creative writing

New Writing Projects & Challenging Myself

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

I’ve mentioned a lot lately how with all the extra time I’ve had to myself during quarantine, I’ve been trying to experiment with my writing and produce more work than I normally would have time for. It’s been a little bit of a struggle due to some bouts of writer’s block and lack of motivation/structure in my routine, but I’ve gotten to a place where I’m settling into a rhythm and realizing what I’m currently inspired to write about. If you want to learn more about what I’m working on right now and how it’s different from what I normally write about, keep on reading!

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might’ve noticed that I mainly post poetry, and poetry has been my writing genre of choice for a while. I love to read and write poetry, but I think my heavy focus on it has left me sort of lopsided in my writing abilities, making dabbling in fiction, prose, or creative nonfiction a lot more difficult. However, when I was suffering writer’s block most recently, I turned to my “writing ideas” list that I always keep handy and am adding onto, and found most of my unused ideas were for fiction pieces. I decided to take the plunge and run with one of my ideas from that list, and I am now working on a novel??? I’m not sure if I will end up finishing it or how long it will actually be, but I’m about 13,000 words in and it’s been really fun to experiment with dialogue and all the other elements I’m not used to because of my poetry focus.

I know it probably seems pretty peculiar to jump head-first into attempting to write a novel- almost like I’m setting myself up for failure. I’m trying to stay away from that mindset, because I do have tons of extra time because of quarantine, and I’ve always wanted to try and work on a book. The final thing that made me take the plunge and just start writing it was the email I got from NaNoWriMo that because of quarantine/COVID-19 they would have an April novel writing month challenge. I definitely won’t be finishing in April, but I took that as a sign that now was the time to get started.

I haven’t really been editing any of the book thus far since I’m still in such a beginning stage and I want to just keep writing, then edit when I’m done. I won’t say too much about the plot or even the genre since I think there’s a few major plot points from my original outline that need to be reworked, but I’m figuring out more as I go along. If you have any tips for sticking with a novel idea and writing it out all the way through, I’d love to hear them!

Besides that very ambitious new project, I’ve also been venturing into trying some creative nonfiction. I finally got around to reading all of the works in the latest Polyphony Lit issue (the teen lit publication I edit for, check it out- a new issue is coming out soon!) and a good portion of the pieces that stood out to me were creative nonfiction. The main reason I haven’t gotten into it is just because I think it’s hard for me to write about myself in an actual creative and good-quality piece, since I often end up going into blogging mode and being more informal. I’m still not sure how to make my experiences connect to others in a way that would make people want to read my creative nonfiction piece, but I’m trying to figure it out.

I’m working on two creative nonfiction pieces right now. One is about my background/family tree and my lack of knowledge about such making it feel like my family’s a mystery, and one’s about how the tension in my family has escalated since my grandmother moved into our house in January. I feel like most of the creative nonfiction pieces I’ve enjoyed have focused on people’s families or cultures and the influence those things have on them, so it only seemed natural to think about those topics in the context of my life.

That being said, I’m still in love with poetry and I’ve written a couple new poems while sitting outside and observing nature. We had a few days of beautiful, summer-like weather here and it gave me a chance to write a poem about a hummingbird that I think could have some potential. I’ll always find poetry a little bit more natural since it’s always seemed the most approachable form of creative writing to me and it’s easier for me to write a poem in a short amount of time if I just have a tiny spark of inspiration, but I definitely want to continue venturing out of my comfort zone.

Honestly, another main reason I pushed myself out of my comfort zone is just because I’ve been reading so many books lately and creative pieces that aren’t necessarily poems online, but I haven’t read any new poetry that resonates with me in a while. Whenever I’m reading a certain type of writing or genre, I automatically start thinking about how I can make it work for me and express my ideas in that form of writing. I reread the Harry Potter series for the first time in years (LOTS of tears were shed, I forgot how insanely amazing J.K. Rowling is at storytelling) and it had me itching to write a book or experiment with magic and the fantastical in my writing.

That’s what I love about writing and any creative discipline in general. It’s so easy to shift your perspective and see the limitless ways to craft your art and hone your skills by seeking a new source of inspiration. I hope my fellow writers out there are also taking advantage of this time to work on something new and expand your horizons. Let me know if you have any author/book recommendations or any writing challenges for me to try out 🙂

Brooke

The Clothes We Wear – Prose

BrookeLeave a comment

People warn you to make a good impression, to dress nicely and take pride in your appearance. What does it say about me if I rotate the same oversize t-shirts and hoodies with various vacation destinations or event names littered across them every week? What does it say if I pretty much only wear sweatpants, almost never jeans and especially not skirts?

Because I do. Don’t worry, I’m completely hygienic and I care about my appearance in that way- I hope people don’t assume that I don’t. But why should I have to put up a facade and be someone I’m not?

Sometimes I wish I cared more. I really do. Breezy floral sundresses and sophisticated blouses roam my mind whenever I go into the city, and it suddenly crosses my mind I should’ve dressed up a little more. But that’s not to say I don’t enjoy a good fairy godmother-like transformation from time to time.

It was the night of the dance. I got my hair done at an actual salon for the first time ever- one where they offered you drinks as they worked on making each tendril of hair camera-ready. My golden blond hair bounced around my shoulders in soft curls, I had dusted my eyelids with some glittery eyeshadow (not too glittery), and skinny silver hoop earrings that were just the right size dangled from my earlobes.

But most importantly, the dress. It was the dress. It was a little shorter than what I would normally wear, and it hugged my body as if it was made to fit. The black fabric glimmered thanks to the sheen woven into it, and the straps met to cross several times and tie at the small at my back. The dress glowed on me, and I felt as if I glowed too. I felt pretty, and for a night I understood.

