Keep Calm And Write On

So when Miley Cyrus shocked the world a few days ago, there was a kerfuffle about her actions. Rightly so.  The internet exploded with outrage. Because the pen is mightier than the sword, and all that. And blogging about your outrage using expletives instead of reason is the way to accomplish change. Obviously. It's disturbing enough that this happened. On national TV, no less. But we have called only more attention to it by spreading our opinions through the blogosphere. Oh well. It's been a slow week. It's not like we have a potential war to think about, or anything. It's been so peaceful the past oh, five years that we have to invent things like this to be enraged about. Welcome to America. I, like so many other innocent blog surfers got sucked into THE GREAT MILEY DEBATE with great reluctance. In fact, I didn't even know about it until I read this post by an ordinary mom. This same post sparked a letter written by blogger Matt Walsh to

Anyone who knows me knows that I have some pretty solid opinions on many different things. I also happen to have a fear of being ostracized for them, and thusly I reign in my thoughts and restrain them, because I might offend someone. And we can't have that. Heaven forbid someone might be offended. But I have decided enough is enough. We live in a dark world, and as a Christian, I am called to be the light. What exactly is stopping me from doing that? I'm not sure. I've already gone against the societal grain in many ways, I was home-schooled all my life, I didn't date in high-school, and I just recently released my second book. (Which happens to be a look into the possibilities for the future of America-dystopian, disturbing-written to be thought-provoking.) Clearly, I am a follower. This ends now. I will no longer say the "right" things. I will say the Write things, I will write the things that are RIGHT for me to say because *they* are RIGHT. This

"Where do you go to school?" I have been asked that question all my life. And the answer always gave people pause. "I'm home-schooled." Now that I've graduated, the question is the same, and the answer is more shocking. "I'm taking a semester off." I agonized for weeks and weeks, wondering if I was doing the right thing. Would it really be worth it to lose a semester of staring at textbooks for much of the day? What if what I planned to do instead (finish my second novel) didn't pan out, or i failed miserably, and I wished I hadn't given it a try? Well, let me tell you something. This week, almost all of my friends posted pictures of themselves on their first day back to school. My first thought was, of course: "Is it that time already?" My second thought was: "That should be me." And yet...I didn't really think so. It was merely my way of wondering if I was doing the right thing by going agains

When my dear friend Meghan started the blog, Every Good Word, I knew the blogosphere was in for some fun...and I was right! Here's my version of her wonderful link up idea. 1.         What was your first-ever piece of writing?  My first ever published piece of writing was an article on Real Teen Faith somewhere around three years ago. {yikes!} 2.         How old were you when you first began writing?  I've been 'writing' since I was small, but I've been producing  readable  words since my freshman year or high school, when I began my blog to share my thoughts with an unsuspecting world. 3.         Name two writing goals. One short term & one long term.   Hmm. Those tricky things called goals. Well, I'd like to finish Arising, the second book in the Underground Trilogy, by November, and in the long term, I want my writing to inspire people's imagination, maybe spark a story idea of their own. I want to be an impactful writer. 4.