WHAT"S THIS MONTH????????

As most of my fellow writers/bloggers out there are all aware, NaNoWriMo is here! 


What is NaNoWriMo, you say? Why, it is NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH. It's the favorite time of year for every aspiring young author out there who has a little bit (or a lot) of time on their hands and want to sit down and finish a complete first draft of a novel in thirty days. 


In an author's term, this takes an abundance of sheer, unyielding strong-will, frustrating stubbornness, and a whole lot of grumpiness that tends to come about when you've been staring at a blank Word document or paper for too long without making progress. But when you've done something in a month - that, my friends, is the beautiful art that is called writing. 


In real people's terms, however (for you see, we authors or authors-to-be are not normal people, as you would think of the word normal and as such are often unfortunately much depreciated in value) what I mentioned in the above paragraph just translates to determination, patience and dedication. 


Blah. 


See, this is why I like to writing. LET THE CREATIVITY FLOW! LET ALL YOUR COLORFUL JUICES GO! GO! GO!


HURRAH!


All right, got a little too excited there. That tends to happen frequently when I'm talking about writing - well obviously, because it's the love of my life (at least, until I find the human incarnation of my significant other, of course). 


Unfortunately, I wish I had to time to translate all of this excitement into actual, productive writing. Except for this blog, that doesn't happen very often, for some unknown reason. Maybe I don't have enough drive. Maybe I don't have what it takes. Or maybe, I just don't have the time or patience to do what I need to do to make my imprint upon the publishing world and get it done. 


I have to send in my college apps asap - AFTER I figure out where exactly I'm applying to and AFTER I finish all the supplements for the colleges I finally decide to apply to - and their deadlines are almost exactly on par with all the writing competition deadlines that I know of. 


So unfortunately, I won't be competing against the hundreds of thousands of young writers out there in the nation for the ultimate prize and glory, as well as personal satisfaction that I've done something I can be proud to call my own, on my own efforts, with my own personal talents.


Or have time to finish a novel in a month, for that matter.


Oh well. I'll have plenty of opportunities in college next year (hopefully). 


But anyway, to end this on a good note: Good luck to all you aspiring writers out there!! And hooray for NanoWriMo! 

Yet another writing-related question

I know, I'm asking those a lot lately. Well technically, I've only just asked one other one so far, so it still can't be considered a lot. 


Anyway, here's my question to all the story-writers out there: 


Which point of view do you prefer writing from and why? Like I said before, please answer honestly, because I am currently going through a rough patch trying to write my story and I need some advice. So, what do you guys think?


Eeshie, I'm asking this to you specifically, though anyone else is obviously welcome to answer. 


On an additional note, someone who commented on this post was confused on what I meant by point of view so I'll just clear it up for you guys. By point of view I meant like first person, third person limited and third person omniscient. Click on those links if you're unsure of what the difference between the two is, and please comment back. Thanks! 

My self-portrait

Think a self-portrait only applies to art? Well, think again! Last year in my Writer's Workshop class we had to write our self-portraits, which basically is an image of us written in words. Yes, my fellow writers and bloggers and readers out there, self-portraits can be considered anything that you write about yourself (as in, any sort of description of yourself). Well, that was the happy discovery I made last year, because I always thought that self-portraits had to be drawings - which would have been absolutely traumatizing for me considering I can't draw to save my life. 


Anyway, since this is my blog, I thought that I should include a description of myself just outlining who I am and what I like/dislike/my dreams and plans for the future or present. Happy reading! 

I'm 5'2", which is why I prefer boots or heels to sandals or flats at times, unless I'm wearing long jeans and a really cute T-shirt in the fall, spring or summer, in which case flats or sandals are an absolute must. 

I'm a generally cheery person (my friends describe me as being "bubbly." Ha ha)  except during the occasional mood swings, which I guess for a teenage girl is pretty normal. I have a round face, brown eyes and curly hair of a very dark brown in color with natural copper highlights seen only in sunlight. 

I love l learning about the other cultures and would absolutely love to travel the world - I happy to say that I know the feeling in fact since I have lived in Bangladesh (I was born there, too), spent almost five years in Japan, and then came to live in the United States. In between those times I've visited many countries including Malaysia, Kuwait, Australia (yes, it's considered a country and a continent), Saudi Arabia, and Canada. And I would love to go  backpacking in Europe, since I've only ever been there for a nonconsecutive day during a plane stoppage (a few hours in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, and another few hours in London). 

So I’m definitely outdoorsy kinda girl. I love to ride horses and will ride them any chance I get, and I love animals in general. I love the water, and obviously swimming in the  summer months (and even the winter in an indoor pool if I could) and if I could I would take a bike and go for a ride every day (even in winter) on trails and ride endlessly. But of course, I can’t do that, so I pour all those " I wants and “I needs” into my writing. I’m very passionate about writing, and naturally, I also love to read. So my idea of a perfect day would be a warm spring day with a cool breeze, sitting in a high branch of a tree with a book in my lap and then falling asleep, right there on the spot. Oh, and I also think high places are exhilarating. So are roller coasters. 

Anyway, I thank God for my natural intelligence and I'm happy to say that I do well in school. 

As for my social life, well . . . academics definitely comes first. But I'm not a total loser or anything like that, either (no way! I'm TOTALLY the life of the party!). Ha ha. Anyway, I have friends who I group into two different categories: the people I hang out only school and talk to only at school, and the people who I actually talk to on the phone and hang out with even outside of school. They're my real close friends and I love them :D I think I'd go stir-crazy if I didn't have them to rant to (umm, sort of like i'm doing now, maybe??? I like to ramble on a lot, if you're too shallow-headed and haven't noticed by now). 

