October Writing

So, nano starts tomorrow! Incredibly excited and nervous like always, but at the moment I'm really happy because of all the writing I did in October. I had a goal the whole month to write every day, which I never told anyone about but I succeeded! Still can't really believe it. I wrote very little some days, as little as a 18-word poem, or as much as a 2,140-word short story. Four days of the month didn't produce anything finished but I ended up with 9 short stories and 18 poems. That makes this by far my best writing month since last November. Most of my poems will never be read by anyone else and some of my short stories were more like beginnings, but I am unrealistically fond of most of it. I really hope that continues into next month, and good luck to everyone who's attempting the mad dash!

Kelia

Nothing Post

This is a nothing post, because everything I've wanted to post about has dried up as soon as I try to write about it. I rediscovered last month how very much I love reading, and how much I hate writing reviews. So you won't be getting any unless I am VERY inspired! But I have been writing down every book I read, because in the spring I started getting worried at how little I was reading and wanted to see how much exactly I had read, and I've kept it up. I have read 37 books so far, 8 for english, 12 rereads (because I only went to the library to get books out for english this spring/summer I reread a lot of books, which was different but really great too), and 17 new books. Up until August I had only read 5 new books, this past month I've been reading constantly. And I've found some amazing books! At the end of the year I'll do a complete list, with my general opinion of the books if not a review. I have at least 5 so far that I've absolutely loved.

And it's started me writing again too! Nano being SO SOON has really, but I'm sure the books have helped. In september/this bit of October I've written 7 poems and 4 short stories. That makes 6 total for this year, which is pretty amazing considering I've written one or two other than that. They're super short, the longest is 1600 words but they're super fun. Just scenes or snippets of a story, some of them work fine by themselves, some could definitely be part of something longer. I love having time to do all this again! This summer was amazing, but definitely did not leave a lot of time for reading and writing. I think I read maybe three books all summer. So I'm making up for it now. And I maybe have a plot. At least some characters who I definitely think I'll use, though the plot's a bit vague right now. But there's a pretty big family in it which should be fun!

Other things about this fall so far: being the only kid still home. WEIRD. It's very quiet. And I feel oddly antisocial, I talk to friends and sisters a lot but I go days and days without seeing any of them. It wasn't so bad when a sister was around half the time, but everyone's Very Busy and I think I have to start making more of an effort to actually see people. And I miss my sister! But in good news, I get to see one of my best friends tomorrow!

Piano is eh today, but I have a lesson tomorrow so hopefully that'll change. It's almost like I'm doing so much that none of it is interesting, which makes absolutely no sense at all. I don't understand how my brain works in regards to piano. But I've decided I really like teaching, it's always changing and frustrating and rewarding. Half the time I have no idea what I'm doing, which is always fun.

And it is FALL! The leaves are yellow and orange and falling fast. It was really windy today and they were gusting off the trees, and there's a definite bite to the air. Fall always seems wistful to me. I guess my October experience is different from most everyone else's, I'm always planning frantically for nano instead of Halloween (though sometimes I do both). But I'm going to soak up the trees and wind and blue skies and chill when I can, as I think my story will be set around this time.

Anyways those are some of my thoughts lately. I've been wanting to blog again for a while and we'll see if I actually do more than this one post. Weirdly enough I plan posts in my head all the time, mostly about books I'm reading, but as soon as I try to write them out they shrivel up and stop working. Partly because I think too much about what other people are going to think, but maybe I can't do such planned out and formal posts. I'll try just doing thought vomits like this and see if it works. This nothing post turned into such a random journal entry! Hopefully I'll post again before six more months go by.

Kelia

Summer

Today feels like summer. Cloudless blue skies, warm sand beneath my feet, heavenly 64 degrees, and most of all the ocean.

