Writing as a Gift

For my writing as a gift I wrote a couple letters to a couple people.

Final Reflection

1. Uh-Oh was probably my favorite thing that I wrote. It was so much fun creating my own book and getting feedback on it. Childhood was a really fun writing post too, it really helped me look back on when I was younger and all of the great times I had.
2. My favorite thing to read this year were the children's books. I really like Meredith's Macy and Chip story. It really showed her personality and take on life.
3. Setting up my blog was so easy that I made it difficult. I never mess with technology most of the time. I just made my blogs name my name to keep it simple. I think the people at my table read it and a couple other people from around this room. I don’t really care who reads, as long as they enjoyed reading it. I might use it in the future when I write some random stories.
4. Journaling can be hard for me if I don’t have someone tell me what I need to write. I can come up with something eventually but it’s usually really hard. I have all sorts of things in my journals, unfinished stories, poems. I don’t want anyone to read it. I probably will not continue journaling if I do it’ll be to finish the story.
5. Drugs

Makeup is a type of drug. You start out every so often just for fun and then you realize you like it, like the way it feels, like the way you feel. So you wear it more and more and more and then it slowly becomes a need to wear it. Eventually you get to the point in which you don’t want to leave the house without it. If you’re ever running late and don’t have the time you spend the rest of the day avoiding eye contact at all costs or you just skip whatever you were going to. Makeup can be a problem, it can be an addiction. But, can’t anything?

6. She blinked in the overwhelming darkness, her senses slowly coming to life. She questioned herself as to why she was awake. Her alarm hadn’t woken her up so what did? There was no possibility of going back to sleep now, grumpily sighing and swinging her legs out of bed she put her foot down. Silently cursing she yanked it back up and was muttering incoherently when she felt the prickle of someone watching her. Warily she glanced around the room as the prickles continued traveling up and down her spine. Disturbed she put her feet on the floor again wincing slightly at the biting cold. She suspected it was probably her stupid brother, and if it was she was going to punch him in the face and happily go back to bed while his blood dried on her knuckles.
7. I plan on continuing to write my stories. I don’t really get anything other than the satisfaction of knowing I can write a story. My story writing is something I want to do, writing at school is something I have to do.
8. Thank you for reading my stories and offering me feedback, critique, and encouragement.

Uh - Oh

In the middle of the night only one stays awake. He's always ready to protect. All you need to say is "Uh-Oh", and he's there ready to help and save the day. One day he heard it. "Uh-Oh". He rushed to the sound. He looked up when he heard a whooshing sound. Meatballs were falling from the sky! He hid in a cave till it stopped. When it finally did he began cleaning up the meatball mess. Later that day when he was taking a nap he heard it again, " Uh-Oh". Running to the sound he slid to a stop. A loud creaking noise coming from above him scared him. A skyscraper was falling over! Using his strength and speed he ran to the skyscraper and tried to hold it up. He held up the bottom but the top fell off! Carefully he stood the bottom back up and then lifted the top and put it back on. After a long day of hard work it was time to go to bed. There were no other "Uh-Oh's" for the rest of the night.

About the Author

Katelynn Sandford is a young girl who lives with her mom and two siblings. She is the oldest of three. Her best friend is her dog rascal. 

Books for Kids

Title: Time to go home, Little Bunny

Author: Emily Hawkins

Cover: Field with a tree, multiple creatures meandering at dusk, little bunny in the center. 

Page num: 14

Characters: Little Bunny, Bunny's parents, mice, fox, deer, owl, squirrel.

Summarize: Baby is scared of the dark. He gets lost in the woods. Gets over his fear of the dark with the help of friends.

This book includes: animals as characters, a lesson of some kind, illustrations, color, actual photos, lots of words per page.

Favorite sentence: It's time to go home little bunny.

Appropriate age: 6 and older, a certain age is necessary for them to be able to understand and read the words.

I would've liked this book as a kid because it had plenty to read but still has pictures.

Comments

I love the smell of freshly blown out candles too! I've always loved family game night, My great grandma is still the same way. We have to show her which card we're playing and then suggest what she should play.

