Beginnings and Endings

The second most exciting part about writing: starting a new story. Writing the beginning.

The most exciting part about writing: The End.

So yeah, since I have nothing important to say to you all, other than that I have been studiously reading, doing LSAT problems, hanging out way too long at Borders, drinking more much coffee than is acceptable for summertime, and generally loitering around my house and burning things on the stove, I will blog about this.

I am, as it is, writing The End for Three. I know, nobody cares except my fannish readers (and I know some of you creep on my blog even though you never comment because I am all-knowing* - you are allowed to comment, by the way, I love you readers). But it is so exciting to write the end of something, and I feel the obligatory need to do a post on it, just because most people do a post when they finish something, and I rarely finish things worth posting about. I value everything I write, because it is all part of the process of improving and learning what works best. 

I am so excited that I can't even sit still long enough to actually write it. I sent this email to my writerly buddy who has seen me through nearly six months and 50,000 words of this fic:

"I am writing the last scene of Part Three. SO CLOSE. I AM ALMOST THERE. I feel like I've been giving birth and the baby has finally crowned."

Not asking you to celebrate with me or anything, because it's not like this fic is going to get extensive editing, but it has been doing a great job in getting me back to writing. I love summer and the ridiculous amount of time you can spend procrastinating but still end up writing more than you do during the year.

In other news, I think I forgot to blog about this a while back, but a squirrel attacked my leg (unprovoked), thus ending my love affair for chasing small, furry animals whenever I see them. 

Tell me a funny story. About writing, being attacked by rodents, or otherwise.

Do not, I REPEAT, do not google-image "squirrel," because you'll get a picture of a man with a skinned squirrel in a pan with squirrel pie next to it. This picture was SO not worth it. Don't say I didn't warn you.

*AKA I have StatCounter.

Friday Favorites

Taking a break.

Today, I went outside to take a walk. It was one of those hot, humid days where the smell of grass is heavier in the air than normal for some reason. It's been raining for the past three-ish days. We have a lake with a walking trail in our neighborhood and since the sun came out, I thought it would be a good idea to get some sun. I am pale like a vampire, a sallow-yellow Asian vampire. It was one of those perfect summer days where the sky is the deepest kind of blue with big, chunky white-gray clouds in the sky. Farther away, the darker cumulonimbus clouds were stacked on top of each other, heavy with rain, but they were moving away.

The water from the rain had pooled on the trail in some parts, the whole width, and I was wearing those flip flops that shouldn't really get wet. I think they're made of woven bamboo and cloth or something - something summery I got from American Eagle last summer. The grass on either side was wet too. So I decided to be spontaneous. I rolled up my skinny jeans and splashed across the puddles with bare feet, holding my shoes. Old people on bikes rode by and stared at me.

I tried to dry off my feet on drier grass later, but it didn't work very well, so I ended up giving up and putting my shoes back on. I smiled at everybody who walked by, even the ones who stared. I walked back home with muddy feet and muddy shoes and started to write.

Sometimes, splashing in puddles gives you inspiration.

Cut the Crap

Okay, there are a lot of different parts of the writing process that I hate, but this is probably the part that I hate the most. You know the feeling you get when you're just cruising and the words come like water?

This is the opposite, when everything you come up with seems like the worst thing to ever be put in the written word. And it's frustrating because you can't get to the good stuff until you churn out at least five pages of crap. You try everything to skip this step, but you CAN'T. This happens a lot when I take a break from writing. I have to write a ton of crap before I start feeling satisfied with what is going on at my fingertips.

This is me, being frustrated. Except not a man. The facial expression is similar, though.

I had 27,000 words of the third part of Three (my fan fiction; bear with me, I am obligated to finish it because it's basically novel length and it would be lame to quit). I was just so unhappy with it that I knew I couldn't finish it unless I did editing. Hardcore editing. So I gritted my teeth and cut 5,000 words. That is a lot of words. Then I wrote 2,000 words just to get myself writing again. They were crap. Crap, I tell you. I basically created an argument between characters just so I could create dialogue. I saved it, went to bed, and realized that it was completely untrue to the characters. Why would they randomly get in an argument? I was making a cardinal mistake in telling my characters what to do because it was part of my master plan. Feeling like an idiot, I laid in bed and asked for the first time in a long time - for my characters to talk to me. 

And this is why I have a blog. Because non-writers would think this is psycho. Who talks to people who aren't even real? What size straitjacket do you think they'll put me in if I ever casually remark on this in public?

It worked, though. Really, it did. (Thanks, Anne Lamott, for teaching me to turn off radio station KFKD.) Today, I cut those 2,000 words and wrote 2,000 words in replacement and I think - knock on wood - that I am past that churning out crap stage to the point where I can write things I can leave on the page.* And it makes me very, very happy.

But I still hate the crap stage. Why does it have to exist?

*I am really paranoid that I will wake up tomorrow morning and be ragingly unhappy with what I wrote, just because I typed up this post.

