Reflection

As I reflect on all the writing I have done throughout the semester, I have found that I have become more passionate about writing. About a year ago I would have dreaded writing a story because I didn't know what I would write about. Now that I have taken both sections of creative writing I find myself coming up with new ideas for a story. I've started a list of ideas for stories that I would like to write. It has become a passion to write.

Continuing to write does help your writing skills, but reading is also important. For reading it's not about the quantity of books but the quality that you get out of them. After I read a book I like to think about why I liked it or why I didn't like it. I try to focus my writing on literature that I found engaging and interesting. I think that's the same way with everything in life. Everyone is different so there is not a right or wrong way of doing things.

The most helpful advice that I got from this class is to fill in the gaps of time that I leave out of my story. The reader feels drawn away from the story if it is constantly saying "a week later, a day later, etc." without filling in the gaps of what happened during that time period. I'm going to try to write as if I am seeing the story from the perspective of the reader. What questions would I have after reading my story?

I don't think I'm a great writer. I have ideas for what I want my story to look like, but I can't seem to get it out on paper. I am passionate about writing, but I often feel like I can't express myself. I need a lot of improvement. I don't feel like my story was the best, but it's a starting point for something better.

I've always wanted to publish a book. I want people to see the world through my eyes. I want to pick up a book and run my fingers across the pages. It's like holding your thoughts in your hand. I image that's a great feeling. I want to say that I at least tried. My plan is to work on a novel over the summer. I have about three ideas for books that I want to write, and I'm excited!

I do believe that I will try to send the query letter. I'm not sure if it will be for the story that I have been writing in class. What do you guys think? I feel like I need to come up with a better ending for the story. I don't know.

If I was ever asked to be published I would probably publish under a pen name. I don't want people knowing that I wrote something. I want to hear honest feedback from people.

Thanks for reading. I had a great semester with you guys. You are all awesome and wrote amazing and unique stories. I hope that at least one of you publish a book someday! Keep writing!

Publishing Houses

If everyone is a hero, no one is. Why does every publishing house say they are the best? There are not that many differences between these publishing houses. I have tried to find information that might help me choose which one is better than the other, but they all seem to have equally great qualities.

Little Brown Company
The Little Brown Company is one of the older publishing houses. It is celebrating 175 years in the business. The first works that they ever published were works by Emily Dickinson, Little Women, and etc. They publish both fiction and non-fiction books. Time Inc. purchased the Little Brown Company in 1968.

I would recommend going with this publishing house for the best chances for your story to get readers. This is the oldest publishing house, which means that it is well known. The only problem with going with this publishing company is that you have less chances of being published. They only take the best works of both fiction and non-fiction.

Penguin
I've read a lot of books that come from the Penguin Publishing Company, most of which is older literature. Normally literature teachers tell you to get books from this publishing company. This publishing house seems to be more focused on their writers. Their website has information, such as a blog and book clubs.

This publishing house seems to focus a great deal on older works. I wasn't that impressed with this publishing company. It wasn't that they were not good. I just had a hard time figuring out what they actually published besides older literature. Therefore, I feel like their marketing is not that great.

Harper Collins
Harper Collins has had 89 books on the New York best sellers list, four of which ranked number one on the list (such as "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey, which was also featured in a movie). They also have different publishing companies throughout different countries, which is similar to Random House. Harper Collins also has publishing houses in the UK, Canada, New Zealand /Australia.

Harper Collins seemed like a really great publishing company. The only problem that I had with this company is that they had a horrible website. The information was hard to find, which makes me think that they might not be the best at marketing their books. I would only suggest going to this company because they do have publishing houses in other countries.

Random House
Random House is a global publishing company. There are publishing houses throughout nineteen different countries. This means that the books that are published through this publishing house are sold world wide and are accessible in different countries. Random House was first founded in the U.S. in 1925. They later started a Random House in Canada in 1944. In 1987 they became part of the United Kingdom. Overall, they publish books from all different types of genres including pieces of fiction, non-fiction, and children's books.

I loved Random House. Their website was easy to navigate. They are also located in different countries. They do take pieces of fiction and non-fiction. In addition, they do publish new writers.

