Snail Mail is like THE ACTUAL BEST THING, we're blessed in this time of modern electronics and instant contact but the worn beauty of letters on paper remains so much more meaningful. It's almost like magic. The stack of worn letters each speaking their own message, encapsuling a time that you will never live again. Words that maybe someday will be found by your children and theirs, or words you will bury in your heart forever along with the paper they're on. So where does one start with Letter Writing? While I am yet a beginner, I have a few tips and tricks that will jumpstart you or add sparkles to your snail mail :) Let's jump in, shall we?

{pics via pinterest}

My late wrapping up 2018 post will mostly consist of accomplishments and snippets from my journal

*evil cackles*

Enjoy the exclusive look into my private life

what i did in 2017

one // painted my room

two // made some incredible friends

three // started journaling

four // started private school and a co op

five // took a lifeguarding class

six // wrote quite a few songs

seven // fought my anxiety and got out of my comfort zone

eight // finally watched marvel and lotr/hobbit and hunger games and now i'm in LOTS OF NEW FANDOMS :")

nine // read more

ten // wrote more than ever

life snippets // some funny, some serious

Ok I'm not kidding this actually happened, DL is a kid from my school...Isaiah is my brother *headdesks*

One day in study hall...

DL: So you live in the country right?

Isaiah: Yeah

DL: So what's your water source?

Isaiah: Oh, we have a well

DL: So do you have to get buckets of water in the morning?

Me: *groans disgustedly*

Isaiah: Seriously? No!

_

For a star to be born

There is one thing that must happen

A gaseous nebula must collapse

So when you  c o l l  a  p  s  e 

when you c r u m b l  e

It's not your destruction

It's your birth

-

Where there is fear lies a lack of love; and when circumstances prevent love then the only way to overcome fear is to work hard in trusting God and in listening to the song he put in those things around you

-

As the rythmic rocking of my arms slow down the the swing of Frank Sinatra and my mind sways away with the frolicking jazz beats to the rolling lyrics of love songs. My eyes drift to the basket of laundry by the chaise and the soft yellow nursery light bounces off the darkness that peeks out the blinds and the warm bundle of a baby girl lets her tired eyes droop.

The toys by the window smile placidly and I gently drop down into the nursery chair and the baby girl in my arms sucks sweetly on her thumb, her doll like features carved soft by the dwindling light.

Between the syncopations of the oriental and the old

Lies dissonance

Sweet dissonance, sweet tirednesss

So many stories untold

So many dreams left unfinished

Tomorrow Perhaps?

-

(D is one of my best friends)

"D finished Les Miserables and he cried at the end ACTUALLY cried abshdjkz MY LIFE IS COMPLETE, I literally feel like my favorite books/music/movies are like my children and when someone loves and accepts them like I do those people are pretty surely gonna stay AHH you do not understand how good and happy I felt at that moment...I know I'm slightly crazy 😂"

- 

(written as I sat by the fire with my family, we were all laughing and talking...my little bro was teaching my grandpa english and it was hilarious)

God Please keep moments this sweet, hilarious, so packed full of memories & feelings and spontaneous hugs and seeing your mother look younger by your grandmother, filled with flavors and tokens of the past, full of the ringing vibe that signals a new chapter, full of stories fit to go down in books...life is never perfect but it is good <3 Thank God <3

-

{ do you guys like this?  IT COULD TOTALLY BE MY EP ALBUM COVER SOMEDAY...I MEAN LOOK >> THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN}

What do you all think? Of these entries, goals and my mock album cover? :) I'm so sad to be gone from the blogosphere again, my computer is going through some tech issues (it's dead) and thank goodness I had this spare post planned or I would not be here at all. How are you all doing? <3

 And this is his command: 

to believe in the name of his Son, 

Jesus Christ, and to love one another 

as he commanded us.

(1 John 3:23)

{pics via pinterest}

Because honestly? What better New Year's resolution to make than add these two stellar reads to your TBR.

read now, thank me later :)

{Advisory Warning: these books may or may not emotionally destroy you, cause large tears to drip down your face, and increase your book appetite}

Midnight at the Electric

  {★★★★★}

This book just tore my little heart into shreds. Not because it's particularly sad or anything, it's just so alive and feeling and even though we don't always understand why stuff happen they way they do it's ok. The three POV's are written with so much beauty and care, I fell in love with all three girl's voices. I also like in particular how this book wasn't focused on romance, it happens in the story but that's not what the story is truly about.

