Reality has this funny way of knocking you down a peg just when things are starting to look up. There have been multiple times this year where I’ve ascended to what I thought was the top rung of life, to the point where I could almost see the light at the end of the tunnel… and then I’ve fallen on the last step and come crashing down to the bottom. I’m not going to go into specifics, but a little background is necessary for you to understand why I’ve been such a lazy bag of shit for the last three months. Continue reading
Writing
My Dinner with Jonathan Franzen
I got the news a couple weeks ago. It started like any other day. I was bored after classes, and there was no way in hell I was going to start my homework— it was naptime. As is customary, I logged onto my laptop so I could check my email to ensure that I wasn’t missing out on some super-important club meeting that I wasn’t going to attend anyway. My inbox was full of the usual junk: the school newspaper, emails from professors about my classes, porn advertisements, (kidding) the works, until I stumbled upon an email with the subject header that read: You’re Invited to Have Dinner With Writers From the Visiting Writers Series, RSVP. I was ecstatic.
For those of you who don’t know, I attend Butler University in Indianapolis. Each year, they run a program called the Visiting Writers Series, where famous authors from around the country come and speak to the people on campus. The next morning, the author hosts a student-only Q&A in the creative writing center. In past years, Butler has had some pretty big names come to town: Tim O’ Brien, Margaret Atwood, and Jennifer Egan, to name a few. This year, there were some people I’d never heard of before, and one name I had: Jonathan Franzen was scheduled to come on October 28th. Continue reading
Where I’ve Been— And What’s Coming
In college, one of the first questions you get asked when you meet someone new is “What’s your major?” or “What are you studying?” When I tell people that my major is English, the conversation usually goes something a little like this:
“Oh, so do you want to be a teacher?” they ask.
“No, I want to write novels,” I reply.
“Oh, that’s really cool! What kinds of stories do you write?”
This question always freezes me because there’s an honest answer, and then there’s the one I always tell people. I always tell people I write horror stories, because for the longest time, I did write horror stories. Currently, though, and the more accurate answer to the question, I don’t write jackshit. But that’s about to change. Continue reading
Review: Red Dragon
If I’ve learned one thing from doing this whole blogging thing, it’s that I really suck at hitting deadlines. Maybe it’s because they are self-imposed and I have no reason to hit them other than to achieve a goal, or maybe it’s because I’m a lazy little shit. I’m going to guess it’s the latter. I could waste more of our time by writing the same intro I always do, giving lame-o excuses and promising to due better, but at this point I don’t see a point. I’m just gonna post what I came to post.
So anyway, if you’ll remember back to here, I was reading Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. Well, I finished it…like a month ago. It took me three days after I got done with Angels and Demons to get through. I knew exactly what I was gonna say in this review post, too, but my laziness took over so I’m just now getting around to it. Continue reading
Review: Angels & Demons
Well, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is, I just finished my ninth book of the year, leaving us only two shy of last year’s paltry total of 11. Since we’re pretty much at the halfway point of the year, I’d say we could double last year’s total pretty easily. The bad news is that there is no way we’re gonna get to 52. I knew I was taking on a big task when I set that goal, but I had no idea how much time it would take. It made reading a chore, took the fun out of it. That wasn’t what I wanted to do. Anyway, Angels and Demons is done, so now for my thoughts. Continue reading
Review: Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
Wow, it’s been a while. A lot longer than I anticipated, actually. In short, a few things have happened since we last talked—rather, I talked at you guys, and you guys skimmed through to the important stuff. For one, my laptop is fixed and ready to go so I no longer have to rely on my family members for some computer time. The other thing is, it’s summer… and I have slept too much of it away. I know I NEED to be productive, so each night I set my alarm for 7:30. That should give me plenty of time to eat breakfast, work out, read my Bible and what not, and be ready to sit down and write by 9:00. The problem is that I’m a teenager, and I have the sleep habits of one. It’s rather difficult for me to say no to an extra 2-3 hours of sleep when I technically don’t have to be doing anything. I haven’t gotten up earlier than 9:30 at all this summer, and I usually sleep till 11. But THAT’S why I haven’t posted as much as I said I would. I know, my priorities are mixed up.
Anyhow, a while back I picked up Stephen King’s newest book, Mr. Mercedes. Those of you that have been with me from the beginning know that I had the ludicrous goal of trying to review 52 books in 52 weeks—that idea has since gone by the wayside. I’m gonna post whatever I want, although I will review anything I read. This book is still new& relevant, so I figured I’d read it and tell you guys if it’s worth your dough. Continue reading
About this week…
Some of you more observant types may have noticed that I didn’t post a story update yesterday. Believe me, I have a great excuse.
For one, I graduated from high school on Saturday. That’s kind of a big thing. The rest of that day was spent hanging out with my classmates and having fun. Also, my own Open House was yesterday. I had no time to do anything else.
Here’s the big one, though. My laptop broke earlier this week. The charger port went out and the only way I can charge it is to swap the battery in my brother’s computer. It’s a pain. I am going to get it fixed ASAP. Expect an update by Sunday.
I know this was an incredibly short post, but typing from my phone is annoying, and I really don’t have all that much to say. I just wanted to let you guys know the situation in case you’re getting antsy. Thanks for being patient.
Here’s a link to the latest installment in my story if ya missed it: Part 5
Story Sunday…Tuesday Pt 5
I figured I’d post this now because I honestly have not clue when I’d get around to doing it otherwise. I forgot to post on Sunday because I was at a friend’s place and didn’t think about it. For that, I apologize, but you’ll get over it.
I just finished my last day of high school… Still feels funny to say that. For this website, that means two things: more activity (If I can beat the laziness bug) and more sporadic posting. This summer is going to be very eventful for me, so I might have to do away with the scheduled updates and go with the whenever-I-get-to-it kinda thing. We’ll see. Anyway, here is part 5.
Story Sunday: Pt 4
I almost forgot to post this tonight. I had a pretty awesome weekend, and sometimes I get a little forgetful when my mind goes other places. Anyway, I have a few things to say first. This is big for me, but you guys may not care. In the past week, I have gotten over 500 views on my website. This was due to an article that I wrote about our school’s senior cookout/not really a prank thing getting us all suspended. It was complete horse crap, but I felt like writing it because I like to stir stuff up… and I thought I made it clear that it was a joke. I was later informed that parents had actually asked the school if it were true. Whoops. Anyway, 500 views in a week is more than I’ve ever had; it was more than I’d had in like 4 months. So that’s pretty cool.
Honestly, I don’t have much else as of now. I’ll make a big update post with some thoughts on it later, but it is getting late and I’d like to get this posted tonight so my alliteration thing will still work. Here ya go, readers. Here’s Parts 1, 2, and 3 if ya missed em. Continue reading
Story Sunday: (Pt 3)
It’s that time of week again. It’s time for me to fill your social media feeds with links to this website, and you either click and read or get really irritated and keep scrolling. For me, it’s a time of nervousness.
I’m not sure how well this is received. When I had it on my old blog, I had people constantly coming up to me and asking what was going to happen… they actually cared. Now, my view count is down and numbers are diminished. I’m getting slightly discouraged, but that’s what I get for not heeding the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” adage. Continue reading
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