Goodbye and Hello

Well, the day has finally come and the adventure begins! We're finally moving to Seattle. And we're driving all the way there. The plan is to take eight days and explore the countryside on the way out which will be so much fun because I get lots of good writing ideas in long car rides!


Now, a lot of people wouldn't really be as 'okay' as I am with moving, so here's a quick back-story/explanation.


I was born in Rochester, Michigan, but I can't call it in any way home because we moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania when I was four. We lived there for two years and I loved it. After that, we moved to Vermont, then to New Hampshire. We lived in Vermont for such a short time that I don't remember the difference between the two states. Then we moved back to Pennsylvania, (this time it was to York, which is right around Harrisburg). We lived there for about two years then decided to move to Connecticut! Finally, after about six months to a year, we moved to Chagrin Falls, Ohio. And here I am, sitting at my computer, just about to move to Seattle, Washington.


This is really the longest we've ever lived anywhere. When you're moving at least once every two years, living someplace five years feels so... weird. But then of course, there's friends, and the people we will be leaving behind.


Saying 'goodbye' is always the hardest part. Even though we're coming back in November for a few days, any 'goodbye' is hard. I'm not a person who cries in front of people (no, really, my mom thinks I'm a robot or something) but I came really close in the past few days as we gave people hugs and exchanged emails to keep in touch.


So why am I 'okay' with this? Well, an old Jedi (Yoda) once said "Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose." And even though it's sad to end this amazing adventure we've had here in Ohio, I know that a new one is just about to begin.


--Jess
P.S.
I'll be visiting blogs over the weekend (hopefully more than I've been recently!) but probably not posting because we're driving all the way there, so HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!! It's nice I don't have to say 'goodbye' to all of you guys!

Second Campaigning Challenge: Imago

Hey everyone! I can't believe that it's already September 26th! I just found out that the official 'moving' date is this coming Thursday, which is super exciting! Anyway, here is my entry for Rachael Harrie's 2nd Campaigner Challenge:

Imago of Writing

Staring down at the sheet of paper, I try to read the words in front of me. After an entire summer of writing everything down, everything in my head, there seems to be a miasma of words constantly floating over me. I tell myself to focus but find myself yawning instead.

Oscitate. I don't even have to think about it for my mind to replace the word 'yawning' with this one.

I glance back down at the paper and roll my eyes at the poor examples of grammar and sad run-on sentences. I run my fingers through my hair, deciding that this entire passage is just a lacuna in the story. I continue reading, trying hard not to feel completely frustrated.

"He walked down the corridor of mirrors, and the synchronicity of his reflection was dizzying."

It's funny how I thought that this entire passage was so good while I was writing it. I almost laugh as I read the next few sentences. I rub my eyes, tired and slightly annoyed with myself. What's even stranger is that I actually stick with writing and continue loving it. I've always loved a challenge, but this is definitely the hardest one yet.

***

So that's my flash fiction piece, it's exactly 200 words, I made a reference to mirrors and used all of the words that were given to us (though something tells me that I didn't use the word miasma right... feel free to correct me). If you really enjoyed this piece, feel free to vote for me (and other favorites) on this linky list here. I'm entry #112!

--Jess

P.S.

Thanks for being so patient for me to come back to the blogosphere! We are back from Michigan now but this entire week I've been feeling really sick and I've got to prepare for the Regional Championships in Figure Skating which is on Thursday. Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading more of everyone's blogs! Thanks for stopping by!

Crazy Week!!!

Hello my dear blogger friends! I feel really weird not posting early in the morning like I usually do but I haven't had time to write this any other time. So this week has been and will be very crazy because (as I've mentioned a few times already) we are moving to Seattle, Washington! Yes, we are all very excited but there is so much work that needs to be done around the house before we go! (We aren't sure of the exact date we will be leaving but the first week of October is pretty accurate). We are also in Michigan today spending time with my Great Uncle Eiichi who is visiting from Japan.


We've been having so much fun! He even brought a real kimono (and I say real because this wasn't the kind that you just easily slip on) for us to try on. I'm serious, that thing took a half hour to get everything on right, but it was worth the wait. (I'll try to show you some pictures in the next post, but I'm writing this from the iPad as we're driving so I'm not sure how all of that works.)


