Ahem.
Author: JamieKate
•3:34 PM
All right. Yes. I've been terribly remiss in my blog-writing schedule. I mean, look at it. Look at all the days between the "Quick Update" and now. So many. So, if any of you were looking for some wonderful, wise wisdom from the wacky world of Jamie (yay for arbitrary alliteration), I apologize. But I assure you, I had several good reasons for being absent. First and foremost being that I was busy. Incredibly busy. College is a busy place, did you know that? Wow.

Anyway. I'm back. And I'm happy to report that I have experienced a burst of inspiration in my novel, and I am currently speeding through a rather important scene in a way I think is satisfactory. I know. I'm awesome. Well, in some ways. In others, not. I have not in any way been taking my own advice about writing every day. That is to say, I have been writing, but it's been essays and reading/film responses and take-home tests and not anything creative or worthwhile. Ever since the start of the week, however, I have been writing a lot, and I hope to keep it that way until the next storm of homework comes.

Sorry to have been so long and to have my post be so pathetic and short when it finally came, but thank you for following me and being such awesome people. Also, hello new followers! *waves to the computer screen and only feels slightly silly*
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Speaking of Silver Lining...
Author: JamieKate
•8:25 PM
I have come here...well, firstly, actually, to gush to you all my immense gratitude and blushy-ness about just how awesome it is that DL Hammons gave me the Silver Lining award on his blog. Whoa. WHOA. My blog has an award. I have an award! Thank you, DL! I am so happy you are one of my few followers and that you appreciate the blog.

Which brings me to my next lesson. And confession. My confession is this: I have not written all weekend. Defamation, shock, alarm. If you gasped and tsk-tsked me right now, you'd have a right. I'd like to say other things got in the way and that life is too busy, but they didn't, and it wasn't. I just...didn't write. I thought about it. I thought about my ideas for scenes. I thought about my own advice and how crucial it is to always write to keep up momentum. Buuuttt....I apparently thought catching up on American Idol was more important.

But that was only the confession. Are you ready for the lesson? Okay. Here it comes.

I forgive myself. Oh, wait, that's a lie. Hold on....yep. Okay. Now I forgive myself. Because people need breaks, too. You should write a lot. You should think about writing a lot (at least if you want to take writing seriously and aren't just doing it for a hobby). But if you don't - and, for that matter, if you don't do anything you were 'supposed' to do - the best and most productive thing to do is forgive yourself. 

I didn't write this weekend. Under normal circumstances, I might beat myself up: Oh, Jamie. You didn't write again. You want to be published, don't you? You want to be a success and outrun/outwrite all those people who ever had a fleeting thought that you weren't good/serious enough, don't you? You're going to fail if you don't write. What a failure. What a loser. 

Normally. For days. Until finally I'd muster up the courage to put the pen to paper (or the fingers to the keys)...but by then, I'd have beaten myself up so much that it wouldn't even feel like an accomplishment. It's just what I should have been doing all along, right? 

Well. Maybe. But perhaps I just needed a break. Perhaps this is me storing up all the potential energy so that, when I finally write, all the kinetic energy will burst and flow across the page into a masterpiece of prose and imagery and symbolism and...awesomeness. It could be an excuse, but I don't think so.

Just as no fumble or slip is too large, no accomplishment is too small. My blog got an award. Holy moley. It's not a big huge one, of course (Sorry, DL, but you aren't Nobel, you're just an awesome guy with an awesome blog), but I can still check it off my Metaphorical List of Accomplishments. 

What did you accomplish today? Did you write 1000 words? What about 500? 50? Okay! Good for you! Holy crap, you did something! Sometimes it's hard to even eke out those few words, so, if it was, treasure them. Don't belittle them. They might even need work (no one does anything perfectly immediately, after all), but you still wrote them. You got them down, and they'll be there forever, barring any massive fire or hard drive failure (which would suck. I'm sorry if that happens. Please check your smoke detectors and virus protection). 

Any small accomplishment is worth holding up and examining. You can even take out your accomplishments and polish them once in a while to make sure they shine. "Oh yeah, I did write that whole novel. Some people don't ever get to do that, and I did. Wow. I'm cool." or even "I wrote that scene just how I would have liked. I should be proud of myself."

Writing is tough stuff. So sometimes, you have to treasure the little stuff. Like blog awards. 
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Things I've Learned From Writing: Take One
Author: JamieKate
•5:08 PM
Since this blog is supposed to be about writing and not me whining about how I can't write (ahem, self), I figured I'd give you a few short tips of things I've learned in my short but eventful career as a not-yet-published author.

What authority do I have to give anyone advice? That's another story entirely. But I have a whole lifetime to prove to you my success. So I might as well start acting like I'm famous now, right?....Right?

Shut up, you.

THINGS I'VE LEARNED:

1. Let the words of dialogue speak for themselves. Adverbs and descriptions of dialogue only hamper the rhythm of speech in most cases and distract from the scene. If you really feel that something isn't coming across, add to it, but only in special cases. Otherwise, you'll look like an amateur, and amateurs are generally frowned upon. In general. Not specifically, maybe, but in general. Yes.

2. Write for yourself; that is the only way your passion will shine through in your writing. As Kurt Vonnegut said, "Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia." And you want your story nice and healthy, using no tissues and keeping away from the Literary Hospital. Yes, it exists. Trust me, my poor stories have had to visit a number of times.

3. Character, in my opinion, is the most important thing. Not how pretty the things the character is looking at are, not the Big Event that changes the character's life. If the reader doesn't like the character, she'll have no one to route for, and if she really doesn't like them, she won't want to stick around unless there's a chance the character will be dead soon. So make your characters likable. How do you do that? Well, what do you like in a person? Make them be that. Smush characteristics and flaws together to make a quirky, fun character who forgets to water her plants, or a lovable meiser who salsa dances on the weekends. Characters = love. You visit a place again and again for the people in it, not the view or the stuff you do. Or, at least, I do. I might just be a freak, though.

Those are three quick tips to consider in writing. A quick disclaimer, though: those are my opinions, garnered from my experience. Some writers may disagree and scream at me and make effigies in my name because of how wrong they think I am (that was a joke, by the way - I've found writers, on the whole, to be a quite affable bunch). Take the advice given with a grain of salt, because I might not be right.
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