Archive for May 2020

hey guys, last week I participated in an even called Crazy Writing Week, and though y'all would enjoy hearing about it ... XD

tuesday, may 12.

when I opened my inbox in the morning I saw I had an email from Brett Harris (I'm subscribed to him) so I skimmed over it. it said something about a "crazy writing challenge" that lasted for week and was totally free.

nice, thanks, I'll think about it, I thought, which was another way of saying, I would forget about it within the next five minutes.

I moved on with the emails and saw one from Kellyn Roth about the same subject, so I took a moment longer to read it. I clicked the link just to see what was going on and the website said,

it was free
you'd be working in teams, competing against others (!!)
and there would be prizes

(although I completely didn't see the prizes part at the time)

they had me at TEAMS COMPETING. I've done Nanowrimo and competed against a word count but never against someone else, and since I'm a rather competitive person, I was sold, and immediately signed up ON PURE WHIM.

did I regret it two minutes later?

yes I did. I am so busy, what Do I thINk I aM DoINg?

then I remembered some of the things I am busy doing are writing related and would count for the challege, so I didn't regret my desicion for long.

other things that occured ...

some people were doing a 13 sentence story challenge but I skipped it because
it looked difficult
and I was busy
met some old friends and some new people and fangirled about Narnia
somehow convinced Snapper to join

wednesday, may 13.

when I signed up I was expecting multiple groups of 10 to 15 people, NOT two groups of about 300 members each. with 300 members in one group, you cannot, in any possible way, get to know all your team mates (especially not in a week). it was interesting to see little groups forming within the huge group - people who already knew each other and people who'd just gotten to know each other - banding together and having fun and chatting and sprinting.

speaking of sprinting, here's how the whole contest system works:

the website is set up like a forum
when you write, you must log the time and word count in the "sprinting" space (basically, post when you start, and then update when you stop)
after you've done that, you need to fill in a google form, filling in all the information again, so that the leaders can keep track of things
you also have to link to the post, because it acts as proof that you did actually write
the two teams (Lions and Wolves) compete
there are prizes unlocked with each new level of writing reached (certain word count/hour count)

some little things:

coming back to 203 notifications at one point because if you even so much as like a post, you'll be notified of every single comment on it
and sometime you just happen to like a very popular post
“I need to stop getting so distracted by all the notifications!” ~ Alex the Mouse Defender
somehow managing to get a 1600 word short story rewritten as 1300 words - editing it - sending it to two beta readers - going through the beta responses
changed my profile photo to a lion (#peerpressure)
“Never has an aggravatingly short story been so fun” ~ Jana, Keeper of the Penguin Waffles
fought Snapper and lost
"I feel tired" ~ Terah
ok, but same ^^

total amount I wrote: 1,500 words

team leading: LIONS

thursday, may 14

I edited in the morning, and logged science notes about plant classification as words. I squeezed in a full flash fiction in 45 minutes just before dinner time. it was one that I've been meaning to write for a while, called "The Ghost Boy".

Snippet of the day:

“What exactly is your ability?”

“I …” Kae cleared her throat, which felt strangely tight. “I feel pain.”

“Are you all right, Miss Ruve?”

“No. I mean, yes. But not like that. It's my ability—I feel pain.”

~ "what pain feels like"

total amount I wrote: 1,700

leading team: LIONS

friday, may 15

a good day for writing! some geniuses in our group started a "official lion's sprint" thread that was updated with new half hour sprint times for eight hours+ straight, and helped centralize writing and encourage other members. because we're stronger together, to quote Trollhunters, my newest obsession. (also, Mr. Strickler is inspiring me to write anti heros, somehow xD).

little things:

1,114 words in 30 minutes isn't bad
yesterday's short story typed up
science chapter finished
editing a previous story for future publication
Snapper turned into a squirrel - one of the noncompeting members who just sprint for the sake of writing, not winning XD

total amount I wrote: 2,200

leading team: WOLVES

saturday, may 16

I surprised myself. decided to do almost nothing but write write and write because the weekend is one time when I don't have to do school. so I took a notepad with me into the car when I went out, and when I had to wait, I wrote. plotted my book according to the three act story structure (thanks, Abbie). outlined, rewrote old stories, just smashed those words down.

wrote a flash fic fanfic about my own unfinished novella ??
about the characters in the future!!
called "Like Grim Death"
it's a treasure hunting jungle adventure
with a lot of teeth involved

total words I wrote: 5,110
leading team: WOLVES

sunday, may 17

my best writing day of all. I think I barely did anything else useful other than write write write. I was actually aiming for 10k, but that's an awful lot. I actually felt like this was the furthest I'd ever pushed my creative limits ... I actually felt that well of insipiration running dry for the day.

