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Independence Day – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
America, you shine today
we look past your flaws and the chinks
in your armor to see the best in our
past, present, and future

we light the sky up in every color
for you. in honor of your existence,
we fly the flags high and deck the world
out in red, white, and blue

we pretend the world is not hurting
because our nation must act strong
to be strong, and the fireworks are oh
so beautiful

I hope you enjoyed this piece! Happy 4th of July to all my American readers. I’m usually not the most patriotic person, but that was kind of the point in writing this poem. The fireworks in my area were sadly cancelled due to COVID-19, but hopefully you guys have some local fireworks that you can watch while social distancing. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

One Year Of This Blog!

Brooke2 Comments

Hello everyone!

Today I wanted to take some time to write a quick thank you and acknowledgement of the one year anniversary of this blog. Technically I started it in mid-June of 2019, but I feel like I didn’t really get into it or start planning for what I wanted to center this blog around until July 2019. Nonetheless, I cannot believe it’s been almost a year of me posting daily and sharing my thoughts with the world on here.

Thank you so so so much to anyone viewing this, anyone who has viewed my other posts, and anyone who has taken the time to like one of my posts or comment something nice. It makes me smile to see that people enjoy reading my musings and like my poetry, and I hope that my posts can be helpful or entertaining to you all in some way.

It’s funny how although I still don’t have a definitive direction to take this blog in (it’s definitely more of a fun little side project), I have narrowed the focus of my posts so much throughout this past year. I originally wrote about so many things, but I’ve been consistently posting poetry/writing content and the occasional school post for the past couple months. I never thought I would be sharing my poetry on the Internet, let alone so frequently, but here I am! It’s been such a nice experience to know that my work is being seen and can resonate with others.

Thank you for sticking with me this past year if you’ve been here since the beginning, and thank you for coming along for the ride if you’ve joined anytime since. I appreciate each and every one of you! This blog is clearly so personal to me, and I never imagined that more than a couple people would really care about what I had to say.

Please know that I am always open to feedback, suggestions, and just having a conversation! I know I may have attracted readers from the various types of content I previously dabbled in, so just let me know if there’s something you’d like to see or a category of post I haven’t made in a while that you enjoyed. Although I write these posts just for fun, I still want to make sure that other people can enjoy what I’m putting out.

As a side note– I know times are really tough right now, physically, emotionally, financially– all of it. Reading blogs and books and the like is honestly such a nice escape from the news, other exhausting forms of media, and reality in general. I’m not just saying this because I want you to read my posts. I’m saying it because I know we all need to give ourselves some TLC right now, and reading can be super relaxing, enriching, and entertaining all in one. If you need some book recommendations, check out my recent post about the books I’ve read in spring. I will be making a similar post at the end of summer about all the books I read in the summer months.

Happy one year of this blog! Hopefully there are many more to come. Thank you all again 🙂 Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

Check Out AP Study Resources

Brooke1 Comment

Welcome back everyone!

I recently made a website called AP Study Resources with links to videos, study guides, notes, and any other helpful resources I’ve come across that will help you excel in your APs next year! If you’re interested in learning more, keep on reading and check out the site here.

I had the idea to make the website because while searching for extra resources to study for my AP European History and AP Psychology tests this year, it was hard to find everything I needed in one spot. There’s so many amazing free resources on the Internet, but it can be difficult to find them and keep track of them. I decided to get started on making a hub for all of them, and that was that.

I currently only have dedicated pages to the APs I’ve taken (AP Human Geography, AP European History, and AP Psychology) but I have been digging for resources for other classes and more classes will definitely be added to the website soon; it’s in my best interest too, as I will be taking 5 APs next year! The website is currently a rough outline of what I want it to be, but I wanted to get the word out on this blog so you guys are aware of it for next school year and can bookmark it or scan it now.

If you’re interested and end up checking out the site, please let me know what you think and what additional classes you’d like me to add first! I’ll probably do the 5 that I’m taking, and any requested/most common ones next. I hope this can help out some of you guys next year and/or in years to come.

