Drained

Okay yeah, this is really late, but I'd just like to thank everyone who participated in the Kindle release for From the Ashes! Seriously, I can't thank you enough. You made it an amazing release day!

I'm still trying to get used to the fact that I'm actually published. Does it ever really sink in?

Anyway, as far as writing goes, I have definitely not done enough.

My soul feels deprived of writing.

Honestly, this blog post is the only writing I've done for fun in a few weeks. The rest has been for school, and yeah, okay maybe I am an author, but I'm not good at writing things people tell me to write about.

So this week, I'm going to try my best to wake up really early with my mom so that I have time to do some editing or writing. Lately, I've been feeling completely drained of energy, and I think it's due to a lack of writing. Book two needs lots of work, and I can actually say that people are waiting for me to finish it now.

And I miss Jaina, and I think she misses me. She's been left in suspense about what's going to happen.

LOTS of pressure on me.

So yeah, that's kinda the plan.

What are you guys doing this week?

–Jess

Rewriting is Hard.

Okay, so for a while, I've been procrastinating. I've been stalling and making up excuses for myself so I don't have to work on rewriting my sequel. It's not a full rewrite. The last time I wrote in it was November and I had only 33,000 words.

Still. That's like, a third of the book.

I ended up convincing myself that rewriting would be easier than drafting. But, I was in for a really big surprise.

Turns out, rewriting feels twenty times harder than drafting, thank you very much.

You'd think that since you already know what happens and about how to write the scene, you should be okay. But what's hard is writing something you've already written differently.

Well, I stopped procrastinating last week after we got home from the cruise. And despite how hard it was, I'm so glad I did it. It needed to be fixed because it was going totally in the wrong direction. And now, I've got 21,000 words of the new version. Just 12,000 more to go, and I'll be good!

Now I have to give a lot of credit to my really awesome critique partner. She's been working really hard, editing The Trials and as I'm reading over book 1, I'm getting so many new ideas!! (And if you can't tell, I'm getting really excited, too :) )

So, if you're willing to take advice from a fifteen-year-old, here it is: stop procrastinating today. Even if it's just for the day. Good luck!

What do you guys think about rewriting? Is it a lot harder than drafting for you?

Okay, well I really better get to work now! Have an awesome day!

--Jess

P.S.

I've been thinking of starting up a Music Monday thing on my blog since music is such a huge part of my writing. I don't know. What do you think? Good or bad idea?

13,000 Words and Counting

Hello everyone and happy Wednesday!

First of all, I really can't wait until February 23 (tomorrow) for two reasons: a) because my synchronized skating team will be performing at the Quicken Loans Ice Arena and b) because that's the day that the ABNA round two entrants will be announced.

I really don't think I made it; I know a lot of people entered. But once that's over, if I haven't made it to the second round I can start looking for other publishers to query. We've had the 2012 edition of the Writers Digest checked out from the library and sitting on my desk since November.

And thanks to Cassie Mae and Angela Cothran's Character blogfest (was it two weeks ago or one?), I got to know some new characters in my head and started a new project!

Yes, it does have something to do with my flash fiction entry in the Campaign (it's right below this post if you want to read it... and votes are still appreciated! I'm entry #19). I'm really excited about it!

I call it... (this is a working title, okay? Not the official name yet): Guardians of Paradise


Sound interesting? I hope so.

Getting to the title of this post, I already have 13,000 words. The thing is, I'm writing it from third person past tense. My first book, The Trials, I wrote from first person POV and present tense so this is a huge change for me. And I find myself using the word 'but' a lot.

So yeah, that's about it for now.

Oh, I almost forgot! What do you guys think of my new blog banner? I know, it's not all that professional or anything but seeing that I made it, I'm pretty happy with it. I don't know. What do you guys think? Does it fit my blog well?

Okay, I'm getting back to writing now!

--Jess

P.S.
Sorry for the rambling-ness of this post... I think I was a little too excited.

Beta Readers, Anyone??

You guys, I am on the last two chapters. And I mean the last two chapters. After I finish editing these two, I will be done. And I'm still freaking out about it. This is really my last edit, so here comes the big question.

Does anyone want to beta read for me?

My novel is a YA Action-Adventure/Sci-Fi, and might be considered a little Dystopian. Here's a summary:

Sixteen year old Jaina Indera has been training for this moment her entire life. Ever since the Imperial Alliance genetically selected her to attend a Gifted School, she has done her best to prove herself worthy of competing in The Trials.

