Maniacal Mondays: My Conversion to Easy Mac

Hello, everyone.

The last post on this blog was over a month ago, August 27th. I was still reeling over the fumes of the first week of classes, joining clubs like it was going out of style, and trying to meet people. This whole period of freshman year is wonderful, but when it's over, it hits you like a truck.

It hit me like a truck that was full of bricks. I went down, hard.

My departure from the honeymoon phase of Welcome Week wasn't really noticed in my classes - I turned in assignments, got good grades on papers, whathaveyou, but personally my life was falling apart. I had no time to be social, I was constantly doing homework, staying up late. I hadn't written in two months, The Artist sat in it's finished form untouched, unedited, unseen. I was having trouble concentrating on my work and my studying because characters would fly into my head like neglected baby birds. It was a dark time.

But now, I think I have a handle on things. I'm writing for English now instead of just reading, so that's a wonderful outlet, and when I can I slip some things into either book two or I go back and see what to do with The Artist. I literally had a talk with my first year advisor, also a writer, who pretty much freaked out when I told her what was happening. She ordered me to make time to write, and it has been absolutely wonderful. I feel so much better.

Anyway, college is getting cooler now, I can finally wear pants (and not shave...sorry, boys), my scarves from Spain, and not come back to the dorm covered in sweat. And I have discovered the joy of collegiate life that is Easy Mac. Seriously, within three minutes you too can have melty, cheesy, ultimate-comfort-food goodness in a little handheld bowl. Pro tip, though: use that Parmesan cheese powder stuff and mix it in. It adds just another cheesy element and makes your belly happy. These can be found in any dining hall, or at any grocery store for dirt cheap in nice shaky containers.

On a final note, one of the best parts of being a writer in college? The people watching is utterly spectacular. Where else can you find people in droves walking dimly lit sidewalks in togas, American flag garb, or see someone play bumper cars with their body and the cars parked on the street? Ah, college. A writer's paradise, except that whole thing about socializing. Whoops.

I'm going to be doing my best to start queuing up posts for this week early, as I'm currently writing this on a Wednesday. Maybe I'll get really lucky and be able to do a week of postings! I hope you've all been doing well since I've been gone, and have a great week!

Easy Mac and Goldfish,
Brie

Maniacal Monday: I Think I'll Go to Boston

If you didn't honestly think the second our car passed the Boston city limits I didn't start singing that song, then you don't know me very well. In fact, I texted the lyrics in all caps at various people who would accept my weirdness with an idiot smile on my face. As you may have seen on my twitter feed, I've been on hiatus for this past week as I spent a week with my aunt and uncle up in New England. Not only was this a great trip for me to see how people live in various states in my country (because contrary to popular belief, each state has it's own identity and way of life), but it was wonderful for research. The people-watching in New York City was spectacular, and my only complaint was that the New York Public Library wasn't open for me to wander into like a child into a four-story candy store. The amount of sheer humanity there was ridiculous, and I learned to play chicken in the sidewalks instead of weaving my way between people like I would normally do in the city. NO, SMARTLY DRESSED ASIAN MEN. YOU ARE IN MY WAY.

Anyway. We also took a trip to Maine, which I honestly believe I could live in if the winter wasn't so horrifically cold and snowy. The food is amazing, everyone is kind, and the colors are wonderful. I'm not even really a visual person, but you can't deny a certain pleasure in watching a storm come in over the ocean and seeing every color of blue you can imagine and several that you couldn't wave over you as you stare through your car window and snap pictures. This week was great for me to unwind from freaking out over school, where I move in eight days. I also learned the art of the bun hair, and have found that I, in fact, really like my hair up. It's become my hardcore writing hairstyle, as I don't even need to bother with the ponytail or wispy hairs in my face while I'm entrenched in the other world.

Boston, however, was my most favorite place of the three. The perfect mix for me of Maine's colors and New York City's opportunities and industry, I had a wonderful time on the waterfront, walking the Freedom Trail (the Old North Church, Paul Revere's House, etc.), and hanging around Little Italy, which completely surrounds many of the Revolution-era historic buildings. I find it wonderful because we're talking about powdered-wig British colonists and you walk outside and there are festival banners for the Feast of Madonna Della Cava right outside Paul Revere's house. The vivacity of the city was incredible. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture for you, as I took all of them with my camera and I haven't unpacked yet.

But I'm back and better than ever this week, ready to start some new postings and finally finish that review of Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis. Is this my super-casual and totally clever way of promoing this book? Take that as you'd like. It should be up this week, though, since I find myself with a couple days off and I actually have my laptop again. I've missed you, lappy. I love you.

I hope you all had a wonderful time while I was on break, and thank you to my new readership, my blog post reads have soared over the week that I was gone! It was a great 'welcome back' present from you guys!

Unpacking and unwinding,
Brie

Maniacal Mondays: Lifeline

You guys may have noticed (or you're being yanked out of pleasant, ignorant bliss) that I stopped blogging last week abruptly in the middle of attempting a post theme for the week. And although I'm sure I had all of you hanging on the edge of your chairs, stools, and couches, it's not for lack of ideas.

My laptop died abruptly on Wednesday before I could send out more posts, and refused to turn back on. Now, for most writers this is a nuisance and quite possibly like the loss of a pet, but for me it was devastating. Not only could I not blog, but my works were on the hard drive. I've had horrible experiences with flash drives being lost by others who temporarily borrowed them, files being corrupted, idiots stepping on them and nearly destroying them...I could make you a list. A hard drive is one of the most structurally sound parts of a computer, so long that the computer doesn't get any viruses that target it or, as happened with mine, crash. Fortunately, I was able to temporarily revive it and pull out the most important pieces from the hard drive onto my flash and send it to a friend for safekeeping, but shortly after I couldn't revive it again.

