This was something I posted on Facebook back in January. I had forgotten about it until today and found it amusing.

Whatever happened to being honest? Is it a lost art? No matter how crude a person can, may, or will be… at least they are being honest. I may not agree with their morals and values (if they should even have any) or the words that are being uttered out of their mouths, but I can give them a pat on the back for staying true to themselves. That’s an art form that you rarely, if ever, witness these days. Why? People are so apt to trying to IMPRESS the person next to them, and honestly, trying to impress themselves.

They think if they put on a pair of True Religion jeans, no matter if they had to do gymnastics to get their ass to fit into them, then they will be the next Eva Longoria. ::NEWS FLASH:: The paparazzi could give a damn if your no-name ass wastes your part-time (or your parents) cash on jeans that you know you can’t fill your closet with. That is unless you want to end up on MTV True Life I’m a Shopping Addict Part 2, so that Rent-A-Center can come and jack your bed furniture (if you don’t know what I’m talking about watch it online). Please just be real with yourself and other people. If you have a fake Gucci bag, stop fronting and claiming it’s real when you, me, and someone standing 20 feet away can tell. Now, that’s not to say you can’t have nice things. If you can afford it and not end up in the poor house, do you. But if you can’t pay your bills and constantly change your cell phone number because collectors keep calling, honey- you may have a problem. Another thing- if you don’t have a credit card, don’t comment on those that do. Chances are you don’t know how they work. People that have them are BUILDING CREDIT, and sweetheart you have NONE! Although none compared to how bad some people ruin their credit might be a good thing lol

Now that I was talking about collectors calling cell phones has me thinking about the iPhone…. I’ll admit it is fly, so I can see why people would want one. But before you get one ask yourself these important questions: Do I have a phone now? If you answered no, ask yourself this…. Is the reason I don’t have a phone because I don’t have a job? If you answered yes, you DON’T need a phone, let alone a iPhone. Chances are you probably can’t afford to buy one anyway, and it’s an even higher chance once you get it, it’ll get turned off the first month because you “forgot” to pay the bill. So much for looking fly. Another thing that irks the hell outta me is when claim they are so rich knowing good and well they never worked a day in their life. I know plenty of people that are quick to drop money on clothes, shoes, and jewels. It probably is easy for them because it’s not their money. The thing that always has bugged me is when I have gone shopping. “Dang Sarah, you can just go shopping like that?” ::Bags in hand:: Yes I can. I’ll admit, I might be slightly addicted. But I know where my money comes from, my boss. And no he is not my daddy in any way, shape or form. It gets direct deposited every two weeks. And having credit cards is okay, just make sure you pay them off. Too many knuckleheads thinking they can get by on paying the minimum balance every month. Ha. Right. So before you think you are gonna walk into the club like a bossy bitch…think about this- who bought what you wore? If you didn’t….answer this, that’s not very bossy, now is it?

I never understood the purpose of why people feel the need to brag about money or brag about looks. My feeling is, if you actually have either, they speak for themselves. For instance… went on a date with a guy I used to talk to. He wouldn’t tell me what kind of car he drove because it was a “surprise.” All his friends said he had done really well for himself blah blah blah. Turns out he had a Beamer. Ooooooh Ahhhhhhhh. (ha no) That doesn’t impress me ESPECIALLY when it has about 40,000 miles MORE than MINE does (and mine has almost 90,000). And has a huge dent and scratch on the side. Sorry buddy but I’ll take my sorry ass Malibu over your Beamer any day! Maybe I am just a hater…. but if you are gonna have something don’t worry about the label, just make sure it’s nice. If you actually are doing well for yourself, that’ll show. Don’t try to put on a show.

As far as looks, I CANNOT stand it when a guy (or female for that matter) goes ON and ON about how good they look. I wanna take a revolver to my head. Seriously, not cute. It makes you look conceited. If you’re hot, you’re hot. I’m sure someone else will think so and tell you. So I don’t think you need to remind yourself and me every 5 minutes. Thanks! Some people go to the EXTREME to prove to themselves that they’re sexy. It’s one thing to have “photo shoots” for facebook every now and post “REAL PHOTO SHOOTS” where it looks like I could have taken the picture? Ha. So not sexy. Leave it to the professionals sweetie

Home Again…

I fidget. Meaning… unless something has my full attention I become quite bored and can’t sit still. This has posed a problem for me as of late. I have TOO much time on my hands. Considering I had to take some time away from school, I debated what my next option was.

