Day 30

I won, and here's proof.

I have worked all day to get to this point. I woke up exhausted, got into my carpools car and started writing as soon as we started moving. I got to school and found refuge in Mrs. Ortega's room and kept going. During SSR I opted out of reading to keep adding to my word count. By lunch I was at 45,000 words at least. I was so tired I could feel my eyes burning and my head buzzing. It was hard to focus on anything else, which is why for a good portion of my college class this afternoon, I was typing away on the ipad instead of taking notes. (Sorry professor, I promise I'll read the chapter later) As soon as I got in the car to get home I opened back up the ipad. It has been a long day. I haven't done any other homework and I am definitely going to pay the price for it later but I can handle that. What's really important is that I finally finished, with 50,103 words at 10:50pm. It's done, I won. I did it.


Day: 30   Word Count: 50,103

Day 29

I was on a roll with my writing today. I wrote on the drives and I wrote when I got home. I was really raking up my word count... until I received an email saying my UCI application was due tomorrow night. Then I was forced to drop everything in order to fill it out. Oh dear lord I hate applications. Wish me luck, I'm going to have to write every free moment tomorrow if I want to win this thing.

Ps. I'm going to need lots of coffee tomorrow.

Day: 29   Word Count: 43,893

Day 28

I didn't write??
I did homework and that was all, tomorrow I'm going to try and make up for the loss of time.

Day: 28   Word Count: 40,358

Day 27

Today is definitely going to be trickier than yesterday to get my word count in. With the days dwindling I definitely need to focus when I write. Today is my family's make-up Thanksgiving. I am supposedly going to be prepping the cheesecake, making stuffing and of course warming the pies. It's usually really fun to be in the kitchen full of stressed out aunts and avoiding the distant relatives who just like to ask "so how's school". But today I really need to write, my story doesn't look like its coming to its close yet. I don't know, my characters just kind of picked up their bags and started moving again and I wasn't expecting it. So yeah, todays mission is to find a couch in the corner of a crowded room and pretend to not exist for a few hours, here goes.

Happy not- Thanksgiving!

Ah yes, here I am on that recliner I was talking about. Credit to my mum for taking stalker photos!

Day: 27   Word Count: 40,358

Day 26

They sort of jumped on me in the middle of my writing. 

Today is thanksgiving and you'd think I would be too busy to write, but you would be wrong! I had my writing session while my family prepped for our thanksgiving brunch. Of course, I got caught watching a youtube video during a break and got pulled into it. But before that I got a really good word count going. We drove around alot as well so I tried to write during those hours as well. All in all I got in about three hours of writing. It sounds like more than it really is honestly.

Today I am thankful for my family letting me be a recluse on a holiday.
Happy Thanksgiving!!


Day:26     Word Count: 39,306

Day 25

Six thousand words!! In one day!

I am so guilty. I was supposed to be focusing on homework today, but instead I had another movie marathon with a visiting cousin. But honestly! It wasn't my fault that she hasn't seen the Prince of Egypt!! I mean seriously, how can you have not watched that movie?? It is amazing!
So anyways, we ended watching a few movies and then it was time for homework. I sat myself down and I was like "I seriously need to write". And I did! It was miraculous but I did it for a good hour. Then I was interrupted and I had to go pick up my sister from Irvine for Thanksgiving so I kept writing in the car. It was an hour there, a half hour waiting in the car and another Hour on the way home. The whole time I just kept going until I felt nauseous from being in the car. And despite my procrastination this morning, I actually did well. I believe I bumped my word count by a good five or six thousand today. Go me.

Day: 25   Word Count: 37,648

Day 24

This was my "writing fort" 

I spent today lounging in bed, I'm not gonna lie. I had planned to get up early to be productive but then I realized that I was incredibly comfy and I didn't want to be productive anymore. But I did write, I promise. Today just also happens to be my grandma's birthday, so when I got picked up to go and visit, I decided to write. It was probably a total of an hour writing through the drive there and back. When I got back I made a fort in my room, for writing purposes of course. I strung up some lights, put up blankets and filled it with pillows and stuffed animals. Then I had chicken nuggets and fries while I wrote and it was quite lovely.


Day: 24   Word Count: 30,891

Day 23

One of my cousins accidentally let it slip that they had never seen captain america and that's pretty much all you need to know. We spent the next four hours getting her caught up and then watching crack videos and explaining memes. It was awesome but I didn't get much (or any) writing in as a result. Thankfully my sister had a African dance performance today in Irvine and I was pulled away before we could watch Thor. I wrote during the car again, an hour there and an hour and a half returning. All is well and I even got hot chocolate!

