NaNoWriMo Finished

Yes!!!!! It's November 30th and I finally finished my novel for National Novel Writing Month! I feel like the hugest weight has been lifted from my shoulders, and suddenly, it seems like I have so much free time!

All the past years I wrote novels (when my plots weren't outlined as well as they were this year) I knew my novel was over when I hit 50,000 words. This year, I had a specific outline that I followed and, unfortunately, my story ended at 47,000 words. But 47,000/50,000 words into NaNoWriMo is no time to quit! This is when it was time to implement "Operation Flashbacks and Dream Sequences."

This kind of felt like a copout at first, but as I was going through it, I realized that it was actually a nice sly way to develop characters! And, also, I realized that plenty of ACTUAL NOVELS are filled with flashbacks and dream sequences. They're a real thing! So, okay, it wasn't a cop out.

Not to toot my own horn too much or anything, but I think this was my best novel yet. However, it still (a) doesn't have a title and (b) seems too awful to actually show people. So I guess that's it. Another 50,000 words down. I'm just enjoying having free time!

Who is your favorite author's favorite author??

Cynthia Leitich Smith, author of Tantalize and Eternal, has an endless list of favorite teen authors.  To name a few...Neal Shusterman, A.M. Jenkins, Maggie Stiefvater and Varian Johnson.

Cynthia's wonderfully informational website can be found at: http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/

Pete Hautman, author of How to Steal a Car and Rash, was inspired to write by Ernest Hemingway, Patricia Highsmith, P.G. Wodehouse, Mark Twain and Samuel R. Delaney.  You can find Pete's website at: http://www.petehautman.com/

One of the most addicting things you'll ever do...

Every so often we have to cancel a program due to low enrollment.  Unfortunately, tonight was one of those nights. (sniff... sniff...)  Our "Little-ature: Small Stories" program had to be canceled, but I figured I'd blog about it anyway since it was a cool concept for a program.  (If I do say so myself!)

The idea was based on an awesome book that I recommend everyone read called, "I Can't Keep My Own Secrets: Six-word Memoirs" by Teens Famous and Obscure.  Here the description of the book:

"This is a book with over 600 authors (all aged thirteen to nineteen) and 600 characters (all real, as far as we know) and 600 stories (which can be read in any order). What every story has in common is that each was written about the author's own life, and that each is the exact same length: six words."

 It's such a neat exercise in writing... each "story" has to be 6 words- no more, no less- and convey a complete thought.   After reading just a few pages of this book, I was blown away with how much you can really say about yourself, your attitude, your mood, your past/present/future, etc. with just 6 words!  Some of the stories in this book are hysterical, and some will break your heart.  Some are pure fun, while others are deeper than you'd expect to ever get in such a short sentence.  Overall though, you will be in awe of the authors and I guarentee- you will be tempted to write your own!


Here are some highlights that I found interesting:

Eventually, I'll make my own breakfast. -Sam Z.

Call me "hippie." I. Dare. You. -Maggie R.

I will be that cat lady. -Rolynda T.

Finally learned "weird" is a compliment. -Teagan E.

Wish I could color outside lines. -Samantha S.

Defined by numbers: age, weight, SATs. -Jocelyn P.

7UP through the nose. I'm happy. -Ally H.

Because the chicken is a nonconformist. -Dillon W.

Smoke detectors taught me to cook. -Ivy W.

We are banned from Wal-Mart forever. -Kristen S.

I don't rock; Guitar Hero lies. -Lucy F.

And the best one to end with....

Now always thinking in six-word phrases. -Sarah R.

Dare you not to write one!- Catherine L.  (That was six words, by the way!)

Studying while asleep?

Got a test tomorrow?   

Well then, listen up! 

Scientists from Northwestern University in Chicago have found that "hearing specific sounds during sleep can improve memory and recall."  It has something to do with the way our brains work- even though we're asleep, our brains are still very active.  These scientists believe that we "consolidate memories as we sleep" and that during this time period "we can influence which ones we will later remember more strongly."   

Scientists asked a group of students to look at 50 objects, including a cat and a kettle, which were all paired to a specific location on a computer screen.  They then asked the volunteers to lie down, and as they slept, played them a series of sounds related to half of the objects, including a cat's meow and a tea kettle boiling.  Tested later, the students were better able to correctly place an object's location for those items whose sounds they had heard while sleeping. 

So the question remains, is this an effective study tool?  Obviously you have to learn the material first, but this may be a way to keep the stuff you just learned "up front" in your brain's file cabinet.   What do you think? 

Skateboarding Bulldog

Video game + cute dog = talent!  Can your dog do this? 

