Hello Twisters!Bianca here. Today I wanted to talk about my book. This should probably go in 'The Smol Scribble' (my writing section of the blog) but I think what I have to say will interest and benefit everyone. First, this process has been extremely challenging. The first draft of my book was a short story for school. It was meant for a fun, light read for kids. It was short, simple, and educational. But I recognized that I wanted to traditionally publish it (as that was my dream) and that started a battle. So many battles. Battle 1 - Lengthening The BookMy book at the beginning was around 3K words, I think. But I hadn't touched it since 9th grade (it might have been 10th grade, I need to double check), so it needed some major editing, fine-tuning, and developmental edits. It was difficult conveying to my family that I needed to do this step and why I couldn't do a regular edit (proofread = regular edit). It needed much more. The story was off, I discussed with some of the kids that I worked with what they wanted to see in book 2 and 3 and so I needed to add some foreshadowing and plot to help span into the next two books. And a simple edit just wasn't going to do that. But how was I going to edit it? I strongly disliked the editing phase because 1) I didn't know what I was doing, 2) so many people were sharing with me their opinions that I couldn't hear my own, 3) I had an expectation to fulfill and that already creates an unhealthy mindset when you begin a project for fun, and 4) everyone's advice on children books (as my story is for elementary and middle schoolers) are so conflicting. Battle 1 - SolutionSo what could I do to fix this mess I put on myself? I had already messed up but completed somehow a couple of drafts that I was semi-proud of but all of them felt lacking. I was trying to work on a version of the story that would be around 30K words, so a traditional publisher would even take a look at it (30K words is the industry standard for middle grade books). I learned that, as an author, I can't have two audiences, its either elementary schoolers (ages seven to ten) with the word count being either 10K to 12K or middle schoolers (ages twelve and up), with the word count being over 30K to 50K. There was no home for my 3K little book that both elementary and middle schoolers loved. Then my mother said something that made sense, "Why not work on a version of the book for young kids and then later on make one for the older kids?" That struck a chord with me. It was a great idea. But I took it a step further. Why not just combine the appeal to both? I know it sounds like the same idea before, but what if I make a story that is short that resonates with the younger kids, but is long enough and cool enough for the older kids. I still kept the premise of the appeal the same, I just changed my mindset. And after I created the mindset to run, I closed everyone out and I wrote. Because I could not afford to look or think about other things that would get me distracted. I needed to work. In short, I changed my mindset and I stayed focused. How To Apply The SolutionBut everything is easier said than done. So what if you find yourself in the situation, what should you do? Changing your mindset is hard. I tried to work on it for a month and a half (that's how long I was stuck on the 30K draft before scraping it altogether) and it was agonizing. I didn't like working on it, it was actual work, and it wasn't fun anymore. So I walked away from it. Not forever, no, that's no what you do. I walked away with it in mind. Since I couldn't see clearly where I needed to go, I decided to change the view. Ask people you trust about the situation. But don't blatantly ask them, "I'm stuck at this one part of my story and I don't know where to move, what do I do?" Depending on who you ask, you will get the help/answer you need or you won't. And sometimes, you don't want someone's opinion on your story (especially if you are still editing it, you want people's opinions after you edit), rather you want to know what they would do in your situation. (Or, at least, that's what I wanted to know.) So what I did was create a scenario for them with something they can understand and relate to. That way they could give me a response on what they would do and how they would do it. For me, the hard part came with their response and my response to theirs. What was I hiding from? What are you hiding from? Are you hiding behind favoritism and fear? (I was.) Are you telling people no to their ideas because it didn't fit in your own? (I did.) Are you stopping people in the middle of their sentences stating why that wouldn't work? (I did that too.) But that isn't going to help you at all. I hid behind fear and favoritism for my book because I loved how my book was already, even though I knew it wasn't perfect and ready for publication. However, since I loved it too much, I wasn't willing to hear anyone's critiques on how it could be improved. Other people's ideas are exactly what you want to hear when you're in a rut. You can't tell people 'no that's not going to work' because you don't like the idea. Half of all my good ideas comes from when me and another person expand of those ideas that presumably 'weren't going to work'. And since I felt I knew the industry and my book inside out, I refused to listen to anyone who even shared their opinion about it. Because I believed, that since I spent several hours every day for the past year looking at information, that I knew more than them and that I knew everything that I could know about the industry. In reality, I don't know enough about the industry and I was so scared of people