Life in 140 Characters

 Okay.

 Enough.

 I need off of Twitter.

 Every time I go to write a blog post, I think up one sentence and abandon the draft. I compose in fragmented segments with the given Twittiquette grammar, e.g. "Because if the itinerary of someone so important was secret, the entire media would be waiting there with cameras. #LameMysteryShow"

 Obviously anyone in their right mind would not start every sentence with the word 'because'. I'm even starting to do this with my novel, and that is not acceptable unless that is how your character really talks/narrates.

 I don't know when I'm going to do it, but it'll be soon. The whole reason I got so hooked on it was because all of my friends are easier to reach on Twitter, though in vague and incomplete ways. Facebook has even become a big time waster for me. To be honest, I'd like to prove that I could have a following as a writer and not be on FB. Because in the end, sites like FB, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr... they are all the same. And I'd really love to just go back to email.

 And message boards.

Does anyone remember those? Y'know, the really slow-loading categories with topics and lots(x1938924) of comments that really don't mean anything at all?

 To make myself feel even older, I dare say I want to watch a VHS.

 Funny saying as I now have a DVD/Blu-Ray player on my snazzy wonderful laptop.

 Who the heck cares about blu-ray, anyways? -sigh-

Morning

 It's funny how one can complain about life being too eventless to be fun, because when they actually become busy, all they can talk about is how nice it is to not be so busy.

 I don't like to be busy in the sense that I hate going out and doing errands. Just forget about trying to convince me to spend time with my fellow teenagers--what a waste it would be to drive to some place and pay good money to be a part of a 'camp' or 'workshop' that teaches me nothing and smushes me in a room with a bunch of attention grabbing-iPhone listening-unresponsive kids and expect me to have fun.

 This summer, I volunteered at a business that happens to have a lot of kid volunteers. There was one girl who found out I was older that her and afterwards would not even look or respond to me if I asked her a question or for help finding someone. I know I can be moody sometimes, but I hope I'm not that moody. Thankfully the volunteering session is over for the summer, because there was more than one issue with the place. But it's over, so I'm not going to go on and on ragging about it.

Girl: "Your a SENIOR?!"
Me: "Well, kinda. (didn't want to get into the homeschool/odd grade thing) Most people think I'm 12."
Girl: "No, I thought you were a Freshman or something."

Yep. True story.

Give me some fun loving, interesting adults any day. Or some sociable homeschoolers. Contrary to popular belief, homeschoolers are actually more sociable than today's average teen.


 On a good note, all of my free time has led me to write a lot more (anddomorechorescoughcough). But more than that, I've learned about the importance of making my own writing habits and rules, instead of listening to the NaNoWriMo system or the Writer's Digest techniques all by themselves. The truth is, I don't like to just write a whole novel in a month and spend the next 30 years of my life editing it. If I'm going to write it, it doesn't need to be perfect but it needs to have a good structure. And I'm also not into conventional plot arcs. Things become too predictable if you write in the same way that the bestsellers in Writer's Digest do.
  Newbery medalist Gary D. Schmidt (The Wednesday Wars, Okay For Now) uses a typewriter for his first draft, only pounding out about 500 words a day.  I really like that pace for myself. The average Young Adult novel has a chapter length of 2,000 words. I prefer to write by hand, so this means that with 500 words a day, I can easily write about two chapters a week. To be honest, I'd rather have two great chapters than a whole pile of irrelevant scenes crafted during NaNoWriMo.

 That's all for now, folks! By the way, if it crosses your mind I would love if you'd vote in the Verve Lit Awards. The deadline is August 15th.

Have a lovely day,

-Jessie