11 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Writing

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I've been writing for about forever. 

For as long as I can remember, I've been dreaming up stories in my head and trying to put them into words. It's just who I am. 

It wasn't until about two years ago, though, that I decided to really pursue this as a career. 

It's not like writing is that easy, I realized. There's a lot more to it than just what I assumed when I started. Over the past two years of doing my "serious writing" I've learned a lot. 

Here are 11 things I wish I knew before I started writing:

1. Not everything you write is going to be good. I'm a perfectionist and, unfortunately, not everything that I write is perfect. (Actually, none of it really is.) Some of it will be good, and some if it will not. That's just the nature of it.
2. Coming up with stories isn't that easy. Trying to come up with different, unique plot lines and characters is a lot harder than I thought it would be. 
3. You won't finish everything you start. There have been many projects that I've given up halfway through. Maybe I'll get back to them one day, and maybe I won't. It's okay either way.
4. Your first draft isn't going to be what you send to publishers. Editing is a necessary evil in this business. The thing about writing is that it takes time for it to be good. You could write and rewrite a hundred times before it's where you want it. That's okay too.
5. You have to be careful which publishers you let have your book. I got a call from a publisher about Coffee Colored in September-ish last year, and was so ecstatic. But then they asked me for $2,000 and I looked into reviews of them and found some shady stuff. Needless to say, they don't own the rights to my book. Be careful not to be deceived. 
6. Your first book isn't likely to get picked up by a publisher. It's probably not likely that your first book will get published (it could, don't get me wrong), it's just that usually, your first book isn't up to "publisher standards." Writing takes a lot of practice. 
7. Self-publishing is awesome. I never thought that I would self-publish. I thought I would just take my time trying to make my books perfect and exactly what publishers were looking for so that I could end up in the rows of Barnes & Noble. And while that is still definitely something I am pursing, I have also found self-publsihing to be very rewarding in the meantime. ((Shameless plug) You can buy Coffee Colored here, if you'd like.)
8. It's okay if you write fan fiction. Personally, I don't, but I do read it. And let me tell you: I've read some fic that is better than some published novels that I've read. Don't let people discourage you from writing fic if that's what you want to write. It's totally a totally valid genre.
9. Reading a ton is the key to good writing. The more you read, the more you will learn about how to write. It's been so helpful for me to read other books and study how those authors write. It's helped me improve my writing so much. (It's even okay to read fic, especially good fic, because that can help you improve as well.) 
10. NaNoWriMo is an excellent motivator. I wouldn't have finished either of my two books if it weren't for NaNoWriMo, honestly. Coffee Colored was mostly written in November 2013 (although I didn't finish completely until January 2014), and Scavenger Hearts (which will hopefully be available soon) I wrote completely in November 2014. (I'm working on editing it right now.) ((p.s. don't forget that it's okay if you don't reach 50,000 words. 50,000 words does not a make or break a novel. As long as you're happy with where it ended, then you've done it.))
11. The most important thing to do when you are a writer is to write. This seems like a no duh type of thing to say, I know. But the fact is that writing is really, really hard. It seems glamorous and oh yeah, I can totally write a book, but it's not that simple. Writing takes time and dedication and discipline. Set aside time everyday to write, and you will reach your goals much quicker.

If you have anything that you wish you would have known when you started writing, let me know in the comments below! I'd love to hear how you've all grown as writers. :)

Blessings,

Shi.

My Biggest Fears

Something that I've always struggled with is fear.

I'm not exactly sure why I struggle with it, and I've tried to overcome it many, many times throughout my life. I've even grown to take the word 'fearless' as my life motto. Because I want to live a fearless life.

But today, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about my biggest fears, and why I have them. They're personal and real, and it is something that I don't usually talk about.

