The English Inquisitor

Ever thought of trying to publish some of your writing? It can seem like a daunting process, sending out letters and excerpts, and getting rejection letter after another.

But more and more frequently writers are turning to the internet. Between online publications like Slate.com, traditional newspapers going more online to cut costs, and writers themselves just deciding to put their stuff out there. At the National Book Awards, Maxine Hong Kingston, a published writer many times over, described how she published her own work on the internet. She wrote a letter, sent it out to many newspapers, but no one would publish it. So she put it out herself. 

Some of our students are doing the same. Raven is in 10th grade, taking English with us at FLVS. She writes a regular blog for the Herald Tribune. It’s been a great way for Raven to start to get her foot in the journalism door. Check out Raven’s blog, Teens Today.

If you really want to publish, you have the tools in your hands to get your stuff out there!

I don’t get why people judge
they judge me because of
those I hang out with or those
that I go out with
they judge me when I’m by myself
all quiet and humble
but in a way vulnerable
and unable to cope with the world
why do they judge me for the
ones I like and soon start to love
why does everything have to be their way
why do you judge me
make up lies that just symbolize
nothing
why does my head keep spinning
and can’t find a way
why can’t you manage the life you live
and not disturb mine
why do these tears always seem to come out at night
why judge me and not just love me

A monotony of asphalt seems like threat, as I turn up the radio,
until I drown out the sound of internal voices,
and with every increase in decibel, you are forced farther into
the back of my head, like a quick blow to the skull.

All the memories of what you look like become
clouded with nicotine fraught smoke, as I become able
to exhale, my lungs fluctuating with intensity, and realize
what is happening. Realizations turn to pressure in my chest
and stinging in the corner of my eyes; I can’t erase you.

Until I sit across from your apparition, with nothing
to say, and a monotony of asphalt that seems like a threat,
because I come to understand, and am yearning to
admit that we are still learning; a pile of ash falls on my lap.

So what is NaNoWriMo?

The Young Writers Program of National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your- pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a novel by midnight, November 30. The word-count goal for our adult program is 50,000 words, but our Young Writers Program allows participants who are 17 years old and younger to set reasonable, yet challenging, word-count goals.

I will be working in the challenge, and am very excited! Please join me for a month full of writing fun!

The only thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: you will be writing a lot of strange stuff, and some of it will be just plain bad. But that’s a good thing! For 30 days, you get to lock that inner editor in the basement, let your imagination take over, and just create!

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants of all ages are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel.

In 2007, over 100,000 adults participated through our main site, and 14,000 young writers participated through our Young Writers Program.

Click on the image below to go to the website

Look out onto the world…
Do you see the water so blue?
Trees so green?
Animals roaming free?
-Well, that’s all from a distance

Look up into the sky…
Do you see the air so clear?
Clouds passing by?
Birds soaring high?
-Well that’s all from a distance

Look down onto my life…
Do you see the smile on my face?
Can you hear my roaring laughter?
The innocent conversation going on between friends,
So close and so caring?
Mother and daughter sweetly chatting?
-Well that’s all from a distance

Zoom in and see the pollution,
Oxygen escaping us with each breath.
Creatures in such unsheltered captivity.
Ozone layer diminishing.
Clouds floating to the ground, disappearing.
Birds one by one dropping from the sky.

My smile turning upside down,
It was never really there.
The laughter silencing…
Unimportant conversations,
No meaning behind it.
-No longer at a distance.

Tall, Dark and Dead, Dead Sexy, and Romancing the Dead by Stefanie Sarros

This is a super adorable series about love, and magic and mystery and all the trouble you get into when you mix them together. You’re really going to love these books. Once you read one, you’re hooked. So beware!

It all started when the most gorgeous man alive walked into her store, Mercury Crossing, one afternoon. He had no aura. This meant he was dead. She knew exactly who he was; a vampire. Her ex boyfriend, Daniel Parrish, was a vampire, but how was this guy walking around in the middle of the day? Now the Vatican assassins are after him, and through him, they find her and all hell brakes loose…again.

