Reading like a Writer

Most writers like to read too, and if they don't they should. Not only is reading enjoyable, it is a great way to improve your writing or learn how to write. Those authors are good authors because they know how to write and create a good story. Even if you don't like to read a lot, that's okay. A page a day is a good goal, but make sure your goal is realistic, not too high or too low. Otherwise you might find that you're hurting yourself instead of helping yourself.
Before you read the book, do a little research. What do the readers say about this book? What is the genre? Who is the author? Who published the book? Read the summary and the about the author section. Read the author's note and the dedication page. Doing this will not only help you get to know the book but also learn how to write sections like author's notes and summaries. Studies show that looking at examples then trying something and then repeating the process is the best way to learn, so try to write some of these things.
While you are reading, find literary devices. Our language arts teachers where not lying when they said metaphors and similes are important. Look for the author's strengths and weaknesses. Look for successes and failures of the story. How do the characters make you feel? Do you hate the bad guy? Why? How are you supposed to weite great characters if you can't even identify them yourself? You can't, it would be extremely difficult to say the very least.
Last but not least, after you have read the book, make a plot outline of the story. Does it follow the hero's journey graph? Identity the themes and motifs of the book. If you're feeling very ambitious you can create a list of all the characters and their traits. Not only will these things help you as a writer, they will help you as a reader too. You will understand the story better.
You can do these things in many different ways. You could write right on the book (gasp!), or use a notebook, or sticky notes. I personally use both a notebook and stickynotes. I use the sticky notes on the book. Then, once I've finished, I move them all to the notebook and do my after reading techniques in the notebook. Make sure to put page and paragraph numbers on your stickynotes so that you can go back and look at it if you would like. You can even get creative and invent a new way if you would like. :)

Happy reading!

NaNoWriMo: How's it going?

Well, National Novel Writing Month is officially more than half way over. How are your novels coming?
I have noticed that things start to die down, so I've decided to give you all a little motivation, just maybe not the kind you're used to.
When I first started writing, I felt like I was the king of the world. I could do anything and it was super fun to do all that stuff, but writing has changed for me. It is still fun, I still feel like I'm on top of the world,  but it has changed to a more therapeutic agent. Writing is my escape, and I'm sure for some of you, it's yours too.
So here's the question, why do you write so hard at the beginning, only to give it all up at the end? You are on top of the world. Why would you deny yourself that power feeling or the calm from your "therapy"? Keep going. I know it seems hard, but once your fingers hit the keyboard, everything will be just fine.
Good luck!

NaNoWrimo

So NaNoWrimo is here!
Happy National Writing Month!
For those of you who don't know what NaNoWrimo is, it is a competition that dare I say thousands of people do every November. These writers, me included, attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. It is free and I really recommend it to you all. I know November has already started, sorry guys, but it's not too late! The contest is free and there are prizes! If you'd like to join go to nanowrimo.org. I started participating in this contest last year, so you and I can figure it out together!
You know all about NaNoWrimo, so now what? Well, you should plan your novel out, it helps a lot, but you don't have to. I didn't plan the first year, but this year I am, and so far it is working better. There are these things called write ins that are be in your area, where you just go and write with other people. You don't have to go to these but they are kinda fun, plus there's usually food which is always a bonus.
Well, now you know pretty much everything about NaNoWrimo. If you have questions feel free to ask me or go to this website for help.
Happy Writing and good luck!

Photography for writers

Photography is one of those things that show, in a realistic and easy to understand how creative a person is. As writers, we have to be creative, so photography is a tool that can help us be creative but also help our writing. Photos from your vacation, every day life, or extraordinary events can give you writing prompts with no words to limit your creative ability.
-Take pictures of anything and everything. These pictures could spark something later and result in a  novel that the world would not be complete without. You don't have to print them out if you don't want to, simple save them to your computer (I would tell you how to do that, but I have other people do it for me so I don't know how, sorry guys).
-Look at the pictures you take and write about them. You don't have to write about the person or the main idea of the pictures, you can write about anything, the little dog in the background, the girl in the yellow dress, describe the sky, or even explain how the gum got on the sidewalk. These pictures will have no words to limit you and they are connected to memories, which makes it a two for one type of deal.
Your pictures don't have to be good, believe me when I say that sometimes the best pictures to write about are the blurry ones where there is someone falling and the cameraman is running to them as he takes the picture.