Day: 23   Word Count: 28,248

Day 22

This is pretty accurate to my story.

It's Sunday, which means catechism (muffled screaming in the back ground) and taking my sister, Lilliana, back to school in Irvine. I wrote through every car drive, which is a lot on Sundays like these. I don't think my word count got very high however. I was sort of stuck on what my characters were going to do next. They were just sort of staring at me, waiting for their next cue and I didn't know what it was yet. It wasn't until I remembered 'nanosprints' that I got started again. Its a twitter account that gives you prompts for when your stuck writing. So in the end, something exploded and my characters were shoved forward.

Day 22   Word Count: 25, 871

Day 21

Today was my turkey day part 1 so I did more preparing to stuff my face than I did writing. but I did write! For about 2 hours this morning I sat down and I wrote. For the rest of the day I ate arroz con leche and apple pie. That is all.

Day: 21  Word Count: 23,511

Day 20

I forgot my earphones, this is hell.

In other news I have discovered something about my story. Ok so, when you write you usually listen to a playlist that matches with your story. What I have discovered is that my characters have theme songs and I have been writing about them whenever I hear those songs. I hadn't realized this before but the writing patterns make more sense now. Character A's theme song is lemons by Woodlock or Shake it off by Taylor Swift and Character B's is The Bathtub from Beast of the Southern Wild. And when they are together, they're theme changes to Simple Song by The Shins. I am like, freaking out over this it is literally so cool

Day: 20   Word Count: 22,906

Day 19

I wrote on the way to school today and I think I might just keel over right now. Why did I even decide to do this, I am so tired. I am so stressed. I swear I am a time bomb for a mental breakdown. Oddly enough though, I know I wont be giving up on nanowrimo. I'm already planning to find writeins that I can attend during thanksgiving break. It has just built up so much now, I can't even think about giving up. I may be swarmed with projects and homework and college applications, but despite that my mind still wanders to my characters and what they would be doing, who they are and what they be thinking right now. It's very strange.

On a different note, I have found myself snacking on chocolate covered blueberries or sour gummyworms at all times. They seem to be my writing food, which is awesome except for the fact that I am now eating more candy than i am vegetables. My mum is concerned to say the least, but what works works, you know?

Day 19   Word Count: 21,510

(I know there is a gap in the logs but it seems those days have been lost in time)

Day 14

I am thoroughly exhausted. Today I wrote while I drove to the senior hike (45) and then again on my way to a second workout (45) and a third time during the workout (2 hours) and then on my way home again (40 min) and now I'm writing again. I really want to reach 18K. Today I was especially keen to write about Character A's back story, which was filled with some very interesting things. I don't want to say much, and I never do, but I will give a hint. Today I wrote a lot about dragons, tomatoes and the color black.

Shout out to my 10 year old self for getting me some tunes. The IPad was dying as was my phone so I had to turn off the music to reserve the batteries. Luckily there were a couple of CD's in the glove compartment of my car and I was able to find a few songs that were suitable for writing. Of course they were really out dated but I didn't mind in the least as long as the beat was right.

P.S. I just wanted to share that the CDs are named "10 Songed" and "andrea #4 XD"

Day: 14    Word Count: 17,017

Day 13

Today was jam packed busy so I was only able to write on my morning drive. (45) I wasn't back home until 2 am so I didn't write anymore besides that. I am so tired.

Day: 13   Word Count: 14,793

Day 12

I have such mixed feelings about writing while in the car. On one side, I get a lot done during car rides since it's just extra time. On the other hand, I think I might be getting car sick. Whenever I take a break from the IPad and look up I feel all icky and I just can't wait to get out of the car. It's horrible and once again my body is letting me down. Seriously, body, just let me have a win.

"Outlines aren't written in stone: they're typed into computers with a backspace key. Don't be afraid to press that button."

-Laura Silverman

Day 11

I didn't get to write much today which is super lame. I had to take our day off as a catch up for homework and not so much for my story. I really wanted to write, I did, but then I would see the list of homework and extra credit and studying I needed to do. So instead of writing about caves I learned physics and instead of listening to walls I listened to videos on magnetism. I think that maybe I will be able to use some of what I learned as ideas to prompt the story. Maybe. Oh well, perhaps I can get back on track tomorrow on the drive to school.

