Time to Write!

For those of you who don't know, I am a writer. I hope to one day be a published author, but I should probably finish a book first. Yeah... *Hang my head in shame.* I should get on that. Anyway, part of my being a writer means that I read writing blogs. Many, many writing blogs. Two of my favorites are:

 

Christ is Write

and

Go Teen Writers

I know I'm twenty. Thankfully let us hang around for a while even if we aren't teenagers.

 

One of my favorite things about writing blogs is when they host contests and writing challenges. They're always fun to attempt and getting feedback is always helpful. Not to mention the fact that any and all writing practice is beneficial in some way or another. So, when this past Monday BOTH of these blogs hosted writing challenges, I was pretty darn excited. Just for fun, I'm going to post the prompts and my responses here because I would like to start talking more about writing on my blog.

 

If you're interested, you can join in too on my blog (in the comments), on your blog (leave the address in the comments and I'll check it out, or the above blogs (the links should take you directly to the proper posts. If you don't want to participate, I'd still love your feedback on my responses. :)

 

Alright... Here goes nothing.

 

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Christ is Write: Monday's Minute Challenge

 

Choose at least one and write a 1-3 paragraph response:

• Write a letter to yourself that you will read in December. If you could ask yourself anything, what would it be?
• If you could tell yourself anything this time last year, what would it be?
• Finish this: I never imagined this would be the way my new year would begin.

I'm choosing this one:

 

If you could tell yourself anything this time last year, what would it be?

 

Dear January 8, 2013 Me:

I know life's kind of frustrating, right now. I know the past few months have been hard, with you being sick and all -and even though you're finally getting proper treatment, I know you don't feel all that much better yet. I know you hate being nineteen, single, and having never been on a date. I know how much you love sports medicine and how you hate the fact that you're about to give up on that dream, despite the heart you've poured into it for two years. I know that life doesn't make much sense right now, but Ashley... Trust me. You are about to have an amazing year! It won't seem that way all the time. In fact, it's going to be a rough year. You're going to get even more frustrated before things get better. You're going to go through a spiritual drought that won't let up until mid-summer. Then, when it finally rains, you're going end up slogging through a few months of murky uncertainty. In that time, you will make some mistakes. You'll let quite a few people down, yourself included.

It won't be until the end of the year that you start walking away from that murky bank and begin wading into deeper, purer water. Eventually, you're going to have to stop wading and start swimming. Swimming in a sea of God's grace. It will be terrifying -because, let's be honest, you never have been a good swimmer- but you will quickly find that what you've been doing isn't going to "fix" things. Only when you start swimming, will  you find what you've been searching for -and it will be incredible.

So, don't worry. You're going to be fine. There will be moments, even in the drought and the murkiness when you will smile, laugh, and experience little bursts of joy that will drive you to seek after a deeper joy. A joy that never fails. You're going to find it. Until then, you just keep seeking.

Sincerely, January 8, 2014 Me

 

Go Teen Writers: Writing Contest

 

Using the following sentence, write what could be the first paragraph of a novel. You may not change the prompt sentence, and it may be no more that 107 words. (The prompt sentence + 100 words.)

 

Your prompt sentence is: Every word he spoke was a lie.

 

Every word he spoke was a lie. My eighteen-year-old brother hadn’t been to a Robotics Club meeting all year and he wasn’t too sick today to go to the convention. My parents never would have believed that, though. In their eyes, Riley was a saint. If they knew about all the things he’s done, they wouldn’t think what I did was so bad. I wasn’t at that party because I wanted to be there. I was there because Emma had begged me to come get her. I didn’t get into that fight because I wanted to. I only punched her sleazy boyfriend because he’d hit her.   

***

 

Well, those were my responses. What do you think?

I'd love for you to give it a shot, too. :)