Friday, May 28, 2010

Judgmental Writers

Through out my whole life I've experienced bits and pieces of judgement for my writing, or at one time, lack of better spelling ability. I was not always the best speller and I've always been truthful about that. I'm not ashamed and I didn't have a learning disorder, I just had to learn in a different way.

Anyhow, like I said I've had my own experiences with judgmental people. Back around when I was 15 I had shown a part of a short story of mine to someone who claimed to be John Jakes. Didn't know who he was at the time, but found out he was the author of the North and The South books. I don't know if it was really John Jakes who read my short story. But, John Jakes, or whoever it was, wasn't very nice. He called my story and writing terrible. He said I should give it up and I would never make it as an author. Needless to say, that hurt. It would hurt anyone, wouldn't it?

When I was 16, close to 17 I had given up on writing stories, or a book. The books I was writing at the time I felt weren't good enough. Back in late 2008 is when I got into writing again and it happened because of blogging on Xanga. Blogging on Xanga made me find my love for writing again. It was last year once again that I decided to write a book. This time the book writing is different. I haven't given up and I won't. I like my story and my characters. My writing and spelling has improved greatly. But it's not because of what 'John Jakes' said. It's because writing is what I want to do, it's what I'm good at and I know that I can be a successful published author.

But, now that I've really gotten back into writing I've noticed there are different groups of writers. There are nice, supportive writers who want other writers like them to succeed. And then there are the judgmental and there are quite a few more judgmental writers out there then I realized.

I think it's fine to help someone, give them advice or tell them if they aren't doing something exactly right. Some people want that actually, and while I understand not everyone is going to like your writing, I don't think any writer wants to be harshly judged. These judgmental writers try to act like they are better then you and attack people who are non writers for the fact that their spelling and such might not be so good.

On my Xanga blog there is a girl, she is a writer and I've been nothing, but nice to her. However, I have noticed that whenever she replies to one of my blogs she tries to act as if she is better then I am - as if I am stupid and have no idea what I'm talking about. She's done it to some other people that comment on my blogs as well. I've never said anything to her because I'm not into starting drama. But I don't like her "I'm better then you" attitude. Maybe my grammar isn't amazing, maybe I don't always know where all the punctuation marks go. Not all writers do, but I think what matters is we try our best. Isn't that what editors are for? To fix our mistakes, or help us.

I just think that if you are a writer and come across a fellow writer, just try to be nice and encouraging. I didn't improve because people were judging me harshly and all that does is make someone feel bad. I improved because I read and write a lot. And I mean a lot. Whenever I see a fellow writer I encourage them and give them advice. I tell them if they wish to get better at writing then just write and read a lot. It honestly works.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't believe in being harsh. You can help a fellow writer improve by just telling them nicely how to do so. There isn't no need to be harsh, or insulting.

Well, I guess there isn't much I can do to change other people. I just know that I'm not going to be harsh on anyone whose dream is to be an author. I'll give advice and try to help, but I could never be insulting or harsh. I know too much of how that feels.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

I Haven't Forgotten This Place

I know it might seem as if I have forgotten this place, but I haven't. I haven't had a chance to write. I've been doing all of my blogging on my main blog on Xanga. Speaking of that, I'm going to have to change the link I have on here. I recently changed my name on Xanga.
Anyway, besides blogging on Xanga and doing a few other things online I've been busy writing my book. I've been really going at it and I think it gets better by the day. I've also been writing short stories and I can really see an improvement in my writing. It's amazing. I can see with the book I'm writing and this latest short story I wrote. I just feel really happy with myself and my writing.

I'm getting ready for the Summer reading program to start at Hershey library June 1st. I know a few books I'm going to get.

