BOOK PUMPKIN!!!

I AM SO EXCITED, because look what I did!!!

I MADE A HUNGER GAMES PUMPKIN!!!! (Er... carved...)

I am  mostly excited because seriously usually when I try and do these things it totally does not work AT ALL but I was clever this time and worked hard to get it right!!! And it's really cool when it's lit because it kind of looks like the Mockingjay is on fire and yeah, Katniss is the Girl on Fire, right???

I'm so excited this is the most awesome pumpkin I've ever carved!!!! :D:D:D:D:D

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Interview with A Real Live Bookworm! (aka My Best Friend)

One thing I am fascinated by  is different people's reading habits. It's cool to see the very, very different kinds of books that people enjoy. So what I've been doing once in a while is interviewing some people I know about their reading habits. I started with my brother, and then I interviewed my dad, and now I'm going interview one of my close friends, Emily. If you would like to be interviewed about your reading habits (it doesn't matter if you read a lot or not) then go the "Contact" page above to e-mail me.

Okay, so some more about Emily before we start:

Emily is 17 years old, an avid reader, and a slightly avid writer. She lives with cats galore, piles of books in the hallway and lots of bruises from walking into things since she always has her nose in a book. Wait.... that’s from the picture book The Library... In real life, Emily is allergic to cats, has only two piles of book in her room, and still has lots of bruises from walking into things since she always has her nose in a book. She also loves to sing.

You can find Emily here at her book review blog.

Now to the questions!

What are your favourite kinds of books and why?

I guess that would have to be fiction that mimics real life, like in the Christy Miller series because it could happen. It’s like a fictional character in real life. Also things still based in real life but you know would never happen, like the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa where this girl finds out that she’s half fairy and her dad is king Oberon from a midsummer night’s dream. Percy Jackson as well -you know greek gods aren’t real but it’s still a fun series.

Male or female MCs [Main Characters]?
Actually I don’t have a preference, both are fun to read.

How do you go about picking books to read?
When I'm at home, I look for books I already read and loved and I read those.

When I go to the library, I pull random books off shelves, and then I go sit at a table and read the jackets and then leave the ones I don’t want on the table. I don’t like prejudicing myself by covers.

I also use book review sites sometimes: goodreads, teen readers book club (through our library), blogs... I use one blog a lot called Belle's Bookshelf. [I love that blog too! You guys should definitely check it out.]What makes you put down a book without finishing it?
Poor writing quality, idiotic characters (those characters that just ramble on and don’t shut up), a slow storyline (I had to put down War and Peace because it went so slow), too weird. I’ll only keep reading a book when I don’t enjoy it if a family member has given it to me.

What is your favourite book?
Can I pick like, 15? I guess it would have to be Make Way for Ducklings, because that was my favourite when I was younger. I love those little duckies!!

Does age of the MC matter to you?
Actually no. Most appealing to read would be middle grade, because honestly high schools in books do not match what my high school is like in the slightest.

What do you have to say about relationships in books? What kinds of relationships are your favourite, etc?

I’m... in one? Oh, in books! Haha... I don’t really care whether its friendship or romantic, but I don’t like it when the relationship between two characters takes away from the story. Is there a certain element of a book that would guarantee that you would read it?Something that will draw me to books is adventure. That’s why I like the Warriors, Percy Jackson and Iron Fey series. How long does it take you to read a book? How many books to you read in a week?On average, it takes me a day and a half to read a book considering I read during class all the time... in a week, on average three or four. I read incredibly fast! (Unfortunately then people don’t believe that I don’t absorb all the information... but I don’t scan the pages!) What makes you buy a book?
Either it’s part of a series I’ve already read, and the next book has come out OR it’s a book I’ve read before after borrowing from the library or a friend and I have to have it because I love it so much.

---


Thank you so much, Emily! If any of you guys have any more questions for Emily, I'm sure she'll answer them. Or if you guys want to answer any of the questions in the comments, feel free! Oh and don't forget to check out her blog.

Why You Should Save (AND BACKUP!!!) Your Work



What Marlin and Dory found in THE ABYSS... no
lost stories, though... :(


While checking out posts for the "Oh, The Early Work" Blogfest, I noticed a pattern of people saying things like "unfortunately I've lost all my childhood stories I wrote" or "yeah somehow all my work got deleted" before they went on to describe their early work. But it isn't just recently that I've been hearing this kind of thing. I've seen a lot of people say they've lost their work because they didn't save or back it up and then it got deleted or flushed down the toilet or thrown into the great, giant abyss.

