Words of Advice and Truth from Lemony Snicket (Pen name for Daniel Handler)

Lemony Snicket is a genius with words. His words have inspired so many people, and rightly so, for they shine a light on the things we normally turn our heads away from. I hope you find these quotes from Lemony Snicket to be just as awesome as I do:

• Wicked people never have time for reading. It's one of the reasons for their wickedness.
• If writers wrote as carelessly as some people talk, then adhasdh asdglaseuyt[bn[ pasdlgkhasdfasdf.
• All the secrets of the world are contained in books. Read at your own risk.
• If you are a student you should always get a good nights sleep unless you have come to the good part of your book, and then you should stay up all night and let your schoolwork fall by the wayside, a phrase which means ‘flunk’.
• No matter who you are, no matter where you live, and no matter how many people are chasing you, what you don't read is often as important as what you do read.
• The burning of a book is a sad, sad sight, for even though a book is nothing but ink and paper, it feels as if the ideas contained in the book are disappearing as the pages turn to ashes and the cover and binding--which is the term for the stitching and glue that holds the pages together--blacken and curl as the flames do their wicked work. When someone is burning a book, they are showing utter contempt for all of the thinking that produced its ideas, all of the labor that went into its words and sentences, and all of the trouble that befell the author . . .
• Sometimes words are not enough.
• There are many, many types of books in the world, which makes good sense, because there are many, many types of people, and everybody wants to read something different.
• If we wait until we're ready, we'll be waiting for the rest of our lives.
• There are few sights sadder than a ruined book.
• I go to bed early and rise late and feel as if I have hardly slept, probably because I have been reading almost the entire time. 
• Literature doesn’t exactly have a strong mental-health track record.
• They didn’t understand it, but like so many unfortunate events in life, just because you don’t understand doesn’t mean it isn’t so.
• When trouble strikes, head to the library. You will either be able to solve the problem, or simply have something to read as the world crashes down around you.
• Do the scary thing first, and get scared later.
• There are those who say that life is like a book, with chapters for each event in your life and a limited number of pages on which you can spend your time. But I prefer to think that a book is like a life, particularly a good one, which is well to worth staying up all night to finish. 
• Writing is a dying form. One reads of this every day.

Writer's Wanted

I am currently interning at New Letters the international magazine of writing and art, published by the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The magazine is accepting submissions for its annual literary awards. 

$4,500 in awards for writers | Deadline: May 18, 2016

The $1,500 New Letters Prize for Poetry 

for the best group of three to six poems.

The $1,500 Dorothy Cappon Prize for Nonfiction

for the best Essay. 

The $1,500 Alexander Cappon Prize for Fiction

for the best short story.

GUIDELINES

Upload your writing online by midnight Monday, May 18th. Entries sent after midnight May 18th cannot be considered or refunded. Please read guidelines carefully to insure best service.

Postmark by May 18, 2016.

Mail Entries to:
New Letters Awards for Writers
UMKC, University House
5101 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, MO  64110-2499

Enclose with each entry:

• $20 for first entry; $15 for every entry after. If entering online, add a $5 service charge to entry fee.  A one-year subscription, renewal, or gift subscription to New Letters, shipped to any address within the United States, is included in the price of the first entry.  (Subscriptions mailed outside the U.S. require a $15 postal surcharge.)  Make checks payable to New Letters.
• Two cover sheets: the first with complete name, address, e-mail address, phone number, category, and title(s); and the second with category and title only.  Your personal information should not appear anywhere else on the entry. 
• A stamped, self-addressed postcard for notification of receipt and entry number.
• A stamped, self-addressed envelope for a list of winners.  This is optional.  Please send only one envelope if submitting more than one entry.

  RULES AND NOTES

  • Simultaneous submissions of unpublished entries are accepted with proper notification upon acceptance elsewhere.
  • All entries will be considered for publication in New Letters.
  • Fiction and essay entries should not exceed 8,000 words.  A single poetry entry may contain up to six poems, and those poems need not be related.
  • Multiple entries are accepted with appropriate fees.  Please make cover sheets for each entry of fiction, essay, or group of poems.
  • Manuscripts will not be returned.
  • No substitutions after submissions.  No refunds will be offered for withdrawn material.
  • Current students and employees of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and current volunteer members of the New Letters and BkMk Press staffs, are not eligible.

