Hi Twisters! So sorry for disappearing again. I don't really have the best reason to offer you other than that BIANCA was supposed to WRITE SOMETHING! But, we've figured out a new system and she won't be writing anymore blog posts for a while. She WILL, however, be making our vlogs! Yup, you heard that right! She's going to be covering our daily life in the form of videos on our YouTube channel: Twisted Two. I'm very excited for what she's going to make and how those are going to turn out, and I hope you Twisters are excited as well! Back to the title at hand, we're so close to going to Japan! We've already been accepted into our school, we've got our tickets, we've reserved our hotel, we've got our suitcases, etc. Definitely we've got more to do, but every step is one step closer! We're actually headed out of the country on March 13th and we'll arrive in Japan the 14th. After that, we'll do our required quarantine for 14 days, then we'll move into our dorms afterwards. After the move in, we'll start school! You know when you're achieving something you only had as a dream and it's actually coming to life? Those imaginations sessions are actually physically happening? Well, that's 100% the high that I'm riding right now. It's honestly so electrifying! Once you're successful in one endeavor, you learn the traits, understand the steps and repeat it until you continue this pattern of success. Japan is literally right around the corner for us and we couldn't be more excited! We'll keep you updated on everything that's happening! If you want to help us, please consider donating to our GoFundMe! See you soon, Twisters! Charisma
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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 Last year today (man was that a LONG time ago) I posted a blog post called 'Follow Your Inspiration Month and Chocolate'. It was in that post that I said that I would be doing 'it' (I'm not exactly sure what it was...) every year. I decided not to do it this year and probably never again. Before I let you all go, I wanted to share this really cute recipe video with you (it has an adorable song with it. It sounds like something that would be in a Studio Ghibli moive). Hi Everybody!
I am SUPER sorry that you guys haven't received a post from the guest blogger yet, but we've been having some minor.... difficulties. So please, please, PLEASE stay intuned! If the guest blogger doesn't blog on Saturday, I'll make sure they blog next week. Thanks! (Follow Your Inspiration Month ends on March 1st!) Oh no!
I guest blogger had to reschedule from today to tomorrow. So expect something great and awesome tomorrow! :3 A lot of people take their beauty for granted. Sometimes, I do to. I just think, 'I'm good enough for the world and that what's matters most'. But, it doesn't matter if you're good enough for the world, it matters if you're are good enough for yourself... And are you good enough for yourself?
are, and no one can change that. You light up a room when you walk in, you make your friends smile and laugh, you help make people feel they're special. That's what YOU can do. You can do so much more in life, you just have to believe in YOURSELF.
Be YOU. (P.S. I give credit to DespicableMeQuotes.org for the image. The image is not mine, I just found it on that site.) Guest Blogger is coming tomorrow? Are you guys excited? Tell me in the comments! Hey Everybody! We've got a surprise for you! And it's an exciting one too! We're getting a guest blogger to do a blog post on the 23rd! I'm super excited, and I know this person SUPER well. But, no more spoilers... What do you guys think? Yes, yes, I understand, it's mind blowing and super UNBELIEVABLE, but I'm really happy to have this person do a blog post for us! BTW, this person is super good at doing blog posts, so you won't be disappointing. It's going to be awesome! Are you excited? Tell me in the comments!
Konnichiwa everybody! :3 (I absolutely love Japanese!)
Now, for those otaku's (anime and manga fans) out there, you probably know what konnichiwa is, but for those of you who don't, konnichiwa is Japanese for hello. :3 It's pronounced co-KNEE-chi-wah. Very simple, and it looks amazing with the cherry blossoms (which in Japanese is Sakura). I wanted something different than the Aloha that we used to have up, but still use the same element of a different language. How do you guys like it? I hope you all like it, Bianca and I had a long... discussion on what the Twisted Two header should be. We each had a different vision and my vision was NOT at all what you see on the header. I wanted something really crazy, so crazy, I have no idea what it was. But we decided on this and I'm really happy with it. :D Please comment what your favorite language is! Hey Everybody! So Charisma and I have offically decided to shut down the Monday Mayhem's and Saturday Specials, because it just wasn't working for us. Instead, we are going to do Top Ten Tuesdays created by The Broke and the Bookish. We will have redesign the page that use to be for Monday Mayhem and Saturday Specials and instead use it for the links for our Top Ten Tuesday Posts. I, for one, am SUPER excited, because I saw TONS and TONS of other people do this and in my head, I was thinking, 'Where in the world did they find that?' AND I FOUND IT! It actually took me a long time to find it. I had to go to like, three different blogs to find this one. It was super funny, but very nerve-racking, although, I did find some pretty good blogs.
Not only do I have Enrichment Classes today I've got Yoga! And that gets me all pumped up and super happy. X3 How awesome is that? Okay, so you know how Disney is making a live-action Cinderella? Yeah, I went to the Disney blog and apparently Disney is making a live-action Belle next! I am SO excited! I'm mean don't you just love Belle? Okay, okay, I get it. Only some people LOVE Belle, others like her and all. But really who doesn't love her? She's got the cutest outfits. She reads like, all the time. ALL THE TIME!! I WANT TO READ ALL THE TIME LIKE SHE DOES. SHE CAN SING AND READ PEOPLE.... SING AND READ! I can't do that... Yes, Belle, I'm sure you did! (Would you mind telling me the title?) I would love to talk to Belle, IT WOULD BE LIKE TALKING TO A CELEBRITY! WE LOVE YOU BELLE! BTW, reading is so much fun! IT TAKES YOU TO BEAUTIFUL PLACES! I like to read whenever so I can escape to my Fantasy World (Reality.... It sounds different from Fantasy huh?). Again, I'll be doing a blog post in Coming Soon: Book, I've got TONS to tell you guys about! So stay in tuned!
Hey Everybody!
So, as you can see in the title, there are going to be some changes... And that is with the Monday Mayhem and Saturday Specials. Since Charisma and I don't have enough time for those, we'll just be changing them to once a week on a Thursday. Now, it's going to be called Thursday Turn-Overs, and I"M GOING TO FIND YUMMY TURNOVERS TO BE IN THE BACKGROUND. IT"S GOING TO BE BEAUTIFUL. Hehe... Yup! And someone replied to our Crazy Poll (Click here if you haven't taken it or you have ideas to help us with our blog!) and they said that we need to talk more about pizza. So *rubs hands together* I'm going to talk about pizza. PIZZA IS DELICIOUS, I'm pretty sure I want pizza every night for dinner... IT'S SO GOOD. Yum...! Also, I'm going to be doing a post on Writing Music in the Coming Soon: Book section... Thanks and please comment! ~Bianca |
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.
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