You know you're ready for fall when you spend thirty minutes pulling together a gorgeous Pinterest board to substitute for the nonexistent Florida autumn.

ANYWAYS, as you can tell I am sooooo ready for everything fall brings...including books! There are lots of books that I could read during the rest of the year, but for some reason they feel seasonal to me, and autumn is the only time I feel like reading them. If that happens to you, welcome to the club. XD So here are some books I hope to read this fall! I say "hope" because I #avoidcommitment,


I actually mentioned this one in this post about my library haul from last summer, but I didn't read it...*cough* didn't even start *cough* But the color scheme is soooo autumn-y (shallow, I know) so hopefully I'll be able to get through it this time!



I got halfway through this book and then quit reading it about February, so I'm going to finish it because it was a lovely book, despite everyone being a perfect demon. We'll see how this ends. *shrugs* Also, it's one of my goals on my classics lists! I haven't read a classic for a while, so finishing this one will meet the goal for the month.


Time for a re-read! Stabby knife-throwing girls, smol cinnamon roll boys with strange talents, and murder mystery? Of course I'll come back eventually. It's been a while since I read it, but I needed some time before a re-read so that the original creepy feeling settles back in effectively. ;)



Y'all, I can't get enough of this book. Anyways, it's been a few months so it's not on the top of my reading list right now, but if I have time, I will be reading it again.  I need some more of that young Texas charm. 10/10 recommend.


I've been wanting to read this one since it came out but for some reason haven't? But now that I've seen plenty of reviews, I'm going to give it a try. I guess I just couldn't stand the fuzzy possibility of it being better than the Scorpio Races. XD
 


It has been four years since I read this series, so it's due for a re-read. (The draw to read it again makes me feel so nostalgic!) I just put the first book up here, but my sister and I are hoping to read the whole series together in October and watch the movies after we finish the books. She's already on book four, so I have a lot of catching up to do, but let's get this party started.


This time I really need to re-read the series before I read this book because everything is a messy jumble of memories, and it probably wouldn't be healthy to read this one and be like, "WHAAAAaaaAATttTT??" the entire time. Call me clueless. I deserve it. XD


Luckily, I remember what happened in the first book, so this should be easy-peazy. I don't know if I'll actually get to read it this fall, but I'm going to try. I'm so exited for it to come out!! Do any of you read Brandon Mull's books?


These are books that I hope to own or hope my library acquires. I don't think it's likely that I'll read them this fall, but it doesn't hurt to hope. Maybe I''ll get to go on a spree. If you've read these, what are your opinions, and would you suggest them?

Good afternoon, guys! Today’s post is going to be short and snappy, and I wish I could have had something longer ready, but that wasn’t going to happen, unfortunately. I'm still getting the hang of balancing homework deadlines with everything else, and currently blogging is something on the bottom half of the priorities list (which is small, I promise you). :P

So let's discuss writing music! *jazzy hands*

I know that some of you like writing to music, others don’t. It usually depends for me. It has to be the right music at the right time or I won’t be able to focus. Sometimes I can listen to whatever and it won’t affect how I channel the story. But typically, I rely on music to help me figure out what my characters are feeling and provide the right mindset to write particular scenes (e.g. action, calm, emotional, etc.)

What I want to know is whether you guys write to music and how does it affect your writing? Does it improve it, make it easier, more fun, etc.? If you don't what are your opinions? Let's get both sides involved in this mini discussion. :D

My own playlists vary for project to project, but I have a few favorite groups that make it at least once in every playlist I compile for my story.

My favorite channel for all-around writing is HDSounDI on YouTube. They have amazing compilations of instrumental music for every writing situation possible. My favorite playlist is "Most Beautiful Music Ever," but the others are also gorgeous. Plus they have lovely artwork that sometimes helps me come up with unwanted plot bunnies that have nothing to do with the project at hand....oops.


I also love scores, especially The Maze Runner score and Time (Hans Zimmer) from Inception. I used the Maze Runner score to help me write my NaNoWriMo 2017 project. Time is tucked away, ready for use on some random, intense action scene. ;)


Now since we’re talking about Hans Zimmer, I gotta say that both the Plant Earth II score and the Blue Planet II score are absolutely breathtaking. Totally recommend those for fantasy and/or spec fic.