Cut to a run to Micro Center, a few hours spent in a frigid electronics store in which I purchase two new 16 GB flash drives, an external hard drive, and a new battery. The guy who checks me out likes my laptop sticker. (Block letters in teal stating THIS LAPTOP IS A HORCRUX)

So long story short, the battery works. My laptop is (knock on wood) currently experiencing no problems and running as smoothly as ever. My hard drive is safe, and now I have a complete mirror image on my external hard drive in case anything should go wrong.

But there's a reason that I have that sticker on my laptop. It's my baby - I love it to death. I actually began experiencing some serious mood swings and depressive episodes while it was down. I couldn't write, even if I wanted to. I had my desktop in the house, but it's not really mine and my ability to use that thing is very low, because the parents have piled things into it that would infuriate Bill Gates like no other.

So fortunately I'm back and bigger, badder, and better than ever - I think. I'm dangerously close to finishing my draft, and I have the perfect weapon in which to do it. Moral of the story: back up everything. Hold your important things close - even if it's a laptop - and secure it. Everyone's got a horcrux, everyone has something important. Keep it safe.

Happy to be back (and hugging my laptop like it's my child),
Brie

My Thoughts Thursday: Walk That Line

I really do apologize for posting three things today to catch up, dear followers, but I've been sitting on these ideas for quite some time now. Part of it is the fact that I'm very interested in politics and the human rights of people around me (hence my genres!), and another is just the infuriating fact that we as a species love to either stick our heads in the sand or sit in lawn chairs and complain about what's happening, yet never actually do anything about it.

The other part of it is that I'm on tumblr and that's a very big focus in the lit blogs I follow. There's actually a large part of tumblr, regardless of type of blog, that have noticed the serious lack of sexual, racial, religious, and gender variety. They champion the Bechdel test and note how many non-white faces they see in movies. As a generation, we notice. But here comes the problem with all of that. When you try to represent, that's great. But what happens when you go a little overboard?

You get what I like to call Textbook Syndrome. Does 'Lashawna, Mike, Qian, and Pablo all have seven watermelons' sound familiar? It makes the diversity and representation fake. As much as 'stay with your own kind' seems fake, sticking with everyone of every subset is just as bad. Not everyone needs to be a transgender pansexual half-Indian half-Chinese person. But to err on either side, to be so diverse it's obvious or so whitewashed it's appalling, is just as bad.

I see this quite often on tumblr where users tend to fly off the handle towards the underrepresented. I mean, there's even this post going around saying that in the Disney movie Frozen, which has caused both controversy over supposed 'whitewashing' and acclaim for allowing a mainstream, successful movie to not depend on the prince-saving-the-princess plot scheme, Elsa should be a lesbian, and that her lover should be an African Muslim who controls fire.

As nice as this sounds, this completely disregards the Muslim religion entirely. For the faithful, it's stated quite clearly that same-gender sexual relations are sin. This is an example of non-Muslims pushing this image just to represent a racial and sexual minority while not actually thinking of whether or not these combinations can exist. It's what I like to call pandering, trying to represent without respect.

So I guess this MTT's theme is simple: in life, you will meet people who are unlike you. Different experiences, genders, religions, sexualities, and races. But recognize in our shows, stories, and movies, that there is a difference between no representation, representation, and too much. Like many things, our living conditions, for example, there needs to be a balance.

Walking the tightrope,
Brie

Witty Wednesdays: Selfies with the Pope

Okay, so this first Wednesday post is pretty much because I have so much to talk about with this series about realism and the controversies that young adult literature seem to just want to leave alone. Race, sexuality, gender. If it isn't vaguely feminist or vaguely accepting, it's apparently not marketable. But there's a crucial part of many people's lives that seems to be seriously unrepresented: Religion.

And on one hand, I understand. In my current project, there's a rather major minor character who is a Muslim Arab. He's very religious and observes Ramadan, and struggles with maintaining his path to redemption while reacting to what actually happens around him. Most people won't even touch this, especially when it's not in the 'standard' Christian religion. Veronica Roth, in fact, barely touches this in the Divergent trilogy, where Tris is vaguely Christian but only really thinks on it when she's either facing death or contemplating suicide. Religion is difficult because it defines people in varying degrees, whether very much so or not at all.

But again, the representation of religion in YA literature is skewed: atheism or a lack of religion at all dominates, whether from tragic backstories concerning a turn away from God or just being raised that way. But truly, there are far, far many more believers than not, and Christianity isn't the only religion. Why a lot of people tend to avoid religious characters is that they don't want to offend, and it provides too many obstacles. The Muslim religion has dietary restrictions, but also many when it comes to romance. Faithful females generally wear a headscarf (the hijab), a burqa (full body covering) or other types of clothing for modesty and to completely terminate any sort of male gaze that we have problems with in Western culture, and there is no premarital sex. Heck, they can't even hang out alone until engagement. This would pose a problem for any sort of romance subplot if a character weren't allowed to even be alone with a potential love interest unless he put a ring on it.

I mean, Buddhism, Sikkism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Paganism, Atheism, there's interesting facets to all of these that create both a more realistic character and allows you to portray something more relatable to people. I mean, many young people struggle with how to balance their faith and their reality, or attempt to find one that works for them. Yet I see few, if any characters doing the same thing. It all goes back to representation, seeing yourself in the literature that is there and finding role models, learning through the literature how to manage your life or overcome obstacles.

This crazy life we live is hard enough, but by glossing over real topics like this readers don't get those deep, meaningful themes they're looking for and writers' works are emptier. I mean, you don't need the Pope riding a donkey backwards blindfolded to show that religion is important to many people. They show motivation and guide people on their life journeys, regardless of their degree of religion. And especially in the United States, religion affects everything. Politics (unfortunately), life choices, the economy...and to just pretend it doesn't exist just doesn't make sense.