I loved the Junie B. Jones books too! They we're always a good thing to read when I needed a distraction. I absolutely loved The Tigger Movie. When my siblings we're finally old enough to understand a movie it was the first movie I made them watch with me.

I too have had many injuries in my life, I feel that it kind of effects the way you grow up in a good way. I still love monopoly but it is very hard to find people who want to play it. I still eat the entire box of fruit snacks in a day.

Childhood

 2.) The most important person to me when I was a child was cousin Josh. My dad has never been in my life so I've always looked at him like a father figure. As I grew older he became more of a brother. He always helped me in anything I've ever needed. When I was little I tried to be like him as much as possible. If he liked a band I liked that band. If he liked boots I liked boots. If he cut his hair I cut mine. He has influenced me to be a better person, a more kind person.

4.) Kayla Burkholder, we enjoyed doing everything together. We would play tag together, jump rope, play on the swings. It all changed when she became a cheerleader and her new friends decided I wasn't cool enough to play with them.

 

5.) A family fun night was and still is very rare in occurrence. We would start it off by playing lots of board games, when we got hungry we went and got dinner at a restaurant. After that we would go get tickets for a movie, while we waited for the movie we would go to a close park and play until it was time for the movie. After the movie we would get desert and go home.

12.) I went to the E.R. so many times when I was younger that they thought my mom was abusing me. They realized I was just accident prone when I went to the E. R. from the school. I've pretended to be superman on the swing resulting in a busted head. I fell out of a window and shattered my collarbone. I tripped on my blanket and hit my ear on the corner of a table and cut it in half.

2.) 1- Don't jump straight into a lecture, it's the easiest way to get your kid to shut down. 2- Don't yell 3-Put yourself in their position before getting upset.

5.) I don't think it's a matter of age. I think it's based on maturity. Dating is meant as a way to prepare you for marriage and see if you even like the person enough to spend the rest of your life with them. I think it's whenever you feel ready. You can wear a thong at 18. Fall in love whenever you're actually in love.

10.) Families can be involved but they shouldn't be so pushy, forcing them to go on dates with people they barely know. I feel the same way for myself.

13.) I don't know that they are more interesting but they normally have really cool stories and experiences.

18.) I know I'm in Tennessee because you're the only ten I see.

Hercules


Hercules


Peter Pan

Movies

My favorite movie is Fried Green Tomatoes.  I love this movie because although it is sad it's extremely funny as well. It has a lot of unexpected twists. It's an all around enjoyable movie. The movies I don't care for normally are the educative movies. Where a monotone person narrates everything and makes learning as boring as possible. I watch movies all the time every weekend and most weekdays. I usually watch them at home or a friends house. The best way to watch a movie is with a group of friends at night with a couple of snacks. Popcorn and chips, and something sweet. The survey said I'm 42% extroverted. I'm moderate in activity and enthusiasm. I enjoy the company of others but I also value my privacy. I am 67% agreeable. I'm generally warm, trusting, and agreeable, but I can sometimes be stubborn and competitive. I'm 42% conscientious. I'm easygoing, not very well organised, and sometimes careless. I prefer not to make plans. I', 67% emotionally stable. I'm generally calm and able to deal with stress, but I sometimes experience feelings of guilt, anger and sadness. I am 50% open to new experiences. I'm down-to-earth, practical, traditional, and pretty much set in my ways. If my life story was made into a movie it would be a very boring documentary. Jennifer Lawrence would play me. A couple main events would be me graduating from college, me moving to Mexico, and then me fading into insanity with all my cats. It would be a sad ending, involving my death.

