Author: Sarah Lawrence

So, as y’all know well, I love to read and I thought I would do a two-part series of books that I haven’t read yet that I would love to own. Most of the ones I list are going to be the sequels to other books that I have read. And maybe once I’m done with this series I’ll do something similar but it’s going to be shows/movies that are on my to-watch list.

Anyways, without further ado, here’s my list of books I’d love to have. And if you have read any of the following books, don’t say anything, lol.

1. Crooked Kingdom

Okay, so I have read the first book, Six of Crows, and I loved it so I’m hopeful for this one. No, I have not see the Netflix series on this because I wanted to read the books first. Anyway, if you remember, I have said that I hate it when books, even good ones, that end in some sort of a major cliffhanger unless I know for sure there is or is going to be a sequel following it. In this case, of course, there is.  

2. Shadow and Bone (the whole series)

Yes, the whole series. If you’re unfamiliar with the books, they are not part of the Six of Crows series, but they are by the same author and they have very similar plots and from what I understand of them, some of the same characters making appearances. I have had my eyes on Shadow and Bone for a while and I didn’t realize it was the first of a series until fairly recently. Shadow and Bone is also the title of the Netflix series in which have the same characters from both series. Another reason I wanted to read these.

3. Terms and Conditions

This is the sequel to the book The Fine Print which I do have and am almost finished reading. This is a romance novel and in The Fine Print, it follows the story of Rowan Kane who is this morally grey billionaire that has to renovate his grandfather’s amusement park and meets this employee of the amusement park, Zahra, who is described in the book as “the personification of sunshine” and she turns Rowan’s world completely upside down. In Terms and Conditions, if I understand this right, follows the story of Rowan’s oldest brother, Declan. I’m not quite sure of the name of the female main character. But I love The Fine Print, so I don’t expect Terms and Conditions to disappoint me. *knocks on wood*

4. The New Girl

As far as I am aware, this is not a part of a series and if it is, this would be the first book of it. One of my very close friends from my old school has read this and she said it was very good, so I trust her, lol. If we are literally judging a book by its cover, you might think this is a murder mystery in which you’d be correct. This is my go-to genre but lately I’ve been basically experimenting with other genres to see if my preferred taste is the same. Anyways, this book follows the story of a girl named Lia, not sure if she’s a high school or college student, who witnesses a body being carried away. Of course, as typical for students in a thriller novel, Lia takes it upon herself to find out what is going on and in doing so, she uncovers the secrets of her school. 

Well, that was part 1 of two. I hoped you enjoyed it and I will see you next week:)

So, I felt that I might share my ideal college and career path. My choices and options have definitely changed over the years, but I’ve finally come to a set conclusion of what I will be looking forward to the next few years after graduating MSA. Full disclosure: I do want to pursue writing in my career but there is a bit more to it than that. I have been a big fan of graphic/digital art a long time and I thought I could incorporate that with creative writing. My main goal is to one day become a novelist and graphic novelist.

I will start my college career at Southwest Mississippi Community College in Summit, Mississippi for the first two years.

Now, this was something that’s been planned for years and it was the easiest choice because it’s less than ten minutes from where I live and it’s right across the street from my old school. Plus, I already know that the majority of my friends from my old school will be going there, too. There, I would be taking programs in graphic design.

Attend USM for four years

This was a choice that kept changing over again, because there were certain institutes that were specifically for art and design but none were close enough to home and costs were outside what we could afford. There, I will major in creative writing and minoring in graphic design. And there are people I know very well that are also planning to go to USM,

Start adulting in Tennessee!

After college, I plan to move to Tennessee, particularly in a city that’s still relatively close to Mississippi so that it’s not so long of a drive when I visit home. Probably a place like Memphis or something like that. I always found Tennessee to be a beautiful state and I also have some family there, so it’s not like I’ll be totally alone when I get there, lol.

Anyways, that’s my plan but of course it’s not a totally 100% sure thing because plans tend to change. I hope that you’ve enjoyed this post and I’ll see you next week:)

I feel like this post is relevant because of our literary unit being playwriting, and I thought it might be a good idea to share some thoughts and feelings about this. Maybe you can relate, maybe not but simply just wanted to share how I feel about this. Nothing negative or anything like, “Oh, my God, I absolutely hate playwriting!” It’s nothing like that. This is simply me venting and being honest with y’all and myself.