Day: 11   Word Count: 13, 504

Day 10

I reached what I thought was a rather high number, 12,368, but then I later realized that it wasn't that much of an improvement. Unfortunately that was all I got to write today. I am definitely going to need to reread some more of No Plot! No Problem! to get some tips for week 2.

Day: 10   Word Count: 12,368

Day 9

I am getting pretty good at keeping to my schedule, I wrote during the drive again this morning and then again before college class, although I probably should have been doing my reading. I wrote on the way home as well but not as much because I realized something. My notebook, it's missing!! I can't find my red idea notebook anywhere! Oh god this is so horrible, first of all whoever picks it up won't know who's it is. Second, I have a bunch of ideas and no where to write them. Third, that was also my reference book and now I don't remember what I had written in there. This is horrible and I am very upset.

Despite this cruel turn of events I was able to hit my goal for today of 11,500 words and even go a bit higher.

Day: 9   Word Count:  11,848

"We are all the same, we are all just writers writing. Sooner or later, I think you'll get published. All you've got to do is keep at it." 

-Unknown

Day 8

Today was really really cool! I got to go visit my sister which means I wrote on the drive! And then I went shopping which means free inspiration and after that I was able to go to my first write in! I brought snacks, I brought my IPad and I brought my headphones. I got to writing and by the time I had to leave I was at 10,073!! The write in its self was literally just a coffee shop with a corner filled with people's laptops  and people either chatting or typing away. There were a lot of people I had never met before because they hadn't attended the first meeting but there was also a familiar face who recognized me too. I don't quite remember her name and I was to awkward to ask but I'm thinking it's Connie. She just sort of seems like a connie. Anyway, she introduced me to the other writers at the table and they all waved and said hello and then we all got back to writing. I was able to write a bit more on the way home as well but then that was it for the night, I still wanted to catch up on some book work. I'm still a bit more than 3,000 words behind but I think I'm doing rather well and I'm sure I can catch up!

Day: 8   Word Count:  10,368

"You were right when you said you felt small looking up at all that out there . We are very very small but we are profoundly capable of very very big things"

-Hawking

Day 7

I had an all day babysitting gig which means my daily word count was nearly less than 500. I tried to get some writing done while on the job but you can imagine how awkward it is to write when a 7 year old is trying to take your iPad away so they can play on the apps. Regardless, I still wrote as much as I could and I'm still hoping that I will be able to have a better catch up day at tomorrows write in!! Yay! Sadly I will no be able to stay for the entire thing, but that's okay. As long as I get to at least 11,000 than I am a happy camper.

Day: 7   Word Count: 7280

“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though.” 

― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

Day 6

Today is Day 6 and I wrote on the way to school, during 3rd and 4th block and after school for about a half hour. It has been my most productive and I have found that I write best on one of Rivas's recliners with some earphones on. Maybe it's the freezing AC or maybe it's because there's always something going on around me I can keep my creativity running. Maybe it's just the fact that I know that if I look up and start talking, someone (probably Rivas) will ask me what my word count is. Or even worse, someone will try to read what I'm typing and ask me what my story is about. I really hate it when they do that. Just let me write in mystery and peace please!  It makes me super self conscious and self doubting when other people try and read what is is I have written so far.

So PSA to any accidental offenders: I know your curious but seriously. What I'm writing is only for my eyes until the end of the month. If I want to share with you then I will, but if I don't offer then please do not try and see it. I will have to start writing somewhere else if you do that.

Day: 6   Word Count: 6,664

“A learning experience is one of those things that says, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.” 

― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt

Blog 11: Lesson 1 Reflection

Oh look, someone took a photo of my conclusion.

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?
I am really proud of the way that I presented, the quotes that I chose and the fact that I managed to not go over the time limit. I mean, I don't actually really remember much about the actual presentation, but that sort of comes with the whol social anxiety thing. But from what I do remember, I generally stayed in one place, I used hand gestures and I didn't stumble over too many of my words. So unless I did something stupid that I just can't remember, I would count this presentation as a win. 

I think the quotes especially made me proud. I really love quotes, and they are a key part to why I am so passionate about storytelling. I was glad that I had quotes on hand that acurately portrayed my passion for me. Which brings me to something else that I'm proud of, my definition of storytelling. I had just recently picked up that book, The Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede and when I read that quote "There are many ways of seeing. Each has an element of truth, but none is the whole truth."  I Knew exactly where it would fit in my presentation and after I started to include that part, everything started to fall into place.  

