Hey guys 🙂
So I know I’ve been absent from this place for a while and I feel really bad about that. One, because I actually really enjoy writing these blog posts for you lovely folks, but also because I have made promises to you guys that I have yet to keep. And that makes me sad (and a bad person).
In truth, I have been really stressed out lately. It’s hard when you might be/are totally failing your math class because your professor is a nincompoop who can’t even speak English! Well, that and I’m REALLY bad at math. On top of that, I’ve been trying to participate in NaNoWriMo, which has (up to this point) been a complete fail since I have not successfully written a new novel/piece of writing (that wasn’t a super-craptastic short story I was forced to write for class) in almost three years. That fact alone is stressful.
I don’t know what it is. I sit down to write and poof, it’s like any good idea I was pondering on has suddenly become a tarry, muddy, mess of goop and uselessness. IT’S SO FRUSTRATING!!!!!!!!!
I must apologize to all of you, and especially to my writing partner Julia, for my complete lack of promise-keeping ability when it comes to new chapters of This is a Book Too. I could give you a million petty reasons why the first chapter has yet to get done, but they would all suck, so I’ll just tell you that I’m sorry.
Also, about that YouTube channel I started… yeah, that was also a fail. Due to my lack of both time and, well, ability to make good videos for you all, that little pet project is going to be put on hold. I really want to get another novel written and I’m trying to take some things ‘off my plate’ so to speak in order to de-stressify me life just a little bit. Maybe there will be videos in the future, but not right now.
There has also been a bit of a secret that I’ve been keeping from you guys. In exactly 20 days from today, the name of my blog might become a bit of a… well… a bit of a lie. You see, this teenager will no longer be a teenager, and thus the name of my blog will become a bit… misleading. I’ve been arguing with myself about whether or not the title of this blog needs to be changed, so I thought I’d ask you what you think. Even if this is your first time visiting this site, I would gladly accept your feedback. What do you think? Should the name of this blog change since I will no longer be a teenager?
If you have other suggestions for potential blog titles, please leave them in the comments below!
Oh! Oh! Oh! I almost forgot. I have decided to make Tuesdays my new blogging day, so expect a new post every Tuesday. This is a commitment I am determined to keep, so feel free to hound me if you don’t see any posts when I promised them!
Peace out my home slices,
Mel
Ultimately Useless Stories 
1. Blame the math class on the professor. I have heard nothing but bad things about the math program there.
2. The fact that I did not know that you were NaNoing until now proves that we have not been talking nearly enough this semester. WHAT BE YOUR USERNAME?
3. While I’m obviously no expert on writing, what I will say is this: As long as I’m holding onto the hope or goal of writing something “good,” all I write is crap. I just spent this entire semester trying to get my creative writing prof to write “excellent” on a short story instead of “very good,” and it stressed me out to the point that even just the idea of writing–for his class or otherwise–made me nauseous, and I couldn’t think of anything to write.
Then a few weeks back I decided to just sort of free-write a character development exercise for myself, the only goal of which was to have fun writing, without trying to avoid dialogue tags or -ing ending verbs or any of the other things people have been drilling into me to make my writing better. I turned it in for class last week, and guess who finally got her “excellent.”
I don’t know if that helps at all, or if it even addresses the problem you’re facing. But I’ve been finding that it becomes much easier for me to have ideas and get the words to flow if I just stop caring first–choose to ignore the stress factors in my life–and write just for the sake of writing. (Also, you know I’m always here to talk if you want to hash out plot ideas or rant about how much creative writing profs suck or anything.)
4. No need to apologize–I’ve been busy too. 😛 I figured I’d ask what was up after NaNo was over. Just focus on what you need to do for you right now, and then we can work out what’s going on with This is a Book Too later (like preferably after this semester is over, because term papers are about to be my only companions starting around Thanksgiving).
5. Looking forward to a new blog post next Tuesday! 🙂