St. Martin's Press
St. Martin's Press is known as one of the largest publishing companies in New York. They are not focused on a certain genre. They are known to accept both fiction, non-fiction, and children's books. They welcome new writers of many different genres, but also continue to publish older literature.


They have a lot of modern stories, some of which that were turned into TV shows (WALKING DEAD!). I would suggest going to this publishing company. I was, however, confused why the website went from the St. Martin's Press to Macmillan. I believe that it is an imprint of the company, but I was not sure.

Adding a Picture to the Background

To all that might be interested in changing your background to a picture of your choice, I found some information concerning that. I copied this from another blog that I did a while back.

Step 1:
Sign into your blog.
Step 2:
Click the blog that you want to add a personal background.
Step 3:
On the left hand side, there should be a option that says "templates" click it.
Step 4:
You should be on the page that has your current template. Under you current template there should be a button that says "customize" click it.
Step 5:
On the top left hand side there should be a button that says "Advance" click it.
Step 6:
There should be a scrolling bar on the top left hand side. Scroll down to the bottom until you see the option "Add CSS" click it.
Step 7:
Now there should be a white box that says "Add CSS here to override existing styles." This is where you are  going to put the temple code in HTML. Before you do all this, you must first pick your background color.

Go to this link to pick the color and copy the code number HTML Colors 

After you have chosen your color, type this first part into the white "add custom CSS" box

body }
background-color: code that you chose;

EXAMPLE:

body }
background-color: #000000;

If this does not work for you, you might already have a template on your page. You would want to remove that by clicking on "Background" and under your picture clicking "remove picture."

Step 8:
This goes under what you just typed in the white box.

background-image: url (THIS IS WHERE YOU PUT THE URL OF THE PICTURE YOU WANT AS YOUR BACKGROUND. DO NOT FORGET TO PUT THE PARENTHESES AROUND THE URL);

This will work with any picture that has a url. I even tried it with the pictures that I have on Facebook.

Step 9:
There are three different options on this step. you can either have your picture not repeat, have your picture repeat vertically, or have your picture repeat horizontally. This code goes on the next line (choose only one of the three).

for no repeat type this:

background-repeat: no repeat;

for horizontal repeat type this:

background-repeat: repeat x;

for vertical repeat type this:

background-repeat: repeat y;

Step 10:
Choose your background position. by typing:

background-position: chose one of the following;

top right;
top center;
center center;
center left;
center right;
bottom left;
bottom center;
bottom right;

EXAMPLE:
background-position: bottom left;

Step 11:
The picture is going to move down the page when someone scrolls down your blog. It's kinda follows you down the page. If you think that this setting is creepy, you can turn it off by typing this code:

background-attachment: fixed;

Otherwise, you have the creepy stalking picture. Which is fine if that's the way you like it.

so, your end product should look something like this:


body{
background-color:#000000; 
background-image: url(http://www.winonasfloraltradition.com/pinkflower.jpg);
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: top center;
background attachment: fixed;

If your picture seems small on the blog then it might be a low pixel picture. Try to find a big enough picture to fit the blog, or just chose to repeat the picture. After you are done, make sure to click the "apply to blog button."

Hope this helped. Let me know if some places need more explaining. Thanks for reading!

Here is the link that I got this information from:
changing the background in blogger

Literary Agent

I'm completely clueless when it comes to writing, so finding a literary agent was like trying to color on copying paper with a white crayon. This was what I was looking for in an agent:

1. someone that takes new writers, of course. 
2. someone that gives information that can help writers become better writers 
3. someone that accepts science fiction work 
4. some that can market clients work and have a previous history of getting novels on the top seller list

DONALD MAASS LITERARY AGENCY

The first agency that I found is call the Donald Maass Literary Agency. I chose this agency because they love to have new writers send them novels. This agency seems to value writers. They offer workshops to writers that are in different areas in the U.S. They also inform people of the different "how to write" books that they have published. They have a twiter account that informs their follows what they are looking for that month, and they challenge their writers to come up with stories that follow their guidelines. I feel like this agency is a good stepping stone into writing fiction. They are really focused on new writers, and they are accepting science fiction at this moment!  Donald Maass Literary Agent

