Le Dernier Mot

This Blog Has Moved

2010-12-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

Yes. Again. If you are still interested in me, here's the URL. If you are not, that is completely understandable.

www.le-dernier-mot.blogspot.com

:)

I Don't Know What To Say

2010-02-08T13:52:00.000-08:00

"The night has gone

A part of yesterday

I don't know what to say...

I don't know what to say...."

-"The One That You Love", Air Supply

I've been a very bad writer. *looks guilty*. And it isn't because of the chocolate chip I stole from the cookie jar. You thought I was going to say supermarket, didn't you? >_> I'm not that bad.

Why am I bad, you ask? Well, *shakes head* first of all, I've been neglecting you - my dearest blog! I missed you so much but I had a great big bout of writer's block and...well first let me give you a great big squeeze! *gives blog a great big squeeze*. What I was going to say is that for about two weeks now I had this great er...where's my dictionary? vehement despite against writing. Pourquoi? Why would I, a blogger on writing, suddenly hate (I'm sorry, that's a strong word...vehemently despise) writing? Well. I think it began with my creative writing club. (If this was a TV show, you would see me looking up to the ceiling very philosophically as the image blurs and we go back in time to a memory. Think that 70s show when Fez [sp?] dreams about being awesome). (And yes I know I just used an adverb).

I told the leader of the creative writing club (aka a teacher at our school who is going to get her book published, and not self-published, might I add) that I was going to join ABNA. Maybe. And I heavily stressed on the maybe. She offered to look at my pitch and help me out (mind you this was two weeks ago) and I was all like, "Yeah, thanks. But I might not join." And then she went on rambling about beta readers like I didn't know what they were (of course I know!) And I don't think she got the idea that there was a great possibility I was not going to go in the contest. So then I'm feeling like I don't want to write a pitch anymore because, really, I don't know. I mean, I was going to have help! Great, experienced help at that! But the reason for my reluctance is that I hadn't began editing my Nano at all. And I stress at the at all. Maybe a couple paragraphs, yes. But that was in December. And when I read it back then, I was thinking to myself, "WTF did I write in November? Maybe in a couple of weeks I'll have fresh eyes." So when I got home that very same day, I looked at it again - the first few paragraphs of my Nano - and it looked the same to me. Utter rubbish. So I'm feeling pretty bad now (sorry, I sound like a rambling teenager, and not a sophisticated writer, but I need to let this out) because, did I not add, ABNA was accepting entries THAT VERY DAY. So (sorry for the many usages of that word) I was getting stressed and feeling crazy and delirious, like the Chesire Cat up there (does he creep you out as much as he creeps me out?) I was all like, okay, I'm going to do this. I'm going to edit this bad boy (or maybe it's a girl?) and get it in submission before the time they stop accepting submissions (which is on February 7th). I know what you are doing. You are checking your calendars. You are saying, "But Vanille, it is already the 8th."

And here I hang my head down in shame.

Not only was I so irresponsible as to not warn the poor teacher to not worry about the pitch because I wasn't doing it, but I didn't edit sh*t (sorry for that, I'm stressed). Now, I had excuses. For example, the creative writing club only meets on Mondays (to my knowledge). The next two Mondays after that (including this one) we didn't have school. But there was no excuse for not going to her the other four days in a school week and saying it straight up. Now, my english teacher (whom I shall from now on name Mr. English Teacher) is like THE BAD TEACHER. You know, those notoriously strict, mean, unmerciful teachers. Yeah, we have one. And me and my friend were partnering up for a project I don't know if I mentioned before. We have to make 6 commercials, 3 for Merchant of Venice and 3 for Romeo and Juliet. Now, we have to write scripts, we need actors, and we need to edit this thing by the 23rd. So most of lunch was occupied with that. Then, my biology teacher is relentless and will keep giving us labs and homework. Then I have all my other homework and tests and memorizing two soliloquys for Mr. English Teacher. And to top it all off, I am pretty sure the guy sitting next to me in geometry likes me, but I don't like him at all. How do I know? He asked me if I had a boyfriend, to which I replied, no and I don't want one because they distract me from my academics. And he made that disappointed face. GRR. For some reason, I absolutely despise guys who like me. I don't know, probably because I have to break their hearts. So I'm going to have to get my other guy friend (who just so happens to like me too, my friend tricked him into confessing. It was apparent anyways) to warn the guy sitting next to me not to waste his time on me because I will not give him the time of day. So now I have all this going on and then writing is about the least important thing on my list but for some reason I feel so guilty about it. Then, I didn't rewrite the 2K for the club. I need work on dedication. In fact, I didn't write anything at all. I avoided the Nanowrimo, ABNA website and this blog (sadly) like the plague. I even relented to critique my poor critique buddy's chapter after she's waited all these weeks for it. GAH! I'm so bad.

Now you see. And then I still find myself procrastinating - watching movies, TV, playing chess, playing solitaire, staring at the ceiling worrying about everything. So I blamed writing for all my troubles and I just wanted to avoid anything writing related. I still am, but I'm trying to recover. I just need a BREAKK!! Thus my great big bout of writer's block. Errrggghh.

Yes, I'm very bad. And I'm sorry, but there is not going to be a post about writing advice today. The only good news is that I read up to 400 pages on Crime and Punishment, which means I can do my book report and get extra credit. It's actually a very good book. I just don't feel up to telling advice to writers when I myself feel so...not-writer-ish. That would be hypocritical of me to advise you on how to get out of writer's block, when I'm in such a serious bout myself, with no way to get out. Maybe when I do get out, I can tell you my secret. And that won't be so hypocritical. So, sorry. Maybe writing is the cure for this. Maybe I have all this boiled inside me and writing is the way out. But when I tried writing the 2K earlier today, I ended up writing the lyrics to Help! By The Beatles. Oh. *sigh*

I end this on a sigh. Now, I must get to my biology extra credit. What a nerd am I. But I just cannot, cannot write. It's even painful to write this. What is wrong with me?! Maybe in another few weeks, I will be okay. I'll try posting on you, blog. I will not let you go so soon. Maybe in the future, I can look back on this and laugh. Hahaha. My friend laughs when she's nervous. Hahaha.

If there is a psychologist out there, can you pleeease, help me, help me, help mmeeeee..oohhh

After the Break (hopefully it won't be a long one),

Vanille

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task." ~William James

(P.S. I have about 5 plot bunnies circling my head, and I'm afraid I can't write about them just yet. So here's the only advice for today - advice I'm going to use myself, too. When you have a lot of plot bunnies, write them down in a notebook. Ha. I'm afraid I didn't give very good advice, if you are a writer, you would already be doing that without my advising. Okay, I'll stop now.)

VIVA LA VIDA.
....

Okay, that came out of nowhere.

I'll stop now.

Don't Turn Back Now That We're Here

2010-01-23T19:37:00.000-08:00

"Heart don't fail me now!

Courage don't desert me!

Don't turn back now that we're here"

-"Journey to the Past", Anastasia

That list up there could be further from the truth. I wish that was my schedule, you know, surviving meaning eating, watching TV, snacking, reading, then going back to bed. But no, there are so many things to do that - I shall quote my twitter, "I want to do so many things at one time that I end up worrying about which I should do first and result in doing nothing at all." Yes, that is how I'm feeling, dear friends. I'm sorry I haven't properly greeted you, so Bonjour! And hello. I'm sure you were afraid I was going to have that two month absence that could possibly happen, yes, I was afraid of that, too. But here I am. Of the things I worried about doing, I decided to do this first. Well, let us get updated.

The Things I Want To Do All At Once That I End Up Not Doing At All/ The Things Worrying My Mind

I stil haven't written the 2k I was going to write again. I know! God has given me two weeks to make up for it and I don't do anything but worry!
I finally critiqued that mess of a story for my friend because I agreed to. Have I not told you about my critique buddy yet? Long story short, I critiqued her query and she was so happy with my harshness (it was not a pretty query) she wanted me to critique her whole novel, and because I saw some sort of story in the midst of the horrible grammar and punctuation and sentence structure of her critique, I agreed. I told her in my query critique that you want your query to be good, so it will reflect your writing. Well, her unrevised query just about did reflect her writing. I will be talking about one of her mistakes today. But all in all, she's a good person, really, and I like her. And I don't mean to be mean to her, I even consider her as a friend (well, we are on Facebook). So all is not completely lost.
All the projects. To name a few, I have to make three commercials avec mon amis and that won't be pretty because mon amis get easily distracted, and that distraction resulted in an F on a previous assignment. God help those too trusting! The commercials are supposed to be about The Merchant of Venice, which, after putting on a production of the play with my stuffed animals as characters, actually makes sense to me. Allow me to quote my twitter (again) - "Merchant of Venice isn't as confusing as I once thought...thou hath not as confuddling as ere...I don't think I said that right". Then I have to think up another (stupid) science project. Then I have to research my health project, which is going to be on thyroids (my mom, uncles, and aunt has it, so I'm scared). And then I have to write a story book in French about things I do and don't do in the seasons (par example: J'aime mangez en hiver, mais je n'aime pas nager en hiver [translation: I love eating in winter, but I don't like swimming in winter]). Grrr.
I want to join ABNA. I'm thinking of submitting my nanonovel, you know, for the heck of it. Problem: I haven't edited TROAP at all, don't have a pitch ready, or anything else. Ah, well. I've been meaning to do that. BIG PROBLEM: Submissions are in TWO DAYS.
I actually liked Crime and Punishment. Me and Raskolnikov have something in common: We're going insannnnnnnnneeeeeeee!! At least I didn't murder something, though my grades are in jeopardy.
Get my friend and other friend presents because it's their birthdays!! AHH

Okay, so that's all that has happened. Those are my concerns. Okay, I'm going to make a schedule RIGHT NOW. (Schedules always make me feel safer).

After this post (which was also in my to-do list), finish my bio hw and try to read some of the chapter on taxonomy
after bio hw, start the french project. but don't expect to finish it all today (it'll come out sloppy)
After getting tired with that, conscience should be somewhat calmer. Do any other hw that I have forgotten.
Start editing TROAP and start 2k
Sunday: Wake up early and cont. edit TROAP and finish 2k
If don't finish TROAP by tomorrow, that's okay, submissions still open
Get done with all hw today so have time to do all this writing business tomorrow!

Okay, that has cleared my mind somewhat. So, back to the true topic of this post because you all don't really care about my insanity...

The Series of Actions Disorder...dun dun dunnn...

Okay. So as I mentioned, my critique buddy has a problem with this. Allow me to give an example and you try and figure out the problem (hint: the title of this section)

Lila walked to class. She sat down and took out her notebook. The teacher was hairy like a monkey and he sounded like one too. He was Mr. Gorilla, the science teacher. Lila felt like falling asleep. Then when class was over, she walked past a hallway of students and walked into her next class that smelled like peppermint and oil. After school, she went to her car and turned the window down, glad to be out of school, aka, prison.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS?! It was something I saw frequently in my partner's WIP. A character who goes to one class, then to another (I can't reveal any specific details or excerpts since I agreed not to show any of her work to anybody...and I'd like not to be sued, thank you very much) and then to the other. Then she did this, ate this, walked here, sat there. Chit-chatted here then walked there. Oh, quelle horreur! Not only did it not develop the plot or give us any indication of the character's personality, but it was just BORING. You know, I don't care if your MC has science last or if the science teacher's name was Mr. Gorilla (a name that bears a lot of resemblance to my english teacher's). I don't care if she ate pie, but never ate the crusts because she didn't like crusts. I honestly don't care if she grabbed a banana and realized she didn't like bananas and threw it in the garbage. Imagine reading pages of this robotic action! Yikes, indeed, my good friend. I said something about that, in my honest harshness that is neither overly cruel, and certainly not overly sugar-coated.

Now I ask you, my friend. Do you read this when you are editing your WIP? Think closely about it. How much pain did you suffer reading my own crude example up above? Yes, imagine that and reconsider what you are writing. I daresay, if your book was in the library and I picked it up because the book cover was nice (which I should immediately stop doing and I will tell you why in another post) and decided to skim the first few pages. If, my friend, your first few lines were those lines up above, I would surely put your book down and take care to avoid it in the future. And you don't want that, do you? Of course, I can only speak for myself. But I am so certain that agents would do the same, I would bet actual money on it.

Also, there was another irk I had with my partner's manuscript, and that was...

