Books & More @marisawriteswords - Tumblr Blog

2016, you were great when you weren’t the worst

December 31st, here you are.

Even though lol I don’t even pretend I blog anymore, it feels like 2016 deserves a wrap-up. Because even though it was the worst in an “oh-my-god-what-is-happening-in-the-world” sense, personally, it was one of the best years I’ve had. And that’s worth remembering, you know?

So here’s to the good, 2016.

Here’s to January, which marked the first time in my life in which I got the eff out of the USA. Hopped on a plane to spend four months studying abroad in London without a clue as to how hard I’d fall for that incredible city.

Here’s to February, to falling hard, to starting an internship that was fulfilling in unexpected ways. To seeing a pile of rocks that is a seven wonder of the world. To exploring Shakespeare’s home. To making new friends that became some of my best.

Here’s to March, to the colorful houses of Burano, to water taxis and ~real~ pasta and climbing 414 steps to the top of Giotto’s bell tower. To fulfilling all my Lizzie McGuire dreams in Rome.

Here’s to April, to Amsterdam, to bikes and pancakes. To the best zoo I’ve ever been to, to the emotion of standing in the Ann Frank House. To fulfilling all my Harry Potter dreams in London at the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. To spending 12 crazy hours in Paris with my family.

Here’s to May, to all the last minute London pitstops. To Westminster Abbey and Hampton Court. To soaking up as much culture as I could whilst writing my final papers. To landing my first paid writing job with the company that I interned for. To my selfie with Kit Harington. To getting on a plane and going home.

Here’s to June, to reuniting with old friends and adjusting back to normalcy. To spending a week in D.C. with family and extended family in love. To buying Hamilton tickets. To applying for summer internships, and to actually landing my dream internship at MTV News before the month ended.

Here’s to July, to the simple things. Sleeping in. Cuddling with my dog. Reading. Writing. To getting my MS in shape to enter Pitch Wars.

Here’s to August, a month filled with words and books and more words and more books. To not making it into Pitch Wars, but finding amazing and supportive writer buddies.

Here’s to September, to moving back to the city that never sleeps after being away from it for nine months. To meeting Cynthia Erivo at the stage doors of a musical that changed me. To seeing my name printed in a book To being a student again, in interesting classes. To my creative writing professor who took YA seriously. To starting my internship.

Here’s to October. To my first article being published at MTV News. To being overwhelmed and stressed out and going going going. Because that’s the point of college, right? To go until you can’t go anymore.

November, the world turned upside down.

Here’s to December, to turning 21, to finishing the semester off strongly, to the offer to continue my internship at MTV into the spring. To being home for the holidays, to my family being happy and healthy, to everything being relatively OK.

So the fall got a bit rough, but I am so grateful to 2016 as a whole. To the opportunities it gave me and for everything I’ve accomplished in that last 365 days. I’ve learned that I can travel the world and that my words matter.

Going into 2017, my goals include focusing on actively including things in my life that make me happy, as opposed to getting overwhelmed in the pursuit of trying to please everyone else.

So, my 2017 goals (I like goals so much more than resolutions) are:

to make tap a part of my life again

to start a bullet journal

to #bookstagram

to read at least 50 books

to finish writing and revise my WIP

to query agents

to fit fitness into my weekly schedule, no matter how tired I am

to land a summer internship at a publishing house

to stop saying I’m sorry for things I’m not sorry for

to go forth with confidence and not let self-doubts get in the way of what I want

to pitch that article, to talk to that writer, to make the most out of every opportunity I’m given

to have fun in NYC and not get bogged down by responsibilities.

That’s all, I think.

Hi, 2017. You’re so close. And I’m so ready.

#2017 #new year #reflection #goals

I often wonder what it’s like

To be a chameleon. To blend. Melt away and disappear.

What would it be like To be as brown as the bark On the Sycamore tree in my backyard? Or as green as overgrown grass In-between my toes on a sunny day?

Sometimes I close my eyes And pretend that I can blend. That my skin can be a useful shield. Not the ‘thick’ kind— That does no help at all.