2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.

I think that I deserve an AE on my presentation. When I first started planning it out I was a bit sad because it felt like and AP presentation. Then I realized that I should really be embracing my creative side because that's what story telling is about and so I rewrote it all and I was really happy with what I came up with. I really put the effort into making smooth transitions from quote to quote and I really wanted the audience to be as excited as I was to be participating in NaNoWriMo. I believe I met all the criteria, but I am not quite sure because like I said I usually faze out during presentations. I tried to go above and beyond in a lot of ways. First of all I dressed the part of a comfy, slightly dirty looking writer. Second, I tried to use more creative ways to explain my newfound knowledge, mostly through my quotes and books. And last, I think I deserve some credit for making a half hour long presentation of beautiful knowledge fit into less than ten minutes. 

3. If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson?  How can you use that knowledge to give a better Lesson 2?
I would get a NaNoWriMo poster to put up and maybe set up a slide show of pictures of my mentorship and writing sessions/write ins. 
I can use this knowledge by actuallly doing it. Only problem is you have to pay for one of those posters and I am never photogenic during writing sessions. Oh well, I'll take one for the team.

Day 5

It is more than half way through the week and I am not sure what just happened to my story. Okay, so when I went into this I had no idea what I was going to write about. I had some general ideas on my first character (Who now happens to be my main character, at least one of them.) but I avoided coming up with a plot because I didn't want to try and make it too perfect when I actually got to writing it. Then a few days ago I found myself still trying to make it perfect. I think it's because I kept thinking that people were going to see it and judge it.

Once I finally figured out my reasoning for my stalling, I chucked it out the window.  I reread the "Week One" section of No Plot! No Problem! and I decided to force myself to write anything that came to mind. I steered the story into a really weird scenario based off whatever I could think to type. It worked and all of a sudden I felt free of my horrible confinements. Go me!

Day: 5   Word Count: 4443

Day 4

I didn't get to write very much during the day. And by that I mean I didn't write at all during the day. But, lucky for me I had some last minute writing energy around 12 or 1 in the morning so I did get to write after all! Of course I'm exhausted now and I have my Lesson #1 tomorrow so I should really be asleep but we all have to sacrafice a little sleep at some point right?

I think I was able to write more this time because I reread some of "No Plot No Problem" earlier and I was really excited again. That book is probably my greatest resource because it's just so easy to understand and really funny and generally enjoyable. If I didn't have that book, I have no idea what I would do! I wish I had my own copy but alas, I only have the library's copy right now. Anway, my story took a new turn today and it was definitely satisfying, so hurrah!

  My story took a new turn today and it was definitely satisfying, so hurrah!

Day: 4  Word Count: 3,792

Day 3

Today is Day 3 and I spent my writing time in my fathers room, eating frozen yogurt for a few hours. I was more productive than I was Day 1 and Day 2 but I'm still incredibly slow. Maybe next year I will try to make a little story board so I dont spend half of my writing time doing google image searches and coming up with questions and ideas. I think I might be stuck in my own head right now and I'm considering skipping to a different chapter in my book or maybe just rewriting a large portion of what I have right now. I'm not sure how much I'm going to be able to get done tomorrow because the Lesson #1 and other homework will probably be too much as it is. We'll see.

Day: 3   Word Count: 2881

"How can you know it's the best, if you don't learn about anything else?" 

— Patricia C. Wrede 

Day 2

Today I wrote during the car rides to and from school as well as before and after college class. Despite that I only reached 1,477. Thats not enough for one day's word count let alone two but I'm not exactly worried. I spent a good chunk of my time googling pictures and comeing up with characters so it wasn't exactly a waste of time. On top of that, I don't really expect to hit the word count every day because lets be honest, I am really really REALLY busy most of the time. Not to mention I'm still trying to find the write times and places to write. Cars work okay as far as I can tell but I'm usually sleepy in cars. My house isn't exactly a place of focus so it's pretty hard to write there. I will be by the library on Thursday for mentorship so I will definitely try staying an extra hour to write. So yeah, even though I'm behind on my word count, I'm sort of ok because I expected it.

