How tumblr Can Help You as a Writer

There is always discussion on the internet, particularly among writers, about how bad the internet is. After all, how will you ever write 1,000 words today if you spend five minutes on Twitter? I've already argued that Twitter can help you revise, and now I want to talk about how another social networking site, tumblr, can help your writing. 

tumblr is often seen as the biggest time-waster of the social networking sites because, well, what do you do but scroll through a series of gifs and artistic photos? However, it is those images and ideas which can help you as a writer, as I will show in this post. 

tumblr remembers the details. Sometimes it's the smallest moments in books which have the greatest impact on us, the ones which make us go, "Yes, I've felt that or been that or done that, I know that." There are multiple tumblers dedicated to those moments. For ones specific to teenagers, try High School Hyena or Teenager Posts. For general ones, try Just Little Things

tumblr is a unique way to interact with writers and writing communities. It is much more difficult to have a conversation with someone over tumblr than it is over Facebook or Twitter, but tumblr offers other ways to interact with each other, and often directs people towards places where the are discussions. Authors such as John Green and Maureen Johnson are on tumblr. On John's tumblr, you'll find posts which talk about his new book, The Fault in Our Stars, as well as ones which show what inspires as him, and ones which, if nothing else, serve to remind us that he is a real person. Maureen is offering NaNoWriMo advice on her tumblr. 

As for communities, nerdfighteria, the community of nerdfighters founded by John Green and Hank Green, has a tumblr. It offers opportunities for different members of the community to communicate about it through art, and really, how cool is that?

tumblr helps with character development. If you scroll through my tumblr, you'll find images which show that I love dance, comedies, musicals, God, and books, and probably more. There is a lot you could infer from that which may or may not be true, but the point is that anyone's individual tumblr has the potential to tell us a lot about them (or the person they want people to think they are.) An interesting character development exercise could be to create a tumblr for your characters. 

tumblr provides inspiration. If dance inspires you, there's a tumblr for that. If music inspires you, there's a tumblr for that. If images inspire you, there's a tumblr for that. Follow what inspires you, and maybe it'll motivate you to write. Young Adult Fiction is a tumblr with the potential to inspire you, as it posts quotes from YA books. 

Do you have tumblr? What tumblrs do you follow? Are there any tumblrs you know of that could be helpful to writers? Let me know in the comments!

Book Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn't believe in fashion...she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola's sytle is outrageous, she's a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door. (Summary and picture from goodreads.)

There are problems with Lola and the Boy Next Door. The plot is unrealistic, characters become villains when it’s convenient for them to be, and Lola is almost a manic pixie dreamgirl. I care about those problems.

 I care about Lola and Cricket more.

It’s unfair but inevitable to compare this book to Anna and the French Kiss. Halfway through Lola, I thought, “Oh my gosh, I like this more than Anna. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?” Unfortunately, I wasn’t crazy about Lola’s ending, so Anna is still my favourite of the two. But, there were moments of Lola where I thought it may be the best YA Romance I’ve ever read.

My love for Lola exists because of my love for Cricket. Etienne in Anna  was playful and charmning, but Cricket…he’s nice. And so real. I’ve know Etienne’s, sure, but almost always at a distance. The Cricket’s I’ve known have been some of my best friends and biggest crushes, so of course, I connected to Cricket more than I did to Etienne.

As she did in Anna, Perkins writes Lola with a teenage voice that is properly comic, melodramatic, and unique. She gives her characters passion which show that they are people beyond their romantic relationships. And, she can write a good kissing scene.

If you liked Anna, read this book. If you like romances, read this book, If you like books, read this book. 

7 Tips for Making and Reaching Writing Goals

It's the most wonderful time of the year, when writers everywhere close their doors, substitute well-balanced meals for leftover Halloween candy, and use sticky-notes as pillows.

It's NaNoWriMo, a month where writers try to complete 50,000 words of a novel within the month of November. I know many people who have written novels thanks to NaNoWriMo, and many others whom have planned and plotted for it, only to write 5,000 words or so for it (I was one of those people for three years.) Others have no interest in participating it.

And all of that is absolutely fine.

Not to shock anyone, but everyone's different. For some people, the goal of writing 50k in November is reasonable and desirable, and for others, it's not. I fall into the latter category, and have felt guilty about it. What we need to realize, however, is that writing 50k in November is a rather arbitrary goal.* What's helpful, then, is to set goals that work for you, ones which fit with your priorities, schedule, long-term goals, etc. 

So, how would you go about creating those goals?

1. Get Rid of Guilt. Your friend wrote a first draft in a week, and yours has taken you three months. If you didn't know about your friend's success and are happy with your progress, there is no reason to view yourself  as an inadequate. Set goals, do your best to reach them, and forget about what your friends are doing/have done (or, better yet, cheer them on!) Also, as a writing community? We need to stop making people feel guilty about their goals. If you can write a novel in a year and someone else needs two, and is happy with that, please don't make them think they need to alter their goals. We're all different and we should all support each other.

2. Don't Underestimate Yourself. Get rid of guilt, yes, but challenge yourself. You are awesome, so be awesome. Set goals which are reasonable, but ones which will push you. You may surprise yourself.

3. Don't Overestimate Yourself. As a student and a writer, sometimes I feel guilty for making an effort to always get seven or eight hours of sleep, because it seems like no one around me does. But, I know myself, and know that I need sleep to function well, and that I'm not pleasant to be around when I don't get it. Whatever sleep represents for you, don't feel like you have to give it up to reach an extraordinary goal. Chances are that you'll burn out, get discouraged, etc. Make sure that you give yourself time to rest as you work towards your goals.

4. Make Goals According to Your Priorities. At this point in my life, writing is not my priority. God, my family, friends, school, and the student society I'm part of all come before it. Some of that will change, and some of it won't. If something comes before writing for you, don't be afraid to put it before writing, even if it means you'll fall short of your goal. This leads into:

5. Have Grace with Yourself. There will probably be a time where you don't reach your goal, and that's ok. Life happens and not always in the ways we expect it too, and there's always a chance that it'll interfere with our goals. Let it, and don't feel guilty about it. The world will go on, you'll get things back on track, and you'll be fine. Promise.

6. Alter Your Goals if Necessary. Again, your life will change, your priorities will change, and maybe not when you expect them too. Don't feel like you need to stick to goals which are no longer possible or desirable.

7. Reward Yourself. Because you're awesome and deserve it.

Note that with all of these points, I'm assuming that you make goals based on deadlines (if you have them), and am not suggesting that you should ignore them.

Good luck to everyone participating in NaNo, and to everyone else with different goals!

*I don't mean to discredit NaNo in any wya, as I think it's an awesome program and a great goal for some people to try for.