A glimpse into the mind of an almost-sane thirteen year old.

So, today I noticed this pending comment from Mel:
How did you create this blog? I really want to make one!
I’ve gotten this question a few times, usually form other kids who like the idea and want to make their own blogs. Blogging is good
There are three ways to make a blog that I know of. One is an Easy Way, one is a Mostly Easy Way and one is a Very Hard Way. I made mine the Very Hard Way. My Dad has a network of websites where he blogs about sports. I was a bored homeschooler who talked too much when he was trying to get his work done, so we came to the general conclusion that I should have a blog to widen my ranting audience So we went to GoDaddy.com and bought the domain name BlogsByKids.com. You have to have an account to buy a domain name, and it costs actual money. After a period of time the domain expires and you can renew it or someone else can buy it. Once you have a domain name, you have to download WordPress onto the domain (otherwise it’s just an empty url with advertisements). This is where I get a little unsure, because my Dad mostly set this up. But I’m pretty sure you have to pay for WordPress too and it takes FOREVER to download. Then you have to set up an account and make a tagline and categories and actually write (which is a lot harder then it sounds). And update. It’s hard to remember to update.
That, my friends, is the Very Hard Way  Read more... (391 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

So, over on YA Highway there is a HUGE giveaway for the release of Kristin Hubbard’s Wanderlove. Wanderlove is about Bria, a girl who goes to Central Europe to re-discover who she really is. It’s about relationships and love and art. By entering the form at the bottom of the post (not this one, the one on YA Highway) you have the chance to win one of 26 great prizes.
They are:
“10 signed prints of WANDERLOVE illustrations
(if you have a copy of the book, you can choose your favorite drawing! or, I can choose for you)
PLUS
A handmade Mayan string bracelet from Guatemala
PLUS
Signed Wanderlove & Like Mandarin bookmarks.  Read more... (199 words, estimated 48 secs reading time)

Behold, these are the books that may or may not have come out this year that I love. Read them. Hate them. Hate me for loving them. Love me for loving them. I don’t care.  Read more... (234 words, estimated 56 secs reading time)

Some of you – if you spend your free time at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble, which I am so guilty of – maybe have noticed a lot of YA books seem to follow a very specific formula a la Twilight.

I don’t like Twilight.

And I really don’t like this formula.  Read more... (488 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

So I was bored. And procrastinating my outline for this years NaNoWriMo. And I came across the blog of an author I really love, Maggie Stiefvater, who wrote SHIVER and it’s sequels, LINGER, and FOREVER. She is brilliant. She had a list of sort of ‘lessons’ on writing. About how to make characters believable (an in-depth look at how awesome Harry Potter is and why), how to ignore that Shiny New Story, etc. It’s good advice. But this isn’t about Maggie Stiefvater being a little like writing-Yoda. This is about the thoroughly awesome pictures she posted alongside the wise advice. That is what I have brought to you today
(And of course the actual articles are worth a look too. Her blog is here and the pictures used in this post as scattered through out several pages here)

;)