Poetry Wednesdays: Back to School

I've decided to start doing Poetry Wednesdays on here, because I'm taking Intro to Creative Writing: Poetry on Wednesday nights and I'd like to share what I write each week :) This is my first one. I read it in class today and it was a hit, so I'm kind of proud of it :D

Back to School

As the scarlet train whistles
I take in the endless trees
that look so inviting and
finally I believe that
I made it to my dream school.

Soon I will be in a dorm
that I share with three others
looking forward to the time
we will spend walking through the
corridors, laughing as we
throw on our blue and bronze scarves.

The image is picturesque
and for a moment I feel
more excited than I have
ever felt for a school year.

But the train whistles again.
I blink and am forced to see
heartbreaking reality:

This isn’t Hogwarts.



(Inspired by Hank Green's "This Isn't Hogwarts")

Independence Day Flash Fiction Blogfest

This week is just ALL ABOUT BLOGFESTS! But I'm loving it because it kind of FORCES me to blog. Which is good.

Today's blogfest comes to you from the amazing Ali Cross! It's flash fiction (in this case, less than 250 words) following this prompt: "It's Independence Day and something unexpected happens..."

And now I'm going to write this piece of flash fiction. I have no idea what it will be about. Probably something related to Harry Potter. "Write what you know" and all that...





Wet-Start Fireworks

"George Weasley! What on EARTH were you thinking, leaving a box of fireworks lying around! There are CHILDREN here! I just caught James chewing on a wet-start firework's wrapper and I haven't the faintest idea where the actual thing's got to!"

"Sorry, Mum! I just thought it'd be good to celebrate. It's five years since the Battle at Hogwarts, you know--"

"Of course I ruddy well KNOW, George, I was THERE wasn't I?"

"Molly?"

"I'm just saying, MUM, that I thought it would be a proper way to recognize the day--"

"Molly!"

"And I'm just saying, GEORGE, that if I see one more child with a piece of your merchandise in this house--"

"Molly, I think there's something in this punch--"

KABOOOOM!

"..."

"..."

"GEORGE WEASLEY!"



Okay, so that was more like flash FANfiction, but it works :) Check out other entries to Ali's blogfest here:

POERTY SCHMOETRY Day Three: Countdown

Countdown

How can I be simultaneously excited and
Anxious, counting down the final hours and minutes to the end of the
Realest thing in my lonely life? What am I supposed to do when the curtain has closed and the
Rest of the world has moved on and I am still standing here,
Yearning for the good days when things were new and we had so much
Potential? Who will comfort me on lonely nights
Or bring a smile to my face and a glow to my heart when I need it most?
This is the end of an era.
The end of a massively important part of my life. And yet, here I am,
Excited for the end. Of course I don't want it to be over, but at least now I can start to
Remember.

Poetry Schmoetry Day Two: ANGST

Angst Is My Middle Name


Angst is not something reserved for the young; it is
Not limited to teenage love and passion and heartbreak. In fact, it
Gets worse with age. The young only have their love to regret; the old have all their
Evils hanging over their heads and haunting their still, empty hearts. The angst of the young is bred from
Love passionately experienced and subsequently lost. The angst of the old is bred from the opposite: poisonous hatred emanating from the past.



Quick note: While we're on the subject of blogfests, the lovely Ali Cross is doing a blogfest of her own! It's a flash fiction blogfest (250 words or less) and it is this Friday, so it fits in perfectly with the Poetry Schmoetry blogfest! So if you don't want to stop writing after Thursday is up, check out Ali's blogfest, too :)
http://www.alicross.com/2011/07/independence-day-flash-fiction-blogfest.html

Poetry Schmoetry

The lovely Shelly Brown is doing a POETRY SCHMOETRY blogfest this week! Since I am a highly talented and prolific poet*, I have decided to do one poem EACH DAY. If you are a highly talented and prolific poet like me, you should totally do it, too. Also, there are prizes. So, yeah. Totally worth it.

Today's poem:

Do you ever get the feeling that there is someone
Out there, traveling through time and space, and he happens to
Cross your path from time
To time, never stopping to chat
Or even ask your name, always passing you by,
Running?


*I did a WHOLE portfolio in tenth grade!

Of Doctor Who and Harry Potter

I usually have the BEST of intentions when it comes to things I should do regularly. I MEANT to blog once a week. I MEANT to make periodic videos this year. But, well, I'm easily distracted. Kind of like a vampire. If I see something pretty I turn all my focus on it and lose sight of the other pretty things that had interested me before. Like when I started watching Doctor Who and stopped doing ANYTHING ELSE. Seriously, for a while there it was: wake up, go to work, watch Doctor Who at work, go home, watch Doctor Who at home, get ready for bed, watch Doctor Who for as long as I can keep my eyes open, go to sleep, dream about Doctor Who, repeat. I'm not even exaggerating. But the thing is, it was AWESOME. I am now officially in love with Doctor Who, and it's wonderful!