telling me that I was doing it wrong that I became so focused on telling people they were wrong instead of listening to them. What I'm trying to say is, know who you are, where you want to go with your book, and recognize and listen to people. But only for a moment. You need to know and figure out when someone is helping and when someone is hurting you. I'm afraid I'm still working on that part. To Be Continued... Battle 2 - The IndustrySince this post is already so very, very long. I'm going to be splitting this series into sections. Battle 2 is going to be about the industry (and why I dislike it so much), Battle 3 is all about self-publishing (which I may or may not split into two parts), and Battle 4 is about Kickstarter. Looking back on all of this, I recognize how far I am in the process, because right now, I'm on battle 4. There will always be an easy way to do things, but trust me, not all easy ways are the right way. Listen to your heart and if you don't like your options, make a new one. Stay Safe, Stay Home and Until Next Time My Friends... Adieu
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Hello Twisters!Today is all about movies and shows! As I haven't been working these past couple months, I've been cleaning, writing, working on my video game (the outlining parts), and watching YouTube and movies/shows on Netflix and Tubi. Charisma found Tube first, I just joined the bandwagon, but I've got to say, it's pretty awesome. There's a lot of old shows and movies that are on it for free and there are hardly any ads. I like to watch crazy and not widely known romance movies and they are absolutely crazy. Like. I wish I was kidding. Tubi has those movies that no one wanted to watch but needed a platform and I love them. Some are absolute gems that have horrible covers (I watched a pretty good Christmas Prince one that I have to say is 10/10) and some movies are absolutely awful that they bring me such amusement. :') The good stuff. Have you watched any good movies or shows recently? Let me know down in the comments! I've heard that 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' is finally back on Netflix, so if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Stay Safe, Stay Home and Until Next Time My Friends... Adieu
Happy New Years, Twisters! It's a new year and that means new goals and a whole lot of new opportunities~ This past year, I regret doing so little regarding everything I did. School, I could have put a whole lot more effort into that, my Japanese class, I could have had a higher grade than my 96%, and I could have used my Bujo a lot more. Also, I regret not posting on the blog when I had the chance. I spent so much of my free time on YouTube or on Instagram that I didn't even have the decency to say, "Just A Quick Update!". That is why, this year, I'm going to change a WHOLE lot in my life. My Goals:
And those are my resolutions! I'm so ready for this year. I feel as though it's going to be a great year and I really think that my goals are actually achievable. What are your goals for 2018? Tell us in the comments below! I know, I know. This is strange! Why would I be writing about this? Well, in my Leadership class, I (again) have the wonderful opportunity to write something that would persuade another. And this is what I've chose to discuss. Why the particular subject of da video games? Well, I believe that there is a lot of hate and negativity on playing video games going around and I would like the ability to voice my thoughts and opinions on this subject. I was talking to a friend of mine and he said that he had "no life" because he played a lot of video games. And I thought about this. When I think of somebody that has no life, I think of someone who is a couch potato and watches shows and eats all day long. But he told me that his "no life" was spent by playing video games. Playing video games = "no life"? Sir, I think not. Why would immersing yourself in another world that our universe doesn't contain "not a life"?! How does learning important skills (some of which we will cover later on in this post) that can be taught in the comfort of you home "not a life"?!?! How is experiencing a life beyond your own, one that has different emotions, one that possibly bonds with creatures or plants, and watching them develop as a being "NOT A LIFE"?!?!?! *clears throat* And now, my fellow Twisters, here are the few reasons why you should play video games: |
In the world of video games, there are moments when it's going to get tough. And in those moments, you can't just look down at your controller and spam whatever buttons because you're confused (though this will happen many, many times; this has happened to me waaaaaay too much). So, as you continue to play video games, your hand-eye coordination becomes better. You've memorized what button is where, what each of those buttons do, and when a difficult situation arises, you will have everything down. | Another thing that is very evident in the world of video games are the puzzles. There are a lot of puzzles. Too many, in all honesty. One of the key features of the Legend of Zelda is the puzzles contained inside. And trust me, they do get tough (just try beating Hero Mode). In these types of situations, you'll need to think and use your knowledge that you've gained from the game and just basic logic (both will soon grow) to solve them. Puzzle-solving is also very wonderful if you ever want to tackle an escape room. These are known for being very tricky and you need to think outside of the box to solve them (just like in Fetch!). |
*throws hands up into the air pointing at the skills* See! Important skills!
