The Final One (BEDS 030)

Here we are, folks: the final blog in Blog Every Day in September 2016. I may have missed a lot of days this month, but I couldn't miss this one.

I entered this month with a major streak under my belt. SInce the beginning of July, I hadn't missed a single update, which is probably the most amount of content I've made in the most condensed amount of time since this blog started. (That's three blogs a week for two months straight. That's insane.) I was determined, this year more than ever, to make it out of September with 30 shiney new posts added to that list.

Alas, that didn't happen. I missed several days this month, sometimes for no reason at all other than I had homework to attend to, and didn't have time to do both. Sometimes I announced this on Facebook and Twitter. Sometimes I didn't, allowing myself to just disappear from the internet for a few days. (Except not actually, because I have a tendancy to spam Twitter when I'm procrastinating. Lol whoops.)

Still, though, we end the month today with a total of 20 blog posts, which is still a lot for thirty days. Now, with a tangible sense of relief, I leave behind the constant guilt of not blogging and return to the much more manageable realm of blogging three times a week. 

Normally about now, I'd start thinking about NaNoWriMo and the novel I plan to write in thirty days, starting thirty one days from now. But, for the first time since 2011, I'm considering not participating. With all the stuff going on in all of my classes, I'm just not sure I can commit to 50,000 words.

Then again, I thought the same thing last year and ended up going for it anyway. So I guess we'll see.

Until later,

- Justyne

How to: Blog Every Day (BEDS 013)

Sometimes, writing a blog is easy. Sometimes I know exactly what to write about, the words flow nicely, and I'm able to finish my day knowing that I uploaded some well-rounded and damn-near great content.

Other times--particularily in Septemer--not so much.

Every year, as the summer winds down and thoughts of school begin to rear their ugly head, I start to plan my annual BEDS challenge. I always have great intentions. I always plan to write as many posts as I can ahead of time, and I always have a list of brainstormed ideas for when my pre-written schedule inevitably runs out. I always think it will go smoothly...which, really, is my first mistake.

Something always comes up. I don't write as many blog posts as I would have liked, and my brainstorms never spark as much inspiration as they did when I first wrote them down. So by halfway through the month, you get posts like this: ones written between classes, my iPad in my lap, fingers furiously typing the first words that pop into my brain. And, quite honestly, you'll all be lucky if I even think to proof read this before hitting "publish".

So today, I present to you this: a quick, dubious how-to guide for somehow managing to upload a new blog every day.

Step 1: Remember that you have a blog in the first place. You'd think it'd be easy, remembering something I've had to do regularily since 2013. Alas, as we have all seen in the past, I forget often enough that it should probably be of some concern to me.

Step 2: Carry your laptop around everywhere. (Or, in this case, an iPad named Suzie.) To blog every day, you need to sqeeze in as much time as you can. Five and ten minute gaps between classes can and do provide a lot, but it's hard to blog when you don't have a device connected to the internet. (A phone works well enough, too.)

Step 3: Remind yourself that it's ONLY FOR THIS MONTH. Then you can go back to your leisurely pace of three blogs a week. Ah, the good 'ol days...

Step 4: Stare at a blank screen for a solid five minutes. Because writer's block is gonna happen, so you might as well get it out of the way right at the beginning.

Step 5: Tell yourself that yes, Tumblr will definitely give you an idea for a blog post. Somehow.

Step 6: Write about literally the first thing that pops into your mind. These posts don't have to be long. Stretch the topic out into a few paragraphs, and you can call it a day.

Step 7: Get it done before midnight. It ain't tomorrow until 12 am.

Step 8: Tell yourself that there are other time zones in the world. It may be tomorrow here, but it's still yesterday somewhere.

Step 9: Hit "Publish" and hope for the best. It's as good as it's ever gonna be at this point, and sometimes you just have to decide to put it down.

Step 10: Move on to something else instead of prepping for tomorrow. Because If you can do it today, you can sure as hell do the same thing tomorrow.