That's the thing, though. When I start something that's epically awesome*, I completely fall in love with it. Every moment of my day is consumed by it. That's just how I roll. I don't need diversity in the things I watch or read or listen to. In fact, I often prefer to re-read/watch/listen to the same thing many times. I read Prisoner of Azkaban so much that a whole chunk from the middle FELL OUT. Because I know what I like, and why would I want to read/watch/listen to something that I could potentially not like when I KNOW that I could read/watch/listen to something that I love?

And if it's something that I really, really love, it never leaves me. Which is why I cried while watching the Deathly Hallows Pt 2 premier yesterday (at work, no less) and why I'm seeing an early showing at 6 pm and then going straight to the midnight showing next Thursday. And it's also why I'll ALWAYS have my original series of the books (including the one with the chunk that falls out) and why every Christmas I expect to get SOMETHING Harry Potter themed and why I planned the perfect Hogwarts wedding for that day in the (who knows when) future that I marry a guy awesome enough to let me have a Hogwarts wedding.

Harry Potter may be ending this Thursday, but as Jo Rowling said so beautifully, "Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home." (And now I'm crying again.)

Until next time, best wishes!
<3 Allison



*Doctor Who, Buffy, @maureenjohnson, Vlogbrothers, Harry FREAKING Potter...

Books read this year: 20/50
Angel episodes watched: 39/110
Doctor Who episodes watched: 79/79
Current reading: The Great Gatsby

Ninjas and Rule Breaking

So over the past month I've been involved with the awesome NINJA WRITERS over at Ali Cross's blog.  They're pretty much the coolest people ever.  Ali runs a weekly #ninjachat on Thursday afternoons for all the writers to get together and, well, CHAT.  I went to one, had tons of fun, and then found myself volunteering to host the new Tuesday night chats for all of June.  I. LOVED. IT.  The ninjas are writers at all different stages of the profession, which I think is so awesome.  It's great to chat with published writers and agented writers and querying writers and still-starting writers all at the same time.  It's an awesome community full of awesome people and I am happy to count myself a part of it.

One of the coolest things I've ever seen a community do is happening this week.  Ali and several others are rallying around fellow ninja Elana Johnson to celebrate and promote her book POSSESSION which comes out TODAY!  This blog hop is a small part of said rallying, and as a ninja I thought it would be great to get involved.

I'm supposed to write about a time that I broke the rules.  I'd been thinking and thinking about what I could possibly write about (I'm a fairly rule-followy kind of girl), and for a while I was kind of stuck. The best thing I could think of was the time I got detention in middle school for "food fighting".  It's not a very interesting story, though: I threw a wrapped string cheese at the wall above my friend's head.  The end.

Finally I realized that there WAS something I could talk about. One thing that started in high school and continued into college that was definitely rule-breaky and destructive and yet worked out okay: DITCHING.

My senior year of high school was kind of a joke to me.  I had a more-than-full schedule, but I was way more interested in Theatre than any of my core classes.  I took College Prep English instead of AP (shock!) and didn't bother to do my Calculus homework.  I was late to 0-hour Econ so much that I got a Saturday School (which actually turned out to be my most productive day of that school year).  I even ditched Seminary to go to Stagecraft because I was the Stage Manager for the show that semester and I wanted to be involved with the other techies.

Of course, I still graduated with Highest Honors. So, yeah, no big deal.

In the beginning of college I did much better. I went to my classes and enjoyed them. I did my homework. Things were good! Until I studied abroad and got back into my old habits.

In Mexico I was homesick and lonely and (though I didn't realize it at the time) sinking into depression.  Instead of going to class every day I would ditch at least once a week and watch Vlogbrothers videos and read Maureen Johnson's tweets.  It was sad and kind of pathetic, but you know what?  I am SO HAPPY I DITCHED.  Do I still wish I had gone to class and done my homework so I could have gotten better grades?  Sure.  But honestly, I think things turned out swimmingly.  The choices I made back then, while maybe not conventionally the best ones*, actually lead to some good things happening in my life.  I met awesome friends, became active in some really neat online communities, and even started developing new skills like creating and editing videos.  So, yeah, I broke the rules.  And I didn't know what would come of my choices when I made them.  But I did make them, and I've embraced that.  I've come to see that things work out in the end, especially when you own your past actions and follow up with new, better actions**.

Anyway, I know this is kind of long and ramble-y, but there you have it!  Thoughts from Allison.  Hope they made sense :)

And a BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Elana Johnson! Way to go! Can't wait to read POSSESSION :)

Until next time, best wishes!

<3 Allison


*Okay, they were bad choices. Don't ditch, kids! I ended up continuing this habit and failing several classes in later semesters, which lead to me taking an extra year to finish college and repeating one class THREE TIMES. Spare yourself the heartache. Don't ditch. Things worked out, yeah, but that's because I choose to look at my circumstances from a larger perspective (so what if I take an extra year?) and accept the consequences of my actions. It still really sucks, though

**Like actually attending and doing the homework the third time you take a class...


Sewing projects completed: 0
Books read: 2 (both audiobooks, though)
Buffy episodes watched: 122/144
Angel episodes watched: 39/110
Current reading: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (audiobook)



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Check it out! All these lovely people are blogging about breaking the rules to celebrate the release of POSSESSION by Elana Johnson! Help spread the love by checking out their posts, too <3