    TIMELINE

    • Finalists are notified in mid-August, after preliminary judging.
    • Final judging selects one winner and one runner-up in each category, announced the third week of September.
    • Judges have the option to select work for second runner-up and honorable mentions.
    • All finalists are listed in the New Letters issue in which the winners are published.
    • These and all other entries will be considered for publication by the New Letters editor.

      HISTORY OF THE AWARDS COMPETITION

      New Letters established its Awards for Writers in 1986 to discover and reward new writers and to encourage more established writers to try new genres or new work in competition.  The contest is open to any writer.  In order to assure fairness throughout the decision process, all judging is done anonymously and by writers outside the New Letters staff, with two rounds of judges making finalist and winner decisions.
      You can also enter online by going to http://www.newletters.org/writers-wanted/writing-contests.
      
      

Beautiful Words

These beautiful words should be used more often...

Petrichor - the smell of earth after the rain

Opulent - lush, elegant

Ineffable - unutterable, inexpressible

Conflate - to blend together

Effervescence - bubbles in water

Ephemeral - lasting for a short time

Sonorous - an imposingly deep and full sound

Logophile - a person who loves words

Aquiver - trembling

Supine - lying face upward

Finifugal - hating endings

Oblivion - the state of being unaware of what is happening around you

Lacuna - a blank space, a missing part

Catharsis - the purging or release of emotional tensions

The Best Mix Tape I Have

The one thing that inspires me more than anything else is music. In fact, my first NaNoWriMo story has its very own soundtrack. 

Sometimes I would be inspired by a song I heard on the radio, other times I would put my iTunes on shuffle and would write down the first 20 or so songs that played. 

I am always on the hunt for new-to-me-music. I love looking at Spotify playlists and asking Siri what song is playing while I'm out shopping. 

One thing I like to do is to make a soundtrack by putting my MP3 on shuffle and these answering questions/statements in the order they play with them. Here is an example:

Opening Credits:Kings and Queens by 30 Seconds to Mars

Waking Up:
The Taste of Ink by The Used

Falling In Love:
Settle Down by The 1975

Breaking Up: 
Trojans (Acoustic) by Atlas Genius

Prom:
Kiss Me by Ed Sheeran

Mental Breakdown:
Bonnie Brae by The Twilight Singers

Flashbacks:
Stories by Trapt

Getting Back Together:
Anna Begins by The Counting Crows

Wedding Scene:
The Adventure by Angels and Airwaves

Final Battle:
What It Is to Burn by Finch

Death Scene:
The Ghost of You by My Chemical Romance

Funeral Song:
Hear You Me by Jimmy Eat World

End Credits:
The Adventure by Angels and Airwaves

Finale:
Into the Ocean by Blue October

There are also so many other lists similar to this on Pinterest and Tumblr. Some are geared more towards dystopia or science fiction or romance. With the list I just did, when looking at the songs, I feel like I have some wiggle room with genre. It could be a YA romance. It could be a coming of age story. It could be a sci-fi YA romance set in a dystopia. That is the amazing thing about music, it can inspire you in a million different ways!!

I hope this gives you some ideas on finding inspiration in the music around you, whether you are just starting out or just need a push, I really believe music is the biggest help and inspiration ever!!

Writing Prompts

Sometimes all you need is a little inspiration. These are writing prompts I have collected over the years from classes and friends. Most of the time the prompts are a couple sentences that help to get the creative vibes flowing your way. Some are just suggestions on how to start your story or an idea for a story. I hope these help!

1. A walk through the woods helps me relax and release some tension, the fact that I am dragging a body behind me should be irrelevant.

2. Write a story that starts with a word you pick out of the dictionary at random.

3. His/Her voice brings back memories of dark rooms and broken bones.

4. They sent me because I do not exist.

5. Write about a world where you can purchase bottled emotions.

6. When I said, "Whatever helps you sleep at night... I didn't mean this!"

7. At birth, everyone has the date they will die tattooed on their arms. You were supposed to die yesterday...

8. Write a scene that happens immediately after a tragedy, but never mention the tragedy.

9. I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on glass. I got up and looked out my window, there was no one outside. I heard the knocking again and turned around slowly. The knocking was coming from inside my mirror.

