A brief look at 2016

Hey Ya'll,

Am I the only one who cannot believe that 2016 is almost over? I really cannot, this year has been huge for me from a writing aspect AND an allergy aspect. Go me! :p (sorry guys, I'm a little full of myself at times ;) )

So, being the somewhat prideful perfectionist I am, I've decided to make a list of my accomplishments this year!! (within reason of course...)

From a writing aspect this year I have:

•  written a novella numbering 23,000 words
• finished my first novel at 57,000 words 
• Started editing my first novel
• Did NaNoWriMo for the first time, writing 30,000 words
• Won my local writing contest for the third year running in my age group. (Well I was the only one who entered in my age group this year... but that's beside the point...) 
• And, written a short story for a nation wide contest 

From an allergy aspect this year I have: 

• Found a church that will accommodate my allergies that I thank God for every day (or try to) 
• Become more independent in keeping myself safe as opposed to relying on my mom. 
• Started to become an advocate for food allergies. They ARE a big deal you know... ;p 

So.... nine bullet points wasn't as nearly impressive as I was going for, but that's alright, it's good for me to learn early my life isn't nearly as exciting as soon as I write it down. :p 

All in all 2016 has been very eventful year for me and my family, I'm very thankful for all the things I have been given this year. 

What about you? 

-Libby 

"And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing out eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith." Hebrews 12:1-2

ROUGH Drafts

Dear Writer,

When I looked at the rough draft for my first and only novel I thought to myself, wow. This stinks. I've grown up with these fantastic books that were on the eighth, ninth or tenth draft when I read them. I'd never seen a rough draft of anyone else's book, so I compared mine to theirs. Mine lost.

Do you ever feel like your writing is too sloppy? That your rough draft is too... well.... rough? I have.
The books that we've grown up with, that inspired us to write in the first place, are not comparable to ours. Theirs are finished, ours are not.

Writer, rough drafts are supposed to be full of grammatical errors, missing punctuation, and remnants that you wrote that scene with WAAAAAY too much caffeine in your system. Rough drafts are your story in it's purest form, as messy as it may seem. You know why? Because this is our story just as it came out of us, just as we breathed it into this world.

It's kind of like when a mother gives birth to her child. She's kind of messy and not the prettiest to look at as soon as she arrives, but no one in the room is saying, "Eww! Look at how messy that baby is". They're all saying, "That baby is beautiful, her Mama must be so proud." They all know that babies have to be cleaned up before they're introduced to the world.

Sounds kind of like your first draft, huh Writer? Messy, not the prettiest to look at, but it's yours. You put your blood, sweat, and tears into that draft, so don't give up on it now. Rough drafts are supposed to be rough,Writer, nothing within this world is perfect by default. It takes a lot of hard work to get it that way.

You've done the hard part, you've told yourself a good story. Now, it's time to do the hard part, making it ready for the world to see. This draft is your baby,Writer, it may be messy, it may be flawed. It may have no punctuation other than a couple of stray commas and quotation marks, but that's okay, it's your mess, and you can't abandon it now.

Writer, I know that rough draft looks so rough... it looks sooo rough Writer, but like with everything, with a little elbow grease, it'll get better. This is your story, and it's waiting for you to share it with the world.

-Libby

"All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." Proverbs 14:23

I Guest Posted!

Hey Y'all,

I did something I've never done before today, I wrote a guest post for another blog! Cool right?
Anyway, it's been posted on Reveries by the awesome Kellyn Roth. You can find it here.

Merry Christmas Guys,

-Libby

Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Short Stories

Short stories.

Most of us writers have written at least one in our life time, even if it was a simple five word story when we were toddlers. No one goes straight into writing a novel, no one has that much experience, so why when everyone sees the words short story to they cringe? 

We've forgotten how to write short. 

In this world of word counts and fancy plots and descriptions there's no time to write a simple story anymore. Instead we focus on the idea that has enough meat to constitute a novel, tossing short aside once we get a grip on our craft.

Fellow writers, there is a need for a short story out there!

But, like all good novelists we've forgotten how. Minor problem...

Recently, I had to write a story with a word limit of 4,000 words. *shudders*  and here's how I, a girl who hasn't written anything that short since around 2009, did it.

I Kept it Simple
Do you know how difficult this is? This means one plot line, no subplots, at all. That means unless your story is a flat out romance Romeo and Juliet shouldn't be ending up together guys. Don't try to put too much in, that either a) makes it too long, or b) makes it confusing. Both are bad.

