Thursday, June 28, 2007

The Votes are In...My Blog Is Rated PG

Online Dating

Mingle2 - Online Dating



This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:
suck (7x) death (1x)

I'm finding this funny because all 7 times of saying "suck" were in the same post. ALL of them.

I think this is the lowest rating I've seen so far. Candy and Justine both got rated R.

BTW, at the end of this post, the "suck" count will reach 10

Monday, June 25, 2007

Newsflash: Teen Writing Usually Does Suck

This is a blog reply to Scalzi's 10 Things Teenage Writers Should Know About Writing and On Teens, and the Fact that Their Writing Sucks posts.

Teens, I'm sorry, but on the overall, your writing really does suck. Don't tell me I don't understand, because, guess what! I'm a teen writer. Yes, I'm a teen writer and I'm agreeing with Scalzi that our (yes, our) writing sucks.

If I look back on my writing just a few years ago, I wince. My writing seriously sucked. Now it just sucks a little less, I'm starting to come out of the suck phase, but I'm not quite out yet. All of us can, I'm sure, I mean, all the writers before us have (well, all the good ones), we just need to push through it.

See, as Scalzi points out in his original post, we're young. We haven't had time to really make a style for ourselves, yet to find our true writing voice. But we still have time.

Just keep reading and writing, and don't be afraid to change, because not changing will keep you in the suck phase, and then you'd have a real problem.

Don't complain about it, and don't yell at Scalzi for telling the truth, just keep on working through it. If you really try, you'll get it eventually.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

A Life in Books a la Newsweek

For awhile Newsweek ran a small article (maybe they still do? I don't know, I got my issues through school and now we're out for summer) where they would interview writers, reporters, professors, and the like and asked them these three important questions about books, which I will now answer as well.

My Five Most Important Books
First off, how do you consider a book important? Is it a good read? Did it influence your life or mindset? Was it written well? Did you identify with the characters? I tried to take all of these into consideration.

1) Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, this book was the book that first got me into reading and writing. Sure, I'd read many books before, but none of them made me like to read. Plus, it's terribly creative and imaginative!

2) City of Masks by Mary Hoffman, this book has such style, amazing characters, and a superb plot! It was told in a way that I, personally, had never seen before, but immediately fell in love with. One of my own books is told through this multi-character 3rd person limited style. It was also the first book that made me cry, plus it's still my favorite book.

3) The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I love how this book is told out of order, but for a reason. It shows time travel the way it should be written as, and it's great to see how everything comes together. And the characters were really interesting too.

4) The Giver by Lois Lowry. This book is so radically different from anything I had read before it (keep in mind, it was 3rd grade), and I see it different everytime I read it. There's so many layers I feel I'll never know it all. In short, it's interesting and has rereadability.

5) Peeps by Scott Westerfeld. Easy, I love this book, all of Westerfeld's books, and it was the first book that I had read that taught me to look at legends and stories in a completely different way than we've always been taught.

>>A classic that, on rereading, disappointed: I'm really not sure, I've never been a huge fan of the classics, so I never reread them. But a book that I reread that disappointed me? Actually, I don't know that either. Romeo & Juliet looses more and more of my respect every time I read it though.

>>A Certified Important Book you haven't read: The Catcher in the Rye, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and The Kite Runner. It seems everyone has read these, and they're supposed to be must-reads, but I haven't read any of them.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Printer's Row, Chicago Book Fair

The Annual Printer's Row Book Fair in Chicago is this coming weekend, June 9-10th. All fair events are free and all authors are required to stay an hour after their appearances to sign books. It's going to be great fun, I'm going with my book club.

The site (here) has information on traveling there, event schedules, and a list of authors, as well as a FAQ section.

I'm especially excited to see Audrey Niffenegger as I just finished her book, The Time Traveler's Wife (which I will be reviewing soon).

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