Finding Inspiration in the Classics

I'm one of those weirdos who loves most of the books I read in English class. With some exceptions, of course, as crappy books have been written since the dawn of time, but the vast majority of books I come to love or at the very least appreciate. I think it's important as a writer and also a reader to do what other people can't or won't do: find value in all books. Even the ones that are difficult. Even the ones you have to write essays on for a grade :) I'm a fan of saying that the only people who don't like the classics are the ones who haven't taken the time to understand them.

My English class just started reading The Great Gatsby which is SO SO EXCITING, especially since I'm an uber-nerdfighter and have been dying to read it ever since seeing John Green's excellent videos on the book (see them HERE and HERE. They do contain some spoilers). (Also: anything that John Green loves I'm more than willing to give a fair shot). I've only read the first chapter and I already love it so much. I actually like that I saw the videos beforehand because I'm finding more depth in it that way and I can see the value in the book now, whereas it usually doesn't hit me until I'm done with an English-class book. I've been struggling with my writing lately, but some of these awesome quotes just from the first chapter inspired me, and maybe they'll inspire you too:

"No - Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men" (pg 2).

"Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtrusively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire" (pg 12).

"I was not alone - fifty feet away a figure had emerged from the shadow of my neighbor's mansion and was standing with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars" (pg 20).

(I underlined my favorite parts). Wow. The guy sure did know how to put words together.

How to do feel about the classics??

Weird Internet Poetry

Yesterday in creative writing class we did this group poem-writing exercise. We agreed upon the topic (the internet) and then we each wrote a line. The type of poem is the Pantoum which is a Malaysian party poem (weird, right?) Ours came out okay/sorta funny so I thought I'd share it :) Since I'm writing a lot of poetry/short stuff in my creative writing class, I think I might make this a semi-regular thing.

(Just FYI, I didn't come up with the title... nor do I like it that much. The lines I came up with have an asterisk.)

Click, Click, Zoom!
 By: My Creative Writing Class

*Internet - trapped in a false world
Surf the web for hours on end
Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook
Google, Yahoo, Youtube and Bing

Surf the web for hours on end
When did Google become a verb?
Google, Yahoo, Youtube and Bing
Lolcats, trolls and My Little Bronies


When did Google become a verb?
A vast web of cables
Lolcats, trolls and My Little Bronies
*An encyclopedia that can lie


A vast web of cables
Charlie bit my finger
*An encyclopedia that can lie
Subterfuge and temptation


Charlie bit my finger
Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook too
Subterfuge and temptation
*Internet - trapped in a false world

- Nicole

In Which My School Complaints Continue

Have you ever - for reasons outside your control - had to go way too long without writing? Does it drive you kind of insane? If I don't write for a certain amount of time (about a week, I suppose) I literally start to go nuts. Can't focus on anything else. Depressed. Muttering to myself (more than usual). That's me right now. But I have to finish my AP history notes and reading first . . . . .

- Nicole

Something High School Taught Me

Thursday and Friday were my first two days of 11th grade. It's going to be my hardest year, I can tell. I have AP classes and a full course-load and a lot of obligations. And that's okay. If there's one thing everyone who's ever been to high school can agree on, it's probably this: High school is a really hard place to be yourself, and high school is a really hard place to be happy. With the people (friends, acquaintances, etc.) I'm around a lot there's a kind of shared mentality that basically goes "Holy crap we're pretty smart but this is so hard we're gonna fail this sucks so much we can't do this OMG OMG I can't believe we have this much homework . . ." going on a loop through our heads. Or hell, maybe just my head. But probably everyone's.

Friday was my first day of creative writing class, my elective this semester. I knew no one else in the class, but I wasn't that intimidated 'cause at least I'm a junior. And the class is taught by one of my favorite teachers EVER, my sophomore English teacher. (I've been really lucky with English teachers in high school :D). So the environment was comfortable even if my fellow students weren't. I knew two things going into the class: A) it was really, really work-intensive, B) it was a workshop class and required students to share a lot of their writing with the class. As a high schooler who has a hard time being herself, I almost didn't take the class just because of that.

We had to write a short piece and share it during the first class. Four people opted out of sharing. The vast majority did though, and I'm proud to say I did too. It was kind of a cool moment. Nobody shouted "that was awful!" When I was done. It wasn't the end of the world. I didn't pass out. I guess in that class for once we all had a different attitude towards ourselves and each other. I wish it could be like that all the time. But it made me hopeful for the rest of the year. Sure, it's going to be hard and stressful at times. I can do it. I can be brave . . . sometimes. That's good enough for now.

There's your dose of random musings and ramblings for the day ;)

- Nicole

Busy Summer is Busy

Today is one of those days where I have SO MANY THINGS I want to get accomplished and all I want to do is sit in front of a fan ('cause as you probably know it is really, really hot out) and read a good book (like Wither by Lauren DeStefano which I reread this morning!) and not focus too hard on anything. But that would be too good to be true . . .

My goal was to finish a novel this summer, however since I'm taking a break from the old project to work on something I just started, that won't happen. Nevertheless, I know school is going to be insane for me this year and I really need and want to be far into this new project by the time the first day rolls around. And yeah, that first day of school? August 31st. WTF people?

Also, my grandma is coming to visit tomorrow! She lives in Australia and I haven't seen her in three years, so I'm so excited!! But it also means I've been cleaning and organizing and other unpleasant things for the last week :( And it means I'll have less writing and reading and blogging time . . . and less homework time.

"What?" You say - homework?? Yup. Not only do I have the normal "read a book and write a short paper" thing for English (which won't be too bad) I have to read a 600 page biography of John Adams and take notes for a test on the first day of school for AP American History. Can you see me banging my head slowly against this desk? AND I have math and lot's more English work online that takes hours and hours of staring at a screen. It's like they want us to spend our summer inside on the computer. Hypocrites ;) So yeah. That's my life in a nutshell right now. How's yours? :)

- Nicole

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