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!

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!

Editing (Part 1)

So, after I finished my first draft of my story I was planning on taking a break. And I did for like an hour or two then went to bed. But Saturday morning... how could I resist taking another look at it? My book needs attention like a baby and I couldn't leave it alone for a whole day! I've spend every day for the whole summer with it... I can't just let it go.
So, my schedule for Saturday turned out to be something like this: Eat breakfast, Write, Eat Lunch, Write, Eat Dinner, Write.
The only problem is, I'm really not used to editing. For the longest time I only wrote poetry. And poetry for me doesn't need major editing, except for adding a word maybe changing a rhyme, but that's all. To edit an entire novel? That's got to be quite a bit different than poetry.
Luckily, I haven't been editing all alone. My mom knows my entire story, every secret and philosophical nuance, literally everything. Anyway, I think it's been really helpful to have her look at it, mostly because even though I admit my story isn't perfect (no where near perfect, I should add) I love it. I don't know how it is for everyone else (and maybe it's just because I'm a teenager, or because I'm a first time novelist), but personally, I love my writing. Now I don't think that's a bad thing... You need to like what you're writing to a certain degree so that you keep writing! But editing becomes much more difficult when it's harder to see my own flaws. So that is what my wonderful mom is helping me out with.
I'm really glad I have a mom I can talk to and tell pretty much everything. When I discovered the end to my story (I always discover the end about half way through writing it), my mom was the first person I told. Anyway, I just think it's really awesome that my mom isn't just a mom, but a really good friend as well who I can trust to be gentle with my story as well as pretty harsh. So thanks mom!


--Jess
P.S.
I think a few of you follow my mom's blog, but if not you might want to check it out. Click here: Imagine Today