My Notebook – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
if you want to get to know me, take a look
inside my tattered blue notebook

a hidden treasure in the back of my drawer
i whispered my stories to the pages-

they're dog-eared, words spilling out into 
the margins, pieces of myself perfectly

preserved on the paper almost like i
expected you to come across this

royal blue notebook of mine. if you've 
flipped through these fraying pages
                            you know the real me.

I hope you enjoyed this poem! It honestly isn’t my favorite, but I wanted to share it at some point and I wasn’t sure what else to post this week. Let me know if you have any suggestions, feedback, or challenges for me to incorporate in my writing in the near future 🙂

Brooke

How I Got Back Into Reading and Writing

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might’ve seen me mention a couple times that I used to be an avid writer and reader when I was younger, but went through a dry spell for quite a few years. I really only got back into it a little over a year ago, halfway through my freshman year of high school. If something similar has happened to you for whatever reason and you’re trying to get back to your old book-loving self, or you’re trying to get into these two amazing habits for the first time, keep on reading to hear about my journey.

I think the biggest thing is just to treat it like any hobby that you have to make time for; just because you used to be super into it doesn’t mean it will automatically fall into your life and become an automatic part of your schedule again. If it does, that’s great! But don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t. That’s the most important distinction to make, but other than that, let’s dive into my story and tips.

In the middle of freshman year after my cheer season was over, I found myself with a lot more free time than I’d had since starting high school. I was evaluating what I wanted to do and how I wanted to spend some of my free time, and there were a lot of activities I was interested in doing- I started volunteering more, and I joined some other groups outside of school. However, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much time I used to spend writing random stories, and reading books. I’d read a poetry book or two in freshman year, but other than that I was only reading and writing in my classes at school.

I was also going through kind of a hard time, so I decided I would start journaling and just write about all the thoughts I was having. My journal entries turned into pages and pages of writing, and eventually I realized how much it was helping me to just get everything out on paper. I started writing poems that reflected my current thoughts and feelings as well, and just writing as often as I could. I applied to be on my school’s yearbook staff for the next school year with a writing sample, and I got in! Writing was becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life. I think the catalyst for me to really get into writing was starting this blog in June 2019. I knew I wanted to do something different and write in a new way, and I figured I would have plenty to write about on my summer trip to France and Italy, so I started the blog under the guise of covering my trip.

I kept writing for this blog throughout the summer (and throughout this year, and I plan to keep writing), but my next writing endeavor was signing up to be on the editorial staff at Polyphony Lit, an international teen magazine. I’ve learned so much about writing and read so many amazing pieces during my time as an editor there, and I even got a promotion a few months ago from First Reader editor to Second Reader editor (the level above)! If you’re in high school, I highly recommend checking out Polyphony Lit and the opportunity to be an editor; if you’re not a teenager, I just recommend checking out the publication in general because the work is amazing!

After being inspired by starting to edit submissions for Polyphony, I started to write more poetry over the summer. I would sit in a lounge chair in my backyard and just write, drawing inspiration from anything and everything and trying to make it into something beautiful. As I wrote more and more, I started submitting some poems to contests, and I had my first poem chosen for publication in the fall.

As you can tell from my journey so far, for me it was easier to incorporate writing back into my life first, and reading came shortly after. I realized that in order to improve my writing and develop my own style, I should read more and get inspiration from other authors. At first, I just reread some of my old favorite books to get my feet wet in the book world. Next, I asked for poetry books for Christmas and read a bunch of poetry. I signed up for Poem-A-Day to get a poem in my email everyday and get exposed to different authors and writing styles. I got books from my parents’ bookshelves and just started reading them, and I asked my English teacher for a couple book recommendations.

Now that we’re in quarantine, there’s more time than ever to experiment with reading and writing. Hopefully my story gives you an idea of how an inkling of wanting to read or write can eventually lead to a complete rekindling of your love for them, but if you’re looking for more specific tips, here’s a little list!

  • Sign up for Poem-A-Day. I know I already mentioned this above, but it is a great way to make sure you’re reading a poem everyday and getting exposed to so many different poems and writing styles! It’s free, and it’ll only take you a few minutes each day to read the poem.
  • Look up writing prompts or exercises. If you’re in a writing mood but aren’t used to writing or you’re not sure where to start, look up some writing prompts! Your creative juices will start flowing and it’s always great to practice.
  • Keep a journal. As I mentioned, starting to journal and get out my thoughts that way was one of the things that really got my writing going. When you’re putting pen to paper all the time, eventually the magic will happen or you’ll be inspired to write something else.
  • Ask your friends what they’re reading and read it. This way, you’ll have people to talk about the book with, and you’ll be more likely to enjoy it if the recommendation’s coming from a friend! It can be a loose/informal book club.
  • Read the book version of your favorite movie/TV show. This is something that’s overlooked- you already know you like the story, so why not read it and compare the differences? It’s always interesting to see what scenes/details aren’t translated to the film/TV version.