A Visual Story
Have you ever read a book and bonded so much with the characters you felt as if you were travelling alongside them? Have you ever wanted to see what was actually happening and what the places actually looked like? Playing a video game lets you see all those things.
A video game is a book and a movie combined. It's a playable movie; it's a visual story. You still get very attached to the characters. You still get to cry with them. You still get to laugh with them. You still can experience heartbreak and sadness with them. But you can also see (in clear high definition, hopefully) what it was like for them. How it all, those emotions, those experiences, their position in life, came to be.
You're definitely not getting cheated out of an experience. Not at all.
You're getting an enhanced version of one.
Have you played video games before? If so, which one is your favorite? If you haven't, do you want to? Tell us in the comments!!
How are you all? Sorry we haven't been updating the blog. I could give you some lovely excuses about how we're busy - which is true - and how we don't have the time, but we do have the time. We procrastinate, so yeah. We got time. It's just not in the front of our minds. Hopefully from now on, though, when we want to procrastinate and be distracted, we'll try and update the blog! (And trust us... we get distracted a LOT!)
Buuuuuuuut! Yesterday, Bianca and I was interviewed for our first job! We applied to the Chick-fil-A where we live, because our older sisters worked there (one is still working, the other has moved on), and we know some of the people there, so we thought it would be the best option. (We also need money for our next semester for Japanese, which is a hefty amount of money!)
We rode our bikes there, because our mother and oldest sister had taken their cars, and that was... a journey. I'm a casual biker and we needed to get there in about 10 - 15 minutes, so I was just struggling. Not too terrible, but a passerby could probably see my struggle.
Once we got there, we freshened up in the bathroom, and had the most chill interview I've ever had. It was amazing! We were interviewed by a friend and he was really just asking us questions about us and how we thought we would fit into the job. It was very nice. :)
After that, we biked ourselves back home (our older sister biked with us there, but she started work at 3 and our interview was at 2, so she just decided to bike with us, which was SUPER nice of her!) and kind just pooped ourselves back into this world. Hehe.... Yeah. After that, I ate, then slept.
I was tired.
But all in all, it was amazing! Great way to start off our first job interview!
Have any of you been interviewed? If so, what's the story? Did you like it? Tell us in the comments!
Guess who's back! It's us! Or, me rather. I apologize for not writing for such a long time. I've been consumed with school, writing (preparing for Camp NaNoWriMo!), and I'm an assistant at a Summer Art Camp which runs for eight (8) consecutive weeks, five days a week, from nine (9 am) in the morning to twelve (12 pm) in the afternoon.
*sigh*
I've been busy.
Okay, let's go down the list and explain:
- SCHOOL - Charisma and I have been doing summer school (Human Geography and Personal Finance) so that we can graduate from High School early. The class is super laid back and it's a go-at-your-own-pace deal, which is super nice. I'm hoping to finish Human Geography this week.