I probably will have little or no time to post in the coming weeks, so just try not to forget about me! (I'm still going to try to comment on all of your awesome blogs so I won't TOTALLY disappear from the blogosphere.)


How's the editing coming, you ask? Well thanks for asking! The editing is going surprisingly well despite all of my time lost blogging, spending time with family and getting ready to move. I've gotten so many more good ideas and I even think my romantic language is getting better! (Or maybe I'm just too tired to realize how bad it sounds...) Either way it's kind of exciting! To think that I'm slowly getting closer and closer to being able to start sending it out to publishers is so awesome!


Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful week! I'll be around as much as I can, but who really knows how long that will be?


What's everyone else up to this week?


--Jess

Top 10 Worst Movies Ever!

Hello everybody, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Today is Alex J. Cavanaugh's Worst Movies Ever Blogfest which you can enter here! So once you're done with this, go over to his site and check out what other people have to say!


So, what are my top ten worst movies ever?

(Source)

1. Sweeney Todd

I apologize to the people who loved this movie, but it was just too gross to me. I actually kinda liked the story line to it, but did there really have to be so much blood and grossness? I mean, come on!

(Source)

2. Kick Ass

Once again, too bloody! Did it have to be so gross?

(Source)

3. Igor

I really didn't like the story line. The only reason I kept watching it was because I couldn't tear myself away from the awfulness of the story. I couldn't tell who the audience was supposed to be! It sounded like it would be for younger kids at first but there were so many references to things that younger children wouldn't understand so that made it really confusing. And then, even though the point of the story was that being 'good' was a really good thing, the way they conveyed it at the beginning just made it sound like it was a good thing to be 'bad'!

(Source)

4. Alpha and Omega

Okay this movie was just plain bad. I didn't even feel bad for the main characters when they were in trouble. It wasn't well thought out and not deep at all!

(Source)

5. Across the Universe

This one was just confusing! I'm not even sure how to start describing this! Maybe I'm just a little too young to understand it but I really didn't get the point.

(Source)

6. House Of Flying Daggers

I seriously thought this one was going to be good. Unfortunately, what I thought would be a movie mostly about revolution against leaders with a subplot of a romantic love story, turned out to be a love story and not much else.

(Source)

7. The Lovely Bones

Once again, I think my high expectations for this movie ended up making me not like it. The girl spends her whole time between heaven and earth and doesn't even try to get revenge on the man that killed her. And yeah the bad guy ends up dying but it wasn't a very satisfying ending.

(Source)

8. Alice in Wonderland

I'm talking about the newer version here. But I just didn't feel much emotion in this story. I did watch the whole thing and I thought it was kind of interesting, but I would never watch it again.

(Source)

9. The Heartbreak Kid

I know this isn't a kids movie, but I still think I can give my opinion about this one. It was gross. It was inappropriate and I found myself rolling my eyes at the main character every few minutes. It made me frustrated because the MC wouldn't learn from his mistakes! I'm getting annoyed just thinking about it!

(Source)

10. The Time Travelers Wife

I decided to put this one last (as my least worst movie ever) because the idea was intriguing. I'll give it that. But the movie itself was average.

There! Those are my top ten Worst Movies Ever! What are yours?

--Jess

P.S.

To the people who liked any of these movies, please forgive me! This is all my opinion and don't take things personally!

The Creepy Spider...

Hello everyone! Thanks so much for the birthday wishes and birthday presents! I have 100 followers now! Thank you Susanna Leonard Hill for becoming my 100th follower! I had a really awesome first day of being fifteen! Here's kinda how it went...


First of all my sister found a really creepy looking spider in the morning. She was on the phone with my grandma and she called my mom into the other room. Me and Ryan (I told you about my little brother, right?) followed along and took a look at the creepy looking long legged spider.
Now I'm very supportive of all life and I really didn't want the poor spider to die on my birthday! Ryan and I kept arguing for mom to take the spider outside (we were too scared to do it ourselves). So mom decided that she would be good and take the spider outside. She grabbed a notebook while Ryan and I stood at the door, preparing to open it. Our hearts were racing, all of us hoping that the spider wouldn't fall of and get on any of us.