Unnecessary Details...*shark song*

There was a lot of a emphasis on what the character was wearing. Not only was there particular care into describing what the MC was wearing, but it was depicted in the way up above. Yes, you guessed it...a series of actions. (Example: I put on my purple shorts. I wondered what would go well with this, and I decided on the rainbow striped tank top. Then I put on my orange shoes, and voila! [Sidenote: I advise not to wear this outfit, not in this era, good friend]). Also, there was an emphasis on the specifics of the shirt. Like, it had a picture of Dora the Explorer on it. Unless your character is dressing for a particular reason, for example, she finds herself in Antarctica and I take great effort to describe to you exactly how many layers of clothing she put on. You see, not only do I show you that it is extremely cold outside, but I also give you a sense of what is appropriate to wear in Antarctica (which in that case, would not be purple shorts and a rainbow striped tank top).

I made this mistake in my early writings - too much emphasis on what my characters were wearing when really it didn't matter at all to the story. Nowadays, I would only mention what my characters were wearing if...

My FMC is going on her first date with love interest and it matters what she is wearing and how long it took her to choose that outfit because she is striving to look her best
Or I would mention beforehand my character is wearing a scarf (maybe the scarf is blowing in the wind and hits her in the face or something) because later on, it's that same scarf that saves her life (Not sure how, but anything's possible).
Attire has something relevant to event (i.e. a mask in a masquerade)

So I hope you got something out of that. Remember, what I'm saying isn't right and it isn't wrong either. I'm just telling you something to consider and think about. Maybe, it will even help you out. (I could be the next Shakespeare, Just kidding! Oh, am I jesting.)

Au Revoir, my good friends! Remember, I go to school now and cannot update you as regularly as I used to.

After the Break,

Vanille

"I try to leave out the parts that people skip." -Elmore Leonard

I Can Show You How

2010-01-17T17:31:00.000-08:00

"The world has lost its glory,

let's start a brand new story now, my love

Right now, there'll be no other time

And I can show you how, my love"

-"Words", Bee Gees

Bonjour Blog!

Things that happened since I last posted on you:

An earthquake in Haiti. My heart and prayers go out to all those people there, to the ones trapped under the ruble, the ones who are helping, and the families of the ones who died. I hope that Port-au-Prince can be restored soon.
On Friday my school had an academic rally and it turns out I'm one of the "Top Ten Freshmen" and I didn't even know it. I had to sit in a "special seat" in front of everybody along with all the other top ten people though I don't believe it was special because they put these humungous speakers right behind us. All I can say is LOUD. I think I might've gotten more deaf. So then I had to walk on this red carpet and shake hands with the principal, who didn't even bother giving me a certificate recognizing my position. All I have for proof that I really was in the top ten was the paper taped to my "special seat" which states my real name (and if you didn't know it already, my real name is not Vanille, Vanille c'est mon nom de plume). It was enough to convince my parents.
My friends and I are nerds. Our honors biology teacher won't sign our papers to allow us to go into Chemistry AP because we're "too young" and it's a lot of work. But my friends and I are determined nerds so long story short, we went to the counselor's office. He said that the prerequisites are an A or B in bio (I have an A) and completed Algebra 2 (I'm still in geometry) so only 3 of my friends are qualified whilst the rest of us are stuck in geometry. We might take summer classes at a college. But what's unfair is that we freshmen are actually smarter than those sophomores so why do they get to go and we don't?? Whether or not we make it through is still unknown, I'll keep you updated.
My Creative Writing teacher proposed this thing where we'll write like a paper of short stories, poems, and whatnot and sell it to students in the school. When she asked me if I thought it was a good idea or not, I pretty much nodded my head and forced a smile on my face, because I knew whatever I said would not change anything since it seemed pretty much decided anyways. Great. Now the whole school will be reading my writing. Can you say, help?
One of my goals has been to watch the movies that we used to have on video but can't play anymore since everybody's switched to DVDs. We finally restored one of our old movies - Anastasia. It's a bit more cornier than I remember (the last time I watched it was eight years ago and I was six), but still good.
I now own a Beatles shirt that says "Can't Buy Me Love" :D

So that's all that has happened. And maybe it gives you an idea of why I couldn't post as often as I'd liked. As promised, the next post will be strictly on showing don't tell (though there may be some references to my life). Okie-dokie!

Showing not Telling: Part 1

As before, I made a post on adverbs and how you can show some adverbs. Now, I will present to you another way you can know if you are telling and not showing.

Let's take these words: angry, sad, happy, joyful, pleased, confused, stressed, miserable, cheery (trying to think of non-depressing words), and moody

What do they all have in common?

A) It's only words! And words are all I have, to take your heart awaayyy

B) I don't know

C) They are emotions

D) Nothing! I see nothing!

If you answered C, then you are correct! Here is your million dollars and brand new cat! Just kidding. I don't have a million dollars and a brand new cat to give you, you will just have to settle for the knowledge that you are intelligent.

But what do emotions have to do with showing not telling, Vanille? Well, mon ami, I will show you right now! Let's take these examples:

As Tommy stands before Lila, holding his brand new cat and million dollars, Lila is very angry that he got these things by cheating and scrolling down to see the answer! Now, Lila has to settle for the knowledge that she is intelligent! BAH!

Fluffy is a happy dog.

Now, brace yourself for the next examples which are unedited and quickly written.

As Tommy stands before Lila, holding his brand new cat and million dollars, Lila's thoughts twirl in a fury, crashing into each other and circling her head, each calling out to her attention. She can't catch them all, but one message is apparent: Tommy got these things by cheating and scrolling down to see the answer! Lila's heart races and her cheeks become warm, then so hot, it's as if her thoughts are steam that pours from her ears. She can't hold it all in any longer and she slaps Tommy's face, the stinging bringing satisfaction to her tingling palm. No way is she going to settle for the knowledge that she is intelligent. "Bah!" she spits at the crumpled figure named Tommy who is curled on the ground, aiding his bleeding nose.

Every morning Fluffy licks his master's nose to greet him to the bright new day. During breakfast, Fluffy bounces up and down on his cute, fluffy paws and his eager, drooling tongue sticks out from his smile in the hope that master will be kind and give him a bit of bacon. Next is Fluffy's morning walk in which master is yanked around the neighborhood as Fluffy runs, barking, to every pedestrian, chases the always-frowning-cat next door, and pees in neighbor's petunias. At the park, Fluffy wags his tail as he races to get the yellow frisbee master throws.

What's different other than the fact the last two are longer?

Well, in the last two I have shown the words angry and happy. Pay close attention, there are certain words that are related to certain emotions. Notice my use of words "fury", "crashing", "hot", "slaps", "spits". All these words contribute to the emotion "angry". And then notice the words "bright", "new", "bounces", "eager", "smile", "wags his tail," and "yellow". These all contribute to the emotion "happy", except for "wags his tail" which can only be used on, well, dogs. I just showed you that Lila is angry and that Fluffy is happy without saying it directly as the first two examples. :) And I just realized that I also showed you that Fluffy is a dog rather than telling you like in the first example.

So if you can see my stance. If you notice a phrase like 'he is happy' or 'she feels confused'. Maybe you should reconsider if you can show this instead by use of body language and dialogue. Though of course, if you want to describe someone briefly, you can say, "she was a pleasant old woman who always gave me cookies when I passed by her house". Notice word pleasant, but then I go the extra step to include exactly why she's pleasant, and it's because she gives cookies (and isn't that pleasant?). (I am aware pleasant is not an emotion, but can fall under the word pleased). Sometimes I catch myself writing things like, "Tommy is sad" or whatever. And I ask myself, "can I show that instead?"

So always keep that in mind! And that, folks, is part one of showing not telling!

After the break,

Vanille :)

"When you are describing,

A shape, or sound, or tint;

Don't state the matter plainly,

But put it in a hint;

And learn to look at all things,

With a sort of mental squint."

-Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)

Thought I Had A Lot To Prove

2010-01-12T19:25:00.000-08:00

"I'd smile when I was crying

I had nothing but a life to lose

Thought I had a lot to prove

In my life there's no denying"

-"Everyday", Bon Jovi

Bonjour mes amis!! This post isn't going to be about writing, though I'll just post this as a reminder that the next post (or the post after that) will be all about showing, not telling, and the keyword is emotion. So, if you could remember that for me then that will complete what I want to say about showing and not telling. And it's showing and telling people, one of the shiny golden rules of writing! Mind you, all this stuff I post here is from a really, really young writer and it's best if you don't just take my word for it because we all have differing opinions in the internet-universe so its best you check out other websites on the same topic. What's on here is just my view, and I may not always be correct. Just as a reminder...

So, I know you're dying to ask (well, maybe not dying. You probably don't care, either) but school is okay. Not thrilled to be there, but not overly depressed either. I just finished my homework. And I'm not even in AP classes (yet). There's this whole disagreement because my parents want to get me in AP classes in my sophomore years, but the teachers don't want sophomores to take AP classes because it's too "hard". So that means that, for example, I want to get into AP Chem (yah, I'm pretty smart :P ), but my current bio teacher doesn't want us to, she wants us to take regular CP Chemistry first. Mais, ma parents want me to "be challenged" so I think there is going to be a lot of corresponding between them and my counselor.

Now that I've bored you with all this totally unrelated dude news, let's get to the writing bit in my life. Well, remember the 2K I worried myself over all during break? Well. Yesterday I went to my creative writing club and who was there but absolutely nobody! Not a soul in sight except for the English teacher at my school and also the "leader" of my creative writing club. (Mind you, she's having her book published!!! I don't know much about it except that it's titled Promise Rock and I've been meaning to ask her to read a copy of it.) Anyways, I went in and was all like, "Is there a meeting today?" And she told me no because (surprise, surprise!) not many people were there so we'll all just get together next week. (You see, us writers are a scarce type of human). I told her I wrote the 2K, she said that's good. Then I left because there wasn't anything there.

Une problem - The 2k I told her I had will be different next week. Yes, I had this 2K in my backpack (the one I was so excited about, do you remember?) but you know what? Remember also when I hit an OMG-what-if-I-really-suck moment? Well, I managed to convince myself that what I was writing was absolute, excusez moi, crap. So I'm going to write a whole new 2k and I still don't know what to write about. Ahh short stories. Why couldn't she just ask us to write a novel? That would be easier.

Well, I just wanted to post this update even though it's totally unrelated dude just to assure you I haven't forgotten about you in the rush of homework and your normal school dramas. But you betcha next time we'll get into serious writing talk. Kay? Tata. American Idol's on today in 3 minutes and I have to goo.....

After the break (I feel proud saying this now)

Vanille!

"Omg, American Idol's on and I have to go there can't be a quote du jour!" -Vanille

P.S. Did you hear Simon Cowell isn't going to be there next season?? I know! What the heck is that?! Simon Cowell is American Idol. Ellen Degenerous (did I spell her name right?) says it's up to her now to be mean, somehow, I just can't imagine that.

Not Enough To Show I Care

2010-01-10T10:38:00.000-08:00

"Ain't got nothin' but love babe

Eight days a week

Eight days a week, I love you

Eight days a week, is not enough to show I care"

-"Eight Days A Week", The Beatles

Ahhh. Before I start, I would just like to say that my nails are painted le colour noir and that I had forgotten how much I hated waiting for them to dry (you can't eat anything!). Now that I've said that, I have brought with me rather, no, very depressing news. I'm going back to school tomorrow. Doom doom doom. And I'm absolutely dreading it. As Dolly Levi says, "Goodbye, goodbye, goodbyeee!"

A quick reflection on my three week break. All I remember most is movies, movies, and more movies. And I remember reading almost all the queries in query shark. I faintly remember going to San Francisco, but that was so long ago, long ago.

I really don't know what this post is going to be about. But I'd like to say I recently hit a OMG-what-if-I-really-suck? moment. I abhor those. Now, my mind's all in flutter like what if I'm not good enough? And it's all confusing, confusing! I don't know how to explain it, but allow me to compare myself to Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment right after he murdered that one lady (I need to catch up on my reading). That's exactly how I feel, but I haven't murdered anybody, I just feel extremely sucky. I look upon my writing with disdain, especially my 2K which I am seriously reconsidering. It's too late now! Tomorrow is school (doom, doom, doom) and I'll have to turn it in! *headdesk*

I want to quote something I said in Steph Bowe's blog when she asked the post about our writings. I said:

My writing? Well, I imagine writing as words floating around in the air and I
have to pick them like I would an apple from a tree to create the most pretty
sentence (or apple pie). And if I get writer's block or lack of inspiration, I
usually end up pacing around the house, trying to find that perfect word that
will get me back on track. I like exploring writing, like different POVs or
genres. I'd like to get published before graduating high school, like you did
Steph, lol. But though I think my writing is knock-your-socks-off-awesome (who
doesn't feel like their baby is the most adorable in the world?)I don't think
it's quite yet ready for the publishing world. I'm still waiting for that
knock-your-socks-off-awesome story, and so far I haven't found it, or it hasn't
come to me. I've been writing since I was little (as most writer's have)and I
think I'm going to pretty much end up writing for the rest of my life.As for a
sample of my writing, why, this comment reflects it quite well. ;)

So yeah, that's pretty much it. Now you know how I write. When I can't find the words, I hit writer's block. Or a wall. (When you're looking for words in the air, you're only lookin' up. I especially hate it when the word is on the tip of your tongue and you know it starts with a certain letter, but you just can't catch it! Oh, yes, look at me all funny but you know exactly what I mean.)

