A Twenty-Something's Existential Crisis About Publishing?

The other day I went out for coffee with my parents and my little brother, and among other things we talked about creative career aspirations. They were wondering whether I still wanted to be an author, since when I was a little kid, author was always the first thing on my list of dream jobs. I thought I'd go a bit more in depth about where my thoughts are at now, since they've changed a lot since I was five.

I was sure when I was younger that I would be one of those prodigies that was published at thirteen. My family was super impressed with my writing skill, after all, so I was sure I could wow the world. I never actually got around to that, as much as I stalked the careers of young published authors, but that was okay. I've written before about how I was glad I wasn't a teen published author, for a variety of reasons.

But things change, as they do. There was a while when I was in university that I kind of lost writing for a while. I learned a lot of things about life, but also was frozen with fear and didn't write much of anything for four years, and wondered if I even counted as a writer at all, kind of gave up on the dream for a while. It wasn't until I let go of my fears, perfectionism, and own personal pressures that I could actually enjoy writing again for what it was to me.

And now that I have found myself writing again, and really liking it, a lot, I've reconsidered over the years my thoughts on publishing. For one, I know a lot more about publishing than I did then. When I was younger, publishing was always presented as the obvious next step for someone who loved writing. Now, I understand that loving writing and publishing don't necessarily have to intertwine. I also know now that publishing is a business, first, and being an author is a job. Also, it's a business that doesn't necessarily pay well. Nicole Brinkley recently posted this super informative thread on Twitter on how authors get paid, if you want a glimpse into how a small piece of the business works. Tl;dr VERY few writers are able to work full time as authors. As Nicole put it:

For most authors, writing is a professional hobby—something they love but that cannot pay the bills.

For full-time authors, it’s increasingly important that people buy their books, or they might look up one day to no new book deals, no royalties, and no way to buy groceries.

— Nicole Brinkley @ Winter Institute (@nebrinkley) July 23, 2018

So the question I've been asking myself is, what do I want from this? My dad's question was, could a writer be happy just writing and enjoying that craft, and not pursue publishing at all? When I think about it, I totally think I could. Writing is what I like, after all. 

HOWEVER, I am also aware of how I let fear get in the way a lot of the time. Maybe I'm just too scared of all of the unknowns of pursuing publishing. And I have experienced the joy that can come from sharing stories with a wider audience, and the beautiful connections that can be born out of that. And I'm sure there are tons of lovely new experiences to be had in the path of publishing and pursuing an author career that I'm not even aware of yet.

And then there's the fact that there is not just one way to get your story out there, as so many things on the Internet have demonstrated: serial stories posted on websites, comic stories shared through Tumblr updates, self-published things that rise to stardom...

I don't have a good conclusion other than to say that I don't know? I don't really know what I think about publishing right now. Things I do know: I like writing, and in some way, shape or form, I'm pretty sure I want to use my stories to connect with other people. Whether that be a large or small circle is to be determined.

What are your thoughts on publishing? What kind of creative ways have you seen people get their stories out there? If you have pursued a career as an author, what advice would you have for people pursuing the same career path?

Hello, Wednesday! (What's Up Wednesday)

This week's post was going to be a long, really involved list of indigenous fantasy books out there, but as happens with a lot of research, I came up with an entirely different conclusion than I expected and thus have to completely rethink how I'm going to do that post. (Also if you have recommendations for fantasy/speculative fiction/sci-fi written by Indigenous authors, please let me know!) So today I'm just going to fall back on the ol' What's Up Wednesday formatting and we'll just have a nice chat. Grab yourself a cup of coffee or your preferred hot drink and get comfy.

Reading

All the fantasy! One of the reasons I want to make a book list is for my own TBR. I'm now to the third book in NK Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, The Stone Sky. I'm very excited to see how the end of this series ends up because so far each book in the series has ended with a solid bang. She's such a good writer, please go read her books.

Writing

After spending a few years working on two different contemporary books (which were necessary for my state of mind), I've delved deep into fantasy! I have about 25k of a new fantasy thing and it's so much fun! I love the crazy imagination that can go into fantasy. If you want to see a few lines of that, you can check out my #1linewed tweets on Twitter. This is also the first time I've ever spent a significant amount of time world-building and outlining before ever sitting down to write. My mind is always set on the concrete productivity of word count, so sitting down to spend hours not actually physically writing was torturous sometimes, but SO worth it. Now when I am writing, I don't get stuck (as often) after a few pages because I know the characters, the world, and where I want the story to go. I'm just like whyyy did I not do this before now?? I mean I'm still a pantser at heart (my outline is one page and a lot of "a bunch of stuff happens to get them from this point to this point"), but I'm definitely becoming a plotter convert.