This WW post wasn't really all that witty, but I promise next week's will be.

Namaste,
Brie

My Thoughts Thursday: The P Word

It's been quite the week. Generally I have some sort of post for Thursday where I'm serving up literary snark, but I'm too tired even for that. Sometimes, life rolls on. Other times, life steamrolls on. Over you. This is one of those other times.

A lot of people think that after Christmas break, life's a breeze. But since these people have left school, various school boards, states, and federal whims have brought us more testing, more homework, more diagnostics, and other behavioral corrections enough to make a lab rat out of me. I am nothing but five letters meant to make the school board look good, it seems.

The good news is, the weekend is almost here, and the week of OGTs is next, meaning I have two hours off school each day while the sophomores take graduation tests. I think...I THINK that I can finish The Artist next week.

Fingers crossed, writing gods appeased, lucky shirt worn.

So I guess my thoughts this Thursday are summed up on one word: Persistence. Perseverance can work, but you need tenacity, endurance. Push through, and you'll get what you want. Let's hope we all accomplish that soon, huh?

Don't forget the brain bucket,
Brie

My Thoughts Thursday: Neuroses.

I said it Tuesday, I'll say it again: I love it when writing is like real life. There's awkwardness, people speak like they normally do, there are people of different races, ethnicities, and cultures, sexualities. The world is a beautiful, complex, random cosmos inside our enormous universe.

Characters are my babies. I love them. They're one of my favorite portions of a book or a piece of literature besides writer's craft. How else do you get another person's thoughts, feelings, dreams, and ideas into your head? You never see someone else's perspectives like you do when you read a book. You go through life with really only your perspective of the way the world turns, hearing about others' but not really living them. This is one of the reasons that books have endured for centuries, they do things for us that nothing else can.

But back to characters.

Giving characters 'quirks' is always a goal for a writer, because that makes them stand out. There are literally millions of characters who have brown hair, blue eyes, pale skin, or who are strong or smart or a jock with a soft side or a badass with a sad backstory. How are these characters to ever find a way to stand out from the others? By their own little neuroses, that's how. Maybe a love interest hates being cliche and always shows affection in the strangest ways possible so as to be 'original', or one always night showers or walks in the early morning outside to be by themselves. It's the little tidbits that aren't relevant to the plot that make them breathe.

Finding out things about a character depend on how you meet your characters. For me, it's almost like I run into them on the street as I'm out doing whatever I'm doing, where they look a certain way, speak a certain way, and have a name before they introduce me. I'm not scrambling to build them like in a Sims game, like some authors. They come as they already are, and so for me finding their little quirks is about getting to know them. Some authors need to carefully plot out each hair on their protagonist's head, but that's not me. We're a varied breed, writers.

The problem with these quirks are the balance of them. Too much, and your character is suddenly a manic pixie dream girl (or boy) that seems to not be able to hold a conversation or live conventionally due to his or her neuroses. Too little, and they appear contrived, deliberate, pretentious...like they're trying too hard to seem normal. Let their humor sneak into dialogue for the sake of them speaking, have someone trip up their need to color-code their closet and see what happens. Not every piece of a character is relevant to propelling the plot forward. Not every detail of our lives comes into play significantly. If it were true, we wouldn't be characters or people: we'd be puppets, doing what entertains our puppet master and disregarding free will. Which I'd hate for that to happen.

I'll keep this brief, because my last couple were super long. But moral of the story, characters are fictional humans (or whatever they're meant to be). We can make them as perfect and neat as we'd like, but they're boring that way. Give a girl frizzy hair. Give a guy an inability to mismatch his socks. Make them laugh, cry, smile, crack jokes because they are people and need air and want to be known. Let them come alive, and readers will go nuts. And maybe, just maybe, you can bring us one step closer to the world on the page.

Meet-and-greets and tea parties with fictional characters,
Brie

Think Tank Tuesday: Relationships

If you can't smell it in the air, you can hear the legions coming. Ah, the scent of amour. They see each other. There is this instant attraction. They try to hide it. Oh, so flirtatious. Then BAM. Romance. Hopefully you read that in a really cheesy, bad French accent a la Genie from Aladdin.

But I'm serious, relationships in literature are great. Some of them make us go:

 Others make us go:

 Some of my favorites are more like:

And then there's always that one ship that's your NOTP and it just turns you into a pirate.

A good portion of readers, especially in the YA genre, read for the relationships. If you can't tell, ask anyone about The Hunger Games. Most of them will tell you, "I'm on Team Peeta", "I'm Team Gale", and then the original 'teams' of twenty-first century young adult literature, "Team Edward", "Team Jacob", "Team Guy-Who-Hit-Bella-With-His-Car" (Catchy, eh?) There's the coveted OTP, the relationship you want to be more than any other relationship, ever. The guilty pleasure relationships. Ahh, I'm getting all warm and fuzzy just thinking about them.

But wait, you think. It's Think Tank Tuesday, she'll have something to say about this!

Ding ding ding, winner, my friend! 

As great as YA relationships are, has anyone besides me noticed that they kind of take a similar route in most books? I referenced it at the beginning: Boy meets girl. Both avoid each other or otherwise attempt to hide initial attraction. Some event brings them together. FEELINGS. Awkward not-friends-but-not-together phase, then BIG KISS. Then relationship, ahh. Some end there, some go on to test the couple's relationship by adding love triangles, in which case it's the same formula with two boys at one time, where one kisses the girl before the other and somehow that 'wins' the girl for them.

