London

We took an early bus from Torquay to London on Thursday, after spending two nights in the Riviera. I had blisters all over my feet (ugh) and was a little worried how the rest of the vacation was going to turn out. I was still walking, though, so that was good :D 

After a quick lunch we took the subway (or the tube, as the English call it) to Paddington, where we stayed at the Easyhotel. (a quick word about easyhotel: this was my first and last time there. You'd think that something like free wifi, TV, and cleaning the hotel room is included in the price, but it's not. They charge you extra for everything. Make sure to learn your facts before you book a hotel; I admit, we didn't do much research. Still, am I crazy to think this way?!)

Paddington is a great place to stay in. I've actually never stayed there before, Victoria has always been my go-to place. So here I have two places in London to warmly recommend: Paddington and Victoria. Both are full of hotels, amenities and within an easy and quick access to everywhere via buses and the subway. 

Torstaiaamuna otimme aikaisen bussin Torquaysta Lontooseen. Jalkani olivat täynnä rakkuloita (yäk) ja vähän huolin, miten loppuloma tulisi menemään. Mutta sentään kävelin, joten se oli hyvä :D 

Pikaisen lounaan jälkeen matkustimme metrolla Paddingtoniin, missä asustelimme Easyhotellissa. (pikainen sananen easyhotellista tähän väliin: oli muuten eka ja vika kerta siellä. Luulisi että ilmainen wifi, TV ja huoneen siivous kuuluisivat hintaan, mutta ei. Kaikesta veloitetaan ekstraa. Muista varmistaa tällaiset asiat hotellivarausta tehdessäsi. Myönnän, että tässä menimme vikaan. Silti, olenko väärässä tässä?! Typerää mielestäni)

Paddington on loistava paikka asua. Tämä oli itseasiassa ensimmäinen kertani siellä, yleensä olen asustellut Victorialla. Joten tässä on kaksi paikkaa mitä voin lämpimästi suositella Lontoossa: Paddington ja Victoria. Molemmat alueet ovat täynnä hotelleja, kauppoja, ravintoloita yms. ja molemmista pääsee helposti kaikkialle bussilla tai metrolla. 

It was great being in London without the pressure of seeing all the tourist sights. We'd already seen the most. There was still plenty to see, like the market in Portobello Road, Notting Hill. We stopped at the Hummingbird Bakery for some delicious cupcakes (carrot and red velvet) and enjoyed the beautiful day. From Notting Hill we headed to Westminster and walked by Thames. Our plan was to locate a certain café, that sold the most amazing chocolate cake... ten years ago. Needless to say, the café wasn't there anymore, but we did get to recreate a picture of us! :)

Oli ihanaa olla Lontoossa ilman mitään paineita turistinähtävyyksistä. Suurin osa kun on tullut jo nähtyä. Silti, Lontoossa on aina nähtävää, niin kuin esim. Portobello Roadin markkinat Notting Hillissä. Pysähdyttiin Hummingbird Bakerylla ostamaan herkulliset cupcaket (porkkana ja red velvet) ja nautimme kauniista päivästä. Notting Hillistä suuntasimme Westminsteriin ja kävelimme Thamesin varrella. Suunnitelmana oli löytää eräs kahvila, josta sai maailman parasta suklaakakkua... kymmenen vuotta sitten. Ei tarvinne mainita, että sitä kahvilaa ei enää ollut, mutta saimme sentään otettua erään valokuvan uudestaan! :)

London was as amazing as always. It would truly be awesome to actually live there. I enjoy the big city vibe, riding the subway, always having something to do and see... I know the novelty would eventually wear off, but still. I just love London, there's no way around it! 

We sat in pubs, met up with some friends, toured, shopped... really had a great trip. So if you ever have a chance, go there. Maybe I'll run into you :) because I'm planning on going back asap!

Lontoo oli yhtä mahtava kuin ennenkin. Olisi oikeasti niin ihanaa asua siellä. Rakastan sitä suurkaupungin fiilistä, metrolla matkustamista, sitä että aina on jotain tehtävää ja nähtävää... Tiedän, että se viehätys kuluisi jossain vaiheessa, mutta silti. Rakastan Lontoota, siitä ei päästä mihinkään!

Istuskelimme pubeissa, nähtiin kavereita, kierreltiin, shoppailtiin... meillä tosiaan oli hyvä reissu. Joten jos sinulla on mahdollisuus, käy Lontoossa. Ehkä törmäillään :) koska haluan takaisin mahdollisimman pian!