got a lot of words written thanks to journaling (literally the easiest way to get words down lol)
also today we finished the Trollhunters final episodes (still recovering from that :'))
trying to write an assasin story called "Death Sounds Like Silence" but didn't finish it because I got stuck XD
however, I was stuck on the plot line of another short story and then I had a dream that solved the problem (?) so I quickly wrote that down (it's called "The Taste of Truth")
also yes, some of these are following Havok themes xD

total words I wrote: 6,730
leading team: WOLVES

monday, may 18

kind of a terrible writing day ... it was a holiday and so I didn't do much school work to count either. however, I deserved the break XD

total words I wrote: 1,338
leading team: IT'S A TIE

tuesday, may 19

LAST DAY. I did my best and churned out 3,660 words - including very random plot ideas, outlines, premises, and super short stories.

took science notes like crazy
although the topic of science was slightly weird - how the life functions of invertebrates work
wrote a mini story called "Picture Perfect" based on an ancient prompt from Jem
also wrote another story called "The Girl Who Sat Still"

AND ok the site was so crowded at the time of the winner announcements that the website actually crashed for a few minutes XD sadly, the Wolves won :( but I'm not acutally sad. we still won prizes XDD

total words I wrote: 3,660
winning team: WOLVES

all in all - it was a good week. I wrote a lot. my personal calculations say I wrote 21.7 k, but the official word count from CWW says I wrote 29.4 k (and 24.75 hours o_O). I'm most amazed by the fact that I churned out about 7 short stories in 7 days. the prizes for the week's word include some incredible classes on writing ... an some silly VeggieTales songs sang by Brett Harris XDD in fact, I'm still trying to catch up on claiming all the prizes ack. I have learned a lot and made new friends and am so grateful for this opportunity. hope it becomes annual ... then y'all can join too next time!!

what have you been up to this week? let me know below!

xx lisa

I've really come to appreciate how katie emmons says, i don't believe in writing advice.

I feel like a wonderful thing about the writing community on the blogosphere is HOW MUCH STUFF ONE CAN LEARN FROM OTHERS. but, it's also a bit of a downside. I, for one, have realized that I've become almost overdosed with writing advice.

it's not that the advice is bad or useless in any way but that I JUST CAN'T HANDLE IT ALL IN MY SMOL BRAIN. which leads to the first thing I want to say about finding ones own writing style ...

///

item # 1 there's such a thing as too much advice

or, more specifically, there's such a thing as trying to digest and follow too much advice. it would be awfully nice if we were all able to sift through the advice we receive and discard everything we don't need and just hold onto what matters, but ... how many of you also find yourselves being like,

"yo, I need to HANG ON TO allllll the advice JUST IN CASE I need it later!!"

which in turn just clogs your brain with too much information.

^^ this is me, all the time. about everything.

trying to follow all the advice you find online about writing - or even, all the advice your friends share - can be overwhelming. especially because

///

item # 2 you cannot follow all the advice at once

there's a time and place for each bit of wisdom we receive. you don't need editing advice when you're plotting ... and yet for some reason you're already watching a youtube video about editing your book and allowing all that information about WHAT SORTS OF ERRORS TO LOOK OUT FOR to influence how you write your draft.

stop it.

it's really subtle. there's so much "writing advice" that is acutally "editing advice" because it's teaching you how to polish and perfect parts of your story (for example, characters) and you really shouldn't allow this to put so much pressure on how you write your first draft.

but it goes deeper than that. you may not be able to follow all the advice at once because you just aren't there yet. for exapmle, when I was a young writer, I heard this a lot - write for yourself as if no one will ever read the story. which is beautiful advice.

but I couldn't follow it because ... I was a smol writer who couldn't part with the imagination of others reading my work. and being published. and being famous. and all those ... normal but ... premature dreams.

I was, basically, incapable of following that advice because I hadn't yet reached the point of understanding that it's totally fine if no one reads your work and it's really not that important.

///

item # 3 take a break from taking advice

when your mind is full of other people's writing processes, how can you discover your own? not that knowing their methods isn't useful - it can be! I've learned a ton from seeing how others write.

but their process isn't yours, and it can be easy to get others' processes and your own mixed and muddles when you don't even know what yours is yet.

think about this for a moment - if no one were to tell you how to write your book, how would you do it?

you may not know, because that scenario of "no one telling you how to do it" is so far and so foreign. but think - if you had no time limits, and pressure, and no need to finish your book fast - how would you go about writing it?