Hopefully this helps you all out or inspires you in some way. I’d love to talk to some fellow readers or writers, so let me know what you’re reading/writing at the moment 🙂

Brooke

Metamorphosis – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
who knew what a talented artist you are
in the art of manipulation

your skill is unparalleled: the masks you
wear, the metamorphosis i've seen you undergo

like that of a caterpillar to a butterfly in that
you showed your true colors

but quite different in that i don't like what i see
i know you don't care, so i won't waste my breath

on lecturing you for your actions
i'll just watch you fly away

I hope you enjoyed this poem! I know most of the work I’ve posted lately is pretty short, so I’m hoping to experiment with different styles and some longer work soon. Let me know if you have any suggestions, feedback, or requests!

Brooke

A Silent House – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
in this house that's not a home
the air is grey and thick. the fridge

is full but our bellies aren't; they 
crave love and genuine feeling.

voices are raised and the wind 
whistle, zipping through the 

dusty windows to egg us on.
silence settles in, along with our 

disdain for each other
in this house that's not a home.

I hope you enjoyed this poem! It’s kind of inspired by the poem I posted about a week ago called “Four Walls” (go check it out if you haven’t already!) so if it seems familiar or similar to that, that’s why. I feel like with quarantine and spending so much time at home, family issues and tension that’s been fairly buried for a while are bound to rise up. I wish you all the best- stay healthy!

Brooke

My Updated Study Plans for Online AP Tests – Euro & Psych

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

What with the rescheduling and completely new format of the AP tests for this year to accommodate quarantine and coronavirus conditions, we’ve all had to reevaluate our study plans. For people taking the APs in class, this is frustrating and seems to undermine your year of hard work. For self-studiers, this is a bad thing and a good thing all at once, as there’s less to study but no one to guide you. Today I’m going to be sharing my study plans for the two AP tests/classes I’m taking this year (AP European History and AP Psychology), so keep on reading if you’re interested.

First, I’ll start with AP Euro, the AP class that I actually take at school. Since the test is just composed of a DBQ and nothing else, my teacher has come up with sample DBQ prompts for each week. We don’t really have any other online assignments besides figuring out how we’re going to study for the test, and making sure we keep up with his posted updates about test information/when he ends up grading our practice DBQs. That being said, that means I’m kind of my own to self-study for this test as well. However, we had almost finished all the content for the class, and we already finished through the period that’s being tested a month ago, so I’m thankful for that.

AP EURO STUDY PLAN

  • The aforementioned practice DBQs. My teacher is posting a huge document of prompts/documents and suggesting we do one to two practices a week, particularly focusing on pacing. He’s kind enough to look over our work and give us extra pointers if we ask for them, but they’re optional and not being graded yet (it’s a long story, but my district isn’t allowing any of the online work we do to be graded yet).
  • Watching the AP review sessions that College Board is putting out. I’m not going to watch the ones that cover topics not on the test since for the most part, my class was ahead and already learned about them, but I’ll watch the ones that review content tested. It’s always good to learn from someone new and hear a different voice on the topic, and the teacher in the video might focus on little details or events that mine didn’t.
  • Reading my review book as a cram of information. I already bought a Princeton Review prep book at the beginning of the school year, and I don’t intend to let it go to waste. I’ve used it as a resource for summing up major events in general a couple times throughout the year when cramming for unit tests, and I think that will still make it helpful in this case as well.
  • Rewriting/organizing some of my notes. I take pride in my Euro notes because they’re very detailed, but they’re not the neatest. Since the test is open-note but also on a major time constraint, I don’t want to have to flip through a bunch of messy, tiny notes where words are shoved in every square inch of the paper. I plan on organizing them by unit, and maybe typing them up so they’re easier to read, and highlighting major events or details.

AP Psych is a bit different because I took the class online over summer, so the information’s a bit fuzzy in my head. I’m kind of glad I don’t have to re-learn every single detail, but it’s still difficult because I know the multiple choice would’ve been easier to study for. I’m lucky enough to have a couple friends who are also taking Psych, so I’m hoping to get some study tips or help from them as well.