For lyrics, I usually only use those if I’m writing something remotely modern. On my Divided playlist, I have Shots (Imagine Dragons), Hall of Fame (The Script) and several others that I listened to on repeat while I wrote it. I’ll probably listen to it nonstop again during edits (eesh *dies*).


What do you listen to? I think everyone has their own ways to focus when writing, and maybe you jump genres like I do, or maybe you listen to the same playlist over and over. Do you use music to warm up, stretch your creative muscles before jumping in? This post is basically all questions, LOL, but take a seat, grab a cup of lemonade and a scone, and let's have a chat.

Because I freaking love Ally Carter's books. Gimme more Embassy Row, please!! My soul shattered when it ended. Also I really like the color scheme but shhhh I'm not a shallow reader.

via unsplash.com

 

Usually, Ally Carter does a really good job at keeping her books cuss free. There was no bad language as far as I noticed; however, there were some instances when the main characters took the Lord's name in vain. The one thing that knocked this down half a star for me was a part where the main characters are lost in the woods and find a log cabin and it's so small they sleep with each other—which I could understand if it was survival driven—but I feel as if the instant was driven more by the romantic part of the story and not so much the survival part. That made me a little uncomfortable since they're teenagers and they aren't married. For gore, there was some blood, but nothing horrendous. I don't know, I actually have a medium tolerance for gore, so my opinion might be different from others. XD #raisedonLotR




I liked how Maddie was so wrongfully stuck on being angry towards Logan. I feel like that really drove her character, and as the tension built up, it gave her arc at the end a satisfying conclusion. Logan was okay too—he wasn't my favorite character, but he was pretty funny and I liked to see the two interact. I can't say that I even had a favorite character in this book. I had a hard time connecting with them. They were all pretty even in depth, but I was the most intrigued by Stefan and I wish his side of the story had been completed. The only thing that bugged me was how MEAN Maddie could be, but she felt remorse afterwards and honestly I think she was supposed to make me scream at her for how blind she's being, but oh well. Logan was just...a boy. I'll leave it at that. XD In short, I wasn't particularly attached to anyone.




I loved loved LOVED the opening scenes. Carter always does a superb job at drawing in the reader and that is why I love her books so much. This time, it was a little different because it depicts Logan and Maddie as younger versions of themselves and AWW THE FEELS they were adorable. The plot was actually pretty simple compared to what she's done in the past, but for a standalone, it was gripping and intense enough to help me fly through it in less than two days. It was kind of like Rogue One in between the Star Wars saga. The suspense had me on edge—not just the plot suspense, but also all the tension caused by those internal struggles going on. Also, the bridge scene was perfect. MMMmmmm I loved every part of that scene. Absolutely delicious. XD




Like I said, Carter's style is gripping and intense, perfect for constructing adventurous thrillers like this, while still adding the touches of romance to slow things down a bit and give the reader a break to breathe. Her writing isn't difficult to understand, and so that makes it really easy to slip into the action going on. Can we talk about her descriptions for a moment? UGH I love them so much. I've read the Embassy Row novels and Heist Society #1, and I'm almost done with Gallagher Girls and every. single. time she has blown me away with her descriptions! It's just so easy to imagine what she's describing, in both setting and action. Sometimes I have a hard time imagining what characters' actions look like, but I have never had that problem (that stands out horribly) with her books. This time she constructed a wintry wonderland of snow and ice and trees. I could almost feel how cold it was (probably because I was most likely freezing my tail off somewhere while reading it, but oh well) and I could smell the pine and hear the crunch of ice underfoot. mmmMMMmmm. Good stuff, people.


I don't usually have any issues with the romances in her books, but I just wasn't feeling it here. It felt a bit forced, probably because the story was so fast-paced. The background info helped ease it a little bit, but I still feel like it could have come off slower and still been cute. Ice doesn't melt all at once, right? It thaws. (AHAHAHAHAHA it's okay you can kill me for my sucky jokes.) Anyway, yeah, I wasn't digging it and when it moves so fast like that, I usually tend to just roll my eyes and skim so I can get it over with. Also content advisory as mentioned above, and ugh—too many comments about his lips and her lips and just yadayadayadaya can we please NOT? Teenagers are NOT this dramatic. At least I'm not, which is probably why I have low patience levels for this type of stuff.