THE KNIGHT AGENCY

The Knight Agency is another agency that I have been looking at for the past week now. A lot of the piece that they publish are science fiction pieces. They have published works that have been on the best sellers list: including "90 Minutes in Heaven," which has been the number one best seller in New York for the bast five years. That being said, they do tend to favor non-fiction novels better, but they still encourage fiction. If I went with this agent, I would be less likely to get accepted because they get so many query letters and have little time to review them all. However, they seem to be great at marketing their clients work, which is great for new writers.  The Knight Agency   

STIMOLA LITERARY STUDIO

This is the literary agency that got "The Hunger Games" published. This agency is well known and get a lot of query letters a year. They only respond to the queries that they are interested in pursuing, so you might not even get a rejection letter from them. I like the fact that this agency would be able to further market my book, but they seem to be detached from the writer. They do accept science fiction piece, but I feel like they are not new writer friendly. I would, however, like to try sending a query letter to them. I don't know, maybe something will happen. Stimola Literary Studio

Revising Fiction

Writing is never finished. There is always something that you can add or cut out of a piece of writing. I think that's the beauty of writing. You never run out of new ideas. It's like creative a world out of words. 

I added some pieces to my Jellybean book! basically the book is about a man that wants to live forever, but he finds out that he is going to die. He makes a robot to take care of his family before he dies. Later, the robot takes over, and the world looks something like this:

There is a lot more to the book but the ending looks like this:

 

     

Yes, it has jellybeans!  

The main theme of the book is that sometimes we forget the little things in life. We are always searching for something more than what we have at the moment. 

Here is what I fixed:

 

1. What I added to the story (for those who did read it) was Appollyon was introduced to Jessup's wife, Jolene. I wanted this part of the story to be heart grasping, because this is the first time that the baby kicks in his mother's womb. I wanted Appollyon to feel the first kick, because it causes Jessup to realize that he is going to miss a lot of important stuff in his child's life. I wanted the reader to feel Jessup slowly detach from his family, which I will probably expand on the prologue.  
2. I also explain how the world is lighted, because I did say that the sun died. I decided to go with street lamps. Every day the lamps are turned on for twelve and are turned off at night, which is also twelve hours. 
3.  Goodness, my grammar! I fixed all that. 

I want to say thank you to all my wonderful classmates and teacher, Mrs. Fried. You guys are awesome! Thank you for pointing out places that I needed to fix.     

BookTubers

I was amazed at the amount of people that are BookTubers  It almost seems like a worldwide book club, which everyone is free to comment on how they enjoyed the book or the video.

I have never heard about BookTubers before, so I was curious as to what are considered "good BookTubers." This YouTube video from the LittleBookOwl.com states that the booktubers that are most popular are those that talk about young adult fiction. They also show a lot of confidence in what they are talking about, are excited about reading new book, and are organized with what they are talking about. It is also important that the BookTuber videos are short and to the point. A lot of people don't want to watch a 10 minute video.    

TOP TEN QUESTIONS ABOUT BOOKTUBING

1.What Are Book Hauls? 
Book Hauls are when someone gets a lot of books and BookTube about the books that they got. The videos that I saw were mainly of those people who have not read the books yet, but are talking about how excited they are to read them. One BookTube that I saw was of a girl that had gotten a lot of books over Christmas and was talking about them.Christmas Book Haul

2.What Are Book Tags?
Book tags are when someone leaves a comment below asking the BookTuber to find a book that matches a one word or phrase description. An example of this would be sick/ill in which the BookTuber has to find a book that represents each category.

A total of 8 illnesses whose symptoms mirror how a book made you feel:

1. Diabetes: a book too sweet, like really sweet.
2. Chicken Pox: a book you've read once, and will never pick up again.
3. Influenza: the flu a contagious book that spreads like a virus
4. The cycle: a book you read every month, year or often.
5. Insomnia: a book that kept you up all night.
6. Amnesia: a book that's forgotten and failed to leave a powerful impression in your memory.
7. Asthma: a book that took your breath away
8. Mal nutrition: a book that lacked food for thought.
9. travel sickness: a book that took you on a journey through time or space or to a specific local on the map.