I don’t know yet my heart’s calling; I love to sing but would never in a lifetime consider being a singer (because that would require singing on a stage in front of an audience. But, hmm) … I’m very passionate about my writing and I’m also interested in foreign affairs (journalism?). I guess it should be of some inspiration that both my parents are MD PhD's (doctors with doctoral degrees. Go figure) but the sad truth is that I hate math and I (sort of, kind of, definitely) hate bio and I stink at it. So that’s not happening for me in the near future.

But I wonder what will. I’m still searching.    

But this year I'm taking Honors Chemistry, and surprisingly, this is the first time that I've actually been interested in a high school science class. I mean, I took Earth Science in 9th grade and that was fun (mostly due to the teacher, not the subject material) but it certainly wasn't interesting. There IS a difference. Anyway, I'll see what this Chemistry stuff all comes down to when I take the SAT II Subject Test in Chem and the Regents and see how I do. I heard people usually do better on the Bio than on the Chem, but that's no reason for me not to well now, is it? Gotta remain optimistic, right? Because it's the only thing I have going for me (besides my natural potential/capacity, although it's kind of shadowed at times by my laziness/tendency to procrastinate a lot) 

Anyhow, I hope I didn't put you guys to sleep with all of this text, but I'm still exploring my options, although, being brown (and this is for all the brown people out there, as in, South/Southeast Asians) I'm probably most likely to end up in a science field. But, I'm keeping everything open, because, who knows, I might end up being a world-famous traveling and well-read journalist. Or a medical journalist, just so I could still have science in my life, coupled with writing. What a combo! :D 

OFFICIAL NOTICE FOR EVERYONE OUT THERE WHO WANTS A JOB AND SOMETHING TO DO IN LIFE

NAMES!!!

Writing is a disease. 


And I have it baaaaaaaaaaad. 


What's the big idea? 


Here's the problem: Names. I can't even decide on names for my characters, and I. AM. SERIOUSLY. STRESSING. OUT. ABOUT. THIS. Yes, you can tell I'm the type of person who freaks at just about the slightest thing. This is one of those. I'm having a moment right now, so could you please ruin it. PLEASE!!! 


All right, y'all must be about 100% confused about right now, so I'll clear it up right now. I just needed to get it out, you see. I have a question: Is it wrong to steal someone else's character name for your story?

For example, I really really really REALLY like the name Isilee, which Shannon Hale uses in her book, The Goose Girl for her main character Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee. First she goes by Ani, but by the end of the book and for the rest of the Books of Bayern series she goes by the name Isi, as a shortened version of a part of her extremely long first name, Isilee. So you see, I really want to use this name, but I don't want to sound unorginal by copying another author's uniquely-devised name. Hale made this name up - it doesn't exist in real life. I almost wish she didn't make it up, that way it would be different. But unfortunately, it's all due to Hale's cleverness that the name now is in existence, and she's the only one to use to BECAUSE SHE MADE IT UP. So, is it wrong? I know it's not plagiarism, but still, there's such a wrong feeling of utter un-originality about this that I'm not sure what to do. 


 Someone please answer me quick! I'm in a dilemma here.   

Writing is a disease

Seriously. If it weren't for the fact that it's good to let your creative juices flow sometimes, I probably would never ever write another story again - or attempt to finish another novel (and I have never finished a novel, just to let you know - but who's asking?). 


Writing is more of a mental disease than a profession or a hobby - I think every author will tell you that. It's a frustratingly addictive force for us writers who get the jitters when we don't write for more than six hours. That's bad - trust me, I know. When I moved to a new house (right across the block from our old house) I couldn't keep still because my dad hadn't set up the computer yet and all my writing stuff that I wanted to continue was on that thing (I know, bad idea. Always keep a hard copy. Lesson learned) and I literally COULD NOT KEEP STILL because I was THAT impatient to continue writing. And then a week or so later when my dad FINALLY set the whole thing up, I sat down at my desk to write . . . and absolutely nothing came to mind. NOTHING. How frustrating is that, you wonder? Let me tell you, EXTREMELY frustrating. 


Writing is hard. It is, I swear! You have this tremendously awesome idea in your head and maybe even the whole darn storyline plotted out into perfectly miniature movie scenes (like I do) but when you go to write it out on paper, or type it on a computer, you end up staring at that stupid blank thing for who knows how long. Argh!! 


The only trouble I don't have with writing is writing these blog posts, mostly because I'm letting out my feelings of frustration here. Actually, I started this post last night but never got to finish because it was getting late and I had to sleep, but afterwards, I got this brilliant idea for this novel I've been trying to finish for the past two years and for the two other novels that go along with it, and I was like, "Hey! A spark!" And then I went to write it down on paper, and . . . (drum roll please) . . . SOMETHING ACTUALLY CAME OUT. I was SOOOOOOO happy! 


But yeah, those are the rare times. I have school tomorrow (finally) after a week's worth of pushed-back midterm days and two snow days in a row . . . so I won't get to write like I am now, which is a huge bummer. But oh well. At least I got the idea written down last night, right? That's what counts. So there we go. 


The point of this story? Writing is a disease, and if you are a writer, then be prepared for the rest of your life to fight this thing with all your might until you defeat it and come out victorious - by which I mean, at least one writing piece finished.