                

Wrong

She blinked in the overwhelming darkness, her senses slowly coming to life. She questioned herself as to why she was awake. Her alarm hadn’t woken her up so what did? There was no possibility of going back to sleep now, grumpily sighing and swinging her legs out of bed she put her foot down. Silently cursing she yanked it back up and was muttering incoherently when she felt the prickle of someone watching her. Warily she glanced around the room as the prickles continued traveling up and down her spine. Disturbed she put her feet on the floor again wincing slightly at the biting cold. She suspected it was probably her stupid brother, and if it was she was going to punch him in the face and happily go back to bed while his blood dried on her knuckles. Deep down though she knew it wasn’t him which is why she picked up the knife. As she walked out of the room she heard the exaggeration of someone trying really hard not to be heard. She rolled her eyes and ducked down and out of the way. She saw the hand grip the railing. She waited patiently for them to take the final step down. When they finally did she plunged the knife into their back severing the spinal cord and rendering them incapable of movement. She stepped over them and got a good hold on their hair to reveal the face, lifting the head she realized it was one of the experiments. “Hm one of you finally figured out you could attempt leaving? Well lets make sure no one else wants to try that out and take you back shall we?” The pure fear in their eyes made her giggle. She dragged them back down the stairs, not bothering to make sure they were comfortable she dropped the head and walked back towards the cell it escaped from. Just then her brother made his way downstairs not bothering to hide his footsteps. Annoyed that she had to deal with one of his pets she punched him in the stomach for good measure and went back to bed. This time she closed and locked her door. Tired she went back to bed and fell into a deep sleep. She wasn’t asleep for long when she snapped wide awake and sat up. The experiment hadn’t been watching her, and why was her brother already dressed? Normally she would’ve had to drag him out of bed to deal with it but he was already up. Getting dressed she opened the door softly and peeked around. Another one of his experiments we’re coming up the stairs. This time rather than immediately attacking she paused and watched them rush to the door and run out. She waited a minute and sure enough her brother came up the stairs and calmly walked out the door. She waited another minute and followed him. She closed the door softly behind her. It wasn’t hard to find him he sounded like a giant blind bear running into every tree and stomping on dry leaves and sticks. This is why she did the hunting. She heard the screaming before her brother did, running ahead she climbed a tree and waited for him to find his pet in one of her pits. When he did catch up to the screaming girl he tsked her and kept walking. She gave up screaming and was now just sobbing. He came back a couple minutes later carrying a bucket. He took the lid off and dumped the contents on her and walked away whistling. Now curious, she inched herself down the tree just enough to realize it was a bunch of spiders and snakes he had dumped on her. All of them were lethal. Now she was confused, he never killed them unless they got sick and this girl clearly wasn’t at least not yet. She was about to climb down and confront her brother when he came running back, followed closely by another one of his pets armed with one of her own bows. She heard the solid thunk of an arrow finding its mark and the girl slowly walked backwards towards the pit. It was clear she hadn’t seen it in her chase, and then fell backwards into it. She now slipped down from the tree and walked back to the house. She grabbed two duffel bags, in one she filled it with all necessary items: clothes, food, money. In the other she packed all her weapons. She carried them out to the car and then jogged back to the house. She doused everything in gasoline and then dropped the match. She got in the car and left. She was happy to be rid of that nightmare. It was as she was turning onto the main road that she saw her brother out of the corner of her eye stumbling into the road waving his arms at her trying to get her attention. She merely sped up and kept going. He was never going to find her even if he did survive. She finally felt the peace she was so badly pursuing. Her heart lifted more and more the farther away she got from the house of all things wrong.  

The first the he heard was the screams and then a roaring rushing noise. He walked out of the building searching for the source. He froze in shock, and then did the unthinkable. As the waves rushed towards him he calmly sat down, rather than trying to run, flashing back to all the good things in his life. As chaos settled around him he found peace. People were running around him and into him, but he was oblivious. Memories flashed through his head, marrying the love of his life, holding his baby girl for the first time. Hearing his baby girl say dad for the first time. Friday night dinner dates with his beloved. The roar of the water was approaching but it all seemed to slow down. The brown water was crashing through the trees now. Splashing up above his head was a wall of murky brownish colored water. He smiled fully prepared for what was to come. He had been given a good life. He closed his eyes as the water rushed over him. His body was flipped and rolled and contorted, but he didn’t panic he just waited for the end. He went rigid when he released he didn’t know where his family was. They could’ve been out shopping just like him, or they could be at home, either way it was too late. He forced his body to relax and then he let go of his breath ready to done. A calming blackness settled over him and then he was gone.

