I Smell Roses

This is what my mornings look like.
Scary, I know. You get used to it after a while.
Mostly.

Good day, world of the blog variety! I woke up this morning, as I usually do, and thought to myself, "I sure hope I don't get hit by a car today." And what do you know, I didn't! Instead, I found a notification in my email stating that this little blog had won another award! That's practically the opposite of getting hit by a car in my opinion.

So, with all of that in mind, I've determined that although I may have a test on Shakespeare's tragedies today that I haven't studied nearly enough for, a writing workshop to teach this evening, and a zombie-filled event to attend that will make me miss watching a new episode of Psych tonight, today is going to be a good day.

Couple all of that with the fact that the weather has finally become less hot and humid and more fall-like, and you have one happy girl with a cup of hot coffee in her hand.

As for the award, it is called One Lovely Blog Award, and the wonderful Eve over at Clueless Eve has so graciously awarded it to me. How nice of her. The award is lovely in its own right, I think. I just love pretty things, especially when they're given to me. Even more so when they're edible, but alas, this one is not. That's okay, I can deal.

Now, there are some conditions applying to the awardee of this award (what a mouthful) and here they are:
1. Thank and link to the person awarding the award to the awardee. (I take it back, this is a mouthful.)
2. Choose fifteen other blogs that you've recently discovered to share in the loveliness of the award. Spectacular.

Well, I've already linked to Eve earlier in the post, so all I have left is to thank her. (I've already done it in a comment on her blog.)
"THANK YOU, EVE! You contributed to making my day wonderful!"

All of that was easy, but here comes the difficult part: choosing the other recipients. I hate making decisions almost as much as I hate the idea of being hit by a car or a bus. But I have to make some choices this morning, so here they are:

1. Colin D. Smith
2. Sioux's Page (which I just found this morning due to the sharing of the previous award, see this post)
3. Daily Dodo
4. Fantasy Nibbles
5. StupidGirl over at generationwhynot (she's not really stupid, just funny)
6. TeenShiver
7. K.M. Weiland over at Word Play: Helping Writers Become Authors
8. Write Escape
9. Write-or-Die
10. Suspense Author Jeremy Bates
11. Mireyah Wolfe
12. Donna's Book Pub
13. DAILY DRAMA OF AN ASPIRING WRITER (yes, she uses all caps)
14. Bookworm Castle (found this blog this morning thanks to the Halloween Hop going on over at Jeremy Bate's blog)
15. A Daft Scots Lass, a.k.a. Gillian Hefer

There you go! All done and it's only taken me a whole hour to do it! Now I just gotta go back to all of those blogs and tell them that I gave them a rosy award...yay.

Until next time...have a great day!

Pay It Forward Blog Fest Fun

So, there's this awesome thing *points at picture* going on this weekend (over here) and I saw it and said to myself, "Bailey, this is a great thing. You need to join and spread news of bloggers and their bloggy blogs all OVER the Interwebs. It's your destiny."

And now I have blog post number two for today. I'm on a ROLL. What is this, like number four for blog posts this week? Wow. I'm pretty sure that's a record for me. I wonder what that means for the world. I'm scared to actually ask.

Anyway, if you are a follower of Moi, please check out these awesome followers of mine and fellow bloggers. They deserve it and since I'm repping them, it must mean they're awesome. Which they are.

Group Blog
Scratchlings is a new blog put together by a couple of the cutest little writers ever! (Not to say that they are in any way  little, but since I have the "big dog complex" I consider anyone younger than me by at least one year to therefore be smaller than me. I know. I have issues.) They all hail from the Young Writer's Society, so of course they use their user names as pseudonyms. It's cute. They're pretty much the most knowledgeable bunch of teenage writers ever. I'm not even joking. They will awe you.
Also, the Pro(B)logue, which is run by SilentPages, who is also a contributor to Scratchlings. I know this is cheating, but she deserves a shout-out too.

This is my blog anyway. I can list more than three blogs. Muahahaha! Power is mine! Ahem.

Actual young adult YA Blogger
Kelsey Sutton is one of my dear, dear writer buddies, and I love her with all my heart. Right now she's on submission for the second time *fingers crossed folks* and I'm praying her book sells, because I know it's awesomesauce with spectacularchips on top. So stalk her. I do.

Adult(ish) Blogger
Another of my dearest of dear writer buddies, affectionately known as Tiger, is milady Tanya. She's Canadian and I'm Southern, so we get along great. She the Yin to my Yang, the salt to my pepper, the sour to my sweet, and every other kind of pair that you or I could think of. In short: she's wonderfully lovely. Also, she's very pregnant and I can't wait until she pops little Liam out so I can see what he looks like via Skype. I just feel so proud.

Completely Adult Blogger
Colin D. Smith is a guy that has a family and once lived in England where he rode a bike. His blog is quite interesting, with snippets about history and theology, and he comments quite often on my blog, so I always feel welcome whenever I traipse on over to his blog and leave a note on random posts of his. It's fun. Anyway, he mentioned me in his Pay It Forward post, so I've just came back here to add him! This blogfest is already working! Awesome!