- WRITING - I just finished a short story (I'll elaborate over at My Writing Journey) and it took a LOT of energy from me. Even though it was only 5,000 words (which seems little to be, but apparently the number of pages makes it seem very long to other people), it's a very complex and descriptive story. Also, I'm trying to write a 10,000-word short story in July for Camp NaNoWriMo and I haven't finished planning that yet... so I'm freaking out just a tad.
- SUMMER ART CAMPS - Like I stated before, it's five days a week, from morning till noon, and it's for eight consecutive weeks. I'm an assistant to the teachers and I'm usually with the 1st - 2nd graders (occasionally, I get the 3rd - 5th, but I don't get them as often as Charisma). Each week there is a theme so that way the classes are all directed in a specific manner and not random 'LET'S DRAW WHATEVER WE WANT' mayhem.
- The morning is divided into three things: Class -- Snack -- Class. With the 1st - 2nd graders, I go upstairs to do Visual Arts (drawing, painting, sculpting, etc.) for about an hour and fifty minutes and then we go down to the basement (?? I really have no idea what it is. It's not really a basement, but like, it sort of functions as one and a lower level. It's hard to explain...) and have a twenty minute snack time, then we go to Performing Arts which is in this room called the Black Box (it's literally a black room) and we have that for an hour and fifty minutes. After we finish we PA, we head upstairs to the main lobby and wait for the kids to be picked up by their parents. VOILA. That is a full day.
Welcome (I guess) to my busy, busy summer!
I missed blogging.
Oh, yeah! Before I forget, Charisma and I have Instagram accounts... So, check them out!
My Japanese is going well, although I would like better sources for vocabulary and grammar (those are the two things I'm currently working on). Or maybe, I don't know, a teacher? As some of you might know, it's my goal to take a college course for Japanese at my local community college while in 10th grade. That is why I must get all A's on my report card. I'm an over-achiever when it comes to school. If I don't get an A or a B, I will be absolutely shattered, but I would still tell my parents that I got a low score, because they'll either help me, remind me of my goal, tell me to get help from a teacher if I'm really struggling with a certain concept, and a whole lot more.
I'm digitally editing a character that I drew! And let me tell you, *laughs*, I don't have anything fancy. No SAI, no Wacom Cintiq or Intuos, no Photoshop. Nada. Zilch. Nothing. All I've got is my handy-dandy, scanner, Paint (which is already installed on every computer), and my imagination. And truthfully, I am terrified. This is the scariest experience of my artist life. (I have several lives: Writer's Life, Artist's Life, Blogger's Life, Over-Achiever's Life, Crocheter's Life, Reader's Life, OTAKU's Life, Family Person's Life, and Outstanding-Amazing Friend's Life. I have nine lives unless someone can see more of my lives that I can't see... One might say I have nine lives. :D) Since I've never done this before (and since I have ZERO LAYERS. I didn't know what layers did before, but now I know that layers ARE A BLESSING!!! Do not take those beauties for granted!) I'm watching my sister (who is digital editing too) while she gives me tips, and I'm re-doing everything for the Umpteenth time. Though, I will survive.
I read a variety of good books this summer (don't worry, I'm gonna do some Book Reviews before school starts) and now I have found my favorite Female author: Katy Towell. I love her so much, that reading the two books she published were satisfaction for a week. Her books are all the scary, friendship, terrifying-suspenseful moments I could ever want in a book! :D Her website is called Skary and, I believe, she's working on another book (oh am I excited!).
I've had one for a while know but, I'm finally on Miiverse! I've put several posts from my gaming experiences on Demo's and full games, although they're all from Nintendo. I've posted some Style Savvy: Trendsetters and Fashion Forward, some Pokemon X and some other games as well. I'm trying to earn the money to buy some games (Animal Crossing: New Leaf is NEXT on my list. Unless someone convinces me otherwise), yet that's taking a whole lot longer than anticipated.
So yup! This is life. I hope all of you have a great rest of summer break!