Every spring I realize how much I've missed the ocean. I get used to it in the summer because I'm always there, but the first time I go back (when it actually feels somewhat warm) I just want to stare at it forever. I wish it could be this warm all the way to July. It is really windy, at the beach there was a steady stream of sand blowing knee high and at times it would blow so hard we were forced backwards! But I love the wind too, and it was a warm wind. If it's back to 30 degrees tomorrow I'm going to go into withdrawal, this little taste of summer has been so amazing. Let's just skip April and May, can we?

Sunsurfer

Through reading another blog I discovered this tumblr, which is now probably going to be my favorite site on earth. It's called Sunsurfer and it's a blog of pictures of beautiful things. Landscapes, houses, odd and fascinating things, each picture is gorgeous and makes you want to be there. The first picture is a foggy day in Budapest, Hungary, the second is a sunset reflected in a soap bubble in Norway, the third is a place in Portugal. *love* The site is http://sunsurfer.tumblr.com/ and you should really check it out.

Happy New Year! It's weird how used to it being 2011 I am already. Probably because I was thinking about it so much in December, that whole month I couldn't stop thinking about it being a new year and what last year was like. So much changes in a year. A year ago I hadn't met some of the loveliest people I know, hadn't even heard of the theatre where I met all of them, didn't have my permit, hadn't won a competition, didn't know what it would be like with only one sister home, hadn't discovered some books and two TV shows that make me ridiculously happy, hadn't written a novel about Iris and Darius, hadn't even started learning the concerto, hadn't gone to see the Trans-siberian Orchestra, was nowhere near as into acting as I am now, and I hadn't had some of the best days of my life with my family and amazing friends.

That's all the good stuff. It was a pretty awesome year, though there was plenty of the icky days and bad things and crying, but there was enough good to balance it out. And this year is going to be just as incredible, and hopefully I'll be able to be more positive and keep it all in perspective and not worry so much, but I know I'll have fun.

As for resolutions I didn't really make them, since I only completed one from last year, but I kind of some vague plans. Like: keep writing poems, at least one a week since I got so off in the summer and only got 80 out of the 100 I wanted. And finish my nano by next year though I don't know how motivated I'll be to do that. And possibly try scriptfrenzy again? We'll see how it goes. Happy new year!

My top 5 books of 2010

I didn't read a whole lot in 2010, but there were a bunch of books that I fell in love with. I can't narrow it down to 10 but the top five are very clear, I LOVE these books. (These were books I read in 2010, not necessarily published this year but I think most of them were.)

5. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Completely fell into this world, it's so complex and dark and the characters are awesome. It was very fast paced and engrossing.

4. How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford

This is a hard one to describe, but I think the biggest thing I loved was that it was about a friendship. A complicated and messy and painful and amazing friendship, that was as real as all of mine are. I loved the characters and the writing style and the ending.

3. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

A very very powerful book, you saw the main character change so much. The way the plot elements wove together from day to day was amazing, the little glimpses of feelings in each character mattered so much. It is one of the only books I've read with completely real and understandable, if not likable, popular mean girls. I felt so hopeful at the end, it left me with such a good feeling.

2. Stolen by Lucy Christopher

I wrote a review for it already on this blog which is here http://toliveinarainbow.blogspot.com/2010/09/stolen-by-lucy-christopher.html and I'm not going to repeat myself, so I'll just say, WOW. What an amazing book.

1. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Stolen fought with this one for number one, but Jellicoe Road eventually won. Not because Stolen is any less good, but this one is a bit less painful and I can remember it without being so sad. Pretty much this is an incredible book. Complicated, emotional, characters and a crazy haphazard plot that weaves together perfectly and just purely beautiful writing. I fell in love with it from the first page (and the characters! All of them! Are amazing!) and it's definitely one I'm going to be rereading lots, I just read through a page of quotes from it to find one to put here and it's just making me want to read it again. And I can't choose one.

So those are my favorite books of 2010, what are yours?

Kelia

Just had to post this...

Because it is so awesome I couldn't resist. I'm sure there are many quotes that say the same thing, but this is just so simple and true. Pretty much why I love music.