Make sure to check out the website here. I haven’t bought the domain or anything yet since it’s just a side project, but I might in the future if it ends up being helpful to a lot of people just so I can get the word out easier. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

Dead Heat – Poem by Me

Brooke2 Comments 
the cloud cover hasn't burned off 
grey skies, almost eerie white in the
distance blanketing us in the
dead heat of july

no one else is out. i've never seen
this suburban town look more 
like a desert. there were plans 
to have a bonfire, but

it's too hot already; the friction
between you and me makes
it hard not to suffocate
but no one's going to run

the air conditioning. waiting
for the clouds to burn off,
the people to come back, 
and for you and me to be 

okay again.

I hope you enjoyed this poem! I cannot believe it’s already July– time is flying! Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

A Visual Conversation – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
either right place, right time by coincidence or 
a true understanding and connection
somehow fostered in math class

two columns over, two rows away
yet your eyes keep meeting mine and i feel like
you can really see me, here in this silent
classroom

nothing spoken out loud

but i see you too
and i'm not worried or self-conscious
i'm just looking 
to get to know you

and i think i know you pretty well
learning more and more as our eyes
keep meeting

I hope you enjoyed this piece. I know it’s probably really cheesy unless you’re currently in middle school or high school (and even then…) but it was an idea I had in my drafts and I wanted to try it out. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Let’s Talk: Receiving Feedback On Your Writing

BrookeLeave a comment

Welcome back everyone!

So, you’ve posted a piece of writing (not necessarily creative writing, we’re talking about anything here) or submitted it for publication, and you get some feedback. Even if the piece is jaw-droppingly amazing, there’s probably still going to be some critiques in any feedback you receive. Today I’m going to give you a little overview of how to respond to feedback, how to get better at reacting to it, and how to actually take it into account. If you’re interested, keep on reading!

There are a couple different ways and places I receive feedback on my writing: comments on this blog, responses from literary magazines I submit my pieces to (Polyphony Lit specifically is an international teen lit mag that gives every submission 3 rounds of feedback sent back to the author), and just simply sharing my pieces with other people for peer review. I don’t get many comments on my work here on this blog, so I’m able to respond to every one that I get and think deeply about the feedback given. Most literary magazines/publications don’t give you too much feedback other than acceptance/rejection, but in the case of the ones that do, I try to comb through the feedback for points I may not have thought about before and am willing to actually rework and change in my piece.

As far as sharing my pieces with others for peer review, I’m very weird about sharing my writing (I made a post about this not too long ago) and I don’t do this as often as I should. I know it’s one of the most helpful things you can do to get feedback on your work in a more gentle manner, but I’m still working up the confidence to do so. I will actually be doing a lot of peer review very soon in the Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference these coming weeks, and I will surely give an update on how that goes.

When someone provides you with feedback, no matter the case, make sure to thank them!! This is crucial because you want to show that you are gracious for their time in reading over your piece and telling you how to make it even better. Please do not get discouraged by a lot of criticism or negative-seeming feedback. It is all in your best interest to hear the perspectives of others and how they may have interpreted your work.

Another thing to consider is you don’t have to take all feedback into account when revising your piece. Definitely read it all, but if changes are suggested that would alter your piece in a way you’re not willing to or would take away from your intended meaning, then don’t make those changes. It’s completely okay to listen to parts of someone’s feedback and not all. That being said, if the source of the feedback is someone you trust and/or someone with a lot of writing experience and knowledge, you might reconsider ignoring what they say. I know it probably sounds like I’m contradicting myself, but I promise I’m not! This is just how it goes– as a writer, you’re probably already used to looking at everything from both sides and all the angles in between.