Oh, oh! I know what to talk about now that's totally unrelated to my writing.

Adverbs!

Why so sullen? Oh, sure. Adverbs might not be fun in English class (believe me, I know) but here on this blog, I'll try and make it as interesting as I can in my current state of mind.

You know the golden rule in writing, show don't tell? (I'll cover that later when I'm more sane and less dizzy). Well, as I critique in critique circle I see a lot of adverbs. To me, there are two types of adverbs.

The ones you can show
The ones you can't show

Allow me to make lists

The Ones You Can Show

frustratingly, protectively, passionately, fearlessly, noisily, rudely, merrily, bravely, calmly, hastily, irritably, obediently, politely, solemnly, wearily

The Ones You Can't Show

absolutely, faintly, exactly, extremely, especially, usually (I've taken these from this post) exceedingly

Do you get what I mean? Let's show the adverb frustratingly

Original: "Oh, geez, I don't know!" I said frustratingly.

Revised:"Oh, geez, I don't know!" I cried, pulling at my hair. But even that pain didn't cover the rising feeling of doom at the thought of school tomorrow.

You see the showing not telling? You get the idea I'm frustrated and that mere thought of school, right?

Let's try another using hastily

Original: I hastiliy put on my clothes and ran out the front door.

Revised: I shoved my pants up, snatched a random shirt from the floor and yanked that on, too. My eyes flashed to my alarm clock. Good grief, late on the first day of school! Stupid clock! I dashed downstairs, having a second to give a quick kiss to my mom and flew out the door like my butt was on fire.

Okay...so not the best imagery, but you get the idea. I showed you hastily instead of telling.

Now, regarding the adverbs you can't show, check back on my post and spot those adverbs. Let's take this example I made up right now,

I am absolutely certain that my first day back at school will heavy my backpack with all its pointless homework.

You see? Maybe you can show absolutely, but I categorize those kinds of adverbs as OK since you can't really show it. (Speaking of advebs, the author of Crime and Punishment uses them like every other sentence!! Oh, well. It was written well before we had all these "writing rules"). There might be people out there who aren't even okay with those kinds of adverbs and say scratch it out all together. Of course, if I scratch out "absolutely" my sentence will still make sense. But I rather like it with the absolutely; it better depicts my disdain.

That's something to keep in mind. Remember, if it's an adverb you can show, then show it for goodness' sake! Some of those adverbs in can't show can be shown like "faintly". But the way I used it in this post I believe is allowed in my book. It's those other adverbs like carefully you have to find a way to show. Now, that wasn't too bad, was it? :)

To digress, I'd like to talk about something popular in romances and that is kisses. If there's one phrase I see when reading those scenes is this:

He/She deepened the kiss.

Nooo! Even somewhere in the Nanowrimo forums, someone said they thought this was overused. And since you saw me put it in this color, you know I agree, too. At first when I read that, I was like, I never seen that before. But if you go out there and read all these WIPs, they are there! Yikesss! Keep that in mine, romance writers. I won't be too happy to see this and if you're on Critique Circle and I see it, you bet there'll be something in my inline critique about it.

Okay, that's enough for today. As always, I wish I have been of some aid to you and your writing. Wish me luck going back to school and especially (ha!) my sore back which will not be happy to have the heavy backpack on it again. (Eeks! I said 'back' way too much. This is one of my pet peeves, but I'm feeling way too confused and dizzy to edit it, all my energy went to adverbs).

After the break, (or in this case my finished winter break)

Vanille

"The founding fathers... provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called education. School is where you go between when your parents can't take you and industry can't take you." -John Updike, The Centaur, 1963

& just for fun/I couldn't decide which one I liked best

"I think everyone should go to college and get a degree and then spend six months as a bartender and six months as a cabdriver. Then they would really be educated." -Al McGuire

P.S. I hope I didn't jinx myself with the late example

P.S.2. Speaking of after the break, American Idol's coming back on! I forgot the exact date, but I know it's in this month. Yays! I love the first audition park. Edit: Radio said it's coming on Jan 12! Maybe there is a silver lining to every storm cloud! (or something along those lines...)

I Did It My Way

2010-01-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

"My heart is like an open highway

Like Frankie said, 'I did it my way'

I just wanna live while I'm alive

'Cause It's my life"

-"It's My Life", Bon Jovi

Hey everyone! Well, I didn't make it to the finals of Nathan Bransford's contest. Yes, yes. I know, a shame isn't it? Hold all "awwws". Haha! Just kidding. I think like a pessimist most of the time, so I was already prepared to lose. Anyways, the finalists' entries were pretty darn hot and I know they deserved it more than I do. BTW, I voted for Jenny's because it's more, to me, like what a teen would write. And Jenny won, too, so congratulations! I think I'm going to head over to her blog (if she has one) and say it. The other one I liked was the one (man, I forgot the username) about getting bullied. It was pretty darn hilarious. The others I didn't feel captured the teen's mind. Haha. In other words, it was too poetic or insightful.

I have bad news. School's starting in two days (after this weekend) and I know I'm going to get bombarded with homework, so I may not be able to post regularly but you're darn right I'ma try my best. Now, enough of this school talk. It's depressing me.

Topic of the day is: Don't Worry About Starting Over!

Yesterday, I just could not write. Whatever I wrote majorly sucked. I had written this thing and I was too lazy to rewrite it, but I really wasn't having fun with it and you know that voice in the back of your head that's always right? Yeah, well, it was telling me "this majorly sucks". And I knew it in my heart too. So I did something a slacker like me doesn't do often: and that was start over. So, I'm starting over with this fresh new piece of paper and half-way through the voice tells me "this is going nowhere". And I knew it in my heart, too (repitition intended). So, I got out this other piece of paper, cut my story in half, rewrote the decent half, and continued in a new direction. And while I am writing, the voice is telling me in this really weird Jafar (the evil guy who looks somewhat like a monkey in Aladdin) voice "much better" (I think that's what he said when Jasmine pretended to fall in love with him !!). And I was happy I pleased the voice but a little creeped out too. Now, I'm back on track. I think if I would've continued going on the first path, I'd be coming to this blog with more bad news other than school. (Can you say ex-WIP?)

Let me give some examples off the top of my head:

Take Christopher Paolini, the author of Eragon. I remember reading somewhere, I think in his acknowledgements, that he had to start this scene all over (the horror!) because I think it was his mother who said it was not good. And now look at it, much better, eh?

And, I mentioned this before already, the original storyboard for Aladdin. Some guy said "I don't like it" and they had to start all over in a limited amount of time at that. But I've gotten a glimpse of deleted scenes from the old storyboard and have a general idea of the storyline. I have to say, the new one is much, much, better. Did you know Aladdin used to have a momma? Yep, that was before she was cut off from the whole film. These guys were really attached to her (there was even a song related to her: "Proud of Your Boy") and they didn't want to let go, but it's a good thing they did. A really good thing.

See? You need to make some sacrifices and not be lazy (Vanille) to start all over. If there's a little voice inside your head that sounds oddly a lot like Jafar or the Chesire Cat, then you must listen. (Unless the voice is telling you to kill somebody). I'm glad I started all over because I know that if I went in the direction I was going in, the book would turn out all screwed up and I don't want a screwed up novel now do I?

Anyways, I'd just like to add that I've been writing by hand now. (Writing by hand?!) Yes, I do, in my pretty cursive. Pourquoi? Parce que, my novel is now set in diary format, which means my characters are writing by hand. I thought I should get the feel of it, like I'm the actual character. Isn't that a good idea? I think it's a darn hot idea. (After rereading My Most Excellent Year, I've taken to saying that a lot).

Have a darn hot weekend everybody! (I know it's January...)

After the Break,

Vanille!

"I dip my pen in the blackest ink, because I'm not afraid of falling into my inkpot." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

P.S. I think it was this reason I stopped writing my ex-WIP. While I was writing, I wasn't really feeling it and I knew I was heading in the wrong direction but I didn't want to start over because I liked my purple prose too much (haha). But no fear, ex-WIP. I'm going to come back to you eventually and start anew. There's no way I'm throwing away hours of research on you for a couple of thousand words.

I'll Send All My Loving

2010-01-06T11:33:00.000-08:00

"I'll pretend I am kissing

The lips I am missing

And hope that my dreams will come true

And then while I'm away

I'll write home everyday

And I'll send all my loving to you"

-All My Loving, The Beatles

Dear Blog,

Things That Happened Since I Last Posted On You

I cut my hair. Well, I didn't cut it, the hair salon lady did. What a disaster that would be if I did. *nervous laugh* So now, my hair is mildly shorter. Wonder if my classmates will notice when I go back to prison,*cough* I mean school. :) Oh, did I mention I apparently have a cowlick on my right side? o_O
We went to this big bookstore that used to be Border's till they ran out of business. There were approx. four people in the whole building, including my mother, me, and the one cash register lady. They were having a sale, five dollars or less for every single book. Heaven, right? Except they were all old books. I was allowed to choose one book so I chose My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger. I've already read it, but I didn't want my mom to know that or else she'd make me chose another book. Shhh..I freaking love that book! I'm rereading it and have just rediscovered my freaking love for it.
I entered this contest on Nathan Bransford blog. To read my entry click here. It's under my username alavanille and starts out with "Boy am I pissed". Isn't that interesting? Aren't you craving to read more? :D Sure you are.
I FINISHED THE 2K FOR MY CREATIVE WRITING CLUB! *excited yelling not suitable for this blog ensues*

Things That Did Not Happen Since I Last Posted On You

Read Crime and Punishment. Hey, My Most Excellent Year is just too good and too distracting. ;)

Oh yeah, I finally finished it. It's a roller coaster. Are you ready to hear the whole story? Well, I'll try to make it short.

Originally, I wanted this next post to be about a serious talk with Sleeping Beauty (the Disney movie). And I would have pointed out many issues I had with it, even though it was my favorite movie when I was in 4th grade (I even dressed up as her for Halloween). But then in my woe, I realized it would be impossible for me to write a decent story with all the necessary elements such as climax, resolution, because I have this problem with purple prose (Purple prose is a term of literary criticism used to describe passages, or sometimes entire literary works, written in prose so overly extravagant, ornate, or flowery as to break the flow and draw attention to itself.) Yeah, I have a problem with that. I'll blog about these topics later, though. So I was seriously freaking out and I thought, hey I should blog about my problem with purple prose, which is overflowing in my ex-WIP (ex-WIP?!?! Will explain later). But then my mom banned me from the internet and wouldn't let me back on if I didn't finish my 2K. Though I did manage to sneak on to enter in Nathan's contest.

So, in incredible woe, I looked back on my ex-WIPs to get an idea from them, and I did (see, I do eventually come back to them.) I had this, what I thought was, great beginning. I knew the middle, but I didn't know the end. You'll now see why I'm weird. I do all the editing in my head. No skeleton first draft for me, nope, everything gets organized in my head because I'm not going to bother typing or writing out something and just changing it later. I don't know, but once I write something down, it feels final, you know? And then I'm reluctant to cut it out. Maybe you don't know and it's just me. *shrug* Great possibility. Anyways, in the middle of all this great thinking, I entered in the contest (do I really have to hyperlink it again?). What's crazy is the idea for the contest was my very old original idea for my 2K (here's another example of why you should always keep ex-WIPs or at least keep ideas in a notebook). After I did the first diary entry, I thought I really liked where this was going, so just for fun I did a second journal entry and I thought, this can really go somewhere. Before you know it, a plot is forming in my head and I'm terribly afraid my current WIP has now changed and my other current WIP has now retired to ex-WIP. Oh, do I have to go into all the details? Okay.

Why I Had to Ditch My WIP

Time was running out (by that I mean my break was coming to end) and I still hadn't written anything for it. I think I was becoming bored *le gasp!* with it.
Rereading the 6K, I realized there was way too much purple prose.
I watched how they made the Aladdin movie, which was really interesting, and I found out they had made this whole story board but some guy said "I don't like it" and they had to start all over. I got a glimpse of their old story board, and I have to say, the version they have now is way better than what they had then. This got me thinking maybe the plot in my head for the WIP was like their old story board. And in truth, I didn't like it that much.
I watched Bridges of Madison County, which is based on the novel by Robert James Waller. While watching it, the more I thought Wow this is an amazing story line and Man, my story line is crappy. I cried at the end of the movie. I don't if it was because I so felt the character of Francesca losing her love or because I was mourning my WIP which seemed as flat and dry as the plains of Iowa.