Life

In my last update post about six months ago I said that I'd graduated university! Well I have since finished all traveling and settled into the ups and downs of funemployment as I look for work after university. It has been fun having more time to do personal projects, writing (hello, finishing two drafts in the space of three months), cooking and spending time with people, but I'm starting to get a bit antsy. I also feel like I may have been a bit ambitious with my goals for the blog this year, but it's still early yet! If you have any ideas or comments about what you might like me to write about on the blog this year, please comment and share! Or even tell me what your favourite kind of posts have been over the years.

Happy Wednesday!

Onward

Hey! So I'm actually working on writing lately (and a million other projects, if you're interested in one, go ahead and request to follow me on Instagram @asherlockwrites), so haven't had a lot of brain power to devote to blogging. I always have such high hopes to make this thing BIG! Alas, I just do whatever I want like I usually do, share a little slice of my love of reading and writing with a handful of you.

So let's do this!

Writing

As I've said I've been writing! Well kind of. I've been working a poem project thing (see my Instagram), thinking of editing a short story, aand working on some not-writing writing work like character worksheets and other world-building stuff. I'm curious if you're into writing, how do you block out time for that kind of writing extras - research and world-building and all that stuff? That stuff that feels a whole lot like procrastination to me a lot of the time, so I avoid it because I'm not getting word count. Which is really dumb because that kind of stuff is really important. Thinking through stuff is actually a huge part of writing, it's just that if that's all you do then you're in trouble. It's a balance, I guess. Why does this writing stuff have to be so haaard??

But I'm actually waiting on feedback from a couple of people anyway so don't want to dig in to another rewrite quite yet, so this is the perfect time to spend on all that extra - excuse me, essential - stuff. And it's fun! I even have Pinterest inspiration boards for my made-up town and a bunch of my characters. 

If you are writing, researching and world-building all at the same time though, how do you divide it up? Or do you do one before the other? Go back and edit later? Tell me your secrets!!

Reading

I finished A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers like two weeks ago and I'm STILL NOT OVER IT. It was so much fun. My review of it made both of my parents immediately buy the ebook so check it out! I did manage to finish Banana Heart Summer by Merlinda Bobis after which is a beautiful, delectable story that made me crave aalll the Filipino food, but now I'm in a reading slump. I think I might DNF the book I'm trying to get into now and skip on to the next one.

Life

 

What else has happened recently? Well, in April I graduated university, in May a friend and I started to talk about booking a trip for the summer, and in June I quit the part-time job I've had for the last year to travel for the summer, and my last shift is in two weeks! Crazy. It's been fun not doing school and working part time and having more time to spend with friends and to write (or avoid writing with other things, let's be honest). I have no idea what the future will hold past the end of August but I'm feeling okay about it for now!

What have you been up to? What have you been reading? What are your best writing tips?

What's Up Wednesday feat. Christmas Cat

Happy December!

Christmas cat!

Well, I think I can say I have failed my goal of doing a post a week this year, BUT I haven't published this many posts since 2012, so I'm going to call that a success.

I don't have any grand ideas for today, so I thought I'd just talk about what I've been up to, in the style of What's Up Wednesday of course!

What I've Been Reading

As always happens when I start school, I go into a reading slump and don't really get out of it until I start reading fun, easy, fluffy books. So recently I've reread some of The Raven Cycle, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, and the kind of companion novel Carry On, also by Rainbow Rowell. I also read somewhere in there Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, which I may do a review of still, since it was an unusual book that just seemed to find me at exactly the right moment. I also read Frankenstein and a fun YA contemp about time travel called Waking in Time by Angie Stanton. Now I'm reading Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs because a friend recommended it to me, and it is definitely not something I normally read, but it's fun so far!

