Midnighters and Scott Westerfeld

So, here's an interesting story for ya:
Last Thursday my buddy Candice wanted me to start reading this book series with her. I had heard of the series but never read it. (We're totally forming a two-person book club at Richland!) Anyway, I finished book 1 Friday night and thought it was okay. But, if anything, I got motivated to read. (In other words, continuing my phase of wanting to read because I really do go in phases of wanting to write, read, type what I've written from my notebooks, or none of those. It really just depends.)
Sooo, Saturday I told my mom that I just had to go to the public library. Because I knew for a fact that they would have a certain book in another series that I have been dying to finish. But school and life get in the way a little too much when you're an avid reader like myself. (My friends have called me an "Over-dramatic nerd" And by golly, its true! As long as it is pertaining to the fact that I get way into what I'm reading.)
Seeing how there is always opposition in all things, somebody checked out the book before me! I was devastated! But, after gathering up all my courage and reassuring myself that hope was not lost, I began searching for something different. And that's when I saw it. The Secret Hour of the Midnighters series as seen below.I thought "Hmm, looks interesting," I read the back. "Sounds interesting..." Saw the author (Because when I'm randomly looking for books to read I let them come to me, I don't search by author so I didn't even pay attention to where I was at.) And the author is none other than Scott Westerfeld, the author of my favorite book, Peeps. That sealed the deal.
I read the book in 2 days!
I highly recommend it to any fantasy lover looking for a good read. Actually, I just finished book two, Touching Darkness and I had a reaction that I've never had before. I won't tell you what happened in the book (obviously not to give out juicy spoilers.) but it was something that I could kind of guess could happen, but I really, really, didn't want to happen. Naturally it does. I flipped! I was reading at the end Chemistry and the bell rang right after I read the suspenseful bad part. I ran to my locker, yanked out my math books, and hurried down the hall to my math class. I had three minutes left before the late bell and I wanted to read, but I was physically sick to my stomach at what happened!
Now, I've read my fair share of books that bring out a strong reaction in me, but I've never gotten sick! That's how crazy good this book is people!!!!! I have the 3rd one in my possession which is bitter sweet. It's the last in the series. Scott Westerfeld, if you ever read this please write more!!!!! I love you, I love your book series, and I love all the emotional roller coasters it takes me on! Again, I highly recommend this series!
P.s. Scott Westerfeld has a really awesome blog that you can check out at http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/

Flow

I've been reading Tuesday's with Morrie by Mitch Albom lately. I love it. It's a different writing style, but the point is so clear. It's about an old college professor, Morrie, who is dying of ALS and his student, Mitch. Morrie is a teacher to his last breath and is using his death as his final lesson to Mitch, and everyone. Last night I read a section that really struck me. Morrie was talking to Mitch about how people are always seeming to want more, more is good, he called it. He precedes to list all the material things that society views as allowing for a good life. But they're all wants, not needs. And he mentions how weird people can get when you don't believe the way they do about material things and how it's our culture to follow a certain pattern. It inspired me to write this poem.

Flow

If life is like a river
And each life a droplet in the river
Both big and small
We know that the current takes us where ever we are going
Were ever that is.

But one may care to ask,
Is this current taking me where I want to be?
What if I don't like where I end up?
What if it isn't me?

And so the great river breaks off into little streams
With their own flow
And their own destination

And I wonder if
the little droplets who chose to go
into the stream
look back the way they came
and wonder if they made the correct choice

And I wonder if
the many droplets who stayed
Look towards the stream
and wonder what the little droplets were thinking.

I can change the flow, perhaps.
I will choose my unknown.
I don't need to be the same
As the other droplets.
I can be different.
I can make a difference.

And the large droplets
Who stayed behind
Laugh at the little droplet's dreams.
"You can't change the world"
"You're only one little droplet"

"The river could spit you out
against the sandy banks
And let the sun evaporate you.
And who would miss you?

But what the large droplets
Who stayed behind
Do not know
Is that if that little droplet
is thrown
Off into the unknown
It will encourage grass to grow.

And that grass will sustain the small animals
And the small animals sustain the large.
And the large will sustain the man.
and he will continue the cycle
That would otherwise be broken
Except that one little droplet
created it's own flow.

Pushed Away Lullaby

I was cleaning my room this morning and found a piece of notebook paper crumpled up and shoved under my bed. Curious, I carefully un-crumpled it realized it was one of my poems that I had written. Considering it's content I must have been really upset. I remember writing it, just not why I did. Still, I think it's pretty. So, here it is:

Pushed away as no one knows
Pushed away where no one goes
Hear me? See me?
What, I beg of you
Lost in what the heart felt
Where in my darkness I go
In my shadow so deep

Pushed away, pushed so deep
Fallen away in my sleep
I fight for you
Vain I am.
Careless as you
Disappear. Fallen. Broken.
Hear my silent cry
Or fall asleep to my non-sweet lullaby

Friendship Guide section

Okay, So I've been working on my little book for a couple days now and I think it's coming along quiet well. So i decided to give out a preview. It's the forward to the story. Please note that it has not been edited or revised yet. What you see is what I wrote the first time. Enjoy.