Until later,

- Justyne

Traditions (BEDS 001)

On September 1st, 2013, I took a walk to the nearest Tim Hortons, with my laptop in tow, and plopped myself down for a writing session that ended up providing me with more work than I originally anticipated. During my pre-writing procrastination session, I stumbled upon an event of sorts. The "Write Fifteen Minutes a Day" challenge (or WFMAD, for short) was started by miss Laurie Halse Anderson on her own blog 6 years prior. The goal was small and simple--commit to writing fifteen minutes a day for one month. Easy, right? At face value, sure. But when do I ever take the easy way out?

I accepted the challenge, but with my own twist. Under the assumption that one blog post would take me approximately fifteen minutes to write, I decided to upload a new post on my blog--which, at the time, had only been in existence for barely six months--every day in September. Little did I realize at the time that my poor blogging skills would result in much scrambling over the course of the month, and that this spontaneous challenge really deserved a lot more thought than I initially gave it.

But when do I ever think anything through?

Still, though, I perservered, and came away from the month with thirty new blog posts and the new appreciation for only having to upload once a week. (Of course, that quickly became twice a week...but that's another story for another time.)

A year later, the challenge returned--refreshed and revamped, I turned it into my own little event. From then on, I referred to the month as BEDS--or Blog Every Day in September. 2014 yielded a slightly less successful year, but I still walked away with 26/30 attempted posts going up more or less according to schedule.

In 2015...well, I kinda skipped 2015. We don't talk about 2015.

But now I'm back, with the Fourth Annual Blog Every Day in September Challenge! There will be tears, there will be laughter, there will be complete and utter chaos as I struggle to remain on course for the month--all while going to university, because yes, friends--I am that insane.

Mondays and Wednesdays will keep their regularly scheduled content, but every other day will be a complete free-for-all that will undoubtebly result in many, many shenanigans. So buckle up and prepare for the ride, whatever chaos it may bring!

Until tomorrow,

- Justyne

Find Your Happy Place

I don't normally listen to music when I work. I get distracted too easily, so even if I manage to stay away from social media (which is, um, rare), the music will ensure that both my mind and the document on my screen remain blank. All listening to music does is make me wish I lived in the universe of High School Musical, where normal, everyday people perform elaborate musical numbers just to tell people that they don't sing or dance. (Also a universe where everyone is talented at both singing and dancing. Oh, what a world that would be!)

HOWEVER. If I am listening to music, you can bet your butt I'm listening to music from Disney World.

(I talk about Disney a lot, I know. I'm sorry. I can't really help it.)

Here's the thing, though: I really love Disney World. Like, immensely. You already know that, probably, if you've talked to me for more than a second and a half. It is, if you will....my happy place. (Roll credits.)

Everyone has a happy place, don't they? That place that we like to retreat to when we're angry or upset or sad or stressed or whatever. Mine is no differnet--it just happens to have a giant castle...and Mickey Mouse.

Ignoring the details of my own personal happy place, though, have you ever really thought about what yours is? Have you ever used it? Do you have it developped into more detail than just, "Oh, yeah, there's a meadow. And, um, trees, I guess? A river, sure. A nice stream of water. And clouds. Are we done?"

No, my friend, we're not. You are gonna sit your butt down and figure this shit out.

To work hard, well, and productively, you need a good atmosphere. You need something with minimal distractions, a pretty view, a good beverage...pretty much something that makes you comfortable. You need to want to be there, dammit, otherwise you'll spend the next hour and a half wishing you were somewhere else. You need the right chair, the right temperature control, the right level of background noise envelopping you in a warm coccoon of happiness.

To be productive, you need your happy place. Or, at least, the closest thing you can get.

Unfortunately, I can't live in Disney World. I want to (and if I had won that 1.6 billion dollar jackpot a while back, maybe I could have), but unfortunately, as much as I'd like to sit outside of the Starbucks on Main Street, USA and spend the remainder of my days writing to my little heart's content....it probably isn't going to happen.

But being in Disney World makes me so happy. I love the sounds, the excitement, the...well, everything. I love everything. When I am in a Disney park, everything is finally right with the world! So what can I do to harness that, to bring the magic of Disney into my everyday life?

THIS.

