Or at least so the over 530,000 views of my online writing would leave me to believe (and yes I literally just checked and added up views with my little phone calculator, so this isn't just some silly guess). Plus I always got good grades in writing, my novel could potentially be ready to be sent to an agent by September, and sometimes when I don't update this blog people get a little upset with me and ask me to please write it again.
Things I'm not good at #1: Remembering to Write
I love to write. I really do. But I get home from working all day or home from school and what I want to do, unfortunately, is not pull out my laptop and write. Heaven KNOWS I don't feel super compelled to pull out my laptop and edit, which is the stage I'm really at now. Nope. It involves a lot more tv and ice cream than making words appear. Less fulfilling, but a heck of a lot easier.
TIGA #2: (I like how that spells tiga, like I was trying to say tiger but more fly) Watching shows
I'm pretty sure I'm the ideal audience. Not because I'm so awesome of because I'm ideal as a person, but because I react to things the people want me to. I get so emotionally invested in things, its ridiculous. I scream and cry and laugh and vent and get anxious and feel compelled to sometimes watch four episodes in one night so we can just find out what's going to happen, darn it!
TINGA #2: (I'm liking tinga as well) Remembering that shows are fake so I don't have to get upset
Trenton can attest (and my parents and a multitude of friends) that sometimes my emotional involvement gets a little crazy. I'm just so sure that people need to be in love, or that a conflict needs to be resolved, or that Jess needs to get out of Rory's life, or...etc. Not only does it mean I stay up too late, but sometimes I get a lil worked up.
TIGA #3: Sleeping in the Morning
TINGA #3: Sleeping at Night
TIGA #4: Having things to say when I'm not writing my blog
TINGA #4: Having things to say when I AM writing on my blog
Seriously, it sometimes gets so hard to know what to talk about for a blog post. I feel like I write about the same things, over and over again. And repeatedly I promise to write more, and then don't. And sometimes I just get frustrated with it all and so I don't write because it reminds me that I should be working on my book, which can be such a daunting prospect. But I know that writing gets easier the more you write, so here I am writing a blog post anyway.
TIGA #5: Loving Sharks
Let's chat. Let's chat about the media's portrayal of sharks, especially great whites. It is so bad, people. Recently, I have seen so many posts about the surfer whose surfboard got knocked over by a shark. And people freaked out. The video was posted and reshared with titles like "SHARK ATTACKS SURFER!!!" and "SURFER FIGHTS AWAY GIANT SHARK!" when the headline should go like this: "Shockingly, there are sharks in the ocean, and one knocked over a surfboard and then swam away without hurting the surfer at all". I'm not saying it's a perfect headline, it's a little long, but I think it captures the idea of the issue a bit more accurately. Seriously, I don't know if y'all have seen the video, but it's pretty obvious that the shark bumps the surfboard then swims right away. Do I think the surfer has valid reason to be freaked out? Yes. Sure. Sharks are scary. They have big teeth and they can hurt you if they're in the mood (which let's acknowledge that Great Whites are way less often in the mood for that than tiger sharks or bull sharks which are mean and one of which bit off arms in North Carolina so let's not hate on great whites for that incident). So being in the water and being knocked off your surfboard that close to a 16 foot shark would be pretty terrifying. For the surfer. Who was in the water with the shark. And was probably shocked. But not for the millions of people who feel the need to freak out about how aggressive sharks are. The story is told like the surfer made a heroic and daring getaway. Let me just remind people now that sharks can swim faster than people and they have crazy power in their jaws and if that shark had been hunting he (or she) would have hurt the surfer. It wasn't an issue of how awesome the surfer was that they were able to get away, it was that the shark wasn't interested in biting anybody. Clearly, I have strong feelings about this. If someone would like to hire me to write a book of essays (opinions) on sharks (and other animals) I'd be more than happy to do so. Maybe that will be my next project after the Forgotten (which is like a fifth through this final editing process before I say "here agent, please sell my book. please oh please").
Note: If you are the surfer in question or the family of the surfer please know I'm sorry for the scary experience. I think you're real great and I'm glad you're not hurt and that all is well and please don't hate me for loving the shark but I just do. It's one of the things I'm good at, remember?
Note 2: Yes I know this is not me with a real shark but great whites should not be in captivity so I like to just pose with this beautiful depiction. Mmmk?
TINGA #5: Loving all the people I should
On a more serious note, something I've really been working on lately is worrying about me instead of worrying about what other people are doing (something my dad's been telling me since I was like three years old - "you control you. You can't control what anyone else is doing") So I've been working on positivity. When I've been lonely I've been reaching out to others instead of expecting or hoping for them to come to me. When I disagree with a major life choice someone's made or their political opinion I remind myself that we're all just living our own lives the best way we know how. It's a huge comfort to me that I am not responsible for anyone else's actions, and that I don't have to decide if someone else's choices were wrong or right. That's just not my job, and it's not a job I want. While I've been doing better in a general sense, there are still times I find myself feeling wronged, or even worse I find myself feeling jealous at someone else's good news when I should be happy for them. It is such a truth that someone else's gain does NOT equal my loss, but for some reason in this world we live in I find myself feeling that way. So if I've been impatient with you, I'm sorry. If I've thought my way was better than yours, I hope you will be patient with me. If I have secretly been bummed that you got something I didn't (which you wouldn't know about probably because secretly was an operative word here, I'm not just throwing in words to look fancy. That's bad writing, after all. Not that secretly is actually that intense of a word, and some authors would argue that it's adverb 'ly' nature make it bad writing (and to you I say, awlejdsoijgh which means I don't know if I agree or not but don't challenge my writing till I've had something to eat and am less grumpy), then know that I know I shouldn't feel that way and I'm working on rejoicing for you. I want to love people better, to be someone that is considered loving, not judgmental.
On a more serious note, something I've really been working on lately is worrying about me instead of worrying about what other people are doing (something my dad's been telling me since I was like three years old - "you control you. You can't control what anyone else is doing") So I've been working on positivity. When I've been lonely I've been reaching out to others instead of expecting or hoping for them to come to me. When I disagree with a major life choice someone's made or their political opinion I remind myself that we're all just living our own lives the best way we know how. It's a huge comfort to me that I am not responsible for anyone else's actions, and that I don't have to decide if someone else's choices were wrong or right. That's just not my job, and it's not a job I want. While I've been doing better in a general sense, there are still times I find myself feeling wronged, or even worse I find myself feeling jealous at someone else's good news when I should be happy for them. It is such a truth that someone else's gain does NOT equal my loss, but for some reason in this world we live in I find myself feeling that way. So if I've been impatient with you, I'm sorry. If I've thought my way was better than yours, I hope you will be patient with me. If I have secretly been bummed that you got something I didn't (which you wouldn't know about probably because secretly was an operative word here, I'm not just throwing in words to look fancy. That's bad writing, after all. Not that secretly is actually that intense of a word, and some authors would argue that it's adverb 'ly' nature make it bad writing (and to you I say, awlejdsoijgh which means I don't know if I agree or not but don't challenge my writing till I've had something to eat and am less grumpy), then know that I know I shouldn't feel that way and I'm working on rejoicing for you. I want to love people better, to be someone that is considered loving, not judgmental.
So I guess what I'm saying here, at the end of the day, is we all have strengths and weaknesses. We should love our strengths and we should love the strengths of others. I want to improve my own weaknesses and not fixate on or pick apart the weaknesses of others. I will do my best to not be jealous of you, and you just contain your jealousy for how well I love sharks. Just watch enough shark documentaries and then we'll basically be the same.
