Reading is a gift for a writer.

See this post here on Let The Words Flow to know what I'm talking about.

At the age of seven, my dad signed me up for these summer reading challenges at our local library. I remember him helping me through countless of books for hours and hours, and then aiding me in my decision of the summer reading challenge prizes. From that experience came my continuous love of books, and then later my love for writing.

When my parents realized that my love of books was overruling my necessity to improve my arithmetic (also known as my second least favorite subject in school), they more or less banned me from reading. Now, as a rebellious teenager of fourteen, I'm still sneaking in books. They've lessened the severity of the ban somewhat, though. Now whenever they find me staying up late reading when I should be reviewing for SATs (particularly the math section), they just tell me to shut the book and go to bed.

(In case you haven't figured it out, I'm not exactly the best when it comes to math. I like to think I'm pretty good at it since I'm in Algebra II in my freshman year, but clearly my parents would like me to be at the top of my class. Which I'm not. Besides, I scored below average in the math section of the SATs. So.)

But you know what? The post above proves how valuable reading is. I'm a writer. We have to read. It's to keep our brain working and inspiration flowing. To not read for me would be like telling a concert pianist to stop practicing. It just doesn't work.

- E

Why charlieissocoollike is...cool [like].

Introducing Charlie McDonnell, yet another British YouTube vlogger and hopeful musician. See, the video above is one of his "Challenge Charlie" videos, which, like the name suggests, is basically him taking challenge requests from fans. I've watched almost all of his videos (I've tried watching a lot of nerimon's, but he has...a lot. I've been keeping up with his recent ones though), and I love them. Seriously. I'm a huge fan.

Like Alex (did you know Charlie and Alex are really, really good friends?), Charlie is an important person to my writing life. Whenever it's slow, I can rely on Charlie for another challenge video to make me laugh, to ease the strain a bit. This applies to my school life as well. Also, take a look at this video:




See that shirt he's wearing? It was custom-made and everything, and fans bought it. It's blue, has his pictures from his popular video "Duet With Myself" (which features two of him in one video), and a quote from the same video that says, "You need to be able to love yourself", which is very inspiring.

But now it's sold out. And I'm sad. D=

Why nerimon is awesome.

Nerimon, AKA Alex Day, is a British musician/vlogger on YouTube. He has been very useful for me, in both life and writing. Seriously though, his videos are encouraging. Actually, they're hilarious and insulting, which makes them encouraging (if that makes any sense). Writing-wise, nerimon often speaks up in my head. Because of this video:



But you know, I like the Twilight Saga. That doesn't necessarily stop me from watching videos that critique it. Besides, the video gives me an inside look on other readers and their opinions. So hurray for nerimon!

- E

14 things you maybe didn't know about Ella Simmons

See this post to know what I'm talking about.

14. Like most writers, I get writer's block. And in order to cure the annoying thing, I walk to my treadmill and set it to 1 mile. And then I run.
13. I have this ping-pong table in my basement that occasionally acts as my writing desk.
12. I don't have a set "writing desk". Sometimes I'm writing on a chair, sometimes I'm writing on the ground, sometimes I'm writing on my lap while I eat breakfast.
11. The greatest number of books I've had on hold at the library at once is 20.
10. Although I'm occasionally accused of being a hermit, I live off of fresh air. If I don't get a small sample of fresh air at least once a day, my head feels like its being squeezed by a giant rubber band. Which leads to...
9. I love opening windows. Like my MC in Depravity, I also love sitting on the ledge of windows. (But I've only done that once and I can't do it when there are bugs flying outside.)
8. Writing with music serves nothing for my muse. I can't focus on both my writing and music at the same time, and I usually end up focusing on the former. The music just gets pushed away.
7. However, listening to music while staring out the window in a car is my ultimate muse-booster. So I still end up with a playlist of some kind.
6. My favorite color is navy, my favorite season is summer, my favorite candy is The Three Musketeers, and my favorite fruit is mangos.
5. I'm not particularly fond of MCs who are automatically good or kickass-good at something. But neither am I particularly fond of damsels in distress.
4. I'm a night person. I love the sun and the blue sky, believe me, but everything looks better at night. (If I could, I would become nocturnal.)
3. I hate wine, and I'll probably end up hating beer too. Wine tastes horrible. Absolutely, positively horrible. On my 21st birthday, I'll drink grape soda or something. Not wine.
2. After watching Avatar: The Last Airbender (the TV show, not the movie), I'd like to try Jasmine Tea. (I don't even know the name of my favorite tea--just that it's really, really good).
1. Ella Simmons isn't my real name.

