City of Wonder
Written by McKenna - 15 Comments - Add Yours? (
)
6/26: I was browsing around PNWA’s online weekly publication, Author Minute, and came across this article: The Horse Ate the Alligator: Following the Rules…unless you don’t want to (by Jennifer Paros). It is a short piece questioning the influence of the universal “Right” and “Wrong” on one’s writing. I’ve always felt that it is most important to write for myself before considering the opinions of others’; this article only makes me more determined to keep believing so. It’s well worth a read, in my opinion: so check it out!
Songs of the Moment: Disturbia - Rihanna1 ; Viva la Vida - Coldplay; How I Could Just Kill A Man - Charlotte Sometimes; and Someone to Save You - OneRepublic
I’m going to try to remember to keep up this new ’song of the moment’ idea; I thought it might be sort of interesting, for visitors to my current favorite songs…I’ve been purchasing from iTunes practically daily, so I should be able to keep listing new songs.
Regarding the PNWA Literary Contest
Today I received my two critiques in the mail, for the story I submitted for this year’s contest. They are chiefly positive and encouraging: I don’t want to copy exactly what was written, because that would seem like a more stealthy form of plagiarism, but I will point out one positive comment at the end that I took very much to heart:
Overall, this writer is developing an interesting story that, when finished, will have a strong appeal to YA audiences.
That completely made my day. I doubt they’re reading this, but I sincerely thank both people–whoever you are–who took the time to give me such detailed feedback on my writing.
I guess I can’t explain exactly how world-shaking this feels for me. Writing is what I want to do for the rest of my life–of course it’s incredibly important to me–and knowing that professionals feel I’m capable of becoming an author…it only makes me even more determined, and excited, to keep working.
Regarding Running Start: College!
I started my first official college course–Algebra 1–today! The teacher seems very pleasant–she smiles all the time, and I can tell she really wants her students to understand and enjoy learning–and the other students are friendly. It’s strange, because during the two- or three-week period that led up to this day, I kept wondering about this class: what it would be like, if it would make a good first impression on me–and I on it–and just in general how I would feel about it. It seemed like such a big deal: college! However, now that the first day is behind me…I don’t see the big deal anymore. Yes, it’s quite a change, and an important one at that: but the actual process of going to school, studying, learning, doing homework…it’s doesn’t feel as new to me as I expected it would. This realization surprises me, but it’s more than welcome.
I don’t think I need to warn anyone: whenever you hear the word ‘college’ you mentally associate the word ‘homework’ (and probably ‘work’, too) with it. At least, this is what I assume. So it shouldn’t be news to anyone that I won’t have as much time online anymore. I’ll still blog, and work on the site when I can–really, as of recently I haven’t been the ever-diligent webmistress I used to be, so it’s not that big a change anyway.
Regarding Ellensburg, WA
Recently, my parents and I took a day trip to one of our favorite towns: Ellensburg. With a population of 15,000+, it’s a decent-sized town: the official downtown is beautiful and historical, with many old brick buildings, tree-lined streets, and a general old-time charm. I took several pictures (from the car) of the drive to and from Ellensburg, and I thought I’d post them here: I think they turned out pretty well, for being taken in the car! Baby never fails me. 
Hover over the photos for a short description of each one.
To end this picture-filled post, I’ll tag another photo: this one was taken in my backyard. The model was incredibly cooperative. 
I took this (and several others) through the closed window, and I’m surprised with how well they turned out!
I hope by the next photo post I’ll have acquired an image-viewing plugin: the organizationalist in me cringes at my sloppy attaching-images-in-post laziness; hopefully I’ll improve next time!
Oh–I almost forgot. I also changed my CSS around a bit–again. I drew a cute little magnifying glass to replace the ’search’ button, too. It’s not perfect–I need to figure out a way to align it better–but I like it better than a boring button. I know what you’re thinking: she’s CSS-obsessed. I am. And I proudly admit it!
- The title of this post is actually a snippet from the lyrics of this song. [↩]
Sayonara High School
Written by McKenna - 17 Comments - Add Yours? (
)
Current Mood:
Content & 
Sarcastic
Before reading this post, please go visit my new affiliate Ellen from Fairytaled and comment and show some love!
Yes…it’s been awhile. Rest assured, I haven’t been body-snatched by an earth-raiding alien, or taken hostage by gorilla guy, or anything. (If, however, you want to read about body-snatching, I would suggest picking up The Host, by one of my favorite authors, Stephenie Meyer, of Twilight Saga fame. I’m nearly finished with the novel, which she has described as “science fiction for people who don’t like science fiction” and I must say, though it can’t top Twilight, it’s definitely going to be added to my ‘favorite novel’ list sometime soon!) I’ve been very preoccupied coming up with my class schedule for Running Start, and as it’s a very important decision, I needed to take my time. But now that I’ve finished registering for classes, signing various acceptance forms (that usually state the same information with maybe one or two minor differences,) and trying to narrow down my list of fifty-seven desired courses to a meager twenty-one, I’m back and ready to blog!