YOU GUYS. SAVE YOUR WORK. BACK UP YOUR WORK.

Wait, I don't think you got the message yet:

SAAAAAAAAAAAAVVVVVVVVEEEE!!!!!!!!! BACKUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So WHY am I so passionate about saving and backing up your work? Wait, before I tell you, if you're working on something right now, go save it. You did? All right, good. We can continue.

So, why does it even MATTER if you don't save/backup your work? Especially, like, old embarassing stories you wrote when you were little and childish and didn't know anything? Or even some of the stories you write now that you know you're not going to want later because you're just kind of barfing stuff onto the page anyway?

Well, let's make a list.

1. You really DON'T know if you'll want to use those ideas later.

Let's say that you, I don't know, wrote this weird paragraph-long prologue-sort of thing one time when you were bored at Christmas (and you wanted to try out your new office folder you got) and you pretty much thought you'd never use it again. BUT THEN later you had a whole bunch of other ideas and then it turned out that you could actually incorporate that old prologue thing you wrote at Christmas into your new ideas. And you gasp and realize you actually KEPT that prologue and it's in your filing cabinet RIGHT NOW and you are so HAPPY because for once when you're writing you ACTUALLY KNOW WHERE TO START. And then the story that branched from the prologue becomes a trilogy and it's all because you kept that one paragraph.



Yup, it's true... I'm the kind of person that loves getting office
supplies for Christmas. Oh yeah, I'm that cool.



SO if you didn't catch that, it is AWESOME if, when you realize you can use an idea you had way back when, it turns out that you still have some scrappy writings to start from. It is quite awesome not to have to start from a blank page, right writers? I think this would be the biggest reason to save your work.

2. You can see how far you've come.



(source)

 Obviously as you write more, you'll become better at the craft of writing (as happens with anything you practise). When you look back at old stuff you've written years ago, you realize exactly how far you have come, and I think that's pretty cool. You feel proud of yourself when you see that.

3. You can laugh at your silly self later.




I had a fascination with dragons when I was younger...
quite a few of my stories featured them. GO DRAGONS!!

Kind of like I did here. This one isn't quite as useful a reason as the other two, but still. It is fun.

And as for backing up your work....

4. Your work WILL get lost/deleted/whathaveyou.
And guess what? If you have backups, then that won't matter. Go out there and figure out a way to backup your work automatically, or make extra copies and store them in different places, or whatever. But do it, in case you lose your work or it gets deleted.

---
I'm not the best person to ask exactly how you should save or backup your work (although while you're writing I think you should press Ctrl/Command+S after every sentence) but I would like to tell you that YES, IT IS WORTH IT to put the effort in to take the time to set up something so that your work gets backed up in case something happens. Better safe than sorry, right?




(source: http://www.thingsihavelearnedinmylife.com/)


Why do you think it is important to save or backup your work? How do you go about backing up your work?

The Art of Blogfesting: Guest Post by "The Golden Eagle"

Hello everyone! Today I have a special guest post for you by The Golden Eagle, which is a penname for a teenager writer/blogger who blogs at The Eagle's Aerial Perspective here. Here's some more about her:

The Golden Eagle is the pseudonym of a teenage Chinese-American girl who loves to write, read, and blog, among other things. Her favorite genre to read and to write is Science Fiction, along with some Fantasy and other genres on the side.

Oh, and she gets bonus points from me because she uses an online-name, like I do! :D

Anyway, I asked her to post on the topic of blogfests because you should see the number of blogfests that girl does! I don't know how she has time for all of them... take it away, Golden Eagle!

The Best of Blogging Events

When Gracie asked me to write a post on blogfests, I jumped at the chance. I love participating in them; they're interesting, fun, relatively easy to do, and best of all? You're likely to meet people who share your interests.

Where to find them:

Pages and sidebars are great places to find blogfests. Many bloggers put buttons created by the blogfest hosts on their sidebars, or if there isn't a button, a link instead. I have a separate page where I list blogfests and other events--I find it's an easy way of bringing them all together.

