A Bit About Books

I have way too much to say and don't know how to say it all, so instead I'm just going to take a challenge from the Young Writer's Society and answer some questions about books instead of rambling on about the complexities of my life. 

1) Who is one of your favourite authors?
Cornelia Funke, C.S.Lewis and Markus Zusak. I know, I know, it's more than one... but they're all so good. I couldn't decide just one.

2) Ebooks, Paperback or Hardcover?
Paperback. I like hardcover as long as it doesn't have the dust jacket. That extra paper cover thing is so annoying!

3) What is your favourite genre and why?
I like young adult fiction, which I know is super broad. Fantasy is fun, but only if it's really good fantasy.

4) Why/when did you start writing?
My family reads. I learned to love reading from all of them as soon as I could.

5) Why/when did you start to love reading?
I don't think I've ever not loved it!

6) If you could enter a fictional world for a day, which would it be?
The Inkworld. I would love to spend a day in the Inkworld. Inkheart captured my heart (ha, get it? Inkheart, heart... yeah....) in ways that I can never fully understand. I would love to follow Maggie through the pages.

7) Who would be your fictional boyfriend/girlfriend?
Well, my current boyfriend is already better than any fictional guys. But for the sake of answering the question. I've always been a bit in love with Rudy from the Book Thief. Oh, can I say Mortiod from my own book? He's pretty cool.

8) What is your favourite classic book?
Hm, tough question. There's so many great books, and I can't think which ones count as classics. Secret Garden? I read that years ago but remember loving it. Anne of Green Gables? It's a classic in my mind. Lord of the Flies? So good...

9) If you could only read series or standalone books for the rest of your life, which would it be?
Standalone. I get tired of authors quickly and need to take breaks between books in a series.

10) If you had to burn three books in the world because they were so bad, which would they be?
Textbooks, I guess. I don't think I could burn an actual book- it just feels like murder...

There you go. Now you've learned absolutely nothing about college or my writing or anything like that, but you know more about my specific taste in books. I hope you've enjoyed. 

Writing Prompts

I feel a little bit stuck right now that I'm between stages of my novel. I have the first draft written and I know that starting the second draft right now would be a terrible idea since I'm leaving in 7 days. (Wow, that is so soon!) But I can't just not write!

So I turn to writing prompts, which keep me writing even when I'm not working on a book. I have to admit that this is really frustrating, because I know that I'm not going to do anything with these stories and probably no one is going to read them, and in some ways it feels like a waste of time. You know, life every day like it's your last and enjoy every moment to the fullest. And so I feel like I should be focused on, you know, doing something to change the world or what not.

But I do need to take a break before moving on to Draft Two because I need time to think through what I need to change and add and take out.

I just don't need to take a break from writing, because everyone knows that the only actual good advice for writers is to read a lot and write every single day.

So... writing prompts. I know if I tried to write on my own I would get carried away and want to start another novel, so prompts are a great way for me to just get writing without thinking about it too much. You know, just write with my heart instead of my brain for a little bit.

And I found this fantastic website or tumblr or something and it has tons of writing prompts. Some of them are kind of meh, but a lot of them are really awesome and I've already gotten some pretty interesting stories out of them.

Also, every Wednesday I post a creative writing challenge on the Young Writers Society group blog, Writing Gooder, so that's another way to find challenges and prompts to get creativity flowing and write even when you're not working on a specific project.

I encourage you to find some prompts and write EVERY day!

San Miguel Writers Conference

I want to know your name, but don't just tell me. Write your name for me.

This was one of the prompts I got in one of various workshops at the San Miguel Writer's Conference. I think I already mentioned the conference in the last blog, but I could have made that up or dreamed it. I have had several strange dreams lately.

But anyway, the conference was great, and even though I was by far the youngest person there I still got to identify myself as a writer. There's something incredible about being surrounded by a whole bunch of people that all have one thing in common: writing.

Because I don't know what kind of picture to add to this blog.

And I wrote a lot over the weekend, from prompts to notes to letters for my friend back here. I think I filled a new composition notebook about halfway. But I love writing, and I love writing prompts. Which reminds me, be sure to check out Writing Gooder, because every Wednesday I post a creative writing prompt or challenge. Creative Catastrophe. Check it out!

And another random picture.

And, let's see, did I learn anything new? One workshop gave us a story map that drew from all those other plot triangles and outlines and put all of them into one concrete map to follow. I don't usually outline a ton because I feel like preplanning makes me get stuck in my writing and I forget to just write. But now that I'm in the fifth draft I realized that there are definitely some holes in my own story map and I need to go back and fix them.

And I learned all about playwriting and then went home and wrote my first five minute play. Yay me!

And I talked to an agent, how terrifying and exciting is that?

So maybe the coming months will bring some news after all. My fingers are crossed and I am most certainly praying as hard as I can.

Chaos and Christmas

I know, I know. 
I haven't been on in ages, and this poor blog has been hopelessly abandoned.


I went on a cruise this Christmas, and spent Christmas Day in Jamaica. Good thing God is everywhere. It was great overall, and I did a lot of new things, such as parasailing and scuba diving and touching sting rays. (Which feel incredible slimy and gross, by the way.)

I also went to Florida, and North Carolina, and then finally came back to Oaxaca in time for a paintball game with some of my friends and a couple movies and multiple coffee dates. Overall, a fantastic vacation, and I wish I had more time to tell you more about it.