All in all, it was a good book. It could have been better, but I was still treated to Ally Carter's genius in thriller and that satisfied me. It wasn't as good as I had hoped, but I mean, y'all know how I rave about Embassy Row so nothing will ever beat that. (Except maybe Heist Society but I have yet to finish the series. The verdict is not yet settled! But oooooooh what do you think about a book battle?? Comment if you think that would be interesting!)

via unsplash.com

4 stars (actually, 3.8 when I did the math but IT'S ALLY CARTER, Y'ALL. I'll round it off for her.)

Hi guys! I am really REALLY excited about today's post, because I'm collaborating with the wonderful Lila Kims @ The Red-Hooded Writer! We decided to talk about discovery writing, or "pantsing"—writing by "the seat of your pants" without any set outline to guide you—and our experiences with using this interesting method of writing. Over on her blog, she wrote part 1 about how she "pantsed" her first draft, and over here I'm focusing on methods of structuring to help you "pants" your story with few complications. And now the quotations are getting old so I'm going to start treating it like a real word.

To start, am I a pantser or a plotter? I'm a little bit of both. I like having a structure, but I've created outlines that eventually made me feel restricted and bored with my story. I don't think that starting a story with no clear direction is smart. I also believe that too much plotting will ruin the fun. So my solution is to find the perfect balance of just enough structure and just enough discovery to keep myself interested.


The short answer is no, but that would be a bit of a lie. From what I've observed about storytelling, I've noticed that a good story has a natural structure—a beginning, a conflict, and an ending. And maybe that seems kind of obvious, but you'll understand the simplicity when I apply it to pantsing a story. When I came up with the premise for my story Divided, I first came up with

"twelve of the same person exist in the same time-frame and one of them is a psychopath*." 

Maybe that sounds clear enough to begin writing, but it's not. It's too vague. It doesn't have a conflict, so it's not yet a story. I worked on this idea a little more and came up with

"twelve of the same person exist in the same time frame and the psychopath version wants to take revenge on the doctor who headed the experiment." 

After a little more thought, I knew that I would start the story with the psychopath's POV, and there would be four other major characters. (I would tell you the ending**, but if I ever publish it...#spoilers.) That's when I started writing. My point is that you only have to know the vaguest idea of your story, but that should be enough as long as you know the bare bones***. Why does this work? Because natural (good) story structure is embedded in storytelling.

*I swear, it's a G-rated story with just a little bit of crazy! Please don't send the cops after me. 
** If you must know, my original idea for the ending was, I quote, "'happily ever after' and someone important dies." I know, very specific.
***Or the very, VERY bare bones, as demonstrated in previous footnote (**).

via unsplash.com

The thing about pantsing, or discovery writing, is that the author figures out everything else as he/she goes along, with no previous in-depth planning. I came up with some pretty surprising stuff (at least it was surprising to myself) and I really enjoyed pantsing the story.

• My MC was female and biracial and almost the exact opposite of me 
• She was very spontaneous and quick to solve unexpected problems, probably because that's how I was writing the story. Interesting, right? 
• My love interest was British (surprise, surprise)
• He also apparently wears rumpled blazers
• It took place in New York City and Chicago
• There's a murder plot that was completely unintentional
• The chaperone happened to be an immature thirteen-year-old with a "save the turtles" tee shirt
• Apparently now the futureness is involved in the presentness and the pastness is all scrambled and I'm confused but it works with surprisingly few plot holes
• These things just happened, people

The problem I ran into was getting to a scene and then not knowing where to go from there. Natural story structure can only take you so far—so I decided to use additional methods to structure my story and spur along the action. I took a break and outlined the main points. However, I made this one of the loosest outlines I've ever done, so I'm calling it a structure rather than an outline.


I literally wrote "inciting incident:...; act 1:...; act 2:...; act 3:...; plot twist:..; conclusion:...." This is now my lazy go-to outline, the one that I write just so I can have a visual of my story's direction (because I forget really easily, it's ridiculous). I filled these in with strict, set points (no wiggle room here!) and left the space in between the points empty.