Can we please freshen up the romance we've got going here? I'm tired of taking a look at a book and thinking, 'oh, this boy is strong and handsome and tall. He's totally going to get the girl over that scrawny, nerdy guy'. Most of the time (in my experience) the girl goes with the new guy come to town over her old asshole boyfriend, takes the new hottie over her best friend since FOREVER, or automatically gravitates towards the hottest guy in the room, who just happens to have a thing for 'average' girls like her.

Where are the best friend couples? What about the ones who met while one was chasing someone else and decided they liked each other better? Do I see the idiot couples who are completely stupid around each other but love each other anyway? Or the ones who fight but come back at the end of the day because no one will put up with them like they will (and love it)? Come on, now.

I'm all about literature that parallels life, and I don't know about you, but I don't see hunky, muscular guys as far as the eye can see stopping to check out the nice girl reading a book across the street. That would've made life so much easier for me. People are attracted to all kinds of traits in other people - kindness, intelligence, physical appearance (which is generally what a person sees first), etc. Now, I know that these successful books have to be commercial, so pandering to the heterosexual female audience with a 'hot' character makes sense, but who defines attractiveness? I'm all for rippling pectoral muscles, but I prefer a guy who is a good hugger. Personally, I'm very physically affectionate. Not everyone is, but why are all the characters super-stoic and good-looking? Where are the snugglers? The ones who make you laugh by making a fool of themselves? The ones who find something in your favorite color and gets it for you because it made them think of you?

I'm not telling you who to ship, or that your favorite male character's amazing six-pack isn't necessary, but...I'm just saying we need more Peetas and Erics (Twilight), more guys who aren't 'conventionally attractive' or super-masculine, who are more like...real guys. Jokers. Nerdlets. Jocks with such tight friends it's like a seven-way bromance. Gimme a heavy dose of male reality, YA industry. You're just killing me with the perfection.

May your ships always sail,

Brie

Free-for-All Friday: Spotlight on the World

This week has been one of turbulence. From the riots in Venezuela that have claimed many civilian lives and the riots in the Ukraine that have been the focus of American global news to my week of being injured, cripple-swagging my way to my classes and wading through school work that obviously pales in comparison. I was going to do something stupid and happy for Friday, but I think that something that everyone needs to address, no matter who they are or where they come from, is that the world turns in ways we don't always want to watch.

America is famous for it's global ignorance. We're the go-to butt of stupid jokes in the global consciousness. And why? Because from our media and our own apathy to finding sources, we just don't get the memo. I had friends today who didn't know about the riots, nor the flooding in England or even the droughts in California, which is (in case you forgot) IN our country. Both as a dystopian writer and as a citizen of the world, I think we've got to wake up. Not just in one country, but in all of them. We are a human family, we affect each other. And to sit in our own respective town, city, state, province, country, and flip the channel to something happier is just a symptom of some of the problems we have.

This is a reason why dystopian fiction is so popular right now: everyone's seeing that the world seems to be getting darker and darker. Riots, rebellions, threats of war, economic turbulence. It's not a great thing to see, and at the scale these things take place in it's easy to feel helpless. But what we can do isn't always necessarily attacking the problem like you think you should. We can't all be Tris Prior or Katniss Everdeen and head a revolution. That would be actually awful. But what can we do? Be more like Emma Stone. And as much as I would love to do that all the time, I'm talking about this instance of her:

I know it sounds ridiculous and stupidly simple, but being better to each other really helps. And not just the holding-the-door-for-strangers thing. Although that's nice. I mean we have to really think outside ourselves and our microcosm that we call life here. The United States did it in WWII - we sunk a bunch of money into Europe in an action known as The Marshall Plan that acted as an economic stimulus to keep European countries in the black and strengthen them against communism. Regardless of political analysis, countries helped each other. Countries who had been fighting against each other a few years before were helping. And we need to do so in a similar fashion today, whether it's showing humanitarian aid, supporting on social media, or simply talking about it with your friends, family, teachers, coworkers, or anyone who will listen. It's a great big world out there, and we can't afford to live on it like we're the only ones.

What makes us unlike Tris, Percy, Katniss, Clary, Harry, and other heroes/heroines that save the world? We don't have legions, nor opportune chances or prophecies or 'chosen one' status. We don't have a clear enemy, whether it's President Snow or Voldemort. There is no 'us' and 'them', no 'good' and 'bad'.

What DO we have? We have their traits. Bravery. Passion. Kindness. Intelligence. A sense of duty. Compassion. We all can recognize that something needs to change, and that we have to lend a hand if things are going to get any better. We have hope they can be better. We are just like these characters, which is why we're attached to them. Bits and pieces of you are in every character you read - the good ones, anyway.

I can't single-handedly bring peace to the Ukrainian riots, nor stop the killing in Venezuela. But together, we can all make a difference, big or small. Let's be better citizens of the world.

Live long and prosper,

Brie

My Thoughts Thursday: New Writers

Starting out on the road to being a writer is kind of like high school: you go through awkward phases, you're embarrassed about the things you did a year, two years, or three years ago, and you try to avoid anyone in that dreaded 'freshman' area. For those of us who have been exposed to the writing life for long enough to consider ourselves upperclassmen, a lot of us shirk and downright abuse those freshmen, the 'new writers'.

I myself have never been one for cutting down a tree because it hasn't grown yet. In the words of one of my favorite Disney princesses, 'How high does the sycamore grow? If you cut it down, then you'll never know.' (Pocahontas, if you were wondering).

What people seem to neglect to tell you about writing, whether it's prose, poetry, or editorial, is that you're going to majorly, majorly suck at first. All new writers do. There's none of this 'hit the ground running' shtick that can happen in academia or athletics due to talent. You may have all the talent in the world. You will still suck when you start, it's just the way it is. J.K. Rowling sucked, Steven King sucked, Shakespeare sucked, everyone was atrocious at one point. But what separates that 'suck pit' from the road to awesomeness in whatever your medium is is what tells you that you suck: your instinct. You already have great taste in your genre, but when you look at your stuff, it's just not great. And that's how it'll be for a little, but that instinct is what will pull you through.