I Kept it (somewhat) Realistic 
This tip is more subjective, but I've been reading entirely too many short stories lately, and most if not all have been realistic fiction, no fantasy here. The reason being that it's too hard to explain a reader to your world, explain how things work AND try to tell a story in 4,000 words or less. Now, that's not to say that you cannot tell a fabulous fantasy story in 4,000 words, but for most of us out there that's wayyyyyy too difficult.

I Kept it Concise
In stories without word counts we can afford to set up a scene with a two hundred word intro, in a short story this is not an option, we need those words for writing! This requires us to get more creative with our intros, but in the long run what would your reader rather hear about? The scenery or the scene?

Well that's what I've come up with, anyone have anything to add?

-Libby

"This is what the Lord Almighty said 'administer true justice, show mercy and compassion to one another." Zachariah 7:9

Editing

Editing, one word that holds so much meaning to writers. I know, I know, it's tedious, its boring, and frankly you don't want to do it, but it has to be done.

Today we're going to get down to the nitty-gritty of editing. Or my version of editing which isn't very nitty-gritty at all :p
Now, call my crazy, but for the most part I actually enjoy editing *gasp* Yes, I do enjoy the tedious work of going through my stories and combing them for mistakes. Why? Because I can see how far I've gotten. When I'm editing and changing certain scenes I can automatically tell my mood from that day, was I writing because I wanted to or because I needed to? Did I actually enjoy this scene or was I just trying to get to the next one? I can tell all those things just by my writing style. How? Because I edit all the time.

I see things all the time telling writers not to edit until their stories are completely done. I hate it when they say that! I feel obligated to edit as I'm writing, because sometimes the story isn't going to get any further until you go back and re-read what you've already written to remember why you're writing this thing in the first place. Sometimes you need to add that 1,000 word scene that makes or breaks the story.

I was watching a documentary on the Disney Pixar movie Frozen a while ago and was startled to hear that the song 'Do you want to build a snowman?' was almost cut from the movie! What?! But they kept coming back to it because the story didn't work without it. That 2.5 minutes of song made or broke the whole movie according to this documentary. That simple sentence hinged on the existence of one of the biggest movies Disney had ever made. And they didn't know they needed it until they looked back at what they had! Sometimes writing is like that, you need to look at what you've done in order to get any farther.

Editing may be a pain but it's totally necessary in good writing so I'm going to give you some tips that might make it a little easier to drop the black pen and pick up the red one.

1. Edit when you can't think of anything to write.
When I was writing a story last Christmas I knew I could finish it, I knew that it was going to come together but it just wasn't working for me that day. But instead of ignoring it and saying 'oh woe is me' I sat down and edited what I had to make the beginning of my story stronger. Eventually after enough editing that light bulb popped on in my head again and I was able to finish.

2. Edit as you go. 
Like I said earlier: I hate it when people say you need to wait until the story is done to edit it. I agree punctuation and spelling can wait until you write 'the end' but the actual meat of the story needs to be molded and crafted as much as possible in order for it to reach its full potential. Even if you look at a hunk of the scene you just wrote you're probably going to be able to find something that needs fixing, or is that just me?

3. Think of yourself as a reader not a writer when you're editing. 
We writers pride ourselves on our intellectual standards. But readers, especially child readers, aren't going to want to read a story full of words that sound like the alphabet threw up! Make sure your words are correctly gauged toward your audience. Read your story through other eyes, what do you want to know? Is something hard to understand? Does something else need to be added to make the you know what's going on? Remember your reader unfortunately didn't make this world they don't know whats going to happen. That's your job.

4. Don't beat yourself up. 
I do this all. The. Time. When I edit I'm picking out my mistakes, which results in me thinking Oh my gosh, no wonder I'm not published yet. This is horrible. Which results in me not wanting to write because its "just going to be a mess I'll have to fix anyway." Then REALLY wanting to write, then having to edit said writing and the cycle continues. We writers have to find that balance of yes this needs fixed, and you are not a horrible writer because that needs fixed. We're going to have so many critics in life. We don't need to be one of them.

I saw a quote on Pinterest I love "Write without fear, edit without mercy." I don't remember who said it, but I saw this almost a year ago and it resonates with me so deeply. Am I really editing without mercy? Am I really doing the best I can to make the story the best I can be? Probably not, while I love editing, I really do stink at it. My essays I have to write for school have proven that. But I'm trying to do better, and that's really the best I can do.

