A Day in the Life of A Book

This is not me, nor any of  my relations!!

7:00 A.M.: The fingers that just recently tore their sticky grasp from my pages reach for me once more. I love feeling those fingers on my spine, my pages, my words because it means I'm being used and that means I am useful, so I feel loved. But come on, Reader! You just put me down two hours ago!

7:15 A.M.: I am put through the tortures of breakfast. Never knowing where that dollop of honey is going to fall... I see it dripping from the edge of your slightly burnt toast, Reader! Don't let it fall on me! I've had enough of your meal mishaps, thank you very much. Despite your surprising ability to put me under such torture without so much as a speck of sympathy, I am very impressed by your ability to turn pages with one hand.

8:00 A.M.: I am stuffed in a backpack between a binder and a lunchkit. I am jumbled around and around and around until somewhere between 8:30 and 9:00 I am rescued from the bowels and I get to see the light - or at least, the cold fluroescent light of a school classroom.

9:00 A.M.: I emerge from the backpack, and I am now staring at the underside of a desk coated with gum. I am disgusted, but at least I have half of your face, Reader, to stare at as you devour my words. It is entertaining watching your face contort with reactions to the words sprawled across my insides. Ahh... I love how much you love gorging yourself on my innards. Oh, no! You're eating an apple! Not MORE opportunity for you to get food on my pristine pages!

9:00 AM -3:30 PM: Throughout the day Reader puts me through a routine of stuffing me in the backpack, sliding me out onto her lap and exposing me to light (and food! Ah!) and then stuffing me back in again. By the end of the day, my spine is sore from my pages being open and closed so much but there is also a nagging voice in the back of my mind that tells me this is only a sign of how much she loves me. Just look how many pages she has turned only today! What beautiful fingers she has... (when they aren't covered with peanut butter!)

4:00 PM: Yet another journey out of the backpack, and this time I brace myself for I know there is a long stretch ahead, a marathon if you will. During this time, Reader has an unquenchable appetite and I feel my pages bending under her furious flipping! Though I am becoming increasingly weary, I am prepared and I make it through until her hunger for food overcomes her hunger for words and I am left on the coffee table, open and upside down so she won't lose her spot (oh, I so wish she'd quit that horrible habit... my spine aches so!). I do not understand this want for food. Aren't words so much better, so much more filling?

6:00 PM: I am picked up yet again, for another marathon that I know is to come. But there is joy in my heart when I see Reader swallow words, my words, and I see the corners of her eyes crinkle when she's read something funny, and I see the tears flow down her cheeks when something has touched her. I feel her fingers tense and I feel her heart rate flutter in anticipation.

1:00 AM: I am weary. She is weary. I can feel the grip of her fingers on my pages loosen and I know soon I will drop to the ground, as happens every night, and I will be forced to lie in a very uncomfortable position until morning when Reader picks me up again with eagerness. But I can also feel her mind buzzing with thoughts and they are all buried deep in my words, so much so that I feel as if she is walking among the pages with me, hand in hand. Reader thinks she is too much a part of the story to let go now.

2:00 AM: Reader has fallen asleep. I am sitting on the floor with my spine in the air and my pages splayed out beneath me. I feel as if I am part of a Reader yoga class. Except I am supposed to get some rest like this.

3:30 AM: I manage to sleep. I need my energy in order to give all I can to Reader tomorrow!

*Note that the views expressed by this book in this post are not shared by all books.
*Also note that not all Readers treat their books in the same fashion; this post only demonstrates how one Reader treats books.

Housekeeping

Today I'll get out my broom and sweep some boring Dust Bunnies out of the way for you (by the way, who else was terrified of the dust bunnies in Molly and the Big Comfy Couch when they were younger?)... so yeah be prepared for some boring stuff that I should've probably done awhile ago.

Agenda Item Letter A:

THANK YOU FOLLOWERS (and readers). This is long overdue and I haven't acknowledged any readers or commenters or followers or nothin' yet, so they (ahem, you) deserve some pats on the back. (*patpat*). Thanks for coming and if you ever have suggestions (like if I make a spelling mistake) then just comment nicely! I'll try and update the site/my post/etc.

Agenda Item Letter B: 

If you are new, or even if you aren't, visit my are you new here page.

Agenda Item Letter C:

Some cool posts I've found this week are: This post from Shrinking Violet Promotions, the marketing site for introverts, and this hilarious post that is for all people who cringe at any chatspeak. (This is where I raise my hand determinedly.)

Hmm I don't think I forgot anything... ta-ta!

Storytelling vs. Storytelling

I like words. A lot of the time, I am very good at stringing them together in an organized fashion to tell a story of people and places long ago and far away... (or not so long ago and not so far away, that works too).

But that's just on paper.  Telling stories aloud isn't so easy. (Okay, so on paper isn't so easy either.) But there are those times when my tongue trips over itself and when something that came out needs to be reeled back in, or when those word-soundwaves make their way to my ears and I realize that there is no response but... "uh... WHAT?"

SO. Without further ado, today I just wanted to talk about the differences and similarities between STORYTELLING (Aloud) and STORYTELLING (On Paper).

Storytelling (Aloud): Details are important.

I've noticed when listening to people share their funny stories and memories to each other is that you need to provide backstory. Otherwise, the story doesn't make sense and by the time you get to the punch line the listener is just confused instead of ready to react whether it be laughing or crying (whichever is appropriate. :D). And the more details, the better. It's best to give the listener as much detail as possible so they can really get a sense of where the punch line is coming from.

Storytelling (On Paper): Details are just important, but...

However, On Paper, lots of details, or as we writer-types like to call it "backstory" (in some cases), takes the reader OUT of the story instead of introducing us into it, like Aloud does. Even though some background is necessary, it's important that it comes in naturally instead of just retelling events of the past. The reader should get an idea of the backstory through the action, not details just being laid out for us. BUT details are still important. Just because they aren't present to the reader, they still need to be there in order to give life to the story.

