Amy Laurens's Blog, page 101

5 Ways Writing Is Good For You (Repost)

So, I was thinking the other day about all the reasons why writing is simply awesome. And I realised something: writing is awesome because it’sgood for you! Isn’t that great news? Here are 5 reasons I discoveredwhywriting is good for you.

1) Writing is good for your brain. You get to perform weird mental contortions while you figure out how your character is going to get out of this dead-end alley way when she has nothing but the dress she’s wearing, uncomfortably high-heeled sandals, a razor...

You Don’t Have To Try

So, this is a relevant appendage to my post from yesterday about loving the imperfect. Enjoy.

Loving the Imperfect

Posted this on Tumblr just now, and thought the blog could use it too.

See, the thing is ladies (and those gents that need to hear this too, naturally), no one ever said you had to only love things that were perfect. Pretty sure all of us could pick flaws in EVERYTHING we love, if pressed. I love my son, but sometimes he annoys the snot out of me. Ditto my husband. Ditto my job, my friends, the people I spend my work day with, my house, heck, even my favourite foods. I love them, but I wouldn’...

In Which It Hurts: Alive and Uncut

showing a documentary to theclass
on social media
and how corporations collect and sell data based on likes and RTs etc
they are all so naive
and they are totally missing the point
they’re all like – dude, that guy is so not even funny
and i’m like – dude, he makes a living out of doing nothing but vlogging his life
you do not even realise how insane it is that that is even POSSIBLE
o.O
and then there was the whole – girls always get more likes on their profile pictures than guys
so i paused to stand o...

Are We Self-Censoring Our Way To Dystopia?

So, this is a lesson I conducted for my seniors literally just now, and it was awesome and thinky and I wanted to share :) We are studying the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and in that context we are looking at the idea of censorship. You don’t have to have read the novel to get the below; the first video gives a nice summary of the high points, though the presenter speaks very fast, so I recommend doing what I did with the class and watching it twice if you’re not familiar with the n...

Editing and Revision Checklist

Came across this awesome article a month or so ago – 20 Thoughts on Revision – which has 20 things to think about and ways to approach the revision of your story. There’s some good stuff in there. You should totally read it.

Commitment (Repost)

In order to be a writer, you have to be committed to the act of writing. It’s not enough to just talk about writing, towantto be a writer, to have great ideas and hang out with writers. You have to actuallywrite. Pretty simple, pretty straightforward.

Superficially.

Like a relationship, really. To have a successful relationship, all you need to do is love each other and communicate, and you’re sweet. Simple as that.

Uh huh, reeeeeeeal simple.

But having a commitment to writingismuch like having a...

Reading Young Adult

So I meant to post this like a month ago when it was a Hot Topic, but we all know I’m less than timely when it comes to blogging, so meh. Better late than never. With the context that a top news site released an article essentially degrading adult readers of Young Adult (YA) fiction, the internet exploded – especially Twitter, where a lot of authors hang out. Shannon Hale, a well-known YA author, had a particularly lucid analysis of the situation, which I storified below for ease of access. I...

Caught Up: Following The Rules (Repost)

Today I wanted to have a look at the things we get caught upwith.

Glam recently – or not so, perhaps; been away for so long I’ve no idea – posted an article about being caught up in following the rules. And I realised, once again, that sometimes the things I find self-evident really aren’t so at all.

I’m a rule follower, usually. Always have been. I was a straight-A student all throughout highschool; I won all sorts of awards right throughout, and graduated second in my year, in the 99th percen...

When We Know Better

New post up on the Darkness and Good blog. This one…eh. This one is.