Being chosen is just the beginning. Her region will send a team of ten students to compete in the first of four rounds of mental and physical challenges against other Gifted Schools. If they win, they will enjoy the privileged life of a 'Superior' in the Crystal City. If they lose... they could lose everything.

With the sudden appearance of a boy called 'Dragon' and her unsettling dreams, two months before the Trials, Jaina begins to question everything she has been taught to believe.

Will she find balance between love, loyalty, and the truth behind it all?

So, yeah, that's my summary. Anyway, if you'd like to beta read for me, please email me at violingirl4036@gmail.com and I'll get back by Monday!! Thanks so much, everyone!

Help me, beta readers, you're my only hope...

--Jess

Insecure Writer's Support Group

Yesterday, I joined Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group, so I'm pretty excited! The idea is to post on the first Wednesday of every month, so here I go!

Last week, I was feeling down. I was in the dead center of editing the last bit of my story, when the idea hit me: what if all of this work is for nothing?


To me, my writing sounded dead. Page after page, everything I'd written sounded wrong. I started to think, 'my writing isn't like Patrick Carman's or Rick Riordan's, so what does that make me?' and 'am I actually a good writer, or do I just think I am?' To make things worse, I couldn't actually find anything wrong with what I had written. I just felt that somehow, in some way, it wasn't good enough.


I was tempted to open a blank Word Document and write 'hopeless' over and over until the answer finally came to me. (I didn't do that, of course.) I kept reading, but my doubts wouldn't leave me alone. Could all of the precious time and effort I've put into my work be a waste? Could all of this really be worth it?


Luckily, my mom kind of noticed that I was a little frustrated, so she told me to go play my violin for a while and take a break from editing. Playing my violin usually helps me cool down if things go wrong, so I took her advice and played. And I got to thinking.


I'm not writing because I want to be published. I mean, I do want to be published, but that's not really what it's about. It's about me. I'm writing because I love it. And if I wrote like Rick Riordan or Patrick Carman, then what on earth would I have to write about?


Sometimes it's hard for me to recognize my own strengths. When I'm editing, I'm looking for everything wrong with what I'm doing. And that's okay, but it makes it hard to appreciate what I'm doing right.


So, advice?


Take breaks when you need them! And if you write because you love it, then don't let silly doubts make you want to stop!


Have you guys ever felt that way? How do/did you guys overcome?


--Jess

Sacrifices

No, don't worry. I'm not talking about food or animal sacrifices or anything. (Unless you're trying to impress the writing gods or something...)

We all have to make sacrifices to get our writing done. But it can really be hard sometimes. For this entire week, I've been trying so hard to meet my goal of finishing my entire book on the 10th of December, but as tomorrow swiftly approaches, I just don't see how I can possibly edit thirteen more chapters tonight.


I'm still trying to figure out what I did wrong. I've sacrificed so much time this week for my writing! Okay, maybe I didn't wake up as early as I planned to every day, but I did a lot of other stuff. I stayed up late to get my work done. I didn't go to the movie theater last Sunday with my mom, sister and dad! I even skipped watching two episodes of the TV show Glee to get my writing done! (I couldn't resist watching the most current episode of Star Wars the Clone Wars with my brother, though...)


So, maybe I set too big of a goal for myself. Or maybe I just didn't execute my 'plan' correctly. Or maybe it was just a bad writing week. It sounds silly, but some days when I'm practicing my violin it's just randomly worse than other days. Same thing with skating. Some days I'm really focused, and other days, I completely lose my balance doing simple things.


It's easy to get discouraged when no matter what you do, you feel like you won't finish soon enough, or won't get good things written down. But, I've found that going around and feeling sorry for yourself isn't the way to get what you want done, done. Trust me, I've tried it.


Luckily, I happen to be in a very good writing mood today, so even if I don't finish on the tenth exactly, maybe I could extend my deadline to the end of the weekend or maybe even Monday. Either way, I've still got a lot of work to get done, so I should get back to it.


What are you guys planning for the weekend?


--Jess

NaNoWriMo Day 11

First of all, I have to say that it's 11/11/11. November 11, 2011. This kind of day only comes around once every hundred years, so enjoy it!