I’d never flush tomato red again. Or acquire a pallor akin to Casper the Ghost. I’d stay in the palette of normalcy, Meld my way to popularity.

Convince myself that no, it’s not conformity. It’s survival.

It’s being stuck in a perpetual rainforest. Predator versus prey Wishing I was a chameleon—

Still wishing, everyday.

#poetry #adolesence #teen #colors #chameleon #writing

marisawriteswords

Sincerely, Angry White Girl

558.

Alton Sterling was the 558th person killed by law enforcement this year alone. The 51st since June 23rd.

When the video appeared on the morning news, my heart twisted in my chest and I wanted to scream in outrage. I’m angry. So, so angry. But I’m not surprised.

#BlackLivesMatter resurged in the wake of this tragedy. It’s all that us white people seem to be able to do, tweet a hashtag. Black lives do matter. But the thing is, tweeting it isn’t enough. A hashtag is not going to fix institutionalized racism.

Time and time again, this happens. And time and time again I struggle with the right words to say, the right way to express how deeply angry I am. I’m not part of the black community, I cannot feel your pain. I’ve experienced hatred, but my minority status can be hidden behind my white privilege.

I am white. I am safe. I don’t have to fear being slaughtered by the very people who are supposed to be protecting us.

The thing is, everyone should fucking feel this way. This is America. This is 2016.

Safety is not a white privilege.

We think we’ve come so far - since the Civil War, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement - but we still have such a long way to go.

558.

America, you need to be better. Legislatures and politicians and institutions that protect privilege - you need to be better. You need to be a country that I can believe in again. Because moments like these it’s fucking awfully disappointing to be an American.

Don’t say how sorry you are - do something.

I know, easier said than done. Sometimes, I don’t know what to do. For now, I will scream alongside the black community. I will listen to black voices and be there for my friends, my friends who are scared for their families and for themselves.

558.

Typing a number so large hurts so bad.

I will keep writing. I will keep listening. I will keep sharing and retweeting. I will vote for politicians that care about these social issues as much as I do, hoping for a future that’s better than our present.

Because 558 people are dead. 558 families have been forever changed in 2016. 558 murders were committed by the people who are supposed to protect.

It’s impossible to process such a number.

Sincerely,

Angry White Girl

…

More from some incredible black voices:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/danezsmith/poem-it-doesnt-feel-like-a-time-to-write-by-danez-smith?utm_term=.di7k4oom4#.poOypMMkp

http://halfmonstergirls.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-heavy-load.html

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/06/27/actor_and_activist_jesse_williams_gave_a_fiery_speech_at_the_bet_awards.html

The Go Fund Me to set up a scholarship fund for the Sterling children: https://www.gofundme.com/2d3eze7g

marisawriteswords

I wrote this piece less than a hour before news of the murder of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights.

Less than an hour, and my facts are already out of date.

Less than an hour, and it already became 559.

I am so heartbroken.

#black lives matter #philandocastile #falcon heights shooting #falcon heights #angry #sad #heartbroken #police brutality #racism

Sincerely, Angry White Girl

558.

Alton Sterling was the 558th person killed by law enforcement this year alone. The 51st since June 23rd.

When the video appeared on the morning news, my heart twisted in my chest and I wanted to scream in outrage. I’m angry. So, so angry. But I’m not surprised.

#BlackLivesMatter resurged in the wake of this tragedy. It’s all that us white people seem to be able to do, tweet a hashtag. Black lives do matter. But the thing is, tweeting it isn’t enough. A hashtag is not going to fix institutionalized racism.

Time and time again, this happens. And time and time again I struggle with the right words to say, the right way to express how deeply angry I am. I’m not part of the black community, I cannot feel your pain. I’ve experienced hatred, but my minority status can be hidden behind my white privilege.

I am white. I am safe. I don’t have to fear being slaughtered by the very people who are supposed to be protecting us.

The thing is, everyone should fucking feel this way. This is America. This is 2016.

Safety is not a white privilege.

We think we’ve come so far - since the Civil War, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement - but we still have such a long way to go.