Watch for posts that mention them: a lot of people put out the word about a blogfest if they plan to participate and/or find it interesting. Certainly the hosts will bring it up on their blog!

How to be the best participant possible:

Pay attention to the rules. Of course, you don't have to follow absolutely everything down to the letter, but it's a good idea to give the impression you read the post about the blogfest before you signed up.

I would suggest putting up an individual post if the blogfest falls on a day when you have something else planned. While I know some people will combine both their regular post and a blogfest, a separate post makes it easier to identify what's what. If you think you'll have commenters coming by for both the regular post and the blogfest, put links at the top of whichever post was put up last so they don't have to scroll.

Comment, comment, comment on the blogs of others participating. This is how you meet people interested in the same thing and possibly get new followers--the list of links (called Linky Lists if hosted by Linky Tools and Collections if hosted by InLinkz) included with most blogfests is very handy.

Benefits:

Foremost, the content. If it's a writing challenge, then you get the opportunity to showcase your work. If it's something with a theme, you get to learn about other bloggers and (often) discuss the theme with them. In addition, depending on the subject, you can find out about some great book/movie, an interesting fact, a helpful tip. Those are just a few examples: there are blogfests on so many subjects! And if you read enough posts written by others and comment/follow, you will probably find at least a few new people reading your blog.

Conclusion:

Blogfests are a lot of fun. They're beneficial for you and your blog in that they increase your audience, and they're an excellent way of finding new friends in the blogosphere.
 
Thank you so much, Golden Eagle! Now here are some links to blogfests that are going on right now:

The Rule of Three Blogfest
Halloween Hop (Oct 28-31 visit as many Halloween Hop blogs as you can!)
Casting Call Character Blog Hop
Killer Characters Blogfest (Oct 24, 26, 28)
Oh, The Early Work Blogfest (have your post written by Oct 28, my post for this one is here)
YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesdays (not a blogfest, but a weekly prompt for you!)


What blogfests are you participating in right now? Post a link to the explanation post and I'll add it to the list!

Early Works Blogfest: My Awesome Childhood in Writing

I think that there is a time when writers are still in their "baby" stage, if you will. A writer is a baby if they've only written a couple of WIPs, and are still going through growth spurts of learning and such. They still have a long way to go, but they'll get there once they've matured or done enough writing. For most people, their baby stage of writing happens when they first start seriously writing, somewhere in adulthood. Since I've been writing since I was five (maybe before that?) it just so happens that my baby stage of writing and my actual childhood line up! :)

Anyway... today I'm going to do a post for the Early Works blogfest that is being hosted by Juliemy here. You have to post about your early days of writing. I'm not going to write about every single thing I've written from the beginning until now, because that would honestly take weeks, but I'll post some excerpts of my favourites. :)

6 years old: I'm sure if you've been following my blog for awhile, you know about Linda and the Dragon. If you don't, click the link to read it. Basically, it's a story about Linda and a dragon (bet you couldn't guess that from the title) and it has absolutely no paragraphs for dialogue and pretty much no punctuation.

appx 9 years old. I wrote a story called "Bear" about a girl who lives with a bear.

 Bear and Girl lived together in a cozy cave. They did everything together. In Winter they slept. In Spring they pranced and danced about the meadow. In Summer they swam and caught fish in the lake. In Autumn they jumped in and out of the fluttering leaves. Girl didn’t know about her life before Bear. She thought that Bear was her life, but in the end she was very, very wrong.

Yeah, apparently I aced the show-don't-tell rule back then... NOT. (But this was one of my favourite stories when I was younger... until I realized that the main idea -a girl being brought up by a bear- was terribly unrealistic.)

appx 8 or 9 years old. So my brother and I were obsessed with these toys called "Bionicles" when we were younger... we still have all the Bionicle movies, I think, and I'm pretty sure there were books, too. Anyway, one time when I was at my grandma's house for the day I wrote a Bionicle story:

A New Island.

“Gali, my sister! There you are,” exclaimed Tahu. “No, my brother, I am here,” said Gali. “Stop sillytalk,” said Lewa. The toa were talking of things to come and things of the past, by the water’s of Ga-Koro. “I feel a great new place coming to be…” said Gali. Tahu rolled his eyes and put his hand on Gali’s shoulder. A deep rumbling sound came suddenly. “Do you know of this earthrumble, my brothers?” asked Lewa...

