Sunday, August 25, 2013

Incoming, Outoing, Stationery Swap, Stationery Order July/August



Been really into stationery lately! (Well, more than usual!) ;-) My kind friend, Cecilia from Germany, swapped some Kawaii stationery with me! I love everything, especially the Rilakumma one, Chip & Dale design, and the homemade envelope she made!

 
Julie from La Papierre ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/LaPapierre ) had a special offer on her blog: 8 free surprises along with my order! So... I couldn't resist ;-) I got two lovely letter sets and they came with these bonus goodies! I especially like the air mail labels - I can always use some of those. :-D


Here's some of my recent outgoing mail. Two postcards for Postcrossing, a letter for Yoshi from Austria, and a few note cards for a note card exchange that I'm participating in :-)


I recently had an unhappy mail box, but my friend Sherri, from North Carolina sent me a letter! It was a beautiful sight to see after days of no mail! :-)


Since then, I've gotten more mail! A lovely postcard of a castle from Clare in England, a note card from Sherri in Georgia who is part of the note card exchange with me :-) a letter from my dear friend Rhia is Canada, and a letter from my lovely friend Patty in Texas!

Sit Down and Write 4


I'm not much of a writer, but I have so many stories and story ideas floating around in my head - they're so vivid, almost like a movie, that I absolutely have to write it down and bring my characters' stories to life on paper. I feel like my characters exist on their own and I didn't create them... I discovered them. :-) I don't normally show my stories to others, they're part of a persona project of mine, but I will tell you this: my stories revolve around a powerful family who is beautiful, intellectual, sophisticated, but cursed. That's all I'm going to say. :-)

During this challenge I'm going to devote at least 500 words a day for my story writing. I'm mainly a letter writer but I suppose this blog is appropriate for this kind of challenge, too, especially because the host of this challenge also hosts reading challenges. :-)

I'll chart my progress daily (or frequently!)!

Week 1

Monday: I wrote 1068 words! Really surpassed my goal for today! It was just too much to write once I was in the middle of it. :-) The Write or Die online app is really useful!

Tuesday: Today I wrote 663 words, and the 20 minutes went by quickly. I feel like the scene played out well in my mind, although the dialogue is a bit on the cheesy side. I just want to get it all out and then edit it eventually when I'm all finished

Wednesday: I wrote 587 words. I kinda didn't want to stop, but I have to because I want to go to bed soon. I have a headache and haven't been getting enough sleep lately. But the story stopped at a really awkward but interesting part. :-) 

Thursday: I wrote 656 words. I don't recall what I wrote on this day, but I know it went well. Editing this project will be interesting in the end!

Friday: Internet was down so I didn't get to use the Write or Die online app, but I did write 655 words using Microsoft Word. Successful! Further establishing the background of one of the characters' family.

Saturday: All went well. I wrote 640 words before midnight. XD I really like the transition of the characters talking about what they wanted to do with their lives, then moving on to a character's dream sequences, and then the character waking up in the middle of the night. I can hardly believe that I have one more day of the challenge tomorrow! Time went by fast :-)

EDIT: Oh my... I didn't realize that this is a 2 week challenge. XD I was all ready to end tomorrow! Bwa ha! Now my story will be even more nearing completion by the end of the 2nd week! I wonder if it will be halfway done?

Sunday: I honestly didn't feel like writing today, but I did it anyway and I'm glad. :-) I wrote 589 words and left it at that.

Week 2

Monday: Wrote 648 words. Not bad considering it's a lazy Labor Day holiday for me. I'm interested in seeing which direction the story will take next.

Tuesday: 594 words this time around. I'm dead tired and almost completely forgot about writing today. I should put it into my planner so it's one less thing to worry about. :-)

Wednesday: 578 words for today. The story is flowing smoothly enough.

Thursday: 590 words today! Finished around 11:11 p.m. (don't remember what I wished for, ha ha!)

Friday: Had a fever the previous night, so today I rested a lot and completely forgot about writing. :-(

Saturday: Wasn't exactly in the mood to write today either, especially after getting sick. I was really tired

Sunday: I didn't get to write today either.

RESULTS: I did great until I fizzled out at the end after getting sick. XD But overall I think I was pretty successful. :-) I wrote a lot more than I thought I would!

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Throwing Letters Away

Today I spent 2 - 3 hours throwing away old pen pal letters. For many years I resisted doing this, because I believe that hand-written letters are precious and much more special than e-mails and text messages. My mother kept telling me for years that I should throw away my letters. And finally I see the wisdom in doing so. I've been keeping letters from many pen pals who no longer write to me, even pen pals from my childhood who I had forgotten about until I sorted through their letters today. I kept letters from pen pals who wrote short replies, including one page replies written on memo sheet-sized paper. I kept letters from a girl who manipulated me and made me feel like dirt even though I considered her a best friend. Now I see that throwing away these letters gives me a sense of closure. I am moving on with my life and getting to know new pen pals. More letters come to my mail box each week. I have too much junk and I don't have room to store all my letters, as cool as that would be. Of course I am still keeping some old letters, especially the really special, thoughtful letters that were written to me. But now I see it's a good idea to get rid of letters from pen pals who no longer write to me, pen pals who are toxic people, and pen pals who write very short letters. I must admit I had to throw away some letters from a good pen pal of mine, but only because I had way too many from her, all written on notebook paper. I've been writing to her for years :-) Her words are in my heart, though, and I'm still keeping her latest letters.

What about you? How do you feel about throwing old letters? Do you think all letters should be saved, or is it okay to throw some away?

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Bout of Books 8.0!!!

Bout of Books 

I'm excited for Bout of Books 8.0! I'm going to do much better than the previous ones! Bring it on! :-)

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Time Devoted to Reading

I will be reading at least an hour a day!

My Goals

  • I will finish 3 books, reading 100 pages per day!

Books to Read

  • Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
  • Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater
  • Princess of Glass - Jessica Day George

Updates

Monday
Number of pages I've read today: 122
Total number of pages I've read: 122
Books: Princess of Glass

Tuesday
Number of pages I've read today: 100
Total number of pages I've read: 222
Books: Princess of Glass

Wednesday
Number of pages I've read today: 137
Total number of pages I've read: 359
Books: Princess of Glass, Shiver

Thursday
Number of pages I've read today: 101
Total number of pages I've read: 460
Books: Shiver

Friday
Number of pages I've read today: 103
Total number of pages I've read: 563
Books: Shiver

Saturday
Number of pages I've read today: 107
Total number of pages I've read: 670
Books:Shiver, Uglies

Sunday
Number of pages I've read today: 102
Total number of pages I've read: 772
Books: Uglies

Overall, I did really well! I finally accomplished my goal of reading 100 pages per day, something that I didn't do for my previous Bout of Books read-a-thons. :-) Too bad I couldn't finish Uglies before the end of the challenge, but I did get to read a little over 1/4 of it. :-)

High Summer Read-a-Thon Results






As promised, here's my results for the High Summer Read-a-Thon. I ALMOST reached my goals!

I finished reading The Gathering Storm, The Confession, and read most of Grave Mercy. I think I had about 150 pages to go. SO CLOSE!!! XD I should have picked a shorter book ;-)

I hope to do much better in the next challenge. The next one I'll do is Bout of Books :-) I'll post my sign in blog post soon!