You may be wondering, how do I actually implement the changes suggested in the feedback I’ve gotten? I would first comb through all the feedback and highlight the points that you agree with most/want to rework in your piece. If these are more specific, I would just start attacking those parts of your piece and implementing a first round of change. If the feedback was more general, you could read through your piece and highlight portions that relate to what you’re trying to change. After you’ve done that throughout the whole piece, start working on those.

When you’re done with that first round of reworking, take a break. Come back and look at the piece later, and see if it reflects the changes suggested in the feedback and the changes you wanted to make. If so, pass it on somewhere else for feedback again. If not, go through another round of reworking yourself. Repeat. This is what I do, and it tends to move the revision process along pretty quick.

I hope this helped you with anything related to feedback on your writing! Please let me know if you have any questions, and feel free to leave some feedback on this piece 🙂 Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

Pen Pal – Poem by Me

Brooke2 Comments 
putting pen to paper and spilling one's guts 
felt unnatural at first, with her tendency to 

pick up the phone to call her mother or run
to a friend down the hall. but something about

sitting down and writing relaxed her-- her 
shoulders stopped tensing and her posture

relaxed. you could just see it. what you couldn't 
see was her trying to assemble the pieces, put

together fragments of information from the letters
to stitch together a fabricated version of the person

behind them. she could only imagine their face,
their laugh, and their genuine reactions to 

her words if they were to have an in-person conversation.
can you send a picture of yourself? i'll send you one of me, 

she wrote. enclosed with the latest letter was a photo
of her, smiling on the beach with hair blowing 

in the wind. she would await a response patiently.

I hope you enjoyed this piece. I’ve never actually had a pen pal, but during quarantine one of my friends and I have been sending letters back and forth to each other. It’s been fun, especially when I see I’ve gotten a letter in the mail. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy out there!

Brooke

Picnic in the Park – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
a lazy afternoon, summertime starting to bloom
     a picnic basket holds down a checkered blanket
on the overgrown grass, shaded by an equally 
     overgrown oak tree. a middle-aged woman can

usually be seen complaining about the maintenance
     somewhere on the grounds. a slight breeze
blows by, leaving the leaves and weaker branches
     to sway in the air, almost suspended in 

movement for a few seconds each way. an attractive
     young couple opens the basket hungrily, to 
reveal sandwiches, fruits, and a bottle of champagne.
     the same middle-aged woman will pause her

complaining to lecture the couple on their 
    drinking in public, but they will laugh it off. they
pretend to stow the bottle away in the basket
    again until she leaves. the sun beats down on

your forehead. you continue to watch the
    couple enjoy their late lunch, as you are the
observer,
    like always

I hope you enjoyed this piece! It was a fun one to write. I could honestly write tons of poems about the different scenes and people I observe while taking my daily walks around my neighborhood park. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or writing challenges you’d like me to try out. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

It’s Greener Now – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
fern green fields filled with lucky clovers await
ready to be rolled in and jumped on and matted down

by the stomping of young enthusiasm. the rain
came down and flooded through the dirt paths, but 

allowed for this growth of green beauty to take over. 
the hills roll on for miles, like words off my tongue

as i attempt to describe what i've just seen in this 
haven. it's impossible, so i bring you here to see for

yourself. my paradise becomes your paradise and we 
sit in the grass and talk and laugh because it's a place

out of a movie and we need to act accordingly.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! It’s definitely not based off of my personal experiences, although it is greener in southern California compared to when we had the drought a few years ago. However, I absolutely love seeing greenery and I hope to move to a place that’s not as hot and very green someday. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Next Time – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
are you ready to move on
    i've never felt farther apart

i could yell a thousand reasons why we failed
    but we could both retort with a thousand why we should stay

and i don't want to stay but 
    you don't want to leave and it's hard for me to let go

i could tell myself that next time i'll stand up
    for myself and next time it will be different but

we both know that would be a lie. so i'll say
    goodbye, and next time i see you i'll say hello, how

are you doing? and next time my eyes land on 
    someone new, hopefully things will be different

and it won't be a lie.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! Please let me know if you have any feedback or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Make sure to stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke