Approaching the Rockies

Hello my bloggie friends! I've finally gotten a few precious minutes to write this post, so I'll try to be brief.

First of all, we're almost in the Rocky Mountains! I can see the outline of them from where I'm writing this and it's really cool! It's so weird how much flat land there is between Ohio and Washington... We're in Wyoming right now and might be visiting Yellowstone National Park in a day or two (I'll be keeping my fingers crossed). We went to go see Mt. Rushmore yesterday while we were still over in South Dakota. Here are a few pics:

(George, Thomas, Teddy and Abe)

Me and my new friends ;)

If you haven't seen them, you really missing out. I think it's so amazing how people actually carved these faces out of the side of that huge rock wall. I can hardly make a face out of a tiny ball of clay! These guys must have been really special to do something this big. Anyway, that was just for yesterday. Today we went to go see the Devil's Tower which was absolutely fantastic. Another 'must see' if you haven't seen it already. Here are a few pics of that.

This gigantic tower that formed from magma pressing up on the ground eventually creating this amazing formation is breathtaking. The coolest part is that you can see it from quite a few miles away since the land around it is pretty flat.

Seeing that was just about the most exciting thing that happened today. I'm still so surprised about how much progress we've made across the country! We'll be in Seattle in a few days!

Anyway, that's what's going on in the physical world. As far as my novel goes, well, I'm a little disappointed. I've had time to edit in the car but I don't feel like I'm making as much progress. Even worse, I haven't kept up with all of your blogs (even though I said I would...). In fact, I've hardly checked at all. So, sorry about that, guys :(


But. Here's the good news. When we get to Seattle, I'm buying myself my very own computer! It's going to be a small one, but who cares! My own baby laptop is better than no laptop at all! Hopefully then I'll be able to keep up with everything going on in the blogosphere! And you won't believe how excited I am for that!


What's up for you guys this week? How's you're W.I.P. coming along?


--Jess


P.S.

We saw this little guy on the way to the Devil's Tower and I think he really wanted say 'hi' to everyone!

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!

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