Thus, ex-WIP. Ta ta, farewell, I hate to say adieu but this new project inspired by Nathan's contest is really intriguing and I'm actually having fun writing it. I feel like I'm back on track now, thus the new label: woohoowriting.

Anyways, there's something I want to talk about that's non-related to my writing, though it is related to Nathan Bransford's contest.

I'm reading through all these diary entries and I'm seeing a lot of this:

The friend who has everything. Everything meaning: Pretty, thin, and has all the boys chasing after her.

Read this. What's number 20? Uh, huh.

Might I say, cliche alert? If you don't believe me, go and skim through the entries yourself. This was seen a lot along with teens (well, the prompt was to write a diary entry in a teen voice) complaining about how stupid a diary was. Though, I didn't have a problem with that as much as I did with the beautiful-friend-who-gets-everything. I'm not saying it's bad, but I'm seeing it a lot and I have to wonder if it's the only thing that teens to seem to have a dilemma with. Not true. Sure, sometimes I get jealous if my friend makes a new friend and I feel like an antiscoial loner, but it's not the top thing on my mind. I'm not going to be writing a journal entry about it and there's no way my life is revolved around my contempt for my friend-who-gets-everything. Hmm. Well, it's definitely something to think about. And if you're reading this and haven't entered the contest yet, I suggest not doing it on a beautiful-friend-who-has-everything and try to set yourself apart from the crowd, kays?? Unless, of course, you can twist the concept in some way, which I'm always a fan of. ^.^

Well, this has officially turned out longer that I meant to. I wish you all Happy Writings!!!

After the break,

Vanille

So in the spirit of Nathan Bransford contest, I give you this quote:

"Keep a diary and one day it'll keep you." -Mae West

P.S. I don't know how the heck Nathan Bransford is going to read all those entries (there are approx. 500 +) and be the sole judge. By George, I myself was skimming and skipping through those entries There were also some good ones that I wouldn't be able to choose from. My, would I be a horrible judge.

P.S.2. My mom read the 2K and said it was pretty good! :D Before you say what I know what you're going to say, let me say this (whoa): My mom isn't one of those parents who are biased and say everything their children does is pretty much flippin' awesome. My mom is harsh, and whenever I allow her to read my writing, she usually hates it. But this time, she actually liked it (but with some editing suggestions, of course). I'm really proud. She said I really do have a talent for writing. (I knew it ;)) When my English teacher gave me a B- on my essay, my mom said "You're not a good writer." GAH! But this convinced her back. Okay, maybe I can't write essays that have to be specifically structured, but I think I'm hecka of a storyteller. ;) IMO.

A Whole New World

2010-01-03T10:21:00.000-08:00

"A whole new world

A new fantastic point of view

No one to tell us no or where to go

Or say we're only dreaming"

-A Whole New World, Aladdin

Bonjour, baby (line from Paris When It Sizzles) and Happy New Year! I hope you had a good New Year's Day. Mine was like a normal day, as per usual. Excusez mon absense. See, we went to San Francisco. Pourquoi? Parce que, we wanted to see my most likely future college - University of California San Francisco. And boy, did we see it. I have to say, it was slightly...depressing. I don't know if it was because of the fog, or that we were on top of a hill surrounded by steep roads plunging down in an all of sudden manner, or the graffiti, or the people wearing gray who just looked sad. But it was just, man, I don't really want to go there. I was thinking I'd be okay with it, since I could work as an intern at Curtis Brown, which they should have in SF since I know Nathan Bransford works in San Fran (I didn't see him :( ). I don't know if interns get paid or not, though I'm thinking not, but I told this to my parents and they were like okay, whatever. And I am very happy I'd get to be an intern because remember my secret when I grow up wish? To be a literary agent? A LITER - *clomps hand over your mouth* Shhh...They don't know yet.

Why, I haven't even told you why my parents are considering sending me there. Remember, I'm to be a pharmacist as a backup job if I fail miserably at whatever I want to be? Well, it turns out that UCSF is "apparently" one of the best pharamacy colleges out there. My definition would be one of the "only" since in my University of California handbook, it seems like UCSF is the only college with any pharamacy related things. *sigh*.

Anyways, I'd just like to report that out of the 19 pigeons that came flying at me, thanks to my great agility, none of them actually hit me. Save for two. :P San Francisco, I'm sorry, but I don't think you're the right city for me. Everytime I go there, I usually end up being quite sad. Maybe it's because we get lost all too frequently. Maybe it's because of all the people pushing me when I walk down the street. Maybe because whenever we go there, my parents are arguing, usually about directions. Though, come to think of it, they do it quite often regardless of the setting. Maybe it's the worn-down buildings, the traffic. Or maybe it's the pigeons with their cocking heads and hungry, snapping beaks. I don't know, but I'm scared for the future-to-be-me if I do end up in UCSF.

Anyways, I always do seem to get off topic, don't I? A little bit more about non-writing related topics. You're probably wondering why the first post of the year has a picture of Jasmine and Aladdin and why the song du jour is A Whole New World. Well, mes amis. I have discovered I absolutely adore this movie. It's been sitting in my DVD cabinet since fourth grade, unwatched for so many years. Only recently have I opened the dusty DVD case and put it in our new blu-ray DVD player (Did I mention we also got surround sound and did I mention it sounds exactly like the TV? Well, to my deaf ears anyway). You know what I realized? I use the words "well" and "anyway" much too often. Haha. Anyways, or should I say, anyhow? I discovered I really like the movie! The plot is amazing, the characters are so distinguishable and hilarious (Genie, I'm a lookin' at you). I love the storyline, and everything. Even if it did have a happy ending, that's alright since all Disney movies do and I did want Jasmine and Aladdin to have a happily ever after. *dreamy sigh*. Wouldn't it be fun to live in that world? *Thinks back to angry Cave of Wonders, hungry children, men selling fish, and maniac advisors like Jafar* Maybe not.

This leads to my topic of the day, which is Happy Endings. This is going to be short and I'll probably dwell on it more seriously in the future, but I'd just like to get some thing writing related in this post so it won't always be about me. On the topic of happy endings, I'll post something I posted on the NaNoWriMo forums.

"Eh. :/Some romance YA novels, like Sarah Dessen's, have happy endings. And it's sweet, but there is something Sarah Dessen does that I really admire. And that is when she does happy endings, there is always still some sort of conflict. Like, someone dying, or a broken friendship, you know?
I don't think that YA books -need- happy endings. It's nice. I don't particularly enjoy happy endings, I find them cheesy and annoying because I know that that is not how it is in real life. But there are some books out there that just have a happy ending and it fits, you know? And it's rare, and only a few talented authors can manage it, but overall, no. I don't want to read a particularly happy ending.
My ending is neither happy or sad. It's kind of inbetween. Which I also like. Because that's how life is a lot."

So you see my stance. And also my username on Nanowrimo (add me! :) ) Let me delve into this a bit more.
I'm getting a bit annoyed at those stories that end in complete misery and just leaves me crying and asking, "Why? WHY?!" Titanic, the movie, did such a thing to me. And afterwards, I thought to myself, what a great movie. And it was. Did you know everyone thought it was going to be a flop? So far from the truth. But I digress...now it seems that sad endings are being overused. You know the ones where everyone dies, the woman's left standing is pregnant, blah, blah, blah. Oh, it gets on my nerves! It's like happiness doesn't exist in those stories and I absolutely hate it because though I am a teen and do have my depressed-sighing-why-was-I-born moments, I do also have those rare happy times, too. And to read books of sadness just gives me no hope for my future. Though I'm not saying you should delete all those sad moments and replace them with rainbows, lolipops, chocolate (See's of course), puppies, raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things...things. I like those bitter-sweet endings. As stated above, because that's how life is. Sometimes so joyful, you feel like leaping off walls (we are not ninjas, my dear friend) or so depressed you hide out in your room with the blinds closed. It's a balance, yes? Aladdin, I'll excuse. For one thing, he doesn't have parents and was quite poor. And I do enjoy a good happy ending once in a while, which most of the old Disney movies do marvelously (Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, though Sleeping Beauty and I need to have a serious talk). As I said, few talented authors can pull it off. I'm afraid I'm not one of them and I'll have to go on doing my speciality, which are bitter-sweet endings with hope mixed in, just to leave the reader drooling. ;)
That's all for that, I'm probably going to revisit this topic later since I don't feel as if I've conveyed myself as I wanted. But a brief interlude before the ending of this post, which I'm afraid will have to end in some degree of misery.
Things I Need To Do
wash the dishes
finish reading Crime and Punishment
WRITE THE 2K FOR MY CREATIVE WRITING CLASS
Yikes! I haven't started it at all. Oh, don't look at me in that way. I've hit a serious case of writer's block. I haven't even wrote anything for my WIP since last year and it pends on 6K. But my WIP doesn't have a deadline. THIS 2K DOES. Why? WHY?! Parce que, I only have one week left in my winter break. Then it is bon voyage, I'm back to prison, aka school. And on the Monday I go back, my creative writing club expects me to have a neat, 2K short story for them. You see, we're going to combine them all and try to publish it, which I don't see happening since we all have such...varying writing styles and genres. But if we do get it published, it may very well be my debut and I want it to be good. Unfortunately, inspiration strikes at the most unwanted times. I think I'm going to get the idea for a most brilliant story on Sunday night next week. So why, POURQUOI VANILLE have I not started? It is a mere 2K, silly Vanille. You can pull 2K easily out from you, why, look how long this post is. *headdesk* I know! I've hit writer's block. I don't know what to write, all I know is that I want to write it good. Unfortunately, I cannot write good if there is nothing to write! So as have probably known, I am currently freaking out. Thus the label, writingwoes.
After the break,
Vanille
Sorry to have left you in such misery. Wish me luck, will you?
"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. "
-Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Take A Cup of Kindness Yet

2009-12-31T13:44:00.001-08:00

"For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne."

-Auld Lang Syne

This is the last post of the year, bby. :) Then we go onto a new decade! 2010! We've really changed in these past 10 years, haven't we? iPods, cellphones, digital cameras, cellphones with digital cameras. Maybe next are robots and hover crafts? :) I probably wouldn't buy one after seeing the movie "I Am" with Will Smith. It was called I Am, wasn't it? Anyways, robots are scary.

But I digress...I'd like to recap my writing this past year, which I think has very much improved since 2008. 2008 was a dark year for my writing *shivers*.

What I Accomplished Writing-Wise on 2009

I wrote my second completed novel in January (approx. 76K)
I wrote my third completed novel in November (NaNoWriMo) at approx. 50K
I wrote approx. 50 poems
1 Short Story :P
I joined a creative writing club
I won Nanowrimo
I kept two writing journals
I began reading books with "literary merit" (Hunchback of Notre Dame, To Kill A Mockingbird, Fahrenheit 451, O. Henry, Odysseus, Antigone)
I entered ABNA. I didn't win, but it was a heck of a leap.
I gained knowledge on queries, literary agents, publishing, etc.
My writing has gotten much, much better, if I do say so myself.
I was awarded "oustanding achievement in language arts"
I was recognized for outstanding achievement in the 2009 Writers Showcase

So, I believe I've covered everything. Isn't it good? Norweigan wood? Just kidding, but really, it's quite a list. I'm very proud of myself. But why do they always say "oustanding achievement"? The term is getting a bit cliched, don't you think? ;)The only thing I need to work on now is...*shudders* essays. That might be my New Year's resolution...it might not. I don't know what my New Year's resolution is. I'll probably know in February. I know that reading books with "literary merit" isn't really writing, and I might have been forced to do it by my English teacher, but really I think it's good for me to read these kinds of books with writing so strong, they've lasted through the decades. What have you accomplished, writing-wise or really anything, this year? I'd like to hear it. :)

Well, I don't have much writing advice to give today. Except this one:

Aquatip: Don't query during the holidays. Holidays meaning from December 13 to January 18 approx.

Why? Well, it's not illegal, you certainly can if you'd like. But a lot of queries are sent in during that time, maybe it's because people have breaks and go on vacations, thus having a lot of time to write. A great flood of emails go into agent's mailboxes. When they come back from their vacation, you might catch them, oh, what's the term? I forgot, I think it's called Agent Crunchdown time or something. It's when they have all these queries and get very stressed. Would you like your query to be in that pile, or would you rather have your query with an agent when they're nice and calm with not a lot of other queries around, leaving more time for yours? (Sorry, that was a long sentence). For example, right now, Janet Reid is storing her queries away to look at later, though she is looking at some of them seriously. So, you see, agents aren't really doing much query scouting at this time. Even if my manuscript was finished (which it is not, only at 6K), I would choose not to send out queries till maybe February. But of course, this doesn't mean you -have- to. The best time for your query is when your query is ready, and whenever that is, you can send it then, regardless of the time. Though it's something for you to consider.