Regarding Updates!
I have a small update for you all: two new RSS icon styles! First, we have the ever-so-popular square style in a smaller form, and, secondly, the slightly-more-original circular style, also in miniature. View the small square RSS icons here, and the small circle RSS icons here. I really appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm on my newest graphically-inclined endeavor. RSS icons are very fun to make; the styles you can apply to them are limitless, they’re small and don’t take up much space on my hard disc, and I can whip dozens out in an hour! All big bonuses when you’re pressed for time, as I currently am. Also, speaking of icons…I’m hoping to (finally) make some New Moon-themed icons in the near future. They will be channeling the style of my Twilight icons–with the book cover, faded, in the background, and a word-only quote in the foreground. I retrieved many, many quotes from the book awhile back, and I’m excited to make more icons to support my favorite book series!
Regarding the Twilight Movie….
If you’re just as excited as I am for the release of the Twilight Movie, but are afraid you won’t be able to last until the December 12th release date, why don’t you check out this awesome Twilight clip? The scene was first aired live on the MTV Movie Awards, but now it’s available for your viewing pleasure on their website! As far as I can tell, if the rest of the movie is as dramatic, intense, and…addictive…as this clip is, this film is going to be the first part in another hugely successful movie franchise!
Regarding Running Start
For those curious returning guests, I have come up with my schedule of academic goals (my fancy way of saying ‘classes’) for the next two years of my life as a college student. I will be going to college for my Associates degree, so I have a total of 90 credits to earn (plus a few extra Math courses I unfortunately have to take.) Here is a list of all the courses I plan on taking, as long as they’re available:
- Introductory Algebra I
- Introductory Algebra II
- Intermediate Algebra
- Introduction to Programming
- English Composition I
- Introduction to Literature
- Folklore: Myth, Folktale, and Legend
- Expository Writing I
- Survey of Anthropology
- Comparative Religion
- History of Civilization I, II, and III
- Introduction to Philosophy
- Philosophy in Literature
- Introduction to the Weather (Meteorology)
- Global Climate Change
- Spanish I
- General Psychology
- Introduction to Sociology
- Introduction to Astronomy
That concludes the all-too-short (in my opinion) list. As I said before, I originally, after perusing the course catalog, came up with a list of fifty-seven courses I was interested in. As you may have guessed, I had to make deep cuts. I’m still very excited about all the courses I am going to take; I have broad interests, and I can’t wait to learn more about the subjects I’m interested in. (Math excluded, of course. That’s strictly necessity!) If you’re curious about all the English courses (four in total) that I’ll be taking…well, I want to transfer to a four-year college after I get my Associates degree, and major in English Literature. Naturally, English is my favorite subject, not only because I’m a stickler for proper grammar, and often find myself correcting others’ usage whether or not help was asked of me, I also want to be an author…and being an English Lit major seemed a rational decision, because of that.
Regarding the Conclusion of this Post
I need to get to bed now, but I’ll comment all my loyal affiliates and friends ASAP. I want to specifically thank my wonderful affiliate Danielle for posting the entire Breaking Dawn chapter on my blog so I could read it! I did indeed read it, but I took it off the comments page because it was very long and was stretching the page quite a bit.
Oh–just a quick tidbit. Soon I will receive my critiques for my entry in the PNWA 2008 Literary Contest. I submitted part of a Young Adult novel (fantasy) I’ve been working on. When I get the critiques, I’ll post something about it up here, so everyone can know what the response to my writing was. I’m very excited! Hopefully the feedback is positive. 
If not…well, maybe I’ll paraphrase a bit. Just kidding.
Twilight, RSS, Gorillas, OH my!
Written by McKenna - 13 Comments - Add Yours? (
)
Current Mood:
LOLing & Sarcastic
First, let my introduce my new affiliate, Jocelyn at Exotoire! Go visit her site and comment and show some love!
Regarding Updates
I made a few small updates to the site, finally. I added a new free graphic page–RSS Feed Icons! Click here to check them out! I really like them, I made one for my personal use (as you can see in the sidebar) and then I thought, why not make some for visitors, too? They’re easy to make, look really stylish, and will (hopefully) attract more visitors to subscribe to your RSS feed. I made all of them with a fancy reflection effect, and they all have transparent backgrounds. I hope you like them, and that they will be of some use. If anyone has a suggestion for a color/gradient to use on one, let me know!
I have also rearranged the post style (via CSS) and the comment link style. I put the tags/categories at the top of the post instead of the bottom, spiffied-up the post date, and other things like that. I also upgraded to Wordpress version 2.5.1, and added a new plugin called ‘Author Exposed’. No need to explain what that does; click on my name (at the top of this post, ‘Written by’) and you’ll see for yourself!
