I’m trying not to think about it, because if I do, I feel a strange hotness come into my cheeks. Let’s face it — when it gets late, your mind turns about itself and you begin writing some of the weirdest things you’ve ever written. Some of it can be good, mind you, but [...]

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By complete accident, I found a very nice way to rewrite essays!
I was writing the rough draft to my essay for Lit. class in my school computer lab, and I couldn’t get it to save to computer so I could email myself, I could only print it. Because of that, I had to rewrite my [...]

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“To me, the greatest pleasure in writing is not what it’s about, but the inner music that words make.”
-Truman Capote (1924-1984)

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If you enjoy pain, then check out the first episode of YWS Radio at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yws
I’m actually listening to it right now, and it wasn’t that bad.  I think with more preparation on my part, and if I manage to figure out why people couldn’t call in, then it will be much better.  I may actually end [...]

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While procrastinating, I got kind of bored. I found some jokes about writing, and some of them are pretty good:
A linguistics professor was lecturing to his English class one day. “In English,” he said, “a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, [...]

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Letters!!
 While rummaging through your attic, you find an old dusty typewriter with a half-completed letter in it. Immediately, you realize who the author was and her intentions. In honor of that person, finish the letter.

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Fairytale of New York by The Pogues

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The United States Library of Congress is holding a contest entitled “Letters About Literature.” To enter, all you have to do is write a letter to an author (living or dead) about how that author’s work affected you. Anybody in grades 4 through 12 can enter, although I assume you have to be [...]

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If you’re interesting in writing stories for video games, then I have great news!  The Writers Guild has decided to create an award for video game writing for the Writers Guild Awards.  The first such trophy will be presented on February 9.
I remember playing Super Mario Bros. for the first time on my neighbor’s TV [...]

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Well besides the massive Naval training base in Chicago, they both abhor chatspeak:
Schoolkids today tap out the cryptic shorthand of text messages and e-mails E123 (Translation: Easy as one, two, three.) But when it comes to actual writing? Grrrr.
So it’s good that the Chicago Public Schools took the first step this week to require eighth-graders [...]

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In a semi-related post to the one below, I was just checking out another writing blog that never ceases to annoy me because the writer does not use proper grammar!  Indeed, the author seems to have formed an allergic reaction to capitalization and commas.  Most incredibly frustrating.
So peeps, use grammar!  Braking the basik rulez o’ [...]

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I spent most of the day today up in Annapolis, MD watching Navy beat Air Force yet again (31 to 20).  It was a ton of fun, and I always love going to Navy football games.  So it was pretty funny for me when I came home and checked out Wired News to find “OMG! [...]

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I think everyone would agree that it would be awesome to have another full, long issue of squills! Don’t forget that anyone can submit to squills, just by going to this page and sending in your article. Wouldn’t you like to see your handy work in squills?
You can really write articles about anything, humor is [...]

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Starting up a separate blog newsletter, to which you can subscribe in the sidebar.  Simply put in your e-mail, then confirm that you do indeed want the newsletter.
The general YWS newsletter will still go out from to time, however I plan to use the blog newsletter on a weekly basis.  Along with some featured blog [...]

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First, I promise I have not been lazy with the blog updates today! I had class only until noon, but then I got lunch with my old office as one of my former co-workers is moving on to bigger and better things. After that, I spent two hours in the library doing some [...]

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Starting an internet radio station for the Young Writers Society has been my pet, top-secret project over the last month.  I finally went ahead with it today, and we had our pilot program at 8:30 pm EST.  By all measures, it was a smashing success!  Over 70 listeners, and I only gave 30 minutes notice!
In [...]

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Fellow YWSer Claudette recently finished up with The Portrait of Mr. W.H. by Oscar Wilde. And at 58 pages, it was evidently quite the read:
This story was… short. hahah. As expected, but beautiful. I do not see the great meaning behind it, as I had been told through biographies of Wilde, that was there, [...]

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You can watch the sun set:

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My sleeping patterns right now are hopelessly messed up.  I’ve been going to bed at 1 am, waking up at 7 am, then napping for an hour or two sometime in the late afternoon / early evening.  I definitely need to get back into the mode of sleeping for eight to nine hours in a [...]

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Copyblogger has a post about finding inspiration in other writers. It’s about using the work of others to improve your own work. It’s an interesting post, and one I couldn’t agree with more.
All great artists start off by mimicking the work of others. Only from that starting point do they begin to [...]

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I didn’t have time to last time around when I posted a link to the op-ed piece in the Daily Princetonian, but I wanted to expand upon the idea that it’s difficult to find time for writing when in school, or even while working.
First of all, it’s not really about finding the time to write [...]

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Ha!  I want a penguin!
Your email friend from Alaska sent you a penguin.  Tell about your first day with your new pet.

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“Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.”
-Pope Paul VI, 1897-1978

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Click on the image to go to the full screen one. Both are in 1280 by 1024 format, but should work fine on any size screen. Just be sure to change the desktop settings to “stretch” on smaller screens; that way it will fit the entire image to your screen.
 
 

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Inkthinker has a post up about a new writing blog, Writer’s Frump, that will send you guffawing until your belly explodes.

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…then I want the letter Y.
Branding the letter Q? At Inky Girl. 

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Photo by Eric M. Gustafson

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The Daily Princetonian has an op-ed piece by a sophomore asking the university to add another creative writing class.  However, that isn’t why I’m linking to it.The article is really about how writing is a form of escapism; it’s therapeutic.  Moreover, she writes:
A story becomes a living thing, constantly changing, shifting, developing into something new [...]

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Hehe, I could think of a few…
The country is in dire need of another holiday that everyone can celebrate, and the government has given you the task of picking it. What event will you add to the holiday calendar and why?

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