The photo sat atop her desk, the first year she taught a class by herself, the class standing in a bunch around her. Looking up she took in the eager faces of the new students of the year. She smiled and stood. “My name is Elizabeth Fuller but you can call me Ms. Fuller. This is my final year of teaching. I know we’re going to have a great time.”,she said. “In this class we’ll learn math and how to read. We’ll start with reading now actually, in your desk is a book go ahead and pull it out. Can anyone read that first word to me, or does anyone want to take a guess to see if you know what it is?” Not a single was raised. “Okay can we spell the word together?”, she asked. A chorus of yes was her only response. Together they said T H E and then she said “That word is the can we practice that a couple times?” They practiced saying it a couple times and then moved on to the next word. Once they finished the sentence she released them to go play and eat lunch. She sat down and ate her lunch watching the children out of the window. She decided they would go home early today. All she wanted was a picture of her last class and then she would be happy for the rest of the school year. She walked outside and lined the class up then took the picture and sent them home.




Profile:

Elizabeth Fuller
02/15/1856
Noel
Teacher
Reading
The unknown
Make a better generation

Abandoned

After a hard day of work constructing the rail road tracks they began making their way to their cars ready to go home. Turning around one last time he worried for a split second about the leaning cart. Surely the wind wouldn't blow it over. Turning back around the worries slipped away as he thought of going home to his wife and getting a warm meal and rest. He was only on the road for a couple minutes when his car started making an odd noise and puttered to a stop. He sighed and made his way to the gas station a little ways up the road. Several hours later he realized that the station was a lot farther than he remembered. Sighing in relief as the lights of civilization appeared. He ran to the gas pump to make sure it was still working. Once assured he made his way away from the creepy dark woods and into the gas station. He walked in and called for someone, he needed to find a phone and call someone to take him home. The only thing that greeted him was silence. Unsettled he walked around and caught sight of the phone behind the counter. He crept back constantly glancing behind him and quickly dialed 911 and told the operator the address when the line went dead. His heart leapt into his throat at the sound of a car engine roaring to life and then speeding away. As he struggled to calm himself he heard sirens approaching from the distance and smiled to himself. He was going to be okay.

            

Window Poem

I see two trees

waving in the wind

A counter top speckled 

with crumbs from meals past

Today looking out 

the leaves have changed

Sometimes when the wind

blows hard enough the

trees introduce themselves

Looking out I see

the colorful leaves

brightened by the

sun shining through

A few streets down there

waits a bright red truck

gleaming in the sun.

Artist Profile: Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso was born on Oct 25, 1881. He was born to father Don Jose Ruiz Blasco and Mother Maria Picasso y Lopez. His father was a painter and an art teacher. He had two sibling, Lola and Concepcion. For schooling he studied at the School of Fine arts and was an advanced student at the Royal Academy of San Fernando. His first marriage was to Olga Khoklova and his second marriage was too Jacquline Roque. During his lifetime every modern invention was made. World War 1 and 2 were fought.  The Korean and Vietnam wars were also fought, and nuclear bombs were invented. Three struggles Picasso had were 1, in the Blue Period, picassos best friend died. The second one was Guernica, the town was destroyed by bombs. Thousands of innocent people were injured or killed. When Picasso was planning an exhibit of over 200 of his works  when he died on April 8, 1973.

Most famous artworks:

Pic of Picasso:

Woman Lost

She hurried down the street calling for her children, she reached the river bank and had a horrible feeling she wouldn't like what she saw. She was pacing back and forth staring at the water waiting for something to happen. Just then she saw a man and ran towards him. "Excuse me sir." ,she called as she got closer to him. "Sir! Do you have just a minute to help me find my children?" But he didn't respond just walked away. She let one tear fall and then another before she was uncontrollably sobbing. She heard a sound and looked up, there were her children in the middle of the river waving at her. They seemed to be calling for her to join them. She got up and started wading towards them soon the river was pulling at her feet as she swam to where she last saw he children. The next thing she knew something had a hold of her feet and was pulling her down. "No I have to get them", She thought silently, "they'll drown without me". As the last of her breath was released she opened her eyes to see her children laughing at her then swimming away. 