Do any of you guys have any editing tips or tricks? I'd love to hear them!

-Libby

"This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another." Zachariah 7:9 

Write what you know?

Hey Y'all,

As I've just finished the NaNoWriMo chaos (which resulted in me writing 30,000 words) I've been thinking about some writing advice"Write what you know."

I think this is misleading.

As writers we're supposed to uncover that which is unknown, shed light on that which is unseen. If we're only writing what we know fantasy, wizards, and dragons wouldn't exist! Think about it, if J.K Rowling only wrote what she knew Harry Potter would've never come to fruition. Neither would the Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Maze Runner, Hunger Games... I could go on and on.

That being said, there needs to be a sense of familiarity in your stories. I'm not reading a book with a thirty year old man as the MC because that is foreign to me. I want to read about someone either
a.) of a different age
b.) a girl
or c.) someone who I can relate to.
If this said thirty year old man turned out to be a life long allergy kid and this is about his journey through med school to find a cure I'd be waaaaaaaaay more likely to read about him.

Why? Because it's familiar, I feel safe with this topic, I know where I stand.

Now, from a writing standpoint why do we write what we know? Because it's easier! Duh! Because we can write a better story with things we've experienced, but is it good to only write what we know? I think not.

I personally switch around from historical to contemporary fiction in order to trying and write something new and exciting. Like for instance my NaNo novel was my first ever mystery. I stank at it, but I did it in order to expand my writing knowledge. We writers have to do that some times.

Writing what we know can limit us, but writing what we don't know can result in a pretty weird or untrue book so we need a mix of the two.

What do y'all think?

-Libby

"Perhaps this is the moment for which you have been created." Esther 4:14 (paraphrased, not by me.)

Being 'Difficult'

Hey Y'all,

I've had a revelation this week I thought I'd share.

I'm currently in the process of registering for a large multi-day event that serves food, and throughout that process I've had to email the director about making it free of nuts and asking for her to send out emails to the scores of people attending about my allergy.
At the end of my latest email I had the urge to tack on "Sorry to be difficult", but thought against it. Why?

Because I'm not being difficult when I'm trying to keep myself safe. 

Yes, I require more in the planning phases of an event than others, but I'm not doing it to be difficult or a pain or needy. I'm doing it so I can have the same experiences as my non allergy friends.
So why do I feel the need to apologize for asking these things? Is this what sub-consciously I have been taught? That my allergy needs warrant the need to apologize for being an inconvenience?

That saddens me.

So how do I write an email that outlines what I need done without feeling the need to apologize fifteen times for being over dramatic and whiny?

Here's what I've come up with.

1. Explain the situation 
In my experience as soon as I explain the situation as the forefront of the email it lessens the need for me to apologize because I'm restating to myself this is why I'm doing this. This is why this needs put in place.

2. Be polite 
While this seems like a given, at least for me it really isn't. My first instinct is to outline my needs in a list form with a simple thank you and smiley face tacked on at the end. Uh no. This is what I'm trying to avoid, when I'm talking about allergy accommodations I simply thank them at the beginning for offering whatever it is they're offering, then say what I need done, and reiterate why, then thank them again. This way I come across as asking instead of telling.

3. Don't be afraid to say what you need
Early in my allergy journey I thought of myself as a nuisance to everyone, that asking the bare minimum was too much to ask.
This isn't true. If you are capable and invited to go there is no reason you shouldn't be given the opportunity. State what you need done upfront so there aren't any last minute complications later.

4. Don't go overboard
 I confess, I am a worrywart. Everything that can go wrong has already run through my head five times with varying horrible outcomes, so when I'm asking for accommodations it's also my instinct to explain every little thing that could be done, including x-raying all participants for signs of nut protein.
I don't need that. 
Would it be nice to know no one has eaten nuts in twenty four hours? Yes. Is it necessary for my well being? No. Only ask for what you need, no more. Now this may seem to contradict number 3, but they really go hand in hand. Don't be afraid to ask for all the things you need, maybe that's only a simple reminder email, maybe it's a lot more. But at the same time if you really do only need that email done, don't ask for more.


This list isn't the end all be all, and maybe I've messed something up, but this is what I'm trying to follow to attempt to get my point across without appearing needy. Anyone else have any tips?

-Libby

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity." Proverbs 17:17

Finish that Book

Hey Ya'll,

So this isn't as much of a post as a plea for help, I'm ten thousand words behind on my NaNo book!! Aaaaa! Anyone have any tips to actually, you know, finish it?