Happy writing!

How to help your writing, by just going to school!

For many young writers, and experienced writers, life gets too busy, and there is no writing done, whether it be because of no new material, no time, or exhaustion,  there is still a way to write during your busy schedule. As a highschooler, my writing suffers when I go back to school and have no time to write and no time to brainstorm, but it doesn't have to be that way.
I was sitting in English class the other day and my teacher started to talk about writing. And it hit me. Why should my writing suffer when I have new material around me all the time. How does that make sense? I'll give you a hint, it doesn't. Look at the people around and see all that material? All those ideas you could never dream to come up with on your own? Use them!

Ways to use school, or any other activity, to help your writing:

- Like I said above, use the material given to you. People are all different and yet they still are able to react with each other. Write about interactions with other people, reactions to different situations, even just what they had for lunch.

- Use any time to write. Got extra time in a class? Write! The bus ride home? Write! It doesn't have to be good. It doesn't have to be amazing, just an outline even.

- Pay attention in English class (this one is pretty much just for school, sorry guys) You think I'm joking? What publisher is going to publish a writer who doesn't have any clue what a sentence structure is? Or how to use writing techniques? Come on guys! Prove to the teacher, and yourself that you know how to write!

- Bounce ideas off the people around you. You're with people, you may as well bounce ideas off of the readers. Believe me, there is always atleast one big reader in every large group, find them, and talk to them.

- Peer editing. Use the people around you, your Friends or coworkers to peer edit. They don't have to read the whole thing, just a snippet or a sentence you've been struggling with. You'll be amazed at how much other people can help your writing.

This list may not be long but it could change your writing for the better if you do it every day.

Happy writing!

5 apps every writer should have

In this day and age, our cellphones are constantly at our sides. We do almost everything on them, including work, school, and games, but do we use them to help us write?

To be honest I'm very old fashioned in my writing. I like to have a lined notebook and a pencil. I edit with a regular, outdated red pen, and I read books with actual paper pages (gasp!) But even though I like to use those things, my phone can still help me write by providing prompts, other writing pieces, and even an app so I can blog (thank goodness).

1. Wattpad- free!
Wattpad is a great place to discover young writers you like and to get discovered yourself. You can publish books that you write and have people comment what they think and what edits they make. You can read other's works and comment thoughts on them. It will make you a better writer and a better editor. Reading other's comments have showed me some things that I missed when I was reading it.

2. Pinterest- free!
What better way to get writing prompts, diy journal ideas, and book reviews than on this huge idea server? Pinterest is my #1 app on my phone. All of my friends and family insist I'm addicted, I'd have to say I agree with them. Pinterest has tons of articles about writing, tips, prompts, and fandom type things (the ultimate app right?!).

3. GoodReads- free! (Not pictured)
GoodReads is a wonderful place to get with other readers and talk books. You can write book reviews and rate books you have read, and have a list of to-read books. Follow your favorite authors and see what they are reading (told you great writers read)

4. Writing prompts- free!
Need a quick write? Need something for your character to do? Use this app! There are over 100 prompts to choose from and if you don't like it, go to the next one.

5. Amazon Kindle/NOOK- free!
Again I say, good writers read. What better way to read than everywhere? If you have one of these apps you can read anywhere at anytime! Heaven right?! There are free books and ones you have to pay for. Amazon kindle is from Amazon (duh) NOOK is from Barnes and Noble so if you get gift cards to eitherof those places you can use them on your phone for e-books.

Bonus! Instagram (not pictured) is a great place to get writing prompts, inspiration, and quotes!