I got this list from SarahwithnH who actually came up with this particular idea.

3.What Are Shout Outs?
Shout outs are when BookTubers talk about other BookTubers that they like. I have also seen a couple of BookTubers that do shout outs to some of their best fans or subscribers.

4.What Are #Friday Reads? 
#Friday reads are basically what it sounds like. BookTubers talk about what book they are going to read on the weekend.

5.What Are My Bookshelf/ Bookshelf Tours?
This is pretty much as straight forward as the #fridaynightreads. Basically BookTubers talk about the books that they have on their bookshelves and why they are important. Other BookTubers talk about the way in which they arrange their books. 

6.What Are All Time Favorite Characters & Favorite Book Covers? 
I noticed that not a lot of people do videos on these topics. They are exactly as they sound. BookTubers talk about what characters they like and why. They also talk about the book covers and what draws them into reading it and if the book was as good as the cover.

7. What Are Book Clubs & What Are Book Reviews 
If you have ever seen the book clubs that are on Goodreads, BookTubers have something similar. Some only focus on a genre of books, while others allow their subscribers to vote on what book they read. Like I said earlier, it's like a worldwide book club. Book reviews, on the other hand, is when someone rates the book and talks about what they liked and what they did not like about the book.

8. What Are To Be Reads?
This is when someone blogs about the books that they would like to read. Subscribers may also give the BookTubers a list of books they think that they should read in the comment section.

9.What Are Wrap Ups? 
Wrap ups are when the BookTuber talks about all the books that they read that week or month. It's a good way to make subscribers feel like they know the BookTubers more, because they know what they are doing week to week.

10.What Are The Saddest Books?
These are the books that make you cry. A lot of the BookTubers talk about what makes them cry and how the books are written. I found a couple of people that said Charlotte's Web made them cry, but it does not make me cry. It's all about your opinion and what has happened in your life that makes the books sad.

My Advice After Watching BookTubers

Be creative! Don't just do what everyone else does and repeat the same thing over again. I believe that you have to be original and challenge your subscribers to read more books.

I really like Danny Marks . He is funny and random, but yet still organized about what he is talking about. 

The bookshelves in the background need to be nice and neat. I also believe that there cannot be a lot of stuff on them (like stuffed animals, lotion, etc.). I was really distracted by the people who had stuff on the bookshelves that were not supposed to be there.

People can be funny while doing a BookTube, but I also believe that they should not go over 7 or 8 minutes. Being blunt is not a bad thing when doind videos (not everyone wants to listen to you all day long, so keep is short).

Film quality is extremely important. Try to make sure to edit out any parts where you go off topic or say to many "ums" or "ah." I also like it when people put the information of the book on the side or bottom of the screen. 

All BookTubers tend to talk about the books that they have recently bought, read, or want to read. 

I would actually like to be a BookTuber, but I don't read much. 

Thanks for reading! 

      

Goodreads or Shelfari

Goodreads is an easy website to navigate. I signed up for it approximately a month ago and have not had any difficulty finding my way around the website. It is easy to set up your account. I used a gmail account to sign up for Goodreads and noticed that the tutorial did as well. I believe that any type of email will work (yahoo, facebook, hotmail, etc.) but I'm not completely sure. Do alternate emails, besides gmail, work?

I also found a helpful website for people who are new to Goodreads.

http://www.goodreads.com/help/list 

This website can help you navigate through Goodreads if you are having difficulty doing so or answer questions such as: how do you block people? why give out your address? etc.

My favorite function about Goodreads is the recommendation of books it gives you after you rate 20 books. I rated a couple of my favorite and it actual recommended a lot of books that I had already read and enjoyed. I would recommend using this website.

Mrs. Fried is having a giveaway of her book "Nellocott Is My Darling." The entries will be closing in 22 days (February 27, 2013). She is giving away 10 copies of her book. 263 people have entered to win! Only 10 will come out successful. Go enter to win her book (I did).