 

SO MUCH TO SAY! Too Much.

I don't talk about my writing that much with my friends. Most of them know I love to write, they know I would love to be a published author, but for some reason it's not a subject that comes up often. I always hear how writers should surround themselves with people who share the same passion, and I too think it's extremely important. But I don't actually mind that my friends don't ask too many questions. When it comes to my writing, I'm very private. I haven't shared the details of my novel with anyone so far, and won't be doing so in a long time. 

But when it comes to talking about writing in general, I could go on and on. 

Which is probably why my friends know to keep their mouths shut ;)

There are a couple of beautiful souls in my life who still ask me how my writing is going on a regular basis. They are the two people I've promised will be the first two to read my novel when it's finished. 

I could not appreciate their interest and input more, even though I can't share too much information. You know who you are, and if you're reading this, I love you for putting up with my endless rambling about writing. I rarely get to do it outside my blog. 

And you, my precious reader, I love you as well. Thank you for sticking up with me. 

Have a beautiful week <3

What Blogging Means To Me

I used to play soccer for a little while a  couple of times a week. I was maybe eleven or twelve. When I was twelve I went to Street Dance classes for a few months. These two were hobbies that I liked and hoped to have continued, but unfortunately they were very expensive and I didn't have the chance to keep practicing them for much longer.

 Ever since I was a little kid I loved to draw. Over time I became very good at it. I never wanted to turn it into something I would get paid for - a job - even though I was encouraged to do so, but oh how I loved it. I've been told I inherited my artistic abilities from my grandmother, who died when I was three. It's a shame I didn't get to know her, I have a feeling she and I would have been close. 

As I grew older, drawing became only one of my hobbies. Sadly, nowadays I don't really draw anymore. I think it's been over a year since I last did. I have been thinking about it lately, and might start again. I will show you the results if I ever get back to it :)

If you've been reading my scribblings for a while, you know that I started writing as a hobby when I was ten years old. I don't think I've ever told how it all started, though.

One day my friend at school showed me a one-page horror story she had written the previous night. I thought it was the most awesome thing ever, so that night I wrote my own horror story and I brought it to school the next day for my friend to see. This went on for a while; we would write these one-page stories for each other to read and eventually we started writing longer stories, some together and some alone. It was my favorite thing to do, and every time when we had to write something in school, essays or stories or whatever, I remember being very excited. Suddenly I had this thing in my life that  I could do whenever I wanted, much like drawing, something that was free and allowed me to develop my imagination and see where it would lead me.

Well... almost 15 years later, here I am, blogging. This, sitting on my couch at 10pm, after a long day, writing a blog post for you guys, this is where it has led me. It has led me into writing a novel. It has led me into the wonders of creating characters and other worlds.
And every time I take a seat and get to write, whether it's for you guys or just for myself, I'm so very happy.

I've never been into writing diaries, some journals with deeper thoughts than what I had for breakfast, but they didn't really last either. But blogging is different. It's me writing about me, about others, about life in general, about random things like traveling, art, writing, movies, music etc., and most importantly it's me expressing myself. Sometimes I feel a bit down if my reading stats are low, but I always try to remember that I'm not only doing this for you, I'm doing this for me too. And sometimes it's not easy to write, but blogging and writing in general is by far my most valued hobby. Hopefully one day it'll be more than a hobby, but I won't stress over that at all. Who knows what will happen? Sitting on my couch or wherever with my laptop, I'm the happiest. And I feel so blessed to have found that something that makes me so happy. I hope my happiness is transferred to you through my writing.

Sweet Mother of Chaos' first anniversary is just around the corner. I've been blogging since the end of 2010, but this blog is only a year old. I want to come up with something special, any ideas? :)

Thanks so much for reading! I hope your week is off to a great start!
Talk to you later <3

Make It Happen March: I Made Stuff Happen!

Hey, guys!

March is coming to an end and I couldn't be happier, because it means only one thing.

SUMMER IS ALMOST HERE!

I don't know why, but I am really looking forward to summer this year. I'm always looking forward to summer, but this year particularly. It may have something to do with me having a full four weeks of vacation ahead of me. Or maybe it's the prospect of traveling. Of getting to spend time with my wonderful friends. I'm looking forward to the warmth, the endless summer nights, when it's light throughout. 