Storytelling (Aloud): When the cow has been milked, STOP!

Today my choir teacher commented (*note that music people, like writers, are on a different life circle than everyone else*) that comedy is the cow and that laughter is the milk and their goal for the grade 9 comedy musical is to milk the cow of comedy... something like that... uhm.

ANYWAY... my point is, when storytelling (aloud), once you've elicited a reaction from your listener, that's the end of your story. There's no need to add more, to try and keep getting a reaction because, well, that's boring. As soon as you've said the punch line and the listener laughs/cries/does something crazy. (Of course there are stories with multiple punch lines which would have to elicit multiple reactions). 

Storytelling (On Paper):  Same goes (kind of)

To me, it seems like this concept applies to the storytelling (On Paper) concept of CLIFFHANGERS. Those are the "punch lines" of your story, where you finally end your story (or part of your story) with something that would get a reaction out of the reader. The not-going-too-far would apply to endings. There's no need to lay out every little detail about the story after the ending. Leave the punch line and final reaction be!

I could think of more, I'm sure, but that's lots of words for today. So.

PICTURES!

Stories on Paper! Um... kind of.
Borrowed from http://www.funnypictureblog.blogspot.com/.
Visit for more cool pictures.

Storytelling Aloud from Paper. :) by Shirley Hughes
Found here

I like fonts. :) So I am obsessed with this site. I am so cool.

Thoughts? Share below!

RTW: Listening Love

Today in history class we listened to a half hour audio documentary. There's something extremely relaxing about just closing your eyes, listening, and just imagining all the pictures in your head as opposed to the pictures being given to you. We live in a very visual world, and it's nice sometimes to enjoy our other senses.

ANYWAY today at YA Highway for Road Trip Wednesday they are asking who should narrate your audio book.

I don't have a specific WIP in mind to be narrated, but I definitely think that whatever book is narrated, it should be done by someone with a nice voice. A voice that is enjoyable to listen to. So I thought of two voices.

ONE:

Tahereh Mafi. This is odd, but when I listened to her recording of her pronouncing her name I was amazed at how pretty her voice was. :) Yes, I know it's weird.

TWO:

Aslan. Otherwise known as Liam Neeson, the guy who voices Aslan of the Chronicles of Narnia in the films. I think Aslan's voice was perfect in the films, so I would want the narration to be in the same style. Although if the real Aslan could somehow narrate my novel, I'm sure his voice would be pretty awesome.

Yup.

Whose voices would you like to listen to as they narrate a book?

MASS OF LINKS: Teen Writer Peoples, Teen Sites, and more Young Author Stuffs

EDIT: The internet is a rapidly changing place! Be aware that this was posted two years ago, and since then some of these bloggers have stopped blogging or don't exist online anymore, or are no longer teens.  Also some of the writing magazines have ceased to exist. However, there is a plethora of information out there about writing and teens writing, you only have to look. I would suggest getting on Twitter, that's where a ton of supportive writer teens hang out!

I am a teen, therefore I am drawn to other teens like me, who write, like me.  And it's awesome the leaps that teens can make in the publishing world when they put their minds to it and work their (our?) pretty little heads off!!

IF THEY CAN DO IT, SO CAN WE:
Writers who are not necessarily current teens, but got published at a young age!

Mariam Maarouf, who is currently 17 years old and lives in Alexandria, Egypt. Her first book is Rosie.

Australian author of Girl Saves Boy (whoops almost wrote "Boy Saves Girl") Steph Bowe is only 17 years old!

Veronica Roth, author of upcoming release Divergent (judging from all the hype, it sounds like it'll be good!!) is only 22. (Oh, I tried to find a wikipedia page of her that doesn't exist - it asked me if I really meant "Veronika Toth?")

Another Australian, Alexandra Adornetto was published when she was only 13! She is now 18, and still writing.

Flavia Bujor, French author of The Prophecy of Stones was published when she was 14.

Amelia Atwater-Rhodes at 14.

Cayla Kluver is currently 18, but was published when she was only 15.

Of course, Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon and such, was published (self-published, no less) at 19. He actually started writing Eragon, though, at 15.

Kody Keplinger was published when she was 18, and she is now 19 (I think). She is the author of The DUFF.

S.E. Hinton, introvert author of the amazing book that is now read in grade nine high school classes across Canada was 19 when she published The Outsiders.

Comedic Canadian author Gordon Korman was 14 when he published his first book with Scholastic, This Can't Be Happening At Macdonald Hall.

Another Canadian, Kenneth Oppel (author of the Silverwings series), was 18 when he had his first book published.

Jessica Dunn and Daneille Dunn started writing the first edition of A Teen's Guide to Getting Published when they were in eigth grade, and were published by the time they were 15.

Lara Fox and Hilary Frankel wrote a book about teens and parent communication called Breaking the Code when they were sixteen.

MORE SIGNIFICANT TEEN PEOPLE
Some actual teen writers who are trying to make it out there! (...in no particular order)

-Taryn Albright, 18 years old, of Seattle and part of the Noveltee(n) group!
-Aleeza Rauf, 17, from Pakistan, writer and reviewer and fun person.
-Emilia Plater, 17, who is represented by Suzie Townsend of Fineprint Lit. She is a cool gal. (And when I googled her trying to find her blog address, a wikipedia page of Countess Emilia Plater came up. Haha!)
-Britany Clarke, 17, I just started following so I can say much!
-Amanda Kurka, 17, who is inspiring, and likes red pandas.
-Kate Coursey, 18, and winner of the 2010 Scholastic PUSH Novel Contest.
-Anna W. Waggener, also winner of the PUSH Novel Contest but for 2008.
-Emery Grey, 18, and believes grey is spelled with an e.
-Kat Zhang, 17, soon to be published by HarperChildren's!
-Yahong Chi, 14 year old (I think) Canadian teen who reviews stuff!
-André Geleynse, 16 from Canada! Also part of Noveltee(n).
-I'm sorry but... me. :D I'm sixteen (seventeen as of today, actually) and Canadian!!