Word Count: 1,477    Day: 2

Day 1

So today was the first day of NaNoWriMo and it went pretty much as I expected. I procrastinated most of the day, went to class, went to a wedding, cleaned my room etc. But, I still managed to get some words down. I've found that I have a little bit of trouble writing on a computer and I think I might try to use paper tomorrow during the car ride to school. I have also found that I can only get into it when I'm jammin out to a really up beat song. That being said, I'm putting a new playlist together so I can be properly motivated when I write.

It's been 1 day and I have already been asked about 10 times what my story is about. And to each of them I have answered with the same thing; a shrug or "I'm not gonna tell you". I'm not going to share the secret with anyone following thing this blog either,sorry. The thing is, I signed a contract right before I started this and in that contract it firmly states that I have the right to hide this from the world if I would like to and right now, that's what I am doing. So yes, I will continue blogging about the story but I don't think I will be giving much detail about anything. Anywho, I'm gonna knock out now so that hopefully I can get up a little earlier tomorrow and fit in another 100 words before I leave for school.

 

PS. If anyone has seen my plot bunnies, please contact me.

Day: 1   Word Count: 655

“If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself.” 

― Rick Riordan

NaNoWriMo Kick starter

This has probably been one of my favorite experiences ever. Honestly, I am still pumped about how tonight went. Tonight was the kick starter for Nanowrimo at the Upland Library. It pretty much went down like this:

I walked into the library and my first thought was "I don't have a library card here." A troubling thought, I know. But I was already going to be late so I just went on ahead and found the conference room. When I walked in I was immediately greeted by Jennifer, the one who put this all together. I knew this was gonna be amazing instantly because the first thing she noticed about me were my buttons on my bag and she started getting really excited. That's when I noticed her Agent Carter hat and Captain America bear. I was practically ready to squeal because I knew we were going to have a nerd bond, but I held it together and served myself some cookies and crackers instead.

 This what was going on in my head for the majority of the kick starter.

Fast forward to when the rest of the party got there. There were around 15 of us in total and it ranged from people with 8 years of NaNoWriMo experience to people who learned about it about 2 hours prior. We went around the room telling our stories of how we came upon NaNoWriMo and what we wanted to accomplish. I guess we all felt pretty comfortable because that took up the rest of the time. My fellow writers are absolutely amazing. There are book publishers and cosplayers, there are actors and video game designers. Some of them travel around the world on a regular basis and some of them  name their children after my favorite book characters. While we talked we gave each other advice and book resources. It was a dream finding all of these great websites and books, because I knew that they would actually be focused on what I am trying to find. I have enough recommendations to last me a few months of research check.

The lovely folks from my first meeting 

I was the last to tell my story and I happily explained to them my experience so far and the hopes I had for myself as well as for the senior project. They all oohed and ahhed at the right moments and it felt rather lovely to be surrounded by so many people who really understood my passions. We exchanged numbers and email addresses and packed up our complimentary coffee mugs and were promptly kicked out of the library as we were pushing the closing time.

There will be plenty more meet ups in the future and I am absolutely ecstatic to be apart of this. There are no words to describe the giddiness in my rambling on the way home. (Well, there probably are but...) I could probably write my entire 50k just trying to describe this experience. (But I won't.)

So that concludes my first 2 hours of independent component, I can't wait for what's next.

“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” 

― Shel Silverstein

Blog 9 - Advisory prep 3

The Monty Python and the Holy Grail is just one example of the wonders of Medival Stories

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduledf the interview, I have not scheduled the interview, etc).

I totally did my interview this afternoon.

2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.   

Funny, this is totally true. The two areas that I am looking at right now are 

• An authors writing/thinking process
• Mythology/ medival literature

3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?

My mentor gave me a list of books and authors who write specifically about medival literature so those are going to be some of my new sources. I'm also going to be looking for seminars and lectures on youtube that revolve around my topic. As for the authors one, I am planning on meeting a few other people participating in nanowrimo and a few of them have been writing for years. A few of them are even published and are willing to help with interviews. I am planning on asking them where they go for tips/ideas and using those resources. I'm also going to look in the autobiography section of the library for personal insights on authors. 

4. Write down a possible EQ.  Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers.  At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.

How does medival literature stay relevant in todays society/ world?

"I believe small though we are and insignificant though we may be, we can reach a full understanding of the universe." 

                                                                    - Hawking

As it gets closer, I lay on the floor, groaning with nervousness

After typing this up, I couldn't help but add this.