///

item # 4 experiment. a lot.

when someone talks about their process, take inspiration. don't try to copy exactly. but if something they say seems to resonate with you - try it. or try some version of it. the best way to learn anything is BY DOING IT. and that goes for writing.

try to treat your writing as an experiment, if you're new to it. or even intermediate. (and maybe even expert.) it's supposed to be a fun learning experience. so HAVE FUN and LEARN. try different methods of plotting, and planning. try writing your book chronologicallly, or backwards. write it in three days. or write it in one year. write the end first. write it in the order that things come to you. record it on audio. write fast. write slow.

TRY IT and see what works for you.

///

item # 5 try to develop the mindset of taking useful advice, not all advice

as I was saying, we cannot use it all at once, so why try to? this doesn't mean that you shouldn't read all those blog posts that tell you how to do things, but that you should approach them with a more open mind. one that recognizes that all the advice you read there might not be for you at this time.

just as an example, I'm a huge huge fan of Abbie's youtube channel. it's absolutely incredible and all her videos are amazing. HOWEVER. she posts a lot of videos about a lot of different writing topics. I cannot, in any way possible, handle all the information she provides at one go. I cannot even handle it at the rate that she posts - one video per week. I cannot write as fast as she can provide information - AND IT'S TOTALLY FINE. it doesn't make her advice less important or her channel less useful or me less of a writer. I just add a bookmark to her channel so that someday when I need advice on a certain topic, I can come back and look for it.

it's okay not to read every post. it's okay not to watch every video. it's okay not to take all the advice. look for the advice that you need. bookmark the rest for later.

so this post wasn't really meant to be an advice filled post, but more of a spill of thoughts that I've recently had. I've been learning more and more about myself as a writer lately and thought I'd share. here are a few fun facts about me:

// I cannot really plot at will. meaning, I can't sit down with a paper and pencil and PLOT THE THING OUT.

// I really like visualizing my book as a movie in my head. SLOWLY. with every shot, every camera angle, every character's facial expression, every background scene in exact time as it would appear on a screen.

// to do this I need to sit still, have my eyes shut, go deep deep into my mind, and imagine.

// and I hate sitting still with eyes shut in the middle of the day ... so.

// I cannot write a book without doing any plotting. it gets stuck.

// I cannot write a book before the idea has "matured". if I try, it dies.

// my best ideas stand the test of time. if I'm still thinking about the idea I had two years ago, chances are it's a good idea.

// not all ideas need to be books. flash fiction is good as well.

// I prefer editing to first drafts.

// with every book I try to write, I get better. and better. and better.

in other words, enjoy the process. take time to discover who you are as a writer. don't rush it. you have as much time as you need to do what you were meant to do.

keep writing, lovelies <3

xx lisa, who is currently having too much fun in a writing contest called Crazy Writing Week and this post has hopefully counted for about 800 words yayyyyyyy

how's everyone's week been?? i'm here trying to get used to the new blogger layout. it's much friendlier for mobile, though it takes getting used to!! my life lately has been made up of enneagram typing characters (Brooke's, Faith's and my own), watching Trollhunters (it's ... surprisingly addictive), and studying bacteria and viruses (wow, great timing, right?)

i've also been thinking a lot about my favorite books. specifically, what makes a book A FAVORITE? what criteria does it have to meet to be considered a favorite? it's easy to call any book a favorite just after you finish reading ... but fast forward months later, when someone asks you. you can only tell them several titles. how do you pick?

something Nadine Brandes once said (in this video) kind of stuck with me. "it has to affect my life somehow ... grow me as a person ... make me think really hard." so recently, I've been trying to think of the books I've read and see whether they have, actually, affected me. grown me. made me think.

and of course, what better way to think than to write a post about it. so here we are. BOOKS THAT HAVE LEFT ME WITH SOMETHING.

///

In 27 Days

by Alison Gervais

Basic idea:

When Hadley Jamison is given a once in a lifetime chance to travel back in time to save a boy she barely knows from committing suicide, her life becomes 10 times more complicated, and maybe 20 times more exciting.

Number of times I've read it:

Probably four times, if not five.

What if left me with:

I think this book taught me (not that I didn't know already, but this book punched it in) that strangers are worth caring about. You may not know them; they may appear really really different; you may not really have anything in common - but they're much more like you than you realize and they are. worth. loving. Hadley took a chance. She made hersefl look like a fool. She went out of her way, took so much trouble, and faced loneliness and critisism and some scorn. All for what? A person she didn't know. But a person she had a chance to save.