For one, I never thought of myself as a playwright. I didn’t think it would be something I would end up doing or be good at. Now, I wouldn’t necessarily say that I’m good at it mostly because I’ve only ever wrote two ten-minute plays. Though, I feel like I may be getting better at it. But is it something that I intend to keep pursuing? Maybe for a little while just to see if it kinda grows on me and if I eventually get really good at it, but in the long run, no. I do want to pursue writing in my career, but as a novelist or something like that. I might touch more on what I want to do after college later.

Another thing with writing a play for me is coming up with an idea that would be suitable for a play is difficult. Like I said, I’d prefer to write a whole book and most of my writing ideas would require to be prolonged and they wouldn’t really fit as a play. It took me until the last couple of days on the latest playwriting assignment to stick with an idea and condense to ten minutes. Could it also be a longer story? Absolutely, that is something I’ll consider doing later. Bottom line is that what I come up with may very well be good as a short story or book but not so much as a play. 

Anyways, the whole point of making this post was simply to share that I don’t necessarily see myself becoming a full-on playwright, but perhaps it will begin to grow on my later. I hope that if this is something I choose to continue on my own time that I’ll be able to come up with unique ideas suitable to portray onto a stage.

That’s all for this week, have a great rest of the week and a great weekend. See you next time:)

This has once again become one of those weeks in which I have nothing else better to post about, so I will just list some cars that I would do almost anything to own, fixer-upper or not.

Now, with fixer-upper being said, the majority if not all that I will list will be some old cars- specifically from approximately late 60s. I love older cars, and in my opinion, a lot of them are better than some of the brand new cars. That’s my opinion. I am not a brand-new Lambo kinda gal. So, without further ado, here are some of my dream cars:)

1.1967 Impala

If you know, you know; I don’t even have to explain. One thing I will say, though, is that the impala has experienced a really bad glow-down since this model. Need an example?

…Yeah, see what I mean? This is a 2020 model of the impala, and I for one would much rather the 67.

2.1967 Shelby

Yes, I am aware of a little pattern forming. Exteriors are both black, and both cars are from the same year. A little story about the shelby mustang: my grandmother’s dream car has always been a blue or turquoise late 60s mustang with white leather seats. That’s how my attention toward the old mustang started. Then my dad was watching a John Wick movie( I don’t remember which one) and I had come into the room during a scene in which he was stealing back is mustang very similar to the one shown above. Well of course, as expected of a John Wick movie, he was fighting with these other guys that were chasing him and as a result, he totaled the car. It almost physically hurt. Anyways, I know that was kind of a boring story but that’s how I grown the love the 67 shelby.

3. 1973 dodge challenger

Now, for this one, there is no major significance as to why I love this one so much. And what I mean by that is there is no type of story or anything. I was just looking online at similar cars to the impala and shelby and I saw this one and I absolutely love it.

4. 2019 camaro

Finally, a break in pattern. I’ve always been a camaro fan ever since I was little and realized what a camaro was thanks to Bumblebee. This is probably the only new car that I would want to have, the Chevy Blazer runs close second to this but that is more of a “mom car”. If I’m not mistaken, the last year Chevy will make a new model for the camaro will be 2024. Honestly, they’ve reached that point that there’s no point in continuing it because the camaro has reached its peak, so I’m not all that sad about it.

Honorable mention:

Now, obviously this is not a car so that’s one of the main reasons I’ve made this an honorable mention. Also, I wouldn’t call this my “dream vehicle” but I would love to own one someday.

Anyways, that’s all I have for this week; I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. See you next time:)

Hello, so because of the fact that I have absolutely no better idea for a blog, I will list some of my favorite series that I am either watching for the first time or re-watching. And I say re-watch them and by that I mean, when the show came out, it was before I was born and then started watching them towards the middle or end of the series. So, I am starting from the beginning to catch up on what I missed.