Do you know how stressful it is to know that you are going to be writing a book in approximately 12 days 5 hours and 55 minutes? It's pretty stressful. Especially when people keep coming up to you asking what you are gonna write about and want you to make them main characters (I'm looking at you Gen)

So even though it's not November yet (oh god) I still have things to do to prepare for NaNoWriMo. First off, I have to make a complete list of things that I do during the day, for a week. This way I will be able to figure out when I will be able to have my writing sessions and where. In other words, I have to figure out what times of the day I procrastinate on my responsibilities the most.

Let's be honest, most of my procrastination is looking at Chris Evans

It's actually pretty interesting though. When I first read the book that introduced me to NaNoWriMo I was thinking about rearranging my life in order to do this, but its the complete opposite. NaNoWriMo isn't for full time authors, it's for people with busy lives who want to try something new. So instead I will look at my schedule and categorize how I use my time by importance. When I find places where I am doing less important things, such as scrolling through tumblr for two hours, I will replace them with writing sessions instead. 

Here's a sneak peek to the month of November 

You know what's lame though? I'm going to have to remove those distractions for the entire month. For a whole month I will have to ban myself from tumblr and instagram and everything else. I don't know how I am going to do that. How am I gonna update my blog?! What about my followers!! My queue is going to have to be jam packed, oh my god. I cry just thinking of all the memes and gifs of Chris Evans I will never know. I shed a single tear as I think of all the snapchats I will miss out on. Oh the horror! (Nah I'm kidding, no way I'm deleting snapchat) 

The Time is Almost Upon Us

Eight-teen days and three hours until November first; until I begin the NaNoWriMo challenge and write a book in 30 days. Today I created an account for myself on the official website and found some locals that are also participating this November.  I joined in a "region" and on October the twenty-eighth I am going to meet up with my fellow writers at the Upland Library for our first meet. It's pretty exciting to see how many people are planning on doing this. I went from knowing nothing to finding an entire community of part time authors in the span of a few weeks.

"Fairy tails are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten." 

-Neil Gaiman, Coraline

Independant Component 1 Proposal

50,000 words in 30 days. BRING IT ON.

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

I'm going to write a book in a month. There is a national competition thing called the National Novel Writing Month for inexperienced first time writers. Earlier this month I picked up the book that explained the process in detail. In one month I will write 50,000 words. That means I will need to write little over 1,500 words a day. The book explained where to write, how to keep calm and how to stay motivated. It was really cool and I decided I wanted to participate. The whole thing starts in November, and so will I. This is definantley not going to be easy with my schedule but I will make it work. There is an entire chapter explaining how to fit this into your everyday life. 

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

Honestly I have no idea how i'm going to give proof but I guess the thing that comes to mind right now is to update my blog every time I finish my writing session. Another thing I could do is encourage my friends and family to constantly ask me about it. The increase of pressure and questions will definantley send me to work.

3.  Explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

Well, one of my major interests right now is what goes on in an authors mind. If I go through with this and Finnish my book by the end of the month, I will have personal experience as an author to contribute.

4.  Update your Senior Project Hours log.

Ehhhhhhh

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” 

― Madeleine L'Engle

Blog 7 - Second Interview Preparation

Who is your mentor and where do they work? If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert? 

My mentor is Alison Baker, an english professor at Cal Poly Pomona. She is an ‘expert’ because she has years of experience as an english teacher, children’s english teacher and specifically with folklore. I’m not sure if I’m going to focus on folklore but I think it would be something to look into.

 What five questions will you ask them about their background? 

• What college did you attend and did it help you find your your current job?
• Did you plan on becoming  a professor or was it unexpected?
• When did you start to love reading/stories? (for ex. I didn’t enjoy reading until the 4th grade)
• Do you think you could be an author? If not, why not?
• How important do you think language is when telling a story?

"So Matilda's strong mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all the authors who had sent their out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone. "

-Roald Dahl, Matilda

Update on Mentorship

Here it is in all its glory, The Lewis Library and Technology Center

I have been working at the Lewis Library for a little more than a month now in the children's section. It's sort of like trying to sort through a dictionary the size of a small house and never being able to sit down for a break. Oddly enough, I still enjoy it (tiresome as it is) and I've started to refer to the books as my children.