558.

America, you need to be better. Legislatures and politicians and institutions that protect privilege - you need to be better. You need to be a country that I can believe in again. Because moments like these it’s fucking awfully disappointing to be an American.

Don’t say how sorry you are - do something.

I know, easier said than done. Sometimes, I don’t know what to do. For now, I will scream alongside the black community. I will listen to black voices and be there for my friends, my friends who are scared for their families and for themselves.

558.

Typing a number so large hurts so bad.

I will keep writing. I will keep listening. I will keep sharing and retweeting. I will vote for politicians that care about these social issues as much as I do, hoping for a future that’s better than our present.

Because 558 people are dead. 558 families have been forever changed in 2016. 558 murders were committed by the people who are supposed to protect.

It’s impossible to process such a number.

Sincerely,

Angry White Girl

…

More from some incredible black voices:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/danezsmith/poem-it-doesnt-feel-like-a-time-to-write-by-danez-smith?utm_term=.di7k4oom4#.poOypMMkp

http://halfmonstergirls.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-heavy-load.html

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/06/27/actor_and_activist_jesse_williams_gave_a_fiery_speech_at_the_bet_awards.html

The Go Fund Me to set up a scholarship fund for the Sterling children: https://www.gofundme.com/2d3eze7g

#alton sterling #black lives matter #police brutality #baton rouge #white privilege #racism #america #angry #558 #angry white girl #falcon heights shooting #philandocastile

"Everyone's Hanging Out With Me, I Have No Concerns." - Rascal says, 5 Paws. IS EVERYONE HANGING OUT WITHOUT ME (AND OTHER CONCERNS) by Mindy Kaling Mindy Kaling is as hilarious on the page as she is on the screen. Her debut is candid and provides an inside look into how Mindy Kaling became Mindy Kaling. Great anecdotes, funny asides, and Kaling has a knack for saying things that everyone thinks (for example, what does hooking up actually mean??). Thanks for giving us a definiton, @mindykaling. Will continue on to read WHY NOT ME? in Mindy Lahiri narration voice. #bookstagram #review #book #mindykaling #bookworm #dogsofinstagram

#mindykaling #dogsofinstagram #review #bookworm #book #bookstagram

bethrevis

Want to write a book? Get your New Year’s off to a creative start by entering to win my prize pack! You’ll get signed copies of: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, the ENTIRE Paper Hearts series by Beth Revis, which takes you from writing a novel to publishing and marketing it, and a journal, planner, and pencil set from Icey Designs…oh, and a personalized query critique from Beth Revis, so you can land a literary agent!

More details and entry form here–reblogging this post counts as an entry!

write-like-a-freak-deactivated2

I’m appointing myself cheerleader/therapist/mother of the tumblr writing community

You can do the thing

whitleychele

Dear Writers, just remember…

collegelifecrisis

MY SPENDING HABITS

At the beginning of the semester:

At the end of the semester:

The fact of the matter is that John Green and all of the other authors who jumped down this girl's throat had all of the power. Adults always have the power -- that's often why it's so difficult to speak up when they aren't treating us correctly.

Best article that I’ve read on this subject. What blows my mind the most is how so many respected YA authors (ones that I look up to) who write for teenagers silenced this teenage girls.

Review: A young adult novel that is a strange wonderful combination of Orange is the New Black and Black Swan.

Girls in Prison:

AND Crazy Ballerinas

#the walls around us #book review #orange is the new black #black swan #nova ren suma

Taye Diggs is going to be the next Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway in NYC, and the first photo of him made up in character is here!

"I also like wearing nail polish.”

#taye diggs #hedwig #hedwig and the angry inch #broadway #glitter

“I’m too sad to walk. Give me a few hours.”

This is such an important film & one of Pixar’s best imo. Thanks for showing us that an animated movie about a girl (who isn’t a princess) does sell and can be successful.

Besides being thrilled with the entire premise, the writing is spot on and just straight up funny. Be prepared to laugh and cry at yet another Pixar classic.

#inside out #joy #sadness #pixar #girls #films about girls #disney