HAHA but I wasn't done yet. I had to come up with a second method to fill in these blanks...with something. I needed a method to kick my imagination into gear. The logical thing was to use my current favorite method of escaping writers blank. Introducing, the


This works for any size chasm in your story, as long as you know where you are and where you need to be. This helps me work out the little details of a scene that I've only generalized before. I usually do this by writing out in a paragraph or two what is going to happen next (within the next few scenes, chapters, etc.). But believe me, it is by no means neat or organized. Or even sane sometimes. There's a lot of scribbling out, writing in margins, and capital letters. I used to do this on paper, but now I insert them into my manuscript while I write and mark it with an XXX before. You've seen a sample before.

Pantsing a story is really fun, but having one (or more) structuring methods handy to help you along while you write will enhance the experience. You don't have to have everything planned beforehand. You can discover it as you write, but finding your perfect dose of structure will make it about a hundred times easier to let your creativity flow on paper.

I'm a big believer in finding the right balance for yourself, so below I've listed some other handy-dandy (fun and creative) methods of structuring that you can use as you write. Each one can be altered to fit your needs, in case the methods I used don't work for you like they do for me.

via unsplash.com

If you're a visual person, this might work for you. The way I work on my filmstrips is by choosing pictures (from google or unsplash.com) that communicate the vibe I want for each chapter of the story. (One picture counts as one chapter.) Then I write a short synopsis of the chapter with as few or many details as I want beside the picture. The picture reminds me of the main idea of the chapter so I can know how to connect all of the story points at a glance. I've found that this method helps my story flow while still giving me the creative wiggle room I enjoy. For me, this is like watching the movie I wish I could make for my story.


Similar to the filmstrip, I know many people like to use Pinterest to plan their story. I like to stick to just making story aesthetics on this platform because I find it hard to organize. However, you might enjoy it and the constant flow of inspiration that pops up with the feed.


If you enjoy writing snippets, use those snippets to chart the flow of your story. You can use the emotions in a dialogue snippet to pinpoint plot twists or other significant events, or you could use description snippets to map out your setting/time and action scenes. That way you also don't forget to include these snippets somewhere (like me).


This is basically a list of events that I write down and check off as I go. This is great if 1) I already know where my story is going, and 2) the plot is pretty straightforward and not particularly complex. I write it down, and then check them off as I go. This method leaves me a lot of room to alter the story, change the direction, subtract scenes, add scenes, etc. The checklist itself does not have to be detailed. Sometimes I write as little as "Kendra eats breakfast." Just little things like that. It also works as a good way to remind myself of scenes that I've imagined for the future, but will probably forget by the time I actually write them down (I'm a chronological writer).





*featured image background from unsplash.com
DISCLAIMER: I am in no way a professional. All of what I've written in this post is based on observation and personal experience. 

monday

Today is July 24th. This day marks the 171st year since members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah after a long, grueling trek across the country They had been driven from their treasured homes in Nauvoo, Illinois where they thought they would be safe from violent religious persecution. Last year I had the opportunity to walk down Parley Street in Nauvoo towards the Mississippi River, the very same road the Saints would have taken en route. They didn't know what trials they would face, or whether they would ever be safe. But they had faith and trust in their God. They knew that no matter what they faced they would be strengthened through His hand and one day they would receive the sanctuary they had been longing for.

I can only imagine the pain they endured, and when I think of that, it becomes difficult for me to take for granted the ultimate sacrifice that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane as He endured the pain of everyone in the world, generations forward and back.  

There have been many other people throughout the course of history who faced similar circumstances—Martin Luther, William Tyndale, Joan of Arc, Galileo—and died for their faith, just as these stalwart Saints did. All of these figures have strengthened my faith as I read and learn about them. I am very grateful today for the freedom I have to worship freely, and I hope that somehow others can feel the same as we recognize the sacrifices that were made for all to have that privilege. Many people in the world do not have that precious gift. We are a blessed people.