Make It Happen will be my theme throughout the summer, too. Here are some things I want to do:

*Stress less, enjoy the now, enjoy life and just have fun

*Spend a week at my mom's in the countryside. No internet for a week, except for blog and emails. The main purpose for this little excursion is to write. I want to work on my novel non-stop.

*Show around Finland to my friend who will be visiting from abroad

*Travel

*Read

And here's what I accomplished this month:

*Traveled to Germany and Estonia

*Bought that bag I've wanted since forever ago

*I had my first chance to collaborate with another blogger! You'll see more April 2nd ;)

*Invitations to entrance exams at a couple of schools

*Made more solid plans for my future

With March ending, it's time to reveal the theme for next month!

*Drum roll, please*

Express Yourself April

I have a feeling it'll be a good month:)

Are you guys as excited about summer as I am?!

Have a sunny weekend <3

Make It Happen March: Let's Talk About Goals

Spring is here! :) I am so thrilled about it. The thing is, weather's been acting super weird this year, and usually around this time of the year we still have a ton of snow and it's cold, but there's hardly any snow, the temperature's above zero and… yeah, we even have sunny days every now and then ;)

Today was the first day that I put on this pair of Converse, the first day this year that I left my winter shoes inside and decided to wear something lighter! Little things make me happy :) Oh, what do you think of the bag? I just got it from Germany and love how it matches with my shoes. Looooove pink!

Anyways, I wanted to talk about goals today. I feel like sometimes it's really hard to set firm goals, whether they're short or long term goals. And achieving them can be even harder. This is why I rarely announce my goals out loud. The less people know, the less humiliating it is if I don't make it. Others find telling people motivating - the more people know, the more they want to be true to their word. 

However, I have a few goals I would like to share with y'all. These aren't something I can achieve within a month, but am definitely setting things in motion asap.

*Switching jobs this year (most likely not before the fall; I will have a full four-week summer vacation this year, which is kind of a big motivator right now, and I don't want to switch until I've had the chance to enjoy that.)

*Finish the first draft of my book (I'm not setting a time limit here, because lately I've noticed how irregular my life is, work schedule and all. All I can do is my best, and hope that it gets me somewhere.)

*Travel some (just waiting to get my official vacation dates so I can book the flights)

It's good to have goals; having something to work for, something to look forward to, is vital. What are your goals? Short or long term? :) Let me know!

One more thing: I now have 91 followers on Glipho and 10 on Blogger. One of them follows me on both platforms, so that means that I have

100 followers.

This might not be a big thing to many of you, but to me it is huge. To have 100+ people reading my blog is something I value more than you'll ever know. 

Thank you so much!

<3

Florida, vol 2

(If you haven't read the first part, make sure to check it out!) :)

From Georgia we drove to Jacksonville Beach and spent the night there. This was Christmas Eve, and the next day was supposed to be a relaxed day at the beach, since everything would be closed. But the weather wasn't exactly a beach weather, so we ended up driving all the way down to Cape Canaveral. I had really been looking forward to visiting the JFK Space Center, but we arrived too late for tickets. The area was open until 6pm, and we got there at 4.30pm. Needless to say, I was angry. 

Wish I could have explored! >:(

I still kinda feel that Christmas Day was just a waste of time on this trip, because we didn't accomplish anything. Except for mileage. I was feeling better about things the next day, and we continued on to Lake Worth and visited some friends who live there during winter time. That would be a dream… winters in Florida (or anywhere in the States for that matter) and summers in Finland. Or no Finland at all. That would work, too.

We did some shopping and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Wish we had that restaurant here, their food and cheesecakes are so delicious!

On Friday we continued our Road Trip toward Key West! Definitely one of the most expected journeys on this trip, driving through the Keys. We made a stop in Islamorada, half way between Miami and Key West, because my brother and I had tickets to swim with the dolphins at Theater of the Sea. Swimming with dolphins has been a life-long dream of mine, but I've never had the chance to do it until now. It was an amazing experience! One of the reasons I chose to do it at Theater of the Sea, is that they take really good care of their animals and strive to give them as natural a habitat as possible. The animals aren't living in chlorinated pools indoors, they have great outdoors facilities with the water coming straight from the Ocean. 

Meet Skipper! He is 4 years old, one of the youngest dolphins at Theater of the Sea, and he was born there. Such a wonderful and playful creature!