10. In all the time I have lived alone in this house, I swear I have closed more doors than I have opened.

11. "Hey, there is a picture of you sleeping on your phone," he said, handing me my phone. I looked at the picture, my heart dropping into my stomach. "I live alone," I whispered.

12. Write a story that takes place in 60 minutes.

13. This was the night I finally understood why people fear silence.

14. Thirty years ago, you convinced a killer not to murder you because you would "change the world". Now the killer has come back to check your progress.

15. They had been recruited when they were young and desperate.

16. Everyone is forced to wear a warning label, what does your label say?

17. Write an overly descriptive piece about your current surrounding.

18. Sooner or later, everyone leaves.

19. Listen to a song and write a short story about it.

20. "The stars are that way captain," he said, pointing at the empty sky.

I hope these help to give you all some inspiration and get your creative juices flowing!

In my next post I will have some pretty awesome visual prompts!

Tips from my Queen, J.K. Rowling!

1. Write About What You Love!

“What you write becomes who you are… So make sure you love what you write!” I love this quote from Rowling. It is very true and maybe that is why academic writing kills me slowly unless I happen to care about the subject! Rowling definitely follows this, whenever I read any book she has written, whether it's Harry Potter or one of her stories written under her pen name, I feel her love for the story and its characters.

2. Write Whenever and Wherever and However!

J.K. Rowling had to work and had to take care of her young child while she was writing Harry Potter. She was even pregnant during the crafting of The Order of the Phoenix. She sadly couldn't just write whenever she wanted to. “Sometimes you have to get your writing done in spare moments here and there," she said, and she is one hundred percent right!! I personally keep a notebook with me at all times, you never know when inspiration and timing will work together.

3. You Must Plot and Pace.

My Queen plotted a series of seven books with little to no plot holes. That takes some series thinking and crafting ability. I mean, it would have been impossible to write had she not done the necessary planning. Also, planning ahead will lessen the chance of spoiling the story for your readers.

4. You Must Have a Plan!

J.K. Rowling got the inspiration for Harry Potter on a train, but she didn't just start writing paragraph one, she outlined and created Harry's world. She wrote new words and gave them meaning. She scribbled down every minute detail that would be essential to the story and every detail that wasn't. She also outlined all of the events that would take place throughout the series. She didn't officially begin writing the series for almost five years while she was working on the details.

5. Criticism and Rewrites.

Queen Rowling rewrote the opening chapter of The Sorcerers Stone fifteen times before being happy with it. You should never expect your first draft to be perfect, it won't be and that is fine. Also, don't fear rejections. Harry Potter only became what it is because Rowling wouldn't stand for rejection. "It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not lived at all--in which case, you fail by default."

Let's Get Creative With It!

Sometimes new ideas seem very elusive and creativity seems to be on a vacation but that shouldn't stop you from writing.

Sometimes you just need a boost or kick in the butt!!

So, what can you do??

You could listen to music. I have a soundtrack to everything I write, whether it's a story or an academic paper, I have a set of songs that have inspired me somehow.

You could get away from the computer and write everything by hand. First off, it helps stop distractions (Candy Crush... Twitter...). Secondly, the feeling of physically writing and the smell of a new notebook will help boost your creativity.

You could daydream. I swear, some of my best ideas have came from daydreaming while folding laundry or doing dishes.

You could drink a little alcohol... now, don't go get wasted but being a little tipsy will loosen you up and will help you think outside the box.

You could lie down and maybe even nod off. Sometimes your brain just needs a break.

You could go outside. Fresh air and natural sunlight are great creativity boosters. Being in  natural setting helps to stimulate the imagination.

You could exercise and blow off some steam.  If you exercise your body, you are ultimately exercising your mind. Again, I get some pretty good ideas will on my run.

One thing I do to help boost my creativity down the line is I keep a notebook and I write down the random ideas I get as I get them. See, on a day where nothing is coming to me I look through my notebooks and inspiration typically hits!