The vibe of this book is  constellations / turtle / full hearts and space / old English mansions / lying awake at night / circus / worn yellowed pages / luminescence / love / family 

{ pics via pinterest}

Journaling has immensely helped my writing. From teaching me about character growth to POV, to even giving me interesting b-rolls and situations to put in my own writing. It's given me a deeper insight on how to properly form a character and above all how to write realistically and leave a deep emotional impact on your readers.

Journaling has helped me immensely because it's given me real life examples. Seeing how my life looks on paper, removed from all the million feelings and sensations I feel day to day can give me a much more straightforward look at things.

The same goes for writing. It's helped me to narrow down to what really matters to the story.

And plus it's seriously fun, if you like aesthetic things this is your daily go to. If you guys would like, I can share tips on how I do my own journal and stay motivated in another post. Just ask me below :)

Let's jump in, shall we? :)

1. Learning from Real Life

I swear by it. Things look different on paper than in real life, especially when you're the writer. But a good writer can harness every single one of those feelings in without even mentioning them. 

I don't have a word for it other than vibe. It's that thing that draws you to some writers more than others. It's that thing that makes you feel a golden light over a scene without the writer once mentioning it.

And I also bet you that every single one of you has one, you just need to find it. Journaling is perfect for finding it. Is something good happening to you? What is bursting out of your heart? It can be perfectly strange and unusual like the stars outside your window or the hug your friend gave you after that talk yesterday. Write it down, it's not an english paper...you start however you feel and you finish whenever you want. Don't focus on tense or grammar or structure, write what comes to your heart. 

Some of my journal entries are pages long but most are half pages or even less. Some of my journal entries are simple lists. 

Some will fall short of my standard, but more times than others I will feel that same electric shock of happiness, smell that same thing i did a week ago, revisit the feelings...the importance of a moment that has passed.

And that is the kind of emotion we strive to capture in writing. That little sparkle of magic that brings our words to life

 {this is the sort of journal I do minus that ^ 100% level of aesthetic, I like to scrapbook and add all sorts of coordinating stuff to my journal} 

2. Understanding a Character

It's not always easy to develop a character, much less understand them. As far as I go, if I do not explore a character enough I will reach pitfalls in my writing. My characters will be whiny, cookie cutter people. They will miss the complexities that emerge with the TRUE character of their "created nature".

Funny enough sometimes it's also hard to understand yourself, looking at yourself inwardly and wrestling with life challenges day to day is overwhelming. In in the mix of things, it's easy to start wondering who you really are in the grand scheme of things?

Journaling has helped me immensely with that, not only do things start to take shape much clearer on paper but I can revisit my entries and learn more about myself. I can see how I reacted to certain situations and dealt with one hard incident. How I felt when so and so happened...and how I saw other people through my eyes.

What's on the paper is what matters to my story. And sometimes I'll include some secondary details but those matter too, I'm not being my real human self if I don't ramble about how good those waffles were this morning. {those things belong in your WIP too, insert in some splashes of extra happiness :) }

If you've ever had a hard time understanding your character, keep a short journal for them. Try to think of real situations that would happen to them and write it through their eyes. It does not need to be lyrical or proper, in fact it's much better if it's crude and real and incomplete. In the end those things will not all be part of the story, but your viewpoint will be refreshed. You will get deep insight into your character and begin treating them like a real person.

{ unless you are writing a comedy, than you can ignore all this :P }

3.  Arcs: Character growth and Story Development

There is something that changes in each of us over time (most of us). And that's all that a story is about, arcs....both in story development and in character growth. By the end of the story something has changed deeply within the MC (sometimes more characters too) and by the end of the story, things have taken a turn.

Maybe it's just because my life is a bit wild sometimes, but reading back on previous entries I can sense a direction of things...I know my own thoughts but i can begin wondering about so and so. How will they in the future have an impact on her? Will they abandon her or will they stay friends with her? I can sense arcs.

I can even see character growth or character regression. Having a journal is giving you a more objective look at your life, our feelings change and conform but what you put down on that paper...that day, with your own hand isn't going to change. It's gonna stay there forever to remind you who you were, what you wanted, what your heart was moved by. And believe me that can move you generations later to say to yourself the one of the two...

Thank God, I'm not like that now.

or

Can I only go back to being that way?


That's the impact that a good book should leave on us. Either a warning, or an encouragement.

But it has to be real, it has to be deep. And I don't know about you...but journaling has helped me immensely with that.

What do you all think? If you journal do you agree or disagree? What have you learned about writing through other things? Whatever it is, talk to me below! <3 ALSO,who's listening to the "Greatest Showman" soundtrack??? I"M OFFICIALLY OBSESSED.

Also do drop by the poll in my sidebar!


Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
    bind them around your neck,
    write them on the tablet of your heart.
(Proverbs 3:3)