(It didn’t stop me from wearing sweatpants the next day.)

I hope you enjoyed this little anecdote. I’m not really sure if prose is the best label for it, but I didn’t know what else to call it and I still considered it creative writing. As I write this, I’m wearing sweatpants and an oversized concert tee, so yeah…it’s pretty accurate. Please let me know if you have any feedback, suggestions, or challenges for me to use in my future writing!

Brooke

Ode to My Childhood – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
hair loosely tied in pigtails
i ran out the front door into the street

ready to ride my baby blue beach cruiser bike
past the same twenty houses back and forth

ringing the bell, fingers running through the
white streamers on the handlebars dancing in the wind 

murmuring to myself as i sped down the sidewalk
this was my time to be independent and free

not a care in the world; reality wasn't on my radar
and when mom called out for dinnertime

                                                            i was ready to return to the real world

I hope you guys enjoyed this poem. It was fun to write, and it’s actually based off of one of my most vivid memories from when I was younger. I really would go on my blue bike, riding up and down my street but not bothering to stray into any of the other streets in my neighborhood. I felt so free, and that was honestly my favorite pastime after school since I could talk to myself and I felt like no one was listening, but in a good way. Let me know if you have any feedback, suggestions, or challenges for me to use in my future writing posts 🙂

Brooke

a black canvas – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
if i was a painter 
i would paint you a beautiful
black canvas

vast as the galaxy
and you could add in
your own stars

a blank slate for 
you and i
the opposite of colorful

but with endless opportunity

As always, I hope you enjoyed this poem! It was one of those things where the idea randomly popped in my head (the title came first). I’ve been trying to tap into my artsy side with some drawing, so maybe that’s why the topic was on the brain. That being said, please let me know if you have any feedback, suggestions, or challenges for my writing in the future! Stay safe and healthy 🙂

Brooke

Summer Writing Programs Update – COVID-19 & My Thoughts

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you might remember my mentions of applying for writing-related summer programs and awaiting my admissions decisions. I was waitlisted at the Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference in early March, and I was still waiting on my decision to the Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop. If you’re interested in hearing an update on that, as well as a general update on what’s going on with summer programs/activities in the time of COVID-19, keep on reading.

First, a quick disclaimer: I do not want to sound self-centered in this post and I am fully aware that there are people in much tougher situations than me/impacted by the virus a lot more directly and I do not mean to take away from that. I am just sharing an update on another thing that the coronavirus has impacted and how that affects me personally. As you might guess from the title of this post and the direction things have been going with the coronavirus, the Kenyon Young Writers Workshop was sadly cancelled for this year. I think the most frustrating part for me was just that they didn’t even release official decisions, so I don’t even know if I would’ve gotten in or not. I understand why they did this as it wouldn’t be useful to get people upset or worked up over a program that was cancelled anyways, but I worked hard on my application and would’ve liked to know what they thought of it.

I haven’t heard back from the Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference as to if I got accepted off of the waitlist. In the original admissions decision email, the main date to watch for a waitlist acceptance was April 6th, so I think it’s safe to say I will not be attending. I’m assuming it will probably end up being cancelled anyways since so many other summer programs are, so I’m sorry to anyone who was lucky enough to get accepted and planned on attending.

I actually ended up applying to two more summer programs that I didn’t mention on this blog, simply because I’ve only recently applied to them during these quarantine times. I applied to the CSPA journalism workshop hosted at Cal Poly, and I actually found out only a week after I applied that I got in! I sadly was forced to decline my offer of admission since they needed a non-refundable deposit by April 6th, and I was still waiting to hear from Kenyon and possibly an update from Sewanee. Lastly, I applied to The Adroit Journal‘s Summer Mentorship Program. It’s super competitive (even more competitive than I thought when I decided to apply… yikes) but I love Adroit and it sounded awesome (and corona-proof since it’s all online and remote) so I just kinda went for it. I’m not sure when I’ll hear back from them, but my hopes are not very high.

So, what does this all mean? I’m obviously disappointed that I won’t have the opportunity to get away from home by myself and experience the immersive atmosphere of Kenyon or Sewanee’s programs, but I know that there’s much bigger problems in the world and I’m privileged just to have gotten the chance to apply. I’m praying that coronavirus’s threat calms down by summer what with all our efforts to stay home and flatten the curve so that I can utilize one or multiple of the backup summer plans I originally thought of (summer job, internship, taking dual-enrollment classes at my local community college, volunteering, etc.), and just for the sake of everyone’s health and safety. That being said, if summer ends up being a big quarantine-fest as well, I guess I’ll just have plenty of time to write and blog, continuing the creative pursuits that I’ve been spending time doing so far.

For anyone who was lucky enough to secure their summer plan of choice or get accepted into their dream summer program, I am so sorry if it has been cancelled or impacted in some other way by coronavirus. That doesn’t diminish your accomplishment, and just know that your abilities or talent aren’t confined to a program or internship offer anyways. We’re all in this together, and we’ll all be finding alternative ways to pursue what we love at home during these strange and trying times. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

A Visit to Your Room – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
the odor of dried sweat and moldy bread
is emitting from the towel you wrap
around your hair;
         you know, the one you use 
         to dry off and feel clean?

this room's always dirty but
from the doorway you can see
a tiny sketch of a half-drawn face

          staring into your eyes
          from its insignificant place 
          on your desk. 
too perfect with the plump lips and 
sporadic freckles on the stark white paper

i don't know how you spend so much
time in here, but i see that face
and it brings to my attention

mixed with the body odor and mold
it smells like you-
          vanilla candy, so sweet
          making my stomach ache

As always, I hope you enjoyed this poem! I thought it was fun to play around with the structure. Let me know if you have any feedback, suggestions, or challenges for me to use in my writing in the near future 🙂

Brooke

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