   

The Room of Chaos

I question my sanity once again as I walk through the door. Who would honestly show up for such a weird interview? What kind of interview requires a psych test? Oh well, trying to push it into the back of my mind, I walk to the front desk. "Hi I'm here for the interview." The lady behind the desk stared at me in shock and then recovered. "Of course right this way." She led me down a hallway and several turns later we were standing in front of a door. She glanced at me nervously and then knocked on the door and almost ran away. The door slowly opened and I tentatively called, "Hello? Is someone there?" I pushed the door open and took a step in. As soon as I cleared the path of the door it slammed shut. I jumped and then ran to the door, of course it was locked. What was I thinking? I sagged against the door, only 48 hours to go. 3 hours later I was still questioning why I had even come. 1000 Dollars and a job to anyone that can last 48 hours in THE ROOM OF CHAOS. Looking back now I don't know why I thought I needed to do this, I have a good steady job I was very happy actually. Drifting out of my thoughts I got up and started pacing the room, why is it called the room of chaos anyways? It's just a bare darkish room, but as the hours passed my mind started playing tricks on me telling me the walls were moving and that there we're shapes coming out of them. At one time something came out of the wall and I jerked back so fast I fell and hit my head knocking myself out. When I woke up I was in a hospital and couldn't remember anything nor what happened to cause me to be in a hospital.

Peace

She rushed through the store ready to be on the road already. Quickly she grabbed a couple packs of propane fuel and charcoal. Heading to the self check out she started pulling out her wallet, and full out ran into him. She went down along with the rest of her groceries. She glared up at him, “the least you could do is apologize”, she muttered angrily. “Catty? Is that you?” he asked. Oh great she thought to herself, to him she responded “Hi Cole, gotta go see ya later.” She finished checking out and was putting the groceries in the back of the car when little arms wrapped around her waist. She smiled and said “it can only be one person,” she turned around “Nick! How are you?”. He just smiled as a response. “Still not talking huh? Where's your mom?” I asked. He pointed to their van. I took his hand and we walked over, I knocked on the window and she slowly turned her head to look at me. She’d clearly been drinking her eyes were bloodshot and unfocused. I sighed and wrote out a note on the back of my receipt. I have Nick. Call me when you’re sober. Love Catty. I opened the side door and took his car seat and replaced it with the note. “Come on Nick we’re going camping.” I said excitedly. I got him buckled into the car and we we’re on the road. I handed him one of my sisters old unused coloring books and a box of crayons. We stopped just to get dinner and then we we’re off again. When we got to the cabin the sun was just setting so we walked to the edge of the clearing and watched it. As it faded away and left us in the dark we went inside the cabin and got ready for bed. I was tucking Nick into bed when he spoke the very first words I’ve ever heard. “I don’t want to leave here it’s so peaceful and quiet.”, he whispered. “Okay” I whispered back, “We’ll stay here forever.”

I got this idea from an ad for camping items.