-Libby

"Give thanks in all circumstances..." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

NaNo Update

Hey Ya'll,

So I have no idea if anyone out in cyberspace is actually reading this, but I'm going to pretend you are.

Are any of ya'll doing NaNo? Is it working for you? Are you at word count? I know I'm not, I was busy this week and time got away from me. With my word count goal I should be at 20,000 words today. Anyone want to take a guess on what it actually is?

9,000

Not too impressive, I'll get there though, so will you. Stick with it writer, you're the only one who can write your story quite like you.


-Libby

"Rejoice, I say it again rejoice!" Philippians 4:4

Annoying Allergies

Hey guys,


Allergy post today.

So did ya'll know that the volunteers at the polls for the election can eat whatever whenever? Yeah, me neither, until yesterday.

How's a girl with airborne nut allergies supposed to vote when there are nuts all over the voting facility? I know you can do an absentee ballot, but where's my 'I voted' sticker?

Not fair.


Any of you guys run into allergy problems like that? Or am I the only one?

-Libby

"Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God." Romans 13:1

How to Survive NaNoWriMo

Hey ya'll!

As I'm writing this, I am totally procrastinating writing for NaNo, and even though I talked about it a little on Wednesday I wanted to talk about NaNoWriMo a little further. Primarily, the advice I've been given to survive it.


So here it is! Five tips I've learned on what to do during NaNoWriMo.

1. Set a schedule. I write every morning as soon as I get up. (Unless something weird pops up. Hence the procrastinating...) I've been told that this is the best way to win NaNo, stay consistent. 
2. If schedules aren't your thing make sure you still have time to write. Translation: Don't sign up for every single club your school has to offer in November. NaNo is very time intensive, especially when your like me and stalk the social part of it all day instead of writing. ;) Don't spread yourself too thin, you still need to be able to eat and sleep this November. 
3. Don't forget to eat and sleep. This sounds easy enough, but my fellow writers know, there are times that everything but your story gets neglected. Trust me, NaNo makes it ten times worse, so don't forget to eat, you're of no use to your story if you die from starvation. 
4. Don't listen to your editor voice. This is harder than it sounds. It's only three days in and I've already wanted to rewrite the entire thing... twice. It's hard when you're just getting the words down and not allowing yourself to "fix" it, but that's one of the joys of NaNo, everybody's story is a hideous first draft! You aren't the only one. 
5. Stick. With. It. You will want to quit, you will want to waste the entire day pretending you're being productive, you will want to delete the whole thing. Don't. Because at the end of the day you're doing this to write a novel, and quitting ain't gonna make a novel. You can do it. 

Hope this helps you in your NaNo journey! Now back to writing my book...

Libby 

"...And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us" Hebrews 12:1

Halloween with Allergies

Hey ya'll,

In news completely unrelated to this post I decided to do something completely crazy this month. I'm doing NaNoWriMo.

For those of you who don't know what that is, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Where us brave (or insane) few try to write a novel in 30 days.

Yep, I'm officially crazy.

Have I written a novel? Yes, but it took me over a year. Now I'm supposed to write a novel in a month?

Alright enough ranting...

Today, I actually wanted to talk about Halloween with food allergies.

So I may be one of the very few, but my nut allergies are airborne, meaning I can't be around them, so Halloween isn't my favorite holiday in the world. Can anyone relate?

Yet, my siblings still want to put on costumes and go trick or treating, so I, as the dutiful big sister, go with them, and in the years of nut allergies I've learned some tips for allergies and trick or treating.

1. Don't go alone. I mean this is a given anyway, but what I mean is don't go with just your family who may or may not have allergies too. Go with a friend or relative who can go through your candy so you don't stick your hand right into a half open peanut butter cup.
2. Say more than trick or treat. If you know your neighbors like I do this won't be a problem, seeing as the whole street has classified us as 'that allergy family'. (anyone else with that title?) But if you're trick or treating where no one knows you it's better to say 'I can't have that' to the offending candy than have it in your bag and risk contaminating everything. 
3. Go last. If you're going in a group be the last person to get candy, that way you can see what they're giving out. If it's something you can't have just blend in with the crowd and walk off.

That's all I have. Anyone else have any surviving Halloween with allergies tips?

"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." Philippians 4:6 

-Libby

Writing Tips and Tricks

Hey Everyone!