Random Site of the Moment: GoAnimate

This site called GoAnimate was just brought to my attention by our wonderful librarian Kassia.  Since she described it to me so well, I'll let her explain how cool this site is to you:

To get started, you need to create an account, but don't worry, it's free.  You can spice up boring slideshows or create animation.  The site offers a variety of characters (including well known cartoons) from which to choose.  You can also upload your own pictures, sounds and music.  A pretty cool way of adding interest to a school assignment, eh?  You should check it out, it's way awesome!

  
Thanks Kassia for the heads-up on such a cool site!

Science Fiction and Fantasy Books

I just came across a really good blog post that has recommendations for teen reads in the genres of Sci-Fi and Fantasy.  Check out the lists by clicking on the links below.  There are some really good titles mentioned!
 
Science Fiction

Fantasy

The blog posts were found on Tor.com, a site for "science fiction, fantasy, and all the things that interest SF and fantasy readers, presents original short fiction, new sequential art, extensive art galleries, and commentary on science fiction and related subjects by a wide range of writers from all corners of the science fiction and fantasy field; both professionals working in the genres and fans. Its aim is to provoke, encourage, and enable interesting and rewarding conversations with and between its readers."

The book lists were created by Megan Crewe, a Canadian young adult novelist, who has a new book out entitled, Give up the Ghost.  Check out a book trailer for her new book here:

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief Movie Preview

Teen Book Review: Unclaimed Heart by Kim Wilkins

Unclaimed Heart by Kim Wilkins

Reviewed by Caitlyn

Constance is a young woman in 1799. She sneaks about her father’s ship to join a search for her mother who disappeared when she was a baby. Her father discovers her and decides to let her stay. When Alexandre, a young French man comes into the picture, Constance falls in love. Alexandre worked on a pearl diving ship for about 8 years and ran off when Constance’s father claimed his old ship from a cruel man by the name of DeLocke. When they arrive in Ceylon, Constance and her father stay at a friend’s. Alexandre remains on his “home”, the pearl diving ship. Constance’s father wants to sell the ship. Constance also sort-of befriends a girl name Orlanda. Orlanda ends up falling in love with Alexandre, too, while Constance’s father continues his own search for his lost wife. Constance gets help from Alexandre to find her mother. This book is full of young love, drama and wonder.

I recommend this book to all of the young women and girls around the world. It was a very good book. I give it four stars out of five. It is one of those books where you have to read in one day to a few days. The library should get it.

Is The Social Media Revolution a Fad?

I just came back from a very interesting meeting of Suffolk County Librarians where the topic was "Social Media" (Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, MySpace, etc.)  Most of the librarians in the room seemed to participate in one or more of these social media sites, whether it was a personal account or an account on behalf of the library they work for.

One librarian shared with us a very interesting video clip she found on YouTube.  It's full of facts and statistics on how people all over the world use these social media sites and how quickly it's gaining popularity... but don't worry, like most presentations today it has cool graphics and great music behind it, so it's not boring!  I'd be curious on everyone's thoughts after watching this.  How many social media sites do you participate in? 

So uh... how you comin' on that novel you're workin' on?

We're almost half-way through the month of November... half-way through the writing challenge of NaNoWriMo... so I thought I'd share this little gem from an old episode of Family Guy. 

A Week Full of Anniversaries

This week has been very interesting in regards to anniversaries...  

The first event is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Check out this article from the New York Times- it has a nice overview of the history of the Berlin Wall, as well as an interesting interactive feature that allows you to view photographs of various portions of the Berlin Wall from both 1989 and 2009.  The pictures speak for themselves. 

The second event is the 20th anniversary of the 80's movie Say Anything.  To mark the occasion this week, Lloyd Dobler impersonators descended upon NYC with boomboxes held high (just like the scene from the movie) and essentially serenaded the city.  Classic move for a classic movie!



And the last event: it's the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street- a show that continues to be a driving force behind quality programming for children.  With forty years of potential video clips to show, it's only fitting that I share this little tidbit with you to celebrate...

Writing Tips from the Experts

Some inspiration for those writers out there who are participating in NaNoWriMo... from YA writers who have accepted this writing challenge themselves.  (Yeah, they're professional writers, but that doesn't mean they don't feel the same pain you feel when you go to sit down at the computer/ typewriter/ pad of paper and nothing is coming out.  They have their good days and bad days, just like the rest of us!)

Maureen Johnson (author of Suite Scarlet, 13 Little Blue Envelopes and others) offers advice on Points of View.  If you've ever wondered what the difference was between a 1st person narrative and a 3rd person omniscient, read this recent blog post from Maureen Johnson on the subject.


Justine Larbalestier (author of Liar, How to Ditch Your Fairy, and others) speaks about the ever-looming "word count" fear.  NaNoWriMo is all about quantity, but as she explains in her blog, you shouldn't let a slow-writing day freak you out.