So as much as new writers have to learn about craft, grammar, and worldbuilding, I think us veterans have something to learn from the frosh of the writing world. In a list, complete with appropriate gifs: 

Five Things Experienced Writers Can Learn From Newbies.

1. You wrote because you wanted to.

Sure, the whole dream of being published, amassing a militant fandom and taking over the film industry with your epic writing of unbearable awesome sounds great. It does. But no one writes for that. That dream isn't realistic enough for anyone to write for the sake of the fame. (Did I say fame? What fame? Writers don't get fame.) Whenever someone writes, they pick up their pencil, laptop, or whatever mode of writing because they want to tell a story, and they want to share something with others. Poets don't open their ribcages to let the bad things pour onto the page in beautiful lines because they want prestige. But the thing about young writers is that they don't know anything else. They want to write badly. They want to be good, great, super awesome, and a lot of us vets sometimes lose sight of why we even started this blasted business in the first place. I know I sure have. Whether you do it because you can't live without it or just need a way to express your thoughts, new writers remind us that we're all here because at one point, we wanted to be. Thanks, newbs.

2. Enthusiasm writes better than derision.

Truer words have never been spoken. As someone who's been seriously writing for three years now (and writing for ten) I will be the first to tell you that there are days where you look at your work and you just think, 'no'. You don't want to work on it, you don't want to look at it, you don't want it to be there. But you do it because you need it done. And then when you go back, you hate what you wrote. New writers haven't hit that wall yet, they're like toddlers on caffeine. They run with their ideas and write everything they can about it because they want that idea to be real and they want their story read. And if they don't want to write that day? They don't, plain and simple. They're not feeling it. We could definitely take a page from them and get back in touch with our inner crazy writers.

3. There's no such thing as dignity.

I love that chicken. But it's true, and something that people who have been writing for awhile need to get through their (at times) thick heads: we're all in this together. Asking for editing help, using people as soundboards, querying shamelessly, promoting yourself like a street walker on saint's day, whatever. We're all just trying to get our foot in the door, trying to stand out, trying to reach that dream of seeing your idea in real hardcover. Ask for help, take criticism, look at your work honestly. New writers are unabashed when it comes to asking questions. They want to know everything there is to know about anything there is about writing. As a veteran, you like knowing, and looking like you know. But we all know that isn't all true, huh?

4. You're never too veteran to make a mistake.

Ah, internet, you never fail to amaze me with your gif arsenal. But this one is especially important for veterans. Like I said, we all like thinking we know all there is to know about the industry, about craft, about writing, and about being writers. But we don't grow in our work if we don't make mistakes, and new writers are famous for unapologetically making mistakes. They fall, get up, brush themselves off, and run right back in to play. Like my man Callan McAuliffe here, they're taking that backward somersault like a champ. Vets get creaky and refuse to believe they're in the dirt, but they are. Come on, guys, we gotta let ourselves screw up. It's how life works, and taking it gracefully makes it all the easier to get back up.

5. There is hope.

Keep in mind that these new writers are the next generation of authors. Whether they all stay or not is up to them, but as veterans we have to have a good group to hand the reins off to when we all get too old and crusty to write anymore. It's like planting a tree. You won't sit under it, but your child might. Help out the newbies, give them a path to walk that will get them where they want to be, and just let them feel like a part of the group. We all know how the writing world is kind of outcast as it is, don't make it worse and cast out the outcasts from the bigger group of weirdos. I was a newbie once, we all were. If I hadn't had an older writer to grab me by the wrist and (somewhat aggressively) demand that I at least step on this path, I wouldn't be blogging, writing a trilogy, or really doing much of anything with my life. So I have her to thank for that, and it's my responsibility to do that with others, too.

And a final word to any new writers I may be reaching:

Gif frenzy and bold overload,

Brie

Why Writers Make Great Friends

We all know the stereotype. Writers are antisocial homebodies who just shut themselves in their house/bedroom/dorm room/writing office and do nothing but brood, sip tea, and write reverently on their favorite typewriter. And we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the mousy appearance, the huge glasses, and general cynical hipster attitude.

But, if you've seen any of my posts, you must be able to conclude that we are not all like this. Are some of us? Yes. And more power to them for totally rocking the stereotype and their awesome typewriters. I want.

Don't believe me? Oh, honey, pull up a chair and let me educate you.

Why writers make great friends:

We're weird. You're weird. And that's totally fine.

It's true, for writers and for those of us who aren't. We're all kind of strange. I like to burrow into big fluffy down comforters and watch movies, and during my AP Government class the other day someone was telling us that the White House now requires papers running stories on anything to do with the White House to use the pictures the government sends, and I almost-shouted "Smells like a dystopian government!" If you can believe it, I got some weird looks.

But you know what's great about writers being so weird? We completely accept your level of weird. Generally, we think it's pretty cool that people are different than us, and don't be surprised if we use you for character study. I know all of my friends are studies for me. We study people we think are super cool, and by being weird we don't only accept your weird but kind of want to just bask in it. Because weirdness is coolness.

We're pretty good with words.

Did you see that coming? Hopefully, you did. But I mean, it's kind of our trade: we're good at expressing what we mean in words, or at the very least taking something that we want to say and structuring it beautifully. You can go up to a writer and vent your problems, and a good portion of the time we'll have something to say about it. And if not...we're also good huggers, too. So there's that.