SO NOW ONTO WEBSITES AND COOL TEEN WRITER MAGS
-Teen Ink is a huge site where you can post work like art, poems, short stories, etc. Some of them are selected for publication in their monthly magazine, but there are TONS of submissions there.
-I am not familiar with InkPop, but I believe it is similar to Teen Ink in that you can post whatever writing for all to see. There is also contests. You'd have to visit the site to get more info, though!
-Speak Up Press is an online teen literary journal, looking for submissions of fiction, nonfiction and poetry from 13-19 year olds.
-The Claremont Review is an awesome magazine published twice a year that showcases amazing writing. I'm sorry but submissions are only open to Canadians, but everyone else should buy it just because the writing in this journal is so good!
-OH NO Okay I was going to post the link to the lovely Canadian What If? Magazine where I got MY first publication, but it's ENDING!! :( Sad face. Oh well. You can still check out some work on there, though.
-Every so often Paper Hangover, a newer blog on the writing blogosphere, will post teen interviews. They're kinda fun!
-Wet Ink Magazine is another Canadian arts magazine,written by and for teens! All of it is online, though. Check out the submission guidelines.
-Check out the new blog by teens, Noveltee(n)! All the contributors there seem really interesting from what I have gathered so far!

WRITING AS A TEEN
Along with visiting all the links above, there are lots of ways for young writers to get published without actually GETTING PUBLISHED. (The capital letters to mean, publishing a real book with a real publisher, agent, etc, etc).

Blogs are an awesome way to do that, but I find there are tons of teen writer ezines and magazines that love to publish young writers' works. To find them, you just have to look for them. (And when you find them, send the link to me so I can add it to this link mass!) Also if you look for them I'm sure there are tons of contests for young writers in the area where you live.

Another fun thing I like to do is e-mail authors, especially ones that aren't crazy famous like J.K. Rowling or Gordon Korman. They probably don't get as many e-mails so they'll be more likely to reply to you. This seems like a very little kid thing to do, but I like it. :)

So, teens (and other people too!), be encouraged! Don't give up! All these awesome guys didn't!

That said...


Please comment with suggestions of links and people that I can add to any of the above categories!!

*Note: the links for the authors that were published at a young age aren't necessarily blogs, but wikipedia pages or biographies because either I figure the main thing you'd want to know is more about them, or I couldn't find any other link!

Be AWARE!!

So, Happy May everyone! Here in Canada, I woke up to this on the glorious first day of May:

April showers bring May... snowstorms??

Thankfully a lot of it has melted already... I'm hoping it'll all be gone soon!

So, now that I have made you aware of the weather on my corner of the earth... I will now proceed to make you aware of some other things, while straying away from the writerly/readerly stuff for once. (I think I may do this more often, it's fun sharing different things I find out!)

Anyway, before we get any deeper, watch this video, and PAY ATTENTION. I'd say I have a prize for you if you pay attention, but I don't. Unless you want a virtual pat on the back.

So. How'd you do? And I'm not talking about getting the number of passes right. Yeah, you didn't see the bear, did you? Neither did I when I tried this.

It's amazing how much of the world we don't pay attention to, isn't it? If you think about all the stimuli and information that could be entering our brain at one time, well, it's overwhelming. We HAVE to ignore stuff or we'd explode. The problem with that is we might miss really important stuff because we aren't paying attention to the right things (like... a moon walking bear, maybe?)

This was a big part of a discussion that was going on in one of my classes at school. Afterward, though, I was thinking about the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and how the character in that book mentioned that he has to take everything in. That's why he hates going to new places: he has to notice every little thing that's different. No wonder these kinds of people don't like change and are adamant about routine. My mom later told me that this would count as autism.

See, the thing is, people who have I guess "normal" brains, see the big picture. Instead of seeing a whiteboard with "Practise flute" and a whole bunch of specific stuff written on it, and going throughout the room and taking in every detail, we see just a room. Maybe details here and there, if our brain decides it needs to take into account that information.

But people with autism see the details, instead of the big picture. My dad told me about this radio host who had a girl with a high level of autism on his show to interview her. Apparently she talked about the experience of walking through a field, and how just all the different colours of green would overwhelm her. Pretty crazy, isn't it? I mean, if we wanted to we could seperate colours of green, but why would we want to pay attention to that?

Isn't thinking about how people think fascinating?

What kinds of things are worthy of your attention? Certain details? Just the big picture?

What Makes A Book Great??

I'd already read the whole Hunger Games trilogy once, and since I'd read all my library books I decided to read them again. After reading some just okay books, the Hunger Games books struck me as particularly amazing, even the second time.

There were lots of things I noticed that made these books so, well, great in my eyes.

For one, the fact that it was realistic. I mean, in a way. There's obviously no Districts or Panem or Hunger Games in the real world but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the feelings and the characters and even the story itself. The ending was also satisfying in the way that it wasn't (hopefully you know what I mean!).

And, of course, the characters. Especially Katniss. It amazes me how real she is. She's not always on one side or the other, but kind of wavering in between, waltzing to and fro, getting caught in other's actions and lies and sometimes trying to untangle herself from them. I liked how she didn't always seem to be on the "good" side or the "bad side".

In fact, there wasn't a distinct good or evil side. Sometimes this is nice, but in the real world sometimes you don't know what's right or wrong. At least it's uncertain.

I guess my point is, part of a great book is having them be real. There is so much fake in the world, we need our books to reflect reality.

What do you think makes a book great?

Nerds

dictionary.com says:

noun Slang .


1. a stupid, irritating, ineffectual, or unattractive person.

2. an intelligent but single-minded person obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit: a computer nerd.

The real definition, o' course:

1. people that are funny, awesome, cool and have more fun from other people because of their weird obsessions.

2. little candy things in assorted colours that come in boxes

3. people that have fun being quirky

4. ME!

What's your definition of nerd? Do you have fun being quirky?? :)

Just something fun for today!