Anyway, I hope y’all enjoy this post:)

1. Supernatural

    photo credit: pinterest

I absolutely love this series. When I was first aware that the show existed, I was almost nine and at the time I was living in Tennessee. My mom had a lot of episodes on DVD and at first I wanted nothing to do with it because the graphics and everything scared me. Well, my mom got my dad hooked on the show and eventually I finally started watching it several months ago and now its one of my top 3 favorites. Btw: Dean is my favorite character.

  2. Law and Order: SVU

photo credit: Wallpaper access

Okay, some more backstory with this: this is a show that my mom introduced me to and after a while, it kinda became our thing. Here’s the thing: I started watching this before any kid should be allowed to. I started living with my grandparents when I was ten and was somewhat banned from watching because of the seriously sensitive content of the show. Well, after a while I started watching it again. This is another favorite of mine.

  3. Criminal Minds

photo credit: pinterest

This has been my favorite for about four years(around the time the series ended, lol). The story is, this was a favorite of my grandmother’s, too and in the later episodes, I started watching it with her and I became completely hooked. Yes, I was very sad when the series ended. So, as soon as I had downloaded and started watching Netflix, Criminal Minds was the first thing I started watching. I know that they picked back up on it about a month or so ago but it’s on Paramount plus and I don’t have that, so *teardrop*.

4. The Witcher

photo credit: fanpop

Now, I know this has been out for a little while now, but I only recently started watching it because my dad started watching it before me and he kept telling me that it’s a really good show, so I finally gave in and began watching it. I’ll have to say, he was right in my opinion but it’s one of those shows where it’ll take a while before it gets really interesting because it has to show you the backstory and why everything began. After like the first episode or two, I got really into it.

So, that’s it for this week, I hope you guys enjoyed it. Maybe I’ll do a part where it’s kind of like this but movies. See you next week:)

Hello, I have returned and I hope that y’all had an awesome New Year. So, because it is the new year, I thought it might be good to post a few new resolutions. Now, I am going to be 100% honest with you, I’m not gonna put some cliché stuff like workout more, because I already know it ain’t gonna happen so I’m not gonna lie to myself or y’all.

With all of that being said, the following that I’m about to list are some that I’m gonna strive to keep up with. Hope you enjoy:)

1. Write continuously for at least an hour a day. Now, as a young writer, this should be something I do often and I do. But, I’d really like for it to become an every day thing because too many times I’d get an idea in my head but it’d be at least hours after that idea comes that I finally sit down to write and by then, I’ve forgotten about it. So, I feel like pushing myself to writing for at least an hour a day will help me get those ideas on paper or my laptop and it might even help my creative process.
2. Limit the amount of coffee that I drink. Now, this is a very hard pill to swallow for me because I am borderline addicted to coffee. And I know as well as anyone else that it’s extremely unhealthy to drink too much coffee a day. I am not and will not stop drinking it altogether but slowly limit to hopefully just one cup a day. 
3. Go out more. Now, as an introvert, this is also a painful resolution. And I will be completely honest, as soon as I am done with classes, I go straight to my dorm room and stay there the rest of the day. Every once in a while I’ll watch a movie with a friend in either the second floor lounge or the Phoenix, but that’s it. I am gonna try my best to be more outgoing and more extroverted.
4. Develop a sleep schedule. Especially when I am at home, I do not have any sort of healthy sleep schedule. I am a night owl but an early bird at the same time. Most of the time, I won’t be able to sleep until at least 3:00 am. I’d then have to wake up at like 7:00 or 8:00, then comes the part where I’d drink 3-4 cups of coffee a day to keep me awake so that I can do what it is I have to do.

Anyways, that is all that I have for this post. I hope that you have enjoyed it and I’ll see you next week:)

Okay, so this was the post I should’ve made last week after I had made the first part, but it slipped my mind. But anyways, if you had read the first part of this than hopefully you remember that all the ones that were listed were by April Henry. I have a few more books by her that I’d like to re-read sometime later but I’m keeping them at five for now. Anyways, hopefully you also remember that I’ll be listing more books by a different author. That author being Natasha Preston and I’ve talked about her a good bit so you might have figured that out already.