I think it's good to talk about them, though. Because if you talk about it enough, maybe it'll become less scary. Maybe it'll become less of a threat. Here are my top 5 fears:

1. Tornadoes. This one is sort of silly and I'm not exactly sure when I became afraid of it. I remember when I was little sitting in our living room watching the news as a tornado was headed right towards our house and being petrified. Ever since then it's been bad. When there's a thunder stormy that's the first thing my mind goes to. It's even worse now, since the house we're living in doesn't have a basement. I just hate them and never want to have to experience one. Ugh.
2. Getting in a plane crash. Also irrational. I know. I've just always been afraid of this. Again, maybe it was from watching the 9/11 stuff happen on the news when I was 5. I'm not sure. I just know that whenever I get on a plane, I'm nervous.
3. Never falling in love. My dream in life has always been to fall in love, get married, have kids. So my absolute biggest fear is that it'll never happen. I know that I have to trust God with it, and I have been trying my best to, but it still terrifies me. 
4. Letting my parents down. The idea of letting anyone down is horrible to me, so letting my parents down would devastate me completely. They've done so much for me throughout my life that I can't even imagine doing something that would really hurt them. 
5. Never getting my dream job. The idea of never being able to be a stay at home mom and write books scares me. I don't want any other jobs than this. I don't know if I was cut out for anything else, so the prospect of not doing that scares me a lot. 

So, yeah. Some of those are probably pretty silly, but they really do freak me out a lot. I just hope that one day I can defeat the power that fear holds over me and laugh in its face. 

I really, really, really hate fear. 

xoxo, shi

ps. what are your biggest fears? let me know in the comments.

10 Things I Learned from Fangirl | HelloShiloh

So it's 8:36 p.m right now and I have two essays due in the morning, but instead of finishing them I decided I need to make a blog post. (#collegelife).

So, anyway. I've been having a bit of trouble coming up with blog ideas lately, because apparently college is zapping away my creativity. (Who would've guessed having to write 5 essays a week could drain all the words out of your brain. Not me, that's for sure.)("A reverse black hole of words." "So the world is sucking you dry," he said, "of language." "Not dry. Not yet. But the words are flying out of me so fast, I don't know where they're coming from." "And maybe you've run through your surplus," he said gravely, "and now they're made of bone and blood." "Now they're made of breath," she said. [i still love fangirl too much, obviously]).

Anyway: 

Since I mentioned Fangirl, I thought that I might make a list of things this book (and being in college) has taught me. (Or really just why I love it so much.) Here we go.

1. It's okay to be quiet / not fit in right away. With being a first year freshman this year, I'm realizing that it's not as easy to make friends in college as they make it seem. I've made one real friend so far, and that's sort of pushing it. It's always been hard for me to make friends since I'm so quiet, but college is like a totally different game. I'm trying to be patient and give it time. Eventually my Reagan, and more importantly my Levi, will find me.
2. Words will somehow find their way out. (See above quote). It's been an aggressively painful task to write so many essays a week. I'm trying to make the words appear on paper, but it's a lot harder than it may seem. I'm tired and I feel like the words have all been sucked right out of me. But I know that they'll eventually come. It may take some time (and a whole lot of procrastination) but it'll be alright. 
3. Professors are generally understanding. Professor Piper didn't have to let Cath have another semester to finish her final project--professors don't have to do anything--but they're generally pretty cool. And they understand when things come up as long as you talk to them.
4. Sometimes your relationships with people have to change to help to move forward. Cath has to deal with a lot of things that her world used to revolve around changing--particularly Wren--and that's okay. People change and grow apart. The world will still go on. 
5. Sometimes the people you least expect to will mean the most to you. Who would've thought Cath and Reagan would become friends?
6. College isn't all that easy to adapt to; it takes time. You can't really expect to go to college on the first day and be adapted. It's different than anything you've ever done before, and it will take time to get used to. That's okay. Embrace it.
7. It's not healthy to stay locked up in your room writing all the time. As much as this one bums me out, it's true. If you lock yourself away you don't have time to build relationships with people. I would love to spend all of my time hiding away while I write, but honestly, if you do that you have nothing to write about. Relationships with people are the best muses. (They are also really beneficial mentally. Make friends, they're cool sometimes).
8. A little manic is okay. A little manic can inspire creativity. It's okay to be a little bit crazy. Embrace it.
9. It taught me that I want a Levi. That's all I've got to say about that one.
10. Rainbow Rowell is, without a doubt, my favorite author. For awhile I just couldn't seem to pick between her and John Green, but as I've reread Fangirl I realized that there is no competition. She won.