Suddenly, I looked at my mom and she looked at the notebook. The spider was gone. With lightning speed, she tossed the notebook on the floor and it landed with a thud. Still no spider. My mom stared at the notebook on the floor for another moment. That's when Alyssa screamed and pointed to moms pant-leg. Mom screamed too and ran toward Ryan and I and we both ran away not wanting the spider to get on any of us!


Finally when we were all sure that the spider wasn't on anyone, we stopped running around and started cracking up. I think that was the best part of the day!


After all that craziness, I wrote and did some school work then went skating and landed a few axles! Then we went to my violin lesson and at the end of the day, we all got together and drove to a sushi restaurant. Now I know not everyone likes sushi, but to me nothing could have lived up to that birthday present!


And, even though this isn't exactly relevant to what we've been talking about, we have just confirmed that we will be moving to Seattle, Washington! And we are leaving very soon (within the next few weeks) so I probably won't have as much time to post. Anyway, have a great weekend!


--Jess
P.S.
We never did find the spider...

Birthday!

Guess what?

Today's my birthday!!! So I'm a fifteen year old blogger now! I had to go around changing how old I was in my 'About Me' and in other stuff so I hope I didn't miss anything! Anyway, just wanted to give you the heads up so you're not confused next time you visit! (I'm trying to keep this post short!) Have a great day everyone!


--Jess


P.S.
I think my mom is posting about me at Imagine Today, so go check it out! And if you haven't noticed (unless the follower thingy isn't working) I have 98 followers and if I could get two more that would be awesome (if not that's totally fine too!)! Thanks everyone! You guys are the best!

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!

Favorite Campaign Challenge Entries

Hey everybody! In case you didn't stop by over the weekend, I had a figure skating competition on Saturday and to tell you the truth it went pretty well! I skated my best out there (I didn't land two of my jumps though) and had lots of fun! And I got fifth place out of six, so I didn't get last! (The funny thing is, we went skating again yesterday and I was able to land my jumps fine! Oh well, I guess that's just how it goes...)


I've also been developing new story ideas, and I'm so excited! This whole thing is just so new to me! I wasn't exactly sure if I'd be ready to start another story for a while after finishing up with editing for my current one (I'm not done with that yet, don't worry). Turns out, I've been getting ideas everywhere and need to take a notebook wherever I go or I'm going to explode with too much information inside me!


Anyway, I'd like to share with you my favorite Campaign Flash Fiction entries, and make sure to 'like' them on the Campaign First Challenge if you really like their flash fiction piece! (There were so many great entries and so many that I loved, but of if I tried to make a list of all my favorites I think you guys might get bored. Congrats to everyone who participated!)

1. The Soulless over at Imagination to Publication. This one seriously creeped me out but I loved it!
2. In the Closet over at Feel of Something New. I thought this one was a little creepy too, but I liked how the feeling of the passage was different than most of the other ones I read (I guess it was the 'feel of something new'!)
3. Animate over at The Lobster Tank. I really liked the passion in this passage and I loved the sad hope that the person feels!
4. The Open Door over at Niiganab. I love rhyming poetry! I can't get enough of it! I thought this was a very great poem for the challenge!
5. The War over at Jessica Love Writes. This one reminded me of Middle School (LOL) and it made me laugh.

Hope you enjoy!

--Jess

Be Prepared!

First of all, thanks to all my new followers from the campaign and for all the wonderful comments on my flash fiction post!

Alrighty, with that statement out of the way, I can tell you some exciting news! I have a skating competition tomorrow! (In case you didn't know, yes I'm a figure skater.) I usually don't get nervous until I'm actually at the ice rink, awaiting my turn to be called in front of the judges, but I'm not exactly sure how prepared I am for this one. I've got two jumps in there that I can't land consistently and a spin that doesn't exactly spin very well. So, with that being said, yes, maybe I am a little nervous right now.

Me and Alyss after one of our many competitions!

I'm not really someone that preforms well under pressure either. My knees get a little shaky and I constantly feel like I need to take a trip to the bathroom. Not to mention, the past few weeks I've been much more interested in my writing than in my skating (which I guess isn't a terrible thing because writing is my first favorite thing ever), but it isn't so good if I want to have a winning chance.


So, I'm sure you've made this conclusion already, but no, I'm not exactly prepared for this competition. I've got a little bit of an idea of the people I'll be competing against, but to be honest, I could lose miserably, or take first place. I've got no clue how this is going to play out.