Learning Is Awesome (I don't care what you say, it is)

I was thinking today about all the things I want to learn/learn about: French, how other countrys governments work, other cultures both ancient and modern, history of other countries, other languages, how to cook...

I was also thinking about how with so much of this stuff money is involved. Whether it be books, classes, ingredients... it costs. Which sucks.

Yet... there are ways to learn without classes or books or anything! (And I'm not talking about school, either. I mean, who learns THERE? And that wasn't sarcasm, by the way.)

Well... how about right HERE? Yup, you can learn stuff right here at I Am Writer Hear Me Roar. What you learn probably depends more on you and your brain, and other determining factors, but yes, you can just come here, read some stuff and maybe take away some snippets and go "You know what, I learned something. COOL."

So today Teacher Gracie is going to tell you... the origin of the phrase "cop out".

I was thinking of this because I was thinking what I would think if an author killed the main character at the end of a book and left the ending at that, and I kind of figured it's a kind of cop-out because it's an easy ending.

Anyway...

"Cop" was originally an old English slang term, around 1695-1705, that meant "to seize" or "to take" or "to capture" or something along those lines, which is where it came to be used for a policeman or "copper". Then a cop-out became to confess and accept a deal with the police, or really entering a guilty plea which came to be called "copping a plea". This was in the 1940s. And now we use it in pretty much the same sense, except we apply it to getting out of just about anything, not just police stuff.

**So ur ces

What A Soccer Obsessed Teenage Boy (aka my brother) Has to Say About Books

After going for a couple weeks (sorry!) without a post, I FINALLY came up with an idea: to interview my brother on what he thinks of books.

Now, why did I want to interview my brother? Well, not because he's a book/writer genius. My brother is very intelligent, but not so much in that area. He's detail-impaired (as you'll be able to see...) and his two loves are soccer, soccer, and cooking. (Okay, three. He's the one who is good at math. :D) Oh, he's fifteen years old, too. (Although he's actually two years younger than me; it's just his birthday is in February and mine's in May.)

No, I wanted to interview my brother just to get an idea of what someone else thinks about the book world who isn't immersed in it as much as we are ("we" being people like me, who stalk book/writer blogs and write stories and blogs like this).

So here we go [My comments in italic]. It might help to imagine him playing a video game while answering the questions, just to get a better idea. Not to mention that's what he was doing what I asked him questions.

Me: What are your favourite kinds of books and why?
Bro: Books Mom picks. (My mom picks most of the books he reads). Not mysteries 'cause I don't like thinking.

Me: What would have to be an element of a book to make sure you read it?
Bro: A sequel. By this he means, the book would have to be a sequel to something else. Clever, hey?

Me: How do you pick books you read? (I mean the ones Mom doesn't pick out).
Bro: Read the back; the cover is interesting, like futuristic; books of authors I like, like Eoin Colfer. I had to ask him multiple questions to get this all out of him, mind you.

Me: What would make you put down a book without finishing it?
Bro: Not interesting/exciting. I got answers like "I don't know" or "I don't remember" when I pressed him to elaborate.

Me: What is your favourite book?
Bro: Artemis Fowl (series) by Eoin Colfer.

Me: What did you think of the idea of the Hunger Games with the whole reality show-murder thing?
Bro: Well, it's what the Greek or Roman or whatever did, except instead of being in the past it's in the future. Sometimes, there's little gold nuggets in there!!

Me: Do you prefer reading about male or female main characters?
Bro: Doesn't matter.

And, just for fun:

Me: Why is a book horrible to you?
Bro: I can't remember.

Yup. Pretty helpful, all that. But I actually realized something. His way of picking books and reading them is a pretty efficient filter. I mean, first it goes through Mom and then usually it goes through me so the book has to be pretty good to get all the way to my brother. And... I totally lost my train of thought.

Well, anyway, another thing I noticed is how he doesn't really let anything affect his reading. He just gets immersed in the story, not really caring (okay, not caring at all) about the point of view, the gender of the character, or any other little things that might bother him about the set up of the story. Things that I might notice and judge, but he doesn't even see. Which is good,  in this case, because then it doesn't affect his actual enjoyment of the reading. He just enjoys them, because they have to be enjoyable for him to read them.

He's probably going to be really annoyed with me for analyzing him, either that or weirded out. Oh well! :) I guess that's just another difference between us. I think the stuffing out of everything, and he doesn't like mystery "cuz I don't like thinking".

Love you, bro!

In Which I Talk About Mud And Books

This is my room.
Okay, I *wish* it was my room.

It's like walking through a mud puddle. Or, trying to walk through a mud puddle, really. We want to get to the other side, we want to slosh through and find a spot where maybe it won't be quite so thick. But no matter what, we just feel like we have to turn back because we're never going to get there.

That's kind of how I feel when I read a bad book. I want to finish it, on principle, but it's just too slow, and boring, and... muddy. And who knows? Maybe the mud doesn't end. And then I just wasted a day reading a muddy book.

Yet, a lot of things are useful that we didn't think would be at first. For example, a bad book. I think that it isn't useful to read a book that I'm not going to get anything out of, that I'm going to be tripping on the entire time, that I'm not going to enjoy, and that I'm getting more and more annoyed at the tell-and-not-show writing, at the lack of anything happening, at the whiny brat of a character. 

But, I also think, it kind of is useful. To see the examples of what not to do. Because we hear a lot of advice about what to not do, but I don't know about you but I find it a whole lot easier to catch on with examples. It's a good thing there's bad books around so we can have those examples.

(Although I'm not saying write a bad book just so someone can have an example of what not to do...)

And I guess if you're a reader, bad books are useful so they let you know what to look for next time.

Look! Useful things made from things that weren't going to be used (but now are being used):

Magazine table!

This was made out of menus, postcards, junk mail, greeting cards
and other recyclabes!

These shoes are awesome!!

RTW: Well, When I Was Your Age...

This week's YA Highway Road Trip Wednesday question is...

