mortiz098

Part of my brain can’t believe June is already over, it feels like the days just went by in a flash. June was a busy month for me, this year I was the photographer at my church’s VBS, as well as one of the teens in the skit every night, it was a lot of fun and I got to hang around a group of kids in my church that I normally wouldn’t have.  The lighting is so bad, I'm sorry! Fun fact: the boy in the green is one of my little brothers :P  The seven most awesome people at our VBS (yes, I'm including myself). ^^as the only two girl actors, we had to take at least one bad selfie before the skit Back to the photography part, I had to borrow one of my friend’s mom’s camera. My friend’s mom is a photographer, and she let me borrow one of her nicer cameras for the week. I hate to admit it, but I barely knew anything about professional cameras (I didn’t even know about ISO), so I learned a lot during that week! ^^The spider over our front door that I named Daisy. <3 So, I'm sure ...

I actually didn't forget about this series and am continuing it??? Look at me all professional and stuff and not quitting something! Other posts in this series: - The Problem with Bad Boys - The Problem with Grey Morality  I actually like darker books. I like horror, psychological thrillers, crime etc. But I've noticed that a too real  faux pas of reality and  darkness has been becoming more and more prevalent in YA. Now, do some teens struggle with drinking, drug abuse, peer-pressure, depression, or mental illnesses? Yes, of course. Do some unfortunate teens suffer consequences for their actions? Also, a yes. And I think a good way to address and spread awareness on issues such as these is through fiction, but I've noticed that so many books are missing the most important thing when it comes to darker themes: hope . Listen, I know I can't speak for everyone, but as a teen, finding hope in books is so important . Hope is important, light is important, being...

Yep, you read the title right, this is my one hundredth blog post. ONE HUNDREDTH!!! A year and a half and a hundred blog posts later, here I am!  I actually would be past a hundred posts already if I hadn't used pictures from google when I started blogging, when I realized that a ton of those photos were copyrighted and I could get in trouble for not using them correctly, I went back and deleted a bunch of posts instead of bothering to replace those pictures.  One lives and learns I guess! When I typed out my first post, I goodness to honest thought that no one would read my blog. At most I would have a handful of bloggers I knew irl follow me and that would be it. I am very glad I was wrong! Through blogging, I have discovered so many lovely people with similar and far different views and beliefs than mine, and I am super grateful for it!! Blogging has been extremely awesome. (Although my wallet would say that blogging is a bad thing because I see so many epic looking bo...

Let me just throw this rambling at you about a certain thing I see missing from YA novels time and time again: Character arcs are SO important!! Without them, the whole point of the story is meaningless. True, there are probably some exceptions (there are always exceptions), but overall stories would be empty if the character reached the end without learning anything . Would The Lord of the Rings be as amazing and touching if Frodo returned to the Shire in the end and went back to being the plucky young hobbit he once was? Would The Voyage of the Dawn Treader be as amazing if Eustace ending up not being redeemed and went on with his bullying ways to the very last page?   I myself have changed so much over these years, and I haven’t even gone on a quest or led a worldwide rebellion against the government (yet)! The first step to working towards your character’s arc is to give your characters flaws and shortcomings. For example, one of my characters, Piper Anson, is a super ...

I'm going to be very busy these next three days, normally I would post something today, but my post isn't ready yet and I won't be able to post it until either this Sunday night or Monday. I also probably won't be able to respond to comments or emails. I thought about not posting anything, but I decided to let y'all know before I disappear from the blogosphere shortly. I always try my best to comment on y'all's posts, so I am sorry for anything I may miss! Stay awesome, (also I blocked comments on this because I know spammers are going to try to spam my posts while I'm away... I JUST KNOW IT. Also, it's a tad bit overwhelming to turn on your phone after a few days and get flooded with a thousand emails from different things, so I'm cutting it down a bit). 

^^^Wow, would you look at all the hard work I put into this header??? Admire the fonts, the overlays, the shading, the- oh, wait I decided to be lazy and just upload a picture from Unsplash without editing it first? Oops. This post was inspired by the lovely Mira's post , go over to her blog and thank her, because I know y'all were dying to see what I hope to read this summer... *crickets*  Okay, maybe not , but either way that's too bad because THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE GETTING TODAY.   I've read a lot of mixed reviews on this one, but it sounds good and I'm hoping it will restore my faith in coming-of-age novels. So, I watched this book's trailer and it was really good (watch it here ), and I really love this cover for some reason. This cover though... 😍  (Yes, I judge books on their covers, so what??) also, I've been looking for some YA thrillers to read this summer, so I hope this one turns out to be good.  SUPER HYPED FOR THIS!!! I actually ordered it...