Some beautiful soul created four beautiful playlists, comprised of various songs used throughout the respective theme parks. Sometimes--normally when I'm out and about, wanting to be anti-social while I work--I plug in my headphones and crank up one of those playlists, so I can work and pretend I'm in Disney World to my little heart's content. It doesn't matter if I'm writing, blogging, studying...whatever. It helps me focus and be productive when I really don't want to. (Okay, sometimes it also makes me want to run away from home, Disney or Bust. But trust me, most of the time it works.)

The great part about this is that it's portable--I can take my beautiful, wonderful happy place with me wherever I go. (Or at least, wherever there's wifi. Gotta love those data charges.) Wherever I happen to be, I can live my blissfully ignorant life of pretending I'm in Disney World 24/7.

What about you? What's your happy place?

Until later,

- Justyne

The Finale (BEDS #30)

Another 30 days have come and gone. This year, I failed to post a blog every day in September...but this month was hardly a failure.

While some of the posts I uploaded this month were somewhat...less well-written than others, I posted a lot of writing that I was personally proud of. Even though I had to take a step back for a while, I'm glad that I did--because I know that anything I would have produced during that time wouldn't have been my best.

A lot of things happened this month. But through most of it, I was still able to fulfill my commitment to you guys--and to myself. I sometimes doubt my ability to stick to a deadline, but through this blog I've proved time and time again that I can do it. I can set myself a deadline, and I can pull through.

I get a bit of a break for this next month. But then it's back to the chaos of monthly challenges.

The countdown to NaNoWriMo is on.


Until later,

- Justyne

LOL What Even Is Blogging? (BEDS #28)

I feel like I have two blogging styles.

The first is the one I try to use--the one where I try to be both inspiration and professional, using proper spelling and grammar so that my English teachers don't weep.

The second is the one I fall into sometimes, when I'm tired or really excited or just happier than normal. The one filled with CAPITAL LETTERS and run-on sentences and the one that probably sounds closer to how I speak in real life than the first one ever will.

And then, sometimes, I fall somewhere between the two...which just adds to the confusion.

The first one sounds nicer, looks better and is just a more well-written version overall. The second, though, is more natural...and the one I slip into when I'm not paying attention. (Or when I get riled up, whichever comes first.)

Don't even get me started on blog topics--I've blogged on everything from writing tips to the fall premieres I'm most looking forward to.

Sometimes I feel like this blog has little to no consistency. But which is better? Settling down to one specific topic, or going with the flow?


Until later,

- Justyne

Creative Nonfiction (BEDS #6)

The sky is my favourite. It's that shade of blue, my favourite blue, the kind I remember staring up at from the pool in our backyard back home. The only time I ever really liked to swim was when I wasn't swimming at all.

~~

I have a confession: my life is a little boring. Very boring, actually, which really shouldn't be surprising, considering how much time I spend alone in my room. There are only so many adventures you can have in seclusion.

This is why I sometimes have trouble blogging, actually. When I have no advice to give, no unique contribution to make to what the other writing-themed blogs have already said, I find that my mundane life provides very little blogging material. It's easy, in theory, to talk about what's going on in your life. The reality of it can be true, as well...but that goes more for friendly chats and less for blogging on the internet.

My audience may be small, but I'm sure you don't want to hear me complain about my sister taking my clothes again.

That's why I never even considered writing creative nonfiction before. Or why I never thought that I'd even pen an autobiography, because my story is a short and repetitive one. It's not exciting, nor is it really inspiring. People won't really take anything away from it. Even my own personal and private journals / diaries have been this way for almost as long as I can remember:

"Dear Diary,

This happened, then that happened. I feel like this.

The End."

How did I even get into this whole writing business?


But the other day, I tried something different. On the way back from my vacation, while I was sitting on the plane, airborn for Winnipeg, I stared out the window. That small action in and of itself really wasn't new at all, but it was the things I was thinking about, and the way I was thinking about them, that motivated me to pull out my journal.

Normally, I'd write another mundane entry. Normally, I'd write the date, and say something along the lines of, "I like staring out the window and thinking about stuff." (No, really. That right there is practically a direct quote.) But this time, I stopped, and I opted for something different:

The wall of the plane is cold. I can lean against it more comfortably than in the train I was on earlier in the summer; back when the days were still growing and the imminent change that is now so close, didn't seem so imminent. But even though my seat is arranged in such a way that I could easily rest my head against the heavy structure and fall asleep, I shift carefully away from it. The cold is shocking to my skin--I can only imagine what it's like out there.