Anyway, here's my NaNo Status Check:


GOAL: 50,000
TOTAL WORDS WRITTEN: 20,000
WORDS REMAINING: 30,000
DAYS REMAINING: 20
MOOD: A little stuck, but getting through


I'm pretty excited that I'm already 20,000 words through my sequel, but I'm a little stuck. I'm all caught up with my skeleton (my extremely detailed sketch), and when I was writing more of it, I got completely stuck. I've had the overall story planned out in my head for some time, but I'm not entirely sure how to get to the end!


As I was writing, I started to feel like some of the conversations were pointless. I started to see that I had already written things that I'd need to cut out. And it kind of hit me that I might not be moving the story along fast enough.


Of course, I'll never give up hope with my writing, but I hit that point that point that makes you wonder who is really going to care. Is my story interesting enough? Is it too cliched? What am I doing right? What am I doing wrong?


It's hard to push your doubts aside. It's hard to ignore that inner voice that begs for a reply. But all in all, I wouldn't be able to turn back even if I wanted to. I already wrote a novel. I've passed the point of no return.


The point is a cliched point of course. But it's a cliche that we tend to forget. The point is that we are doing this because we love it. In the end, it's really doesn't matter who loves what you write, or who doesn't love what you write.


So on that note, I better get back to work!


--Jess

Uninspiring Weekend

*WARNING: This post was written while the author was feeling a little sorry for herself.


First of all, let me just say, I've been really bad. I've hardly checked anyone else's blog this week or last week and when I have I've had to just skim through everything! I'm finally almost all caught up in school work (after the move and everything it was kind of hard to keep up,), I've got to keep editing, and I'm writing my NaNo novel. So, I apologize for not keeping up with you guys!


Anyway, the weekend was crazy for me. I think everyone else enjoyed it, pretty much because all we did was have fun all of Saturday. And having fun is fine with me as long as it includes writing, but really. It's November. And I've got a ton of work to do. I'm just happy my 'work' is writing, so it's fun. But still, there's a lot of it to do.


We were out and about all Saturday. I had skating all morning, then got home at about noon. I got a few minutes to write and I was getting all kinds of ideas! I was on a roll! Of course, a few minutes into my session, my dad wants to go to the zoo.


Now, I'm not really sure what to think about zoos. I really don't like seeing animals all locked up like that, pacing back and forth and bored out of their minds. But, I also think it's important for kids (and people in general) to be able to see animals that they probably wouldn't ever see out in the wild. I think it gives people a certain respect for nature. So, my theory is, as long as I'm not contributing directly to caging up those poor animals (as in paying the zoo for tickets and such) then I shouldn't have too much to worry about.


So we drove forty five minutes to the zoo, bought the tickets and went in. We stayed there until about four o'clock and by then my feet were hurting and I was in a pretty bad mood. I had two entire novels waiting for me, begging for my attention and there was nothing in the entire universe (at that moment anyway) that I could do about it.


And just as I thought the hopeless 'no writing' hours of the day would be over, just as I thought we were going to go home and I'd finally be able to sit at my computer and write for the rest of the hours of the night, my dad reminded us that we still had to go to the outlet mall.


Wonderful. Just wonderful.


You can pretty much guess how the rest of the night went. By the time we got home, I was so tired and uninspired that we just watched the movie The Black Swan then a few episodes of Gilligan's Island then went to bed.


My family kept asking me why I didn't want to have any fun for the whole day. But the problem wasn't not having fun for me! WRITING is fun for me! It's work too, but completely awesome work!


Anyway, how was your weekend?


--Jess

The Early Works!

Today, I am participating in the lovely Julie's Early Works Blogfest! The idea is to talk about the first stories or pieces of writing you ever wrote. So, that's exactly what I'm going to do.

When I was six years old, I wrote my first story called The Dragon and the Rose. It was about a princess who was very rebellious. One day, she met a prince and they both fell in love. Unfortunately, a dragon didn't like the fact that the prince and princess were in love, so it stole the princess and the prince had to save her. And of course, all ended happily! (I was six, remember so hopefully I've improved since then!)

When I was eight, I decided that I wanted to write an actual novel. I called it, Tale of the Dragon. This story began when all of the dragons in the world were being killed off by people. Only one survived. When the dragon grew up (it was a baby at the beginning of the story) it heard of a place where dragons still existed and lived in peace. So he had to find his way to this other place where more dragons were. (I never finished this one...)