Not to mention we're actually not too shabby at giving advice. I love talking (haha, no kidding...) and if you let me I will talk to my friends for hours on end. I've done it. And I'll still have people come up to me and say, "You know, you said this to me once and it, like, hit me. Like...wow. It was really deep." Half the time I don't remember what I said (just goes to show you how scatterbrained I am) but hey, I said it. We're good for scoping out the important things in life and saying them in a way that makes sense. And apparently sometimes blows the mind.

We can be your biggest cheerleaders and fangirls.

It can be almost embarrassing. Writers are passionate people, and we like to see passion in others. That's what makes people different from another, and that's what we like. So when you're studying away for a test you're afraid you'll fail, trying on outfits for a first date, or even writing on your own, we cheer you on to the point of irritation, and fangirl over your accomplishments like you're the next Benedict Cumberbatch. And we don't ask for anything in return. You can see it most prevalently between writers, because we have a tendency to fangirl over each other. Even two authors of completely different genres can start a compliment war (and mean it) that lasts fifteen minutes before they accept the fact that they're both awesome and break for coffee. We're a pretty loving bunch, not much drama for us. Save that for the books. So if you're in need of someone to root for you, find a writer. We're gonna be your new cheer squad and fanbase. Accept it.

What do you think? 
Got any other traits that make writers great people to be around? Share in the comments below. I'm always open to hear from you guys!

Finger cramps and plot block,
Brie

Weturning Wednesday (Bugs Bunny, anyone?)

Hello, everyone! Contrary to popular belief, no, I am not dead. Unfortunately, this school year has hit me in the face like a frying pan (here's looking at you, Common Core Curriculum) and I haven't had time to do much of anything but my homework, college applications, and until now, marching band.

But, ah, as winter comes I draw a breath of free air.

Finals are coming up for me - yes, I'm actually kind of excited - and that means that I'll have four extra hours a day to myself starting next week. How can I not be excited? My friends are all getting out, snow's on the ground, my older compadres are coming back from college, I get to sleep in...life is good.

What could I do on my break? Well...

1. Finish The Artist.

As sad as it seems, I failed NaNo completely and utterly thanks to a week of Calculus take-homes and quizzes, and a few college submissions deadlines. TA turns one December 18th (eep, seven days away!) so hopefully I can get on to the sequel before the snow melts. Hopefully.

2. Finish my college supplements and scholarship apps.

Do I need to elaborate on this one? Maybe I should've ranked this first.

3. Knock out some of my reading list.

I'm part of the way through Insurgent, the sequel to the bestseller Divergent, but my list is huge. I have to read at least one of The Mortal Instruments series, read Not A Drop To Drink by the actually-perfect Mindy McGinnis (seriously, check it out, it's super sick), and then kick back with some classic dystopian novels: Brave New World, 1984, and perhaps even get around to some Bradbury. But that's unlikely.

4. See the movies on my list.

This one's probably easier. I haven't seen the sequel to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and I've been dying to. There's also Thor 2: The Dark World, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (comes out Christmas Day - heep!) and probably a ton more I'm forgetting. Although I DID see Catching Fire. It reduced me to that horribly obnoxious moviegoer that won't stop hitting people on either side of her and stamping her feet. So.

5. Sleep

6. Eat

But there's no way I can get that all done, can I? ...Can I? We'll see.

What're your plans for the holiday season? Travel? Sleep? None of the above? Tell me below!

Snow flurries and black ice,
Brie

Day 19 of Summer. Conclusion: Still Glow-in-the-dark White.

Hello again, everyone! It's been awhile, I know, since I posted last. I just...feel like I don't want to be bothering you with useless blog posts, as not very many interesting things have happened to me as of late.

Well, that's not necessarily true, but the things I find interesting aren't necessarily interesting to others. I did play a riveting three-hour game of Would You Rather. I think my friends and I go way more into depth on the prompts than is probably necessary or considered good. When asked if we'd rather be one of five surviving humans scattered across Earth or a survivor on a distant inhabited planet, we took into consideration that you might rather know the human race will continue without you rather than be one of five humans left in the globe. It was then argued that you probably wouldn't last too long on an alien planet where you don't know anything about the place or what's good or not good to eat, sleep on, walk over, etc.

Short version: Nerds are probably the best people to talk over your plans with. Whether it's for world domination, an impending apocalypse, or whether or not you should buy a certain outfit.

Anyway, I guess this blog post is both an apology for being so late and a little mini-lesson from me about how to take criticism. I actually got a critique today from someone on Hexbound (a miracle, if you've ever visited the site. That place gets about as much activity as a nursing home.) and, while reading it, realized that people (myself definitely included in the bunch) need to learn how to take criticism. I see it all the time with writers, students, and people in general. The classic reaction is to defend oneself or lash back out at the person. But we can't expect to improve if all we do is rationalize our shortcomings away, right?

So that's what this little mini-list is for. Because we all could stand to remember these things.

1. They wouldn't say it if they didn't want you to improve.

You hear this a lot, especially in class. Whenever I rip through someone's paper with my handy-dandy red pen, people tend to complain about all of the marks. I actually had this happen to me freshman year when I was fifteen. I had edited a kid's creative paper (of course, a strong area of mine at the time, being a bookworm and a returning writer) and practically covered it in comments, suggestions, and red pen. He started criticizing me for marking up his paper and my teacher walked over and told him, "You know, you should be thanking her. The more ink on that paper, the more she likes you. If she didn't really care whether or not you did well, she would've just noted a couple grammar mistakes and given it back. But she wants you to get a good grade on this and make it good, so she ripped it up. Don't ever ask a woman to do something, because guess what? She'll do it. And she'll do it well." If someone criticizes you on something, it'll probably hurt. Maybe a lot, maybe just a smidge. But it's better that they want you to be better than to just leave you as you are.