There's a reason I never enjoyed writing about my life, even in the private confines of my journal--it was boring. It was boring and dull and I'm sure that in twenty years I will not be interested in reading about the toys I got for Christmas when I was 11.

This, though...this was different. I had never written about my life this way before--not without changing some major detail, or falsifying my life in a way that would make things more interesting to the non-existent reader.

This was interesting. It was fun.

Maybe someday I'll share the full piece with you. But for now, I think I might write some more.


Until later,

- Justyne

Blog Every Day in September! (BEDS #2)

Last year, I participated in WFMAD, or Write Fifteen Minutes a Day, which was a monthly challenge to write...well, y'know, fifteen minutes a day, every day in September. I modified it slightly, choosing to focus my daily fifteen minutes on this blog.

This year, I'm doing the same thing, except I'm giving it my own acronym: BEDS (Blog Every Day in September), which is exactly what I'll need by the time I'm done. (BEDS...bed...sleep...get it? Ok, right, that was lame.)

This month is going to be....interesting. For several reasons.

One: currently, I am in Disney World. Well, currently for you, anyway. As I'm writing this I'm sitting at home listening to the squeal of the dryer and procrastinating things that need to be done before this. But once you read this, I will be in Disney World. (Once you read this, it will also be my birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FUTURE ME!)

Two: I'm moving this month. About a week after I return, I'll be moving out of my childhood home and into a new house in Winnipeg, with four friends. This didn't dawn on me until I had already committed myself to doing BEDS, so...yay for lack of planning?

Three: I barely got through last September and truly have no idea how I'll scrounge up enough ideas for this month BUT WHATEVER IT'S TOO LATE NOW! BEDS IS A GO.


Each new blog post will be going up at 4 PM CDT (that's 5 PM EDT and 2 PM PDT, for you peeps who can't do time zone math). At least, they will for the first week or two. Once my buffer runs out who knows what'll happen. (Ah, it's like NaNo all over again.)

So until tomorrow,

- Justyne

Greetings from the Past!

Hello, my dear readers! Once again, I have abandoned you to go on vacation. This time, I'm in Disney World. Yes, Disney World. Be jealous.

The next few blog posts, will be pre-written and pre-uploaded before I leave for my trip. While there is wifi on the resort...well, I'll be in Disney World. I'll be too busy partying with Mickey to worry about blogging.

(I will, however, brag about it on Twitter. Should it happen.)

(I'll also upload pictures. Should it happen.)


I did this whole scheduling-blog-posts-ahead-of-time thing last time I went on vacation, and honestly, I really love this feature. I've actually been doing it for other blog posts, not just ones I've scheduled before a trip. (In case you didn't notice, the last few uploads have been going up at exactly 4 pm, every time. Not a coincidence. I'm not THAT consistent.) It's a great way to make sure that my blog posts go up on time, and that I don't miss any because of my stubborn, uncooperative brain. Or my procrastination and general laziness.

It's also nice to know that it's done, y'know? I don't have to worry about it, or scramble to come up with an idea at the last minute.

I might have to do this more often.


For today's question...ARE YOU ALL JEALOUS THAT I'M IN DISNEY WORLD? (Don't even lie, I know you are.)

Until later,

- Justyne

Repititions

If you've ever talked to me ever, you know that I repeat myself just about every day. I swear, I'm actually an 80-year-old woman trapped inside of a teenage body, because 90% of the time I open my mouth to tell a story, it's one I've already told. Twice.

I've noticed that this is starting to transfer over to my blogging life. Every time I come up with a topic, I have to scroll through my archives of 83 posts (83!!) and check to make sure I haven't already talked about it.

(In fact, just recently I discovered that the topic of last week's blog was one I had already touched on--albeit briefly--back in September, during my WFMAD month. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice--or at least didn't call me out on it.)

(Of course, now you are all painfully aware of this little error on my part. Whoopsie.)

Am I really getting to the point that I'm starting to run out of ideas? Have I been blogging for that long? Or am I just completely lacking originality?