What books were you obsessed with as a kid?

There is only one book -well, series- that I was obsessed with.

Yup. My best friend and I tried (and failed miserably) to start our own babysitter club. We even painted this box in hopes to make it our own private BSC library, cardboard library cards and everything. And we also tried to make a movie of the book Mary Anne Saves the Day.

Yes, I think I was definitely obsessed. :)

An Encouraging Post (I Hope)

As a newer blogger, the pages on other people's blogs that say "Tips for Blogging" or "How to Blog", etc, interest me quite a bit. And I read them, and they are helpful -very much so- but they also start me going on a "what if" spin.

I read "People like funny people. Be funny and interesting..." and all of a sudden I'm going: Am I interesting? What if I'm not interesting? What if I'm not funny? I'm not funny! How do I be funny? These things don't come naturally to some people...

And I dissolve into a puddle of worry and doubt, and I realize I should probably stop looking at those How-To Blog posts, and that I need to write An Encouraging Post, telling me as much as other new bloggers that everything's OK.

So....

How to Blog Post: Be funny. Be interesting. Be cool, be this, that and the other thing.

Me: It's okay to be yourself. More than okay. Because if you're not yourself, who are you? And when you're yourself, you'll find that it's easy to be funny, and interesting, and slightly cool and nerdy and maybe a little bit awesome but still able to be serious sometimes too.

How to Blog Post: Blogging is work, blogging is for marketing, you need to work to get an audience, you need to adjust to your readership, on and on and on...

Me: It's okay to just have fun. Maybe you have different motivations, but for me, blogging is about sharing my thoughts on my interests like writing and reading, and looking at other people's thoughts on those same topics. And it's fun for me, writing about writing and reading about writing. Who doesn't like having fun?

So I just hope that will encourage someone in their blogging/writing journey!

And... I would also like to point out some great posts that you should check out, like, right now:

• Dianna Wynne Jones just passed away, and Neil Gaiman posted about his friendship with her. 
• Author Corrinne Jackson is holding a contest with cupcake prizes to celebrate all the awesome book deals, etc she is getting. You should also follow her blog... I find I am always inspired by her posts!
• Writer Claire Dawn has a crazy idea and needs your help - she plans to make a list of 100 Books Every Writer Should Read. Go to the link to read contest details -and yes, there are prizes.
• This post is awesome. And basically, I believe everything that is said in that post.

Happy spring!

How People Think

This afternoon, as I was getting my haircut a chair over from me a woman was getting her hair dyed and cut. And, as happens so often, she was talking (to her hairdresser; not to me) and I was listening. (Listening! Not eavesdropping *ahem*, well.) I listened to her talk about various things like buying a house, or going out for dinner tonight and just by listening to a few random snippets of conversation I learned quite about this woman. For one, that she does or has lived in a condo in Toronto and is now looking for a house in Winnipeg. I also learned that she is a widow, and has kids that are grown and have kids of their own.

I was thinking about this -the interesting things you can learn about a stranger just by listening, and people's stories - when all of a sudden....

Flashback!

To... last night, me, my brother, my sister, my mom and my dad all standing (or lying down or sitting) around my parent's room and chatting at 10:30 PM about various things. Well, at first my mother and father were arguing, basically about who was right or who was wrong and it was all very amusing. Then it became even more amusing when my dad started reminiscing about the days when they were first married and they (my mom and dad) were working out their relationship, and how to deal with things, and Dad said that it helped him extremely to think of their relationship in terms of graphs.

Just by that, you can probably get a fairly decent picture of my dad in all his glorious nerdiness (today he and my cousin spent the day testing their cameras through various nerdy setups). Then he went on to say how he often thinks of things in terms of math, or science, and it helps him understand things.

This, I thought, was a very interesting concept: That different people think in terms of different things, favouring their interests.

I also wondered: what do I think in terms of?

And, in a lot of instances, I think in terms of... stories. :) Yup. Or really, what if questions that turn into stories. For example, once when I took the recycling out to the curb on a cold day in winter I noted that cold air really clears your head.

All of a sudden my brain was saying: what if someone really loved that feeling of being clear-headed? And they knew they could get it from the cold? And they were slightly crazy? And so they loved that feeling so much that they froze themselves to death....

My family thought I was, um, crazy.

What do you think in terms of? Math? Science? Stories?

The Heart of Fiction

I would die to be able to write a song.

Um... maybe not. But sometimes it feels really frustrating that I can't get my feelings out in a way that will display them to the world and tell others what I want to say without just saying things flatly outright like "I was wondering if I would be a different person if I didn't have a sister with Down Syndrome", but saying things like that in a kind of hidden, deep, metaphorical way with haunting melodies to match. And then you can feel and say, with maybe feeling exposed but at least not naked.

So then, as I'm standing in front of the mirror brushing my teeth (yes, these deep contemplative times for me come not when I am looking out over a sunset, but when I am brushing my teeth...) I think: OK. I can't write songs. But, you know, sometimes I write poems.

And the voice inside my head that somehow is able to disagree with me goes: But, a poem? No, just... no. Today, that's not going to work. I can't explain it, but I need the simpleness of lyrics and the comfort of music.

And then I was thinking of books, or I guess fiction, and how that's what I really love to do is write these made-up stories. And even though it's all just out of the thin air of imagination, it's not. It's threads of stories and ideas and thoughts and wonderings, all these things that if I was a songwriter or a (better) poet I would express in songs or poems.

Instead, I insert things into characters and their ideas and their stories and process my experiences and thoughts and beliefs there. And then when my characters are thinking and speaking and being profound I go, "Hey. I believe that too, whaddaya know?" or I just breathe because it's pretty.

Like a fiction song.

:)

Story Week Day 5: Story Behind the Song

I love songs. They are stories in themselves a lot of the time, but a lot of times they also have a history behind them. Today I'm going to share with you the history behind two very different songs: It Is Well with My Soul by Hoartio G. Spafford, which is a hymn written in 1873, and Fire and Rain by James Taylor.