However, book two has been started, which I'm sure I've mentioned many, many times, and is now over 80 pages long. I'm excited to get it down on paper, although I have to admit that writing this book hasn't been easy. These characters are stubborn, you know, and they'll have their way whether I want them to or not.

Honestly, you have no idea how much I've argued with some of them. Especially regarding romance, with all of the trying to pair off even though they know that it is completely outside of character and irrelevant to the story. They try anyway, and I'm barely keeping them away from each other's throats.

The Remnants are fantastic, though, and I wish I could give more time to each of them. They are all developing splendidly, and they deserve an applause.


I also have no school for the next few months, which means a lot of time for writing, Or for meaning to write and then procrastinating or getting frustrated and not writing after all. Still, time is time and I am so grateful that now I can write when I want to instead of having to write complaining poetry in my journals.


Oh, that reminds me that I am now a Junior Moderator of that site I mentioned once or twice, The Young Writers Society, which as far as I'm concerned just means that my name is written in Green letters instead of Blue and I have some new special powers that I haven't quite figured out yet.

Well, there's a ridiculously quick summary, and probably still too long.

School Life Outside of School

Sometimes I wish I could change certain parts of my life.

I mean, I've been so busy, but not hanging out with friends. I mean, today is Friday, right? And we didn't have any school in order to celebrate something. (Maybe Columbus Day, maybe Canadian Thanksgiving Day, maybe the teachers just got lazy. It all depends on who you ask.)

But anyway- a Friday with no school. Should be super exciting, right? Want to know what I did?

I woke up at 8:00. There's my first problem. Why did I not sleep in? Good question.

At 9:30 I headed over to the school. (Yes, there was no school. But I went to school on a Friday anyway.) And helped Student Council paint a bunch of blocks of wood that we'll use in the Fun Fall Festival- a traditional carnival sort of thing my school does every year.

We painted until around 12:00 or 1:00, and then headed across town to help with the Junior Senior class garage sale. That ended about 2:00, and I decided to stay at a friend's house for a while longer before going home, but I didn't think to call home, and my mom showed up to pick me up a couple minutes later.

So after a little "I-never-get-to-hang-out-with-my-friends-I-don't-even-have-any-friends-why-does-everybody-hate-me-I'm-so-hormonal-and-way-overreacting" breakdown, I took a long shower and then went to go get crepes and coffee with my mom.

And now I'm home- still feeling a little bit sorry for myself- and wishing I could at least watch a movie. But we have a pathetic movie selection, and the guy's action racing movie that my dad rented doesn't sound appealing. I'm emotional and lonely, I need a chick flick, not an action, duh!

Oh boy. I guess my rant is over.

On the plus side- since there's always got to be a glass-half-full side of things- I did write a satire about technology, and a blog entry, and did some reviews on that writing website I mentioned way back when.

And I have been reading, a new John Green book called Looking for Alaska, and while it definitely isn't as good as The Fault in Our Stars and I don't think it will make my favorites, it's still a good book and an interesting read.

So yeah. The end.

Ugh. And I'm too lazy to even add in pictures like I normally do. Well, actually, it's not laziness, it's just that we're about to start watching that guy's action racing movie.

Okay, okay, now it really is the end. (Except, "okay", Fault in Our Stars, I'm going to cry again!)

Reviews, Nerds, and Chocolate Fondue

I have said before, and will probably say again, that I am a nerd. I even have a shirt that says "Nerds need love, too" and has a cute picture of a little nerd girl. (Actually I have two- one with the girl and one with a girl and a boy.)

I also love to write- duh- and love to talk about writing with other writers. Unfortunately, I don't have many writing friends, or any, really.

Some time ago, I really don't know how long ago it was that I joined, but I found a website called the Young Writers Society. I think of it a little bit like a Facebook for writers. You get to post your work and have it edited and reviewed by tons of other writers. I don't know how many bits of poetry or short stories I have posted there, and I'm sure my writing has improved because of that.

So I just Googled YWS, but this picture is one of the first that came up, and that is my poem! I wrote that, see my name there? Yeah. I was in the Literary Spotlight and someone took a picture and posted it onto this website.

But even more than my works being reviewed, I've reviewed a lot of works myself. I think it's such great writing practice, because it allows me to see what I don't like in other writing and then avoid it in my own writing. It trains me to focus on negative aspects of the things that I read so that I will also be more aware of those same negative aspects when I write. It works really well, and I love it.

Well, this Young Writers Society also has special contests and such. The Knights of the Green Room, for example, a brotherhood of writers who works hard to make sure that every work posted on the site gets at least two good reviews. I am pleased to say that I joined this knighthood and you can know refer to me as Knight Cailey.



YWS Knight

This weekend was the "Review Day" in which members divide into two teams and review as much as they can. Reviews can earn up to 150 points, depending on how long it is and how many previous reviews have been posted. I am proud to say that my Review Team won, and I passed my self-imposed goal of twenty reviews and instead wrote 24.

Keep in mind- that means that I also had to read 24 different pieces. Some poetry, one or two short stories, and a lot of novel segments. It was a lot of reading, and I must be insane for still being on my computer to blog about the whole thing.

Insane, or extremely nerdy.
 I just feel like I need to mention this site again.

And the chocolate fondue? Not much of a story there. Just prove of how much my mother loves me. <3

Oh- and the Whisperers, of course. I have about forty pages left to read. We're getting closer!