///

The Lost Books
by Ted Dekker

Basic idea:
Four chosen ones are sent on a mission to prove themselves to their new commanding officer - but on the way they are stopped by mysterious creatures and redirected on a new quest - to save their own world and ours. The six books in the series follow them through hell and back again as they race against time to save what was lost.

Number of times I've read it:
I've read the first four books once, and the last two twice (once in audio, once in print). I've been meaning to reread but am too scared, in case I don't like it anymore.

What it left me with:
If Bambi was my childhood favorite, then this can be said to be my teenhood favorite. I was addicted. This was my introduction to modern fantasy (previously, I'd only read C. S. Lewis). And it taught me so much, literature wise.

While I'd give this book 3/5 stars for technicalities and execution (it really veered off course of its own plot line in the later books), it gets 5/5 starts for what it did to me. This series showed me everything I love in ficiton. I had never read anything as riveting before. Action, twists, gripping plot, fantasy setting, strong themes, Christian allegory, enemies to lovers, betrayal, redemtion, a close knit group of characters, climatic battles, escapes, rescues, etc etc.

///

Letters to the Lost
by Brigid Kemmerer

Basic idea:
Juliet Young writes letters and leaves them on her mother's grave - but she never expects that someone would actually read them. And reply. This little correspondence sparks a fascinating relationship that ends up being much more complex than it first appears.

Number of times I've read it:
I've read this book twice, I believe.

What it left me with:
One of my absolute favorite themes in books is not judging people by their covers and actually learning to look beyond the surface of things. I think that you will notice this theme in every single favorite book of mine. I think that Letters to the Lost cemented the idea in my soul like no other book - people are more than what they appear to be. Besides this is also my absolute favorite contemporary of all time, and a beautiful example of characters and plots that I love.

///

The Chronicles of Narnia
by C. S. Lewis

Basic idea:
if you don't know what Narnia is about, you're living under a rock.

Number of times I've read it:
I'm acutally not sure, but possibly at least three times. I've also seen the movies multiple times and love them all <3

What it left me with:
Everything. Narnia was my first taste of fantasy, and I fell in love. I adore everything about the style and the plot and the characters and the world and the allegory, and I'm gonna go reread it again now, okay? C. S. Lewis taught me so much about both life and story writing. Can anything beat that?

///

Wolf by Wolf
by Ryan Graudin

Basic idea:
in an alternate history where the Axis won WWII, Yael, a death camp survivor, must win a motorcycle race across continents in order to come face to face with Hiter - and assasinate him.

Number of times I've read it:
only once! I just finished it two weeks ago but cannot wait to get it from the library again once I can!

What it left me with:
I'll bet some of you saw this coming, eh? I cannot exactly pinpoint what I learned from Wolf by Wolf, because I got so much. Both an insight into history, an insight into humans, an insight into writing books. I think that if I had to tell you only one thing about this book, I'd say - people are people; people have souls; people matter.

///

All things said and done, these are not, by any means, the only books that left me with something. Many books have taught me things, made me think, helped me grow. (And these are only the fictional ones I mentioned.) But as I scrolled through my lists on Goodreads, these jumped out at me like no others. These are the ones I shall always remember.

do you like books to leave you with something? off the top of your head, which ones have impacted you the most?

have a lovely saturday,

xx lisa

dear friends, hey, how are you? It's been a long time since I sat down and actually truly blogged. the last few posts I put up were interviews/guest posts - nothing wrong with them, of course. but I haven't actually talked with you in so long. so here, you deserve an update ~

I was inspired by Grace Anne's latest post, quarantine diaries vol. 1, and will be doing something of the sort. wow, has it really been one and a half years since I wrote A RECAP POST?? how's that even possible?

I have not been counting the days I've been inside. not totally housebound, of course. just not going into town. days feel like all days have always felt. school. family. writing. art. walks in the park. unfortunately, something happened with my online school's website and course content was lost. so I've had more free time on my hands than I expected ... some things that have been happening ~

DOING:

x art. I've been learning to paint skin tones through this video. a new favorite artist I've discovered is Tara Spruit. and I'm working my way through Dixon Drawing Class taught by Heather Dixon (yes, the author). I'm also doing a Top Secret art project right now which I'm super excited for that I'm sure you all will be hearing about more in the near future!

x nanowrimo. which I've failed AGAIN, but oh well. I don't think I'm really the Nano type of person? for once in my life, there's something I cannot do FAST. and that is, write. however, I've had a lot of fun with my cabinmates, and my wip is really exciting me more as I keep writing it.

x video calls. ironically my social life has become even more social with the quarantine - I used to video call people one every few months in the past, and now it's like, once a week (if not more). it's certainly fun and great to connect with others but sometimes I feel ... introverted ... like, wow, video calling so much is tiring. let's take a break.

x working for havok!! I was recently accepted to the havok team and am currently working as a submissions manager of sorts - going through stories and replying to emails! I abosultely love the work and the environment and can't wait to learn all the things!!