Well, my time is up. We have a great year ahead of us on this blog. I've kept a list of ideas about future topics I will be discussing here. They include: self-publishing, more cliches, Benefit of The Reader, show don't tell, info dumps, queries, fanfiction, and much more. :D (Don't I sound like an infomercial host?)

Speaking of informerical hosts, always-a-yelling Billy Mays died this year, as did other great people like Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze and others. We can't forget them, too. Maybe take a moment to remember these people as we ring in the New Year. Or, as my one short story's title says, "Sing in the New Year", whichever you prefer. :)

Happy New Year everyone! I hope it's a good one!

Vanille

"New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights." -Hamilton Wright Mabie

Will You Read My Book?

2009-12-29T12:03:00.000-08:00

Let's try something different. :D

Well, I was listening to Paperback Writer by who else but The Beatles, when I was thinking that the lyrics would make for a horrible query letter.

So, I read the lyrics and I could easily pick out errors if it were. Then I got to thinking...this would make a great example on how not to write a query letter! I mean, it was riddled all over with mistakes!

So what I'm going to do is post the lyrics as if it were a query letter. I will comment in this pretty color. Not to poke fun at The Beatles, I love them do. This is all just for fun. :) Let's pretend it's a snail-mail query and let's pretend I'm Literary Agent Vanille. ;)

Paperback writer, paperback writer What is this?

Dear Sir or Madam, Don't say Dear Sir or Madam. You put Dear (Name of Agent, and try to spell their name right). Sir or Madam makes it seem like you just printed out a bunch of the same copies and sent them off. At least make it a little bit personalized, make me feel like you care about me enough to know what my name is.

Will you read my book? Don't say this. If I'm interested, I will ask you. It took my years to write, would you take a look? You just repeated what you said. And you say it took you years to write? I'm glad you're so dedicated, but that is too long. If I represent you, there's going to be a deadline for your next book. We can't wait years for it. It's based on a novel by a man named Lear. So? And I need a job, so I want to be a paperback writer, paperback writer. Don't tell me you need a job. You're making me feel bad. But pity isn't going to make me read your book. It's a dirty story of a dirty man and his clinging wife doesn't understand. His son is working for the daily mail. It's a steady job, but he wants to be a paperback writer, paperback writer. Did we just shift POV? And this is not a plot. This is a premise, or not even. Tell me more about the story. This just a list of characters, how do they relate to each other and the story?

It's a thousand pages, give or take a few, First of all, you don't put how many pages it is. Different fonts in different sizes will vary in pages. You want to put how many words it is. And anyways, a thousand pages gives me the impression that this a lot of words, maybe more than 100K. That's too long. I'll be writing more in a week or two. I can make it longer if you like the style, I can change it 'round and I want to be a paperback writer, paperback writer. I know you want to be a paperback writer, already! No need for repitition. No, don't make it longer!!

If you really like it, you can have the rights. Duh. It could make a million for you overnight. Don't say anything along the lines of "it will be a bestseller!" or "this is the next big thing since twilight/The DaVinci Code." I will figure out if it has the potential, but you've got to show me it in the query. If you must return it you can send it here, Where is the SASE? (Self-addressed stamped envelope) At least say I have enclosed an SASE. but I need a break and I want to be a paperback writer, paperback writer, paperback writer.

You talk too much about yourself, and not the book.

Rejection.

Hah. I have to admit, that was a bit fun. Not the crushing dreams thing, I felt bad about that. But just pretending I'm reading a query letter and being an agent. Now, to take off my costume and store it safely in my closet for future query meetings. If your query letter has any of the things I commented on negatively, fix immediately.

Thank you, uh thank you very much,

Literary Agent Vanille ;)

"Do not put statements in the negative form.

And don't start sentences with a conjunction.

If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a

great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.

Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.

Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.

De-accession euphemisms.

If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.

Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.

Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague."

-William Safire, "Great Rules of Writing"

Try To See It My Way

2009-12-29T10:33:00.000-08:00

"Try to see it my way,

Do I have to keep on talking till I can't go on?

While you see it your way,

Run the risk of knowing that our love may soon be gone"

-We Can Work It Out, The Beatles

Hey, all. Today, I plan on doing two posts. The one after this is the one I was originally planning on doing today, but this great opportunity to fill out a kind of survey on myself and my writing was too good to pass. And I always like filling out surveys. I go to this website quite regularly (My fashion city is Paris! Mais oui!). Anyways, the backstory on the survey was that I was strolling about the blogosphere, clicking on writing blogs that other writing blogs followed, leaving a trail of comments on the way. When I stumbled on to this blog: Still Writing blogged by Elaine "still writing" Smith. She had filled out a form about her writing, and invited anyone to do the same. As I mentioned, I took up this opportunity. And I will begin answering the questions right after this quick update:

What I Accomplishd Yesterday Night:

I mastered She's Loves You (The Beatles) on the piano! (the easy version...)
I cleaned my room! (stuffing junk into crevices and drawers where they cannot be seen)
I wrote 2,000 words! (C'est vrai!) :)

I don't know how I did it, but I did. Now I'm at 4,300 words or so, which is slightly better than 2,000. Slightly.

Now on to the survey-thinga-ma-bobber!

1. What's the last thing you wrote? What's the first thing you wrote that you still have?

The last thing I wrote was, what I think, is a touching scene between my MC and his dying grandfather. The first thing I wrote I still have?! (*Thinks back to all the books I made when I was little about a worm and a butterfly going to school that came with illustrations drawn by moi*). Yikes! I think my mother threw them out. :( Otherwise, I have this diary from first grade that talks about me and Elmo's adventures. Does that count?

2. Write poetry?

When I feel poetic.

3. Angsty poetry?

If you can call a poem titled "Essays Will Be the Death of Me" angsty, then yes.

4. Favorite genre of writing?

Young Adult, Fantasy, Literary, Mainstream, Historical. Oops, that's too many. Well, any young adult book unless it deals with crime/mystery, horror, or scifi.

5. Most annoying character you've ever created?

Hmm...well, the first novel I attempted to write (it never got finished, but is still pending at chapter 41) had a handful of annoying characters. Her name was Madeleine, no, Madeline, wait, Madeliene. Well, I forgot how to spell her name, but she was annoying. It was one of those FOTSODTP things. She was really stupid (sorry, Maddy) and really her actions were just to develop the plot. I find those kinds of characters annoying - like they don't have a sensible thought in their head. They're all just like robots, doing whatever the writer tells them to, for the sake of the plot.

6. Best Plot you've ever created?

The plot I'm working on now. :)

7. Coolest Plot twist you've ever created?

(This was for my Nano) In the beginning, he was just using her to get to her father, but now he's fallen in love with her and he is very, very sorry for using her. Erm. Actually, that might not be the "coolest" plot twist, but more of a cliched one, I admit.

8. How often do you get writer's block?

*pushes buttons on calculator* Around every 2.4 days. :)

9. Write fan fiction?

No, actually. I don't approve of fanfics much. I think it's much better to write something original, than something already written. I have my other reasons, too, and I'll be talking about it later.

10. Do you type or write by hand?

I prefer to type, since I type faster than I write. But when my mother is hogging the computer, I have to resort to writing in my red notebook.

11. Do you save everything you write?

I try, but anything handwritten (like the stories I made when I was in kindergarten) are usually thrown out. Everything I write on the computer, though, even just a paragraph that will probably evolve to nothing, I save. Because once in a while, I like to look back on my writing and see where I've improved and what's stayed the same.

12. Do you ever go back to an idea after you've abandoned it?

Eheh...no. The reason for that is because I abandoned it most likely because I was bored with it. I don't want to write anything boring. So if I thought it was boring then, I'm still probably going to feel that way now. Though, I was thinking about going back to a story I began to write this summer, but abandoned it (again) when I thought of a brand, new, shiny one. And you know how much I like shiny things.

13. What's your favorite thing you've ever written?

That changes from time to time, but so far I really like this poem I wrote that is in relation to my story.

14. What's everyone else's favorite story that you've written?

I don't know. You see, I abandon so many ideas that I am wary of sharing my current WIP. Because I may very well abandon that, too, without warning (though I'm crossing my fingers that doesn't happen). So...I don't really don't know. Not till I finish something I truly like will I share it with people.

15. Ever written romance or angsty teen drama?

Yep, yep. Though, I don't try to make it angsty. I already have enough of that in my real life.

17. How many writing projects are you working on right now?

Well, see, I have like four plot bunnies hopping around in my head. Though one of them I'm serious about (the one with 4K) and the others I'm just letting float till I get to them. But see, I'm supposed to be writing something for my creative writing club, and I haven't gotten to that yet because my plot bunnies cannot be made into short stories. So, I guess you could say I have writer's block on that one.

19. What are your five favorite words?

I don't know! I love all my words. How about that? There's five words for ya. And another. ;)

20. What character have you created that is most like yourself?

Probably Sandrine from my Nano. We're alike 'cause we're very wary of strangers, espcially strange ones, and we're hesistant to do things. Like bungee jumping.

21. Where do you get ideas for your characters from?

First, I think, what is the personality of this character? Whatever the personality, the look usually corresponds. For example, my current MC is quite average. He has brown hair, not purple, but brown. And I make it a statement to say he has brown hair, not mahogany or milk chocolate. Just plain brown.

22. Do you ever write based on your dreams?

No. You don't want to know what goes on in my dreams. If you ever read a book based on my dreams, you would have a headache and get very stressed. Those are usually how my dreams are. And they don't make much sense either. I'm not like Stephenie Meyer, who dreamt about these two people in a forest and one was a vampire. My mind doesn't give me hints like that, I have to find it out for myself.

23. Do you favor happy endings?

Yes and no. I prefer bitter-sweet endings, as they're more realistic. But there's nothing wrong with a happy ending unless it's executed in a cliche way. You know what I mean. And they lived happily ever after.

24. Are you concerned with spelling and grammar as you write?

Yes. Everything has to be satisfactory before I can go on, otherwise they always pester my brain, saying "fix me! fix me!". For example, it took my five minutes to start this post because I was wondering what song to put down. I could not start without having it above me. I'm weird like that.

25. Does music help you write?

Aha! Like Elaine said, "Is there a God in heaven?"

Of course! If I'm writing a particularly sad scene, I'll have slow, wallowing music in the background to help me set the mood. Though if I were writing, say, an action scene, then something that sounded close to the Mission Impossible theme song would be playing.

26. Quote something you've written. Whatever pops into your head.

I'll give you the beginning paragraph in my WIP

"Birds don't sing like that. Not high-pitched like those bouncy pop singers on TV nowadays nor low, like a whale's. But it was a language similar to that of whales - secret and enchanting. Only a voice that could be achieved by angels on high clouds, lamenting with sweet voice droning and clear notes wavering. The music of waves. The song of seashells when put to the ear, wondering how the ocean got there."

Of course, it needs some tuning up. Like, I see some passive voice somewhere in the middle, so I'll have to edit that later. Otherwise, I really like it. I wrote it in geography class, not bad, eh? ;)

Hope you learned a bit about my writing and a bit about me. And if there's anyone out there, you can do this little survey too.

After the break,

Vanille

"I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions." -James Michener

P.S. Sorry the formatting went beserk.

Help Me If You Can

2009-12-28T10:24:00.000-08:00

"Help me if you can I'm feeling down

And I do appreciate you being 'round

Help me get my feet back on the ground

Won't you please please help me?"

-Help!, The Beatles

Help indeed. Le photo du jour couldn't be more correct.

What I have accomplished these past few days:

eating myself silly
singing myself silly on the karaoke (Scored 99/100 singing The Beatles)
playing solitaire
updating this blog

What I haven't accomplished:

Writing. Anything.

When I last left you a few posts ago, I told you I had around 2,000 words finished.

I still do.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down. Okay. You know what? Right after I post this, I'm going to write. No getting distractions and chatting on the Young Writer's Society chat rooms. No more internet, period. It's not that I have writer's block or I don't know what to write. It's because I'm lazy, that's it. I know exactly what to write. I am capable of writing, see me write now? I just...I don't know what's gotten into me. What's gotten into you Vanille?! (This is bad, I'm talking to myself).You know, I'm on my three-week winter break right now. One week has already passed, this is the start of my second. When I have to go back...*shudders*...I will be very busy. No time to write, maybe no time to update this blog. Not even on weekends. *sigh*

Also, I have to write a 2K short story for my creative writing club. I haven't done so yet, because I don't know what to write. Every plot I think of cannot fit into a mere 2K, though that's only as far as I've gotten to on my novel! *cries*

Well. I suppose I've already ranted enough on my writing woes. One thing that surprised me today: When I reached my hand inside my bag of hot cheetos, there were practically none left. O_o

Yikes. Anyways today I'm going to be talking about literary lingo. For those of you newbie writers out there who are completely ignorant when you go to these critique groups or writing forums. You find yourself asking stupidly, "What is ___?" Well, I'm about to tell you now.