Although I am unsure if I want to go to law school, I decided that I should try my luck with the LSAT. It’s been something I have thought about and attempted to study for before, however, I have put it off for one reason or another. This time I have no excuse. I have the extra time. My test date is December 5th. That gives me plenty of time to study, and to still enjoy the summer months as well. It would bother me to no end if I was unproductive this entire time.

5 months back at home and counting…. sigh. I’ll never take my independence for granted again lol. As much as people complain about being an adult, responsibilities, and bills (trust I still have plenty of those)… I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Sure being a kid and being innocent is great, but I’d rather work hard and then enjoy the fruits of my labor. Maybe that’s just me?

“Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours”

Who ever said life was easy? No one. Some have the idea that everything should be handed to them on a silver platter. The rest of us, the vast majority that is, work hard to obtain stability. For me, life has been far from a cake walk. Most recently, it has been a dramatic whirlwind of events…all of which has led me back home- with no job, no classes, and unable to drive.

How? I became ill February 1st to be exact. My doctor wouldn’t allow me to work or to stay in my apartment by myself. I hoped things would get better, only believing it was a temporary situation (one to two weeks max). Well…. then came the seizure. There went my driver’s license for six months (I am allowed to drive again in August). But have I complained? Not in the least.

Yes I’ve had my moments where I wanted to feel sorry for myself. I worked and went to school (both) full time. Take that away from an independent woman and that is like taking away alcohol from an alcoholic. Not the prettiest sight. But being sick it didn’t bother me at first. It isn’t until now, four months later that I am starting to feel it.

I have so much extra time on my hands I don’t know what to do with it. Perhaps I should have put it into my writing, but I didn’t start to feel better until last month. Sure there were times where I could go out with friends and be “normal” for a night, but that was followed by 4 days of laying in bed in excruciating pain…unable to eat, focus, see, and sometimes unable to move or speak. The cause? Hemiplegic migraines. They mimic strokes which makes them more serious than your average migraine due to the paralysis accompanied with them.

It’s been a rough road…but what kept me going was thinking positive about my situation. I’ve heard people constantly complain about having a simple headache or common cold… or just petty things. Having car problems (try not being able to drive!)… this or that. And I would think to myself, I could really feel sorry for myself, I could be depressed, but how is that going to help? Is that going to fix my situation? Is that going to make me better? Honestly I would have probably gotten sicker. I think the more I kept in contact with people (the real friends considering many “fell off”), the more I tried to keep myself happy…the better I have felt.

So instead of whining… breathe!

New Direction

First order of business…

Today is the day my blog is taking a new direction. I realize that creating one to solely document my progress as a writer is not doing myself (or my writing) justice. Most of it has been talking about how I PLAN to write, instead of actually doing it. How useful is that? In my opinion, it’s not.

“Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you’re doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing.” ~ E.L. Doctorow

I fell in love with that quote after reading it here. That’s what I have been doing this entire time. So, no more of that. The planning has been squashed. Time to simply write…. whatever it may be, and wherever it may lead.

Here goes…

Last night I had a long conversation with one of my friends. It’s one of those friendships where we don’t keep in touch as much as we should, but we always pick up where we left off. During our talk, Facebook became a topic. Sigh… I know everyone has SOMETHING to say about it. We were discussing peoples’ statuses (in general). Honestly, I believe you can learn a lot (perhaps in some cases not) about a person by what they say in their status update.

Lately I have come to the realization that people COMPLAIN far too much. Now, I definitely cannot say that I haven’t been guilty of such. We all do it at some point, but some people only have negative things to say. It’s as if everyone is their enemy and out to get them. I may be a bit dramatic in some of my examples to come, but if you honestly take time to think about it…it’s true.

• I’m tired of reading “I’m so sick…” What about the people that truly are ill and the people that are dying? Think they are complaining about a common cold?
• I’m tired of reading “I’m hungry, what should I eat?” What about the starving kids that are wondering WHEN or IF their next meal is coming.
• I can’t stand how people list every television show they watch. It makes me wonder if they ever pick up a newspaper or a book. At least watch some CNN or something!
• It’s frustrating to see how some people claim Kim Kardashian, Lil Wayne, Britney Spears, Mike Vick, etc to be their heroes. Seriously? Learn about Eleanor Roosevelt or Clara Barton…read The Autobiography of Malcolm X or something about Marcus Garvey. Watch Oprah. Look at strong political leaders…Obama, Hilary. Then please get back to me on this.
• People put their exact location, then complain that some creep “ran into them.” He probably saw where you were from your Facebook status dummy!
• It’s funny to see a female that states she is broke one day, then says she is going shopping the next. Hypocritical much?

