What I learned in 2013 (as a person and a writer)

You probably won't believe me when I say that 2013 has been the best and the hardest year of my life. I'm sure you can see me now, crying into my Starbucks coffee and furiously texting my friends about the typical teenager girl dillemas. "Why doesn't he like me?" "Why don't I have a thigh gap?" "My parents are sooooo strict!" etc. Fortunately for you (and probably everyone I know) I'm not that dramatic, and I ain't just blowin smoke when I reiterate that this has been one of the best and hardest years of my life. Honestly, I wouldn't be sad if 2014 carried on similarly, because I've enjoyed myself immensely these past 12 months. I thought I would go over some of my favorite things of the year, along with ways that I have grown as a person and a writer. Feel free to skip down to the lower section of this post if you don't care about my personal life. Go on, I won't be offended. *cue sappy montage music*

Favorite Book: East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Please, don't do yourself the diservice of neglecting to read this book.

Favorite movie I saw in theatres: I think I'll stick with Catching Fire, although The Desoloation of Smaug is a close runner up. But Monster's University was really good too! Do you see my problem here?

Favorite blog: That's still gotta be thewritepractice. Seriously, if you're a writer, that website will become your new favorite reference.

Ok, now why was this year so awesome? Well, I happened to do a lot of things I never had before. SHARE TIME OMGGGG!!! (sarcasm) but here it goes: I learned how to drive, I got my first car (I know right? Go me!) I went to my first "concert". Yeah, I saw the Pentatonix but I'm not sure you could call it a legit concert since it was free and they just performed at a local pavillion. Either way, it was awesome. I performed in my first "concert". I also put this in quotes, because by concert I just mean that I joined choir and we did a lot of performances. I made lots of new friends, grew closer to ones I have known for a while, and received my first fancy rejection from a publisher! (more later)

And finally, as I writer, well--I learned a lot. As afore mentioned, I received my first rejection regarding my full mauscript, rather than just a query. Meaning, a legit new york agent read my story, and told me what she thought. There were things she liked and of course, things she didn't like. The entire exchange ended up being more encouraging than anything, and I was mostly pumped about the free, yet professional advice. For now, I have laid aside an old story, and dedicated my time to a new one which I have much more faith in. If anything, this year I learned to listen to your literary instincts. Don't do what the current patterns recommend, or what you think is the "proper" thing to to do. You're a writer! You've read tons of books! And by now you should know a thing or two about what you're doing. Stop listening to the masses and start listening to yourself! HOWEVER, I would equally urge you to seek out honest opinions. Try to get a varied audience and learn to sift through their varied opinions.

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into my year. I would love to hear about your 2013 in the comments!