All posts tagged: young adult

Write What You Know

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Originally posted on The Sunflower Cafe:
Everyone knows that phrase uttered in every creative writing course. The famous, “write what you know.” This is solid advice for writers both new and experienced. My only problem is that people tend to take it at a face value. They assume they should only write about plots or settings that they know well. If that were the case, then fantasy and sci-fi wouldn’t exist. I doubt J. R.R. Tolkien truly experienced a trek to Mordor. Writing what you know doesn’t always have to be a place. Sometimes putting qualities you see in yourself or those around you into your characters is writing what you know. Sometimes looking at the way people speak to one another or the way emotions are handled in times of stress or happiness is writing what you know. To create a character who breathes, it helps to be perceptive on the way real people think and act. When I write, I tend to give my cast a few of my own flaws. This normally…

Graduation Caps On Fleek

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Originally posted on Cookies + Sangria:
When we graduated high school 12 years (!!!!) ago, we didn’t have the option – or maybe didn’t even know there was the option – to decorate the tops of our caps. By college, I think the trend was still out there, but people at my school didn’t delve into their arts & crafts side, despite being an arts school. But now that it’s graduation season again, I am constantly seeing more and more elaborately decorated caps that are more exciting than any commencement I’ve ever attended. And of course, there’s a good chunk out there that were inspired by pop culture, so here are some of the best from the Class of 2016 and their graduation caps on fleek*. *I’m too old to be saying that they’re not “on fleek” I take that back. Where is the lie? https://twitter.com/sincerely_mg/status/731202777700024320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/KimsCustomCraft/status/730580623581052928 Queen B for those Queens, B. https://twitter.com/Tykeez/status/728983177491001344 https://twitter.com/aprilthiess/status/733022172793409537 https://twitter.com/lizPLUSbeth/status/733118400667344897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw http://treaxherous.tumblr.com/post/144406671868/day-2-of-graduation-is-under-way https://www.instagram.com/p/BFhW024NfsF/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BF7YKXtpBck/ https://twitter.com/RevoltTV/status/731234823197609985 https://twitter.com/summerspears_/status/724279768359796736 And of course the wise words of Michael Scott… http://dundermifflinscranton.tumblr.com/post/144852699072 http://dundermifflinscranton.tumblr.com/post/144741979637 Some call it the…

The Rose and the Dagger (Renée Ahdieh)

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Originally posted on My Tiny Obsessions:
The much anticipated sequel to the breathtaking The Wrath and the Dawn, lauded by Publishers Weekly as “a potent page-turner of intrigue and romance.” I am surrounded on all sides by a desert. A guest, in a prison of sand and sun. My family is here. And I do not know whom I can trust. In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad has been torn from the love of her husband Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once believed him a monster, but his secrets revealed a man tormented by guilt and a powerful curse — one that might keep them apart forever. Reunited with her family, who have taken refuge with enemies of Khalid, and Tariq, her childhood sweetheart, she should be happy. But Tariq now commands forces set on destroying Khalid’s empire. Shahrzad is almost a prisoner caught between loyalties to people she loves. But she refuses to be a pawn and devises a plan. While her father, Jahandar, continues to play with magical forces…

How I Got Through College Without a Laptop

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Originally posted on Maggie Grace:
? My laptop broke halfway through my junior year. It was slow at first, a little bit of flickering on the screen as the computer struggled to breathe. But after a few weeks the laptop couldn’t be on for more than a few minutes without the screen going black. The very intimidating and unhelpful IT desk at my college tole me that I should only expect PCs to last a few years anyways and that it was time to get a new one. Due to my tremendous fear of spending money, I said absolutely not, because it was just the screen that was broken not the computer itself. I borrowed a monitor from a weird computer science major and set up an elaborate desktop arrangement in my dorm room. The Internet situation in my dorm room was less than ideal. This situation, exacerbated by my lack of a smart phone, meant that I was finishing college without any portable technology. Luckily, my college (and most colleges) provide both PCs and…

Guide to Relocation: Transporting Your Car

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My original plan to move to LA (two years ago) involved driving across the country. That plan was quickly shut down and I ended up having to transport my car. Driving would’ve been cheaper, but unfortunately that wasn’t an option. I didn’t know where to start. Naturally, I jumped on Google and researched away. Here are a few things I learned: 1. To quote or not to quote? The upside to getting a quote is that it will give you an estimate for the fees. The downside is that one year later (no joke) you may still receive the occasional quote from a company you looked into. How can you get a quote and avoid the spam emails? I advise calling different companies. Typically they’ll get back to you via phone. Or if they email you it comes from a person and not an automated system. Also, the “quote” is an ESTIMATE. The price is not guaranteed. Typically the company has the find a driver and then see if they will agree upon the price. …

A Letter to My 20-Year-Old Self

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Originally posted on Am I Thirty Yet:
So tomorrow is the big day! The day this entire blog was written about. I turn 30! Turning 30 has made me think a lot about what it was like when I was turning 20 and saying goodbye to my teens. I didn’t handle it very well. There were panic attacks and I actually wet the bed the night of my birthday. (This is a true story and maybe I’ll tell you lucky people about it in another post.) For now, let’s go back to poor, little 20-year-old Liz. She was not excited about leaving her teens behind her and entering her twenties. Current Liz still isn’t 100% sure on what she wants with her life and the direction it is going to take. But 20-year-old Liz might as well have been on another planet. She didn’t even know what hairstyle worked best for her face or how to put on eyeliner. She was a lost soul who needed a lot of guidance. Now being a wise, almost 30-year-old (that…