Laura's blog

In a previous blogpost , I said that I live to write, instead of writing to live. I suppose this is fortunate in that I don't have to churn out stories, articles, or poems on a daily basis to earn my bread. However, it's unfortunate in that writing is not a Top Priority. I don't have to do it, no matter how much I want or like to, and that means it can be shunted to the background in favor of more immediate, pressing activities. Mainly, schoolwork. I know, I know--this means I'm not really a writer, right? Just a college kid with writer pretensions (or, as I prefer to think of it, ambitions . Can I get a cheer for Slytherin?). But school's out for the summer, and The Book has been chugging along remarkably. I just passed the 200,000-word mark...and was torn between doing a victory dance and killing myself. 200K is acceptable for epic fantasy, since the genre practically demands a multitude of characters, complex plotlines, and paragraphs upon paragraphs of world...

I lifted this idea for a blogpost from Jessica Faust at BookEndsLLC , which is, by the way, a fantastic blog about reading, writing, agenting, and publishing books. The concept behind speed dating is that you get a short time, say ten minutes, to sit down with someone and get to know them. While I'm nobody important, I liked the interview format on BookEnds--it's very, well, bookish--and thought you might want to know a little more about me. So... Name or internet pseudonym: Laura Wise (hence the @Laura_the_Wise of Twitter fame :P) Currently reading: Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King, Lord Sunday by Garth Nix, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Next on the reading list: The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman...and I'm probably overdue for a re-read of Harry Potter as well. ;) I also want to tackle a classic or two this summer, and I'm thinking about reading Vanity Fair. Three authors living or dead you'd want to have dinne...

There are a few things that get me this mad. This post will discuss one: BOOK BANNING. Also, an article in the Wall Street-fucking-Journal that I can't believe was published. Read it and weep. The author states that YA (young adult) fiction is becoming far too dark for kids "12 to 18." Here are some of the other things she says: "How dark is contemporary fiction for teens? Darker than when you were a child, my dear" --> This sets up the maddenly condescending tone of the rest of the piece. "A careless young reader [...] will find himself surrounded by images not of joy or beauty but of damage, brutality, and losses of the most horrendous kinds." --> What "horrendous kinds" are we talking about here? Maybe if you want kids to find themselves surrounded by joy and beauty, you should stop trying to ban books and start trying to legalize marijuanna. "No happy ending to this one, either." --> And this is objectionab...

This blog is in a bit of a slump right now...I haven't posted regularly. Sometimes I don't post for almost the whole month. Sometimes I write a burst of posts, then get depressed when no one comments. Then I don't post for a while. And the cycle continues... I suppose it's to be expected. I mean, it is summer. And unlike other kids/people, I spend summers outside getting into shenanigans instead of inside playing video games or noodling around on the Internet. Or if it's hideously hot and humid like today, I at least spend summers getting into shenanigans inside. Or I'm in California with one of my best friends, eating durians and driving on the freeway (shudder). Or with the same friend, camping in the woods...naked. (KIDDING.) But I did learn to embroider while in California. It's a time-consuming but rewarding hobby--especially now that that boring white jacket I never wear now has a flower design on the front in a lovely shade of purple. In addition ...

Money is important. Well, duh. But it's not until you get to be eighteen and your parents threaten to kick you out/disown you/stop paying for college that you realize how EXTREMELY important money is. The parental threat(s) came with the stipulation that said threats would not become a reality if I got a job. And believe me, Mom and Dad, there is nothing I'd like more to do. Because then I could rent a cheap apartment for $250-400 a month, survive on ramen noodles and cereal, not pay campus housing fees, AND stay there for the summer (to avoid being a burden on my poor unfortunate white middle-class parents). The main problem with me getting a job right now is that EVERY college student home for the summer is trying to get a job. And with me only being available for about 4 weeks out of the entire summer--a spread-out 4 weeks at that--my chances of being hired over kids stuck at home for the whole 2 to 2 1/2 months are slim. Still, I have options. The site I write for has...