When I was nine I wrote a story about two African sisters who were separated while trying to escape into a different country (or something like that) and they both ended up thinking that the other person didn't survive. At the end they finally found each other and were happy.

And finally, when I was twelve, I wrote a story about a dragon (I know, I was extremely obsessed with dragons!) who got lost from his world. He had the power to create peace wherever he went but when he landed on the Earth and saw the chaos, he decided to hide. For hundreds of years he waited for it to end, but it never did. Finally he emerged from his cave and tried to make peace. But no one would listen. When he was about to give up, he met a little girl who had lost her parents in a war. She wasn't angry, or remorseful though and she gave him hope that someday the world would be at peace.

Voila!

Those are all of the 'long' stories I wrote. And the funny thing is, all but one had something to do with Dragons. The weirdest part is, (I swear this is completely coincidental), the main boy character in my current W.I.P. is nicknamed Dragon. Strange name, I know, but hopefully it works.

I guess I could never really get over my childhood fascination with that mythical creature.

So what were your early works? You can share in the comment box or just go over to the Early Works Blogfest page and join! (On that page it says the day to finish by is October 14th, but that's been extended to the 28th. So no worries!)

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!

--Jess

NaNoWriMo... Let's Prepare (Pay it Forward)

NaNoWriMo is coming in less than twenty days and I can't believe how excited I am! Last year was the first year I did NaNoWriMo. To be honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. And now that I think back on it, I started my novel (which sparked me to write the rest of the story, start a blog, and become a writer) because of NaNoWriMo. Of course, I just started it to have some fun. I didn't know it was going to turn into an entire story.


Anyway, for the past few days I've been contemplating what to write for it. I've got tons and tons of ideas I could be using for NaNoWriMo but what the heck am I actually going to write for it? Starting a whole new novel is a little scary since I've only written one so far.


I'm considering writing my sequel. Because, the only reason I split my story into 2+ books is because the entire story in my head was too long. Not writing book two right away feels like stopping in the middle of drafting to me because the story isn't complete without the rest of it.


So because or despite your helpful advice, I'm just going to write what feels right. I'm going with book two. I know you're supposed to start a new book for it, so hopefully this isn't cheating. I'm still a little nervous though. Can I keep up with two parts of the same story at once? Will I be disappointed with the results? I guess we'll have to find out!


You're doing NaNoWriMo, right? What are your plans for the National November Novel Writing Month?


Have a great weekend!


--Jess


P.S.


I can't believe it, I almost forgot! If you haven't been there already, go check out David Powers King's blog because he's having a 400 followers celebration and is giving away books!


And,


I signed up for Matthew MacNish's Pay It Forward Blogfest just now and it's going all today so here are three recently discovered blogs:

1. Lyla Lee
2. Shannon O'Donnell
3. Cortney Pearson

Back In The Blogosphere

Wow, we're finally here and I'm loving the coffee and rain! Hopefully I'm back for good. Well, at least until the month in temporary housing is up, but let's not worry about that right now.


Okay, now to business.


I am exactly halfway done with editing my novel (give or take a chapter)! I can't believe I've already come this far, it's so exciting! I'm struggling to not explode from excitement because we're living in Seattle and because I'm halfway done! (Or maybe thats from the mocha latte I drank earlier...)


Anyway, I'm kind of torn. For the entire way here, we've only had one laptop (I ordered my own yesterday so that shouldn't be a problem anymore). So while my mom was writing on the computer, I really couldn't work on my current story. I was tempted to just watch the TV with my brother and sister, but Food Network doesn't hold my attention for very long. I'm not exactly the 'cooking' type. Besides, I've been feeling in a creative mood all week. The perfect time to write, right?


As of today, I've written down ten to fifteen different story ideas, all of them completely separate from my current novel. Each has about a paragraph of back-story and where I want the story to go. I'm proud of myself for that, but a little overwhelmed. What the heck am I going to do with ten new story ideas?


And that's not all. I've got the first few chapters of my sequel planned out. Like completely planned out. All I've got to do is write it.


So why don't I just go for it?


To be honest, I'm actually afraid for my first book. Am I giving it enough attention? Am I giving it too much attention? Should I start book two or just continue focusing on book one? Or should I take a break from this entire story after finishing my second draft and write something completely different? There are things in book two that would definitely help me edit book one but would I be cheating book one from my undivided attention? Gosh I'm so confused.