Every time summer rolls around I feel like doing absolutely nothing. Which is bad because I want to learn Japanese, I have a blog to keep updated (which reminds me, I recently watched X-Men: Apocalypse several days ago and did a movie review about), and I work for a lady from my church. Ugh, it's terrible.
I got my school report card! I have all A's and one B (thankfully, this B is in Science, not math). Like I've been telling you all, if I get most to all A's in 9th grade, I will be able to take a college course of Japanese in 10th grade. Eeeh~! I'm so excited.
My Japanese is going very well. I'm proud of my progress and I am planning on taking the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) N5 next year (2017), but I have to run it through my parents first. Although, it's going to be tough because the JLPT only does it once a year (not twice like in Japan and some other countries) and it's ONLY on the first Sunday of December. That's going to be a big problem for my family. (Kemushi-chan/Loretta did a video about the JLPT)
I haven't done any writing at all lately. I'm thinking about doing some this week or some time next week. I just want to write. I want to edit Another Imagination, but it's like 48 pages and no one is willing to print it for me. I've got to find some way to print up those pages, that way I can print and edit that fantastic book. Honestly, I don't remember much about the book, so it's going to be a lot of fun re-reading a book I wrote. :3
Oh! Me and my family decided to start watching Once Upon A Time. Let me tell you. This show is greatly terrible. The only reason I say terrible is because this show is way messed up. But I love it none the less. One of us should have a show review for it soon.
Well, that's it for today, thanks for reading!
We're going to audition to be a part of High School Musical 4. And, boy, am I excited. And nervous. And really happy. Okay, I'm have a lot of feelings towards this, but hey, I'm gonna give it my best go and I'm going to love EVERY MINUTE.
And if you didn't know that they're doing auditions, you should go do it (btw, you need to be around 14 - 17, have the Disney Applause app, find a song that fits your vocal chords--only do a verse and the chorus--, and practice the script. More info about auditioning here). I've always wanted to be a part of Disney, it would amazing if Charisma and I were part of the cast. :3
School's going really good. I've got a A's in everything but science (I've got a low B which I need to start getting a high B.... because bad things are going to happen if I don't). I'm trying to get done with school around May 18th, which, if I do, would be GREAT. The only thing I'm having trouble with is my Geography assignment. I have to plan a dream vacation. Sounds easy, right? Well, I still think it's kind-of easy, but I've been hitting some bumps. I've got to plan this vacation down to the slightest detail and that's going to be really hard (mean finding pictures of certain places, I have to record the weather, the average precipitation, etc.). And my maximum budget is 10,000 dollars and the minimum I have to spend is 8,000 (keep in mind I can't go over budget, 5% can be spent for gifts/souvenirs and 10% can be used for food, while the rest must be used for hotel, airline tickets, car rental, etc.). You get the idea.
I'm still having my major writings block (wanting to write something, but avoids writing at all times, you can read my small post at My Writing Journey). Although, early this week I was able to write a small bit for a new story. That made me really happy. I'm actually really surprised that I wanted to write this blog post, because I've been wanting to do it for a long time now.
Learning Japanese
The site's that I'm using (apart from the first Learning Japanese):
- Jisho.org
- This is an online Japanese dictionary (which I tend to go to often) and I love it. It looks slick, clean (meaning that it doesn't look like your gonna get a virus and you won't) and has absolutely everything.
- Rikaikun/Rikaichan (depending on what browser you use. -kun is for Chrome and -chan is for Firefox)
- THIS IS THE BEST INVENTION EVER. This is an add-on for Chrome or Firefox (which I literally just stated...) and, what it does, is when you roll over any kanji, hiragana or katakana (if the hiragana and katakana are NOT in a sentence, I don't think it'll pop up anything), and it'll tell you the pronunciation and the definition.
- The Japanese Page
- Basically just like every other Japanese learning site. Has some good resources, but it's a bit cluttered (which, to me, always looks like it's going to have a virus), but it's not that bad. I've gone to the site several times and I haven't got a warning.