This is an amazing series. It’s full of magic, love, zombies, witches, ghosts, jealousy, and humor. The stories are told from the main character’s perspective, Garnet Lacey, and she has the cutest personality.

We had an awesome poetry contest! Thanks to everyone who participated. We had some great discussions about why we like certain poems and poets. Way cool!

Congrats to Robin Feuerman, our Winner! Congrats also to Jessica Wright and Christin Stryker, our Runners Up!

Here is her winning poem, “Sitting In The Red Chairs”.

Sitting in the red chairs in the back room
Name called

1 minute on the clock
A mere sixty seconds lead up to the beginning of your biggest dream come true Or your worst nightmare unfold before your eyes

White powdery chalk spread all over your callused hands.
Coach behind you in your ear, its all you can hear even with the crowd cheering.
The most nervous few steps ever leading up to the grand piece of wood

Bar centered
Stand
Think
Focus in on it
Beep beep

Only thirty seconds remaining till it all must begin
Bend down touch the precious metal
One step forward with each foot
Roll bar to the shins
Once
Twice
Three times

Ten seconds on the clock
Shoulders over the bar
Back tight
Head up.
Nothing in the world but you the platform and the bar,

Five seconds left to begin

1 minute after name is called
Thirty minutes of warm-ups
Days of sacrificing to make weight
Months of hard training
And years of complete dedication all lie in this single twenty-five or so seconds in time that could make or break all of the hard work.

Pull
Extend
Second pull
Sit under it and FIGHT
Stand up

Three white lights
Cheers
Happiness
For just a brief flutter in time
Then back to the red chairs
And again its starts 5 more times

150 seconds of work built up by a lifetime full of:
Dreams,
Hopes,
Wishes,
Dedication,
And sheer hard work.

Click here to read the rest of our awesome submissions!

Did you miss out on the extra points available by participating in the Poetry Contest? It’s not too late! Click Here for Information!

Dennis Rodman is sitting in front on the Detroit Palace in Michigan after a hard fought game of basketball. He is going through a lot of emotions and he really needs a lot of help in his life. So he is really thinking should he just kill himself or just continue with his career. So after thinking long and hard about what is going on in his life, he puts the gun down and drives home.  The next day he tells his coach what he had been through and what he had thought about doing.

I think that in the beginning of this book Dennis Rodman was so caught up with his personal life and his professional life that he felt overwhelmed. He didn’t know whether to end his life and end his problems or chose to live and deal with his problems. By putting the gun down he decided to deal with his personal problems. I believe that he told his coach about what had happened the night before so that his coach could give him some advice.

Pammy Dutoit writes:

I have never been interested in vampires or anything of that nature, until I read “twilight”, from the author Stephanie Meyers. I was drawn into this book only after the first couple of chapters.  This story is about a girl named Bella Swan, who chooses to live with her father in a small miserable town called Forks. She falls for Edward Cullen, who is the most handsome boy in school, and also has a huge family secret, they are all vampires. Even though it can cause so much trouble for them to be with each other, they fight for it. This is just such a great love and adventurous story for anybody.

Emily Kuykendall agrees:

I have read all of the books in this series and i absolutely love them! They are incredibly well-written. I was so captivated i couldn’t put them down! I would recommend them in a heartbeat.

Samantha Pridgeon also likes the series. She says:

Those books are simply amazing. If you like mythical creatures like Vampires and Werewolves, then you will adore them. A simple, yet not so simple love triangle for a human girl, a vampire, and a teenage werewolf. I am so excited for the release, and I am actually getting the book shipped to me on Tuesday. But in those books, Stephanie Meyer, has a writing style, that will catch you and make your jaw drop to the floor in anticipation of the next page. I just nearly died when I couldn’t read the fourth book, just as what happens in the end leaves you dying for more. They are probably the best I have ever read so far.

As I sit here from day to day.

I wonder what he will say.

Will he accept me?

Or will he reject me?

He has no idea about my feelings.

Even if he says yes it will still kill me.

I will never know the road I travel down.

Even when you say “turn that frown upside down.”

We’ve known each other for two years.

And I do want him to know that I still care.

Without himIi have no peace.

Like a bird with no tree.

As I sit here from day to day.

I wonder what he will say.