Camp NaNoWriMo 2012: Week -1

Each of the last two Novembers, I have participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which is a program where the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. Each year, I have succeeded in my goal of 50k words.

Now, this April, I am going to do Camp NaNoWriMo, which is kind of like off season novel writing. Because 50k is a lot of work, and I do not have as much time right now as I did in November, I am taking advantage of the custom word count goals, and setting my goal at 30,000 words. Having done 50k twice now, I know that 30k will be very achievable, but still takes some dedication and hard work.

This last November, my novel did not go very well, and I ended up switching up ideas part way through, which meant that I did not end up with a complete novel. I think part of my problem was that I planned out my plot a little too much. Now, I know planning works well for some people, but for me, when ever I plan too carefully, I get stuck at some point and end up stalled out there.

Because of that, I am going to try going the totally opposite direction this April. I am not going to plan anything at all. I have no idea who my characters are going to be, or what my story will be about. Also, with only 30k words, I can focus a lot more on the story as I write it, since I won't need to worry so much about just getting words written.

Since I only need to write 1000 words a day, it should not be too time consuming, but it will also help keep me in the writing mood. :) They also do Camp NaNoWriMo in July, and I hope to do it then as well, probably with a smaller word count then too. That will help me stop getting too rusty by the time NaNoWriMo comes around again.

Every Tuesday from now until May, I will write a quick post about how the writing is going. I will have all the normal posts as well during that time, though many of them will probably have been written ahead of time and just be published then to give me more writing time.

Is anyone else going Camp NaNoWriMo this April?

Writing in Books

Please remember that anything you read here is just my opinion, and not a fact by any means. This is just the way that I think of books from my own reading experience. Some of my opinions are also influenced by my own, limited, writing experience. Also, if you want more info about any book I mentioned, click on the title to go to it's Amazon page. They are not all linked yet, but I will try to get them all done with in a week or two.  

6/2/2013 Edit: The link in parenthesizes will lead you to the amazon page for the title that the link is. Sometimes I was able to find that book, or sometimes, if it was a series, it will be a box set or the first book. 

In a book review I wrote recently, I talked briefly about the different kinds of writing I notice while I am reading. I thought I would go into a little more detail about that now.

First of all, I am just referring to the style, not the mechanics. I am only talking about the impression I get while reading the book, not their vocabulary and sentence structure. Also, I see this as a scale, not a set of options. Let's start on the "bad" end of the scale, and move towards the "better" books. I put those words in quotations because I am not sure they are the best words to use, but they'll have to do.

Far at one end are things like the (The Baby-Sitters Club #1: Kristy's Great Idea: Classic Edition) Babysitter Club. I mention that series because I really liked it when I was about seven, but more recently, when I picked up one of them, my inner editor nearly had a nervous breakdown. The writing was even worse then the plot, which was pretty terrible.

Then, as you move down the line are things like (the The Twilight Saga Complete Collection) the Twilight series, or Eve and Adam. With both of those books, I enjoyed them well enough while I was reading them, but then afterwards, when I thought about them, I could not think of anything I liked about them. The plot was uninteresting, the characters were mediocre at best, and the writing was nothing to speak of. Not bad, but not good either.

Now we reach the middle. I am never quite sure what to think about those kinds of books. In some ways, they are almost the best kind of books, while in other ways they are just in the middle of the pack. In this section, we many books. Things like Origin, Harry Potter, and Percy Jackson are all in this category. Actually, I think most great kids books fall in this area. These books are the ones where the writing is good, but nothing spectacular, but the plot is good. What makes or breaks a book with this kind of writing is the story. With something like Harry Potter, the words begin to fall away, leaving the story behind. These are often the fastest reads, because the words won't bog you down. You are simply experiencing the story, not the words. Other books in this category don't have as great a story as Harry Potter, and tend to fade into the background, unless they are kids books. Kids love this kind of writing, because it takes no real work on their part.

Now we move into books were the writing is better then the story. It is my personal belief that many "classics" fall into this category. One example of this is Charles Dickens. I have only read a few of his books, but in each of them, the writing struck me more then the story did. This is not to say that the story is bad by any means. I am simply saying that the writing was more impactful the the plot. These books are often the ones that can be the most difficult reading, because it is easy to get stuck on the long words, or the great descriptions, and lost sight of the story, how ever great it might be. I have done this myself several times. I will get too bogged down by the very expressive writing of something like The Red Badge of Courage, and lose interest the story, and then get bored by the whole thing. I think these books are certainly worth reading, but I think that we put a little too much stock in them sometimes.