Today I'm going to talk about some writing tips and tricks I've learned throughout my writing experience that I hope some of you will find useful.

1. First, make your main character flawed, I know sounds crazy right? But it's true, people don't want to read about characters they can't relate to. Perfection isn't normal or even possible, so unless you're writing specifically about a person who can do no wrong, make them flawed.
Example: When you're watching a movie it's hard for us girls to identify with the drop dead gorgeous woman playing the lead because it isn't realistic! It's much easier to relate with the nerdy secondary character because she's more likely the character with some flaw to her. Equally, its hard for guys to relate to that love interest in chick flicks that can do no wrong, right?

2. Research, research, research. Especially if you write historical fiction, readers want a story that's possible, even the tiny details count. For example a few days ago I was working on a story set in 1906 and I had my MC (main character) explain a voice as 'melted gummy bear consistency' which I thought was a killer comparison until I started thinking, were gummy bears invented in 1906? Which lead to research to discover no, they were not. (They were invented in 1924 encase you were wondering. :) So if I hadn't researched my topic I would've been allowing people to read something that isn't historically accurate which for me is huge.

3. You need stick with your stories, if anyone looked at the files on my laptop they'd see pages of unfinished stories because I didn't stick with it. Now I'm not saying it isn't okay to take a break every now and then, sometimes that's even beneficial, but don't give up on it. You'll never know what could've been your next bestseller if you don't try.

4. Edit, Edit, Edit. Scary topic I'm getting into but it's true, no first draft is ready to hit the New York Times Bestseller list. And no matter how incredibly awesome your plot line is, it's going to be an extremely difficult read if it's full of typos and punctuation errors.
I entered a writing contest a couple years back with my first ever historical fiction short story. I was so proud of that thing, not even 8,000 words I thought it was the best piece of fiction you could find. I sent it in to the judges and when I got it back I was horrified to find tons of small errors throughout my story. I was embarrassed that I had sent that in for a contest, that's what I had presented.
I'll do a more thorough blog post about editing sometime soon, but remember to put your best foot forward when having people read your work.

5. Remember that this is supposed to be fun, if there becomes a time when writing isn't fun, step back, do some other stuff, come back to it later. If writing your story has got you so frazzled that you can't even have fun with it anymore; drop it for a while and come back in a week or so. Who knows you might have thought of your next awesome plot twist by then!

6. Read all the time! Seriously, if you aren't writing, read. I know at least for me that sometimes reading a good book is all that I need to get my wheels turning again. Sometime soon I'm probably going to be writing about some good books to read so stay tuned for that, but right now I'd suggest for you to read something you identify with. I write historical and contemporary fiction so that's what I read for the most part. (Trust me, I'm still a HUGE Harry Potter fan :p) I read in my genre to look for tips on what makes their writing so good. Why did this scene make me hug my book, it was so sweet? Why did this death make me cry? Why do I hate their villain? Sometimes all you need is a good book to make your writing that much better.

6. Pray that God will guide you as you write to glorify him, this has been something that I personally do every evening. I pray that God will guide my words as I write in order to make my work glorify him and not myself. After all  He didn't have to give me a gift for writing. He could've made me a plumber or something instead of letting me receive enjoyment from imagining worlds and people I made up in my head. So I want to honor Him with my writing, to let Him shine through me.

Well that's all I've got for today, hope you've found at least one of these tips useful. If you'd like me to discuss a specific writing tip on my blog, comment below and I'll try my best to write on it.

Bye for now!
Libby

"Let all that I am praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath. Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there.When they breathe their last, they return to the earth and all their plans die with them. But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God." Psalm 146 2-5 NLT

A Little About Me

Hey Everybody!

I'm Libby,

I was thinking about what to write for my first blog post and I decided I'm gonna tell you a little about me.

First thing's first, I'm a Jesus freak! My favorite Bible verse is Jeremiah 29:11 for those of you that were wondering.

Next off, just like it says in the title of my blog, I have a SEVERE nut and soy allergy. No peanut butter or Nutella for me :(

I'm also an author, which is the main reason I'm writing this blog, to let out my creative side when I'm not living in my fictional world.

I'm also: homeschooled, involved in American Heritage Girls, an actress, an athlete, a sister, a daughter and a friend.

Throughout my blog I'm going to teach, vent, create, entertain, and hopefully inspire anyone who comes across it. So hopefully you'll join me in my journey as an author with an allergy!

Bye for now!
Libby

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 NLT