Every week, I force myself to write a blog post for Tumblr by Monday night. Then, I need to send in 2-3 articles for my digital media magazine by Saturday. THEN, I need to update a 1,500 word chapter for Wattpad by Friday.

Sometimes, like this week, I end up postponing to Tuesday instead of Sunday night. Sometimes, I drop the ball.

Sometimes, I stare at a blank screen, and instead of writing…

I open up a tab on the internet and fall down a YouTube hole.

Shalom. Salaam. Peace.

In a world where it seems

we open the news and everyday see it.

Hate, death, destruction.

Remember this.

That we treasure the time to love instead of the time to hate

that hate only brings

Anger, chaos, calamity.

But love is:

Healing.

Love is:

Fixing.

Love is:

Saving.

And love is anything you want it to be. But it never asks for cruelty to be done in its name.

I remember my first villains. I made them extremely evil. In my stories, written fondly at age eleven, they had fangs and darkness in their eyes. Their souls were full of mud, and they made the Grinch look like a sweetheart.

As I grew older, wrote more stories, I realized that those weren’t the real villains. Not really. Real villains aren’t cardboard cutouts, after all.

Real villains have just as many motivations as the good guys, they’re just in the opposite direction.

So, when it comes to killing off characters, nobody knows the struggle better than a writer. (Notice I said characters, not people. Please ensure that I mean FICTIONAL people of IMAGINARY worlds. Murder is a big no-no IRL!)

Writers search up these weird things all the time: how people act at funerals, what happens to the body, and can poison actually kill you 100% of the time. And, somehow, we stay semi-sane.

But there’s good and bad ways to kill off characters, and there’s good and bad reasons to do so too, but the moral part is another post.

It was the most difficult thing for me to learn. If somebody gossiped about me behind my back, yelled at me, or otherwise slighted me, I’d get angry.

As any human would.

But it just made me feel worse. I was mad at the world, mad at myself for not fighting back. Heroes fought, didn’t they? Didn’t they always win?

I learned something incredibly important a few days ago. I learned to change my approach entirely. If somebody yelled at me or did something otherwise negative, I’d forgive them.

And move on, just like that.

Bookwyrm????Problems

I forgot how to read for fun.

I’m not sure when it happened. I must have been pretty young. When I first pulled out a book and thought—-

“So this is where the magic went.”

When I pretended to fight with tiny monsters in my backyard. When I vowed to be the strongest warrior in all the land. When I decided to be a girl who had power over wolves, ready to fight crime and ensure that the citizens of our good city were safe.

Okay, bear with me. I’m always learning as a writer. It’s part of the writing process, really. But I learned something crucial.

There’s a difference between “just writing” and then writing with character voice.

1. For example, this is JUST WRITING:

“I went to the grocery store and saw my co-worker, Timothy, reloading plastic bags behind the counter. He had on sweats and a checked-shirt from some indie band. His hair was a mess, and dark circles burrowed into his eyes.

“Hey, Sri.” He sighed, handing me an apron. “Let’s get this shift started.’”

***

1. The smell of tea/coffee brewing gets you hyped.

2. Your friends talk about getting “caffeine jitters” and you’re like

3. You know the caffeine content of various roasts of coffee/ types of tea/ and energy drinks.

4. Doesn’t it affect your sleep schedule?

5. I can’t stand the taste of caffeinated stuff though

6. “Do NOT talk to me until I’ve had caffeine”

7. “Isn’t it bad for you?”

1. Waiting in line would have its own dance number

2. Not to mention traffic

*just another day of suuun*

3. Can you IMAGINE what office gossip would be like? Hear me out. Because everyone would sing a super epic monologue if they had some crazy revelation. No more secrets! (This is good and obviously very very bad)

4. All of us side-characters would be like:

5. High schools would become musicals.

As the clock ticks on, you’re still there with me.

With you, time stands still (and my heart for a couple of beats, until I’m sure that, yes, I haven’t had enough caffeine to overdose.)

And my eyes widen as I bring the mug to my lips, inhaling the scent

(it’s pretty bitter. Really, coffee is an acquired taste. But, who’s kidding about drinking it for the taste anyways? We all love it for the caffeine)

And a jolt (oh, there’s the caffeine! All 95 mg, unless it’s a darker roast)