On the end of the scale are what I would call "great books." In this category are books which have a great story, and amazing writing. I think that these books are often overlooked in favor of the ones  I described above. One book that struck me as "great" when I first read it was East of Eden by John Steinbeck. In this book, the writing as the plot work hand in hand, and are on exactly the same level. Another book I would call "great" is Louis L'Amour's The Lonesome Gods. In both of those books, it is the mixture of the writing and the story that make it great. I think the best books are not always the ones that win the prizes, or are taught in the schools, but they are out there if you look hard enough. They might not always be the easiest reading, but they are always worth it.

So there you have it. My scale on the quality of books. Do you agree with me? Do you think I put those books in the right categories? Where do you think some of your favorite books fall? If you have any more examples of any of these categories, let me know in the comments, and I will happily add them to this post. 

*This post contains affiliate links.

Homeschool Fridays: Stereotypes

Seriously. We aren't. This post will be a list of annoying stereotypes that most homeschoolers hate. Some of these stereotypes are true for many homeschoolers. They just aren't true about me, or my family. Well, I might add a few that do apply, just for fun. :D Can you think of any other stereotypes? Let me know and I'll do another one of these posts.

1. Homeschoolers are all super religious, wear denim jumpers, never cut their hair, or wear make up. We also have huge families.

Um, no. I know homeschoolers like this. I know that their are lots of homeschoolers who are like this. I am not. My friends are not. Actually, no one in our homeschool group is like this. Well, there have been a few people like this who have come to park day a few times, but I think maybe we scared them away. :)

I do know several large families (7-14 kids), but most of our group has 1-4 kids. There's just two of us kids in my house.

2. We are ultra hippie, with kids with crazy names, who don't approve of modern society or learning, and homeschool to get away from all the rules.

This is like the opposite of #1. Also, SO not us. I have known a few homeschoolers who are most certainly like this. We are NOT. As for crazy names, some popular names in our group are Henry (we have two!), Isabelle (2 or 3), and Sarah (at least two). Those all sound like normal names to me. :)

3. We never leave the house, or see other kids. We never watch TV, or listen to popular music, or read popular books.

This may just be the exact opposite of me. :) Some of my favorite TV shows include Lost (I am only in Season 2), Downton Abbey, Eureka, Earth 2, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Roswell. I listen to music constantly. I love popular music, though I generally go for a more indie-rock mix. :) As for books, well, I have had free reign at the library since I was seven. My parents have never censored what I read. I read a lot, and I love it. Of course, if you have read my blog at any length, you already know all of this.

As for never leaving the house, Here is a look at my week: Monday, clean books at library with two friends. Tuesday: Host American History class (includes about 17 kids). Wednesday: Park Day, which probably has close to 40 kids some weeks. Thursday is currently my day off, where we don't go anywhere and I catch up on school work, though soon I'll have a stained glass taught by a friend's mom. Friday, Isabelle has soccer, and I usually go hang out with a friend who also has siblings doing soccer, or I talk with some of the moms, though recently I have been staying home and doing school. Weekends are usually errands and activities all day long, including Irish Dance and Choir with some friends. Don't ever socialize? I don't think so.

That's all for now. I know these aren't many, but if you think of more, let me know, and I'll do another one of these posts. 

Banned Books: Part One

This post is the first in a series that I published on my old blog back in September 2012. Over the next few weeks, I will be reposting them on here. It has been edited for relevancy.

I have always been intrigued by the idea of banned books. Personally, when ever I hear that a book is banned somewhere, that makes it something of interest. I am always curious why people ban books, and it also makes me sad. Books are meant to be read, not hidden away from interested people. Many of my favorite books are "banned books," and so I wanted to share some of them with you.

Here are the top 15 most commonly challenged books from 2000-2009, according to the ALA. The bold ones I have read. My comments below the title. The links lead to their Amazon.com pages. In the case of a series, it either goes to a box set, or the first book in the series.

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling

This series is wonderful. While the writing may not be the best ever, the story is really amazing. One of my favorites ever.


2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
I began reading this series at the age of eight. Last week I read the newest book. This series is most certainly in my top three.

3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier

 4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
 I have not read this book, but it's amazon.com page looks absolutely adorable. 

 5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
I read this book this summer, and really liked it. It is sad, but it feels very, very real. This book really made me stop and think, "What would I have done in that situation? Could I have done what I had to?"

 6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou

 7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz

 8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
This series is really a bit weird. I really don't want to know what's going on in Phillip Pullman's head. At the same time, I really did enjoy it.

 9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
I read the first book in this series a LONG time ago. I did not really enjoy it that much, though now I can not remember anything about it.

 10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
I have not read this book yet, though I mean to soon.

 11. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
 Again, I have not read this book, but it looks really good, and I hope to read it soon.

12. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
My mom got this from the library when I was about ten. It is... through.  You can probably guess what it's about. :)

13. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey

14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
A really fun book. Great for the 10-13 age range. I am pretty sure it is banned because of the language, but I honestly did not think it was that bad.

15. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison


 So far, I have read 7/15. Not bad. :) How many have you read?

Do you have any additional thoughts about these books? If so, post them in the comments, and I will add them to this post. I would love to have some thoughts about each book by someone who has read it, if possible.

Origin - Jessica Khoury

This book review is of Origin, a teen sci-fi novel. For the most part, this is a positive review, although I do have a few things to point out that I was not a fan of. I am not planning on going over the plot here, but if you are interested in learning more, click on the title to go to the book's Amazon page.

I liked the plot for the most part, though the ending was a bit confusing in spots. Some plot points could have used a little more explanation, and I was a bit confused in a few spots. Also, a word on timing. About half way through the book, I had gotten the impression that maybe a month had passed since the beginning of the book, but then there was a comment about it only being a little over a week. Now, was I simply wrong about what point in time she was referring had only been a week ago? If not, this plot gets a lot weaker...

The characters were quite good in my opinion for the most part. In fact, I was rather surprised by how many great, unique characters there were. There were a few times near the end where a character did something that seemed out of character, but for the most part they were the best part of this book, with one exception. The love interest had pretty much no personality. He was flat and uninteresting. I did not like him at all, and it was impossible to see what the main character saw in him.

The writing, while nothing special, was engaging. It was a quick read, and the writing pushed it along nicely. It is the kind of writing that I just really did not notice. The words were hardly there, leaving the story in my hands. This is in contrast to someone like John Steinbeck or Terry Pratchett. I know, very different writers, but with both of them the writing is almost as much of a reason to read them as the story. They both have fantastic writing that is incredibly hard to explain if you have never read them. Far on the other hand is something like the Babysitter's Club, where the writing is even worse then the story. In fact, the writing is so terrible that every time I have tried to read one of them, the inner editor in me just about had a panic attack.

Anyway, the writing of this book was the kind that faded away and let the story take over. I find that books like this are often very enjoyable in the short term, but don't always have the staying power that great writers have. One exception to this is Harry Potter. I think they have that kind of writing, but they have such a fantastic story that it does stick around.

To sum it all up: It is a good book, and I recommend it to anyone who finds the plot summary interesting. You will probably like it.

Have you read this book? If so, please let me know what you thought in the comments, and I'll add your opinion to this post.

The Odyssey - Homer

You probably remember that about a month ago, I posted my thoughts after reading the Iliad. Now, after reading the Odyssey, here are some more thoughts are opinions.

Again, the point of this post is not to help you decide whether or not to read the Odyssey. With a classic like that, you can come to that decision on your own. This post is simply a collection of my thoughts on the book, immediately after reading it.

I enjoyed the Odyssey far, far more then the Iliad. For one thing, it's a lot shorter. For another, the Iliad is a lot of detailed killing, while the Odyssey is more of his deception of his family, and the telling of his stories.

I must admit, preconceived expectations really do shape how we perceive books, and this one was the same. I expected it to just be his stories, the ones we all know, starting when he left Troy, and ending when he killed all the suitors in Ithaca, and to some extent, that was the case. However, what we think of as the Odyssey: the Cyclopes, the Sirens, Circes, ect, only took up about three of the twenty four chapters of the book. Most of it was Telemachus trying to find information about his father, or Odysseus telling his stories to foreign rulers in the last few months before he arrives home, and hiding out in his court, pretending to be a beggar.

In fact, I enjoyed the book more because of this novelty. I thought I knew exactly what I was getting into, but I was wrong. It was the same story, told in a new way. Actually, told in a very old way. :)

That's it. My thoughts on Homer are now collected. 

Homeschool Fridays: Soccer

This one's another repeat. 

Our homeschool group has done soccer for four or five years now. We meet at the local sports center, where we have some practice time with a coach, and then play a game.

Homeschool soccer started out with just a few families, but now has dozens. We now have three age groups (4-8, 8-11, 12+), each of which has 45 minutes with the coach (30 for the little kids), and a 45 minute game (again, shorter for the youngest ones). For the game, many of the parents play, especially with the teens, and sometimes older siblings who were not interested in getting too serious will play with the middle group.

Homeschool soccer is a great opportunity for us to get out and get some exercise, and see each other.

I didn't get too much into the specifics here, but if you are interested in more information about how we set it up, leave me a comment, and I will write more in depth about it. My goal here was just to give a quick overview of how we have organized sports like this with in the homeschool group.

This is a REALLY short post. Sorry about that. If you have a topic you would like me to write about, let me know, and I will add it to my list, unless it is something answered very easily, in which case I will just add it to a Q&A post. Those are always fun. :) I am trying to come up with more ideas for Homeschool Friday posts, so please let me know what you are curious about!