Book Review: "Room: A Novel"

I haven't done a book review in quite some time, so now would be good. I recently finished "Room: A Novel". This book is definitely one of my favorites. I simply loved it, I just couldn't put it down! Except in rehearsal. Yeah, I couldn't ever read in rehearsal. But here's the basic plot:

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work. Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, Room is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.

Pfft, no I didn't write that, Amazon did! Duh. So, I would say that this book is kind of slow to start. They go through their daily routine for the first part, which is a little boring if you ask me. It does pick up though! This is where the fun begins, my friends. I'd suggest this book to pretty much anyone. I hope you like it!

Just Trust Me..

A Few Things I've Learned About Blogging.

I've not had this little blog for very long. About a year actually, but in that year I've learned so much about blogging. I discovered lots of things that I didn't even know existed. I've still obviously got tons to learn, but I thought this would be a good time to spout off some things that new bloggers might not know. My friend Brad started a blog a few days ago, you should definitely go check it out! It's quite funny and entertaining. GO! Well, here goes! Maybe soon I'll do a post over all the things I've learned about photography. For now, we'll stick to blogging. 

Simple is good. When I first started blogging I was really into elaborate, busy backgrounds and headers. They were really cute, but now I like simple things a lot better. Sometimes they're a lot to take in, and if you go for a more basic look it makes your blog a lot less 'amateury'. That's not to say that some people don't pull off the busy look! I know of lots of blogs that have a printed background, but they usually have a very simple header. This works both ways, if there's a bold header than the background is usually pretty plain. Do what feels right, and what best shows you!

I can make decorative things for my blog all by myself?! This was a GIANT discovery! I opened so many different doors when I figured this out. I usually use GIMP or pixlr to make all of my blog stuff. Pixlr is much more simpler to use than GIMP, and I wouldn't suggest downloading GIMP unless you have an apple computer, since I'm not sure if it's totally safe. Once you get the hang of using the software it's so much fun. You can do so many things! I do change my blog design a lot, but I really like my current design. If you need any help, or if you want a specific tutorial for something, please don't hesitate to ask!

LinkWithin is a great thing. This little gadget is great to keep readers engaged. It keeps them clicking. And clicking. And clicking. I'm definitely guilty of doing that on other blogs. This is really easy to install, just google LinkWithin and it should take you right through all the steps.

I like wider blogs. This may seem kind of silly, but it's very true. My blog used to not be wide at all, and I think it looks a lot more professional if your layout is more spread out. But maybe I'm crazy..

Post about things that your readers are really going to want to read. This may seem like common sense, but I'm guilty of posting boring stuff that I wouldn't want to read if I was a blog reader! I try to avoid complaining posts, unless they're funny. I also don't like posts about my day, or my week. No one wants to hear that, I have a boring life. Just try to keep your posts interesting, with set topics.

There are lovely CSS codes that you can add to your blog. These codes perform wonders. They can center things, (which is basically what mine do) and fix minor details on your blog that you wouldn't know how to do otherwise. Go look for them, the code you need is out there somewhere!

It isn't all about followers. Keep in mind that there can be gobs of people reading your blog that aren't following you. I've noticed that they don't see the extreme importance of it like we do. Keep posting and be patient. Great ways to promote your blog? Facebook, sponsorships, twitter, blog cards, and much more! 

And those are the most important things. I'm sure there's more, but we'll stick to these! It's kind of fun to imagine where your blog may be in the few years down the road. It's a pretty slow process of gaining followers. I've tried basically everything, and it just takes patience! I hope you found some of these useful! I still have so much to learn, and I can't wait. Here's a picture, since I don't like posts without pictures. Except "Words Worth" posts, those are kind of supposed to be like that..

I'm such a dweeb.

Just Trust Me!

Word's Worth.

I do love writing. Sometimes I forget how much I enjoy it because I'm simply in a rush all the time. I actually write in my journal, as mentioned before in a few posts. I usually write in it at school when I don't have a book to read. I just put lots of crazy stuff in there: blog post ideas, random intellectual inspirations, stupid ideas, complaints, my day. Stuff like that! I thought it might be fun to take a little snippet (that's a word, right?) of my journal entries and make a blog post out of them! Obviously it is my personal journal, so I'm gonna censor a lot of things, but you'll still get the main idea. So, here it is I guess! Straight from my journal. Also, I won't change anything I wrote, I just won't add things about boys, and complaints, and stuff that you really won't care about. Let's go.

"Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom." -Thomas Jefferson. 

I saw this quote on the wall of my Elementary school. I always thought it was a cool quote, but I think about it now and it really does have a lot of meaning, more meaning than I knew it had. Obviously it's saying in order to be wise, one must be honest. I've always heard that you can sometimes be too honest, and maybe there is such a thing. There's this Geico commercial (I think it's Geico..) where Abe Lincoln's wife is asking him if a dress made her look fat. He told her maybe a wee-bit. His wife then proceeded to slap him. I don't know about you but I don't really see how that's contributing to your wisdom. Then again, maybe it does. Will his wife thank him later for his continued honesty, event through the occasional slap in the face? Or will she give him a speech on keeping some things to yourself, even if they are true. We'll obviously never know. It could be one of those things that everyone has an opinion about but we still go on with life despite our differences. Wouldn't life be lovely if it really worked like that? I would love to go up to a congressman and say that. That's one of the reasons that I HATE politics. It's just a bunch of people not respecting others' opinions. Gross. And I know, that's the whole point of politics- to get your views out there, but I'm just not a fan. I am thankful for those who are into politics, I'm just not one of those people. Sorry about the whole reel of randomness, it was very off the honesty topic. 

Have a wonderful Friday! 

Just Trust Me.

Photos on the go!

Here's some crazy craze pictures from my day at school. Most of them are from drama, but the one with the picture on the marker board is from algebra. Our friend always draws a picture on the board after class, and today happened to be a combination of our teacher, Mrs. Pfeiff, and a unicorn. It was pretty awesome.

Cute, Caitlyn. (:

I love them all!