Dial-a-Ghost by Eva Ibbotson

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

Ghosthunters and The Gruesome Invincible Lighting Ghost by Cornelia Funke

Tamora Pierce is on my friends list on Goodreads and I haven't read any of her books yet, but she seems like a really down to earth person. I'm actually really excited to read her book Alanna: The First Adventure. I was also checking out her web site, reading different things and this one thing she said really stood out to me:

"One other thing: a number of people who write to me these days say they may be too old (16, 20, 34, 53, 80) to read my books. As a person with a library that is one-third teen books, intermediate books, beginning chapter books, and picture books, I say the only thing that matters is that the reader enjoys the book, whatever her/his age. Any decently written kids' book should be just as enjoyable for adult readers. Good stories and good ideas are ageless."

This is so very true. I have noticed that there are quite a few adults, even teens, that will not read YA or children's books because they feel they are too easy and not challenging enough for them. There are some pretty amazing YA/children's book out there. You just have to look for them and just because it is YA/children doesn't mean it won't be a good read, or it's not a real book. There is lots you can learn from YA/children's books and plus some can be really fun to read. I'm open to read anything that catches my interests. I just wish more people would give YA/Children books a chance.

I'm also reading Nightshade City by Hilary Wagner. I won it from Goodreads and it's a signed copy! It's very good so far.

Well, maybe I will put up another post in a few days. I'll try to start writing on here a bit more.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

About My Other Blog...

Okay, like I said I'm going to write about what happened on my other blog. Xanga has changed the front page a bit. The Featured Blogs are still there, but off to the side while the Top Blogs are on the front page now. The Top Blogs are changed every day, they are said to go by how many comments, recommends, views you get. So I made my own post about the Top Blogs. Saying how I think it's great they are on the front page so users can get more traffic, but I said not everyone gets on the Top Blogs. I said that I've had posts of mine get 30, 40 or 50 comments and it doesn't make it to the Top Blogs and I've seen other bloggers say the same thing.
I said that I think there should be some type of thing for those who don't, or can't seem to get on the Top Blogs. Well, most of the people think Xanga can't do anymore to help people get traffic and that it's up to the user who wants traffic to get it. But, these people who say that are the ones who complained about Xanga not giving the users traffic and Xanga needed to do something about it. But, they aren't complaining now because they get the Top Blogs often and they are now located on the front page.

But...The comment that bothered me came from someone on Xanga who has been my friend for awhile. Here is her exact comment "I think it's fine the way it is. It's completely equal-opportunity. If you write stuff that people are interested and you network/comment lots of other people, you will make top blogs. When I didn't have sign-in lock I was somewhere within the top 100 everyday. You seem really concerned with getting lots of traffic and Xanga changing, but you never try to change what you blog about or how you blog. There really isn't anything else Xanga can do to get you more traffic, it's up to YOU to get traffic, not up to Xanga to give you traffic."

One thing I want to say is that I like getting comments because I like to connent with others on Xanga and hear their opinions, but I'm not so worried about traffic, or comments like she says. Also I do comment lots of other people and if you notice she mentioned how she made the Top Blogs every day. I was upset because this is a person who has been my friend on there for awhile and she reads all of my posts and she has the nerve to say that I'm concerned with traffic and Xanga changing. I didn't see her go after other people when they were complaining about how Xanga needs to change. And why do I need to change anything? If I become a popular blogger I want it to be because I'm being myself, not being fake to get comments/traffic.

Now what she is doing is she went off sign-in lock so she is able to make the Top Blogs, she's now blogging about things she knows will get a lot of traffic and comments and she keeps talking about traffic. Like the other day "Xanga must be dead today...I'm not getting a lot of traffic :(" and this morning "Wow.... I'm getting a lot of traffic, I've gotten 954 footprints since midnight."
I just have a feeling she's doing this now to throw it in my face that she can get traffic and on the Top Blogs. I have never been mean to her. I've commented and recommended a lot of her posts and now she acts like a jerk to me and judges me from one single post after reading my blog for months. Know how people say "When someone accuses you of doing something it means they are the ones really doing it themselves"? Well, over the past week I've really learned that it's true. She accused me of being concerned with traffic, but it's really her. If anyone were on Xanga saw how she blogged before compared to after my Top Blogs they will saw she changed.