WIP=Work In Progress not to be confused with RIP
MC = Main Character
MMC = Male Main Character
FMC = Female Main Character
SC = Secondary Character not used that often
IMO = In My Opinion this can go for anything really, but writers tend to politely debate, and so we use this acrony a fair lot
POV = Point of View like 1st person POV
YA = Young Adult
MG = Middle Grade
SF = Science Fiction
Fanfiction = A story based on books, TV shows, movies, etc. Harry Potter and mangas are used quite a lot in fanfiction.
RPG = Role Playing Games, You basically fill out a form for an imaginary character you are going to play, then you and other rpgers will create a story by talking to each other as your imaginary characters.
Plot Bunny = A plot that has been hopping around your head all day. Usually pops up during a story you are writing. Very bothersome, pestering you with writing them. Often writers send these plot bunnies to Plot Bunny Day Cares, to be picked up once they have finished doing whatever they're doing.
Mary Sue = A character that is too perfect (nothing can go wrong with them, the odds seem to be always on their side, flawless). Mary Sues are considered to be very cliched, and there can be many variants of them (like writers trying so hard not to make their character into a Mary Sue, they end up making one anyways - this is called an Anti-Sue). They also appear in fanfiction and rpgs. For more information on Mary Sues go here. To see if your character may be a Mary Sue, go here.
Gary Stu = The male version of a Mary Sue

Well, that's all I can think of right now, if I remember, I'll add more later. My MMC (don't you feel smart now that you know what I'm talking bout?) scored a 26 on the Mary Sue test, which is pretty good, I just need to polish him up a bit. :) But so far, I haven't really gotten to know his personality (because if you've forgotten, I'm only 2K in!). Hope you've gotten a better understanding of literary lingo now.

Also, on that website, they had some pretty funny syndromes which I see often. These are what I'd called another FTSODTP (For The Sake of Developing the Plot). Let me explain: You give your character a syndrome such as antisocial personality disorder so they won't talk to people. It's an easy way to do it, isn't it? Kind of like an excuse. And a lot of these are also bcoming overused.

Anyways, let me include some of them here.

Changing the spelling of an ordinary name - EG, Alysin, Makynzie, Jayk, Dayve
Does your character pick up new skills insanely fast? - "It usually takes years to learn this super advanced sword technique, but Mary Sue did it in days! *CoughKurosakiIchigoCough*
Barbie Doll syndrome - Giving the character the main title for every plot that comes their way, no matter how irrelevant the titles are to each other; Giving them multiple professions/titles that have nothing to do with each other. "Princess Barbie has a medical degree. When she isn't saving the lives of humans, she's cooking top-class dinners at her favorite restaurant and saving the lives of pets everywhere!
"Rebellious princess syndrome" - Symptoms include complaining about or refusing to wear "ladylike" clothing, refusing aristocratic suitors, generally hating her social position, and possibly even running away to escape marriage."
Personal fixation/obsession - For example, Darth Vader's obsession with finding Luke Skywalker, Harry Osbourne's fixation with killing Spider-Man in the movies, and Wile E. Coyote's obsession with catching the Roadrunner.

From This Website

These are the ones I found interesting, these are the kinds of things Mary Sue's often have. I'd like to comment on the first and last one. For the first one: Are you noticing that vampires are now being called vampyres, fairies have turned into faeries, and magic is either magyk or magik? Kind of being overused now isn't it... And as for the last post, this is only very Mary Sue if the person has a personal fixation/obsession with someone for no apparant reason. That is horrible! It is one of those FTSODTP things. Eeksa!

That's all for now, folks. My back hurts and when I stretch, it cracks. That is not good. Imma off to write! *arm shoots out to the sky like Superman*

Au revoir, after the break,

Vanille

"If I fall asleep with a pen in my hand, don't remove it - I might be writing in my dreams." - Danzae Pace

P.S. Just keep on ignoring the Read More! things. I'm trying to get it fixed.

Taking The Easy Way Out

2009-12-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

"Got a good reason for taking the easy way out,

Got a good reason for taking the easy way out - now."

-Day Tripper, The Beatles

Well, I feel postiviely blown up. I've been eating too many hot cheetos, See's candies, and donuts. *sigh*. It can't be helped. If I had the power, I'd buy a treadmill. I know what you're thinking - "Why can't you just jog around your neighborhood?"

BECAUSE MY NEIGHBORHOOD IS PRONE TO KIDNAPPING INNOCENT CHILDREN LIKE ME.

-_-

So you see my situation. And don't even mention pull ups. *curls lips in utter disgust*

Anyways, other than the fact I am completely irked because I still want to finish up that bag of hot cheetos...let's see what I'll be ranting -er, ahem - discussing today:

More Cliches! And what I call "For The Sake of Developing the Plot"

Well, I was strolling around Critique Circle today and actually critiqued two YA chapters (surprising since I haven't done that since probably September or earlier) and I was also watching TV. While eating hot cheetos. Don't say it. During all of this, I discovered two new cliches I've seen popping up. They are:

People getting in plane/boat crashes and ending up on a deserted island where they have to struggle for survival while also questioning the other survivors who are making rather odd remarks on how good his flesh would taste after roasting on a fire.
The MC's parents die in a car accident. MC must learn to cope with this. We follow MC's journey as MC gains a new perspective on the world and starts a new organization PCSA (Preventing Sudden Car Accidents) and becomes actively involved in toy drives.

Or something along those lines.

The main ideas are stranded on a deserted island and parents (and/or other family members) dying in a car accident.

I think you already understand the deserted island thing. Let me just say this - I know you really, really like the shows Lost and Survivor, but if your story is eerily familiar to these shows, then I'm probably going to skip your book. Oh, and did I mention that movie Tom Hanks starred in? The one with the soccer ball as his only companion? Oh, did I cry when it fell overboard. That doesn't mean write a story similar to it. It won't make me cry, it will make me think you are a very bad copycat.

As for the car accident, I am not trying to make fun of this or anything. Car accidents are serious and one of the main causes of death in America. It's probably why they're used so much in novels, along with cancer. There are other ways to kill of characters, you know. But this is beginning to seem like an easy way to do it. Really, if the car accident isn't connected to someway in the novel (like if the person who crashed into the car was the antagonist or one of his/her minions) then it's acceptable. But just to kill off the parents because your MC needs to have a magical quest and doesn't need to worry about the bother of her parents wondering why she is wandering out of the house with a stick claiming it's her wand...well...Do you see the cheapness? At least make it unique. There was this one book, I think it's called Ghost Girl. The girl died because she choked on a gummy bear. Isn't that interesting?

But of course, I can't tell you what to or what not to write. I can only hope you write it well.

Another thing: For The Sake of Developing the Plot

For example:

Modele:

"I wandered into a house I knew a rapist lived in just because."

"Lila trusted Tommy, even when he said the parachutes had a tendency to not open."

"Tommy robbed a bank because he thought it would be fun and he wasn't thinking of the consequences (10 years in prison, and penniless at that)."

"I jogged around my neighborhood, even though I know my neighbors are prone to kidnap innocent children like me just because."

For the Sake of Developing the Plot means that your characters do stupid actions no sane person would do just because they are needed to propell the story into action. I wandered into a house I knew a rapist lived in because the story is about a girl who gets raped. Lila trusted Tommy because the story requires both of them to die, so they can go up to heaven and meet pretty angels. Tommy robbed the bank because the author had to find a way to put the protagonist in jail - where he deeply pondered the meaning of life and befriended a murderer. I went jogging around my neighborhood because I had to be kidnapped, even though I knew better than to.

DO YOU SEE THE PROBLEM HERE!?

Your characters don't have REASONS for their actions. Look here, I didn't just randomly choose to become a pharmacist - my parents did. There's my reason I am most likely going to study pharmaceutics in college even though I don't know what that means in the first place!

Let's revise these horrendous FTSOTP...

"I went into a house I knew a rapist lived in because I needed to find a way to raise money and I was going to babysit his, well, baby."

"Lila trusted Tommy, even when he said the parachutes had a tendency to not open because they had already paid for everything - jet, jumping suits, and cursed parachutes - and if they backed down now, the Sky Diving store would sue them, and they didn't have the money to get sued again.

"Tommy robbed a bank because the other gang members would make fun of him and possibly injure him very badly, if he didn't. And they promised he wouldn't get caught."

"I jogged around my neighborhood, even though I know my neighbors are prone to kidnap innocent children like me because I felt like I was eating too much and wasn't capable of buying a treadmill."

(Quinn on the tv show Glee had sex with Puck because she felt fat that day. And considering she was a cheerleader, it made sense. See how this is unique? She didn't have sex with him because she just found his mohawk so freaking irresistable for some reason (another FTSOTP reason, like in a certain book when a girl almost got killed because she was so attracted to this boy).

But you can't just say outright Tommy robbed a bank because the other gang members would make fun of him etc. That falls into the category of telling, and you know one of the golden rules of writing: show don't tell.

That's it for now. I hope you understand where I'm going with this For the Sake of The Plot business. As The Beatles say, "Try and see it my way." And always try and make your writing different and unique.

After the break,

Vanille

"A critic can only review the book he has read, not the one which the writer wrote." - Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

I Want To Be A Paperback Writer

2009-12-26T10:18:00.000-08:00

"It's a thousand pages, give or take a few

I'll be writing more in a week or two

I can make it longer if you like the style,

I can change it 'round and I want to be a paperback writer"

-Paperback Writer, the Beatles

Happy Black Friday! I don't know, is it Black Friday? Or is Black Friday the day after the Thanksgiving? Oh, what am I saying? Today is Saturday! (over here at least). Okay. Well. Er. Happy Day After Christmas! What do you mean it's already the 27th in my part of the world? *sigh*. Just have a happy day, alright?

I open this blog with a song from the Beatles cd I got for Christmas - Paperback Writer. I was so astonished to see it there. It was a sign from God, really. Or something of the sorts. Of course, I can't possibly write a book that's a thousand pages long. Why, I need to get writing, I really do. I'm only at 2K words. And I also have to write another 2K for a completely different story for my creative writing club.

*smacks forehead*

Confound it!

(AquaTip: Agents are wary of novels over 100,000 words long)

Today, I will rambling on about cliches. I'll make it into a list, then discuss each one. Hmm...these cliches will be trends I've been seeing and things I think will become popular. At the end, I'll explain my reasons for choosing these as cliches. Of course, I might be adding more in later posts when I get to thinking of it, but till then. Now in no particular order...

1. Vampires (or, as some people like to be unique: vampyres)

2. (Fallen) Angels
3. Greek Gods & Goddesses
4. Romances set in Ireland and Scotland
5. Theme: Comingof age
6. Fairies (or, as some people like to be unique: faeries)
7. Pirates
8. Werewolves
9. Haunted Houses
10. Child Abuse

1. Do I really have to explain vampires (vampyres)? The only vampire books I will accept and not judge are Dracula, Anne Rice's books, and Twilight. You might be surprised at the latter. So why do I save it from critique? Because Twilight, though not the greatest book around, was the one who started this whole vampire mania, and therefore is not a copycatter. No doubt the craze (or should I say craving for blood?), has always been there, but now it's bigger than ever. The new books section at my local library is filled with vampire books. I don't know if it's because people have really become attached to these vampires or if they just want a share of the vampire glory. If you're going to write a vampire story, please, please make it somewhat different from Twilight! I swear I am NOT going to read another book about a goth girl with no intelligent thought whatsoever fall head over heels into an extremely-goth-but-handsome-looking vampire's arms because they're the only ones who understand each other in this lonely, lonely world. I will NOT tolerate anymore stories about a girl finding out she's a vampire (le gasp!) and having to go to an academy of vampires, whilst she gets entrapped in a confusing vampire-human-love-triangle . And I will NOT pick up another book at the library with a storyline eerily similar to twilight, involving werewolves (Oh, you know the ones).

You might have heard of the TV shoe, I mean show, Vampire Diaries. Now, the pros about this series is that it is unique in its own because it has a witch (& not those broom-riding kinds, Dead is the New Black) and some background history in their town - mystic falls. Stephen likes Elena because she looks like his old, OLD girlfriend, Katherine. And Stephen doesn't turn sparkly in the sunlight, and their eyes do these really cool bloody effects. Oh, and they aren't afraid to kill people. (Though I am quite displeased that the writers of the show had to put in that oh, "twilight has this vampire thing all wrong" scene. COME ON. It's Meyer's book, her world. She's not wrong, 'cause it's fiction. And she never meant it to be true either. So live with that, screenwriters. That is a sad way to try and be realistic.) But if you really think about it, isn't the plot line a lot like twilight: The girl falls in love with the vampire, the vampire is trying not to suck her blood. Isn't it?

