In Which I Finish Draft Two and Print a Book.

So I finished the second draft of my novel. It's so so vERY MESSY, but I decided I was sick of staring at a computer screen and reading the manuscript over and over and making edits this way... so I took the funner* path and printed it up all fancy and official! 

*would like to mention that autocorrect didn't even try to correct me here. Funner if officially a word. 

The story itself? Messy. Incomplete. Plot holes galore. Every other chapter makes me cringe. And it's really short (40K words I think). BUT it's a lot of fun to see my story in actual book form. I can put it on my shelf with all my other books. I'm [unofficially] up there right next to Jane Austen and Ann Rinaldi. It makes my little writer-soul squeal! 

To get it printed, I used Lulu, which is a self-publishing site. It's pretty easy to use, if you're interested, only be careful to make it private if you don't want it to be publicly sold off to the big wide world via Amazon. 

The hardest part was definitely the cover. I don't think I did a very good job on it. It wasn't a very good quality photo so it's slightly blurry...

BUT YOU KNOW WHAT IT'S COOL.

It's so wild to be able to hold it in your hand and flip through the pages and see the words you've written! 

I also added some notes to myself throughout the chapters...

I feel guilty for never posting anymore!! How're you guys?? Are you going to print out your novels?? (Um YOU SHOULD) 

Happy Saint Patricks Day!! 🍀

Ah, Holy Jesus (a hymn)

Ah, holy Jesus,

How hast thou offended

That man to judge thee

Hath in hate pretended?

By foes derided

By thine own rejected

O most afflicted!

Who was the guilty?

Who brought this upon thee?

Alas, my treason,

Jesus hath undone thee

'Twas I, Lord Jesus,

I it was denied thee

I crucified thee

:: :: ::

This is one of my favorite Lenten hymns. 

Lent has begun. The forty days before Easter where we prepare our hearts and souls for the wondrous Resurrection of our Savior. It's difficult to keep our focus on Christ in the loud, crazy world we live in. There are distractions all over the place. But especially now in this season of Lent, we should make an extra effort to find some quiet and peace and listen to the voice of God. 

ARE YOU DOING ANYTHING FOR LENT? ARE YOU AS EXCITED FOR EASTER AS I AM??

Hello March

February has come and gone so scarily quickly. And it was a good month! Valentine's Day happened, so as you can imagine, February was full of pink and sparkles and candy. Which is totally cool with me x). I spent a lot of time with friends, I spent a lot of time studying and preparing myself for the SAT in a few weeks, and I spent a lot of time drinking coffee and actually w r i t i n g. 

A NOTE FOR THE WRITING WORLD: I have characters for a new book. I have a setting. I have the names and the pet peeves and a few random, but awesomely-artistic sentences I plan on including. 
But. 
No. 
Plot. 
I have no plot. And I can't for the life of me think of one. So far, I've got a bunch of people (well thought-out people, because since I can't think of a plot I spend more time developing characters) in a small town doing.... nothing. They just sit there and I must think of something for them to do before it kills me. BECAUSE I FEEL BAD they must be so bored, just sitting, nothing to do...

FEBRUARY WAS...

//spiced chai

//waffles

//black coffee

//RAIN RAIN RAIN

//new notebooks

//pizzaaaaaa

//Ben Rector

//night driving

//more rain

//reading the Magnificat every day

//have I mentioned rain?? it rained so so much this month.


FAVORITE FEBRUARY MOMENTS....

//going to coffee shops with my brother

//the annual Junior/Senior breakfast (which involved the Juniors coming to school super early in pajamas and making waffles xD) 

//I got accepted to the summer program for this college I really want to go to!