 
Haha, still makes me laugh. (Although now I can't really understand it since I'm not into Bionicles anymore....) Also notice how I still haven't learned to make a new paragraph for new dialogue...
 

13 years old. So I didn't want to clean out the recycling bucket and my dad suggested I write a story about it. So, I did.

Once, a long, long time ago in the year of 2008, there was a girl named Pip. Her job was to clean out the recycling bucket because over time, it had collected lots of mess. Tomato sauce splotches, pineapple juice, and other unidentifiable smudges. It had come time to wash it out.


“But I don’t want to!” Pip complained.

Her father placed the bucket in plain sight on the stairs, but each time Pip passed she ignored it.

“That’s it!” the father said, “I’m going to lock you away with that bucket until you wash it out!”

So Pip’s father locked her away in a tall tower, out in the middle of the desert, with the messy recycling bucket. He also left her with some cleaning supplies just in case she changed her mind, and decided to do what her father asked.

“Never!” Pip declared.

So day after day, and night after night, Pip entertained herself by making up stories. Sometimes she would lean out her tower window and call out across the desert. Sometimes she would sing. There was lots of things to do in the tower, so Pip was hardly ever bored. But what Pip didn’t notice was the bacteria growing in the recycling bucket. Pip had stashed it away in a corner, so it wouldn’t get in the way.

Six more months passed, and then one day something grabbed Pip on the shoulder.

“Finally!” Pip shrieked, “Some company.”

But the hand on her shoulder was not ordinary company at all. It was a monster made from the bacteria in the recycling bucket! Pip turned around, and saw the ugliest thing she had ever seen in her life.

It was a disgusting green and purple and brown colour, and it didn’t have any particular shape. The one thing that was definite about the monster was it’s size. It took up the entire tower room.

“Don’t eat me!” Pip whimpered.

But Pip didn’t have a chance. The monster or thing or whatever it was trapped Pip in it’s massive figure and –somehow- swallowed Pip whole.

And that is the story of the girl who didn’t clean out the recycling bucket.


And... I could post more, but I won't. This is actually really fun... maybe I'll post a childhood story of mine each week or something. :) Anyway, go check out the blogfest and have a great day!

What were some of your old stories about?

Symptoms of Falling in Love...With A Book



"You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend." -Paul Sweeney

1. You cannot put the book down.

That thing is so good it's glued to your fingers. You bring the book wherever you go and sneak a sentence every single chance you get. You will sacrifice everything if only to read onward!

2. You cannot stop thinking about the book.

When someone eventually rips that book out of your hands, you cannot think of anything else. You can't stop reliving your favourite scenes in your head, or agonizing over what could happen next. And, of course, you're plotting the perfect time to make an escape and go back to your book to pick it up once again. Oh, how your heart longs for those words!


source



3. You want to know everything about that book.

You want to find out every single little detail about the story-world in that book. The book itself just simply isn't enough. Who cares if you have to resort to poorly written fan-fiction. All you want is to frolick for the rest of your days with those characters and those settings. Or maybe you just try to find something written by the same author. It doesn't really matter, you just want MORE!

Unfortunately, love can sometimes border on obsession and I would advise you to be careful when spending time with your significant other favourite book. Be aware of how much time you are spending with them as opposed to your friends and family in the real world.

Happy reading!

What books have YOU fallen in love with?

(Mine would be.... Harry Potter series, Christy Miller series, and Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta)

---

So, sorry I haven't been blogging as much lately... school, y'know. Anyway, as I was looking for quotes to put above... I found this AWESOME quote by Oscar Wilde that basically sums up everything that I was trying to say in my last post: "The books the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame." Have a great weekend! (Oh, and in Canada, this weekend is Thanksgiving weekend... yeah don't really know why it's a month earlier than Americans but anyway... HAPPY THANKSGIVING!)

Banned Books Week: Spot The Pattern

It's banned book week this week, and here at I Am Writer Hear Me Roar, we are going to play a game called "spot the pattern". I'm sure you have played a version of this in your grade school math classes. You know, you're given the numbers 2 4 6 8 and you have to figure out the pattern (it goes up by multiples of [so a friend pointed this out to me: the numbers actually don't go up by mutliples of two... I just said the wrong word, but you probably got what I meant... and believe me, I actually can do math! I got like, a 90 in math last year!] two! What!?).