Do you guys have any advice? How far along are you in writing/editing a novel when you feel comfortable starting something new? Do you write the sequel right after book one or do you take a break and write something different?


I love hearing what you've got to say!


--Jess


P.S.
I'm trying to come up with a better blogging schedule. I think I'll be posting Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays but we'll see. Thanks for stopping by!

Running Out of Time

Does anyone ever feel like there should be six more hours in a day? Does anyone ever feel like there's too much you've got to do but too little time to do everything? Well then you know exactly how I've been feeling!


When I was little, my mom would remark that she had no time to do anything at all. I would laugh and wonder what the heck she was talking about! Half of the day she didn't look like she was doing anything except staring at the computer screen or helping me with school work (I should have known better!). Only now I have finally discovered what she meant by that.


First of all, I've been trying to read more. During my drafting stage over the summer, I had no time at all to read (it's not like I have more time now...). So every night before bed, I try to squeeze in a chapter or two of my current book, which of course takes away time from everything else I want to be doing.

Second, I've got school. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I'm home-schooled, so what do I have to worry about? Well, I'm not 'home-schooled' in the traditional sense. The school I'm enrolled in is more of a Online Public School where we've got real teachers and due dates and homework... yeah not so fun. I've got classes running throughout the day and you can't believe how hard it is to stay away from writing!

Third, I've been trying so very hard to get my editing done! But my precious editing time at 5:30am has been taken over by skating now! (Yes, where I live there are freestyles super duper early!) So I'm behind on my editing! (And it didn't help that the previous chapter that I worked on today was terrible!)

And finally, there's those new ideas sloshing around in my head that refuse to leave me alone! Despite how exciting they can be, they are also quite distracting.

The funny thing is, time never used to run so fast. (Maybe I scared it away with how much I'm trying to fit into it...) Anyway, I'm so sorry if I haven't visited you're blog in a while! I'm going to try to catch up with everyone I'm following (sooner or later) but I'll probably only be posting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday now (maybe poetry on Saturday).

Maybe I'm wrong but time seems to be short for most people these days! What are some things YOU try to cram into your day?


--Jess


P.S.
I changed my blogger template so if things seem different to you don't be alarmed! And also, my birthday is tomorrow so I've got to change all of my ages to 15! Yay!

Library Fun

Hey! Sorry I'm posting a little later than usual today. Me and my mom were editing all morning and having all kinds of fun with that.


Now, I don't know about you guys, but when I was in the drafting stage of my novel, I really didn't have time for anything else. (Well, that's if I wanted to get any writing done.) Unfortunately, that meant using up my precious reading time at night to write instead. In fact, I think I only read two books over the entire summer! Whenever we'd pull up to the library, I never went in, knowing that even if I picked out a book, I wouldn't be able to finish it.


That has changed. Ever since I finished my first draft, I have had more free time (not a lot more, but still, more)! So anyway, when me and my family went to the library over the weekend, I decided, 'hey, why not? I'm not drafting anymore, I can spend the time to read a book.' When I walked in and looked at all the books, a strange realization hit me: all of them were written by other people!


Now, wait just a second. I knew that all of the books were written by people before (no I'm not that clueless!), but it never really hit me! Now that I know how hard all of those people had to work to just get the first draft out of their heads, it all meant so much more! To think that they had to deal with the same things I did was amazing and exciting! That was probably the best experience I've ever had at a library!


Of course, I've got all of you guys to look up to and learn from, but realizing that there are that many people out there on the same journey that the rest of us are... it was unbelievable!


And who ever thought I could have that much fun?


--Jess

Campaign and Awards!

I have been having so much fun these past few weeks! I've been able to edit quite a bit of my novel and have actually found some time in my day to read! I've been playing my violin more often and all of those blogfests were awesome! I'm also signing up for the blogging Campaign over at Rachel Harrie's site! Signup closes on the 31st, so be sure to go over there to meet new blogger friends!

Also, I have been awarded by Laila Knight these two awesome blog awards:

They both came from Laila Knight over at the Untroubled Kingdom of Laila Knight! Go stop by her awesome blog and give her a nice 'hi'. Thanks so much Laila!


I should probably pass these on now. The rules are:

1. Thank and link to the person who nominates you
2. Share seven random facts about you
3. Pass this award to five new blogging friends
4. Contact and congratulate the awarded bloggers

Okay so seven random facts, here I go!