And for some good advice on the overall writing process, check out this video from Meg Cabot (author of Airhead, The Princess Diaries,  and others.)  Meg shares with us how to start your story and more importantly, how you should always know how your story will end. 

Teen Book Review: Riding the Universe by Gabby Triana

Riding the Universe by Gabby Triana
Reviewed by Caitlyn

Chloe Rodriguez is a teenager in high school. She struggles a little with her work, especially chemistry. She should be studying but instead she hangs out at her secret “hideout” and daydreams. Only her best friend Rock knows about it. Then she meets her peer tutor, Gordon Spucirka. Chloe has to go to tutoring because she is failing chemistry. If she doesn’t raise her grade, her bike (motorcycle) Lolita will be taken away. Chloe falls in love with Gordon, one of the smartest people in her grade. When Chloe invites Gordon to her “secret” hideout, things change. Instead of studying chemistry, she starts studying the other chemistry. Gordon and Chloe become boyfriend and girlfriend. Chloe starts getting distracted with Gordon. Chloe soon faces challenges throughout her junior year.


I would recommend this book. I cried, laughed, smiled, and was touched. This book should be for teens in high school and possibly 8th graders. This book shows everything that can happen in a high school year. The beginning isn’t the most interesting but I got into it.

Random Site of the Moment- This to That

I just found a website that will save many of you a lot of frustration in the future.  The site is called This to That and it's all about glue.  Not that exciting, right?  Oh... you couldn't be further from the truth!  If you ever find yourself needing to glue odd items together, like plastic to styrofoam or fabric to glass, consult this site to find out which type of glue may be best for your situation.  They have a handy drop-down menu of items to choose from.  Just fill in the the "this" column and the "that" column and discover the best type of glue to use!  As if this wasn't enough, the site also contains trivia (with some really interesting tidbits of history), news stories where glue was the main story (various stories of people gluing themselves to things), and Frequently Asked Questions with loads of useful info.  Who knew there was so much to learn about glue?!   

Teen Book Review: Hallowmere by Tiffany Trent

Hallowmere: In the Serpent's Coils by Tiffany Trent
Reviewed by Caitlyn
Corrine is now an orphan. Both her parents are dead. By her uncle she is sent to Falston Manor, a school for girls. Girls are sent because their parents don’t want them or the girls are “not girly”. Corrine starts to have dreams about mysterious Vampire People who are called the Fey. At Falston, Corrine becomes friends with Ilena. Ilena helps her survive the school and shows her many things. Soon, Corrine suspects that there is some evil at Falston Manor. A few girls go missing and Corrine sees some of the staff in witchcraft. When Corrine joins this secret society (not officially), she ends up finding out secrets that mean everything. Will Corrine be able to find out who is evil? Who are the Fey? Why do weird things happen at Falston?
I say read the book! I read this in one night and couldn’t put it down. I recommend this for kids in middle school and high school, mostly girls. This is a five- star book and I can’t wait to read the next one!

Vampire Diaries

Thursday night rolls around and I have one thing on my mind…vampires! I am obsessed with the new show Vampire Diaries. I mean it makes sense. I love the TV show True Blood (definitely for adults only) and the Twilight series books (perfect for the teens). If you want a little something more Vampire Diaries is the perfect touch of both True Blood and Twilight. It has the romance story, but also a little vampire blood. I feel that I have been surprised by the twists and turns in the story. What is Damon going to do next? Is he here to stay? Are Stefan and Elena meant to be together? What is Damon going to do to Vicki? Of course she becomes a vampire. I figured she was a main character so they would make her into a vampire, but was quite surprised when Stefan had to put a stake through her heart. I never know what to expect with the show, but I do know that I love it!!!

The show is based on the books Vampire Diaries. I cheated slightly and read a little bit about the books on the Vampire Diaries website but am not ready to start them. The Vampire Diaries show is keeping my attention and I don’t want the book to take away from it. I know…I’m a librarian and should want to read it, but in this case the excitement of sitting down to watch the show is what I like. The characters in the show are great and it’s keeping my attention every Thursday at 8 on CW.

Has anybody else watched the show? Have you read the books? Do you recommend them? What do you like about the show? Let’s start a discussion and after Thursday we can talk some more!

This Vampire Diaries website includes information about the books and the TV show including interviews with the actors/actresses portraying the character. Be careful if you go to this site to find out about the show. You might be intrigued to take a peek at the information about the books which is where I read mine. If you don’t want to be tempted explore the TV show’s website instead. If you miss an episode they will usually play it on the site for you and you can watch the previews.

Curious about the author? Interested in more of her books? Explore L.J. Smith's website.

Quote of the Moment

"Stories in words are among our oldest, most powerful, most mysterious tools. Through mere sounds on the air or squiggles on a page, they give us what no other technology can-ourselves."