2. If it is said, take it to heart.

This point is where it gets hard for writers, especially. For us, our works aren't just mounds of black letters forming words, sentences, paragraphs. Writing is a dangerously personal profession, and a lot of writers - myself included - consider our manuscripts like our babies. They require care, attention, effort, just about everything a real baby does besides food and diaper changes. So when someone criticizes something about it, it's hard to look at it and change it. You love it so much, you feel so connected to it, it's like someone is personally criticizing you. But when they do, you have to realize that your opinion is not the only one that matters. If someone thinks that way, there's bound to be others who think so, too. If someone says (I'll use the example I got today) that some of my descriptions seemed to 'try too hard'. My automatic reaction was to lash out: what do you know? There's a point to that description. But I remembered this point again. If that reader thought so, there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of others who think the same thing. It's worth taking a look at.

Last but not least:

3. Life is all about improving yourself.

You're never too old to change, and you're never too young to be stubborn. Remember the first two, and the third comes easy.

Backspacing and white-out wands,
Brie

DESPICABLE ME 2 THO.

As it is almost summer and my hardcore weeks of school cramming and exam study are nearing their end, I thought I'd talk about something that I'm really excited for and haven't had time until now to really get back into:

Movies.

Movies are not only a writer's bread and butter, (and a great way to numb an exhausted brain), but they're a great way to see a story through a different outlet. Not to mention most of my friends and I are super-excited for movies like Epic, Despicable Me 2, Monsters University, and other less-than-adolescent movies. Haters gonna hate.

But other exciting movies that authors in the YA scene are both excited and anxious for are movies like Divergent, The Mortal Instruments, The Fault in Our Stars, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

It's every author's dream to have their book become a movie, to have the characters in their head come alive. But if it's not done well, it's not even worth it. A bad movie will not only condemn the book, but it'll ruin the image of the character to the reader. If The Artist somehow became a movie and it was terrible, it'd be as bad as killing my characters in front of me.

But on a lighter note, the movies that are set to come out this summer promise to be awesome, and I'm excited to be able to take a break from the heat waves sure to come and watch some cinematic awesome while stuffing my face with popcorn.

Wishing you a summer of epic proportions,
Brie

The Aftermath

So...went boxing yesterday. It was a good time, I didn't realize how strong I really am. And being Collins' basic frame and size, that's got good going for her.

Unfortunately, I woke up from a dead sleep and realized that I'm now aching in places that I didn't know I could ache in. My armpits, the bottom of my shoulder blades, and even the back of my quads. One of the things I realized during my trip to Title Boxing was that you last a lot less time than you think you will in energy in stamina. When I played volleyball, we were in pretty intense physical training; I'm in pretty good shape. However, I couldn't go more than perhaps five minutes without having to dance around the bag. Granted, the bag is a huge black leather blob that's meant to provide more resistance than a human body, but it just goes to show how you can't try and just go hard all at once, or your opponent will outlast you.

This was a great experience, and I have to admit I didn't want to take off my wraps because I felt too awesome and couldn't wait to get home and start writing notes to fix my fight scenes and how Collins thinks through her fights. That's another part of fight scenes that is helped by having been in something like it before. If you've never fought, you can't really accurately think of what to do throughout it. Unless the character has no fighting experience, they're generally going to be a little calmer and more calculating through the situation. Collins thinks through her punches in sequence: Left, right, uppercut. That works...but she'll have to switch directions with Oliver, since he's left-handed.

I hope everyone's weekends kicked off well, and no one's too sore from their escapades!

Knuckle wraps and sore armpits,
Brie

LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS.

TO DEFEAT.

THE HUNS.

I'll let you finish that on your own, because if I don't stop now before you know it this whole blog post will be one huge Disney song rendition. And as fun as that would be for me, I feel like it would be much less fun for you. But I had a reason for starting to sing one of the best songs to come out of Disney ever.

Have you ever asked someone who their favorite Disney character was?

I realized today when I was talking to my friends about Once Upon A Time, an ABC show we all happen to adore, and realized that who their favorite Disney character was is actually very indicative of their personality.

Take one of my friends for example: her favorite Disney character is Alice. Thinking about it now, she's actually a lot like Alice. She's got her own adventures in her Wonderland (perhaps less trippy than the original), and she doesn't need anyone's opinion on whether she's crackers or not. She's probably also the only person I can really go completely nuts with and she won't judge me...too harshly.

One of my other friends loves Cinderella, and I can see why: she's a hard worker who really does believe in happy endings. She loves books like The Selection by Kiera Cass and she's got a sunny outlook on life. She loves Taylor Swift, frogs, and comfy pajamas. And if you can get her to wear a dress, she looks like a princess.

And me? Well, there's a reason I started with the song I did today. My favorite Disney character is Mulan. It's a toss-up between her and Tarzan, but I think I have to go with everyone's favorite Chinese cross-dresser. Not only is she a complete BAMF, she's kind of like me where she's not afraid to suit up and go to war for what she believes in. She's got a crazy inner strength and resolve, and not to mention a super-sassy little dragon.

You should ask your friends who they like best in the Disney universe and see what they say. I think you might find out something a little new about them.

Defeating armies and not messing up my hair while I do it,
Brie

Pressing Random Colorful Buttons! :D

Hello everyone ^_^ The title of my post is essentially a statement of my brain right now, because it's fried.

I had a lot on my plate this last week, what with AP testing coming on Friday and boatloads of tests. Friday I was actually in AP testing back-to-back for nine hours, so that was fun. But then I got to go see Oblivion with some friends, so I effectively numbed my brain.

THEN PROM :D It was my first one, down in the city, and it was awesome. Dinner was pretty good, and I got to spend a night with a bunch of friends all looking dapper. I could have done with less 'Booty Work' and more 'Sweet Nothing', but it was a pretty great night and I got chocolate chip pancakes and Cheetos out of it. Not necessarily in that order.

