Revisiting My Childhood Blog

Back in 2011, I started a blog on my Wattpad profile. As a baby writer, I was having a bit of fun. Now, I look back in horror and amusement. I was never great at keeping a diary, so this blog is a great capsule of a teen me. For this post, I thought it would fun to reflect on some of these old blog posts. I’m not going to link them here, because that would be too embarrassing, but I’m sure they are pretty easy to find. I started the blog in 2011 and continued to post until 2014. Here are some of the highlights from those posts and my reflections on those times.

I will try to make it amusing-let me know if i am failing epically. – 13 April 2011

My very first post. This isn’t promising.

My head is puonding with story ideas and forcing themselves out onto paper. It is annoying because it interrupts my writing of my actual projects. Sheesh. if you want some story inspiration I would be happy to lend some of mine. Just ask. – 13 April 2011

I obviously had not discovered spellcheck, or even bothered to even read over my writing. In terms of getting ideas, that hasn’t changed. However, I am no longer willing to share my excess ideas. I would also note, that just because you have lots of ideas, it doesn’t mean they’re any good.

I am gettibg lazy again with my writing, so someone please poke me! My desire to write goes in cycles; I write, get bored, I draw, I get bored, I make games, I get bored, and you guessed it I write again.- 14 April 2011

Please poke me! I don’t draw or paint as much as I used to which I miss.

I had started typing one a few days ago – I was even about to publish it – when my browser froze and my work was lost. I had being trying to work up motivation again because I felt such despair at having to start all-over again. – 28 April 2011

Thankfully autosaves exist now and I can crtl+S in my sleep. The actual post was about how terrified I am to walk down steep slopes. I still am, in case you care.

I write to escape this harsh reality which surrounds the essence of life… Writing is one of the few things I can gain pleasure from without stress afterwards. – 5 May 2011

If only this were still true! Writing is my reality and it certainly causes me stress! I wish I could go back to when it was just pure fun and enjoyment, and I was writing for myself and my friends. Of course I still enjoy writing now, but attempting to take the professional path has its costs.

~EDIT 5/08/2013 – Removed for reasons~ – 20 May 2011

I wonder what those reasons were?

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day. – 14 July 2011

Being a teenager is tough.

*Takes a very deep breath* – 1 October 2011

In a post arguing the merits of HP vs Twilight, I argue for the wrong brand, because honestly what did I really know ten years ago?

I was walking home and i got a bug in my eye – 25 October 2011

It is painful remembering this.

What I guess I’m trying to say is that don’t be stereotypical. Don’t use the term “girl gamer”, “gamer” works just as well. – 26 November 2011

Ah, young me. Wait until you can buy all the games you want and then realise how much time they suck away from you. Also, sexism still exists. Sorry.

I WON! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂 – 1 December 2011

I won my first NaNoWriMo in 2011 and boy did it feel good. In November of this year (2021) I will have been writing novels for ten years. It’s crazy how time flies.

I am editing my novel still.. I aim to be somewhat more done by the end of the month so I can start sending out to publishers! So wish me luck! – 23 March 2012

This must be my perpetual state as a writer.

I’ll be having a shot at it again in August where I will be co-writing a novel with my sister- a post apocalyptic zombie novel – 17 June 2012

We never did write that novel. I wish we had because it would have been cool. We’re both too busy with our own stuff to collaborate now.

Lately I have just about every type of creative block you can think of, and it is killing me. – 4 September 2012

I’m only being a little bit dramatic. Current cure for the block – get over yourself and write.

My advice- never handwrite your NaNo novel, no matter how tempting it may seem.) – 4 January 2013

This holds up. It took me about three years to type that bugger up.

I just want to say thank you for helping Half-Faye to reach 9,000 reads... In other news, I’ve now writtten six complete novels (complete in the fact that they are mostly still drafts) across three years. – 10 March 2014

This was my last post on that blog and I can say I am proud of tiny me. That novel, Half-Faye, has 38,000 reads and still continues to reach readers on Wattpad. I churned out a novel every six months while keeping up with school work. This post signaled my desire to become a professional writer. I had outgrown the platform and was seeking something more solid to build a foundation on. While there is plenty of embarrassing stuff up there, I’m glad I didn’t just delete my profile. It has been fun taking a stroll through memory lane, and in particular reflecting on my growth as a writer, right from the beginning of me seeing myself as someone who dreamed to one day become a published author.

Writing Tips

NaNoWriMo Tips

The following is an old blog post that I wrote when I finished writing my first novel in 2011. I was in the eighth grade and was very excited to ‘win’ NaNoWriMo. It’s funny to look back on it now, a dozen manuscripts later. I was driven by the need to prove my family wrong – that it was possible for me to write 50,000 words in a month, and I’ve been riding that wave ever since.

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Here is a section of a post I wrote after completing my first novel in 2011:

It was one hell of a month and a very big challenge for me. This was something I had never dared to do before. I barely ever finish stories, much less full-length novels!

Here are my tips for doing NaNoWriMo from personal experience:

– Write an outline. Seriously. You’ll never know how valuable it is to you until the month starts and you have nothing to write about. Trust me when I say this because I had no outline and I did not hit my word count on the first day. If you can’t write an outline at least think about what you are going to do.

– Attempt to hit the word count every day. Catching up is no fun. 🙁

– Shove your inner editor up in a cupboard, lock it up, and throw away the key. When you have to write 1,667 words per day they do not need to be there.

– Write whenever you can. At home, on the bus, at school, while the teacher is talking… Jokes 😀 Don’t get yourself in trouble. But you’ll find more time to write if you do this, plus, you don’t have to stay up until 11:30 every night to hit your goal.

– No procrastination! Very important. Watching TV or playing games are no excuse. Think of all of the catch-ups… *groan* You can do that once you’ve hit your daily word goal.

– Do not set yourself an impossible challenge. If you’ve only ever written 100 words in your life don’t aim for 50,000 words. It’s not going to happen and it is completely unrealistic.

– Don’t let writer’s block get the better of you. It will most probably come at the worst of times. The only way to get over it is a) take a break (a short one mind you) b) write something else, something short or c) don’t start playing computer games. It will only make things worse.

– Social media is a no-no! Friends distract one so easily. Also, they won’t need you for that month. turn it off whenever you right.

– Sleep. Sleep keeps you going. It isn’t good to stare at a screen 24 hours a day. Drinking and eating also come under this rule.

– Most importantly:

DO NOT GIVE UP!

You have set yourself a goal and you should try your best to achieve it. Everyone thought of me as crazy but I did it anyway and I succeeded (and went mad along the way…)

So those are all my tips… There are a bit more than I’d thought there would be, I guess I can’t stop writing now! Do you want to hear how I went? Of course, you do! Thank you!

I WON! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