What I've Been Writing

So, last year around this time I finished a 50,000 word very messy draft of a thing. Then in July this year I finished a second draft rewrite of that thing. Then in August I think? I started writing another story with the same characters, about the next step in their journey. It's another thing that's a lot different from everything I've written, but I love it and these characters so much. A few weeks ago I thought I might finish this draft before the end of year, which would be crazy. Two drafts in a year!?!? Now I don't think it's going to happen, since the holiday season is a lot busier than I thought (with all good things!) Anyway, it's been cool in the past couple of years to have gotten back into writing, although I'm writing about completely different things than I was when I fizzled out four or so years ago. I definitely want to keep working with these characters' stories for awhile yet. One day I will have the courage to share it with people. Maybe. (I'm working on it).

-finished a second draft (the 1st in years)
-wrote 25k of a (heart-breaking) sequel w some of my fav characters ever
-also got a couple lovely short fiction pieces & poems in there

...wow. This has been one of my best writing yrs in a LONG time 😄❤️ https://t.co/ZCqQkGgFGr

— Alyssa Sherlock (@asherlockwrites) November 28, 2017

What Inspires Me Right Now

I think the Literary Inspired Web Series online community is something that inspires me right now. If you don't know, there are a bunch of young women who make literary inspired web series (often following in the footsteps of the famous Lizzie Bennet Diaries, although the series have changed a lot since then). It's cool seeing so many young women be brave and put their writing and work out there, and working together and... it's just so cool. It makes me believe more in myself and my own abilities when I see other women my age being so creative and productive and putting their work out there.

What Else I've Been Up To

Finished my second last semester of my undergrad degree!! One more semester to go. It feels good to be off school for the moment, and the blog ideas are slowly trickling back in... I have a few reviews I want to do, maybe before the end of the year, my traditional end of year posts of course, and I have a special surprise for January that I'm quite excited about! Other than that, right now my life is consumed with holiday stuff like working, baking, and watching Star Wars.

Also, I've been slacking off on my Local Book Nook project (because, school. If you're one of those students who is ALSO a consistent book blogger, you get all the prizes). But if you're interested in participating, please either leave a comment, DM me on Twitter or email me!

What are you reading or writing these days? How do manage to balance blogging, writing, and life?? Please tell me your secrets.

What's Up Wednesday

I have no idea if the official What's Up Wednesday is still a thing, but I figure it's time for an update and I like the formatting. (The original What's Up Wednesday was created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to help writers stay in touch!)

What I'm Reading

If you didn't already know, The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner is one of my favourite series of all time, and the fifth book in the series came out this week after seven years! So I'm currently halfway through rereading the series before reading the new book, Thick as Thieves. That is probably going to consume me for the next few weeks, and then I really need to get started on reading stuff for Women in Translation month in August!

What I'm Writing

I have been working on rewriting the book I finished in December, and I am currently at about 34,000 words. I have been making good progress on this thing. I even made a semi decent outline before rewriting, which is not something I usually do. Because of that, I think if I just sat down and powered through, I could probably finish it in maybe a month. Except I keep giving myself a million other things to occupy my time when I'm not at work... heheh. I was thinking of doing Camp NaNo, although now it looks like there's only sessions in April and July. Another year I did it June and that would've worked better for me... we'll see. Maybe I'll do my own Camp NaNo in June. Anyone want to join me? ;)

What Inspires Me Right Now

Weirdly enough, the beautiful storytelling of the TV shows The Get Down and Skam have really inspired me lately. They are the kinds of art that are so good that they make you want to sit down and create art. And also Megan Whalen Turner's genius, of course.

What Else Is New

Well in April I finished my second to last year of university! Next year I will be graduating with a 4-year Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences with a concentration in Intercultural Studies. I also started my full time summer job a day after I was done everything for school. This summer I'm working at a volunteer department, helping coordinate volunteers. I really enjoy it - it's always busy and there's always something different to do. In just my first month, I've had to fold clothes, organize a uniform swap, call someone to tell them a visitor dropped their phone in with the snakes, go to and help set up volunteer trainings, send a million email reminders, and have lots of lengthy conversations with talkative volunteers who ask a million questions. And that's not all!

So work has been keeping me pretty busy since it's full time, and then I get home and I'm too tired to do much of anything. But I'm still trying to work on my own projects, like my book, this blog, and my garden! I am going to attempt to grow things this summer, although I'm such a newbie gardener, we'll see how it goes. Anyway, I think this summer is going to be hectic, but fun!