6 Word Memoir 

Wait. Hold on. I'm not ready

Traumatized at 6, still working through

Adventurous journeys ending at the ER

Pretty pink pillowcase, for the girl

Bright, obnoxious, fast, dirty, broken bug 

The Woods

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. That was when the dogs began howling. I didn't think much of it at first, because they often get worked up about something as silly as a squirrel climbing a tree. It was when they abruptly stopped and started whimpering that I stopped what I was doing and walked over to them. Rascal the biggest and oldest of the bunch was unsuccessfully trying very hard not to be seen. The last time this happened he was a puppy and it wasn't a happy ending for either of us. I ran to the front door double-checking to make sure that it was locked. I then ran to the only window in the house and slid the bars down locking them in place. It was only then that I relaxed a little bit. One by one the dogs made their way into the room with me, slinking in with their heads down. It was almost as if they we're embarrassed that I had seen their fear. As I was sinking down into the chair the doorknob started rattling and then someone or something started pounding on the door with so much intensity the hinges squeaked their protest. I froze hoping the dogs would remember their training and remain silent. To my relief the only thing they did was allow the fur on their shoulders to bristle and they bared their teeth at the door. As quickly as it started the pounding on the door went silent and I turned off the lights. I crept slowly to the window, as I neared it Rascal gave a low warning growl and I paused. I then realized someone was at the window staring at the dogs. I inhaled sharply when they slowly turned to look at me. I knew if they made eye contact it would all be over, but I couldn’t bring myself to look away. They had clearly  been at the same institution as me, I remembered those restricting grey fatigues. I wondered what monstrosity their genes produced for the scientists to release them into these woods. I grabbed my jacket and stepped through the wall. The pure terror in their eyes made my heart hurt, I know what they saw wasn’t pretty. I didn’t even remotely resemble what I used to look like. It’s why I threw away all the mirrors and anything that could reflect my face. My crazy mismatched eyes scared even the scientists who caused them. Snapping out of it, I stepped towards them and they flinched causing me to hesitate. Just then I heard a twig snap and quickly grabbed their arm and pulled them back through the wall with me. I turned on one of the lights, and now realized  it was a boy. A little boy. “How can they experiment on children?”, I wonder aloud. His head whipped up and he stared at me with shock. I managed to stifle my gasp as I stared at his eyes. They were almost like mine except his we’re odd colors, one was purple with stripes of green and the other was pink with blue dots. He didn’t move when I let go of his arm instead he shifts his gaze back to the dogs. “What’s your name?, I ask softly so I don’t scare him anymore than I already have. “Malachi”, he responds. He refuses to take his eyes off the dogs. I smile and pointed to Rascal who was closest to him, “This is Rascal he’s very sweet, you can pet him if you want.”, I spoke slowly unsure how much he could understand. He slowly looked up at me, “Why are you so scared of me? What did I do? Are you going to hurt me too?”, he asked. He had spoken so quickly I barely caught all of his words. “No I’m not going to hurt you, and I’m not sure why I’m scared of you. Actually no I’m not scared of you I’m scared of what you might accidentally do. The last time I let someone like you in here I almost didn’t survive.” I answered. He nodded slowly as if he knew exactly what I was talking about. As an awkward silence stretched in between us it dawned on me that there was no way he knocked on the door. Something was still out there. That must’ve been what I heard right before I took him inside with me. He must have seen the fear on my face because he backed away from me and hid behind the couch. “No I’m sorry Malachi I’m not scared of you, you don’t need to hide. I just realized that it couldn’t have been you that knocked on my door. Do you know who did?” It was his turn to get lost in thought and have the fear spread across his face. He spoke softly but quickly, “It’s the retriever, he is very mean. He’s huge and can find me no matter where I hide.” He looked down at his feet, “He’s going to get you and it’s all my fault.” “No no it’s okay I can take care of him,” I smiled reassuringly at him. “I’ve got tricks of my own.” I said softly already planning on how to rid us of our problem. He looked up at me and smiled shyly, “I can do stuff too.” “ Oh really?” I asked him. He nodded and looked at the couch, the lines and dots in his eyes started moving as he concentrated. Then to my shock, the couch lifted off the floor up above our heads and then started to move back. One of the dogs jumped and hit Malachi making him lose his concentration as the couch plummeted towards us I lifted my arms caught it and set it back down. He hung his head, “Sorry I’m still practicing.” I smiled so am I, I thought to myself. “Want to see something cool?”, I asked him. He looked up excited and nodded. I sat down and patted the seat next to me and he walked over and sat down staring at me expectantly. I whispered, “Or rather hear I guess.” into his head. He jumped, “No way! I can do that too! Not as good as you did it but I’m working on it.”, He said excitedly. I was about to answer him when the someone started banging on the door again. I jumped up and started to walk towards the door when Malachi jumped in front of me. “No he wants me not you” he almost yelled at me. Softly he continued, “I knew he would follow me but I didn’t care, I thought everyone was mean so I didn’t care if anyone else got hurt. I see now that I was wrong and I will not allow you to get hurt because of me.” I smiled sadly at him, “It’s not your choice anymore you deserve a future and this is how you’ll get one. I then picked him up and sat him down on the couch, ordering the dogs to keep him there I walked through the wall. I stared at the “Retriever” he was indeed huge but he didn’t really look scary he looked like a bully. Taking care of bullies was my specialty. I smiled wickedly and drifted into his thought I went to his neural processor and dropped an image of Malachi in the so when he looked at me he would think Malachi was behind me. I pulled myself out of his head and then called to him, “Looking for something?” He spun around so fast he was a blur. He ran towards me and as he pulled back his fist I readied mine, caught his fist and yanked him down deep into the earth and then away from the cabin. As soon as I let go of his fist I traveled back up to air freedom. I walked back to the house and wrote, It is midnight. The rain is beating on the windows. It was not midnight. It was not raining.