Look at the pose he's giving! What a little show off ;)

We stopped for a bathroom break at a visitor center about 30 miles outside of Key West, and learned that every single hotel, motel and B&B had absolutely no vacancy. There were 3 rooms available, with rates $700 per night and up. It was also interesting to find out, that all the cheaper hotels/motels were disappearing from Key West, and it's been transformed into a more high-end destination. We saw an abandoned Days Inn when we got there. What kinda sucks, is that we had planned to spend the night, but had no idea that we got there on the busiest weekend of the year, of course right after Christmas. 50,000 people headed out there on the same day that we did (which explains the traffic) and another 50,000 were scheduled to arrive the next day on various cruise ships. So we drove to Key West, did a quick tour (the Southernmost point, Sloppy Joe's…) and headed back toward the main land. We tried a few hotels on the way, further away, but everything was booked full. Every single one. Let me tell you, driving to and from Key West the same day is no joy ride. Especially when you have to drive back at night time and can't see anything but tacky xmas lights. Ho Ho Ho!

It was 1am before we finally found a place that had two rooms available. Roughly 1000 feet from the Miami International Airport runway. AND.. the hotel was the kind that rents out rooms by the hour… But seriously, we were exhausted and there was no saying how long we would have had to look for another place with vacancy. On the plus side, this place was very clean and the location was perfect, since we were going to spend the last 3 nights there. And, a funny story to tell. 

In Miami, we explored the beach, the city, the shopping possibilities.. did a half day trip up to Sawgrass Mills and I'm telling you… I'm not that into shopping, but I could have spent the entire day there! 

I might do a separate post about stuff that I bought.. or even a Haul Video if I'm feeling up to it. Right now I'm sick and my voice sucks, so if I do make a video, it'll be a while x)

The last couple of days were more laid back and on Monday we flew back to Finland, via Spain. Only 2 flights, thank goodness. We flew Iberia, and the plane was freaking awesome, at least compared to the AA one we flew to Raleigh. 

I caught this stupid flu when we reached Madrid, but before I knew it, I was back home, dragging two suitcases + a full grocery bag up four flights of stairs (no elevator in my building, and I didn't want to do two trips). 

And that was my vacation. I left the bad stuff out, because what's the point in dwelling? 

Now I'm just waiting for my next vacation… ;)

Out with the old, in with the new!

Hiiiiiiiiii!

Peeps, it's January 1st, 2014. For an hour and a half more at least, here in Finland. I feel sort of disoriented and confused at the moment; I returned from my vacation yesterday, and am jet lagged + I caught a flu on our way back. It's surreal to think that two days ago I was in Miami, and now I'm here. Two days ago I was in warm and humid Florida, and now I'm in cold and dark Finland. Well, at least there's zero snow here, which was a pleasant welcoming gift :)

I will do a separate post about my vacation in the near future, once I get my head straight and pics uploaded. Now, since every other blogger in the world is doing so, I want to talk about 2013. I won't make an extensive post about every single detail of the past year, but will share some highlights with you! With that being said, let's get started!

2013:

*My dear friend from Germany visited me in Finland
*I visited her in Germany

*After promoting my blog on Instagram, I was invited to join Glipho and blog there, too. This was a major turning point and gave me a whole new perspective! Thank you, Glipho Team!

*I worked through the entire summer, which wasn't exactly ideal, but for a good cause ;)

*Despite working a lot, I got to spend a lot of time with friends

*I became more and more passionate about writing and working on my novel

*I made some new friends

*Some of my best friends moved abroad; again, not a highlight, but they're happy and that's what matters!

*I traveled to Florida. Here's a little sneak peek:

I managed to snap this awesome photo while in downtown Tampa. The lighting was just perfect!

Now I'm starting a new year. I never make any resolutions. I just hope things will look up and something exciting will happen. I'm fortunate to have experienced a lot in my life, but it has left me thirsting for more. So, I hope 2014 will bring something amazing to me, and to all of you. Make it your year<3

Here's an inspirational song I wanted to share before signing off. I will get back to you guys later! :)

Getting ready for Vacay!

Guys, next week I will be on vacation. YES! Seriously, I'm due. I haven't had a vacation in a year. I worked through the entire summer and saved up my vacation days for December, because I'm going to Florida with my family! :) I am so excited; this is my 7th time traveling to the States, but I've never been to Florida before.

I wanted to share our plans with you, so here's what we will be doing/seeing:

*Everglades

*NHL Game in Tampa 

*Universal Studios Orlando

*Daytona Beach

*NASA (Cape Canaveral)

*Key West 

*Swimming with dolphins

*Miami

*Sawgrass Mills

*A lot of beach life; body boarding, tanning, relaxing

We have 11 days to do all this, and we've got it all figured out! Turns out I'm actually pretty good at planning trips and stuff ;) If any of you, my lovely readers, are from Florida or have traveled there, I welcome all ideas and tips you have to share! 