Okay, so those are just a few things that Fangirl has taught me. I guess I'm going to go try to bleed out a few more words for those essays now. Wish me luck. 

I'll write again soon,

xx Shi

September 9, 2014 | HelloShilohh

Okay.

Long time no blog. (I'm so sorry.)

School has been a little bit crazy. College is a lot more difficult than I was expecting, I guess. It's a lot of writing (just not the kind of writing that I'm necessarily good at).

I also haven't made many friends. Just one, so shout out to her.
But seriously: how do you make friends in college? I can't even figure out how to talk to the kids who sit next to me in classes. It's just hard.

I was feeling pretty good until today, really.
It all just kind of hit me at once: four papers due, a test, a book to read, multiple articles to read.
Where does that leave time for me?

Time management is something that we haven't really talked much about yet. I feel like I have to juggle all of this and I'm not quite sure I'm doing a very good job. I'm not used to having three papers due on the same day; I was always the kind of girl who just wrote them the night before and I'm realizing that if I do that now, it won't be my best work. And I want to do my best work. I want this experience to be something that I'm proud of. I want to look back and think of college as a happy time (compared to my time in high school, that is).

I guess I don't really know what else to say.
Today's been hard. Tomorrow will be better (hopefully).
I'm learning and it'll get better as I go.

xoxo Shi

p.s. why can't I have a Levi? I've been re-reading fangirl and just. I want a Levi. There are no Levi's at school so far. 

The Beginning of Everything | Booking It

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

EZRA FAULKNER was supposed to be homecoming king, but that was before--before his girlfriend cheated on him, before a car accident shattered his leg, and before he fell in love with new girl CASSIDY THORPE. 

Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them--a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His particular tragedy waited until he was primed to lose it all: In one spectacular night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra's knee, his athletic career, and his social life.

No longer the front-runner for Homecoming King, Ezra finds himself at the table of misfits, where he encounters new girl Cassidy Thorpe. Cassidy is unlike anyone Ezra's ever met--achingly effortless and fiercely intelligent.

Together, Ezra and Cassidy discover flash mobs, buried treasure, and a poodle that might just be the reincarnation of Jay Gatsby. But as Ezra dives into his new studies, new friendships, and new love, he learns that some people, like books, are easy to misread. And now he must consider: If one's singular tragedy has already hit, what happens when more misfortune strikes?

This book was utterly fabulous. The book had a very John Green-esqe feel to it, which I obviously loved. 

Ezra was really easy to relate to for a lot of reasons. He didn't want to just do what everyone else was doing to fit in, yet he wanted to fit in and find out who he was so desperately.  And Cassidy was great. There was some stuff she did that I didn't really get and I sort of hated her at certain parts of the book, but in the end you truly know why she was the way she was and I thought that was great. 

The last 30ish pages of this book were so intense and beautiful and I just loved it.

Oh, and I loved Cooper. He was a fabulous poodle. Just saying. 

"We all have been fooled into believing in people who are entirely imaginary--made-up prisoners in a hypothetical panopticon."

"'All of our longings are universal longings,' Cassidy said. 'I'm paraphrasing, but it's Fitzgerald.'"

"and I wondered what the future would hold once we'd gotten past our personal tragedies and proven them ultimately survivable." 

and my personal favorite:

"Oscar Wilde once said that to live is the rarest thing in the world, because most people just exist, and that's all. I don't know if he was right, but I do know that I spent a long time existing, and now, I intend to live." 

*****

5 outta 5

I completely and totally recommend this book it was lovely and wonderful and yes. 

You should read it. 

you can find Robyn Schneider on youtube!

Read on :)

Coffee Colored

Hey,

so much for keeping up on this blog, right? I'm literally so bad at this.

I just wanted to let you all know that I have officially finished my first book!
I am so happy with the way it turned out and thankful for all of the support that I've been given on it. It is available to read on Wattpad for now (click here if you'd like to read it.) I would, however, love to get it published. I can't imagine how amazing that would be. If I were to publish it, the plot holes, grammatical issues, and a little bit of the plot would be altered. It would basically just be really polished up and better. I'm really hoping to do this, so if anyone has any tips or advice that I should take while looking for a publisher please let me know!

Thanks so much xx