Tag Archives: writing

My Students are NaNoWriMo-ing…

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…and I’m so excited about it I can’t even contain it.

Image result for nanowrimo 2018 participant

Hello friends! Long time no blog! (I feel like I’ve had this intro in the last few postings, but it’s still true so.)

I am teaching 7th grade English (specifically writing) this year, and I offered my students the opportunity to participate in NaNoWriMo this year (through the Young Writer’s Program). My 4th period has a 30 minute advisory period, so for those students this is our project for the next month and beyond. For others, it was completely optional.

There is still one day to join in or change word counts, but as it stands right now, I have 65 students participating (35 by choice!), and we are setting out for a total of 497,700 words. (I’m trying to convince someone to raise their goal, or someone else to join in, so we can be shooting for 500,000 words!) Continue reading →

Monday Musings #13

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Outback

(I started this on Monday. It took me a day to finish it haha!)

This is my first year teaching, and I have one big complaint to make:

Why do we have to raise kids to only be expository writers and not creative writers?

This is the biggest complaint of all teachers, right? We have to teach to a test, not teach our kids things they’ll use in real life. Not all kids are going to grow up to write academic papers in their career for their entire life.

Should students be writing expository often? Obviously. Most college writing is expository in nature and it should be mastered before you get there.

But how do we raise the next JK Rowling when creative writing
 is barely touched in school?

Continue reading →

I Read 6 Books in 2017…

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But I accomplished so many other things I had never planned for, so is that really something to be ashamed of?

Hello friends! Long time, no post!

So I logged into Goodreads on 12/29 and was so depressed when I saw how far from my minuscule 30-book goal I still was. 30 books is barely one per 2 weeks. I had friends accomplish their 75-100 book goals! What! Continue reading →

2016 Year in Review

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So I scrolled back through my blog posts and found the one where I listed my goals for 2016. So here we are, in the last week of a very up and down year, and it’s time to look back and see what kind of accomplishments I made.

Here we go:

Blogging:

  • Get 500 followers
    • Accomplished. I currently have 507 followers. Yay!
  • 10,000 views
    • Close but no cigar. Had I not stopped blogging, I’d probably have accomplished this one. But 9,100ish views is not something to scoff at!
  • Have an active following, where no one is afraid to comment and discuss!
    • I would consider this accomplished. 
  • Continue posting a few times a week
    • I was doing great until we moved. But that’s okay.
  • Never forget a Monday Musings
    • Nope. MM died out pretty early in the year lol
  • Post at least 20 book reviews
    • Did I even post one? 
  • Bring in more followers to the blog from Twitter
    • I did bring in significantly more readers this year from Twitter than last year. So check.
  • Get 250 Twitter followers
    • 415 as of right now. Check!

Writing:

  • Finish a second draft of Cover Up
    • I need to finish the first draft too, LOL
    • First draft was finished. Second draft was never started.
  • Finish the first draft of Where I Belong and start editing
    • This was not a good writing year for me.
  • Write two additional pieces of short fiction per month
    • Not even one.

Reading:

  • Read 30 books (I know it’s not much, but it’s more than I’ve read in a loooong time)
    • According to Goodreads, I read 17 books this year. I averaged over 1 a month, and that’s an accomplishment to me.

Personal:

  • Get married!
    • CHECK!
  • Feel good in my dress (I’m really trying to get it taken in, but we’ll see)
    • I was never NOT going to feel good in my dress.
  • Save another $1,000
    • We saved a lot, spent it all on the move, and are back over $1,000 in savings. So check!
  • Go out and do things with new people
    • Seriously I need friends here
    • I never accomplished this in Roanoke haha

I’ve posted about my slump already for the year. But I’m over the negative thoughts. I may not have been able to mark off all my resolutions for this year, but I made a lot of progress in life this year. I built this beautiful blog. We moved to Texas. Brad and I are finally married.

Next up: big moves with my career. A house. A new dog (or 3).

Bring it on, 2017. I’m ready for you!

It’s November 2nd

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and I have not started my novel yet.

I have not plotted, I have not even figured out what I want to write about.

Am I panicking?

Nah.

There’s a lot going on in life right now. Good things! I’m married! I’m taking steps towards my future. I’m making decisions about life. I’m happy!

I’m also at jury duty as I write this. I’ve only been officially a resident here for 2 1/2 months and I already got a jury duty summons. Just about sums up my luck haha!

So if you’re signed up for NaNoWriMo this month and you also have not written anything, have no fear. You are not alone, friend.

But we WILL get to that 50,000 word mark. Even if it takes just a teensy bit more effort on a few of the days.

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Using Writing Software

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So considering that I am not the most dedicated year-round writer as of yet, I have never played around with different writing softwares before. But I was scrolling through the NaNoWriMo Sponsor Offers today and decided I was going to utilize one of the free trials to see if this helps enhance my novel-writing experience.

I know Scrivener is the big one that a lot of people use. I see posts about it all the time from blogs I follow. I watched the introduction video and honestly felt super overwhelmed. Maybe one day I’ll be more in tune with software of this kind that Scrivener will have what I need, but right now, I’m looking for something really straight-forward.  Continue reading →

Eight Week Challenge: Update 7

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the caffeinated writer

Ahh craziness all around. We’re leaving in 10 DAYS. I’ve been crazy busy packing, going through my last week of work, and just mentally preparing myself to say goodbye to these beautiful Appalachian Mountains.

As such, I do not have much of an update for my eight week challenge. As much as I figured this would happen, I really haven’t focused on any of my goals recently. I finished one book, started another but probably can’t finish it before we leave (and it’s a library book so…) and while I’ve been packing (a workout!) and walking (thanks Pokemon G0!), I’ve been kinda eating whatever I want.

😦

But it’s fine. I’m midway through the last week of the challenge, and while I probably won’t be able to say it was the most successful, I know that I did make some accomplishments. But I’ll go through all that sappy stuff next week when I do my final update.

This is all I have to say in this post today, as it’s getting busy and I’ve got a lot of stuff to do. I can’t wait until I’m moved and settled in so I can get back to regularly posting on my own blog, as well as get back to reading more of the blogs from friends I follow.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Eight Week Challenge: Update 6

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the caffeinated writer

I just noticed while scrolling through my blog trying to remember what week we’re on, that the only posts I’ve had lately are the 8WC or Fiction Friday. So that’s kind of boring. Ultimately though, until we move, that’s probably all it’s going to be. I’m not doing much right now besides reading, SOME writing, and POKEMON GO. But more on that later.

Time is sure flying by on this challenge! 2 weeks left of the challenge means 2 weeks left at my job! Eek!

So here is my end of week 6 update: Continue reading →

Eight Week Challenge: Update 5

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the caffeinated writer

The closer the end of this challenge comes, the faster it goes.

And the faster the challenge goes, IT MEANS IT’S ALMOST TIME TO LEAVE.

We’ve got 3 weeks left of the eight week challenge, which means I’ve got 3 weeks left at work, and just 4 weeks left of Virginia living. I’m already starting to miss out the view from my back patio:

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Photo credit: ME

So how has my challenge progressed this week? Well, no better than the last few weeks it appears. Let’s break it down.

Continue reading →

Eight Week Challenge: Halfway Update

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the caffeinated writer

Whelp, here we are.

The halfway point.

*insert panicked emoji face*

I can’t say that so far this adventure has been either successful or a failure. I can say I’ve made some progress in all three goals, but overall, I have not really come close to the ultimate goal of creating good habits for myself before the big move to Texas.

Here’s my week 4 report: Continue reading →