I feel very passionately about the sacrifices and trials these pioneers endured, and so this short poem/story is my little tribute to them. The hymn I quoted is "Come, Come Ye Saints" written by William Clayton around the same time period the Saints began their trek. I really love this song, and if you want to listen to the full thing, I've linked to a video below in which the song is performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I hope you all have a blessed day, or night, and feel the love the Savior has for you. I love you all! <3

Good evening! I was going to write a post for the fourth, but I missed it because I was a little #lazy. So, to all of you Americans, Happy Late Independence Day!! I hope y'all had a blast. (Haha, ten points to anyone who gets the pun.) So then, since I said I would try to post twice this month, I was going to write a post for a new series called As-of-Recent, but I didn't finish that either since recap posts like that take a loooong time to pull together. And then the most magical thing happened. I went to the library. Yes, the magic always happens in the library.

So I thought that since I had to post this week about something before my hiatus starts, what better than to do a library book haul? Y'all like talking about books, right? Don't worry, I have some other posts planned out for when I get back, but it's been a while since I wrote a bookish post so we'll go with this for now.

NOTE: I go to the library at least twice a month, but recently I've been getting fewer books and giving myself the whole month to read them so I can manage my reading habits better. I called this post a "haul" but it's more of like a pitiful excuse for a sad, slacking bookworm to get in some fun reading before school starts again.


I don't know if this is a common trend in bookworms, but I really like checking out books that have coordinating color schemes. So thus the title of this post, with accents of gold and black.

The first book I got was The Traitor's Game by Jennifer A. Nielsen. I absolutely adored The Ascendance Trilogy she wrote, so I was super excited for her other books. Funny story: my library has only the third book in The Mark of the Thief series, and so I've been waiting forever and silently cursing the ordering system for my library to order the first. (WHO FREAKING ORDERS THE THIRD BUT NOT THE FIRST TWO?? WHY!!) So when they got The Traitor's Game about a month ago, I really only saw the "book one" tag on the spine before I snatched it up. Yes, I accidentally checked this one out. Oops. I started it, but then returned it because I had also checked out a bunch of Ally Carter books and those were basically by life about then. Thus leads me to checking it out now, because I hate to leave books unfinished. They're like lonely souls no one cared to learn about. well that got depressing quickly.

The first two chapters were kind of slow, and I'm not particularity enthralled with the main character, but I have faith that it will get better. I have a foggy memory that the beginning of The False Prince was similar, and yet I loved it.


The second book I got was The Hazel Wood. I vaguely recall reading a Paper Fury review on it, but I honestly have no idea and am too lazy to go search it up. It looks intriguing though. Let me know if you guys have read this before and what you thought of it. I would also appreciate questionable content recommendations before I start.


By this time, I realized that these two beauties had matching color schemes, so I obviously had to find a third to complete my shelf. Now I was going to check out another Ally Carter book (surprise surprise) or an Alex Rider book (I haven't finished the series yet), but I decided they could wait. Actually, they didn't have the second Heist Society book and I died and my sister checked out the fourth Gallagher Girls book before me THE LITTLE TRAITOR. In the midst of my despair, I forgot about the Alex Rider books. 

I decided to grab Pax, which I've been eyeing for a while but I heard it was sad and didn't know if I was willing to sacrifice the rest of my soul but OH WELL. It's for the color scheme, people. Anything to make it match. My little brother confirmed that, yes, it is sad from the get-go and so I now know that I will no longer have a soul by the time I finish these because these books keep eating it up and I have no soul left to give. #thismightbeaproblem


So what the heck does cacti have to do with this? Well...I also found this cute book, and while it broke the color scheme, it was the most adorable size (I'm known to check out library books based solely on this criterion) and it's about a girl without arms. Sounds fun.

So far, I've been loving it. The setting takes up several chapters to establish, but it's not boring at all. There's a lot of entertaining banter and background info. There's also supposed to be a mystery, so I'm excited. I'm seventy-five pages in and so far so good. Plus cacti are cute. That has nothing to do with how great the book is, but it's a fact, therefore you should listen to me. XD

haha, I'm sorry about the quality of these photos. Next time I'll use my DSLR. XD

Also, here's a reminder that I'm going on hiatus next week, and you're invited to join me! I'm taking all of next week, from the 8th through the 14th, entirely off from blogging and social media. If you would like to join me in this challenge, please do! I can promise that it will be so beneficial for you in so many ways. Here is the post I wrote about my personal experience from last month.