I like the book selves that say "books I wouldn't admit reading." That's the only creative bookshelf name I saw so far.

Shelfari is a website that is powered by Amazon. This website might be helpful to you if you have an Amazon account. If you do not have an Amazon account then they will ask you to create one before you can sign up for Shelfari.

I like the layout of Shelfari as far as website design. I just had an easier time navigating through Goodreads.

Overall, I believe that Goodreads is more user friendly. They only ask for your email and a password to sign up. Shelfari asks for an email, password, and for you to create an amazon account. Goodreads also offers a lot of clubs that you can join and groups that encourage reading and writing. I would recommend both, but I would suggest Goodreads to new users.
 

What Am I?

She has a body like no other. Her smooth caramel skin shines in the sunlight from waxing. Her neck has little dots that appear to be moles or freckles. Neck, body, curves, and a hole leading straight to her heart. Some girls have strings attached; she has six.

Standing in the corner until one day she is played. She gets attention by sitting on the laps of those who know her well and those who do not know her at all. When I see her, she always seems fretful. I think it's because everyone holds her by the neck, twisting her knobs, and pinching her with a capo.

Her voice is mostly in tone, but I have found her to be sharp or flat at times. She sounds beautiful when she is  stroked right. I love to hear her sing.

People think that she's crazy. They say she has knobs in her head, and that they are attached to her six strings. The knobs are cold, shinny, and easily tighten. I know that every part of her has a purpose. No one can say she is worthless after hearing the scratching sound of her voice moving from cord to cord.

Don't bump into her. You will not like the way she sounds after you do.

I really don't know any other way to describe her. If you saw her walking in the room, you would know that she was born to play on the stage.

What is she?

It's a guess, not a test! Leave your guess in the comment section below. Thanks people!

First Workshop

The first workshop went very well. A lot of people had the same suggestions that I had, which made me feel more comfortable sharing my opinions. I wish that there was a way to give someone constructive criticism without it feeling like an attack on the writer. I really did enjoy the story and thought that it had a lot of potential to becoming a great novel.

If I could change anything about how we do the workshops in class, I would suggest maybe allowing everyone to say something about the story to begin with and then have an open discussion among classmates. I feel like everyone mentioned something that I wanted to talk about, but I was not able to do so because my turn was already over (don't get me wrong... I'm good at taking turns. I just like the open discussion more).

I liked the fact that everyone had their ideas and could relate to the story in a different way. It's the magic of writing that someone that doesn't know you can move you with a sentence or a word. I liked the story! What more can I say? 

I am curious as to what is the correct way for punctuating thoughts or ideas. I know that some people said that the thoughts were confusing in the story because they were in quotation marks similar to those used in actual dialog. It was also confusing to me. Do you use single quotation marks? Do you use double quotation marks? Do you put thoughts in italics? I don't know the answer. Someone help me!      

  

Emergency

At first I thought that Emergency was a story about drugs and alcohol, but after the second time of reading the story I realized that it has deeper meaning. The story, to me, is about someone finding out who they are and wanting to change. The first mentioning of Georgie is when he is mopping up blood in the emergency room crying. The narrator of the story seems to be confused as to why Georgie is crying, but he never fully understands the meaning to Georgie's sorrow. I believe that Georgie was unhappy with the position that he was in. I think that he knew that he could be so much more than the guy that mops up blood. Georgie even mentions later in the story that he "should have been a doctor," which supports my claim that he wanted to be more than what he currently was. 

I think that this story had a very interesting dynamic between drugs and there effects. The narrator, who works with and is friends with Georgie, seems to have a negative reaction to the drugs. Although the narrator can recall more of the events that happened during the time in which both he and Georgie were on drugs, the drugs seem to cause him to care less about life and detach himself from his surroundings, which cause him to later kill the baby rabbits. Georgie, on the other hand, seems to work better with drugs. Drugs cause him to retrieve the knife from the eye of the man, save the baby rabbits, and offer to save Hardee from war. 

I like the ending of the story where Georgie says, "I save lives." I think this is where Georgie accepts himself as who he is and is satisfied with what he has become.