AP PSYCH STUDY PLAN

  • Watching the College Board AP review sessions. I’ll probably watch all of them, even the ones that are on topics not tested, just because I find psychology interesting and feel like I didn’t learn everything from my online class. My reasoning for doing this is the same as with Euro though, so I won’t explain further.
  • Using my resources. I bought the Barron’s flashcards and a Princeton Review book a few months ago in preparation for self-studying, and just like with Euro, I’m going to make the most of them. I still need to brush up on content, so reading the review book and testing myself with flashcards will still be helpful, even though there’s no multiple choice.
  • Going over FRQs I wrote for the class. Since the FRQ format is still the same, I can look at all the graded FRQs I wrote in my online class over the summer. I know that the two FRQs on the AP test are going to be specific types of questions, so I’ll try and find if any of the questions I did were comparable.
  • Practicing tons of FRQs!! – At this point, that’s really the main thing I should do once I brush up on the actual content of the class. I’ll focus in on the specific types of questions they’re asking and try and find as many sample questions as I can. I’ll probably ask my friends in Psych to look over them if they’re willing.

I hope these study plans help you out if you wanted to know what a fellow student was doing, or if you just wanted to get motivated to start studying now. I know this is a weird change, but hopefully it works out in our favor. I know the shortened test seems to cheapen the value of how hard we’ve worked all year, but at least test days will be shorter and it might be easier to do well on the tests. Above all, we’re all in this together 🙂

P.S. Screw the College Board!

Brooke

How To Beat Writer’s Block

Brooke2 Comments

Welcome back everyone!

Have you been sitting down to write with all your newfound free time at home, only to stare at your paper or laptop blankly? If so, you’ve come to the right place! Writer’s block is a threat to writers everywhere, but today I’ll share a few of my favorite ways to shake it.

Method One: Use writing prompts and/or exercises.

This is a pretty standard way to try and help, but I feel like this only works when you’re having mild/moderate writer’s block and are still able to write something. You can look some up on writing-related Instagram accounts, Pinterest, or even just Google images. If you’re trying to finish a specific story or piece but can’t get the words out, it helps get your creative juices flowing if you write about something completely different.

Method Two: Go do something completely unrelated to writing. When you’re done, try to write something about it.

This could be anything depending on how much time to spare and how desperate you are to cure your writer’s block. It could be going for a drive, baking a cake, watching a sad movie, or getting your household chores done. Sometimes, a break is all you need to get some inspiration again. However, if you’re still not ready to return to what you were writing before, try writing about whatever experience you just had. Again, it’s all about getting the creative juices flowing.

Method Three: Try implementing a plot twist.

Depending on what you’re trying to write, you may or may not be willing to do this. If you are, just try taking your piece in a completely different direction and taking it from there. This goes along with using different parts of your brain/getting your footing back, but it’s a more direct approach to your piece. Also, you may end up loving what you write! If not, you can always edit, rework, or completely rewrite.

Method Four: Read something new.

I get a lot of my inspiration for writing from reading different works anyway, so it always helps to take a reading break and observe ways different authors carry their storylines. It’s also just a nice brain break in general, because who doesn’t love to read? You could also read a different genre than you normally do- it might give you a new perspective.

I hope these tips help you beat any case of writer’s block you may encounter! I had a pretty bad period of not being able to write anything I was proud of a couple weeks ago, but these tips helped me a lot. I’m actually working on a bunch of writing right now, so keep an eye out for new content related to my writing if you’re interested 🙂

Brooke

My Blogging Goals

BrookeLeave a comment

Welcome back everyone!

I’ve been blogging on here since June of 2019, and I’d like to think that I’ve made a lot of progress, grown my blog a decent amount (not a ton, but more than I expected!) and come up with a lot of interesting content. That being said, I know this is only the beginning and I plan to keep blogging for a long time, so I thought it might be interesting if I shared my blogging goals with you all. Also, by writing them down and sending them out into the universe, hopefully they’ll come true. If you want to hear my goals for this blog or get inspired to set goals for your own blog, keep on reading!

Goal One: Figure out what my main “purpose” of this blog is, or determine some sort of genre/niche.

