Saturday, September 27, 2008

WORD: Norah Jones Rainy Soup Days

Once in many whiles, you have those Norah Jones Rainy Soup Days. When it's raining, and you need chicken noodle, and you're listening to Come Away With Me and staring at a massive amount of homework, and somehow you are expected to write something.
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Man.
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I've learned bunches as a teen writer, but this whole writing inspite of life bit is still sinking in. Every Saturday when I want to finish This Book Isn't Fat, It's Fabulous (Nina Beck!) or when I get scared of touching my AP Euro textbook, writing becomes an option and not a checkbox. Every Saturday, every Sunday, everyday is a test of how much I'm committed to writing.
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Scared yet?
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The reason I don't write on Days-Like-Those isn't because I can't or don't have time to, but because I've forgotten why I'd write in the first place. Success acts like white-out sometimes: you forget why you're working so hard. So:
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1. Get competitive. I respect Christopher Paolini as a human being and as someone who accomplished a great deal in his teen years (and even now.) Still, I cannot stop writing until my book sales kick his into the clearance table. It's a principle.
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2. Be inspired. I love inspirational self-help. Head for the Teen Non-Fiction section of your bookstore and start reading the stories of those teens who started companies, sold thousands of books, became Olympic athletes. Make yourself realize what happens at the end of the tunnel.
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3. Write it, dork. You are a writer. Try writing down what you want from your writing. Now write it again. Write it every day in your diary. What will happen with that kind of focus? I have no idea, but something will.

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