Except instead of numbers, we'll use books (because numbers scare us writerly people, right?)

Book #1: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Source

Harper Lee grew up in a society where black men were thought of as predators; where the only men in the jury were white men so black men had no chance of being acquitted; where things happened like nine teenage boys being accused of rape.

To Kill A Mockingbird is about a mishievous tomboy Scout and her adventures until her and her friends watch a black men getting tried in a court case after being accused, wrongly, of raping a white woman.

To Kill A Mockingbird brings to light the very large issue of racism against black people that was present in the 1930s (both the time Harper Lee grew up in and the time the book is set in) and the 1960s (the time when the book was published).

To Kill A Mockingbird has been banned or challenged at various schools for using swear words, racial slurs, and for general racism. (Just an interesting sidenote, though: it's been said that To Kill A Mockingbird is the one book other than the Bible that has changed people the most... hm....)

Book #2: Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Source

Huck Finn was first published in England in 1884, then in the U.S. in 1885. The book itself takes place sometime between 1835 and 1845. The book follows Huck as he goes on a journey with a black slave Jim, and realizes that Jim is a genuinely nice guy and not like society makes out black people to be.

Twain uses this book to criticize and challenge the racist American society of the time and the perception of black people, specifically the view that black people weren't human and didn't have feelings.

Source

Huck Finn has also been challenged and banned, for word choice (swears and racial slurs) and the line "he not only itched but scratched." It is

one of the most challenged/banned books of all time.

Book #3: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

S.E. Hinton wrote The Outsiders when she was 16, inspired and irked by the gang rivalry at her own school. The book itself follows two groups who are separated by their social status in high school. It was published in 1967.

The Outsiders has been banned/challenged for gang violence, drug and alcohol abuse, slang language, and family dysfunction.

Book #4: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Source

Our society today is obsessed with entertainment and reality TV. There are also wars, all over the world, all the time. The Hunger Games is about a dystopian society where a reality show-like event is held each year, where children enter an arena and kill each other while the rest of the world watches on live TV for their own entertainment.

When talking about where the idea came from for The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins says "one night, I was lying in bed, and I was channel surfing between reality TV programs and actual war coverage. On one channel, there's a group of young people competing for I don't even know; and on the next, there's a group of young people fighting in an actual war. I was really tired, and the lines between these stories started to blur in a very unsettling way."

The Hunger Games has been challenged/banned, mostly for violence.

Do you see the pattern?

I hope you do. If you don't, I want you to take a second look at all those books - all those books that deal with and bring to light issues of their day, critiquing everything that is wrong with that -our- society. I do not understand why people are banning these books when they have such, such important things to say.

I understand that some books aren't for everyone, I really do. But the thing that bugs me is that these people who are challenging these books, they are challenging them for little things. They are not looking at the big picture, of what the message of these books is, of what they are supposed to mean! These book-challengers are missing the big picture, are missing the fact that these books take all that crazy stuff from reality.

So. What do you think? Should books be banned? Do you agree with me - are these book-banners missing the big picture? Can you think of any other banned books that might deal with society's issues? (Oh, I already thought of another one... The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie...) What are your thoughts on banned books?

SOURCES (brace yourself):

(all other sources are linked to in the text/caption)

To Kill A Mockingbird:

ttp://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bbwlinks&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=136590

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_kill_a_mockingbird

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harper_Lee

Huck Finn:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huckleberry_Finn

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1842832_1842838_1844945,00.html  (ok so this article says that there's a movie version of Huck Finn where the black slave is played by an actor who is not black to avoid controversy...!?!?!?)

The Outsiders:

http://world.edu/worldedu_posts/banned-books-awareness-outsiders/

www.sehinton.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.E._Hinton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outsiders_(novel)

The Hunger Games:

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6590063.html (where I got the quote from)

http://swardkehoe.blogspot.com/2011/09/banned-books-week-has-begun.html (what an intelligent reader has to say about The Hunger Games)

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresources/free_downloads/2011banned.pdf

Learning Mostly That I Suck At Writing Titles

Hi! Sorry I haven't been posting as often... but that's what happens when school starts. Anyway, this a post I wrote at the end of August just as I was finishing rewriting a draft of my WIP  (and obviously never got around to posting). Just thought I'd share what I learned. Also, at the end there's a story my brother wrote. Just sayin', if this post bores you, skip to that. ;)

• It is amazing the mistakes your brain can just skip right over. For example, "Gwen sat on her hose". (Yes, brain, the characters in my WIP frequently ride hoses.)