Some difficulties I have encountered during my time here:

1) The bloody nonfiction section. I absolutely detest those horrible shelves of doom and pain. Just imagine putting an entire stores worth of clothes into your closet and trying to sort it by its shade of color. Now you have an idea of what the nonfiction section is like. I spend about an hour desperately trying to shelve a cart full of books by decimal points that go as far as the thousands. When I finish, I feel like crying because I'll turn around see that someone just dumped their pile of books onto my cart.

2) Children are strange. Something that I have noticed is that they are intimidated by me, despite the fact that I look 12. Whenever I have a cart, I see a few kids looking at it from afar as if they desperately need to know what's on it. If I ever talk to them directly to explain that they can look at the cart if they want, they scramble. So, since I have to cooperate and help as much as I can,I have devised a system. I leave the cart at the end of an isle near the kid and walk away with a couple of books. As they slowly drift towards the cart, I pretend to be busy with the books. I continue to straighten already straightened books or re-shelve some stragglers until they're satisfied and then I take back the cart and continue whatever it was that I was doing before.

3)  I was just minding my own business in the D section when it happened. You see, you can look through the shelve, past the books, into the next isle. Well, in the next isle (The C section) there was a boy about 7 years old. He hadn't noticed me but he was looking around like he didn't want to get caught so I watched to see what he was doing. He pulled out a pencil from his pocket and pushed it behind some books on the shelve directly in front of me. He checked again that he was safe, smiled, then walked away. Honestly, children are weird.

“Because never in my entire childhood did I feel like a child. I felt like a person all along―the same person that I am today.”

 ― Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game 

Blog 6 - Advisory Prep

My general reaction to the project so far.

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you? 
The research checks, they do me the most good. I sort of take a day to scour the internet looking for things I might be interested in surrounding my topic. I leave all of the links on a doc and every week for research check I just take two of the links I have saved. During research check when I’m writing notes I add extra notes an questions for myself for the topics that interested me most. Right now, thats’s the most important thing to me. I want to know what, specifically, I am going to be learning about. I really like the freedom of the sources. For example, I can get a lot of information about an author from an interview with them. It makes it easier to compare their writing to their personality when I can hear their voice and tone. I also really really REALLY like the fact that I know that my essential question can be more creative and less formal and stifled.

2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help?

Since the senior team explained that our essential questions can be a lot more creative than last years, I’ve been having trouble knowing my limits. During the summer I made an essential question that was more formal. I used what I had seen from last year as examples of how to write it. It hadn’t made me very happy because I felt that my senior project wasn’t interesting anymore. But now, I don’t know how to write it. How creative is too creative? Can I ask questions like “what does the inside of an authors head look like when writing a book?” or is that too out there? What if I want to ask “How does a person choose a book to read?” but I want to talk about the readers opinions, not the analysis of book covers and sales rates? I want my project to be creative and filled with ideas and opinions. I want to present and feel the excitement and intrigue, something I felt was lacking last year. I want to know if I will still be able to come up with a good essential question and keep my creative ideas alive.

And more on that subject, what if the answers I find at the end of my project are more opinion based? Writing is not something that can be put down as fact. Writing styles are always changing from author to author. Even the rules of grammar can shift after a few years or an especially influential book is released. Do my answers need to be based on fact? Wouldn’t that mean that I would need to change my focus to something more definite?

"Lower the bar from "best seller" to "would not make someone vomit"

- Chris Baty, No Plot? No Problem!

"There is a theory which states that if everyone discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable."
"There is another which states that this has already happened"

- Douglas Adams, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Blog 4 - House Advisory Prep 1

What do I expect out of my senior topic? To be honest, I chose my topic because I knew I could use it as an excuse to read about my favorite authors and say it was for educational purposes. I wanted to take advantage of this year to answer my never ending questions about creating stories and characters and plot lines and everything.  It actually does work out that way because my favorite authors just happened to have written books on telling stories and explaining their experience as authors. 

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  Why?

I am going to interview my mentor professor Alison Baker because I want more information about my topic before I narrow it down and she is pretty experienced and I think the conversation will be great.

2.  Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask.  What additional questions do you plan to ask?  Ask open-ended questions.  

• How did you end up in your field? Did you always love books and stories or did you just fall upon it later in life? 
• Have you ever felt a really strong connection to a story or book or quote? 
• What was it and how did it make you feel?
• Do you think you could be an author? If not, why not?
• What do you think it takes to be an author? 
• How important do you think language is when telling a story?