WATCHING:

x Netflix, what else. we recently got an account thanks to friends who decided to share theirs with us!! and so, we've been watching all the things. namely ~

Our Planet. it's narrated by David Attenborough and feels exactly like Planet Earth by BBC so we love it. 5/5.
Mary Poppins Returns. it was fun, but once again, I thought the filmmakers were trying too hard to follow the plotline of the original and bring back all the nostaligia. still, it was entertaining. 3/5.
Sahara. a never-heard-of-before Canadian animated movie about a snake and a scorpion. it was, frankly, really really good for a movie not produced by one of the giants (Disney, Dreamworks, etc etc). in fact, the music was even better than a lot of Disney's latest ones. 4/5.
Peter Rabbit. hilarious. exciting. decidedly a comedy that I loved, even though I generally hate comedy (the reason I didn't hate this one was because the rabbits were the main characters). it was pretty deep for something so funny. 4/5.
The Croods. I really want that saber toothed tiger as my pet, enough said. 4/5.

x Anne of Green Gables ~ the Good Stars and Fire and Dew. this was a Canadian PBS two movie series. definitely not as good as the famous trilogy made by Kevin Sullivan. not terrible, but it certainly left out a lot of my favorite parts and changed things. 2.5/5. (got this one through Hoopla.)

x Chopped. only recently did I and my siblings discover the world of COOKING SHOWS and we really really like Chooped, way too much, I think XD it gets to be a bit much if you watch over two episodes a day though, so 4/5. (this was from Youtube.)

x Jessethereader because my favorite booktuber whom I watch with dedication XD

READING:

x Les Miserables with Hannah Rodriguez - I'm in awe over Hugo's DEDICATION TO DETAIL.

x God in My Everything - a book about how we can learn from the ancient monastic life. heard about this from Kaylan Mah and love it so far.

x Wolf by Wolf and Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin. I listened to 23 hours of audiobook in four days and was destroyed by this duology. I've never read anything like it. now I'm listening to Fleurie's album, Love and War, to try and recover from it.

x How We Rise. I am so excited for the release of Brooke's book!! I already have review of this one up on Goodreads so read it right here to be convinced that you need it!!

x next up on my list is the audiobooks for the Illuminae Files and I am excited. Nicole Dust keeps talking about these so HIGH TIME I actually read them.

EATING:

x err, double fudge cookies :)) smoked fish. waffle cones that I made. smoothies.

x I'm unused to talking about food on my blog so I'll stop right here ...

MOMENTS:

x finding that you can schedule gmails to send out at basically any time in the future and preparing a "time capsule" email to send out to my squad (the Dimension) in 2030.

x playing online games with my overseas cousins because we're stuck at home (we never did this before)

x writing to Ryan Graudin about how much I liked her books and hearing back from her that it was just the encouragment she needed wowowow

x doing a little photography project where I collect cool photos and try to replicate them (still working on this one)

x getting a new laptop - I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT.

x going outside and photographing the gorgeous cherry blossoms that grace our streets at this time of year <333

THINKING:

x about how blessed we that God is our Father and taking care of us and that if we belong to him we cannot fail at life because it's not we who are doing things in our own strenght anymore but he is doing things in and through us.

x how I think I have a sort of wrong view of the world - thinking of things as "the world". "The world" doesn't experience anything. It doesn't suffer. It doesn't feel. IT'S THE PEOPLE and they are individuals. I think that by calling the people elsewhere "the world", and calling all the masses in a country by the county's name ("China is doing this", "America is doing this", "England is doing this") makes me duller to feel for the people. I'm trying to learn to imagine others as people - not as a generalized population. That what has happened to "the world" happened to one person. and to another. and to another. and to another. and to another.

x increasingly thinking about the purpose behind why I do things ... trying to set motivations right.

x absolutely love Abbie's latest writing video about the enneagram types !!

with all that said, I hope you all are doing well! let's chat below about how YOU are doing. what have you been watching/reading/doing/thinking lately??

stay safe and healthy, and may God bless you all <3

~ lisa

ps. for all my writer friends, here is a publisher hosting a novel competition that you all should check out if you have a complete manuscript xx

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