Pakistan. My interview with her here.
-Audrey, a Young Adult who reviews YA.
-Blue Lipstick Samurai, otherwise known as Glenna. 17-year-old writer and blogger.
-Brittany, 13-year-old writer and blogger (host of Teen Writers Summer Blogfest I particpated in with a bunch of other teens.)
-Riley Redgate, 17-year-old writer and blogger. I've really enjoyed her blog in the short time I've been following. (And she has a penname, like me! Except hers is awesome.)
-Kate Coursey, 18-year-old agented writer, has editing service with Taryn Albright (for link, see above!)
-Laura, college student, also particpated in Teen Writers Summer Blogfest.
-Madeline Bartos, spunky young teenager with lots to say to help you get in the mind of a teen.
-Matthew Dodwell, teenage writer from Australia.
-Brigid Gorry-Hines, 18-year-old cool person.
-Noveltee(n), group blog by teenaged writers.
-Emilia Plater, 18-year-old agented awesome person. She likes unicorns.
-Steph Bowe, teenage PUBLISHED author.
-Brittany Clarke, 17-year-old writer and blogger. And I did a guest post for her.
-The Golden Eagle, (another penname!), teenage Chinese-American writer and blogger.
-Through The Book Vine, a book review blog by a Canadian highschooler.
-Amanda, 18-year-old aspiring author.
-Twin Moment, a blog by two teenage girls, Lizzy and Constance.
-Romi, a younger Australian teenager who blogs and reviews. (And writes. I am starting to see a pattern...)
-WORD for Teens, the most awesome book review site ever run by a teen.
-Rachael, 18-year-old writer and blogger.
-Nick Hight, teenaged writer and blogger from New Zealand.
-Yahong Chi, 15-year-old (?) writer, reviewer, and blogger. And Canadian.
-Gabrielle, 18 year old writer and blogger.
-Mint Tea and A Good Book, a collaborative teen book review site.
(If you have any suggestions for teens to add, just comment!)

Yes, there's more of us than you thought, right? Haha.

I really want to make a point here. You may not know this, but there are obviously (see above) a lot of teens out there, reading blogs and websites of YA authors. We know what you say, and our (er, my) ears perk up when anything about teenagers is mentioned. It's fine to talk about teens on your websites and blogs, but one thing that isn't acceptable is not having respect for your audience. (See the link below to read the awesome post on respect by Kiersten White). If you say something degrading about teenagers, or young people in general on your blog, I almost guarantee you that there ARE teenagers that will read what you wrote. The Internet is not a safe place to be mean. (Um... though.... 1. You should never be mean and 2. That includes not being mean to everyone, not just teens). I'm sure all you awesome peoples out there probably know all this stuff, but just a gentle reminder that teens could very well be reading your stuff, and if that makes you tweak the things you say on your blog, then good. :)

Now here's some awesome posts about what teens think about books, etc:

In case you missed some, here are all of the answers to your questions! (And even though this project is over, still feel free to e-mail me whenever with any questions you have.)

This post is a post that YA Highway did awhile ago that includes a bunch of information and links on book review blogs run by teens!

A Thought for The Day, by Laura on what she thinks of saying things like "at such a young age" and "for a teenager".

Check out the blog series Madeline Bartos did called Straight From Your Audience Member.

Here's a post by 13-year-old Brittany on what she thinks of books being called "the next Harry Potter".

Aleeza Rauf has a rant about why series are waaay overdone (and I kind of agree with her).

Also check out ALL the posts on Brittany's blog from the Teen Writers Summer Blogfest that she hosted this July. (There are links in each of her posts to all the other participants' posts.)

Check out all the awesome teen interviews that Paper Hangover does.

Here's a post by Riley Redgate about high school humor.

And some of my posts... more on the "show-don't-tell" concept and how it's similar to puzzles, basically a summary of what I think of books (kind of in response to that awful WSJ article a few months ago), what my teenaged brother has to say about books, and why I think characters are important in books.

I also really, really want you to read this post on respect by not a teen but an amazing person anyway, Kiersten White.

And, last but not least... the completely crazy post that I did awhile on back that includes a list of authors who published books as teens (there's quite a few, actually), another list of writing teens who have blogs/websites and a list of writing magazines and websites that teens can submit work to. All with links, o' course.

(If you have any links to posts that teens wrote about their opinions of books and reading, etc, then please post the link in the comments and I'll add it!)

I hope I helped you guys learn a little bit more about your audience this past week. Have a great rest of the week! (And if you have any suggestions for links to add to anything, just comment!)

Oh, and I would also like to thank everyone who shared about my contest thing on their blog or twitter, as well as everyone who asked questions. So thank you so much! I will now proceed to disappear for a few days before returning to my regular (er... irregular) postings.

*Just a note: all the links on the words "Teen Writers Summer Blogfest" go to different places! So make sure you click on each one!

So There Are These Things Called Blogs...

If you haven't read my latest post yet, then click through and do that, because I was very excited about my idea for that post for a long time and only recently got the chance to write it (because of being away, blogfest, etc).

So... awhile ago I got a blog award:

from another blogger (and teen. and writer. yes, I am saying go check out his blog) called Nick Hight. On a blog post I wrote awhile ago, I quickly said I would dole it out later... and yeah, now I'm doing it... a LOT later.

Anyway, what I'm going to do is just post a list of some of my favourite blogs and then if the bloggers read this, they can take the award or just do what they please. :)

Some of my favourite blogs in the blogosphere

aleeza reads and writes, the fun blog of teen writer Aleeza Rauf. I enjoy her fun quirkiness that is present in all of her blog posts, and she's really friendly too. I even interviewed her here.

This blog is the blog of a children's author Lynn Kelley. She is really, really funny. I've only read three of her posts, but all of them are fun and have made me smile or laugh.

My Life As A Teenage Novelist is the blog of teen writer Brigid Gorry-Hines. She's really cool, too, and all of her posts that I've read so far have given me something to think about, as well as being interesting.

Shrinking Violet Promotions is a site that helps introverts market their book. They have awesome posts to encourage introverts in their writing and publishing journey, as well as some really good, in-depth posts about different aspects of writing. Even if you're not an introvert like me, you should still check out their posts. They are always in-depth and helpful.

WORD for Teens is a book review blog, and it is definitely my favourite of all the book review blogs out there. And, it's run by a teen! (What? I'm not biased at all... *ahem*)

I also enjoy YA Highway, Emilia Plater, Kate Hart, and Corrine Jackson. There are lots of other sites I enjoy as well, and I'll definitely add more to the list once I continue reading and finding blogs!

What are your favourite blogs, writing/reading or other?