flight of the fifteen-year-old

Hello Saturday,

It's been a busy day. I worked for seven hours, all the while with a massive inferiority complex hovering over my head. Then I did stuff. Not sure what, but it took two hours. How do I know that? I didn't eat dinner till 8:00. I do not operate well on an empty stomach.

Earlier in the week, my science teacher was discussing study habits. He mentioned making goals, and, even though you could practically hear the class rolling their eyes, he had some interesting things to say.

According to my teacher, all sorts of studies have been done on written goals--not just goals in general, they have to be written down. If you have specific, detailed goals and you write them down, you're way more likely to achieve them.

That got my thinking.

Counting September, I have four months until I turn 16. I've decided there are a few things I want to do in these four months--I know sixteen isn't very old, but it's old to me. Which means that 800 years old is like, unimaginable ;)

While I am Fifteen, I will:

1. Attend a new yoga class
2. Complete at least two PE by correspondence assignments (out of five, I think)
3. Have the rough draft of my wip COMPLETE
4. Have an A average in all my classes
5. Practice cello and trumpet every other day
6. Go swimming

There. They're little things, but now that they're written down, there's nothing to stop me from achieving my goals :D

Oooh, I just love tagging things.

Erika

get in the writing mood

Soundtrack: Go Zombie by Zombie Girl. If you're writing a zombie book (although it would've been much more unexpected to say, if you're writing a heartfelt romance) you might want to listen to this band. It's about zombies--gosh, you don't say! Cool songs but... a little creepy.

Words: big fat zero. I've been plotting--does that count? No, didn't think so.

It's August 22nd and I've only posted 4 times this entire month.

WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?!

So today I thought I'd share my ways to get in the "writing mood". First and foremost, having something to write about helps. But other than that, what helps you write? What gets your Word Processor shaking with excitement? Man, that sounds weird...

ANYWAYS! There are a few things that I like to have around me in order to write write write with few distractions. Here you go, Erika's FIVE STEPS TO GET IN THE WRITING MOOD:

Step 1: Boil water for tea. Preferably Earl Gray. Bonus points if you have a tea kettle that you put on the stove top--the kind that screams when the water is boiled. That TOTALLY WORKS if you're writing a thriller :)

Step 2: Put on your fuzzy slippers. Bonus points if they're shaped like animals--mine are hedge hogs named Phineas and Dumbledore. This way you can write in style and comfort.

Step 3: Light some candles. Bonus points if they smell like something delicious. I don't know about you, but when I'm staring at the computer screen, trying desperately to fill the blank page, I am ACUTELY aware of my surroundings--including the smells. My house smells funny. It smells like the type of house that contains two cats, two teenagers and one very smelly dog. Hence the need for DELICIOUS SMELLING CANDLES!

Step 4: Select a soundtrack. Some days I can't get any writing done if there's music playing (if it's something really catchy, I find myself typing the lyrics instead of what I'm supposed to be working on)--other days, it seems too quiet without itunes blaring in the background. Do you listen to music while you write? Or do you need COMPLETE AND UTTER SILENCE?

Step 5: Adopt a British accent. When I was little, I thought all authors had British accents, regardless of their ethnicity. When I read my writing out loud, I almost always use a (bad) British accent. It just makes my writing sound so much... fancier :D Triple extra bonus points if you happened to actually BE British--in which case, hello!

There you go. My ways to "get in the mood". Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Happy Sunday,

Erika

PS: CAPITAL LETTER OVERLOAD? NO WAYYYYY!

boys boys boys

bSoundtrack: Fires by Band of Skulls
Words: +3700 on my WIP because I did NOTHING ELSE yesterday

I'm being such a girl about being a boy.

I don't mean being a boy as in cross dressing, borrowing my brother's stuff, or cutting my hair off with a sword and dawning armor, a la Mulan. I mean writing from a boy's point of view.

At first I was being completely ignorant. I figured, boys, huh? Well, obviously all they think about are their "private parts" and objectifying women. Wow, that's just as bad, if not worse than a male writer writing as a girl and thinking, make up? Check. Body image issues? Check. Totally obsessed with sparkly boys? Check. Man, this character rocks!

I decided that the best way to learn to write as a boy would be to look back on some of the books I've read that have awesome male characters.

1) Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I'm not even done this book (I bought it yesterday--employee discount, squee!) and I'm already in love with Sam Roth. Instead of being all serious and practical, he breaks events down into song lyrics. He's romantic and fragile and really fun to read. I'm really glad I'm reading this book because it's reminded me of something I really need to remember: you don't have to write uber masculine characters that shoot everything in sight just for them to read as a guy. Write the kind of guy you'd want to know--the one whose head you'd really like to be inside.

2) Break by Hannah Moskowitz. I liked this book because it does a great job of showing the relationships between brothers. Just like girls, boys come with baggage--friends, family, past events--and writing about a character, singular, will never be as powerful (in my opinion!) as exploring that character's relationships with others. In Break, Jesse, Jonah and Will all have issues. Jesse has tons of serious food allergies, Will's a baby who won't stop screaming and Jonah is determined to break every bone in his body. Those things alone make them strong, interesting characters--but it's their reactions to each others' issues that make them really stand out as individuals.

3) The Darkest Powers trilogy by Kelley Armstrong. I'm not just saying this because I'm a total fangirl over these books--though it does help. I love Derek and Simon, two of the boys who are at a group home with the main character, Chloe. Derek is incredibly anti-social and aggressive, while Simon is pleasant, approachable and artsy. In this case, it would be easy to say, "Derek's bad, Simon's good," but good books are rarely so black and white. I'm glad I read these books because they reminded me of how important it is to have a back story that makes sense. It's easy to write a mean character but it's better to write a mean character who has a reason for being mean. Do they pick on people because they don't feel accepted? Maybe they dump every guy they meet within a few dates for fear of getting rejected themselves because someone dumped them in their past.

Okay, crappy examples, I know. The point is back story can equal motivation. It gives a character past events and choices that influence what they do now. It makes it easier for the reader to sympathize with a character, even if they are mean. Guys are damaged too.

I've been away for a little while because I was at my grandparents' house. It gave me some time to write, swim, and bask in what's left of summer (insert sad face). A seventeen hour drive later and here I am, over joyed to have my wireless back.

:)

Erika