I’ve explored many different topics on this blog and tend to write about whatever I want or whatever pops into my head that week, which has been wonderful! It’s a great creative outlet, and I’ve enjoyed getting to see how people respond to the different types of content I’ve posted. However, I feel that as I’ve gained more readers, there may be a split in what people followed/came across my blog for. I don’t want to be disappointing people who came to my blog in search of a certain type of content, and then completely shift away from posting that type of content. Also, many expert bloggers suggest you have a specific niche or topic you blog about in order to connect with your audience. Right now, my blog is kind of just me in blog form, offering up any advice I have and discussing my high school adventures (that’s where the name came from!). I don’t want to limit myself to only writing posts centered around one topic, but I’d like to kind of narrow my focus so it’s easier to connect with you guys and help people find the content they’re looking for.

Goal Two: Make blog friends and find blogs similar to mine.

I’ve come across a few really cool blogs, and I tend to check out a lot of the people who end up liking my posts or following me (and I check out everyone who leaves a comment :)), but I haven’t interacted with other bloggers as much as I’d like to. I’d be interested in possibly doing a guest post exchange with people, and just meeting people who like to write about the same things I do, because that would obviously mean we have some things in common and would get along. Blogging is a form of social media, so I want to make my blog a more, well, social experience.

Goal Three: Figure out how to optimize my blog’s SEO/get people to be able to see my blog when they search stuff.

I have no idea if I worded this correctly or how to do this, but I know WordPress has tools that can help. I just want this blog to get more exposure since I work really hard on it and have enjoyed the slow, steady growth so far. I’m definitely not doing this to make money or to get famous as I know how unlikely that is and that wasn’t my intention in making a blog; I’ve created this blog as a safe, creative space to share my thoughts and hopefully some helpful advice. That being said, I want to make sure my thoughts and advice get seen, especially by people who are searching for content like mine! I have to figure out how to do this, but I’m sure some online research will do the trick.

Goal Four: Make my blog more aesthetically pleasing and organized, formatting-wise.

I have a basic layout and I haven’t experimented much with the things I can do with my blog page. I’d like to make it represent me and my content a little more. I’d also like to organize the different categories of posts I make better so it’s easier to navigate in case anyone’s confused (I know I would be) by all the different types of content I have on my page. Again, this is something I could probably figure out easily by doing some online research or just reading WordPress’s guides, but I’ve held off just because even once I know how to edit these things, I’m not sure where I want to go with it/how I want to customize my site.

Those are my four main blogging goals at the moment. I hope they inspire you fellow small (or medium, or large!) bloggers out there, or just gave you some insight into what I hope I can do with this blog in the near future. I highly recommend starting a blog even if you don’t know what you want to do with it- that’s what I did at first, and now it’s something I look forward to working on every week.

Brooke

Is It Even Possible to Be 100% Stress Free?

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

I realized I hadn’t done one of these types of posts where I analyze a broad question about mental health/life in a while, so today I decided to write my thoughts on this particular question that had been sitting in my drafts. I will be dissecting the question posed in the title of this post: is it even possible to be 100% stress free? The short answer is no, as most of you probably suspected, or even knew from your own experiences with stress. But why? Let’s talk about it.

So first of all, even if you don’t know the science behind this or much about how our brains work/bodies respond to stuff, I bet you could infer based off of your own life that there’s always going to be some stress. Driving creates a lot of stress for some people, being late to events, having a lot to work, worrying about the current COVID-19 pandemic… there’s always things going on in your life that are going to cause some stress. Some people are way better handling this than others (hint: I’m horrible at handling stress so not me), but even the most relaxed people or disciplined people in managing stress will have that first response of worry before they use their coping tools to calm themselves down.

As far as the science behind it, stress is a natural bodily response to scary/intense/worrisome situations and our attempts to face them. Stress triggers the sympathetic nervous system, which in turn triggers our body’s fight-or-flight response. In fact, this Psychology Today article by F. Diane Barth discusses how we even stress about relaxing or stress about our current stress because of the body’s responses to the initial stress. It’s a really interesting article, and Psychology Today is a great place in general to look up answers to any psychology-related questions you may have, so you should check that out if you’re interested; I used it a ton as a resource for random questions when I was taking AP Psych online.

Based on both general intuition and scientific principles of the brain and our responses to stress, we know that it’s impossible to eliminate stress completely. But what about the people who get really close, and don’t seem to experience much (if any) stress in their lives? Well, as cheesy at it sounds, I think it’s all in your perception of things. First of all, people may be freaking out internally, but keeping a calm front as not to alarm others; we’ve all done that at least once before, right? I know I do it with my family members if I’ve accidentally messed up or made a mess that I need help cleaning up. Second, even if people are more laid-back, it’s usually just in their nature based on the household they grew up in, or they’ve worked very hard to make themselves better at coping with stressful situations.