Forward

In a popular abridged anime, a particular character is often quoted saying “The power of friendship!” to the point of comedy. Though it is a great for the series, the power of friendship is no laughing matter. The power of friendship rivals so many different influences it’s astounding.

But what is friendship and how powerful is it really? In Webster’s New World™ Dictionary a “friend” is described as “a person whom one knows well and is fond of” and “friendship” is “the state of being friends”. While these are nice general definitions, it is my goal to expand on them by branching out in different kinds of friends and the difference between them.

We all know that there are “real friends” and “fake friends”, but it is my personal belief that within those two branches there is a whole network of other forces and “sublevels” of friends and whether or not they are interchangeable. An example would be a boyfriend. Hopefully your boyfriend is under your real friend category…unless he turned out to be a heartbreaking and/or cheating jerk that used you. Or maybe you had friend that betrayed you and turned into a fake friend and then miraculously get on your good side again. (If any of you have had this experience please, let me know how it worked out because I am extremely interested.)

So how do you know what friends will help you and who will hurt you?

I would recommend thinking and listing your own personal qualities and then decide what kind of people you attract. After all, we usually attract and hang out with those who have similar qualities to us. Then, look at your best friend and pinpoint what you like most about him or her and ask yourself why. This can also be used on yourself. Out of your qualities, what is the one that people like the most? When thinking about all of these qualities of yourself or others, take note of what you think of your list. It’s not a bad thing to look at your list and go, “Hey, I’m pretty cool.” Or, the alternative is “I’m not so great.” I sincerely hope that this is not the case, but if it is, there are always opportunities for improvement. No matter what your list says, we all have powerful influences. These influences can be manifested in a variety of ways in a array of places. Take the kid in school that everyone wants to get to know because he/she just has this essence around him/her that everyone likes.

Take that last example and take it to the opposite extreme. Think about those who you don’t want to even touch with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole. What are their qualities that make you cringe away from them? We’re all human and it’s natural to want to shy away from people that are the extreme opposite of you—but that does not make it right.

I believe there are three friend categories in this world: Real Friends, Fake Friends, and Friends Waiting to Happen. And it is within these categories that I will make my points. Hang on with me until then.

Friends

So, It's been a while.
Well, here is some words for thought....Earlier today I was downstairs, doing laundry (Thrilling, right?) and I was thinking about one of my friends who is in need of a lot of emotional help. Anyway, I then proceeded to think about friends in general. You know, once you begin to think about it you will find that there are a slew of different types of friends. We have acquaintance friends, semi friends, general friends, close friends, "friend" friends, real friends, 100% friends, fake friends best friends, best friends forever friends, family friends, and even Angel friends. (I call my best friends forever since before time my angel all the time)
So, as I had all of these running through my head and I kinda started thinking, someone should write a book about these different types of friends. I mean, we hear all the time that you only get a few really good friends in life and the rest come and go. But how do we know which friends are which? I have one friend that I've been friends with since Elementary school and I know for a fact that we will always be friends. She is my angel. I have another friend that I met in Junior High and she is another angel to me. These two friends mean the world to me. But there used to be a third.
Again, in junior high, I met a girl who moved into my town. We hit it off automatically. For three years we were nearly inseparable. But then something happened. When I was 14 we went to a camp together and we were roommates. I guess when you live with someone for a few days you really get to know them in a way you didn't think you could. I won't go into detail on what all happened in that week, or the agonizing weeks, months, and even now that followed. But one wedge got put between us and it destroyed us. I don't blame her for what happened, and only sometimes do I blame myself. My point in all of this is that a friendship that I thought would last for forever didn't. It's nearly impossible to even think about those blissful days without feeling a wound being reopened in my heart.
There are a lot of books that use friendship as their subject. But I've never read one that talks about friendship like I wanted one to. To talk about knowing the difference between friendships, and how to handle a broken one. I shared this idea with a friend of mine. I explained my thoughts and said "Someone should write a book like that."
He then looked with a 'duh' expression and said "You're a writer. You write it. Why wait?"
Good question.
A good question that I didn't have an answer to. Why shouldn't I give it a shot? What's the worst that could happen--I completely fail and suck at it? That's the author's risk. Now, I'm a fiction novelist, fantasy is usually what I like to "roll with" (as my sister would say) but I think I should give it a shot. I have no idea how it ill turn out, but I'm going to do it. I'll post little pieces of it on this blog so we'll see how it goes. At the very least I'll just rant about my personal feelings. Wish me luck!

yWriter

Back in October my writing teacher told my class and I about this website where you could download this program to help with writing. You can break your story down into chapters and then into scene so you will be able to analyze them separately. I finally got around to downloading it and I love it! This is the site link for those who are interested.
http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html

It's quick, easy to use, and just plain nifty, lol.

Superman

I wrote this poem the other day on sheer whim. I didn't really know what I was writing until the words stopped flowing. it isn't very long but it's nice.

You can't always be SupermanYou can't always fly up high.
You can't always be worried about krypt-o-nite.
Sometimes you can't be strong.
That's okay, don't you know?

You can't always fly,
You won't always be the one to touch the sky.
Sometimes you'll fall, even when you give it your all.
But that's okay
You can't always be Superman