Summer Days

Got through finals week and now I'm home and the summer begins! Hopefully, I'll be blogging more regularly now that I have more time. I'm a planner kind of person, so here's my list of summer goals:

1) Reading list! I went to the library today and checked out CYBELE'S SECRET (Juliet Marillier) and DEVILISH (Maureen Johnson) on my booklist. Now, I can legitimately stalk Maureen's blog without feeling like a creeper, because I'll actually have read her stuff. For my "unknown" book, I picked up MIDNIGHT BLUE (Pauline Fisk). Checked out FOLLOW THE BLUE (Brigid Lowry) for a reread. I'm trying to make sure each time I go, I come back with at least two different genres for some variety. 

Conveniently, I have THE RED PYRAMID (Rick Riordan) at home. You see, he is the only author, and I mean the only author, that my brother and I both like. My brother doesn't even like Harry Potter. And luckily, this time, he texted me and told me he bought it. We have learned our lesson, folks. We have two copies of THE LAST OLYMPIAN because we didn't coordinate last time. Rick Riordan, we are bringing you serious business, my brother and I.

2) I have a for-credit internship at my local history museum, doing research on American cemetaries and cemetary walks (I know this sounds really morbid, but I think cemetaries have a lot of cool history). Also, possibly working in the archives. This will give me a good leg-up when I have to continue doing research junior and senior year for my major.

3) LSAAAAAT.* It's that time of my life. I bought the Powerscore Bibles today and I'm planning on studying in the mornings (so it doesn't get in the way of the rest of my life). I'm trying to be as positive about this as possible. The end goal is a Tier 1 law school. My GPA is pretty kickin' so if I can get a good test score, I'll be good to go.

4) Write. I barely had time to write this semester at all, mainly because I had to spend a majority of my afternoons and nights at the newspaper. I really want to get back in the swing of things, maybe start a new novel if I can, and if I can't, well - writing a page a day seems like a decent goal to get the juices flowing. The most important thing is that I just remember to write, so it becomes a habit again.

5) HEADS YOU WIN! and THE CONCISE GUIDE TO COPY-EDITING (Paul LaRocque). Also, AP STYLEBOOK. As copy chief, I want to improve my headline-writing and my familiarity with AP style. I think it's important for me to set a good example to the copy-editors, so therefore, it's time to brush up my own skills. Especially since I'm at a disadvantage not being a journalism major and have little exposure with AP style in class. So lots of newspaper reading and perusing the AP stylebook in my free time. It's dorky, whatever. But you should know that I'm a super competitive person; when I have a task or a job or anything, I like to be the best. 

6) Do more exercise. I am super lazy and unfit. I get away with it because I am a petite Asian and since I'm not epicly obese, everybody thinks I'm healthy. It's a total lie, though. I eat whatever and whenever I want. I'm going to take advantage of the summer and start an exercise regimen because I never exercise at school.

I'm also planning on going to Chicago several times, because luckily for me, my college friends pretty much all live there. And before you ask, YES THERE ARE OTHER CITIES IN ILLINOIS. On my high school band trip, we went to San Antonio, Texas, and one of the ranchers on the dude ranch asked, "So...do you have to go to Chicago to buy your groceries every week? It's two hours away." 

And this coming from someone who lived on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. We do, in fact, have businesses and living places larger than a village outside of the Chicagoland area, thanks.

Long post. Summer plans, anyone?

PS I googled "summer midwest" for a picture, and I got a bunch of photos of people holding up fish. *facepalm*

*Meant to be said out loud in the tone that is a mixture between bone-crunching pain and my-house-just-burned-down-because-the-poptart-in-my-toaster-set-it-on-fire despair. 

**Totally unrelated: My mom told me last night that she was worried because we don't have earthquake insurance. I told her we don't live on any fault lines. "But there are a lot of earthquakes in the world right now!" Mom, you have a Ph.D in statistics, HOW DOES YOUR BRAIN WORK SOMETIMES? *more facepalm*

Friday Favorites

Fierce heroines! 

What is the definition of a fierce heroine? I think it's a girl who can do what the boys do, who has a multi-faceted personality, and matures and learns over the course of a novel. A tough question for the industry today: why are books always marketed toward a particular demographic? You've all seen those headless girls on pink covers that immediately mean: CHICK LIT ALERT. Why is it that "boy" novels have crossover potential for gender and girl novels almost never do? 

If girls can like reading books about boys, then why can't boys like reading books about girls? 

I don't know the answers to these questions, but I think it's definitely important that books continue being written about independent female characters who are not defined by their love interests or anyone else in their lives. They define themselves. What is your definition of a fierce heroine?

My friend, greenconverses, is starting a blog about fierce heroines and keeping up a discussion about girls in YA literature. Check it out here and join the conversation!