Okay. Get to blog hopping! I wanna see some page counts go UP!

How's This For A Promotion? (aka Non-Sappy Sunday #1)

Hello people of the blogosphere! Thank you for stopping by, if indeed you are actually reading this. You're so special and I love you. I. Love. You.

Anyway, I've been following a certain blogger's blog (blogger's blog...haha...that sounds so funny for some reason...) for a few weeks now, and she really knows her stuff. I don't readily admit when someone is younger than me and can write circles around what I do, but here I go:

She can write circles around me, and I like it.

She likes to go by the name Silent Pages, and quite frankly, I'm glad. As long as she's hiding behind that pseudonym, I can still have that tiny belief in the back of my mind that she might just be a figment of my imagination concocted to make me feel bad about my own writing skillz. Those things do happen, you know. Really, they do.

But, since I'm on the topic of great ideas, writing tips, and so on, I would like to pass her link on to you folks so y'all can each get an idea of what I'm trying to say. Whatever that may be.

Without further ado, I give you Silent Pages' blog. Go crazy. (Warning: Her blog posts are so amazingly long, wonderful, and wise that you will feel inadequate, but be comforted in the fact that everyone else is feeling the same way.)

RTW: Good Old Mind Plunger

Welcome to our 93th Road Trip Wednesday!

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link in the comments - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This Week's Topic:

How do you beat writer's block? 

Do you go for a jog? Read a book? Go to a movie? Come on, share your secret - we're dying to know!

Ah, the topic of champions. Writer's Block is something that we all face, but some people are often skeptical if it in actuality even exists.

I'm here to say how I feel on the matter and try to explain how to beat it until it raises the white flag in retreat.

First, I believe that Writer's Block is real, BUT--and it's a necessary but--it does not mean that a writer is incapable of writing anything. It simply means a writer is temporarily devoid of inspiration along a certain train of thought. It happens, though we wish it didn't, and we are struck dumb with the overwhelming horror of Not Having Anything We Think Is Worth Saying.

It's terrifying, and I admit that I've had that same issue at times. I feel like I stare at the screen for hours on end just waiting for the Muses to whack me upside the head with something, anything, that will be worthy of being written.

Image courtesy digitalart/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Let's pause right there for a moment. Worth. That is where we get hung up and our worry just exacerbates the problem until all we can see is that blank screen or that empty page. Why does what we write have to be worth writing? Can't it simply be nonsense or junk?

It's not like anyone besides ourselves has to read it, right? That's what I thought.

So there is a solution to our problem right there. Whenever you feel like you have nothing to write about and Writer's Block worries are getting you down, just start writing. It doesn't have to be about anything, just so long as it's real words strung together. The simple act of putting those words on screen or paper is enough to kick-start your tired Writing Motor. While it may take some time, you will be free of Writer's Block.

That's the good thing about the subject. Writer's Block is temporary. It doesn't have to dominate your life. It will, if you let it, but if you refuse to allow the doubt it brings you to creep into your writing life, then it won't be given the chance to gain a foothold.

So, be brave, dear stalwart writers. Fight for your ability to create and destroy worlds with your words.

Reporterly Things

Image via WikipediaSo I may or may not have mentioned in an earlier blog post that I am a writer for my college's paper, The Vanguard. Since I have the memory of--and I hate to use this analogy--a squirrel, I really have no clue what I've actually talked about without going back and looking. But since I am sure I've told you I'm lazy, I'm sure you can understand why I haven't done so.

As it is, I have been promoted (without my knowledge, which is kinda funny) from "Contributing Writer" to "Staff Writer" on the paper. I don't know if that means anything in the long run, but I like to think they've grown rather fond of me and my often odd story ideas. (Refer to this post to get an idea of what I mean.)

Anyway, there's all of that and my continuing dislike of actually doing the actual articles. Don't get me wrong. I love my part-time job as a "Staff Writer" and it pays the coffee bill, but I hate writing in the journalistic style. It's so boring.

That's why I'm glad they don't make me do "hard news" stories. I'm pretty free to write whatever I want so long as they like it and think people will read it. So, I do book reviews and write crazy stories about squirrels, and I spout off my opinions about various things like Egypt and other stuff while citing sources to support me, and things are cool.

Yet...the idea of being a reporter just bugs me. I'm lazy. I love writing, but I don't like interviewing people or finding sources. I have to do that for my journalism class and it drives me insane. Mostly because I have to listen to my teacher explain things so thoroughly my mind shuts down and I drift into a coma, but also because we can't write creatively in that class.

I feel like I've come to the real problem. Journalism tries to contain me in a small space that has no room for my crazy, artistic side to breathe. It gets claustrophobic in the confines of journalism. Not to say that I'm not grateful to be a paid writer, but still...Bailey don't like being put in a corner.

Does anyone else have this problem? Do you feel like you're being slowly suffocated by the constraints of certain writing styles? Or does it not bother you at all?

I'd be interested to know. And if I'm alone in this, I will need to tell myself to suck it up and be a man. Rub some dirt in it. Or something.

Until next time...happy writing!