Shadowed: The Retelling of Thumbelina (Synopsis #1)

This is my current--and first--novel attempt for NaNoWriMo. The summary might change, but for now, this is what it is:

Genre: YA Dark Fantasy

Thumbelina was a girl born from the flowers. Maia is a girl born from the shadows.

In the land of Celeste lives orphan Maia Estelle, a sixteen-year-old girl who has had nightmares of harmless, but peculiar shadows for as long as she can remember. Her foster mother had disappeared, and her parents were presumably dead. So when Maia, who has nothing left to lose anymore, sees one of these shadows in her conscious state of mind for the first time, she is determined to follow it. But then a mysterious person shows up and cuts in, dispelling the shadow with a suspicious looking weapon.

He introduces himself as Zeric, a Prince of one of the twelve clans of faeries who are determined to overthrow the current king of the supposedly mythical, dystopian land of Troy. Prince Zeric requires Maia’s help to control the immensely powerful shadow spirits so he can obtain the throne. And if she does, he will take her to her foster mother, who is currently locked up in Troy.

However, Maia declines Zeric’s offer. In doing so, she somehow shatters the sheath the Prince’s clan had put on her—a sheath that hides her shadow abilities from everyone else of Troy. Now that her power is out in the open, many will target her for their own wants. And if Maia is to change her decision of the bargain, she better do it quickly; The King of Troy has issued an order to hunt the shadow spirits, and the number is slowly diminishing. Time is running out. Soon Maia, who is slowly grasping her control, must either learn to trust the Prince and restore Troy to its previous glory—or fend for herself.

Wherein High School Gets Boring

The night before my first day of freshman year went like this:

'Sis: Are you nervous?
Me: Eh. Not really.
'Sis: Do you think you'll find your classes all right?
Me: No. But I'll just follow my friend (Critique Partner P) or something.

And thus I'd went to bed, closed my eyes, and drifted off to Dreamland in a matter of two hours. Which, considering my sleeping schedule over the summer, is pretty impressive.

There was nothing spectacular about my first day at all. Nothing. Marching band was literally the highlight of the day (which isn't saying much actually, considering band camp). I was just...drifting through the whole entire thing. Everyone's so quiet in class, it's messed up. I miss middle school, where no one was afraid to laugh out loud during even the lamest jokes, where everyone was friends, where everything was loud and happy and carefree. High school is wooden. Stiff and awkward. (Besides Spanish II, which was pretty loud and enthusiastic, thanks to the teacher.)

I told my sister this and she said something about how it'll get better. About how she loved her freshman year way better than middle school. Somehow, I can't believe that. Middle school was great. So far in my freshman year? Nope. Nada. Even homework is more interesting than school. At the moment, anyway.

- E

An Introduction of Sorts

Actually, I wanted to create a blog once NaNo started, but I'm way too eager to wait. I've blogged before, but this'll be my first public blog. Well, sort of.

So an introduction is required. Er...let's see. I'm [known as] Ella. I'm 14 at the moment, and I'm a writer--more or less. This year will be my first year participating in NaNoWriMo, and I'll be writing the retelling of Thumbelina. And it'll be classified as dark fantasy.

But NaNo Novel (titled "Shadowed" because I suck at naming my novels) won't be the only thing I'll be working on. I've completed my first novel at a total of 104,000 words a few years ago, and I'm revising it. Yay! (/sarcasm) It's known as Depravity, and will probably be known as Depravity for the rest of its existence. Depravity is about demon slayers. It's Buffy Meets Harry Potter original and awesome and right now, it sucks.

I'm on revision draft number seven.

But yep, that's it on me. Nothing too extravagant. I'll be blogging about both Depravity and Shadowed, but more on Depravity once November comes.

- E