Sorry for the rant....Needed to get it out. It just sucks when you are nice to someone and they do some crap like that.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Crystal Skulls, Books and More

It's been more then a month since I last updated. A lot has been going on. Was pretty stressed out for awhile, but everything is okay now. I've been helping my boyfriend to find a job and he has an interview at Pizza Hut on Monday. I have a good feeling about Pizza Hut, I think he'll get hired there.

The most recent books I've bought are Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones, The Hooded Man by Jay Bennett and Whispers From The Grave by Leslie Rule. Haven't read any of them yet, but I will probably will within the next few months. I'm currently reading Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix. It's awesome so far.

Okay, this is probably going to get weird now, but I've really been into Crystal Skulls lately. It started earlier this month when I watched the documentary Mystery of The Crystal Skulls. I even found this website: Crystalskulls.com and it is awesome. The website has tons of information on Crystal Skulls, the legends and mayans and so much more. The website even sells Crystal Skulls. I'm going to buy a pocket sized one for now since it is only $20. It's very small, but I'm excited about getting it. I should be ordering it next week sometime.

But, there is another skull I want that is named Ami. To buy it cost about a million dollars. I don't know how I'm going to buy it, but I believe it will happen. I think it'll be great to get Ami as well.

Well, something happened on Xanga that I wanted to write about, but I'll try to write about it tomorrow. So I'm going to stop here for now and write again tomorrow if I have time.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Just A Quick Post...

I decided against posting this on Xanga for the reason that I may be told I'm whining again or worse. Remember I wrote a post about racism earlier this month? Well, it has never gotten featured. But, yesterday a post about racism got featured and it's someone on my friends list that wrote. I'm happy for her having a featured post, but I feel disappointed too. Her post was about her being racist because of growing up around and she's working on changing. That is great. Mine was different though, mine showed that racism happens to and can affect white people too.
I just feel really disappointed, mainly because I worked so hard on that post, it was difficult to write and when I did finish it I was proud of myself for writing it. It is probably one of the the posts I wrote that is most important to me. I know it didn't get featured because of it length (or maybe it was another reason. Maybe it was because it showed a completely different side to racism.) I don't really know, but I couldn't help feeling a bit hurt because her post was featured and not mine.

I'm going to edit my post, try to make it a bit shorter, repost it and submit it again later this year and hope that I get featured.
I just really needed to write all that. I feel a bit better now and wish I could post this on my other blog without being judged or the woman who got featured get mad at me.

Friday, March 12, 2010

If You Don't Have Anything Nice To Say, Don't Say Anything At All

On the 4th of this month on my Xanga blog I wrote a post about my experiences with racism and posted it on Xanga. It was a very long post, longer then I expected to make it, but there was a lot to tell and it needed to be told in order for others to understand. It didn't get as many comments as I thought it would, it was probably because of it being long and it didn't get featured like I thought it would. Xanga is different from other blog sites, you can get your posts featured on the front page. I know why it wasn't featured; again because of it's length. So I was a bit disappointed and even wrote a post that I was disappointed that it wasn't featured. It wasn't because I was looking to get popular, or get friends or subscribers from it. The message of my post was that racism affects everyone of every race and I think it's an important message so I wanted a lot of people to be able to read it.

I explained that in my post and someone said "if you are creating a post to get featured....reconsider your intention for writing....you are whining..." I never responded to her, but it annoyed me. I blog on Xanga, I like having my posts read by people, I like getting lots of comments and hearing others opinions, I like getting featured and whenever I write a post on there I don't write it in a certain way so it will be featured. I write it the way I write everything. Whenever I write anything, it's just me being myself and writing what interests me, what's on my mind. Now if I didn't want anyone to read my blog I would set it to friends lock and not friend anyone or I would write in my diary only. I blog on Xanga to connect with others and get others opinions and just talk to people. I don't write with the intention of getting featured, I just write how I always do and if it gets featured then that's great! But, I find it rude for someone to come on my blog and say I'm whining and tell me I need to reconsider why I'm writing. I'm writing because I love to write and for others to read. She is on there for the same reason, she's not on friends lock and I've her posts get lots of comments. I don't know her, but I've read a few of her posts because they were about famous native americans and they were good. I recommended them and I was never once mean to her. Isn't great how others pay you back for being nice?