Funny Things My Mom Says

This is a triple whammy post. Firstly, because May is Asian-American Heritage Month, and my mom is Chinese. Secondly, because it's almost my mom's birthday. And thirdly, because it is also almost Mother's Day. Conveniently, this year, my mom's birthday and Mother's Day fall on the same day - May 9. So this post is for all of you non-Asians who have truly missed out on the hilarities of life - because your mom probably isn't as inadvertently funny as mine (probably also isn't as controlling, but eh, it's a give-and-take situation).

My mom likes to add random extra endings to words.

1) Instead of saying "olives," she says "olivers." No matter how many times I correct her, I cannot disabuse her of this pronunciation. I've stopped trying. Her English is what it is.

2) Instead of saying "Harry Potter," she says "Harry Pottery." 

Or she just distorts words beyond recognition:

3) She says "War-Mart" instead of "Wal-Mart."

4) Ever since I was little, she used to tell me I was going to go to Harvard. (That turned out well, as you can see.) Except she pronounced it "Hah-Full." So until I went to high school, I thought that was how the number one university in our country was pronounced. Hah-Full.

My mom is really bad at being racially sensitive. Sorry for being offensive, in advance.

5) "I think Obama is good-looking. But I think it's because he looks like his white grandpa, except he's black." ---Errrr, okay.

6) Sometimes, my family watches Family Guy together, minus my mom, because she doesn't get it. Once, she walked into the room, saw Cleveland (the black character) on TV, pointed and said, "Is that supposed to be Obama?" ---No, Mom. Not everyone who is black on TV is Obama. And yes, she was serious.

And my favorite thing of all:

7) Once, when my mom and I got in a fight, I started rolling my eyes at her and apparently being disrespectful* and she yelled back at me, "Stop using your stupid American sarcasm! I don't understand it! I'm Chinese!"

Love you, Mom, even if you can't understand British accents. Even if you don't "get" dishwashers and have to rinse out cups in hot tea at restaurants and even if you don't like modern medicine and believe that peanut butter and cucumbers in combination causes cancer. Even if you call me to ask me to creep on Facebook for you and have everyone in the community's ACT score memorized. Even if you ask me to help you fill out employee performance reports. Even if you yell into phones like that is effective if you are talking to someone far away. I still wouldn't have it any other way.

Picture from 2002 at Niagara Falls. My brother and I look really thrilled. Because we are Asian, we have to document every life experience ever. Hence, the camera around my mom's neck and the camcorder around my dad's. This, thankfully, was before I got braces and decided to grow my hair out to inhuman lengths. 

*That is so debatable. WHEN AM I EVER DISRESPECTFUL, COME ON.

The Official Summer Reading List

OSRL. Here it is. I waited until May to make it more legit. Two more weeks, and then I'll be able to read all of the books I want that don't have to do with any of the following topics: Reconstruction, Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, Oliver Cromwell, or the Stuarts. Hooray! The following books are in no particular reading order. Some are recycled from earlier lists because I never got to them. My goal is to finish all of them, plus the Summer Challenge. This list is a living document; I will be adding to it as the summer goes on.

1) The Wager. Donna Jo Napoli.

2) The Red Pyramid. Rick Riordan.

3) When I Was Older. Garret Freymann-Weyr.

4) After the Moment. Garret Freymann-Weyr.

5) If I Stay. Gayle Forman.

6) The Hunger Games, etc. Suzanne Collins.

7) Leviathan. Scott Westerfeld.

8) Devilish. Maureen Johnson.

9) Queen of Camelot. Nancy McKenzie.

10) The White Queen. Philippa Gregory.

11) Graceling. Kristin Cashore.

12) Cybele's Secret. Juliet Marillier.

13) Sisters Red. Jackson Pearce.

14) His Dark Materials. Philip Pullman.

15) Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Jamie Ford.

16) Shiver. Maggie Stiefvater.

17) The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald.

18) Elsewhere. Gabrielle Zevin.

19) The Truth About Forever. Sarah Dessen.

20) Things You Either Hate or Love. Brigid Lowry.

21) Avalon High. Meg Cabot.

22) After. Amy Efaw.

23) Psych Major Syndrome. Alicia Thompson.

24) The Sevenwaters Trilogy. Juliet Marillier.

25) A Blue So Dark. Holly Schindler.

Thanks to greenconverses for staying up until 3 am* with me to help me come up with books on my list (and also to keep me company while I write 4 billion essays for school). This is how our conversation degenerated in the early hours of the morning (keep in mind that I had two Hot Pockets today):

Me: You are right; I'm starting to regret that Hot Pocket. From that overly bloated feeling you get when it starts to digest.

Her: Hahaha. But it was delicious while you had it.

Me: Meh. Lol. The ham and cheese one was better this morning.

Her: ...did you have a breakfast pocket?

Me: I did...

Her: I'd judge you hardcore right now, but my breakfast consisted of Burger King soooo...

And what you have learned now is that college students eat about one step above homeless people. Maybe not even. The night before I had beer and Ramen noodles. So there you go. There is going to be a day when even my Asian metabolism can't handle my eating habits.

*Nope, just kidding. It's 5 am, and we're still on AIM. This right here is true friendship of the writerly kind.