//rehearsal rehearsal rehearsal

//driving at night through super heavy rain with my brothers, singing loud and off-key

//making brownies with my grandma

//ordering at McDonalds with my brother in British accents

//sitting and talking on a patio with some of my closest friends late into the night

HOW WAS YOUR FEBRUARY?

lets go anywhere

via

we wanted to be the sky

we wanted to soar

to be free

to be all the colors we could think of

and then some



we found here

and we never wanted to leave

the wild and the chaos

mixed with the beauty and the love

and it was not peaceful

and our souls were aflame 

it was wonderland

and we never wanted to leave



we just wanted

to go anywhere

and ignore reality for a little while

never grow older

day by day

year by year




and we wanted to stay

amidst the wild hearts

and the honeydew grasses

and the smiling flowers

where reason has no place

and rhyme is the favored language




lets go anywhere

because if you don't know where you are going

any road

will take you to wonderland






I think nonsense poetry is becoming my "thing". I promise I'm going to do a real post soon x) 

oh look another poem that doesn't rhyme. that's good.

[my post titles are becoming more sarcastic than anything else.] 

i feel a lot like seventeen. 

we're so young
but we think we're older 
and we focus so much on where we're going
that we don't stop to see
where we are

so where am i?

i'm in a faded t-shirt and converse
running until my lungs burn
laughing loudly late at night
driving myself to the next town over
to see who feels like going out
for a bit
and not knowing what time i'll be back

i'm in that place
where i've sort of grown up
but i can still act like a child sometimes.
i'm in an independent-loving heart
with a soul thats not ready to let go

im in a spirit 
who is learning still.
im in a world full of photo booth strip photos
and cheep sunglasses
and my favorite songs
and i can drink coffee and discuss college
but I'm not quite ready to go

im in a life
a seventeen-year-old life
and we can chat politics
and pretend to know what we're talking about
we can race each other in the parking lot
we can sing loudly
and learn to feel
and experience
and live
like we're seventeen

:: :: ::

many apologies for my last mini-rant. i know it was random. also, i would apologize for my sarcastic post title, but i like it x). 

what have y'all been up to lately?

In Which I Freak Out for a Few Minutes.

Why is college so STRESSFUL LIKE I don't ever want to think about but I gots to cuz I gots to go someday and I have legit nothing figured out and I'll probably end up sitting in some hole drinking Lipton tea and singing I Dreamed a Dream at the top of my sad little lungs. 


Hello there. 


I have to sign up for the SAT today. It's in a month and I haven't started prepping myself, honestly because I forgot. And I found out that my first choice of colleges cares most about the essay and math portions, which are probably going to be my two worst portions. I took the CLT twice, both times doing not so hot on math. The CLT is technically an SAT substitute, but I did so badly on the math that I'm just at that point where the stress is eating me alive but not really because I still have a little bit of sanity left. 

(I probably shouldn't be blogging right now. I doubt it's a good idea when I'm in this state. I can barely form coherent sentences.) 

So I'm basically here to beg for prayers?? Seriously, I would appreciate it so much. Also, if anyone out there has already taken the SAT and survived... tips?? Or just tips on how to handle stress better?? Anything works at this point. 

(I just drank a giant cup of tea. It had a lot of sugar. This post may just be a result of that.) 

Hello February

not my image

whAT. It's February, and my least favorite month of the year is over, and if that's not something to celebrate, then I dunno what is! 

JANUARY IN REVIEW

Despite it being my least favorite month, and despite the weird weather, this month has been pretty good to me. I went and saw La La Land, for one thing, and OH MY GOODNESS, if you haven't seen it, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEAAAASE go see it!! I'm still in awe of how good it was. 

I actually wrote a little bit this month. Not a lot, and my inspiration wells are still pretty dry, but I'm working through it. 

This month was a very social one. I spent a lot of time with friends or hanging out with family. The first few weeks of the second semester haven't been too bad, thankfully. People are already counting down to the end of the year x). 

January was....

//rainy days

//pizza

//late, late nights

//early mornings

//basketball games

//new music

//many rehearsal hours for my school play

//new hoodies

//road trips

//good movies

//coffee


Favorite January Moments....

//SAN FRANCISCO TRIP

//staying out late with friends

//running and yelling like crazy through long hallways

//helping my friend move

//finding new music

//driving with my cousins, blasting classic rock

//driving by myself at night with lightning flashing around me

//going to see La La Land

//watching H.M.S. Pinafore with my siblings


January was full of late nights out, driving by myself, really loud laughter, singing along to the music, and thinking about how great of a year 2017 will be.

HOW WAS YOUR JANUARY?