10 days to go!

See you, soon, FL! <3

My Bucket List

This post is way long over due; I don't know why it has taken me so long to do it. I'm actually a sucker for lists, so this was a lot of fun! Take a look and I hope this inspires you to make your own Bucket List! :)

*Tour around the world; my current must-go destinations are: Hawaii, Australia, Cook Islands, Abu Dhabi and Rio De Janeiro. Route 66 is also a life-long dream of mine, and happening next summer! S-T-O-K-E-D. 

*Go spot airplanes landing and taking off at St. Maarten

*Become a professional writer

*Dye hair pink (at least temporarily with a color that washes off)

*Swim with dolphins (this will happen next month!!!)

*Move to the USA

*Get a tattoo. Maybe? Still debating this... 

*Pack up your stuff, sell what you don't need, including your apartment (or lease it) and go somewhere. See where you'll end up. 

'Nuf said

Y'all know I'm all about becoming a writer, and if you didn't know, well... now you know. I'm always looking for tips and advice for aspiring writers, because I'm determined to make writing my career. Today, while googling stuff (I google stuff a lot), I stumbled upon some tips from some of the greatest. I wanted to share some of them with you.

You're welcome.

The first draft of everything is shit.

-Ernest Hemingway

If you have any young friends, who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they're happy.

-Dorothy Parker

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

-Jack London

There are three rules to writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

-W. Somerset Maugham

If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time -or the tools- to write. Simple as that.

-Stephen King

If writing seems hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things people do.

-William Zinsser

Write drunk, edit sober.

-Ernest Hemingway

Start telling the stories that only you can tell, because there will always be better writers than you, and there will always be smarter writers than you. There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing that - but you are the only you. 

-Neil Gaiman

Don't take anyone's writing advice too seriously.

-Lev Grossman

Excuses

I don't know about you guys, but sometimes I make up the most ridiculous excuses not to write, which is insane, because I love writing and I want to turn it from a hobby into a career.

I don't worry about people not liking my stories; that's inevitable. There will always be people who don't like you or your work, and writing is something one shouldn't do without acknowledging that fact. It's impossible to please everybody, which is why it's very important to write about something that you love, about something that makes you happy. Whether it's about vampires or wizards, just make it unique. Try to bring out something new to the subject.

Sometimes it's just not easy, and I'm sure I'm not alone when it comes to making excuses. Here are some pearls from yours truly:

*I'm scared that people will find my stories stupid and wonder: "why would this person write something like this?", but instead of really criticizing the stories, people criticize me. (Now, this one falls under the category I just talked about; how it's inevitable there will be people who don't like you. Still, the fear is there.)

*I have this great image of the story in my head. If I put on paper, I will just ruin it. 

*What if I write a book that's really great (in my own and my family & friends' opinion), but it never gets published? 

I know, right? These just happen to be things that I sometimes let myself ponder, even though I shouldn't. I should focus on the good things, positive feed-back and the fact that this is something I love to do -eventually I will make it. 

What are your biggest fears when it comes to writing and sharing your work? 

Sometimes I feel like the Universe is messing with me.

Sometimes most of the time life just baffles me. The unpredictability of it. You never know what's going to happen tomorrow, you never know where you'll be a year from now. I didn't expect to be the way I am at 24, I didn't expect to be here at 24, I didn't expect... I don't really know what I expected. Something more, something less... Oh yeah, I expected to have a freakin' clue. 

The truth is, I don't think anyone's got it all figured out. Being content is one thing, but when you think about it, how many people are there who are totally and completely happy with the way their lives have turned out? I'm not unhappy, but could be doing better. Knowing I'll be stuck here this way for at least another year is both relaxing and tormenting. But seriously.. I need a way out. Rather sooner than later :) Don't think of me as a depressing person.. think of me as an adventurer who's resources to see the world are very limited right now. 

Writing gives me a great escape, which is one of the main reasons I want to blog. And I want to blog more regularly, but I'm going to need your help with that. I was thinking of topics the other night and here's what I came out:

The reason there's a "HAHA!" after hairdos, is that I suck big time when it comes to doing my hair. I can use a flat iron and a curling iron, but that's about it. I just wrote that down because it popped into my mind, and didn't really think it through. But I actually have a really nice hair! 