Oh–I also added a banner for my mom’s caption contest, which she hosts every month on her small business pet product site, Linden Line Designs. So, go enter the contest! She’d love to get more entries.
Regarding Script Frenzy
Script Frenzy ended on the 30th of April, and I’m very happy to say that I was an official winner, with 102 pages! (The goal was 100.) I didn’t finish the screenplay (which is bad, because 100 pages is kind of long for one anyways, and I’m only half done!) but I plan to go back and edit it a lot. I guess the wordy, descriptive novel-writer in me couldn’t be dispelled completely! Doing the screenplay was very beneficial to me, though, because I came up with many ideas for the revisions I planned to make to the beginning of the novel! (I based the screenplay after a young adult novel I’m almost finished writing.)
Regarding Twilight
OK, you all know I’m a OTF–Obsessed Twilight Fan–and that I’m anxiously, anxiously, awaiting the December release of the Twilight Movie. (I know, it’s so long to wait!) But, I have been momentarily pacified by the arrival of the official Twilight teaser trailer!!! If I were the screaming, Rob-ogling, Twilight fangirl type I’d probably be hyperventalating right now; but, since I’m the calm, patient (sort of), curious fan, who doesn’t have any paper bags in my possession, and believes Rob is cute but can think of several other celebrities I have a much, much more relevant crush on, I can simply amuse myself by watching this trailer over and over every day until the movie arrives. (I do fear I will eventually get bored with doing so, however.) But, on the bright side, it’s still recent news, and therefore still holds much interest for me. So, I really, really, recommend checking it out–I’m really happy with how Summit has approached the adaption, everyone involved seems to want the film to be as close to the book as possible, and the actors and actresses (in my opinion) are all perfect for the roles they were cast in. It looks like there are going to be lots of action scenes, which is even more thrilling! So, watch the trailer and tell me what you think of it.
Regarding Gorilla Suits
In recent randomness, a teenage boy in our neighborhood has been dressing up in a gorilla suit and, supposedly, hiding in ditches, waiting for unsuspecting school bus drivers to drop students off at their bus stop, and then proceeding to scare said children for fun. I am not sure if this is true or not (the scaring-small-children bit) but I did see the ‘gorilla guy’ (as I’ve dubbed him) yesterday and, after the short encounter, questioned his sanity. (He chased our moving car and then dramatically fell in the middle of the road, which, I’ll admit, is a potholed, bumpy, not-very-busy country road without a median; still, I wouldn’t put his actions in the ‘brightest thing to do’ category.) Is this just something a bored, disturbingly-creative kid anxiously awaiting summer decided to do to pass his time? Or is there something more behind it? I was lucky enough to witness our next-door-neighbor run up to him yesterday, screaming at the top of her lungs (using impressive arm motions to illustrate her already-obvious point) about how he’s been ‘trespassing’ and ‘acting immaturely’ and other various similar accusations. The argument got pretty heated, and I think another neighbor joined in, but by that time I was afraid gorilla guy would go all ‘wild kingdom’ on them and I really didn’t want to be around as a potential witness. (Just kidding, gorilla guy was actually acting pretty calm.) I don’t know if my neighbor’s accusations were just, or if she was treating gorilla guy unfairly, but personally I would trust the word of a casually-clothed woman (with two small children) over a guy in a gorilla suit any day. (Plus, my friend Marina (who lives across the street and saw gorilla guy acting equally disturbingly at the neighborhood park two days ago,) confirmed his child-scaring antics. And I have no doubt of her sanity.)
Anyway, I wonder if I’ll see gorilla guy’s story (no doubt a deep, intense interview about his life of loss, pain, misunderstanding by his peers, and really bad taste in fashion,) in the local paper soon. My town is pretty small, so something like that would probably make the front page. What do you think about gorilla guy? Is he perhaps a tortured genius, a regular guy trying to prove a (currently elusive) point, a kid just having a little strange fun, or a mental-asylum candidate who seriously needs to get a life (or a Gameboy)? Sound off your thoughts here.
Regarding the end of this post….
That’s all I have time to post about tonight: I’ll return comments soon. I’m going to my grandma’s house tomorrow, and might get a chance to return them when I get back…I’m pretty busy over the weekend, so hopefully.
I just wanted, quickly and before I go, to thank Olivia, my dear affiliate, for the wonderful comment she left me on my previous post, and all the encouraging advice and support she gave. Also, to everyone who commented about my driving fears; I really appreciate it. I have gotten behind the wheel twice this week, and both times I felt more relaxed and enjoyed it more than I have in weeks, and I’m sure the positive feedback had something to do with that!
Recent Comments
The Design
Archives
Calendar
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Jun | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |||
