Writers' Chasm

In college it's perfectly okay to be a nerd. In high school it was an art form to be able to show up exactly before the bell rang for class to start. If you were there even a few minutes early, you could be teased for "being a nerd." In college (at least mine), everyone is at class early. It's not uncommon for people to be sitting outside of a classroom as early as twenty minutes before the class even starts. My sociology class does this every time because we like to sit around and talk before class starts. I highly recommend showing up early for class the first week, at least. It only takes me five minutes to walk from the dorms to the academic halls, but for the first week I left the dorms a half hour early to go to class just because I was terrified of getting lost and being late to class. If you have the opportunity to explore the academic halls prior to classes starting, take it and find all your classes ahead of time. Don't be afraid to try alternate routes ...

As a college student participating in NaNoWriMo, this tip is twice as important for me. You'd be surprised where you can pound out a couple hundreds words. I write... - To give myself a break between study sessions - At meals if I'm eating alone - While I'm waiting for class to start - During class (highly not recommended) - During commercial breaks for my favorite shows - When my homework is done in the evenings - During the weekends Take a look at your day and if there is any time when you have a few extra minutes in writing-distance to a laptop or notebook, take that as an opportunity to write a bit. All those little bits and pieces will add up quickly and soon you'll be well on your way to 50,000 words.

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. This week's topic: What kind of writing coach do you need? When you have to coach friends, what kind of coach are you? NaNoWriMo is in full-swing and, for the first time ever, I am participating along with some real life friends. I love college! What I really need is a writing coach that will make sure that I keep up with things besides writing. Like, you know, homework. If I have everything else done, then I'll have more time and freedom for writing. I also need a writing coach that I can bounce ideas of off when I get stuck and one that won't let me quit because I can't figure out where to go next. I'm a very encouraging writing coach. I'll be cheering all my friends this year on to th...

It's that time of year again! National Novel Writing Month has started and all over the world people are racing towards the 50,000-word goal. I won in 2009 and completely failed at even trying last year so this year I'm back and going for it once again. NaNo is a lot of fun and a great opportunity to meet other novelists. If you don't know what it's about, I suggest checking out the NaNo website and considering joining in. I have a feeling this month is going to be the ultimate lesson in time management for me. I haven't been able to sit down and write since I got to college so this could be very interesting. I'm about twelve hours in and already considering changing my idea because the one I have just isn't working out at the moment. Are you participating in NaNo? How is it going so far?

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. This week's topic: What was the best book you read in October? My pick for this month is a classic, Forever by Judy Blume. Though I strongly wish that I'd read this in high school, this was my first time reading it. This is a great book and I highly recommend it to everyone, especially teenagers. If you're like me and you haven't read this book yet, you definitely should.

As some of you know, I am now a college student. Last night, a lot of the people in my hall went to a bonfire. And it rained. And when they got back, they were soaked so they decided to go dance in the rain. I had spent the night in my dorm doing homework listening to them. So they came inside and said, "You should come dance in the rain with us." And I said, "Okay." There were six or seven of us (all girls) running around in the dark and the cold and the rain jumping in puddles and splashing each other and standing in the waterfalls of rain that are pouring off the roof. And then we found a particularly large puddle and one of my housemates decided to lay down in it. So she did. And then we turned it into a house initiation where we all had to lay down in it. It was cold. And wet. But so much fun. There was one guy that saw us and walked by and said, "You girls are all crazy" (we're an all-girl house). We kept trying to convince random pe...

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. Happy 100th RTW, YA Highway! This Week's Topic: What has your writing road trip looked like so far? Excitement? Traffic jams and detours? Where are you going next? My writing journey so far is the typical meandering road littered with unfinished manuscripts, forgotten ideas, and trunked novels. My most recent projects are currently on hold while I try to figure out how to revise them. I've had some great ideas recently on how to proceed, but college has kind of put everything on hold. I can't wait to start work on CT. I'm hoping for inspiration for a new work in progress soon. I've had a couple of new ideas recently but nothing that's grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to the compute...