links

Links to go along with my previous post:

Nerimon's channel: www.youtube.com/nerimon
Alex Day's Music: www.alexdaymusic.com

Stuff on target readers that I just googled: ready, aim, write
Another one of those, but with weird formatting: e-zine articles

something smells toasty... oh, that's me!

Hello there!

I thought that today I would share some writing advice with you, dearest blog. I know, how self-righteous am I, that I should share something with you? Well, I will anyways, because I'm defiant. Bahaha.

Imagine your ideal reader.

I know that a lot of people say this, or maybe they don't, but either way I've heard it before. You can be sure that I'm being far from original.

I've just been watching Nerimon's channel on youtube in which he has videos where he reads Twilight and critiques it. Basically, he voices the thoughts of every single non-preteen as they read it. Sorry, maybe you like Twilight. Then again, maybe you have no big toe on your left foot. I wouldn't know.

His comments, like his videos, are witty, clever, and in a delicious British accent. Yeah, I'm creepy, sorry.

Anyways, I currently have a story stuck in my head (or, at least, a few characters. No plot. Lovely) and now I can't stop wondering what Nerimon (AKA Alex Day) would think about it. You may not have guessed it (ha-ha), but I'm extremely awkward in public, and therefore intimidated by witty, clever, British people.

DON'T BE INTIMIDATED BY YOUR IMAGINARY AUDIENCE!

If your imaginary reader scares you, looks down on you, or likes to throw sharp things in your direction, then they are a bad friend. I know it can be hard to report someone you love, but you need to accept this. If your potential reader intimidates you, your writing will intimidate you because rather than just expressing yourself, you'll be wondering what they'd think and say.

Or maybe you could just go out and get a backbone, some guts, and care less what people have to say about your work.

Your choice.

Erika

it's been a hard day's night

I just wanted to take a second to introduce you to something dear to me... My mom's mullet. When she puts her hair in a pony tail and leans back against the couch, she looks like quite the hair band rocker.

Because I'm such a procrastinator, I'm also going to introduce you to Harry, the Suck Monster. He is furry, and angry (but really just misunderstood), and he loves to latch on to my writing and make it SUCK. He's been with me for my whole life, but has never been personified.

Ophie is my second to last fiendish (imaginary, to some extent) friend to tell you about. She is my personification of writer's block. That, and a giant wall... Writer's wall...

Wow, this a great waste of time. So, last but not least we have the great, magnificent, enigmatic... MILK! Thanks to Seventh Sanctum's mascot generator, I now have a mascot. "Milk the doormouse - the flirty, white-colored knight." Excellent.

I've also spent the past hour and a bit watching A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles' amazingly wonderful movie. Now I'm watching 'The Beatles On Record' on television. This is great. Everything else in this post I can pretty much sum up as a colossal waste of time, but not this :)

And so I leave you with a picture to warm your heart, stir your soul, make you wish you were born fifty years ago...

friendly sites

A: Gosh, I'm getting awful bored of gum/drop/smile, but I'm too lazy to search far and wide across the internet myself for something fun or interesting to look at!

B: Yes, the internet is a dreadfully scary place, and one could easily get lost out there!

C: I don't have anything to say, but Erika wanted to use the letters A, B, and C just so that people would understand that this is an alphabet thing, not a reference to real people!

Erika: Never fear, my young friends! My blog now features a brand new side-panel, "friendly sites". Check out a few of my favorite ways to waste time, and have fun. Yay.

feeling a little unhinged

Well, '09 has certainly been the year of the short, random post, often thought up while half asleep. It has also been the year of the long hiatuses followed by spastic times of constant posts, several times a day. Hmm, it's good to know that I've evolved.

Anyways, today is, so far, exciting! I spent the night at my mom's house for the first time ever (considering even though it's titled my mom's house no one really lives there full time as of yet), and visited the house I'm currently house-sitting and hung out with their two cats for a while.

What's so exciting about that, you may ask? Well, nothing, actually. To add insult to injury, my Winter Break is quickly coming to a close and I still have a lot of homework to finish. Lovely. Oh, and did I mention that I'm feeling quite sick right now?

Wow, I really, really suck at this! Okay, without further ado, the exciting news:

I just sent off my entry to the Young Writers Contest courtesy of PenWriters. Now it's floating somewhere in a Penticton in-box, waiting to be judged and hopefully loved. I'm very anxious, but also extremely excited (can you tell?) and happy considering I've actually pulled together and finished something before the deadline! I'm coasting on the same kind of accomplishment-high as I was when I finally completed my CBC Literary Awards entry. Winning would be spectacularly amazing, but really just entering has me very happy :)

On top of all of that, I have oodles of newly downloaded music on my iTunes! It's all happy and lovely and folk-y pop, the new direction I'm gravitating towards... Ah, third generation hippies.

Love and excitement,
Erika

I love you because you came out of your mum.

Community channel ftw!

Sorry, just wanted to post this before I forget.

today's letter, tomorrow's noun

Stealing this idea from my friend. Plagiarism is the root of all that is good. Also, don't take my word for anything. Anything.

Today's letter is: A!

Animal, aardvark, Arthur, adventure, account, Alphagetti, apple juice, Amsterdam, anytime, anywhere, anyone.

Have an Absolutely Amazing day.

Erika