Anyway, with my FINAL AP test this Wednesday, I'm actually going to be able to work on The Artist and perhaps even get Collins in a dress. She's going to hate me, and I'm going to laugh hysterically. Perhaps it's better to write this portion when I'm by myself so as not to get weird looks.

Wishing everyone sunshine and fast-approaching vacations,
Brie

Wisdom Comes From Experience

The other day I was invited by one of my brother's friends to go to his boxing club with him and a group of our friends and go hit some bags.

Any normal person would think, 'that sounds like fun, let's do it!'. Or, conversely, 'that sounds boring, I'll pass.' However, my reaction was more to the tune of, 'ohmygoodness this will be great for writing research.'

And now you know one of the key differences between an author and the rest of  the population: whether or not we want to do something, we will try it once for the sake of research.

Shooting guns? Writing research.

Skiing a double-black diamond in Colorado at over 15,000 feet? Writing research.

Archery? Writing research.

Wilderness survival training? Writing research.

CPR certification? Writing research.

You get the idea.

The old adage, 'write what you know', is true in this case. I mean, there are some things that an author can't exactly experience in the name of research - for example, a male author going into childbirth. He'll have to ask his lady friends. But generally, when it comes to things that we write about, authors want to know what it's really like in life.

Hence me posting this. I write a lot of fight scenes; it comes with the territory of writing dystopian and science fiction novels. I mean, in The Artist I swear someone gets into a fight or a riot or something at least every other day. It's crazy. But, if you couldn't tell, I've never actually punched someone in the face, nor been punched. When I know how it feels to have your fist hit an object, be it a wall, person, or punching bag, it makes it a hundred times easier to write. Unfortunately, I won't be sparring (probably fortunate for my face), but I'll still be able to learn combinations, offensive and defensive moves, and how someone my size and stature would fight, which can come in handy for characters like Collins, Eire, Gloria, and to a lesser extent Ollie and Razzo. I'll have to let you know how it goes.

If you're a writer and you want to hear about some of my writing experiences (or a reader who wants to hear funny stories about my unfortunate life events), go ahead and comment below!

Some examples:

~Passing out (that was a fun one)

~Shooting guns

~Wilderness survival

Hoping for no black eyes,
Brie

"The One"

You always hear writers talk about their books as if they're their children, which isn't always that far off. But in the case of book ideas, they're more like matchmaking. For writers, we're always in search of "The One", the story idea of story ideas, the one you're going to see through to the end.

Many writers agonize over whether or not their current idea is "The One", the idea to write and rewrite and query until you drop. So how do we know when we have this elusive perfect match? Here are a few clues:

1) You can't stop thinking about it.
Ideas will always come and go, and there will always be the 'Almosts', the ideas that could've been "The One" but just weren't. But if you've already outlined the book(s) in full, characterized and developed the setting, and done all the research necessary, and you're STILL thinking non-stop about your idea, it's a pretty good bet.

2) You look forward to writing it.
Even on your worst days, writing your ideas can be fun. Until to hit a rut. Many writers simply stop there and pick up something new, or return to an old project. But if you brave the ruts and plot holes out of sheer love, you're meant for each other.

3) It excites you.
Books are only as interesting as you make them, and i you find your book really fascinating, chances are that others will, too. You're your own book's fangirl. (Or boy.) So if your idea keeps you up to all hours and every song with a good beat reminds you of some scene in the beginning or you see people who look strangely like your characters, you've probably got your hands on "The One". Congratulations, send me an invite to your wedding.

Now, contrary to popular opinion, there is more than one "The One". Once one is finished, there's always an opportunity for another. Don't think you're a one-and-done kind of deal. There's always a new idea out there, a new adventure.

To first encounters and honeymoons,
Brie

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far, away...

When I first told one of my friends that I write, and plan to publish novels, the first thing she asked me was what I wrote about. When I told her my favorite genre was sci-fi, she looked a little confused. And I can understand. I don't exactly look like the kind of person to be sitting on the edge of my seat watching Star Trek or running around wielding a plastic light saber. When I explained it to her, it got me thinking how I'd wound up in this genre, a typically small one.

How, out of the dozens of genre choices, did I choose sci-fi and dystopian as my two go-tos?

copyright 2009

The answer is how I was raised. I think each writer (and to an extent, each reader) is influenced in their genre by what they read, watched, and experienced as kids. I'm the proud daughter of two 'Trekkies'; my mom even has a Starfleet communicator pin. I grew up watching Captain Jean Luc Picard and Captain Kathryn Janeway command their ships and always end up saving another planet or, as in Janeway's case, make the agonizingly long trek home from the Delta Quadrant. (If you don't know, that's at least a twenty-year journey.) But I wasn't just into those shows. I watched cartoons like Jonny Quest (a little before my time, but still pretty great classic sci-fi) and I still watch Eureka, Warehouse 13, and Falling Skies. I would recommend them to all of you, they're awesome.

And as I grew up, I fell in love with the dystopian genre reading books like Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, and Anthem. Dystopian generally meshes with sci-fi, and I think that when you're in the future it won't always be better. Enter my genre of favor.

The same applies with readers. Like many people my age, I grew up reading Harry Potter. People who read and loved Harry Potter would grow up to read similar books: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Kane Chronicles. Once we hit the Young Adult and Adult genres, we've decided what we like in books and what we don't, and that further guides us. We love the mystery, the romance, the twisting plots, the characters.

So how did you come across your genre, reader or writer? Read a book in it you fell in love with? Had to do a class assignment and realized you liked it? Let me know!

Space ships and totalitarian governments,
Brie