Memorable Passage

“At a few minutes before four, Peeta turns to me again. "Your favorite colour . . . it's green?"

"That's right." Then I think of something to add. "And yours is orange."

"Orange?" He seems unconvinced.

"Not bright orange. But soft. Like the sunset," I say. "At least, that's what you told me once."

"Oh." He closes his eyes briefly, maybe trying to conjure up that sunset, then nods his head. "Thank you."

But more words tumble out. "You're a painter. You're a baker. You like to sleep with the windows open. You never take sugar in your tea. And you always double-knot your shoelaces."

Then I dive into my tent before I do something stupid like cry.”

― Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay

This really hit home with me, I did something like this when my uncle was on his death bed. He couldn’t remember me or anything about himself. So I spent my last 10 minutes with him telling him everything I could remember about him. I told him all of my favorite memories with him and everything he accomplished with his life.

Quote Post

-Anonymous 

"Writers as Readers"

When I read I can pretty much do it anywhere. The most preferable way to do it for me, is alone in a high place like a tree or on my house. No matter what i need music in my ears to help completely  block out the world. I absolutely can not read in silence. I enjoy eating while I read but I never fully get into it because I’m so worried I’m going to get food on it.

One of my best memories connected to reading is making one of my best friends with a book. I don’t remember which book it is now but we both wanted the same book and we would always get to the library at the same time and head to where the book should be and find out that it had just been checked out. So we conspired together to get the book before anyone else could, and that’s how we became best friends.

A book that I couldn’t stop reading was the 5th wave, I couldn’t stop because it was an exciting read the whole time you never knew what was going to happen next. Even when I had to put the book down I never stopped thinking about it, I would try and guess the possibilities of what was going to happen. Then I wouldn’t be able to focus because I needed to know what happened. The Daughters of the Moon series is a very hard couple books to get through because they’re essentially the same thing over and over.

I can’t remember which book I read first because I’ve always read more than one book at a time, so it’s between When You Take a Mouse To School, I’ve Got a Wocket in my Pocket, or Green Eggs and Ham. These books stand out to me because they’re the first books I read all by myself.

I think someone that reads a lot can be a very strong writer but then again I read all the time and I’m a terrible writer. I’m much better at editing someone else's writing, in fact I enjoy editing. I think this is because it’s essentially reading just with a separate goal in mind. I think if you pay enough attention to sentence structure and themes you might be able to directly or indirectly put it into your work but i feel that you really have to be paying attention to it.

If I ever wrote a book someday it would be a very short fictional story, it might take some of my past experiences and put a dark twist on them. On the “About the Author” I would want it to make me seem as mysterious as my book. So it would just have very basic facts that you could learn just by googling me. For example, Katelynn is from a tiny town near Arkansas, she isn’t married but does have a lot of animals. It would be very simple and I probably wouldn’t have a picture of myself either.

Being caged 

You can be caged by many things, mentally and physically. Mentally you can let bad experiences or other upsetting conflicts trap you. They never let you move on. For example, I was just confronted or rather accused last night of things I didn't do. It's my mental cage because it's very hard for me to just forget it and move on. When you're caged you do whatever is necessary to escape, I'm the same way. I do whatever I can to get rid of this problem. I calmly talked to the accuser and worked everything out. I have now escaped my mental cage. I only wish all my mental cages were so easy to escape. 