What are your plans for summer, writing or vacation related?

3 Reasons This Introvert Loves to Travel

In a few hours I will be on a plane to Vancouver, where I will be staying with a friend for Reading Week and doing all the fun things! So I thought for my post this week I would talk about why I love to travel, as well as why being an introvert and traveling actually go together way better than you'd think.

I'm an introvert, which means I get drained going out to big parties, making small talk and meeting new people, but I get energy out of being by myself (sometimes), and  being around my close friends. That's just a basic overview, there's a lot more complications and different circumstances, and also all introverts are different, but that's how I feel most of the time.

So, traveling - something that involves dealing with new situations, people, and the unknown pretty much all the time, so why do I as an introvert love it so much?

Well here are some reasons traveling is actually GREAT for introverts like me! :)

1. It forces you out of your comfort zone

There's not really going back once you've bought a $500 plane ticket, and once you do that you have to deal with all the new things, complications and people that traveling involves. Even if you're traveling with friends, you're going to have to deal with things that you wouldn't have to in your everyday life. When I went to the Philippines, I had to do so many things I'd never done before, and discovered how capable I was at doing things I'd never imagined I would do.

The wind made my hair like that, fyi

2. People traveling also want to meet new people!

One of the things I find difficult as an introvert is meeting and connecting with new people. It's especially hard in day to day life when people already have people they know and circles they travel in, and aren't necessarily looking to get to know new people. But I still want to meet people! Often when you travel, other people who are traveling also want to new people, so you already have somewhere to start. When I went on Explore, talking with people was easy because basically everyone came on their own so nobody had previously established friendship groups to break in on - we were all making them up as we went!

3. You get to know people REAL WELL REAL FAST

This is one of my favourite parts of traveling. When you're stuck in a car with someone for 8 hours, or you're spending a week with someone, you have ample time to get to know them and chat about everything and anything. When traveling, you're often in cramped quarters - a tent, a hotel room, a car - and that means you find out a LOT about the people you're traveling with. As an introvert, I get so much energy from getting to know people really well. (I LOVE deep, soul-searching conversations. Give me all of them.) I went to NerdCon: Stories in Minneapolis with a friend of mine, and during the two eight hour drives we had to do we had some really nice chats. :) 

Going through all my travel photos made me really want to travel again... good thing I'm leaving in like two hours!!! 

Why do you like to travel (or why do you NOT like traveling?)

My Bookworm Bedroom

How to motivate yourself to do a super thorough cleaning of your room: decide you are going to do a blog post room tour featuring a bunch of pictures of your room.

So, yeah, here is a tour of my bookworm bedroom. Enjoy! :)

I have this poster I made on my wall just as you walk in. It's a quote from Ivan E. Coyote's The Slow Fix, which I talked about in my Across Canada Reading Challenge. The idea is that I'm the "she who stayed to write the story", since I do most of my writing at my desk now. :)

Then from the doorway, if you turn to the left you see my desk, shelves, whiteboard, and my beautiful calendar that I got on sale from my local bookstore. My whiteboard is very important. It is where I display important papers/reminders (using my collection of tourist magnets), write my to do lists, and study when I have an exam. What do people do who don't have whiteboards??

The beautiful calendar I have is the 2017 Japanese Decorative Papers Calendar. I love nice calendars like this because it's not just for organization but also a decorative wall painting, bonus that all the designs in this calendar are gorgeous. (This is the calendar!) The cards beside it are cards from friends that live in different provinces.

The bookshelves above my desk are mostly for my school books. The top shelf is some sentimental stuff from my childhood, and my school stuff that I don't use or textbooks that I'll sell eventually. The second shelf is some notebooks and all my nonfiction books, including writing books and cookbooks! See if you can spot the book Your First Novel by Ann Rittenberg and Laura Whitcomb, which is the book that in a roundabout way introduced me to the online YA community and got me to start blogging! The third shelf is some pretty MG and YA books, and the school books that I'm currently using (can you guess what classes I'm in right now?)

The stickers are from when I went to NerdCon: Stories, the Hunger Games keychain I got from a friend, and the gorgeous bike chain bookend is from Ten Thousand Villages! The bookend is against some of my favourite books.