I know there are some other great apps out there for writers, but in my opinion, these are the best. I don't spend money on apps, so these are all free and ready to use as soon as you set up an account! Be sure to search me at thesierraspot on the social networking apps.

Happy writing!

A Writer's Guide to Journals

In my last post, I told you all that journaling would help you improve as a writer, however, I did not specify what type of journaling would benefit your writing. So, in this post, I will do just that.
When journaling, it doesn't matter what you write. You could write stories, like a writing journal, you could write about your experiences, thoughts, and feelings, like a regular journal, you could mix them up and create a journal that includes both of them, you could write down conversations you hear, you could sketch something and then write about it. There is no limit to the way you could get creative with these. Make it yours.
I have many journals. At least three, two of which were mentioned above, and many more notebooks full of random writing to go along with them. My journals have no pattern, whatever I think of is what I write down. I write when I feel like it, not usually in every journal every day. I try to at least write something everyday, but that doesn't usually happen. My advice to you would be to make it so you love it. If one type of journal doesn't work for you, say forget it and move on to a different one. Writing isn't supposed to be a chore, if it is you need to go find something new.

The Regular Journal:
For this journal I use a bound journal. You can find them pretty much everywhere. There are tons of different kinds, I use lined, but that doesn't mean you have to. I try to write in this journal twice a week. I put the date and day on the top of the page (ex: Saturday, 08/08/2015) and then I move on to writing about what has happened lately, what is on my mind, and how people are. I try to write in this journal at least three times a week, but it usually ends up as twice a week. I'll eventually reread this journal when I'm older and have forgot most of it, but for now, I'll use it as writing practice.

A writer's journal (also known as a writer's notebook):
For this journal I use a regular lined notebook. You could decorate the cover with cut out magazine pieces, glitter, duck tape, or even sharpies. I have done all of those at one point or another but the one I'm using now is just plain. I try to write in this journal 5 days a week. I write blurbs of fiction and stories, but some other ideas are a continuation of a book or movie, the reason for a song, poetry, childhood tales, and the list of ideas goes on.

The art journal:
I am not an artist, so I don't have one of these, but I have friends who are and they generously explained to me how it works and what they liked and disliked. One suggestion was an old book, they sketched on the pages and wrote in the margins, and in between the lines. To me, it looked really cool, but some people would be appalled at the destruction of a good book. Another idea was to buy a sketchbook and write and draw on those pages. I think you could just use a regular notebook or journal, but I'm not an artist so I might be wrong. The people I talked to said that they wrote first, and then sketched what they wrote about, but it could be done the other way around. They said they wrote whenever they felt like it, and had no schedule that they tried to stay on. They said they painted, sketched, and wrote all over the pages of their journals. Sounds good to me.

Make your own:
Just because other people don't do it doesn't mean you can't. Maybe you want to do all three, go for it! You don't have to show anyone unless you want it to, this is for you, not anyone else. Put a crazy twist on one, make your own notebook, there are tons of ways you can personalize your journal.

Happy writing!

Writing Prompts for Teens

We all know those lists of school writing prompts that make you want to fall asleep halfway through the writing piece. We also know that feeling when you can't think of anything to write. I have found some writing prompts that (hopefully) don't bore you and will break through that writer's block.

1. Lost

2. Rescue mission

3. The heist

4. Amnesia

5. Teen writer

6. The villain's sibling

7. The villain's child

8. Prank war

9. Girls vs. Boys

10. Blind date

11. Secret admirer

12. You as a character

13. Homeschooler at public school

14. Seniors last day

15. The worst week

16. Treasure map

17. Modern fairy tale

18. Prison escape

19. No rules

20. That party

21. You disappear

22. The championship

23. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer

24. The hardest choice

25. If you were in a movie

I didn't limit these to just one genre, I tried to keep them general so you could be creative. If you have any prompts of your own that you would like to share, comment them. Feel free to share these with other writers, they are certainly not limited to just teens.