Writers Dreaming

3.)    Talking about bad dreams or bad news or other bad things does give them too much power. Just thinking about them gives them power, they can haunt you or hang over you all day everyday if you allow them to. That is the only way the have power over anyone. When you have a nightmare it generally will fade away and be forgotten if you just stop thinking about it, but if you decide to tell someone about it, it usually sticks with you for a while after that.

5.)     I personally feel I could live without talking for several years, I don’t talk much now as it is. I’m not shy or anything I just don’t talk too much unless I’m required to. If I talked less and listened more not much would change. I might notice more changes in other people, I might notice of someone else is more quiet than me.

6.)    I’m comfortable using both English and Spanish. I would love to be fluent in Chinese or Japanese. I have family that lives both in China and Japan and I know it’s cheesy but I think it sounds cool. I do not agree that speaking English is enough because we live in America, why should everyone else have to learn our language because we’re too lazy or lack the effort to try and learn ours.

7.)    I’m the kind of person that can remember the exact conversation i had with you 2 years ago, but not remember what I ate this morning. I can also recognize your face but if I have to put a name to your face I’m going to fail miserably. I think it is a good thing for me not to remember much of anything, because there's a lot that I’d rather not remember. The fuzziest times of my life are when I’m young and there a couple of months from about 2 years ago that I can’t entirely remember, all I recall when I try to remember was that it was not a good time in my life. The clearest times are all my good memories, I put a lot of focus into remembering my good days and try to forget my bad days.

9.)    When I need to occupy my small mind I climb a tree or I climb the house. I focus a lot better when I’m higher up, or looking down on the view below. My biggest distractions are my phone or my book.

11.)    I think the older the get it does get harder to learn new things but not because of the age, I think it’s harder because you don’t have as much time to focus on what you want to learn. You might be more focused and not distracted but it’s still hard if you don’t have the time. It is true that younger people or even kids learn a little bit faster. I tutor and autistic 5 year old and he has learned more spanish in the 2 months that I’ve been teaching him than I did when I took a class for a year.



Dream Threads 

The faint sound of people busting inside the strange house, reached her from down in the basement. She silently crept up the stairs and watched the FBI swarming into the house taking everyone older than 18. She softly stepped back and cringed when the step creaked underneath her. She froze when the agent took a step towards her. She held her breath and quickly worked her way back down the stairs with no other unwanted noises. She tried to calm kids as a sound like thunder made its ways to their ears. “Ssh they’re leaving now it’ll be okay.” Giant eyes met hers as they heard the step creak. She closed her eyes and stepped to the door, she spun quickly and ushered them back into the secret room she closed the door tightly and quietly picked up the book shelf and placed it in front of the door. She then returned to her post by the door. It opened so slowly she shifted impatiently, they finally took a slow step through the door and then one more. One more step and the agent would be in the perfect position there, as she jumped she realized there was another agent coming down the stairs too late. She knocked the first agent out as the second tried to grab her, she spun around prepared to fight him too but he brought his rifle up and smacked her with it. The taste of iron assaulted her tongue before she blacked out.

Gray Gray and more Gray

He stared down at the worn pillow, it was so clear where he rested his head no matter how much he fluffed the pillow as soon as he laid it back down on the bed the indent reappeared. Flopping down onto the pillow he shifted till he was comfortable. He stared at wall for a while then shifted his gaze to the cell door. His lawyer promised him it wouldn’t be too much longer before he was free, it had only been a year, he knew he was lucky. Some men in here stayed wrongfully imprisoned for decades. He gave a long sigh, he knew he wouldn’t get any sleep tonight. It was so hard to sleep in such a dreary place, the brightest thing was his prisoner's garb, gray and white. Everything else was a darker grey or black. He listened to the quiet grumbling of the prisoner in the cell next to him, he liked him. He was here because he punched a guy too hard and accidentally killed him. If you ask me the guy he killed deserved it, he abused his girlfriends and raped them. He was doing everything he could to get him out. He already promised as soon as he was out that getting him out would take his first priority. He glanced up to the tiny square otherwise known as a “window” the sun was already rising he groaned and stood up ready to get this day over, one day down not too many more to go. He would get through this.