About Natasha Preston’s books, there are a couple that I read but I don’t actually own so I can’t go back and re-read them *teardrop* because her first book The Cellar is so worth rereading and it still continues to be my favorite of hers. Moving on, here’s a short list of her books that I have and will re-read and then a couple by a different author.

And another thing about her books, because I have already read them, I won’t worry about them hurting my heart because I know what to expect. Honestly, I don’t know if my heart can handle another cliffhanger or favorite character getting killed or becoming a psychopath. Anyways, moving on to the list

Now with this one, it took me a little while to get into it, but once I did, I was done in a couple hours. It’s about these two best friends who were going out to the lake in their small town and they end up getting taken by these two college guys who take them to this shed that has a lot of basement rooms, and each one for the most part have their own theme of torture. One will be temperature where it goes from scorching hot to freezing cold, another one will be starvation where they stay in there for days to weeks at a time without eating, etc. And when the two girls are taken there  they realize they weren’t the only ones taken and there’s a small group of people already there.

This is also about two best friends, Esme and Kayla, who are counselors at a summer camp they went to ten years ago as little girls. But that summer, something happened, an accident, that they vowed no one would know. But someone does, someone seeking out revenge. Now, Esme and Kayla find a message THE LAKE NEVER FORGETS. Their secret is about to resurface and whoever knows is now out for blood. This one and The Lost were total emotional roller coasters that I can’t wait to reread.

This is by far my favorite series, and I’m not really sure if Holly Jackson has any other books besides these but if she does, I am definitely reading them. These books follow the story of Pip Fitz-Amobi who is a senior in high school that decides to solve a murder case that isn’t as open and shut as everyone thinks for her big senior project. But her journey’s only begun from there. One thing I absolutely love about these books is that the second and third one both involve mysteries that relate to the one in the first book. The author continues the storyline really welly. I will say, that this is a series where you have to start with the first book in order to understand it.  It’s not one of those where you don’t have to read the first in order to understand the second and third.

Anyways, that’s the rest of the books that I intend to reread after The Cruel Prince. I hope that these have peaked your interests and if you’d like to read any of these, I can’t recommend them more. I hope that you all have a very merry Christmas and I will be back to you in a couple of weeks:)

Okay, so I didn’t have many ideas for a blog post but this is a topic that I would really like to talk about. Don’t be fooled by the title, I’m not talking about anything religion-related, this is simply about forgiving someone else vs. reconciling with someone.  I’m gonna try to not get too deep with this, but I mainly wanted to talk about the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. I am aware this may be a tough topic for some, so read at your risk. I’m not giving any details about my life personally other than I have struggled with this with someone close to me. That’s all I’m gonna say about myself.

Now, let’s talk. What is the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation? And I mainly put this in here because I used to think these are almost the same things. And they are similar, but there’s more to reconciliation than some may think. Forgiveness, of course, is willing to let go of the weight that results after someone or something hurts you and not holding a grudge against that someone. Reconciliation, however, does include forgiving someone but it’s repairing the broken relationship between you and someone else. This applies to parents, other family members, your friends, boyfriend/girlfriend, etc.

But why forgive someone after they hurt you? I’m not saying you have to, it is completely a choice that only you can make and don’t let others pressure you into forgiving someone. But, anyways, for me a big reason to forgive someone is not for them, but for myself. It helps me to heal because I’ve let go of that weight and grudge and it doesn’t hurt nearly as much. That never means that I forget what they did by any means. And I hate to say it, but it’s better to forgive someone for your own benefit than theirs because a lot of people wouldn’t care unless they’re asking for said forgiveness. But, again, that is up to you and you alone.

To reconcile with someone is to repair that relationship that has been broken and becoming close with that someone once again. Now, there is a catch to that: the only person who should ever be responsible to fix that relationship is the person who broke it. That is their responsibility. If you broke it, then it’s your responsibility to fix it and make things right.

I had said that this was something that I struggled with someone. And for years I thought that it was my responsibility to repair that relationship between the two of us, but I had to learn that it wasn’t my responsibility to fix it. And trying to do so only made me hurt worse, especially when the other person didn’t want to fix it as much as I wanted to.