Maybe I need a new source of inspiration.


Until later,

- Justyne

One Year

Tomorrow will mark one year since I started blogging. 52 weeks since I dusted off the blog I created back in high school, 365 days since I quit overthinking everything and just wrote. So much stuff has happened this year, I don't even know where to start.

I embraced my limited knowledge of blogging, choosing to just dive right into it instead of worrying about what I was doing wrong.

I reverted to a 9-year-old mentality, abandoning the conventionally "smart" option of a back-up plan and making writing my first priority, as it should have always been.

I dropped out of university, and subsequently recovered from a spontaneous (and unintentional) 10-week hiatus.

I successfully blogged every day for a month. (Something I hope to repeat this year.)

I began sharing my writing with all of you, occasionally, through this blog.

I won NaNoWriMo, for the second year in a row.

And today, I settle down and prepare to finish the first draft of a novel; the novel I spent the past two Novembers working furiously on, and the first novel draft I will have completed since the 8th grade.

I've learned a lot, this past year. A lot about myself, about my writing, about the world around me. This blog helped me more than I ever thought it would, helped me figure out things that I needed to figure out.

I'd like to thank you, all of you, for reading through my jumbled thoughts over the last 12 months. I appreciate it, really I do.

Until later,

- Justyne

Looking Back (WFMAD Day 30)

Well, this is it. The final post for WFMAD.

Despite all of the days I was stumped, uninspired, and quite frankly just didn't want to write a blog post, I have to admit that I had fun over the past 30 days. If anything, this challenge has made blogging way easier. (Although it may seem as though the opposite is true, as a lot of my blog posts have been posted at midnight or later...but I digress.)

I also learned, though, that blogging everyday puts a real damper on my other writing. In between the blog, work, and Sims (shut up, it's a necessity), I didn't have a whole lot of time to devote to my other writing projects. I was having fun, yes, but I was neglecting pretty much everything else. So while I may have 30 blog posts, 1500+ (!!!!) page views, and greater comfort in my blogging skills, everything else is WAY behind.

I'm sure I'll do this challenge again. I'm just glad this isn't a year-round thing.

It is going to feel SO weird not having to blog tomorrow. But you'll hear from me again, as always, on Friday. (And again on Sunday!) So until then,

- Justyne

Blogging from Tim Hortons (WFMAD Day 24)

I'm doing the cliched writer thing again, and writing in a Tim Hortons. I find I have an easier time concentrating here, as I'm not distracted by the television. (Curse you, Netflix!! *shakes fist*) It also gives me an excuse to purchase a large iced capp, so everybody wins! (Or maybe I just win twice? I don't know.)

I had a bit of a...mechanical difficulty (?) on the way over here. Since I can't drive, I opt to ride my bike most places (so long as there's not ten feet of snow on the ground, which I can guarantee will be the case within the next two months or so). My plan was to head down to the bank, then on the way back to my house stop at Tims for a little writing session. Before I even got the the bank, though, the brakes on my bike kind of....broke.

Luckily, I wasn't riding down the street at top speed when it happened. I was stopped at an intersection, then when I took off to cross the street, my brakes got stuck. (Side note: trying to ride your bike across the street when your brakes are stuck is the most annoying thing in the world, especially when you know there's a car waiting for you to cross so they can turn.) Once I reached the other side of the street, I tried to get them unstuck, and I succeeded. Kind of. Now my brakes just don't work at all.

Sooo now I have to walk my bike all the way back to my house, which is a huge pain in the butt and I'm trying to dawdle around here for as long as possible because I am not looking forward to it. I only have 12% battery remaining, though (that's what I get for not charging my computer before leaving the house, I guess), my sandwich is almost gone and so is my iced capp, so I don't think I'll be here for much longer.

So, uh, Dad....if you're reading this...can you fix my brakes? Pretty please?


Until later,

- Justyne

YouTube (WFMAD Day 17)

I have a slight addiction to YouTube. (And I think we all know just how "slight" my obsessions normally are.)

I've had an account on YouTube for quite a while now, but I've never been quite so hooked on it as I am now. I made a couple videos--really really bad videos that have since been deleted--back in middle school, but I haven't created anything for the website since. Instead, my addiction lies in watching videos.