- Japanese Level Up (Jalup)
- This website tries to make learning Japanese into some role-playing game and it looks like a really good way to learn Japanese but I like more interactive methods of study... And when I really want to learn something, I don't have a lot of patience. Cause, I want to learn now.
- Japanese Lentil
- I absolutely love this place. I'm working on Words for Kanji - Top 25 with this site and it is so helpful. Repetition is truly your best friend when learning a new language, so this site is quite helpful. Once I'm finished (no one is ever truly 'finished') with learning the kanji, I'm going to try and give my hand a go at katakana.
- Nayu's Reading Corner - Blogspot
- I love looking at Nayu's blog. Not only does she love anime, is a writer and crochets, but she also reviews books. :3 She absolutely adores anything cute and loves to do coloring books and cooks. She has another site that's about crocheting and her daily life, so I'll post that one too.
- National Novel Writing Month - Tumblr
- This is my go-to site when I need writing help. They're so inspirational! They may also make references to Doctor Who (and who doesn't love Doctor Who?).
- This Incandescent Life
- OH-MY-GOODNESS. This blog makes me so happy. She always give uplifting and thought provoking posts about life, writing and so much more.
- Tricia Mingerink | Faith, Action, and Adventure - Wordpress
- As a fellow writer, she has character interviews, talks about writer conference's AND she just awesome and what does that equal? Tricia Mingerink.
- Butterflies of the Imagination - Wordpress
- She has butterflies in her blog name with the word imagination. I think there's enough said. She does Top Ten Tuesdays (which is something I always look forward too), she doesn't shy away from giving her opinion about books, and she's really nice.
- Learn.Japanese - Instagram
- I'm not really sure if I can classify this under a blog, but hey, I love it and it has something to do with Japan, soooooo yeah!
- Into the Mind of Butters
- I recently just found this girly's blog and let's just say that I'm loving her. She recently just moved to Japan and she takes these amazing photos and she's really pretty.
- PoohLoversUnite - Wordpress
- Not only is she funny, she write's these really long posts about anything and everything. Gosh, I love a lot of blogs.
- Super Cute Kawaii!! - Your Daily Dose of Handmade Cuteness and Japanese Kawaii
- First off, it has Japanese Kawaii in the name (for those who don't know, Kawaii means Cute in Japanese) and I love anything cute (and from Japan). And it's literally your daily dose of everything cute.
- Orange Mushroom's Blog | Your Guide To New and Exciting Things in MapleStory and MapleStory 2! - Wordpress
- I check this blog often because I love the game MapleStory (which is weird because I've never actually played the game). The characters for MapleStory are so unique and just become part of your life that it's hard to stay away... Ya know?
- Summer Snowflakes - Blogspot
- A-L-E-X-A, you make me happy and smile and laugh. Alexa loves Fullmetal Alchemists (who doesn't?) AND (and) she's hilarious. Bravo!
- Go Teen Writers
- This is my writers world! I love going here to ask for writers help and finding out how I can make my stories much better.
I'm sure I've missed plenty of blogs, but that's all I can remember at this current moment in time. I hope all of you enjoyed looking/reading about all the blogs that me and my sister love and we hope that you enjoy them too!
What blogs do you like? Come on and tell us in the comments! Also, I asked my mother my mother if she would mind if Charisma and I did giveaway's in the future and she said that she wouldn't mind if we did that. So keep your eyes peeled for a giveaway.
Who We Are
We are twin sisters who like to do almost anything! Inspiring people to get out their creativity is our forte and we strive to travel on magnificent journey through words on a page. Exploration is the doorway to opportunity and the endless possibilities of helping and reaching out to others is something that we endeavor to create. This crazy blog of ours is one of the many ways we hope to achieve that goal.
So, you ready to get crazy?
Twisted Two - Every Monday
TBD
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