Immigration, bans, writing

Hello!

Today I have decided to cover a couple issues. 1. Immigration/bans. 2. Writing. I hope I can cover both of these thoroughly.

1. Immigration. I saw the executive order that had to do with immigrants/refugees. This is a very evil order. How do you tell people who are being murdered, "I'm sorry, we don't want you here," or "Fend for yourselves?"   How can you do that?
And then everyone jumps up and says, "God Bless America."  How can God bless America when we are aborting our babies? And now we're turning people away when the Bible clearly states how we are supposed to treat the sojourners in our land.
Yeah, turning away the refugees will certainly help with the terrorism problem. *Sarcasm*

2. Writing. I have been editing my book over the past few days. I plan on working on it some more today after I've finished my homework. I will have enough for at least 3 chapters. I thought I had more than that but editing has taken out a lot of unneeded information while adding a little bit of needed information.

Thanks for reading,
Sam

Inauguration, writing, college

Hello!

For the past week I have been doing several things:
1. Editing and writing my book
2. Starting another book (A prequel)
3. Attending college
4. Doing homework
5. And watching the Inauguration.

Let's start with number 1. I almost have enough edited to put up chapter two of my book. I am on page 43 and I told myself that after I doubled the pages I did I would put it up. So, the next 22 pages are almost ready.

Number 2. I have started to write another book called "When the Roads Ran Red" and it is a prequel to When the Sky Caught Fire. It's basically about how it all began. The title is tentative but I'm fairly certain that will be the title.

Number 3. This year I have 7 classes that I'm taking at my college. The majority of them are my ASL classes and 3 of them are general courses. I am hoping to finish my homework tonight and tomorrow so I won't have to worry about it during the week.

Number 4. I have been doing homework for the past few days and expect to finish it tomorrow. Thankfully, since it was the first week, I don't have a lot of homework. If I can learn to keep on top of it now it won't be as hard later in the semester.

Number 5. Friday I watched part of the Inauguration. I must say, I did like Mrs. Obama as a first lady. She was very classy. I do want to see how the Trump presidency will go. I am not optimistic about it but I would like to see if he turns out to be good for the economy.

Thanks for reading!
Sam

Editing, reading, writing, and homeschooling

Hello again!

Today I am editing more of my story and have found some inconsistencies. One of the biggest ones is after Moisés is shot he doesn't have as much trouble as he should during the story. That is one of the biggest detail fillers I've had since I've started the story. I am currently on page 33/34 and hope to get up to page 40 done within the next few days. I would like to post a couple of my chapters back up on Inkitt before I start school again which is next week. 

I have also been reading a book called The Perfect Horse by Elizabeth Letts (I believe that's her name) it is an excellent book about the Lipizzaner horses in Nazi Germany. It made me hate the Nazi's even more, not because of how badly they treated the horses but because of how well they treated the horses in comparison to people. I'm about a quarter of the way through but I hope to be done with that book in a couple days. 

Recently I saw an article about how home-schoolers shouldn't go to college. While I agreed with them in one sense I also did not agree with them. Part of the reason is because I am in college, I have been in college for two years. The career I'm going for cannot be attained without a B.A. degree so it is a direct insult to home-schoolers who want to be doctors, nurses, midwives, interpreters, teachers, and so on. 

In the area I agreed with them on was the fact that not every job needs a degree. For instance: To start your own business or become an salesman you don't really need a degree, you can learn that from other people. Or even a writer, you don't need a degree. Some of the best writers did not have a degree in writing/creative writing. It isn't a necessity to write. 

Anyways, those are my thoughts. Thanks for reading!
Samantha

College, writing, postcrossing

Hello!

Today I've started to get ready to go back to college. I've been gathering info about SAT tests (transferring), checking to make sure that my application for graduation went through, getting my transcripts sent to my colleges of choice, and next week I'm getting my books for the college I'm attending now.

For writing I plan on editing my book at some point. I am on page 27 and still editing. Changing back to third person is very difficult, it causes the story to morph once again. I hope that it turns out in a way that I can like. (Either that or I end up scrapping complete paragraphs).

And finally, postcrossing. I love postcrossing because you get mail from all over the world. Just yesterday I got two postcards from France and one from PA (USA). I currently have 6 postcards travelling and hope to get a few more out before I'm too busy with college.

Have a great weekend!
Sam

Happy New Year!

Hello and happy new year!

I hope 2017 will be a better year than this year. I hope to be finished editing my story by March but maybe those are high hopes. (=  I'm doing well though! I am on page 25 of my editing and my page count keeps going down. My margins were too big in my story so editing that as well has been cutting down on the size of the book.

Maybe I can get my story done by 2018? *Laughs hysterically* Lets shoot for 2020 and if I get it done before then it'll be a pleasant surprise.

So, thanks for reading!
Sam

Writing Disabilities

Today I am talking about how to write disabilities. I am obviously no expert, but I think some of these things could help other authors with writing. (Published or unpublished)

I have two disabilities I have written before (unpublished/fanfiction) and I think there is always something to be learned about writing it.

1. Blindness.
You need to be very careful with how you depict any person with a disability. It can become very easy to offend people by acting like they are unable to do things. (Driving is a given but even some legally blind people can, technically, drive.)
The first thing you need to do is get educated on the subject. If you aren't informed you will come off the wrong way.
The second thing you should do is get to know the people. Go out of your way to meet blind people. Be transparent about what you're doing. Being honest is the best way to go.
The third thing you should do is read literature (fiction) that focuses on blindness. It will give you a general idea on how to write it.

2. Deafness
Again, you need to be extremely careful with how you depict any group of people. This applies for deafness as well.
The first thing you need to do with this is take some ASL courses and/or a Deaf culture class. This will help you become mildly educated on the subject. I would also suggest reading a variety of books on the subject.
One such book is called: Inside Deaf Culture. This particular book brings you back to the eighteen hundreds and earlier (if I remember right) and details Deaf culture from that point forward. I am currently a little more than halfway through it.
The second thing you should do is go meet some Deaf people. Take an Interpreter with you if you know you won't be able to understand. Be transparent about what you are doing, they will appreciate your honesty.
And the third thing is read literature that focuses on it. I haven't read much literature with Deaf people in it, unfortunately, but there is a Manga called A Silent Voice and is an excellent manga. I am very picky about what type of Manga I will read but that particular one is and always will be one of my favorites. I have read the first three and will soon have more on hold at my Library.

Thanks for reading. This just scratches the tip of the iceberg but I hope it can be of some help.

Sam

Editing

Greetings!

Today I am editing my story. I have started on it and have made it one page in, so that is good. So I'm now on page 19 instead of 18. I imagine if I stopped procrastinating I could go further. 

Anyways, lets move on. 

Today I got on Postcrossing and saw I could send more postcards! I swear, the post office is going to hate me for the mail but love me for the money. Today I used my last two overseas stamps so I'm going to have to purchase more. I think I should check my bank funds before I go making anymore purchases. 

Lately I've been thinking about photography. Why, you ask? Because I want to make a good cover for my own book. The only problem is then I'd need to edit it to fit the thing on Inkitt. Which is hard enough as it is. Especially since it seems nearly impossible to find a good editing tool that won't cost an arm and a leg. If you know of a good one (without a monthly subscription) please feel free to leave a comment. I'd love to hear it. (=

Thank you for reading!

Sam