Okay, other side of my room! My window sills, where I keep my plants (in the nice Ikea greenhouse I got for Christmas), and my bookshelf where I keep my books and my collection of tea cups. (I don't actually collect tea cups - if any family is reading this, please stop buying me tea cups.) As you can see, another couple of themes of my room are tea, and music. I have received a lot of music note patterned gifts over the years, which is fine, I like music. :)

Now, one of the most important parts of my room aside from my bed, my bookshelf! I don't actually have a ton of books, because I recently went through them and got a rid of a bunch, but also because I'm not a huge book collector. I really only need to have the books I'll reread over and over and over again (*cough*Melina Marchetta), and if others are just going to sit on my shelf and not be read, I'd rather give them to someone who would enjoy them more. (Although all the shelves are double stacked, so... I still have a lot of books...heh.)

This shelf is my TBR right now pile, the books I'm going through at the moment. It holds any library books I have out, as well as books I've bought/been given and haven't gotten around to yet. (Which book should I read next?? I've already read Nimona and Lumberjanes, which were GREAT I can't get enough of them.)

This is my Christy Miller shelf, which was one of my favourite series growing up (it's an inspirational Christian series, super fluffy but I like fluff). The train car has significance if you've read the books. ;)

A dishes set from my grandma, and my adult fiction shelf! Lots of Miriam Toews. If you haven't noticed I don't really spend a lot of time organizing my books in fancy ways. I am lazy like that.

This is one of my favourite things I did in my room - my wall of bookish pictures above my bed. Each picture is either from a book, or is a reference in some way to a book. For example, I don't know how well you can see it but the bird on the top left is one of Audubon's birds, which has significance in Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt, probably my favourite MG book ever. Can you guess what books the rest of the pictures are from? (Oh wait! Just realized I lied - one of the pictures isn't from a book, it's Pascal Campion art.)

Calypso says thanks for coming and looking around!

What's your favourite thing in your room?

What's Up Wednesday (Actually On A Wednesday)

I'm going to actually officially participate in a What's Up Wednesday today! (Even if it's kind of late. Whatever.) I'll even do the official thing: What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to help writers stay in touch.

What I'm Reading:

I'm currently reading stuff for my A to Z Book Review Challenge, mostly completely out of order because half of them weren't available from the library yet. I just finished Corked by Kathryn Borel, which was awesome (full review to come). Now I'm starting on Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi although I might end up reading a different one first depending on which books I have to return to the library first.

What I'm Writing:

I am failing at working on my book about a world of invisible people. I'm at least thinking about it again, which is more than I can say I was doing a few months ago. I've gotten to the middle of my outline, but after that I just... can't think of where I want the story to end up. It's a lot easier for me to write when I have an ending in mind, and right now I just can't think of one that doesn't make me sigh with frustration at how incompetent my storytelling abilities are.

I also started something new (which of course is what happens when you're struggling with an MS). It is a contemp road trip/travel story, drawing largely on my experiences from when I lived in the Philippines last year. I know it will be terrible because I'm terrible at writing contemp (despite it being one of my favourite genres to read), but it sure is fun.

What Inspires Me Right Now:

Music! Through the internet I've discovered a whole bunch of random indie music that I really like. I love the band Typhoon, especially the song The Sickness Unto Death, which not only sounds beautiful but has awesome lyrics. I am also weirdly into Andrew Huang's rap music (I am not really a rap person). My favourites are For Love and Ash. Such good lyrics. (Also, the music videos are beautiful. Watch them.)

For something lighter, I love this song called "Waterproof" which is a song by one of the high school students who went to the school I worked at last year. It is about the "waterproof" Filipino spirit during Typhoon Haiyan a few months ago. If you buy it (which you can do here), all the proceeds go to typhoon relief! It is such a cute, uplifting song. You should at least listen to it, even if you don't buy it.

What Else I've Been Up To:

Freaking out that school is going to be over in like, two months, and freaking out over what I'm going to do this summer.

I'm also planning further reading "challenges" for myself after I finish A to Z. I think I am going to dub May "Marchetta Month", and reread all Melina Marchetta's books while basking in their awesomeness. I also want to reread some books I read as a kid and see if they're still as good as I thought then, and I also want to do some sort of diverse reading challenge. I want to either read a truckload of books with non-white narrators, or read a truckload of books by non-Western authors. Or both. We shall see!

What about you?