This is where you come in. What do you want to read about? (Or hear about? 'Cause the video is happening! Maybe even videos, as in plural!)  :)

A little repair and renovation

Hello, my lovely readers :)

Sorry for being MIA for so long. I won't make any excuses, but I do want to let you know that I have been extremely busy lately. Work, work, work (and yet, I'm always broke -something doesn't add up, right?!)

I've had a lot on my plate, and I realized that for my own good, I would have to get rid of some things. Some time ago I was presented an exciting job opportunity, and had I gotten the job, I would have left Finland in the fall. The ultimate dream of mine (besides making it as a writer): working abroad. BUT, I decided not to apply this year. It was just too fast; I didn't want to figure out my entire life in just a few months. So I'm giving myself a year and have another look at the job next year :) I feel very good about my decision and a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. I've also been dealing with some ear-related health issues for a while now, and until I have that all figured out, I don't want any other major twists in my life. 

Writing was also one of the reasons I decided to stay. My job abroad would have been very hectic and I knew I wouldn't get any writing done in a long time. Right now I'm feeling like I've made some real progress with my novel, and I'm not ready to give all that up just yet :)

So after deciding to stay put for another year, I took a hard look on my apartment. When I first moved to live on my own four years ago, I had almost everything ready. The only major purchase back then was a dining table + chairs. I got everything else from mom, dad and other people. Had to do some little basic shopping, but the point is, I never really got to decorate. I had some vision of the colors I wanted, and mostly I got what I wanted, so I was happy. But now I was ready for a change. So I went to IKEA and shopped. 

I'm sorry I don't have the 'before' shot. But the colors in my apartment changed from brown-pink to white-blue-red. It's so much more brighter and fresher now. I got the expedict-shelf from IKEA, also the turquoise baskets in it, and the picture frames used to be pink. I used to have a dark brown carpet and I am in love with the new white one! I have no idea how long it will stay white, but it's certainly inspiring me to be more neat ;)

My couch is also dark brown, and since couches are expensive, I just bought a blue cover for it and some pillows to add more color :) The cover doesn't reach over the entire couch, since it's pretty big, but it does the job! 

Redecorating a studio apartment is not that expensive in the end :) I'm very happy with the result and just love spending time home! It's so worth to making your place feel like home. Also makes for a better learning/studying/writing environment! 

I am enjoying summer to the fullest, even though the heat makes my apartment feel like a sauna. I'm a Finn, and don't like sauna, weird? 

Hope you all had a great weekend! :)

-iira

From thoughts into words

It's a long, rocky road to get a story finished on paper. For me, at least. Here's how the process goes for me:

1. A rough idea comes to mind

2. Figuring out if the idea's any good --> developing it further

3. Storylines, twists, etc.

4. Naming all the characters

5. Characters relationships and backgrounds

6. Random scenes go through my mind like movies

7. Writing some scenes, in no particular order

I'm bad at taking notes. Basically, all of the above is in my head in the end, and when the mental exhaustion is getting too overwhelming, it's time to start the actual writing process. By the way, I'm using the term "mental exhaustion" very loosely. I find all of this too much fun to think of it as something exhausting. Sometimes it does get to me, though. I get very attached to the story and the characters, and when things don't go as I want, it can be frustrating. Even though it's a world and people I've created, what happens to them is sometimes out of my hands. 

I'm sure other writers have their own ways to transfer thoughts into short stories and novels, but this is mine. I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts :) The nerdy side of me is dying for some new information!

lovelovelove,

iira

Write Great Fiction

A couple of days ago I allowed myself a little treat. I ordered books on Amazon. Yeah.. Books do it for me ;) 

As someone who wants to be a serious writer one day, the books I ordered are important and I've heard a great deal of positive things about them. 

It'll take at least a month for me to get my hands on these babies, but I'm so excited to have some summer reading to do! :) The Write Great Fiction -series has other books, too, and they are: Dialogue, Revision and Self-editing (I SO NEED THIS!!) and Description & Setting. I'm going to wait to get the first two I ordered, and then see how I feel about them. But right now I think I will just order the rest of the series as well. 

The past few days I've kept a little break from working on my novel. I'm basically done with the plot and all that, and feel ready to write, and I have started writing. But with these books, I feel like I could be better (and I haven't even read them, yet!). I'd rather take things slow and get a better result than hurry and be sloppy. 

Have a nice week! :)

-iira

P.S. I have three days off! Stoked!