I hope you all have a lovely week! I will be at summer camp part of the time, as a youth camp leader/counselor, and I am! so! excited!!! I will see you all next Sunday. :D

Well that title was very disappointing. I was going to put "you hear I'm writing" but I've not actually told many people I'm writing it so that would be a lie. It's just me and my one-man fanclub!! YAY!! Anywho, I am currently writing a novella. I wasn't writing anything for a while, and instead I was working on developing ideas, but if you remember from my WIP page, I have another project called DIVIDED on there—well, it turns out that it was so much fun to write and I love the characters to death, so of course I have to write a sequel! I feel kind of bad about this, because no one other than Lydia has read it and so y'all have NO CLUE what I'm talking about, but bear with me. XD


Title: Fractured
Current Word Count: 4,014 (I know, it's still a wee baby of a manuscript)
Synopsis: ...

So I currently don't have a great synopsis, but here's what's on my Camp NaNo page.

 

Speaking of which, YES! I am doing Camp NaNoWriMo again in July, and FRACTURED will be my project. I am also struggling participating in the 100-for-100 challenge that Go Teen Writers hosts every summer, and so I decided to blend the two challenges for this project. ;)




Usually I write deeper, a little bit darker stories full of tragedy and personal meaning. (The tragedy has nothing to with the personal meaning, by the way.) If you saw my post about NaNoWriMo 2017, I wrote Shadowskin which I must say was pretty intense because my first MC had morality issues and was ruining her family's lives, while my other MC was a cinnamon roll trying to keep her from ruining her family's lives. After that, I worked on a mostly secret project about a futuristic government with rebels and etc. so that was also intense, and then after that I tried writing Grey Skies which was also intense because of the fact that the plot was a mess and the themes were depressing. So I usually like intense.

Which means that I must have gotten tiered of intense, because Fractured is fun and impulsive and funny and creative and I LOVE the flexibility and the lightness of it all while still including those intense action scenes and BETRAYAL y'all I like betrayal. It's like my personal playground for all those cute yet embarrassing scenes that don't fit in my other projects.


The characters are Ginger, Will, and Grace. Ginger and Will are 19 and 20, and Grace is 14.  They're all so diverse (Ginger is African American, Will is British, and Grace is your All-American New Jersey gal) and that makes them a really fresh cast to work with in my head, not to mention how their personalities all clash to some degree and yet they still get along. I love the trio, because we have the lovebirds over here, and then there's third wheel Grace who gets to make embarrassing comments. I have a lot of fun writing them. Samples HERE.

For setting, let's say that this is in New York City somewhere in the near future—think years 2090-2100. I wanted to retain a familiar setting while still giving it this futuristic vibe with all the timespace-travel sciences going on. FRACTURED takes place a little more than a year from the ending of DIVIDED.

The plot goes something like Will invents another time machine that can toss him into the near future, allowing for a person to set up a situation in a way that will end in the best possible outcome. His colleague, Marina, uses that to her advantage for a mysterious reason and Will tries to stop her. They get stuck and Ginger and Grace have to go hunt down Marina's boyfriend to figure out this mess and save them before they get stranded in timespace.


So I've been thinking about the story for MONTHS. I finished writing DIVIDED last year in August, and I've been thinking about a sequel since June 2017, which means I've been trying to figure this out for almost a year. I've been working on it off and on, but crazily, the story is one that has stuck with me for that long and I feel like now is the time to write it.

Now, USUALLY I am a loose plotter. But for DIVIDED, I kind of just winged it, and that is exactly what I'm doing with this one. It just feels natural for the story. Ginger is a very impulsive character, which is almost completely opposite of me, so I feel that if I am to write her realistically, I better get loose. Also, this is my playground. I have room to run and change it. Just as the story has stuck with me, it's grown with me, and I want that to be written all over the paper by that time it's done.


I just think it looks more dramatic. Feel free to write it like a normal person. XD


Of course! DISCLAIMER: these are from my first draft, so they are likely to change. ;)










That is all for today! I will try to post on Saturday, but I have a company over, so you might see two posts up next week if it doesn't work out. Thanks for reading!