This is a fairly normal addiction, really, as I'm sure everyone at some point has gotten hooked on watching viral videos for hours on end. But it's not necessarily just watching viral videos, though. I have found several different YouTubers--Jon Paula, Kristina Horner, Rooster Teeth, to name a few--that I have been following religiously for probably about a year now. They produce awesome material that I love to watch, and as of late I have found myself refreshing my YouTube news feed constantly, hoping that they've uploaded something new for me to watch.

I just love YouTube. Like, a lot. I love the ways that new stories emerge from it; how people are constantly discovering new ways to entertain everyone. Web series like The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, personal vlogs from people like Kristina Horner, video game playthroughs from gamers like Jon Paula. Every time I log on to the website and see their videos, my heart soars; I love watching these videos, even if I probably spend way too much time doing it.

I'll be honest, a part of me has always wanted to make my own videos. I've had a blast making any videos I've produced in the past--no matter how cringe-worthy they may have been. I've never tried making a vlog--video blog, for those of you not up-to-date on your internet terminology--and it looks like fun. I mean, it's basically just taking a blog and turning it into a video, right? How hard can it be?

(Well, really hard, if you're trying to film with your crazy roommate in the room. Judging from my past experiences making school projects, anyway.)

I doubt I'll ever actually take the chance and film a vlog. I've got my hands full enough as it is; do I have time to spend painstaking hours editing weekly videos?

Well, that, and I look dumb on camera. I think I'll stick to my trusty old blog.


Until later,

- Justyne

In Which I Blog About Blogging (WFMAD Day 11)

I've been wangin' this blogging thing for the past six months now. (Seriously, though, it has not been six months already. It hasn't. I refuse to believe that, just like I refuse to believe my younger sister just entered high school, and that I, myself, graduated over a year ago. WHAT.)

To be completely honest, I still have no idea if I'm doing this right.

I find that my blogging tends to be all over the place. Sometimes, I give writing tips. Sometimes, I blog about writing in general. Sometimes, I ramble on about my life--which, I admit, is pretty boring. I'm still not entirely sure what I'm doing a good 99% of the time. Sometimes it's nice, to be able to wang it so frequently. Most times it's a pain in the butt, because I still have no idea what I'm doing.

It has its ups and downs, I guess.

But, since you're still reading this after six months, I must be doing something right.

Now, considering that I have blogged about a wide variety of topics, let me ask you: why do you read my blog? For the tips? For my day-to-day life activities? Answer in the comments below; I'm curious. :)


Until later,

- Justyne

Spontaneous Blog Challenge! (WFMAD Day 1)

So I've been meaning to do a blog challenge for a while, but decided spontaneously to do it today, thanks to this blog post I discovered earlier.

There's a nice little writing challenge going around, entitled WFMAD (Write Fifteen Minutes A Day). Basically you just write for 15 minutes a day every day for a month.

I've never heard of this before, never done this before, but it sounds like a fairly easy, fun little challenge. I've tweaked it a little bit, though; instead of just writing in general, I'm going to make one blog post, every day in September. :) It takes me well over fifteen minutes to write a blog post sometimes, and if for whatever reason it doesn't, I can make up the difference elsewhere, with other projects. Either way, I get to write more, and you all get to be spammed with more blog posts! Yaaaay!

If you're having trouble keeping up to date with these blog posts, there are several ways you can do so more easily:

1. If you have a Google account, you can sign up for my posts to show up in your Blogger Reading List, by going to your Blogger dashboard and clicking "Add" on the left hand side, underneath your own list of blogs (if you have any, that is). Just type in my URL--"talesoftheunpublished.blogspot.ca"--and any future blog posts will appear right in your feed!
2. You can follow me on Twitter. While you'll also get spammed with my daily, fairly useless activities, you'll also get notified whenever I post a new blog update. 
3. If you don't have a Google OR a Twitter account, you can also get notified via email. If you would just direct your attention to the right-hand side of this page, right under the post archive and "About Me" blurb is a short little form entitled "Follow by Email". Just plug your email address into that little box and hit "Submit". Voilá! Now your email inbox will be spammed with updates, as well!