Fire and Rain
James Taylor
(source)

Apparently, at first there was a lot of debate about what exactly Taylor had written this song about, but eventually he narrowed it down to what each of the three different parts was about.


Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone. Suzanne the plans they made put an end to you

This part of the song was speculated to be about Taylor's good childhood friend, Suzanne Schnerr, committing suicide, and this was what this part of the song ended up being about. Suzanne died while Taylor was away recording his first album, and he didn't even know about it until six months later because his friends and family at home were afraid it would distract him from his "big break".

Won't you look down upon me Jesus, you've got to help me take a stand, you've just got to see me through another day

This second verse refers to Taylor's struggles with drug addiction and depression.

Well there's hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground

This third verse doesn't refer to a plane crash, but a band Taylor worked with briefly. It also dealt "with coming to grips with fame and fortune, looking back at the road that got him there."

It Is Well with My Soul
Horatio G. Spafford

It is Well with My Soul is probably on the other end of the spectrum from Fire and Rain, but has just as interesting a story behind it, if not more interesting.

Horatio dealt with a lot of grief and pain in his lifetime. First of all, he lost a fortune when the great Chicago fire consumed the city in 1871. Soon after, his only son who was only four, died from scarlet fever. He tried to forget about his grief by working to rebuild the city and help the newly homeless.

Then, only two years later in 1873 Horatio decided to take his wife and daughters to Europe, although there was complications with his job and he ended up sending them on the boat to Europe ahead of him. His wife, Anna, and their four daughters Maggie, Tanetta, Annie and Bessie all boarded the ship Ville du Havre that November with Horatio promising to join them soon.

At sea, the ship collided with an iron sailing vessel. Within hours, the mighty ship had sunk. All four of Horatio's daughters died, and Mrs. Spafford was found nearly unconscious clinging to a piece of wreckage.

Horatio hurriedly boarded a ship to go and join his wife. On the way there, the captain mentioned when they passed over the spot the Ville du Havre had sunk. Horatio went down to his cabin and said, of all things, "It is well; the will of God be done."

And thus the hymn "It is Well with My Soul" was written:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say
"It is well, It is well, with my soul."

It is well (It is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul!

My sin, O the bliss of this glorious tho't
My sin not in part but the whole
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, O my soul!

(Chorus)

O Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend
Even so it is well with my soul.

Here's a modernized version of the hymn if you want to hear what it sounds like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0BmO6OpVS0&feature=fvwrel

Story Week Day 4: Epic Love Story

(Ha! It's still Thursday... barely, but still!)

So, my Grandma and Grandpa (my dad's parents) are very interesting people. My Grandma is social and speaks softly but chatters often and likes parties. My Grandpa has bad hearing, and doesn't talk all that much but sits in his chair during family gatherings and reads his Nora Roberts books.

I have heard their love story so many times, but it's awesome -epic, if you will- every time.

Before I get into that, though... tonight I was watching a video that my dad taped around six years ago of my Grandma telling stories about her childhood. At the end there was a funny conversation with my Grandma and Grandpa which sums up some of their very amusing personality:

Grandma: You know, Grandpa doesn't talk a lot at times and I-

Grandpa (in the background, interuppting): What do you mean, "at times"?

Grandma: And I, when Grandpa and I first met I think I did most of the talking and didn't catch on that he wasn't really starting many conversations.

Grandpa: Still the same, I can't get a word in edgewise!

:) Gotta love 'em.

Now... forward with today's story:

Gracie's Grandparents Epic Love Story

Just because he's interesting, I'll start with my Grandma's dad, whose name was Glen Patterson although everyone called him "Pat" (so when my Grandma was younger she thought his full name was Patrick). Anyway, he ran away to Canada from the U.S. when he was fourteen (I think because his father was abusive). Apparently he liked to make up stories and he would tell people he was born in Hull, Ontario even though he was from the states.

Well, my Grandma's dad was a chef with the military in Canada. My Grandpa came all the way from Australia to train in Canada for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Well, Grandma's dad and Grandpa must have worked together, and Pat invited Grandpa to his house. Which, incidentally, is where he met Grandma. Grandpa might've stayed there for dinners and weekends, I'm not sure exactly. But Grandpa wasn't in Canada very long before he went back to Australia.

Note: not one of their letters. Just an internet pic.

Then, they wrote letters. One of my Grandma's comments from the video is "he was very good at writing letters, he would write pages and pages". I think it is extremely sweet to imagine my Grandpa, who doesn't talk all that much, writing pages and pages of romantic letters to his sweetheart across the ocean...

Well, apparently as they were writing letters they planned to get engaged and married, and Grandma made plans to go to Australia. She took the entire three week boat trip there (the anticipation would be dreadful, I'm sure!) and arrived at the dock in Australia. Only once she got there, she panicked and realized she couldn't remember what Grandpa looked like! She started to worry that she wouldn't recognize him, and here she was, standing on the dock in Australia, miles away from home... but, alas, she did recognize him.

Grandma and Grandpa did get married and they stayed in Australia for five years, having one child (my uncle) in that time. But Grandma was really homesick for Canada, so they moved back to Canada and didn't go back to Australia for quite a long time.

My Grandpa still has his Australian accent, and my grandparents have now been married for over sixty years.

What did I tell you? Epic.

Story Week Day 3: From Stories To Books (and RTW!)

Today's YA Highway Road Trip Wednesday prompt is...

Who have you written into a book? Be honest.

First of all I have to say a few things: Story Week is the week (this week) that I've taken to tell some stories, to share some stories, and to just overall celebrate the power of the story. Check out my other two posts from this week here and here.

I love RTW, so all this week I've been hoping I could tie the Wednesday prompt into my Story Week... and, well, I can!