Hey guys! I am back to a regular posting schedule, and while I was supposed to last week, I decided not to. I also may or may not have decided to completely drop blogging from my schedule for a week—that means I haven't read posts, written posts, or commented on posts at all. Nada. Zero. I didn't even sign into my blogger dashboard to check stats.

So maybe you're wondering why the heck I decided to do that if I was just going to pass out from all the posts gathered in my reader? (Which I almost did, believe me.)

So this is gonna get a bit religious right now, so you might want to prepare yourself because I'm not normally super religious-sounding on here.

A couple of weeks ago, the youth of my church worldwide (I'm Mormon*, by the way, for those who don't already know) were challenged to cut our dependence on social media by going on a one week social media fast. We were promised that we would feel more freedom to live up to our full potential as children of God and by taking up this challenge we will be able to develop our personal relationships with Jesus Christ.

Now of course I wanted to do this. But since I'm not a heavy social media user (I only have Instagram and even on that I'm not very present), how could I implement this challenge into my life? I decided, hey, I spend a lot of time on blogging, which is a form of social media, right? So—*gulp*—let's drop blogging for one week! I didn't have any good post ideas anyway.

And THE RELIEF! One week away gave me a moment to breathe and realize that I have developed some sort of dependency on blogging. You could even call it an obsession. Sometimes I catch myself scrolling through my reader looking for a post I haven't read yet, when I know I've read every single one. I stress over not being able to put up a post on time, or wail over having to miss a week because I feel creatively drained. All of this has caused me to reflect on how I have been viewing blogging recently. So I asked myself the question that makes us all scream internally for a million years.

Why do I blog?  

Cue the uncertainty. Because...I love it, right? And I want to share my thoughts with other people with similar interests as me. Right?...Okay, I got it. Eventually, this is what I came up with:

People have knowledge and introspective that can help change the lives of others, and just think what would happen if everyone shared their most profound, God-given inspirations with each other. The world would be a so much better place!! So I guess blogging is one of my ways to help make the world a better place.

BUT THAT'S NOT HOW I'VE BEEN SEEING THIS LATELY!

I've been viewing blogging as a schedule, an idea, and DEADLINES. I have been running my blog as if I'm both the CEO and the worker and for every word I delete I lose a dollar. I'm stressing over something that is supposed to be fun for me and helpful to others!

And that has literally sucked all the fun and purpose from me as a creative. I have been struggling for weeks to come up with good ideas that are meaningful to me. This haze of "I have to do this and this for my blogging to work" has guided me to this corner where I can't help anyone through my words because I'm no longer focused on the words—I'm focused on the lesser things and I've lost sight of the bigger picture. Does this make sense? I kind of feel like now I'm just rambling.

Anyway, by taking this challenge and completely dropping blogging for a week, I have been so blessed.

1. I have regained my focus on the bigger picture of what blogging is to me
2. I have gotten so many ideas during this week!! It's honestly insane, because suddenly all these things that are coming to mind are exciting for me to think about writing and I have lots of ideas to share
3. I have been able to focus on other things and not obsess over false duties like "I have to read ALL the post in my reader and comment on EVERY SINGLE ONE" 
4. I remembered that the best inspiration comes from life itself, which, when you're obsessed with getting a post up on time, you kind of fail to participate in and thus inspiration gets ignored
5. I can post way more on here than just writing how-to's and tips and yeah
6. I can be a little more free with expressing my personality and not tie myself up to this rigid non-fiction writer voice I keep slipping into. I wanna make this place fun for y'all!
7. This idea resulted from the challenge!! So huzzah, I got a post up this week!!

The challenge I took really helped me to free myself from made-up duties (that don't actually matter in the long run) and learn to BREATHE and actually LIVE. And, well, I honestly would love for you guys to feel the same thing because it is wonderful. So next month, from July 8th-14th, I'm going to take this challenge a step further and take one more week off from blogging and social media and focus on life and God. I would love for you guys to join me, and after it's over, we can talk about it. Maybe together we can realize how we can better bless the lives of others. :)


*If you guys have any questions for me about my church and what we believe, I would be happy to answer! I know there are a lot of misconceptions people have about our religion, and if you are curious to know if something you've heard about us is right or wrong, then don't hesitate to ask!! :) <3