What's Up Wednesday (On the Wrong Day... Again)

I thought I'd take some time today to do a What's Up Wednesday post.... on Tuesday. (I know, I already did that once). But I like the format of the What's Up Wednesday posts, so yeah, I take it and use and twist it for my needs! And my needs at this point are updating you on things like...

What I'm reading

The Lord of the Rings! I tried reading the epic trilogy way back in middle school, but I couldn't get through the Two Towers. Just recently over the course of a few weeks my brother and I finished watching all of the LOTR movies, after my brother had read the book this summer. He had some interesting thoughts after the last one that were based on the books, so I asked him if he would recommend them and he said yes. This is probably one of the only times he's recommended me a book, so that's what I'm doing. So far I'm enjoying it, even if some parts seem unnecessary to me (like all the stuff with the weird Tom Bombadil cult at the beginning?)

What I'm writing

Heheh. Nothing... right now. I kind of want to pick up an old draft I wrote last year in November and rework it. I like the concept, which is about two lonely kids, one who is so lonely that she lives inside an imaginary world in her head.

What else I'm up to

Other than school and work, I've been slowly compiling a mental list in my head for November goals. I'm not doing NaNo because, to be quite honest, it terrifies me. (One of the years I will conquer my fear, I promise). But this video inspired me to get back on top of goal-making, which is one of my favourite activities.

So far, I'm thinking:

• Blog every day in November
• Stop wasting time on Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, etc
• Eating healthier
• Revising

Obviously I haven't fleshed them out completely yet, but I'm definitely thinking seriously of trying to blog every day.

What inspires me right now

Literary Disco! It's a really cool and actually quite hilarious podcast that I listen to on the bus ride home some days. It's just three friends, chatting and discussing books. It's so funny sometimes that I have to stifle my laughter on the bus by pretending to cough or yawn or something. But yeah, you can check that out at www.literarydisco.com.

Also on the last episode they recommended this band, Typhoon, and I am really enjoying their music.

5 Things I Found Weird Upon Returning to Canada

A few months ago, I stood on Canadian soil again for the first time in 10 months. Those 10 months I spent in the Philippines, working at international school (if you don’t know that already). It was really good to be home, but it was definitely a switch!

 

It was a lot less of a culture shock than I expected, but that makes sense since I only spent 10 months of my life so far in the Philippines and 18 years in Canada. Still, there were a few little things that threw me (and still kind of do). I thought I’d share those things with you, and in doing so give you a glimpse into little bits of my life in the Philippines.

 

Things I thought were weird when I got home:


1.    Hearing Canadian accents.

My first entry into Canada was in Vancouver before we were to catch our connecting flight home, and there was a woman volunteer guiding us in the right direction, and the last thing I expected to come out of her mouth was a Canadian accent, but it was there! I mean, it makes no sense that I would think that, because I was in Canada but...

...the Philippines is on the other side of the world from North America, so it isn’t a popular tropical vacation destination for North Americans. Why fly for 24 hours when you can get to Cuba in four? Also, Americans are everywhere because there are so many of them, and there are not very many Canadians. Basically, if you see a white person (which is rare enough), they are American unless proven otherwise by their accent or other distinguishing characteristics.

In short, I was not used to hearing Canadian accents, so it surprised me when I did hear them! (Also, when I see people wearing Canada shirts, I still think in my head excitedly, They’re wearing a Canada shirt!! And then I remember that I’m actually currently IN Canada and it makes sense and I do not need to bond with them in my head over being from the same country and finding each other on the other side of the world).

I wore my Canada shirt climbing Mt Pinatubo... and met two Canadians as a result! Yay.

2.    A significant decrease in outdoor activity after 9 PM.

It was so weird to see stores closed and only a few people milling about on the streets once it got dark. In downtown Manila, there are ALWAYS people around and up and about, and always a lot of people, too. Seriously, you could get caught in the middle of a traffic jam at 4 AM. I guess that’s what happens in a city of around 16 million. It was still weird when I got home that the city actually quieted down and activity actually decreased at night.

3.    The weather!!!

This is probably the biggest one. In Manila, the temperature stays the same every day, and all day, only dropping a couple of degrees once the sun goes down. Once I got home, I kept forgetting that the temperature increases significantly throughout the day and decreases significantly into the evening.