For example, if you work under high-stress conditions at a corporate job, you’ll probably end up adapting after a few years and more trivial tasks won’t stress you out as much. As far as the home environment thing goes, some people grow up in families where their parents were laid-back people as well, so they grow up holding onto that lifestyle. My dad has apparently always been someone who barely ever gets stressed out, and I’m guessing he always will be.

Other times, it takes a ton of discipline to develop the coping tools some people need to deal with stress in a healthier, more manageable way. I’ve been trying my best to do this since I was in my later years of elementary school, as I’ve always been an anxious person who gets stressed when there’s not even much to be worried about. Here I’ll include a short list of some things/tools that help you get better at dealing with stress, and things that have worked for me.

  • Meditation – When I’m really overwhelmed, this is the only thing that quiets my mind. I like to use the Headspace app, but I only do the free ones- I haven’t gotten a subscription yet. I’ve also heard the Calm app is good, but I’ve never tried it.
  • Reframing – This helps you get out of your head in “worry-land” and brings you back to reality. Remember when you get stressed, you’re usually only focusing on the bad in a situation, so you’re not looking at the full picture. Reframe your perspective to find the silver lining and/or assure yourself everything will eventually be okay, because it will!
  • Being positive/using the Law of Attraction – If you keep telling yourself positive things, you’ll start to believe them, and then they’ll come true. I’ve mentioned the Law of Attraction a few times on this blog before, and I highly recommend at least giving it a try.
  • Reading self-help books – Honestly, this isn’t a direct link to lowering your stress, but I always feel so organized and put-together in my life when I’m reading a book about how to be just those things. I highly recommend finding some reading material, particularly related to whatever areas of your life you’re stressing over.

I hope this little list helps anyone in need of some ideas to reduce stress, and I hope you’re all doing okay under the stressful conditions at the moment. Just remember you will be fine as long as you wash your hands and make smart decisions as far as following government orders, and try to make the most of your time at home. Let me know what you do to reduce your stress if you have any helpful tips as well 🙂

Brooke

A Stream of Consciousness – Prose

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, so I figured I would share my thoughts with you guys in a different form of creative writing than usual. Surprise, I’m sharing writing that’s not poetry! I guess I would just consider this prose- it definitely doesn’t have any real structure to it. I hope you enjoy 🙂

something’s waiting inside of me. i can feel it; it’s brewing, bubbling, growing, shaking, expanding, and soon it will come out. a breakthrough’s been a long time coming, and you never know what’s around the corner. i feel trapped inside this house, but we’re all trapped in different ways, in our own little bubbles. all of a sudden, we know what we’ve always wanted to do and the things we enjoy and how much we love to go outside. but we can’t do any of it. our minds erase any awareness of the things we’ve always wanted to do around the house if we only had more time, and our creative juices get blocked. or maybe they don’t- my sweat is in the form of words trickling down my forehead. they drip down my pale cheeks, taunting me until i write them down. i get more done than ever but i get nothing done. i read more than i’ve ever read but see less words than i ever have. //

// time alone is time with your mind. my mind and i have been stirring up plenty. whenever i become conscious of my inner monologue and the elaborate plans being created, they vanish with an anti-climatic poof, as easily and silently as they materialized in the first place. the wheels never stop turning, but can you see them?

I hope you enjoyed this little mind-dump. It was clearly inspired by being stuck in the house, but it definitely has a few layers, which I’ll leave you all to interpret for yourselves. Let me know if you’d like to see more of these in the future, because I can definitely make that happen. As you all know if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, I’m happy to experiment with new things, writing being a huge part of that.

Brooke

Inevitable – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
i always loved tilt-a-whirl rides
even when the people next to me threw up as they stumbled out 

life is an amusement park 
(have you ever felt more alive anywhere else?) 

but i'm afraid of going on the gleaming steel rollercoasters making loop-di-loops, seemingly defying gravity (actually adhering to it) 

fluffy cotton candy, the rickety benches on the brick roads, watching others have the time of their lives is sometimes more my speed 

but when you go to an amusement park, you've come along for the ride and that means you go on the giant rollercoaster

This is a sillier poem, but I suddenly had the inspiration to write it and decided to go for it. I normally keep a running list of ideas for poems to write, but I lost that mega-list recently and I’ve been really upset about it, so I’ve been coming up with random, more cheerful writing ideas. I hope you enjoyed it- feel free to leave feedback or writing challenges/topic suggestions in the comments.

Brooke