That about does it for today. I look forward to harassing you all with more blog posts!

Until later,

- Justyne

How to Make a Blog Post

Step 1: Realize it's Friday, and that you have to write a blog post today.

Step 2: Proceed to forget that it's Friday about 50 million times throughout the day.

Step 3: Finally sit down to write the blog post.

Step 4: Go through several crap-tacular topics, rewriting the beginning multiple times until you finally settle on one that you like.

Step 5: Write it.

Step 6: Realize it's actually quite short.

Step 7: Decide you don't care because it's exam week and your brain is mush anyways.

Step 8: Reread several times for spelling and grammar, even though you know that no matter what you do, you'll still read this in a week and spot changes you want to make, anyway.

Step 9: Come up with clever yet somewhat useless tags / labels for the post.

Step 10: Click the bright orange "Publish" button that you somehow manage to misplace every freaking time you blog.

Step 11: Spam pretty much every social media account you possess with links to your new blog post.

Step 12: Spend the next day obsessively refreshing your Blogger dash because watching your view count go up is cool.



Betcha thought this was going to be a helpful post! HA! I sure got you.

So yes, I am in the middle of exams...and my brain is mush as a result. Normally I try to blog based on what I've been thinking about and what's going on in my life, writing wise. But, well, when you're rushing to study / finish assignments because you spent three days watching a 25-episode anime (I knew I would deeply regret this later, but that didn't stop me) and just generally put everything off as long as possible, well....you don't really have much time to think. (Unless you're thinking about Buddhist values and wondering why the hell you can never remember the names of the poems that Dylan Thomas wrote. Those are the topics that have most frequently been on my mind as of late. My brain is a party, I know.)


Stay tuned for next week, when I'll be blogging from the Charlottetown airport. The semester is just about over, AND I AM GOING HOME.


Until then,

- Justyne

Wangin' It

Wangin' it: A term created by a close friend of mine, originally intended to be a past tense form of the term "wingin' it" (i.e. "I wang it" instead of "I winged it". Because the latter just didn't sound right to her, apparently). She quickly forgot how to use this term in the proper context and began replacing the original term all together.

Example: I have no idea what I'm doing. I have never written a blog before. I am wangin' it.

Was it necessary to introduce a fake word to your vocabulary? Probably not. But I did it anyway. Like I said, I'm new to this. I'm wangin' it. ("Wingin' it" just doesn't do it for me anymore. Too boring.)

My name is Justyne. Pronounced Just-een (please note that I am a girl), and spelled with a 'y', not an 'i'. You'd be surprised how many people get that wrong.

I am a first-year university student at the University of Prince Edward Island, or UPEI. This doesn't mean that I'm a starving college student; I have an unlimited meal plan, thank-you-very-much. This does mean, however, that I'm basically broke. (Warning to any high school seniors out there: textbooks are expensive. Buy used.)

I am a Canadian. This doesn't mean that I live in an igloo, and it doesn't mean that I ride a dog sled to school. It does mean that I speak French (somewhat badly), and eat poutine. A lot. (Probably a contributing factor to me being broke.)

And I am a writer. This doesn't mean that I'm published. (The title of this blog should have been the first hint to that.) This doesn't mean that I know absolutely everything there is to know about writing. On the contrary, I'm basically just making it up as I go. Like right now, for instance.

Put simply, I am wangin' it.

I created this blog a couple of years ago, with the intention of getting my name out there as a writer, and in general just having fun.

I forgot about it after a day.

About a year later, I found this blog again. I changed the layout, and resolved to start posting things.

Once again, I forgot about it after a day.

And now, here we are. I am choosing to ignore my lack of experience blogging (unless you count ranting about about school or fangirling about television on Tumblr, which I don't), and just sort of jump into it. I hope to write mostly about...well, writing. I hope to get a new post out every Friday. (Or very, very early Saturday morning, judging from past procrastination habits.)

For now, though, that's all I have to say. You can follow me on Twitter to stay up-to-date on other random stuff I'm doing. I hope to see you again (figuratively speaking, I won't actually see you) next Friday, when I'll be rambling on about another topic and continuing to 'wang' this whole blogging thing.

Until later,

- Justyne