In Manila, I would wake up, decide what to wear by how hot I was feeling at that moment, and be fine (albeit hot but that’s pretty much inevitable) for the rest of the day. Here, I have to think of how it might get warm later and layer and decide whether to suffer being cold or hot and remember to bring a sweater if I’m going to be somewhere after the sun goes down... the weather in the Philippines may be hot and humid, but at least it’s uncomplicated!

4.    Toilet paper in public washrooms.

There is no toilet paper in any public washroom in the Philippines, and sometimes even no toilet seat. Back home now, I keep forgetting that, and when I’m on the way to a public washroom I think in the back of my mind, Do I have Kleenex in my purse? And then realize that I don’t need it! There will be toilet paper in the stall! To be honest now that I’ve thought about it (and done it for a year), it’s not really that big of a deal to carry Kleenex in your purse and not have toilet paper in stalls. But it is a very nice luxury for North America to provide, that’s for sure.

5.    The weight of Canadian coins also threw me for a while, because it’s a lot lighter than the huge Philippine pesos and other coins.

 

So, these were a few things that threw me upon returning to Canada, but for the most part everything was actually completely normal and familiar – which was probably the weirdest thing of all!

Have you ever experienced culture shock in your own country?

Road Trip Wednesday: The Queasy Flower Girl

Today's Road Trip Wednesday prompt, as initiated by YA Highway is:

Did you ever have a childhood memory that you viewed differently as you got older?

Yes.

When I was six, I was a flower girl in my cousin's wedding. The wedding was in Chicago, so my family drove down over a few days, camping along the way.

It was a big deal, being a part of this wedding, and I'd say one of the biggest moments in my life up to that point. My little cousin was a flower girl with me, and my sister was the ring bearer. My brother and my co-flower girl's brother were also in the wedding party (not sure what they're called though... the boy version of flower girls? Not sure).

Anyway, my aunt had made these pretty lace dresses for me, my cousin and my sister and we also had fake flower crowns (I'm pretty sure we still have one in our long abandoned dress up box, actually) as well as baskets full of fake flowers that we were supposed to sprinkle on the aisle as we walked down it in preparation for the bride.

Of course all of this we knew months in advance, and I was terribly excited about everything, from the dress to the flower crown to my shoes to my frilly white socks. (I had a thing about socks when I was younger).

Finally, the moment came when my cousin and I were supposed to walk down the aisle, throwing our plastic flowers on the white carpet that was rolled out before us.

And... I threw up.

Thankfully I hadn't eaten anything that showed up on my white dress, so my aunt quickly wiped away the clear liquid and sent me down the aisle!

I was mortified and horribly embarrassed at the time, so much so that I pushed the memory down and forgot about it for a while. Now, I think it's funny, and a good picture of what I was like as a six year old. Also it makes for a fun story! :)

What about you? Any horrible memories you tried to suppress, only to realize later they weren't that bad?

News: Going to the Philippines!

Hi!

About a month ago I briefly mentioned that I graduated, but that was all I really said on the topic. Of course the main question that seems to go hand-in-hand with graduation is the dreaded "What are you doing next year?" And, yeah, I've kind of failed to mention what I'm planning to do... that is, until now.

As far as I know you don't really care, but I'm excited so I shall tell you.

So in the US it seems like everyone after high school goes to college right away, and they go away for college. In Canada (or at least where I live), not absolutely everyone goes to university right away or if they do, then they stay in the city or province. (That was your Canadian culture fact of the day).

Anyway! So, I'm not going to university in September... instead I'm going to volunteer at a school in the Philippines from August (yeah, next month) until May of 2013. My aunt and uncle work there and have worked there for a long time and so I'll be living with them. I'm going to be a sort of teacher's assistant in the elementary school. And I'm leaving August 8th! Which is... really soon. I still kind of feel like it isn't real. I bet I'll be on the plane and it still won't feel like I'm going to a country that has a 13 hour time difference from where I live for 8 months.

This announcement is kind of funny, because while my moving to the Philippines affects me and my in real life friends and family, it doesn't affect you. I mean,  to you, I'll still be in the same place - on the internet.

That being said, I don't really know what will happen to my blog when I'm away. I'm assuming I'll be busy but I'm hoping I'll be able to get in at least a few posts about what I'm learning or what life is like there.

So, yeah!