I could go on, but I won’t. It’s far too long of a list…..but perhaps I shouldn’t care. It is their life and not my own, so really what can I do? Hopefully people realize to change their ways.

I’ll leave you with a status one of my friends posted yesterday. Food for thought.  “FB is turning everyone into high school students again people need to be mature and stop being petty myself included!”

Aspiring Author

Aren’t writers supposed to write?

I ask myself this because I say that I aspire to be one, yet I haven’t been writing. Not only have I not been writing on this blog, I have stopped writing altogether. My friend thought I should do a “Show You Still Care” post. The idea actually helped me remember I made this blog. Sadly, even after he told me, it has still taken me WEEKS to do it.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love to write. Lately life has just come along and zapped my inspiration. It’s like a mom that tells her child “No you can’t have cookies for supper.” Life has been telling me “No you can’t make writing your career.” I believe it’s because I have never felt so passionately about something in my life and I am made to feel guilty in some way. Sure, tons of people are authors… but I grew up believing that was not an option. I had fantasies as a child of being a ballerina or a painter. Yes, I’ve always loved the arts. Yet, it was embedded into my brain that I’d grow up to be a doctor or a lawyer. Not just that I would, but that I HAD to. It’s as if I have been aspiring to someone elses’ dream and not fulfilling my own.

Now that I think about aspiring, I realize I titled this blog incorrectly. When I do write, that automatically makes me a writer. Simply because my pieces are not yet published doesn’t mean I have not attained that status. Therefore, I am truthfully an aspiring author. I’ll just need to keep up with actually putting words onto paper if I want to achieve that goal. That means I need to make more of an effort to post on here as well.

Nurturing Craft

New year, new post.

What is anyone’s reason for doing anything? I suppose there are hundreds, thousands, perhaps millions of reasons that people choose to do something. Perhaps pure boredom. Maybe they are told to, forced to, or challenged into a task. I could go on with an endless array of possibilities.

But why did I choose to write? For the sheer and utter joy I receive from it. As soon as the words leave my fingertips, I can feel a smile start to take hold upon my lips. It’s a sensation I can’t nearly explain accurately in words. Ironic as that is considering how much I love to express myself through writing, but words themselves can’t explain what a writer feels. It’s pure pleasure though. I imagine it’s the same for a dancer. I myself spent many years in dance and I experienced the same sensation. A person can so accurately and vividly portray their emotions and paint “pictures” through their craft. Writers do it through words, and dancers through movements.

Writing has been such an easy outlet for me because I don’t have to be shy. If I don’t want to share what I have to say, I can keep it to myself. Growing up, I tended to be on the quiet side and kept a lot of things to myself. Through writing, I have learned to let a lot of that inward emotion out. It’s still a struggle in allowing others to read my personal stories, but over the years I have learned that I should not be ashamed of what I have overcome. Rather, I should take pride in what it has made me.

Writing is a passion. A pleasure. A craft that I nurture. I still have a lot to learn. Currently I have taken a break from this whole book venture. I guess my mind got sidetracked over the holidays. My thought was that I would have more time to spend on writing. In turn, I actually had less time with family in for the holidays. But the time with family helped me realize a lot of things I wish to add to the book, perhaps points I never thought to mention before. Though I have often felt alone and that I have been very independent in my life, I have failed to remember the many times that my family has been there for me. Now I can’t say that all parties have been caring members, but there are those that have stepped up to the plate. For them, I am truly grateful because I have realized that through it all I have not been entirely alone.

I’ll get back into the book writing soon, I have ideas that should be written down soon. I’m sure I’ll share a few in the near future. I’ll keep you posted!

Painting a Picture

Today I helped a friend edit a paper for one of his classes and it struck me what I seek to accomplish with my writing. His paper was a review of a concert he had attended. The goal of it was to make the reader feel like they had also been there.

For me, I want to do the same in some respects. I want to tell a story and paint the picture for those that read my work. They would be able to visual and experience the same things the characters in my novel do. Whether the story brings the reader to tears or to laughter, I want to evoke emotion through my words. Being able to pull the reader in is what will keep them interested. That’s how writers create a loyal fan base. How can I be a successful writer if people don’t find what I write interesting?