I really don't mean to complain, but this has been annoying me for days now. Is it wrong for me to blog and want others to comment or for it to get featured? Isn't that why people blog anyway? It's like telling an author they need to think about why they write if they are looking to get published and want people to read their stories. There is nothing wrong with wanting people to read what you write.

I just needed to vent a bit. Sorry for the ranting. I might try and post a book review on here in a few days.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Books I Want

Here I'm going to start a list of books I want and as I get them they will be marked off. This list will be updated and reposted.


This is Diana Wynne Jones new book and it was released in the UK in January. I want it so bad, but it costs about $25 dollars to import it. The book comes out in April in America so I guess I will just have to wait.


This is a book I found tonight while looking through young adult mystery books on Amazon and it sounds so good. I'm going to try and order it soon.

There is a lot more books I want, but I'll add more to the list later. I did a lot of shoveling and I'm feeling pretty tired. Will update later.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

March Already!

Wow, I can't believe it's March already. February went really fast! I hope that March, and the rest of this year goes slower. Sorry I haven't had time to update the books I want list. Been busy when I get online, but I have a few minutes so I decided to write something.

I've been writing posts on my Xanga blog and I'm working on a few now that I need to finish. One is about what I would want my dream home to look like and I really think about that a lot. The other is a book review on The Hobbit. Then I'm going to have to think up more stuff to write about, but I'm sure I will. I always do and I'm usually good at coming up with things to write about.
Last Thursday I went to the library and borrowed some books and also bought some books from the library's book store. Got the books for really cheap! I found Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill in hardcover for only $1.50!! That's cheap. I also got The Land of Elyon book 1 and 2 and a book called Companions of The night which sounds really good and I can't wait to read it. I'm currently reading a book I borrowed from the library called The Book of Dragons by Edith Nesbit. I really want to say I'm loving the book, but it's not as great as I thought it would be and I'm a bit disappointed, but I'm going to keep reading and finish it.
A few days ago I ordered some books from the Science Fiction Book Club so I could complete my commitment. Hopefully I will get the books this week or next week sometime.

I keep hearing we are supposed to get a really bad storm on the 7th of this month and I hope that doesn't happen. I can't stand to shovel anymore this year.
Nothing much else has been going on with me. Getting out last week was great and I hope I can do it again soon; staying home all the time can get pretty boring. Well, I'll write again soon, try to update my list of books I want and I'll be writing about my book again soon.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Just Another Boring Day

I bought The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and The Struggle yesterday so I need to take it off my books I want to buy list. I need to update the list and add more books to it, I'll try to do that later tonight or within the next few days.
Anyway, I'm excited about reading The Vampire Diaries, but I'm not going to read it until I finish Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. Today was normal, didn't do much. Only slept for 3 hours and I've been up all day. It's 7:30 PM now and I don't even feel tired. I might nap a bit later though. Today I just read and wrote my book, which is still coming along great. Now I'm waiting for Celebrity Rehab to come on.

Next week sometime I'm going to my local library. I haven't been to the library in months and I miss going so much. I'm going to try and have some money to maybe buy a book or two from their little bookstore inside the library. The bookstore sells used books that look new and they are really cheap, plus it helps to fund the library. I'm going to get the Writers Market if they have it and have a look through it, take notes etc. Also going to get some Publisher's Weekly magazines if they have them. Probably going to get a some manga to read and I'm not sure what else I'm going to get. I'm excited about going to the library and probably going to the video game store as well. I'll update soon.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

New Layout!

Found a layout I like. Couldn't find an anime one this time though. I really want a Card Captor or Revolutionary Girl Utena layout, but I know one of those will be hard to find. So I went with a fantasy layout and I love it. I think it looks awesome!

Anyway, I'll update again soon.