That came with another hard thing for me to learn: if the other person doesn’t want to have that relationship again with you, you can’t try to force it. Trust me, it is a lot better to not have one at all than to have one where one or neither people are happy. You’ve got to learn to let them go and I don’t wanna come off and say that’s easy because it’s not. It is hard to let go of certain people in your life, but I can promise you that if you do, things will eventually get better. And nine times out of ten, they were probably the wrong people to have in life anyway.

Anyways, that was my rant/lecture for the week. I hope no one is having to struggle with this, but if you are I hope this helps.

See you next week<3

Hello, I have returned, and I hope that everyone had a very good Thanksgiving:)

So, as you know, I love to read and my genre of choice is generally murder mystery/thriller. Nothing new that I’m sharing so far, moving on. Normally, when I get done reading a book, and don’t read it a second time like I would re-watch a favorite movie/show. But while on Thanksgiving break and I was starting to pack my stuff to come back, I noticed all the books on my shelf and I thought I’d bring myself to re-read them. One reason for that is, while some books took me weeks to finish reading, others took me two days tops. I remember those quick reads being good books but I didn’t allow myself to soak in memorable character traits or scenes or quotes and I only ever remember the character names and general plot. So while re-reading the books I’m about to list, I might even annotate them a little bit. I’ve noticed some people simply buy a second copy of a book they read to annotate, but I’m broke so I’ll stick to the one copy. Simply highlighting or underlining quotes or changes in character that lead to development might help me to enjoy the book more and it may even help with my writing. Going back and finding what makes a particular book memorable may help me achieve that in my writing.

Anyways, now that I’ve said all that, these are some of the books that I’ll re-read once I’ve finished the one I’m currently reading(The Cruel Prince by Holly Black) I hope you enjoy:)

Photo credit: OverDrive

This book was published in 2012 and is currently the oldest one of April Henry’s books that I own. I will re-read these in order by the year each was published starting with this one. Anyways, this is not the oldest of her books that I have read, I have read Girl, Stolen(2010) but unfortunately I don’t actually have that book. The Night She Disappeared starts with a girl named Kayla who works at Pete’s Pizza, and one night, she’s delivering an order and she gets kidnapped but the kidnapper had meant to take the main character Gabie who also works at Pete’s Pizza. When Gabie finds out that she was the one the kidnapper wanted, she became obsessed with finding Kayla with the help of Drew, who also works at Pete’s.

Photo credit: Amazon.com

I put these two together because they are a series that is about three high school students who are a part of the Search and Rescue team and each character have very different backgrounds. These three students are Nick, Ruby, and Alexis and one day, in the first book of the series, what was supposed to be a normal search turned very strange when one of the characters found a body(I can’t exactly remember who found the body) that wasn’t a part of their search. This was like the third or fourth body found killed the same way, but the police won’t rule it as a possible serial killer because their physical looks are nothing alike and serial killers typically have a type. Ruby, who wants to pursue a career in criminal justice, discovers that the killer is collecting different types of hair and that’s why each one was very distinct. There’s a catch though: she has red hair, what the killer hasn’t collected yet. She becomes a potential victim. In the second book, it’s another murder but this time, the clues lead the detectives to wrongfully accuse Nick for being the killer and that results with it being left to Rubie and Alexis to find the actual murderer before the cops officially close the case. Along the way, Nick also learns more about what happened to his dad and that he is not at all what his mother let him believe he is. When previously thought as a war hero who died in battle, his dad was the whole reason Nick wanted to join the Army, but when learning the truth, his dad who was put in prison tries to discourage him from doing so. Alexis also has a lot to deal with at home with her mother was diagnosed as bipolar.

Photo credit: Books, Bones, and Buffy

First off, let me say that I really wish the book that I have had this cover because I love it. Anyways, the girl on the cover is supposes to depict Tori, the former best friend of the main character, Adele. Tori was murdered and Adele has the ability to see ghosts. Since she was a little kid, she’s been labeled as a schizophrenic and denied her gift until it was needed to help find Tori’s killer before she becomes the next victim.