Lastly, if you're going to put a twist to a vampire story, please don't have ghoul community full of witches and skeletons in it. It completely threw me off track and I had to repress a laugh at the incredulousness of it all.

Though not to name names here...

This is IMO. I'm sure other people may differ in opinion. But you have come here to me, and my views you shall read.

2. At Nanowrimo I've been seeing a lot of stories about angels. Also, when I read queries at agent's blogs, I see a lot of them on angels. I can't say I've seen them at the bookstore or library much, but be ready for them. They're coming!! Falling from the sky and bumping your head, all in a flurry of heavenly feathers.

3. I can't say I've seen these much either. But yesterday, I watched Avatar and there were two sneak previews of movies relating to this stuff - and obviously geared towards the YAs. (Oh, and also one on fallen angels). I read maybe two queries about Gods, also. So watch out, they're coming down with a lightning bolt!

4. Really? I mean, really. There are other places in the world, you romance writers know. Other places than poor Scotland and Ireland, so worn down by all your character's love. How 'bout Egypt? I'd love to read that one.

5. Coming of age. It's something we read in English class. (House on Mango Street). But I'm getting tired of this also. We all come of age, some later than others. Though I'm tired of reading it. Teenagers finding themselves is actually kind of boring on its own. First of all, teenagers do not want to read about someone else coming of age. Teenagers are to busy coming of age themselves. Secondly, if there is no romance or supernatural events or puppies, then it will just be a girl or boy walking around, thinking-much-too-deeply about the world. And we, well, I don't want to read that.

6. Ah, fairies. Has Tinkerbell inspired us now? I'm not against fairy stories, nor have I read any. But I'm seeing a steady growth....

7. I never get tired of pirates. In fact, pirates will make a special guest appearance in my own novel. Though, there's been quite a lot of 'em lately...ARGH YE MATEY...

I do horrible impressions.

(Did you know that real pirates never had any talking parrots, nor did they make their forlorn captives walk the plank? It's all Hollywood, people. Think about that while your writing.)

8. Werewolves pretty much are forever entwined with vampires. I've been seeing some unique twists on the concept of werewolves. Such as, werewolves coming of age in a city where they have to learn to deal with their horrendous shape shifting and find love in the meanwhile. I mean really, why can't they shape shift into a cat or a horse? Why is all this wolf stuff special anyways, oh, yes. Twilight. DO YOU SEE THEIR ENTWINEOSITY....(and I know that's not a word...)

Anyways, I'm tired of werewolves. Give me something else, and I just might read the book. Anyways, I was always on Team Edward. ;)

9. This is how the story goes: A girl has to stay in a haunted house JUST CAUSE SHE HAS TO. Maybe it's because if she does, then she can own the place (who would want to do that?) or maybe because she doesn't have a home to go to (I'd rather sleep on the street in a cardboard box to be truthful). But it's always the same: JUST CAUSE SHE HAS TO BECAUSE THAT WILL DEVELOP THE PLOT. (Aquatip: Never put something in your writing just because it will "develop the plot" so to speak. Your characters do things for a reason, not just because you're God in their world and you want them to. Learn from my mistakes.) Then the story goes that she meets some cats or an old witch lady in the basement and finds love along the way, possibly the current landlord.

BORING.

If your characters don't have a solid motive, your book will become more 2D. I do not want to read a book about a girl wandering around in a haunted house, muttering, "Oh my, look at that rather unusually large kitty!"

No.

10. I know happy endings are also becoming somewhat overused, but we still need them. Once in a while we do want to read a story with a happy ending, just so there's an iota of hope that happiness really can come true. Child abuse only rarely has happy endings, because in a lot of cases the child turns into the abuser when he/she grows up. But anyways, there is a lot of child abuse going on in books. I know you want your YA book to be angsty, but you have to know I don't want to read a book about drugs-alcohol-sex-child abuse-bullying-gangs-depression-suicide all in one freaking story! It will make me depressed. It also makes the agents tug at their collars, because child abuse doesn't sell that good. Why? I just told you from the perspective of a young adult, a prospective buyer.

That's all for now folks. I'm tired and I have images of vampires in Scotland chasing around rather unusually large kitties in my head. This blog session has officially tired me.

After the break,

Vanille!!

"If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." ~Toni Morrison

(This is what S.E. Hinton of The Outsiders did)

P.S. I'm having trouble with my blog layout, just ignore the READ MORE links. I might get it fixed. Maybe not.

I'll Give It To Someone Special

2009-12-25T19:17:00.000-08:00

"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart

The very next day, you gave it away,

This year, to save me from tears,

I'll give it to someone special."

MERRY CHRISTMAS. JOYEUX NOEL. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS

'Cause I'm just that freaking colorful.

Anyways. Merry Christmas invisible people. I had an okay Christmas. I'm growing older (we'll talk about that later) and have lost the Christmas spirit. Christmas songs just don't entice me anymore. My lazy family was too lazy to put up the Christmas tree. Christmas commercials are cute, but they don't conjure that warm-hearth-chestnuts-creepy santa-snowman image anymore.

*sigh*

I'm getting old.

What happened? Well, as for my Christmas gifts, I got two CDs of the Beatles ( <3)

Now that I'm finished talking about my life, I have to confess a couple of things.

First off, I still sleep with a teddy bear. His name is Beethoven the Bear (see previous blog http://www.trespasse.blogspot.com/). He has white, cheap, fur, red soles, an unraveling polyester red bow, and a deformed face that lops to one side, I believe the left. If you hadn't figured out yet, he's from the Dollar Tree. But I still love him anyways. Before I fall asleep I rub his hand for good luck. It works...most of the time.

Next, I've been really interested in the publishing world lately. I've been reading agent's blogs...specifically Nathan Bransford and Janet Reid. Two both very talented literary agents. And I have to make a confession (the whole point of this whole thing). When I grow up...I want to be... a literary agent! Now don't scream, you'll make me more deaf than I already am. Though you are probably thinking, wait? When I grow up?This leads to my next confession.

I'm 14. Yes. That means freshman in high school. Now, why am I confessing this? Because this whole blog is going through a makeover. That's right. It's going to be more like a What I learned blog, rather than a useless rant of what's going on in my life. That's why I was so quick to go over my Christmas. I could rave on about the magical deliciousness of See's candy. Or I could talk about the movie Avatar, which lived up to my expectations, though did not exceed them. No, I will be talking about what I learned about the literary world. Query letters, synopsis, agents, publishing, good websites. I'll cover it all. Later though.

You'll get to go through the process of learning avec moi (for those who are french ignorant: with me!) Why? Well, it may very well be that I may have another two month absense, but I just really want to talk about the world of writing. NOW NOW NOW. Just like I don't like to write essays, (which we'll go over later on *jots down on post-it*) I don't want to write about the thoughts that bumble about in my head (like, why are there people working on Christmas!? Firemen and policemen I understand, but at least give the fast food workers a day off. Even the lonely ones.)

I just want to learn more about this new, shiny world on how books are made. It's probably what lead to my desire to become a literary agent, something I'd enjoy doing rather than.... being a pharmacist. *face turns green*. That doesn't mean that I just want to be a literary agent to crush people's dreams or show the agents nowadays who's the boss, I just have developed this deep fondness of everything literary. Except literary essays. Essays are my bane. They will be the death of me.

I hope you understand. I'll be living my literary life here. You'll get to hear my excited news when I send off my very first query letter (exciting!) to when I get my very first rejection letter (...er...you live you learn!...). Maybe by posting what I've learned here will help me better understand this brand-new-book smelling world (if you don't know, it smells a lot like toothpics and the back of small bookshops). Through the eyes of a 14 year old, of course. We have to be new and fresh! That doesn't mean I'm changing the blog name. Or my pseudonym. I like both. And besides, What I Learned isn't as exciting as The Last Laugh en francais, now is it? (And I know I'm supposed to put a squiggly accent there, but I don't know how on this old keyboard so just imagine it!)

As for moi...

Nanowrimo. I left you with my last post that I will be treading through the Nanowrimo mountain for the very first time! And I reached the summit with...50,601 words was it? Yes. As for my nano book, which will remain by it's initials here - TROAP. I aimed to edit it, make a query letter for it, wish it well and send it off like a proud parent sending their stupidest, er, not the most intelligent child to college in the best wishes they won't be trampled by elephants. Er, yes. But after I tried to edit it, I...and here's the climax, got BORED WITH IT. Yes, bored with it. Absolutely the worst thing I could say, now could it? Oh, well. Not as worse as being thoroughly disgusted with it, I lit it on fire. Which is quite impossible since, in order to do that, I would have to burn my whole laptop (lovingly named Toshishi, don't ask.). *Sigh*. The writing was too hurried. I'm afraid the Create Space Free Proof Copy will have to be for another, book, for I can't stand reading TROAP right now. Maybe next time when I have fresh eyes. So do I plan to let it sit there? Idly standing by as I write my next novel, which I will NOT LIGHT ON FIRE because it's going to be written with time and care. That is not called procrasination, though I haven't written a darn thing since two days ago. Anyways, I like this new one much better. I think there are more stakes involved and some actual, solid reasons for my character's actions. It's eerily a lot like The Little Mermaid, Anastasia, and Avatar put together. But back to the question...

ABNA

If you remember my last, died-too-young blog, V Blase, I was about to enter in the second annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. I never made it past the pitch stage. Confound that confounded pitch! I still don't know what it is or what's supposed to be in it. *Is throroughly confuzzled*. Maybe I'll learn. *raises a knowing eyebrow*. I hope that eyebrow thing didn't scare you off. You know what's scary? Santa Claus. He breaks into people's houses, if not by chimney then through your back door. He invites children to sit on his lap. He says, "Ho, ho, ho!" way too much. And he knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sakes! But I digress...

TROAP will have the honor of going through ABNA. I will quick edit it, write a crude caricature of what's supposed to be a pitch. I know what you're thinking - what's the point? What's the point?! The point is that nothing's at stake. What if I make it through the pitch stage (whoa, how did I do that?) but don't make it past the excerpt. That will make me feel good. And why the heck not? Janet Reid said make mistakes, make many mistakes. So, this may be a mistake. But what the heck do I have to lose?

(If this is in the color aquamarine you know it's got to be important: QUERY TIP: QUERY WIDELY! Don't limit yourself to a select group of agents. Nobody's going to arrest you, most agents go by email, so everything's basically free. That's what I'm going to do - query widely. Though, I'll try to keep the agents I query somewhere around my genre.)

Well, about my age.

I know agents are wary of young people. Nathan Bransford talked about young writers below the age of 18 on his blog. But he never said if he represented them or not. I'm not sure if I should include this in my queries or not. I'll learn once I get my novel finished! (Currently, it's around 2,000 words... -_- And I haven't even introduced the antagonist yet. GAH I'M BEHIND). Though, he also talked about those diamonds in the rough. (insert that one scene from Aladdin here). I hope I'm a diamond in the rough. I know they don't like young people because most show immaturity. Some don't know how to write. Some don't know how to spell. For example:

Modele:

Like, omg! I'm fourteen and I luv writing! Mabey ill get published! My novels freaking awesome of corse it will. I won the spelling bee in second grade. I'm already a freaking star, bby! Purple is my favorite color!

Or something along those lines.

Once I find the exact post somewhere in cyberworld, specifically http://www.querytracker.com/ I'll post it.

As for now...

Not all of us are like that. We are not all like, OMG, I'M PAINTING MY NAILS PURPLE. Some of us are actually very talented, like Australian Steph Bowe whose book will be coming out in 2010. (CONGRATS! You represent the young writers who can actually write! *proud*). She's that success story I hope I will get to become. *sigh*. Daydreamer here...

Anyways, if agents won't even look at our work just because we're under the age of 18, I think that's pretty messed up. Now, I'm not naming names. In fact, I don't know any agents who do that, though I'm getting this weird you're-too-young-grow-up-and-become-experienced-then-contact-us-then vibe that I don't really like. If I am to gain experience, shouldn't I gain it now whilst I'm young and vibrant? (er...scratch the vibrant part). This is something I will be debating: whether I should or shouldn't put in my age. When I query Nathan Bransford, I definitely am because he says specifically to do so if we're under 18. As for the others (remember, I'm querying widely!) I'm not sure. I'm leaning towards yes though, because I shouldn't be ashamed of my age, right? I just don't want them to judge me early on. I want to be compared with the adults, I want the agents to be truthful when they send me those rejection letters. I don't want them all soft, all you're too young sweetie, get a bit more experienced and try again. I already know that. My competition are the adults, not the other kids in the spelling bee.