• Less is more. "made it rock" can just be "rocked".  Unfortunately, I like words. I often use too many. :)

• I have used the sentence "She didn't say anything" way too often. It is very obvious she doesn't say anything when she, you know, doesn't say anything.

• I use way too many adjectives. I have to have at least 1700 of them before each noun. (At least that's what it seems like).

• Sometimes sentences just need to switch places in order to make sense.

• I have a habit of using the EXACT SAME WORD a million times. I'm sure that's how many times I used the word "sliced" in my WIP. (My characters do a lot of cooking while they are riding their hoses.)

• Don't mix up "dinghy" and "dingy". Dinghy = little boat. Dingy = dirty.

• And, last but not least, never ask my brother for advice. Evidence:
• Me: Is it "Tamlin had ran" or "Tamlin had run"?
• Bro: Tamlin was running?
• Me: No, that won't work because the story itself is already in past tense.
• Bro: So it's like... double past tense? "Tamlin was ran"?
• Me: ....

Now, as promised, a story my brother wrote... see, I frequently have my brother come across as a complete idiot on my blog when he actually isn't. He's really smart, just doesn't think sometimes when he talks. ANYWAY, here's a story he wrote when we went to the lake on the September long weekend...

ELI WE DON'T WANT YOUR FEET. They are too annoying, they are too purple, they are not wearing shoes, they have no name, they cannot fly, they cannot speak, they cannot kick a giant in the ear, they cannot hear, they cannot smell, feel or taste, all they do is help you walk, ELI WE DON'T WANT YOUR FEET. (by RZS/Gracie's brother).

Cute, isn't it? Can't you imagine that being an awesome kids book?

Anyway.

What have you learned lately... about editing, or writing, or life in general, or really anything?

Interview with Cool Person Lali!

Today I am interviewing Lali, who was the second place winner of the draw I did awhile ago for my explore-a-teen's-brain contest thing. One of the second place prizes was either an interview or a guest post to be posted here on the blog, but I am excited to interview Lali anyway!

Lali is from Spain and she and I share lots of similarities (one of them being, of course, reading). She also likes to go to museums, hang out with her friends, and paint pictures. She also said that she bakes cakes and muffins like me, and suggests this website for some good recipes!

Lali also wanted me to encourage you to check out Steph Bowe's book, Girl Saves Boy as well as her blog, which you can find here. (I also love Steph Bowe's blog, though I have yet to read her book).
Now, on to the interview!

How old are you?

I'm 16 years old.

What are your favourite kinds of books to read?

I love all kinds of books, however now I'm very interested in philosophical books, like The Elegance of the Hedgehog and Sophie's World, I used to read novels about fantasy like Memorias de Idhun and one of my favourites books is Marina (carlos ruiz zafon the writer) and The Thirteenth Tale.

What makes you a hate a book? (bad writing, bad plot, annoying characters...?)

I'm very exigent with the books, however is just what you said that makes me hate a book.

Do you read any books that have originally been published in the U.S. or Canada?

Unfortunately in my country there aren't books or novels in English, if I read a book in English is because I borrow it from the library or cause my aunt buys it on Amazon, you know? I usually read tales and blogs in english, however I prefer books in Spanish if the writer is Spanish or in English just to improve my second language.

What is your favourite thing about living in Spain?

Well I think that the best thing of living in Spain is the temperature, always is sunny even in winter! However is cold too. The food, there are much kinds of menus and the fruit is very cheap. Other thing is that the party are so  popular, if you compare it to other countries. Other thing is that there are a lot of museums and old and pretty churches, it's an old country (it's in Europe hahaha) Finally I don't wanna to be vain, but I think that the people in Spain is nicer than in England for example, maybe it's because of the weather or something, but the most of the people is always happy.

What is your favourite place?

My favourite place is Madrid, My friend and I like the parks, for example The Retiro. And others parks of my village, we like the cinema, the pool, the shopping mall... many believe me!

What is one unique tradition your family has?

