abby mumford

guest post: internet

April 17, 2012April 10, 2012 abby mumford

i LOVE it that you come here to read my words, but today, let’s have a look at some of the awesome that’s available in other areas of the interwebs. (don’t worry, all but one of these are short and sweet and worth the click.)

close the door by aidan donnelley rowley

what’s your new dream by lindsey leavitt (warning: long.)

day 8 by adriana kirilova

one of the cutest things you’ve ever seen from tahereh mafi’s tumblr

on inspiration by bria quinlan

caffeine in art form from tumblr

a chinese translation from k.marie criddle

the engineering of a wish by kristen munson

advice on not giving up (framed as writerly advice, but valid at any point in your life) by tawna fenske

day 3 by adriana kirilova

do you have any favorite sites i should visit?

feelings

reason #45 why i love twitter

April 13, 2012April 5, 2012 abby mumford

it allows you to be silly.

exhibit A:

clearly she meant my guess of EVERBROCCOLI.

or perhaps she meant the actual title of the sequel, which is EVERBOUND, and which was the second guess made by one of her followers!

feelings

losing

April 10, 2012April 9, 2012 abby mumford

when you lose your way while driving home at 1am at night, you’re forced to concede control to rudy, the GPS. (she’s named as such because she gives you, you know, the route.) i had misheard the instructions from my friend’s mom and instead of taking route 70, i used it as a marker that i was on the right path. (yeah, yeah, we all know i’m horrid with directions.) and of course, rudy was no help because she wanted me to take 95N instead of the more direct route of 295N to 95S (don’t ask, 95 is weird) (and this is why i wasn’t following her in the first place. the only way i know how to make her recalculate is by actually knowing where i’m going!), so i flew by my exit and then had to trust rudy would get me home. she did, even though it was the scenic route at 2am.

when you lose your bodily fluids (such as blood during a massive and unexpected nose bleed [you should see the other guy]), you’re forced to ask for help. fortunately, bubba mac (my almost 1 month old nephew) was sleeping, so sister J and baby mac (my almost 2 yo niece) were able to come to the rescue with extra tissues, ice, plastic bags, books, and bro-in-law T (a doctor) on speed dial. we holed up in the bathroom and waited it out because there’s not much else you can do in a situation like that.

(of course, it felt a lot more dramatic than that when it was happening and then when baby mac threw a very unusual temper tantrum because she was a bit scared of what was happening to me. hey, me too!)

when you lose your voice (yup, same culprit which caused the aforementioned issue), you’re forced to let others speak for you. sometimes the person that speaks up first is baby mac. she explained my nose bleed as, “abby ouchie. nose running.” it was simple, direct, and made me laugh, which is way better than what i was doing before she started talking, not to mention, we could actually hear her whereas the lack of my voice rendered even my mumblings mute.

let’s hope this bout of losing is over and a whole bunch of WINNING comes my way (and soon)!

writing

procrastination

April 6, 2012April 5, 2012 abby mumford

sometimes someone else just says it better.

in this case, it’s victoria schwab and she’s talking about procrastination. she’s referencing how it relates to writing, but honestly, it relates to procrastination in general and i think you all should read it.

thank you, victoria, for putting these words in the order they’re in. it makes a lot of sense and eases my mind. not that you started out with that intention. you probably started out trying to figure out where you fit into all of it, but aren’t those the best moments? the ones where your self clarity is actually a general public self clarity. we can all relate.

have you clicked through to read it yet? here’s another chance.

writing

FWIS: freedom

April 4, 2012April 2, 2012 abby mumford

FWIS (from where i stand) is a monthly feature i’m doing with jessica corra and bria quinlan. all three of us are YA writers in different places in our journeys. (check out their links for this month’s FWIS from their points of view.)

today’s topic: FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOM.

(sorry, i can’t see, hear, or read that word and not picture the end of BRAVEHEART.)

so what does freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeom have to do with writing? well, as proposed by jessica, she wanted to know “what’s bugging you lately? what’s on your mind? what do you REALLY WANT TO TELL EVERYONE?”

what i want, what i really really want to tell people is how excited i am about this class i just took. it was an online class (recommended to me by bria) called plotting via motivation. the teachings of the class made so much sense to my brain + the teacher of the class was wonderfully supportive and funny and generous with her time and advice.

the reason i’m so jazzed up about the class (which ended on friday 3/30) is because over the course of a month (the length of the class), i wrote an entire plot for a book. the plot may be skeletal, but the bare bones are all i need. i’m not sure if i’m even going to write this book, because after all, i picked the idea on a whim. it was just one i used to practice. i had to start with a new idea so that i’d learn the proper way to plot from conception to ending. i’ve saved all of the lectures and homework and worksheets and you bet i’ll be referring to them over and over again and again.

i had begun to feel overwhelmed and confused by the act of writing, by the act of what i wanted to write, and so i had stepped away from my own words to spend some time reading those of others. i realize now that was my own brand of procrastination, but this class has snapped me back into shape!

it’s good to be back.

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