When I was 14 years old I wrote my first book. When I was 19 I published my first book. And when I look back at that first book I laugh like a lunatic because I did not know what grammar was. Or a decent plot line. But the experience of writing it taught me everything. Writing a book – no matter what age you are – is an experience unto itself. To complete an entire book is difficult and time consuming and not everyone can do it. Or wants to. But if you want to finish your fir

I am an avid diary writer. When I was in grade school and didn’t have the energy to hold a pen at night, I used to dictate to my mother so she would write for me. Diary writing is something that I’ve naturally always felt is a good idea. What could possibly be wrong with writing down the day? And as I’ve grown older, I have plenty of filled up Moleskines stock full with years of Morgan. Having a diary has been a mental relaxation that I’ve used for as long as I can remember.

Four and a half years ago I discovered blogging. And let me tell you, it was a doozy. I found out there was a lot more than just typing up my thoughts a few times a week, it was actually A WHOLE LOT MORE. And I wish I’d had someone who could guide me through all the mess that was discovering blogging and ultimately creating a blog I could be proud of. And now I’m going to do that for you, a new blogger. The 4 Pieces of Advice I Wish Someone Had Given Me: Blogging Edition 1. B

Yes, you read that right. I have a book. Today I am very excited to announce the official release of my first book, the eBook Affairs. Getting here has been an interesting road and as terrified as I am to share it with all of you, here it is! And here’s the synopsis: One affair would lead her there. Another would make her leave. Sophia Wainwright has a problem with affairs. Mainly her father’s. And his affair has led to a lot of problems in her life. Her parent’s failing marr

Hiya! As you can guess from the title, I’ve taken on a new job! I am now a Lifehack Expert at Lifehack.org and it is fantastic! I just started writing for them last month, and my first article is finally up! I’m really excited to start this new opportunity and get the best I can out of it. I hope you guys enjoy the article! 11 Differences Between Real Friends and Fake Friends Friendship is one of the best aspects of life. That said, certain friends are certainly much better t

Writers know that plot line is what makes a story interesting. Isn’t the same true of real life too? Plot line is what drives a story. It’s what motivates characters to do things, what the journey of their life entails, and where the story begins and ends. The plot line is the story. And this applies to just about everything, especially our own “mundane” human lives. I put mundane in quotation marks not because I am pretentious and use quotes to seem cool, but because our liv

Because I have to write an essay that I don’t want to, and I have to write a blog post that I want to, here’s this handy little guide to writing an essay on my blog! Paragraphs, Pens, and Pain: How to Write an Essay 1. Cry until you have three days to write your essay This is a necessary step. 2. Make an outline While I always write my essays on my laptop (my handwriting is slower than my brain and my typing is faster than my brain, do the math) a good old-fashioned written o

In 2012 I wrote a blog post about my blogging rules. While I wrote it to be a quick read while I was traipsing about Europe for a week, many found it very helpful for keeping up their own blogs. The information in that post was great for people who are just starting blogs or who have dedicated blogging as a job. However, in my current position at university, I have found that there are some blogging rules that definitely should be added to the list. I don’t have the time I us

After being sent questions on Tumblr, Twitter, and just through email, I decided that there were enough questions to choke out another Q&A. As usual, I am being my usual cheeky self, but no one gave me any celebrity crush ultimatums, so that was a bit different. Anyway, here are the questions you sent me and I answered! Enjoy! If you were to have of the opposite gender, what name would you want to have? Probably Will or some other short name. I tend to really love four-letter

*Note: I am definitely going to brag about my life, but there is some updates too, so stick with me. During this term I am taking a Media Professions course, in which people of different journalistic careers come in and discuss their success stories with us. After each class I leave thinking, “There is no way I am going to be as successful as these people.” Coming into journalism I knew it would be difficult to take the industry by storm. So many people are looking to make a

I love my J100 class. I love my J100 class. When glancing over my class schedule for this term, when I had expected that my Media Professions class would bore me, I have found that it is truly my favorite class. It is my Monday and Wednesday 2 o’clock drug. The man who teaches my class, William Ryan, should honestly consider a career in motivational speaking. I would pay money to listen to him…wait, I already do… In class Wednesday he gave us a basic overview of everything we

On Sunday, another article from me was published on Huffington Post. I’m not going to lie, this one is definitely something funny and goofy and if it doesn’t make you giggle a bit, you are reading it wrong. In this post I defend secondary characters in books and how fantastic they are, along with my favorite, Seamus Finnigan. I have, and always will be, an enthusiast, and this article is an enthusiast’s way to defend characters. Below I have posted the teaser and I hope you l

There was a  point last month where I realized something. I had, in some small way, made it big. It started with my couple journeys to being Freshly Pressed and moved onto my articles on Huffington Post Teen. From there, it was the influx of Twitter followers, closely followed by the vast number of blog subscribers I was accumulating every day. It was an insane amount of people coming into my life, and I wasn’t sure how to react. I hate to call this fame, but in a way it is.

We’ve having a birthday party! Three years ago today, I sat down with my laptop and decided to start a blog. I named the blog “Teenage Enthusiasm” because I am a teenager (15 at the time) and am, and always will be, an enthusiast. Upon starting my blog, I did not see myself garnering any sort of audience. I write for myself and,let’s face it, I was a young girl living in a small town. My dreams of writing weren’t incredibly ambitious. In May of 2011, I was Freshly Pressed on

Enter my giveaway here! Ends on Tuesday! I’ve been writing since I learned what a pencil was. My second grade teacher,Mrs. Snyder, would call me Harriet the Spy, in reference to the popular book, as I would carry a journal with me everywhere and would constantly be writing in it. That journal was an extension of my limb, it was part of me. It was what made me a writer. The day one decides to be a writer is one of the most influential in life. It is the day where life come to

I was sat in my J201 lecture today and my professor said something that made me think and immediately rush home after lecture to write down my thoughts on the topic because I had to share this with someone.He said, “What makes a journalist? How is a writer for the New York Times different from your everyday blogger? What makes some content more important than others?” And it totally puzzled me. Here I am, an eighteen-year-old blogger with hopes of becoming a journalist and wr

From writing essays in school to typing up a blog post each week to trying to finish my summer novel (only a few more chapters to go), I guess you could call me a writer. There are two kinds of writers. Those who create a literary work and modestly say that while it exists, it is not the best written or even well written. And then there are those who create something and believe it is the work of the Lords above and everyone should read this beautiful piece of art. I fall int

A/N: Please check the bottom of this post (below the signature) for a special message from me about an awesome event happening soon! I’m full of ideas. I’m empty of motivation. I’m halfway through my summer (I head to school the end of September) and I’m in full summer schlump. I have all these great ideas for blog posts and I’m really excited to write all of them! Until I actually get to my laptop and start typing. Then a structure of about four sentences happens before I am

Writing a Book 101: Tips and Tricks Don’t Make a Title First Make a Title First Everyone will tell you that you should not make a title when you first start writing a book because you should just let your mind flow and work it’s magic. They’re wrong. If you want to write a book, come up with a title and use that title for inspiration when you’re writing. I mean, you can change it whenever, so what’s the harm? Write Whatever You Want Know Your Facts If you are writing about a

“This is the real point – none of that corporate drama used to matter. It wasn’t about being featured or having subscribers or getting endorsement deals. The important thing is that it was fun. Those sucky videos that got featured were fun to talk about…” That was a quote from Alex Day’s blog Alex Day Music from his post about Summer in the City and the use of YouTube, which you can read here. It’ also the inspiration for this blog post. I started blogging because it was some