-Rafe Martin (author and storyteller)

More About NaNoWriMo

Hey guys! My name is Laura and I'm a new authoring librarian on this blog. I wanted to post about my experiences with National Novel Writing Month (I saw that Catherine brought it up yesterday) because this is my FOURTH year participating.

As you probably already read the goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a 175-page/50,000 word novel between November 1st and November 30th. Word count is the only goal. Unlike any other writing you've probably done, NaNoWriMo encourages quantity and that's it. So, as a participant you have to kind of train yourself to keep writing and stop worrying about what you write. In fact, Chris Baty, the director of the program, encourages that it's a stress-free thing, anything goes (content-wise).

Here's my experiences with it:

Year #1 (2006): I had just graduated from college and I was a pretty good writer from all of the creative writing courses I had taken (and got A's in, just saying) so I felt pretty confident and excited going in to this. I was awesome at developing characters (I had a mother character who was a police officer and was OBSESSED with her job and all things in life being aligned with the law) but terrible at keeping any kind of plot going for 50,000 words. The end product was okay, I wasn't about to go showing it off, but it was DONE. I had just written my first novel!

Year #2 (2007): This was my first semester of graduate school and I guess maybe my heart wasn't it because my characters were okay (not as good as the year before) and my plot literally didn't exist. My characters just kept doing things like going to work, having lunch, and hanging out with their friends. I would never let anybody even come close to reading this novel, but again, I finished. I wrote two novels!

Year #3 (2008): I didn't fully outline a plot but I knew I had to plan out some kind of direction for my story because I did not want a repeat of 2007. So far, this was probably the best of my 3 completed novels, but I hit a lot of road blocks along the way. I had good characters (based on people I knew in real life, which was probably the best thing I could have done) and a lot of funny scenes, but I had only planned out a basic, overall idea for the plot and I had trouble stretching it all the way to 50,000 words. Because of this, I wound up with a lot of silly and sort of random scenes for length. But again, I finished and was now a THREE-BOOK AUTHOR!!!

Year #4 (2009): Happy Day 2! This year I did so much prep work. I typed up a 10-page outline with every scene I planned to include and I also to decided change genres! I moved from realistic fiction alllllllllllll the way to children's fantasy (maybe because I just read The Golden Compass). This is the first year that I'm a bit behind where I should be on word count (I'm at 2,400 and I should be at 3,340), but I feel okay about it because I have so much direction. The only thing I'm noticing is that my characters and my writing just isn't as strong as they once were- maybe because I'm not in school anymore.

Anyway, I don't want to bore you guys with my whole plot summary on my very first post, but maybe I'll tell you a little about it next time I update you on my progress. Is anyone else writing this year? I'd LOVE to hear about your challenges and progress along the way. It's a crazy month!!!!

Random Site of the Moment- Upside Down Dogs

Okay, so every now and then I come across a completely random site that I just absolutely have to share with other people.  There's never a rhyme or reason to the subject matter.  Sometimes it's informative.  Sometimes it's funny.  Sometimes it's just beyond words.  But all the time it's a site that just needs to be shared. 

I played around with the idea of making a "Random Site of the Week" posting, but then I thought, "Should posts on random things be scheduled?!"  It just didn't seem right.  So, after some thought, I'm proud to announce a new segment of the Teen Frequencey Blog... Random Site of the Moment.  These posts will be random in every sense of the word...

Enjoy: Upside Down Dogs

National Novel Writing Month Challenge

It's November 1st and it's not too late to join the thousands of teens (and adults) around the world who will be participating in the 2009 NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month.)  For the next 30 days, participants will be writing in the hopes of producing a novel.  Adults are supposed to reach a 50,000 word count, but teens are allowed to set their own goals; a number that would be reasonable, yet challenging.

The main objective set forth by the creators of this writing challenge is to encourage quantity over quality.  That may sound odd and somehow backwards, but the reality of it is- most writers are their own worst critics and often high standards and pressure from within to write a masterpiece on the first try inhibit even the best of writers.  NaNoWriMo offers participants the chance to write on their own, with the knowledge that there's a community of writers out in the world doing the same thing too.  

That's the basic idea of this month-long celebration... just write.  By reaching your writing goal, whether the story is good or bad, you've accomplished something.  Writer's block doesn't have time to take hold, and you, the writer, have a piece of fiction that you can now revise into something better, if you so choose.  

If you're a writer, or just want to give this challenge a whirl, go to the official NaNoWriMo webpage for more details on how it works.

And don't forget about the writing program we're having here at the library:

LITTLE-ATURE: SMALL STORIES
Tuesday, November 24 at 6:00pm
For those of us who acknowledge the efforts of the people taking part in NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month celebration, but don't have time to write a novel, we have Little-ature. Play around with words on a smaller scale by creating six-word memoirs, 100-word stories and other feats of brevity.