Blog 2 - Summer Mentorship

1. Mentors:

• Connie Estrada, Broad Oaks Preschool Teacher 

1(562) 639-4965

• Alison Baker, Cal Poly Pomona English Professor

(909) 861-2738

• Annabelle Cortez, Lewis Library Volunteer Coordinator

(909) 574-4533

• Brianna Quintero, Graduate Assistant Advisor

    (909) 754-6224

2. Mrs. Estrada is the lead preschool teacher/college student trainer at Broadoaks children school in Whittier. She has lots of experience in teaching children and in teaching others how to teach children. She was able to teach me ways to more effectively teach my students and keep their attention.

Alison Baker is an english professor who teaches at Cal Poly Pomona. She mostly teaches about literature and Folklore but she also has experience teaching  Children’s Lit. Her teaching methods will be very helpful for me because she uses old texts (such as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and King Arthur)and has her students read them aloud to understand them better because they were originally often read to illiterate audiences.

Annabelle Cortez is in charge of the children section of the Lewis Library. She is also the coordinator of the volunteers.

Brianna Quintero has been involved with IEFL since 2006. She has repeatedly returned as a volunteer and moved her way up to her current position. She has been the Graduate Assistant Advisor for two years now. She taught my fellow GAs and I how to be a proper GA. This included teaching us how to talk to the campers, how to respond to different issues and how to keep them involved and inspired throughout the week. 

3. What is it like for an author to see a small idea turn into an entire world full of characters and problems and life?

How does an editor know if a story is good enough to sell when it’s based on their opinion alone?

Why does a director change the original storyline so much when adapting a book into a movie?

4. I think the most important thing I have learned is that english teachers are very generous. My mentor, Professor Baker, supplied me with links and contacts and books for my research before she had even agreed to be my mentor.  Another professor, also from the english department, did the same even though it didn’t work out. He said that he would be too busy to be my mentor but that didn’t stop him from sending me his syllabus with every book he knew that could help me find what I was looking for. Even our own Mrs. Edwards was very generous. She assures me that she can help me with my project during the year by helping with my Independent Component. 

5. I know that my topic is going to be in the area surrounding books. Where as at the beginning of the summer I was sure it was going to be specifically about language, I am now not so sure. 

This summer I let myself explore a few other options besides the Art of Storytelling. I went to a camp called IEFL where I was a councilor for young teens. I have always gotten along with other kids fairly easily and I thought maybe I could focus on the job of a councilor or the importance of knowing your culture. I could have even focused on the importance of college, seeing as that is one of the biggest focuses at camp. It was a great experience and I got to see what it was like to be the adult for a week. Yet, even though I loved it and I am definitely returning next summer, I know that I will not be using it for my senior project. It just isn’t the kind of thing that would keep me interested all year. I also tried being a tutor for two kids in grade school. Again, I learned a lot but it just wasn’t going to work for my senior project. So I decided to stick with my topic, the Art of Story telling. Only, now that I have talked to my mentor about my topic I realize that I am more interested in the Author’s view of the story than I am of the language used. So I think I am going to have to change my EQ, I’m just not sure what it will be exactly.

 Link to summer hours

Blog 1 – Senior Final Lesson/Interview Reflection

1.  What three lessons were most helpful for you to see, and why?

• Imelda's presentation, Fashion- I learned to not be afraid of a very creative artsy activity.
• Bell's presentation, Management in a Thai restraunt -I learned that being passionate and telling stories can transform a presentation. (For the better)
• Elijah's presentation, Yearbook- I learned that your mentors don't necessarily have to be professionals in order to help you and you can still have a successful presentation even if your topic is really very specific.

2. List one thing that you learned about the senior project in interviews that will help you get off to a good start?

• One good thing I learned from our interviews is that it's okay to have more than 1 mentor and might even be better.

3. What topic(s) are you considering, and why?

• Storytelling- I am a huge fan of books and stories and everything that makes them. For my project I was thinking I could focus on what makes people choose a story to read. What are the contributing factors,

4. What EQ do you think might be interesting to consider in guiding a project like this? (Please don't worry about any sort of formula...we want this question to come from your genuine interest).

• What is the biggest contribution/ Factor for a reader when choosing a story to read?

5. What are some ideas you have about finding summer mentorship?

• I met an author named Frank Bedor who had said it might be possible 
• I think that a librarian could also be a good resource since they work both with books and people

Buzzfeed,the app has an Instagram. They are always admitting the news and could be a good influence andy