1. I love Japanese food. I'm like, obsessed with it. (I wonder if it's because I'm a quarter Japanese...) My least favorite food is fried onions. I can eat plain ones, as long as they're not cooked in any way!
2. I am a very artistic person. I love to write (duh), paint, draw and play violin. By the way, I love any kind of music. (All of the kids at my old school thought I was crazy because I actually liked Opera.) It really just depends on the song for me.
3. I'm TERRIBLE at writing romantic scenes. And they're not even kind of good, they are actually terrible! It's really funny :D
4. I used to like a guy in 6th and 7th grade and ever since then I decided that I would wait until college before ever having to go through that again. (That's probably why my romantic scenes are so bad!)
5. I don't really follow any particular religion. I just choose the good things from each one and that works pretty well for me. (As long as you're a nice person it shouldn't matter too  much right?)
6. I love dreaming! I don't care if the dreams are scary or fun... as long as I'm dreaming! More than once have I found inspiration for my stories and poems in my sleep!
7. I'm in love with science. I want to be an astrophysicist when I grow up (as well as a writer of course!) but any kind of science I think is awesome!

The five people I'm giving this award to are:

1. Anna Saikin at http://annasaikin.blogspot.com
2. Teralyn Rose at http://teralynpilgrim.blogspot.com/
3. Ellie Garrett at http://elliegarratt.blogspot.com/
4. Isis Rushdan at http://isisrushdan.blogspot.com
5. Alyssa McKendry at http://lifeisgood-forever21.blogspot.com

So go check out those awesome blogs! Hope you enjoy :)

--Jess

Sparkfest Day 4: World Views

Today is the second to last day of Sparkfest! Thanks so much, Christine Tyler! I have been having so much fun with this!
The third question is:


Is there a book or author that changed your world view?


There are so many amazing books I've read, it would be hard not to give credit to only one. But of course, that isn't the question. And if I had to choose one book, only one, I would have to say it goes to The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom. (Click on the link to read the summary of the story).


I read this book when I was eight years old. It was the book that helped me transition from little chapter books to the ones I read today. I'm not exactly sure if I understood everything I was reading at the time, but it changed me.


It may not have had such a big effect as Star Wars or The Hunger Games had on me, (I couldn't have written another post about those two!) but it is a story that will stay with me forever.


And then there's my story. It's strange to think that something I write could affect people all over the country (if it actually turns out to be good, that is). Could someone possibly stumble across my writing one day, then be changed for the rest of their lives?


Was there a book or author that changed your world view?


--Jess

Sparkfest

Well what an awesome time for Blogfests! Yesterday there was Ellie Garrett's super awesome Star Trek Blogfest, there's the upcoming Worst Movie Ever on September 19th hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh, and from today to the 26th, there's the Spark Blogfest!
So the first question in the Sparkfest is:


What book made you realize you were doomed to become a writer?


I don't think there was a specific book that made me become a writer. My very first bit of inspiration was probably a Dr. Seuss book. What little kid doesn't love the sound of the rhythm and rhyme of the stories? I remember, before I could even write, I would tell my mom a few rhyming lines and she would write them down for me.


When I was seven years old, I read a series of books called the Great Illustrated Classics series. I remember reading War of the Worlds and Journey to the Center of the Earth for the first time and being captivated by story.


And then of course there was George Lucas. How can I not give credit to him? Star Wars was the deciding factor for me. Maybe I would be a writer, but I'm not sure I would be the writer I am today.


Anyway, check back tomorrow to see what inspired my current W.I.P.!


--Jess

My Awesome Sister

Ryan, Alyssa, and Me!

Okay so I've been nagging my sister about starting a novel for quite a while now, mostly because I figure skate with her (which is her favorite thing in the world), but she hasn't really shown an interest in the thing that I love most, which is of course writing. Finally, I got her to do it. Yep, she's started her very own first novel and you won't believe how proud of her I am! She's already writing Chapter 7! She even started a blog about her journey through life and writing called Life Is Good. Anyway, I just thought it would be nice if you went over there and gave her a little support to keep up the great work!


(Sorry for the short post)


--Jess


P.S.
Does anyone know how to make a blogfest button thingy? I got a few good ideas yesterday and have been considering starting one... if you have any suggestions please tell me!