Oh! The Things I Have Learned!

!!!So I went to the writer's workshop and I got to show off my blog to the class because I was the only one who had a blog!!! Mel Odom taught us about how, once you have a blog, you can review things you've already seen/experienced such as books/movies/TV Shows etc. You sign up on this website: blogcritics.com then you click on 'writers' and 'Become a Blog Critic'. And if the people running the site like your writing style and think you have something to say and the more reviews you write the more popular you become and eventually they will send you FREE STUFF to review! How cool is that?! Definitely signing up there! We also learned about Cafepress.com If you have a story idea for example and you publish it and it becomes popular, you can take an original drawing and cafepress will make mugs, and shirts, and merchandise and you get part of the proceeds!

Let's see.... what else did we learn *flips through notes* Hmmm... We learned important elements of a story. Such as 'A character must want or need something'. Because other wise the story is fairly pointless. We also learned that the villain and the hero should be very similar with one small dividing difference. It makes the conflict more exciting. Another good site to check out is: Fictionwriting.about.com It talks about what an individual scene should have.

Mel talked about word length a little bit too. In today's market 1,000 - 7,000 words is a short story, 75,000 - 100,000 is a novel.

And finally if you go to Melodom.com you and E-mel... haha his joke not mine :p and I don't know if he would help you seeing as how you didn't meet him but he said he'd help the people in the workshop i.e. me!

Let's seee....oh! The Christmas music is coming along great! Most of it is really easy when you actual practice it hehe..... There are only a few songs that I need to work really hard on. That makes me happy!!

This Friday our volleyball team - Excalibur is going to Mid West City to scrimmage Wolf Pack! I'm excited! I was nervous but Cara said that it's just for fun and practice and doesn't count for anything like league or tournament or anything and that helped. I'm only a little nervous now...it's mostly just excited! For those of you who are wondering: league is where all the teams of Oklahoma who are part of this group, such as Southern Thunder, The Incredible's, Wolf Pack, Excalibur, Mustangs etc. come together to play games. Then depending on how well your teams do places you for tournament which is a two day, all day thing in Norman. (P.S. Correct me if I'm wrong about the way all that works please, Ellen.)

In January there is going to be a state-wide science fair of Oklahoma and I'm going to be part of it! I still have A LOT of work to do for it but I'm starting to get excited because I read like the entry forms and rules and stuff today and it sounds like it's going to be fun. If you're in 1st - 12th grade, are home schooled, and live in Oklahoma you can join. (P.P.S. If you're interested, let me know and I can send you the information.) My project is going to be on 'The Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly'! Anywho, that's pretty much all that's going on with that.

I finished Jane Eyre! (Not sure if I already said that in an earlier post but if I did you will just have to get over that now, won't you? :p ) I also watched the Timothy Dalton movie of it! So good! That story (in any form) makes me all happy! It's so genius and interesting and moving! Last night I wrote my outline for my book report on Jane. It's coming together nicely! I've already started Tuck Everlasting. (I'm actually about half way through and we haven't even finished all of our Jane Eyre stuff, hehe....)

Okay peoples thats enough for today! Check back later for another glimpse of what's going on

inside my head! :p Sincerely, Alissa M. Lindsey (In case you haven't gotten that down by now! :p )

Books, Books, Books!

The Power of Books

by Alissa Lindsey

They're all around! They consume me. Each one whispers it's intricate story to me while I sit, wide eyed, learning the travels of each wonderfully real character. The stories control my thoughts, rule my actions, and edit my speech. I'm Winnie, Harry, or Jane. Elizabeth, Stargirl, or Anne. Mia, Mathias, or Peter. Ethan, Alice, or Wanda. I'm all of them, really. Their entertaining personalities compose my own. Their mannerisms and style meld with mine. I become them. They become me. We are one. My eyes see what they see, my fingers touch what they touch, my heart beats with their emotions. Exploring, laughing, crying - together. In an entirely different place - the docks of the sea, the abbey of Redwall, the moors of England, or the brick walls of Albert Einstein High School. Where ever I may be in my world, it takes only seconds to be transported to the 1800's, a magical wood, or a gaping cavern. This is the power of books.

Today when I opened my blog, and clicked 'new post' I had every intetion of documenting the names and titles of the five books I'm currently reading (which I will still do, by the way) but when my fingers started typing a poem appeared instead. What do you think? Did you like it? I did. :)

The five books I am currently reading are:

1. Redwall by Brian Jacques

2. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

3. The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

4. Hunters of the Dark Sea by Mel Odom

5. The Princess Diaries: Party Princess by Meg Cabot

Hehe, what can I say? I like books. No that's an understatement - I LOVE BOOKS! :D Always have, always will. Anyways, let's move on to another topic, because I believe I have sufficiently covered books for today. Let's see....

We got our new music for band! Some of it is fun, most of it is hard - but I will master it!

The choir solo was not given out the week I skipped to go to my band concert - YAY! And I'm trying out for it in two weeks! yay! Hope I get it! :D

Hmmm, the writers workshop I wrote the prologue to 'The Guardian Fairy' for is tomorrow! I'm excited! :D The book I'm reading called 'Hunter's of the Dark Sea' is by the speaker/teacher for the workshop! So, how cool is that!? I like meeting other writers, it's always cool to hear advice and tips and stuff from them. *Sigh* Someday, I'll be the published writer giving advice and tips....Someday... *groan* someday when I actually have time/motivation to write something....

Well, that's all for today kids. TTFN!

P.S. Everything I post here - my poems, stories, ideas, and just general ramblings are copy righted. And if you wish to continue to be my friend you will leave them here, where they should be. :p