See, all these stories we encounter in life: our brother's best friend's dad dying, our best friend going through her parents divorce, our dad's stories of growing up in the 60s and 70s... all these stories end up in our writing. We take little bits and pieces of each one, put them together, add some imagination and make something new and fun. Our writing is influenced a lot by our lives and our stories and other's stories, it would be hard not to write someone into a book!

So, back to the question... I think I've probably written bits and pieces of everyone I know into my writing. A character I named Maggie was based off of my best friend. The better question for me would be who I have written into a book most.

And that person would be...

Me. I'm sure I've put myself more than anyone else into my characters. :)

What stories/people have you slipped into your writing?



Me about four years ago, reading (what else?)



Story Week Day 2: Childhood Story

I know, I know! I forgot to post Day 2 of Story Week yesterday, when I said I would post each day. Bad blogger, Gracie, bad blogger. >:( Okay.

But I hope you'll forgive me anyway and still enjoy this blog post...



Please???

So I've decided since I've announced my own Story Week, that today I am going to share with you some stories that I wrote when I was, um, younger. A lot younger. Like, six. Maybe seven. Just to let you know.

And now...

Linda and the Dragon

LINDA and THE DRAGON
by Gracie The Six Year Old


Linda was in the meadow she heard something behind her. in front of her she saw a small stick that was burnt. she assumed there was nothing behind her. but when she saw what was behind her she screamed aaaahhhhhhhhhhh Linda screamed, it it it it’s a dragon! Who are you? Asked Linda, I’m a not very friendly dragon said the dragon sadly well, Ill be your friend said Linda in a nice voice OK said the dragon then what do you want to do suddenly Linda’s mother came to see what Linda was doing Linda didn’t know what to do about the dragon then she had an idea she found the dragons cave but the problem was that there was no were to get in and out of the cave. so nothing would work they tried everything there was a lock but no key there’s a secret for dragon’s whispered the dragon what secret? questioned Linda oh its th- STOP! yelled Linda why? I think I know a way in. What asked the dragon your t-that’s it its my TAIL interrupted the dragon in a loud voice my mother heard you as she screamed at the dragon.

Yes. I was that awesome. Haha. I'm sorry you had to read all that -no paragraphs, indents, quotations, periods, capital letters and all. But you've got to love Linda and her Dragon, right? Right?
 
What are some of the stories of your childhood?

Stories: Today, Silly Story Day

Last Thursday I closed the cover on the beautiful words of Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta and was immediately re-blown away (the initial blow-away occuring while I was reading). I think the most amazing thing about my new favourite book is the beautiful stories that each and every character has behind them. In a lot of books I've read the minor characters have names, and stereotypes through the protagnists eyes, and that's it. But the stories of all of these characters in Jellicoe Road.... well, blew me away.

And then that made me think of when I was sitting in church the Sunday before and thinking about how books don't just have stories, people do. Each and every person has stories, a bunch of them, inside them that makes them who they are. I went through a list in my head, thinking of every person I knew and their story and how, I don't know, cool it is that everyone has a story.

So, I've decided to make this Story Week! here on my blog. Each day I am going to share a story, whether it be one of my own or my grandparent's amazing love story that stretches between two continents. If you want, you can share some stories of your own on your blog and just let me know here and I'll go check them out, or just leave a story in the comments and I'll be sure to read it! :)

Anyway... today's story, I've decided is just going to be something silly (we need silliness on these dreary Mondays) that happened to me last year on a choir trip.

The Day the Turtle Emerged From Its Shell
by Gracie

There are two things you should know before I start this story. One, I am not really an outgoing person. (Although I am quite talkative when I want to be). Two, the choir director that I have had for the past three years is, um, kind of crazy (which, if you've ever known any music teacher, is kind of predictable).

Anyway... last year was my first time on a choir tour with this choir director's choir. They have a bunch of weird traditions -like saying "Opa" (I'm still not sure exactly when you're supposed to say this) and singing at every single street corner, restaurant and hotel we stop at/eat at/stay at. (Actually, "drive-by singing" is really fun).

Most of the time we get around by bus, and since we have to make sure we don't leave anyone behind, we have to do attendance each time. Awhile ago the chaperones found an efficient way of doing this - assign everyone a number and everyone just shouts out their number when it's their turn.

Well, guess what? My crazy choir director had made up a way to get all the students to pay attention during attendance -you have to do something embarassing if you don't say your number. And you have to do it whatever number of times your number is. One guy had to take his shirt off his shirt 3 times (his last name only started with C).

So. My last name starts with S. I was number 23. And... yeah, I missed my number. It was pretty terrible, I had completely forgotten it was mine and the chaperones were looking around going "23? Who's 23?" and all of a sudden my eyes widen and I realize... I'm 23. I did not like the mischevious looks my choir director was giving me as they tried to cook up a punishment!

After a few minutes of discussion, they came up with a plan: I had to count 23 of my curls. (If you've looked at the "The Blogger" page, you'll know I have a live creature that lives on my head -I mean, *ahem*, curly hair). Name each one. And give each one a characteristic. This might not have been so bad if it was someone who was outgoing and could easily stand up in front of a busload of teenagers and subsequently name and personalityize 23 locks of their hair.

But I did it, and I actually started naming them after people on the bus and saying one of their characteristics, and so it actually turned out to be kind of fun. I probably embarassed myself with some of the things I said, but I got a little turtle as an award on our unofficial end-of-trip awards ceremony (another choir tour tradition) for "coming out of my shell".

Yup. :) Hope you enjoyed that!

I will only come out of my shell for food. Only food!!







 Share your silly stories!

Who I Look Up To (RTW)

Today's Road Trip Wednesday over at YA Highway relates to Kirsten Hubbard's Like Mandarin, where there is a teen girl called Grace who would give anything to be like Mandarin Ramey.

My Mandarins:

I. Liz, who is a girl at my school a grade younger than I am and is one of the nicest people in the school. I want to have her ability to talk and connect with everyone, to be cute and fun, and to be that friendly, people-person. I'm sure she makes everyone and anyone around her go, "She's so nice". I want to be like that.