And here comes the catch. Maybe I'm not the most physically prepared person there. But from a mental perspective, I very well could be. Not because I can land my jumps or do my spins, but because I'm prepared to lose. I'm prepared to skate hard then walk away with nothing but a green ribbon saying "Honorable Participant". And I can be happy with that.


How can we take this into writing perspective? Well, we need to be prepared. We don't exactly know what we're up against. We could luck out with our manuscripts, and just happen to send it to the right place, reaching the right person at the right time! And that's awesome! But more often than not, we get a nice rejection letter (if we're lucky).


Writing can be rough and sometimes even ruthless. But we can be tougher than that! We've got to look beyond rejection and see that it's all part of the journey. People will knock us down and honestly not like what we write. But what matters, is that we'll get back up and try again! And sometimes, getting that rejection can make getting published in the future all worth while!


Have a great weekend!


--Jess


P.S.

I updated my 'Poetry' page so it's got all of my recent poems. I also got a few new story ideas, so I'm excited!

Campaign First Challenge: Shadows

Hey everybody! Today I'm posting my entry for the First Campaign Challenge! (I know I'm a little late, but hopefully that's okay).

Here are the rules:

Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words "The door swung open" These four words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), use the same beginning words and end with the words "the door swung shut". (Also included in the word count.)

For those of you who want an even greater challenge, make your story 200 words EXACTLY!

So here I go, EXACTLY 200 words!

Shadows

The door swung open. Fear began to crawl through her, turning her blood cold. The light of the moon shattered the darkness around her. Shadows spilled slowly into the room like suffocating tar. They had found her.

"Dara," they whispered. An electric chill shot through her. They would show her no mercy. "Dara," they called again.

Her stomach twisted inside her, as if trying to escape. She breathed deeply, hardly making a sound. Her hands were shaking. He betrayed me. She closed her eyes remembering him. He told me it would be alright. A pang of regret hit her. And he lied. She tried hard to keep her fear under control. When she was sure the shadows were gone, she stood. Moonlight was still shining through the open door. Taking a step forward, the old floor creaked beneath her. She cursed under her breath. Something shot across her vision.

With a horrific screech, the shadows returned. Her heart stopped dead at the blood chilling sound. She could feel the breath of darkness on her skin. With sickening realization, she knew she couldn't escape. She tried to scream as terror swept through her. Darkness enclosed the room, and the door swung shut.


--Jess


P.S.
If you really really like my post, go here and click 'like' under my name to vote for me! (I'm #235!) And I was inspired by David Powers King's post yesterday to write it in a POV that I'm not used to... I usually write in first person, present tense, so this was quite a change for me!

Happy Tuesday!

Hey everybody! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I got back from Michigan yesterday, so hopefully I'll be able to catch up on most of your blogs today. I also got some really cool new story ideas to keep me even more busy than usual! I even found the time for some long needed reading. It's so cool how refreshing a few days of break can be!


Anyway, it's back to editing for me! And I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. At first I think I was a little too overwhelmed with the fact that my book was done to actually try to fix it. Now I'm on a roll, highlighting pretty much everything I see (well, not everything but that's what it feels like)! I look back at the pages of my MS and want to laugh at the papers streaked with yellow and pencil marks. It's really funny because sometimes I feel like saying "how did I think that was good when I wrote it?" But that is what first drafts are for, right?


Well, I should probably get to work now, but before I leave you, here are a couple pics from our trip!

(Me and Mom trying to stay warm outside!)

(Cousins, Grandma, Sister, Me and Gramps!)

(The Lake! Photo Credit goes to my Grandpa)

Happy Tuesday everyone!

What did you do this weekend?

--Jess

P.S.

Thank you new followers (old followers too, don't worry!) and campaigners for stopping bye!

Labor Day Vacation!

Hey everyone, I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend! We are going to Michigan tomorrow afternoon for my great grandpa's 90th birthday. He owns a little old cottage on a lake so we're spending the weekend up there. The one problem is that there's no internet connection so I'll miss checking all of your blogs.

Luckily, I think this will be a nice, needed break from constantly writing all day long. Maybe I'll get some fresh new ideas too! A few days away from your work is supposed to be good anyway. Hope you have a wonderful weekend and I'll try to bring back pictures to share with you guys! See you on Tuesday!


--Jess