2011 Worlds Championships Women's Team Final

In 2010 Russia was the team to beat. Now Team USA is the one to beat in gymnastics. Team USA swiped the gold medal leaving Russia with the silver. Congrats Team USA

Advice to Writers: Amy Wallace

Find Your Optimum Hours for Writing

My most important discovery has been that I have optimum hours for writing. These are between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. For a lifetime I’ve told myself that I was a nighttime writer—it seemed romantic. But actually I’m tired at night, and that’s when I prefer to read and research. Whatever your optimum hours are, don’t cheat yourself of them. This is a daily battle. If you spend them answering the phone, attending to correspondence, etc., you’ll find yourself empty-handed and out of sorts during your low tide.

-AMY WALLACE

I'm not going to lie, it is hard to find time to write your books. Now and days, publishers want their authors to get two to three books out a year, some authors are single with lots of free time on their hands, so they are able to get so many novels down. While there are some authors who have families and they need to take care of them so getting out two to three books a year can be excruciating. Some writers also go t o school, for them to find time between studying and writing it's hard to find time, but some time writing is better than nothing.  I hear the excuse "I want to be a writer. I've always wanted to write the story I just don't have the time" You HAVE to make the time to write your book. I set myself writing time after I finish my assignments for school. During the summer, I find myself writing at night because when I write during the day in the heat, I can't really focus on anything. 

Advice to Writers: Diana Athill

You Don't Always Have to Murder Your Darlings

You don't always have to go so far as to murder your darlings—those turns of phrase or images of which you felt extra proud when they appeared on the page – but go back and look at them with a very beady eye. Almost always it turns out that they'd be better dead. (Not every little twinge of satisfaction is suspect—it's the ones which amount to a sort of smug glee you must watch out for.)

~DIANA ATHILL

I have always wondered about this. It would make me so sad when they would kill my favorite characters! PC Cast is one prime example! I love House of Night but everyone kept dying. Same with Harry Potter. No one has no idea how upset I was with Sirius and Remus dying in the books! I was all noooo! Let Pettigrew die not them. I was upset. I began to see a pattern in the books I was reading. What went through my mind was why do authors have to kill the main characters, can't they simply have them just leave the book peacefully? I really can't kill people in my novels because then I begin to cry while writing it, and rereading it over and over again. It really depends on the writer, but I would not kill a character unless it was a full fledged battle scene.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

I must not cry while writing this post. This is going to be a very sad post for me. Harry Potter is one of the best book series I have ever read. I am so sad, not just for for the books, believe me I was sad when I hit the last page in the epilogue, but now the movies are over. The wonderful books and movies that turned me into the avid reader  that I am today are now over. I wish Rowling would continue the series with the kids going to Hogwarts.  What I like is how Harry after growing up with so many troubles in his youth got his happy ending.

 *Sniffle* Here's the trailer.