Photo credit: Amazon.com

Yes, it is indeed exactly how it sounds. A girl named Savannah gets kidnapped and taken in a white van. When the kidnapper takes her to an RV, she discovers another girl, Jenny, who had been taken around 10 months prior and she had been brutally attacked by the kidnapper’s dog. Luckily for Savannah, she had been taking a lot of martial arts classes so she’s able to fight. Jenny was a cross country athlete before she had been taken. So the two of them work to together to escape before they meet an even worse fate.

Okay, it’s a long list of books to re-read, so I’ll name one more book of April Henry and next week I’ll post about re-reads by a different author. You can probably guess who the other author is. Anyways, moving on.

Photo credit: Amazon.com

Now, this one isn’t really a murder mystery but the main thing going on is caused by someone trying to cover up their tracks after committing a crime. Natalia, the main character, is trapped in a huge forest fire with a group of other people who must find their way out before it’s too late. But for Natalia, it means facing her biggest fear since the death of her little brother due to a house fire.

Though I gave a good but brief description of each book, there are important details I’m missing because some of these, especially the last two, took a really short time for me to finish. So you could say I didn’t really “savor” the books.

Anyways, I’ll continue the list next post but that’s all I have for now. See you next week:)

So, I’m gonna be honest, I had no idea what I would post about this week, but since Thanksgiving is coming up and this will be the last post before we’re out for a week, I thought I might make a post about things that I am grateful for. Yes, some things I’ll list will be pretty cliché because it’s what you always hear people say they’re thankful for. But bear with me, like I said I didn’t originally know what I’d post about and this is more of a last minute thing. 

Before I start on the list, just know that they’re not in any particular order. 

Family- now hold on, I warned you this would seem cliché, but this is not really for reasons you may think and not really the family you may think I am talking about. While, yes it is because I am who I am because of them, it’s also because of something else. I currently live with my grandparents and before that I was living with my parents. My mom would try to get me into stuff like cheerleading and soccer(you couldn’t pay me enough to do either of those things). I didn’t like those things and though she didn’t directly say she didn’t like that about me, she implied it in a way. My grandparents on the other hand were very supportive and encouraging and they helped me get into MSA. I am forever grateful for that. I’m not saying that I’m not grateful for my mom, just not that she was trying to direct me into things I didn’t want to do. You wouldn’t catch me dead in a cheerleader uniform or anything to do with sports. Not my thing.

Friends- for the longest time, it was hard for me to keep real, good friends because we could never relate to each other and never really enjoyed the same things, with the exception of my best friend since elementary whom is more like my sister than best friend. As I started my high school years I began to find people who I was able to connect better with and I’m still great friends with all of them now. And since I started coming here, I found good friends and I know I’ll be able to keep those friendships for years to come, even after high school. It was always hard for me at my old school to find real friends, and I’ll spare y’all of the unnecessary details, but I’m really grateful for the handful of old and new friends I have.

My dad- hold up, I know, I know he’s obviously a part of my family. I put him in his own little category because he’s much like my friend as much as he is my dad. I feel like I can talk to him about pretty much anything. He’s also a big part of where I get my creativeness and artistic ability from and he’s also been super supportive when I told him I was applying and auditioning for MSA. We also share a lot of the same favorite shows/movie, and often he’ll get me to watch a certain show/ movie and I’ll try to get him to watch a show/movie. For example: he’s been getting me to watch Arrow on Netflix and I’ve been trying to get him to watch Moon Knight on Disney Plus. We also joke around a lot like I would with my friends.

My writing skills- this is a big thing for me because growing up I was never the best at verbally communicating my thoughts or emotions and I didn’t really know how to say what I felt. Writing and being able to do it creatively has always been my way of expressing how I felt and to be able to put together some ideas onto paper or a computer and make it into a story. It also shaped what I wanted to do as a career and I used to be so worried I’d end up just working a nine to five doing something that made me miserable. But since I know I’m good at creative writing and I love doing it and I know I can apply that to a career, it’s helped me to know what it is I want to do.

There’s a shortened list of things I’m grateful for, hope you enjoyed it. See you in a couple weeks:)