I don't know if it's unique, but my mother use to pray when we go on car.

Do you write? If so, what?

I used to write poetry, I won a local contest, and some tales but now I don't write anything except silly things for my friends, you know?

How did you get into painting? Have you ever illustrated anything?

And finally I paint since I was a child, I love painting since ever, but I've never illustrated anything, I would love to. If you write a book I can ilustrate it, ok¿? hahaha.

And I would like to share with you Lali's beautiful painting:

Isn't that amazing?? :) I hope you enjoyed the interview! And thank you so much, Lali!

Oh! And I've reached 50 followers. :O Thanks so much you guys!! :) You're awesome.

POPULAR SUFFIX ON SALE NOW! "ISH", ONLY $19.99!

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In Which A Blog Award Makes A Debut

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

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

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

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

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

INTRODUCING....

THIS:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a good week!

Where To Find Teens On The Web

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

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

TEENS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Answers To Your Questions Part 4

Last two questions! From Abby.

How do you feel about your parents? Do they bug you or are you close? Are they nosy or do they give you your independence? What are your preferences when it comes to parent/teen relationships in books?

Me: Thanks you guys, asking all these questions about parents when my parents actually read my blog... haha. :) Just teasing you. But I guess that kind of gives you an idea of how close I am with my parents, since I let them read all this stuff. Anyway, my parents specifically are really great. They give me and my siblings the perfect amount of independence, and they really trust us with pretty much everything (that is probably partially our fault though). Of course sometimes they bug me... that happens with everyone, I think.... but overall my parents and I are close. I trust them and have discussions with them and talk with them a lot. Although I don't tell them everything, either. I share much more with my friends than my parents, but I'm pretty sure that's normal.

As far as parent/teen relationships in books... hm. I have to say that I have yet to read a book where I am like, "that parent/teen relationship was done brilliantly!" but it doesn't really matter that much, because usually a book has a much bigger focus than a parent/teen relationship, I think. I might not even notice if there was absolutely no parent/teen interaction in a YA book. Also, I find a lot of parent/teen relationships in YA are very stereotypical. Either the MC has some sort of problem with their parent (like one of their parents never notices them or something) or the MC is really annoyed with their parents. Since I have neither problem with my parents, I can't really relate. However (as I've said before) it doesn't really bug me that much if a) I can't relate and b) there's no parent/teen interaction. (Sorry, parents. :D)

E: How do I feel about my parents…. Well to tell you the truth I am not close to my Dad at all. My parents divorced when I was really young and my Dad has never really been there for me. My Mom on the other hand is awesome. We fight at times, and get on each others nerves but there isn’t a thing in the world that I love more than my Mom. She gives me a lot of independence, (aka pretty much lets me do what I want – within reason) and she doesn’t bug me about things that I don’t need to be bugged about (she bugs me about cleaning, cause I hate cleaning and never do it). When I read a book I want the relationship between teen and parents to be a good one, but have it realistic too. I mean, no parent is perfect and no relationship between a teen and a parent is perfect. If it is perfect in a book it ruins it slightly for me.

What about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll? How do you feel about it? Is it realistic, or does it offend?

Me: I'm not into any of that stuff, so when I read it in a book, it's basically like reading about a different world. Which is OK. But I find that it's nice that, even if a character isn't into that stuff or tempted by it, then it still occurs around the character. That's more realistic, to me. Yes, a lot of teenagers have sex, do drugs, etc. But a lot of them don't. Not every teen struggles with that kind of stuff. However we are aware it's around -I know there are people in my high school who do all that stuff. And actually, YA does a pretty good job of this. A lot of YA has sex and drugs in it, but a lot of it doesn't. Yay! :)

E: I don’t think that sex, drugs, or “rock n’ roll” help the story. I realise that a lot more teenagers now take drugs and have sex at younger ages, but I don’t and won’t. I don’t like having all of that in books, it ruins the book for me.

Thank you everyone for asking questions! And even though these are the last questions, COME BACK TOMORROW! I have a really awesome post that will help you guys get even further into the minds of teens (I hope). Anyway, "see" you tomorrow! (Right???)

Oh, also, feel free to answer the questions yourself in the comment. And I have a question: What's the best (as in most realistic) parent/teen relationship that you've read in a YA book? What makes it so special, in your opinion?