II. My sister, because she is just that awesome. She has a personality of gold, complete with effortless humour, cuteness and the ability to express herself with reckless abandon (sometimes, like when she's angry, this is not such a good thing... haha). My sister, though, is awesome and sometimes I feel sorry for all the people out there who don't get her as a sister. ;) Sorry, she's MINE (well, mine and my parents' and my brother's).

III. My best friend, Emily. I want to have her extreme loyalty in friendships and her awesome ability to do whatever she wants without worrying about caring what other people think.

I realize it's a good thing to be yourself, but now that I've laid out my role models, I also realize that it's good to have role models, people to look at and learn something from, take away what you learned and then use it. And then, whaddyaknow, it ends up becoming part of yourself anyway. And then you can be yourself, just better.

Staying In Focus

STOP.

Freeze. Put brain into slo-mo. Breathe. Relax. Wait and...

Focus.

A lot of us have trouble focusing these days, don't we? We have fifty tabs open to five different blogs, Facebook, IM, Wikipedia, Youtube, this that... and we're also chatting on the phone while reading snippets of the book we're currently reading.

(Okay, maybe I shouldn't be saying we maybe I should be saying I, but I am saying 'we' in all hope that I am not alone in overtasking!)

I have to admit that I am insane multitasker. I will be listening to music, doing homework, eating my snack and reading newspaper articles all at the same time. I will be studying in my head while doing laundry. I will be looking up stuff on the computer while surfing the blogs, while reading my book as I wait for pages to load. It's efficient, I tell myself, I am getting more done in a little time.

I am surprised my brain has not gone on strike by now! 

As it turns out, multitasking isn't multitasking at all. We aren't actually capable of doing many things at once. What we are capable of is flitting from one thing to another, quickly on one thing like posting on a blog, oh now to reading a book, back to blog, over to the phone conversation, back to book, then to blog... all around like that. 

You can see how it would take a toll on our brain, on our focus.

And, can I say that we need some of that focus to write? I know I've been victim to the nagging feeling in the back of my head as I'm writing that's saying you should be, can be doing something else like doing homework or blogging or-or-or and on and on like that. SHUT UP, NAGGING VOICE!!

TO BRING YOUR BRAIN INTO FOCUS :
*note suggestions are suggestions not guaranteed to achieve focus. Only you can do that!

• RESIST THE INTERNET. Close every window but your story. If the temptation is too much, turn off your internet for awhile (or break your Wi-Fi connection! - or, not).
• REMOVE ALL DISTRACTIONS. Books, away. Cellphones, away. Music, away (unless this helps you write). EVERYTHING AWAY except for, you know, your brain and your writing.
• DISCIPLINE. I'm sorry, but you have to have discipline. Discipline to concentrate, to push yourself forward into your story and I think once you're in there you'll have a hard time getting out. (Like when you're a kid and you just DON'T want to get in the bath, you HATE baths and then half an hour later when your mom comes and says time to get out, you hold your breath underwater for thirty seconds hoping she won't see you and leave you be in your perfect bubbly paradise.) Look forward to that perfect bubbly paradise! 

What do you do to help you stay focused on your writing? 

Reappeared From Off The Face of the Earth

Well, not the face of the Earth. Just... from Cuba!

:)

Yup, that's where I have disappeared to for a week on a trip with my school's grade 11 & 12 band. Um, I sort of forgot to tell you that my posts would be minimal for about a week (okay, fine, non-existent)... yeah, sorry about that. Anyway.

It was a really awesome experience, definitely one you wouldn't get if  you were just going to Cuba on vacation. The music was amazing -at one school there was four probably six-year-old girls singing in four part harmony! :O

Out of everything we did, though, there are definitely two things that affected everyone the most.

The first thing is we went to a music school in Havana:

First our concert band and one of the jazz bands played for them, and then they played for us. They were really good, and even played one of our songs (about ten times better and faster than we do). One of the final songs was more upbeat and a couple people from our group in the audience stood up and started moving and dancing on the spot. Very quickly everyone stood up and also started moving and clapping and dancing to the music. By the last song (which was also upbeat) everyone was at the back of the rows of chairs, dancing around and going around in conga lines like the one above (that is what they're called right? I feel like I have it wrong...).

Too soon, the band ended their last song. A bunch of our group started shouting "One more!" and then all the Cuban students started shouting I'm guessing what was "one more" in Spanish. The band didn't play another song, but a small group of brass players from some older grades came and started to play a bunch of songs. All the young elementary school kids that were watching upstairs came rushing downstairs with huge smiles on their faces and joined in.

Elementary school kids watching from the balcony.

We moved all the chairs and danced around -and man, are the Cubans good dancers! On the spot someone would think of a certain step they knew and then everyone would catch on and follow along.

It was so fun and cool seeing all us Canadians and Cubans interacting and having fun with each other even though we're so different and we speak different languages and we're from totally different countries. After all the music was done, everyone was talking with each other and getting pictures with all the different Cuban students. It was awesome. Definitely not an experience you would get in Cuba if you just went on a vacation.

The second thing we did that was really cool was visit a tobacco farm in the province Pinar del Rio, just outside of the city Vinales (I think).

It made me, and I'm sure everyone else, think, walking around on this little farm that had been pretty much destroyed a few years ago in a hurricane. To us, all it looked like they had was basic furniture and that's it. To us, they basically had nothing and yet they were so happy and so willing to let us walk around their property and look at their home and show us what their life was like. The eldest man in the house was 90 years old, and so cheery and smiley and willing to pose for pictures and giving away tobacco leaves that I'm sure he would've gotten money for otherwise. Oh, and he still works in the tobacco farms, to boot. At ninety!

We had a few bags of donations to give them afterward, and it was really cool seeing their faces and their gratefulness. It was special, special, special.

Those were just the two most memorable experiences of our week-long band trip. There were definitely lots of other awesome, fun things that we did, and I'm glad I got to go to experience them!

Anyway, now that I'm back... I'll try to start posting more!