What I am currently working on is part fiction but mostly based on real life experience. I can only write honestly about what I have seen and experienced. So I am staying true to what I know, which will allow me to paint a very vivid picture.

Over the next month I will spend more time on my book, as I am still in the brainstorming phase. It has lasted longer than I thought, but I refuse to rush through it. I want to take my time.

Shame on me…

Ok, so I’ll admit I didn’t do my homework like I was supposed to. Shame on me.

Lucky it’s not for a class. But I am disappointed in myself for not doing it when I had the extra time.

Writing is easy, when I actually sit down and do it. The problem is that I have a hard time focusing my energy. I need to figure out how to do that. I have a million ideas about this book in my head. Sometimes I write them down, more often than not, I don’t. I am probably losing out on a lot of great ideas. I think I am going to start keeping a notepad with me in my purse. It’s easy to write something down if I am at work or at class, but it’s hard when you are trying to live your every day life. I mean…what happens if I were to go out on a date for instance and I have this brilliant idea. Am I supposed to just whip out my notepad in the middle of dinner and start to write? I am sure my date would start staring at me strangely. lol….

Perhaps the first part of writing a book is really about brainstorming my ideas. I haven’t done that. That’s part of what the homework told me I should do. It’s a process. I don’t think I can honestly come up with a great novel by just writing. Sure, I’ve written some pages that I am sure could be added into my story, but none of the pieces are really fitting together smoothly. Why? Because I haven’t brainstormed the entire piece.

That is what I shall do. To be continued….

Beginning the Journey

No one said writing a book was easy, but they did say any one could do it!

I’ll admit I haven’t devoted too much time to this new “journey” in my life. With the end of fall semester fast approaching, I haven’t had much extra time. Perhaps if you love something enough, you will find the time no matter what. But I am selfish and I do put sleep a little higher on my priority list. I can’t make it through work and class without it.

This weekend, however, with no work and no classes I have set time aside to do what I love- write! I finally set up my writer’s profile on Suite101 (where I am a contributing writer) It is short, but I’d rather have something simple. I am still deciding what articles I want to write for the website though.

I have been researching a little bit on this whole “How to Write a Book” Idea…I found this website which was simple, but I liked it.
It made the whole process seem a little less overwhelming, and for novel writers it listed out these points that writers should do:

1. Take an hour and write a one-sentence summary of your story.
2. Take another hour and expand that sentence to a full paragraph describing the story setup, major disasters, and ending of the book.
3. Write a short summary sheet for each character.
4. Take several hours and expand each sentence of your summary paragraph into a full paragraph. All but the last paragraph should end in a disaster. The final paragraph should tell how the book ends.
5. Take a day or two and write up a one-page description of each major character and a half-page description of the other important characters.
6. Now take a week and expand the one-page plot synopsis of the story to a four-page synopsis.
7. Take another week and expand your character descriptions into full-fledged character charts detailing everything there is to know about each character.
8. Prep for writing the first draft: make a list of all the scenes that you’ll need to turn the story into a novel using a spreadsheet.
9. (Optional.)Switch back to your word processor and begin writing a narrative description of the story.
10. At this point, just sit down and start pounding out the real first draft of the story.

So I think that will be part of my “homework” this weekend. I will update on my progress tomorrow.

Woman on a Mission…

First of all welcome to my new blog!

If this is your first time visiting and you are not aquainted with me- thank you for stopping by. You can read my about me page to get a brief idea of who I am and why I made this blog. But basically the name says it all. I am an aspiring writer. I hope to one day publish a book, or several if I were to be so lucky.

So I far I feel as if I am on the right track. I have lined up a couple online writing jobs. Although with my busy schedule I haven’t officially started them yet. I already have a full time job at a law office plus I am a full time college student. ::sigh:: Keeps me away from doing what I am truly passionate about-writing!!! But that will soon change once I can pay off some bills and manage my time better. I am working on it.

My friends say I take on too much, but I say I am a woman on a mission. I am on a mission to write a book. A book that will explain a lot about myself and my life. In a way I am apprehensive to unveil such personal information but at the same time I know it will give me a sense of freedom and relief. I know I have a lot to share with the world.  After reading a book my ISS professor wrote I know ANYONE can write a book and get published…you would have to read it to understand.

I will track my progress along the way, so there is definetly more to come.