Emily Rachelle Writes

This week, I've been catching up with school assignments and taking a break from reading.  So today, instead of reviewing a book, I'd like to talk about something starting tomorrow: National Novel Writing Month! Known to those who participate in this event as NaNoWriMo , November is a month of challenges and frenzied typing.  The adult program, for anyone 13 or older, challenges writers to complete a 50,000 word novel in exactly 30 days.  Writers begin this enormous task on November 1, and must 'turn in' their completed first drafts by midnight, November 30.  Time zones are taken into account, and each writer sets their time zone when they fill out their author information.  Forums are available for participants, as are web badges, NaNoToons, and pep talks from several famous authors. I had never heard of NaNoWriMo until halfway through November of last year, and I figured by that point I might as well wait.  So I did.  In fact, I almost forgo...

This is the day I rejoice that I no longer carry those giant bags that hardly qualify as purses.  Let's see what we've got... My purse is actually a going-away gift from when I left Okinawa.  Yes, it's a real Coach. (Excuse the mysterious hand on the sanitizer.  It belongs to a baby I'm watching.) Obviously I have hand sanitizer, a cool little bottle made to fit in the rubbery holder thing Bath & Body Works makes.  It's Sugar Lemon PocketBac and it smells soooo good.  On the other side of the purse, there's a metal clip with gazillions of pressed pennies attached and a few bracelet-type charms. Inside the outer pocket I have basic stuff: foldable hairbrush, Band-Aids, wet wipe, hairbands, lip gloss, and some trash.  :P  In the main pocket, I have hand lotion (B&B's Carried Away :] ); a few random papers; a mini notebook; more trash?; my favorite Blistex; a Northland card from their display on Wednesday night; two pencils; four ...

Bailey from Big House in the Little Woods ...we define ourselves by marriage. Our unmarried years are marked by filling hope chests, overcoming crushes and trying to keep that binding verse: "She does him good all the days of her life." For all practical purposes, we're married to him presently. This becomes sticky when we start making life decisions. We fear going to college because what if that super cute, super spiritual boy at home won't pursue us if we're in another state? Or we go to college because that's where we find the good ones (to paraphrase godly women). We don't start this project or pursue that interest because, well, it doesn't really look good on a homemaker's transcript. Once precariously in the position of eligibility and yet perhaps on the brink of fifty years of spinsterhood, we stop asking, "What is Your will, Lord?" and start asking, "How will this help me find a husband?" This is frustr...

For today's post, we have a famous teen author writing our very first guest post.  :D  Melody Carlson is a personal favorite of mine; I've read all of her  Carter House Girls and  On The Runway series, as well as some of her TrueColors books and one Diary of a Teenage Girl . Have you even wondered why some teens are drawn toward things like Ouija boards or psychics? Or why séances are still popular at sleepovers? Does it just have to do with Halloween and that spine-chilling need for a good scare? Or could it be something more? And, as a Christian, should you be concerned?             Those questions, as well as some confused reader letters, prompted me to tackle the “supernatural” in one of my teen novels (Moon White, TrueColors, Nav Press). And whenever I write an issues-based novel, I’m forced to research—and often in some dark places. So I began scouring websites, learning more about Wicca and the o...

Nathan. My boyfriend. :) Yup, the one with stunning eyes and big dreams. Oh, and that's my brother Eddie on the left.  You know, all three of us have this photo as our Facebook profile picture, and that makes things really confusing. :P 

I've run out of list ideas, and I was browsing Teen Ink when I realized something.  This blog is called Struggles of a (Maybe) Teen Author, and yet I've only shared one piece of my 'real' work.  So now I'll share a little something I've written each week.  Most of these are posted on various websites. Yesterdays At times when things are hopeless; Ones you love are far away; Remember the cheer and laughter From a long-gone day. Read what you wrote in your diary On a day when you were sad- Then read what you wrote the next day, When somebody made you glad. Look back at a photo taken Of you with all your friends Distance can never erase that Or make a friendship end. Watch a movie you made at a party With no real meaning or plot Hear the laughter and the giggles And be thankful for all you've got At times when things seem hopeless; Ones you love seem far away; Remember the cheer and laughter ...

Taken Away by Patty Friedmann Summer's little sister went missing in Katrina - and her mother blames her. Click the cover to buy Summer Elmwood's parents don't believe in television, or computers, or cell phones, or air conditioning, or caller ID.  They don't believe in evacuation, either - which is how they ended up living in their local Baptist Hospital when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.  Summer's little sister, Amalia, was having open-heart surgery a week before the storm... but when Summer's family is forced to evacuate, Amalia is gone.  Now they're living with shallow, selfish, rich Aunt Sharon, and Summer's family is convinced she hid or murdered Amalia.  With a secret cell phone, her best friend Haydn, and a new friend Robert, it's up to her to find her sister. I had a mixed reaction to this book.  On the one hand, the language and several things about drugs and other activities were simply unnecessary.  Yes, Summer's parents...