I've rambled too much. Join me later on for cliches I'm noticing, and my views on self-publishing. They're from a fourteen year old and from me, so you know it's got to be interesting. :P. I'll be putting up a sidebar link to all the websites I've really found useful so far and other things writing related.

Happy Writings!

After the break,

Vanille

& HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS

just in case commercialism has made us forget...

They're All Together Ooky

2009-10-31T13:54:00.000-07:00

"They're creepy and they're kooky,

Mysterious and spooky,

They're all together ooky,

The Addams Family."

-The Addams Family Theme Song (Vic Mizzy [R.I.P])

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Buaha. As you can see, this post is set in orange, but I can't do black because if I did then you couldn't see it because of my blog layout. Isn't that soooo creative? I'm a ge-ni-ous. Get it? Got it? Good.

What has happened since I left you in that melancholy note? Well....
I went to a Halloween Party and got lots of candy and relative junk
I went to a friend's house and played tug-of-war, of which I meekly lost
I because student of the month and have NO certificate >:(
Visited UC Davis (They have bikes! :D) and I stepped in poop...>_>
Lots of other stuff

In the spirit of Halloween, I have decorated my room profusely. I set one of those fake pumpkins that you carry around for treats on my desk. That's it. Yes, I'm so very festive. :) This Halloween, I'm a French Maid. I have to give candy to candy crazed children tonight in my maid outfit like the true maid I am. Oh la la, ou est le feather duster? :)

Well, currently I was eating candy from my pumpkin but after eating a "watermelon taffy" that tasted like "chocolate with artificial fruit flavors" I "spat it out in my purply trash can" and "every candy after that tasted like "chocolate with artificial fruit flavors"" so I've had to "quit" and now I'm "candy deprived". "YES I KNOW I"M MISUSING THESE QUOTATION MARKS.

I think these mutated candies have made me like this.

Though I am writing to YOU, I am supposed to be doing my Fahrenheit 451 and biology homework. In biology we have learned about DNA. Did you know that that DNA is a polymer made of monomer nucleotides and that each nucleotide is made up of a base, a phosphate group and a sugar. There are four bases in DNA - adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine and that A always paris with T and C always pairs with G, this is called the BASE PAIRING RULES. And these two guys with V cool names, Watson and Crick, found out the structure of DNA - a double-helix (also looks like a twisted ladder) and that there's this whole drama on how they "stole" Rosalind Franklin's x-ray photos of DNA and never credited it to her for helping them find out the structure of DNA and she died while they got Nobel Peace Prizes. Yes, the science world is a drama. I do not wish to be a pharmacist. (DOOOOMMM)

NANOWRIMO

Today, I joined Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month). I start writing tomorrow, though I have mulled over starting today (that would be cheating) but I have decided against it and have blogged instead. I will have to balance my biology, school, homework and everything to write 50,000 words by the end of the month. I've done it before, I can do it again. >:) That was in January. (I don't know if I can do it.... :{ ) Wish me luck! :)

Have a HAPPY HALLOWEEEN everybody!!!!!!! that's all for today. Because I dont' know what else to say.!!!

After the Break,

Vanille

" 'Be yourself' is about the worst advice you can give some people."

-Tom Masson

They're Callin' You Out

2009-10-21T20:43:00.000-07:00

"You better stand tall,

When they're callin' you out,

Don't bend, don't break,

Baby, don't back down"

-It's My Life (Glee Cast, originally from Bon Jovi)

Alas, my friends who can't see, thus can't judge. I can't stay very long, since I have to watch Glee, my favorite TV show, in ten minutes. But let's try to make this quick.

Wrong Accused

I've had a horrid day, faced by discrimination in a way you probably have not heard or considered. But, I have been wrongly accused two times today, let's start with the more prominent one and save the other for a day when I have more time.

It all began yesterday, I had a tres bon day. Until....sometime around this time...I got a letter from the library. I had not requested a book, so, woe! Heart beating fast, I tore that letter open and read the dreaded words which I cannot quote since i am too lazy to get up and time is of the essence (HUGO). It said I had not returned Dracula! When, in fact, I knew I had since I remember the feeling of relief when I slept knowing that book was not in the same room as me. Suddenly, Mother Goose and Father Time filled me with odd statements such as, "I remember that you said you didn't finish a book so you left it" or something of the sort..which got me all confused. Suddenly, I couldn't remember book titles. I was in deep woe. Deep, deep, woe. You see, friends, i have never in my life had an overdue book and this was a big red mark on my clean sleet. Or whatever it's called.

So, today I went to the library. Alas! They didn't have the book there. But, the kind librarian, God bless him, said he'd put the book as CLAIM RETURN since I had, of course, my ultra clean slate. Oh yes! Slate, not sleet. Haha, isn't sleet snow or something? But still, it is an ugly stain on my apple. I am deeply woed.

That's all, I just wanted to document this. Tomorrow, maybe, I'll tell you of my other woes that woe me woefully.

After the break,

Vanille.

:'(

"Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must."

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I Have Everything

2009-10-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

"Ridin high, when I was king

Played it hard and fast, cause I had everything

Walked away, won me then

But easy come and easy go

And it would end"

-Beggin' (Madcon)

Salut! How are my favorite people doing? Et toi? you ask. Oh, moi, ca va bien. I would just like to start this blog off on the right track, unlike the other in which I had begun a poll (something about Harry Potter and Snape) and it was...well, a cursed start, as you can see, for that blog is now dead. And, unlike the other blog in which my purpose was sorely to entertain you guys and to have some kind of cure for my boredom, this one will be more personal. Here are the three purposes of this blog.

Use as a journal pour moi et entertainment pour vous!
Documentary: Alas, twitter has but now bored me, too! And this blog shall be a documentary of my personal, emotional and intellectual growth.
To uncover my buried talents: namely, writing. Quite frankly, my writing these days have been rather bland and much like moose dung, I hope to rediscover the unusually witty talent I had in writing as I did in the beginning of this cursed year.

Now with my goals set, I need a schema to acheive this- one of them is to reduce my topics to two per post. This is to save you from headaches and me from babbling too much and no doubt uncovering the other secret schema I have with the gummy bears to take over the world (do you remember?). Of course, :), I haven't said that I could reduce myself to one post per day. Buahaha. You see how my evil mind can twist its way around my rigid rules? Well, no doubt two or more posts per day cannot be achieved by myself since I have much work to do. Anyways, I consider the introduction, which is what I am writing now, not a topic. So, practically, I can ramble on and on here. But I won't. I will try to keep myself under control. After all, this blog is the basis and documentary of my self-growth, and we don't want myself to be scheming myself out of my schemata in the start of this journey. Of course not. :)

The Ocean

I will admit it. I am deathly afraid of the ocean. Oh, invite me to your cruise and ask me to be captain of your pirates ship, but I will not go on that cruise ship, even if Mickey Mouse was on it, and I would not be the captain of your pirates ship even if it meant that I could be the ruler of rather dumb ragamuffins. NO! The ocean, its waves, its roar, its waters - murky and clear. What lies there, what lurks there! Hark! The fear is too great - and that fear is being left alone, in the middle of the ocean, the ocean so deep that no one knows how deep it is! Well, we don't surely know. We just have theorems and hypothesis, one of the reasons science and math are my two hated subjects. And yet I am to become a pharmacist! Woe! But stop, I am digressing (I used my english vocabulary word. :) ) from the point. Just imagine yourself - abandoned by your fellow pirate ragamuffins or Mickey Mouse himself! You splash into the sea, ah, struggling with all your life! The extremely salty water has stuck up your nose and you choke out some things I'd rather not mention. Frantic waving arms, kicking feet, determine to stay afloat, but the sea, it pulls your legs, it curls its tonsils, er, I mean tendrils around your ankles! Your pulled, down...down. Water engulfs you, you're blind. Sharp teeth. The Jaws theme song. But alas, no, it's an octopus! Help! Can anybody hear? Why no, if you shall remember, you cannot be heard underwater. Deeper deeper, you sink. And as the water fills your lungs, you die. And when you wake up you find you've become a mermaid. :).

I'm just kidding. Of course you have not become a mermaid, but have been digested by the octopus. It isn't an extremely pleasant picture, now is it? Thus, you can see for youself why I do not...no, no, no. like the ocean.

What has caused me to tell you this story of woe and tragedy. Why have I foretold your death? Ahem. No, aha. That was not your death...just kidding. :) .... >:) .....:)

It is the movie I saw today while coming home from school, 'twas a minimum day (Huzzah!). It was about pirates. And of course the pirates were aboard a ship and then there was a storm and of course the ship...well, I would rather not talk about it. Twas V unpleasant. It has ignited my fear of the ocean, and reminded me of one of the reasons why I will not go on a cruise ship (one involves Pluto and Goofy, such big ears...perfect for hiding small children...o_O) or any ship for that matter. You do now, my dear friend, and I hope you know this, that all the creatures in the sea are not as innocent and pure as Nemo, from the Disney movie, Finding Nemo. Of which I am extremely tired of seeing. You know, I have seen it so much, I can recite the plot to you right now. First, this clown fish named Marlin...or was it Marty? Ack! Such confusing names. Oh, I have digressed once more. Sorry. And do you know that all our wastes, and by that I mean all the things we flush down the toilet and wash down the drain, eventually end up in the ocean! Yes, ew. So you see, it is not just the fear of what lurks in the ocean or how violent the ocean can be in a storm, there is also hygienics involved.

I end this topic on the closing note of -

Isn't it ironic that the thing that gives us life can very well be the death of us?
And by "thing", I mean water.

It is something to ponder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\/~~~~~~~~

On that note, I leave you.

I have nothing left to say except I am sure that the number 49 is stalking me.

LOVE YOU BUNCHES OF OATS

:))

Vanille

"I am a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy."

-J.D. Salinger

Next Time I'll Be Bulletproof

2009-10-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

Bulletproof Lyrics

I'm back....>:)

And I'm on a new site...lederniermot, which en Francais, means The Last Laugh, which, hopefully by the end of this year I will do...laugh my most evillest laugh and proclaim my revenge. Buahaha. >:)

Ah, my friends...how I have missed you after my absense of...*counts fingers* six months! Good grief. My name is not V Bored any more, but Vanille, which also starts with a V. I'm afraid I have lost my sense of wit, and it will take a couple postings to get it back. I've been mildly dry with my writing these past weeks and it might have something to do with the disappointment of ABNA, which we will never talk about, if you please. :)

Bulletproof.

Yes, mes amies. I am back with a vengenace and slightly better French. It is a great possibility that this blog, too, shall go up in flames and I will be absent for another half a year and then return with newfound revenge and a pitieous soul that needs wit. But as of now, I have returned. And I hope to keep this up longer than a month. Of course, I don't believe that I can do that, but I shall try my best.

We will not dwell on the past, I shall not tell you an update of myself these past months. We will only look on to the present and the future because the past is what pounded me down to a meaningless nothing and I have run back to you, blogosphere, for my innocence restored.

Of course, I may not be able to post every single day. It may well be that I can only post two times a week - one on Saturday and one on Sunday, for school has gripped me in its stressing hold and I am not able to escape its most powerful weapon, also called homework. *cue shark music*

I will, however, give you an update on Beethoven the Bear. We have not been very close these days anymore, and that's a pity. I have no new friend with whom I can share a conversation with, but I will find one and I shall tell you all the bizarre things we say.

Also, I aim to keep my posts much shorter, as to not give you a headache with my medieval ramblings. Hey, did I spell medieval right! It looks right. Oh, joy! I think I have! Mes amies, I believe this is the first time I have spelled medieval correctly the first time! Let us check...I did! Oh, friends. I don't believe you understand. This is a monumentous day. I know that's not a word. Connoisseurs I can spell, but the words spahgetti, survaillance and medieval have always caused me trouble. Oh, I do believe I misspelled them once more. Anyways, yipee! Or as the french say, yupee! :D Did I spell that right?

This is just the beginning. I am tired, friends, from scouring the internet world for a decent template, and though I don't like this one as much as the one in V Blase, I am satisfied. I chose not to keep the old template for the reason that I am moving ahead, and I shall become a butterfly. No, not literally. I quite like having opposable thumbs, thank you very much. But I need to evolve out of my current state. And you, whether you know it or not imaginary person out there with no face and no name, though I can feel your presence, will help me get there.

After the break,

A La Vanille (formerly V Bored, now V Renaissance, if that makes sense.)

"Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length."

-Rober Frost