Snowy Owl Poem

Note: I've been rather MIA lately, at least in the blogging world. For a whole 3 months (gasp!), you have not heard from me. I apologize for that, and assure you I am alive and well, still living on Earth. Anyways, on with the post.

An Untitled Poem About Seeing Snowy Owls

the rocky dirt path stretches out for miles
dotted by determined photographers
with their $3000 cameras
complete with 40x zoom
I am armed with only a $300 camera
and a 14x zoom

they wear camouflage winter coats
and heavy wool hats
I wear sweatpants
the wind zips right through

every camera lens, expensive or cheap
is focused
on the majestic white blobs
accented with black
they are the snowy owls

their eyes are curls of mascara
their fluffy feathers oversized down duvets
a head swivels around
and looks me in the eye

i hear a series of clicks
as one of them takes flight
flashes burst out
all eyes on the owl
but then it lands
and after a moment’s pause
eyes turn away

eagles and hawks and herons fly by
the papparazzi doesn’t even notice them
because all eyes are on the owls
the majestic snowy owls

NaNoWriMo Tips

If you’ve decided to join many others in an epic novel quest that is NaNoWriMo, then congratulations, first of all! You’ve decided to try something many people will never do. But we must admit, it is hard. This is my second year doing the Young Writer’s Program of NaNoWriMo, where you can choose your own word goal, and along the way I’ve developed many useful tips and tricks. Today, I will share a few with you.

1. Write everywhere and anywhere. This means at school, in the car, on the bus, while eating dinner, while brushing your hair, or even in the shower if you have one of those fancy waterproof notebooks. Unfortunately, life doesn’t stop just because your writing a novel, so on busy days with lots of activities and not a lot of writing time, you need to take advantage of those spare minutes in line at lunch.

This means you won’t always have access to your home computer, so you should carry your work on a memory stick or store it in the cloud, like with Google Docs, so you always have your work ready to write some more. However, you won’t always have a computer accessible, so carry around a notebook everywhere you go, or use your iPod as one instead. This way, you won’t have that lame “I didn’t have a notebook,” excuse.

2. Keep track of your word count. Since NaNo is all about writing more, you need to keep track of how much you writing in order to meet your goal. Most word processors have a word counter (Hint: Check under “Tools”.), but some don’t. This is when a free word counter like www.wordcounttool.com comes in handy. If you’re writing by hand, sometimes you’ll need to average out by words per page, as counting every word you write by hand can be very time-consuming.

You can also use a ‘report card’ that tells you things like how many more words are left in your novel, or if you keep writing and your current pace, what day you’ll be done. I use a Google Docs one. You can get it here: docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Anz-Ax4lGuegdGw5di1CTS1ZTlNEamI2cFNjcXVMRHc

3. Put together a survival kit. This isn’t neccesary, but it really helps keep you going. A survival kit is a collection of items to help you ‘survive’ NaNoWriMo. Mine includes things like:

• gum
• sticky notes
• inspiring objects and pictures
• a cozy hat that I only wear while writing
• tea
• hot chocolate
• healthy but yummy snacks

You can include similar items.
There are many more tips, but those are the ones I’ve chosen to share with you today. The only real way to get better at NaNoWriMo is to do it! So what are you doing? Get writing! But wait, before you go, share your own tips in the comment box below! Happy NaNo-ing!

Music Makes Everything Better

I've noticed lately that music is very powerful. I'll be feeling stressed or up-tight or tired, and when I turn on Coldplay or Adele or some T-Swizzle, it all seems to melt away. So I'm taking today's blog post as an opportunity to share some great music with you.

First of all, some new Coldplay.



Recently I've gotten Adele's 21 album. My favourite song:



And what I'm listening to right now:



And finally, my favourite artist:



Music is amazing. So I double-dog-dare you to go turn on some tunes, whether they be my recommendations or some of your own favourites. Here's to music.

It's Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving.

Homemade pumpkin pie. Roasted turkey filled with stuffing. Harvesting the last of a veggie garden. Happiness and thankfulness shared together with relatives.

That is what I think of when I think of Thanksgiving. Now you may be thinking, “But Thanksgiving is in November!” Well, in Canada, we celebrate it on the first Monday in October (Columbus Day in the US). Why? Canada has an earlier harvest season than the US, so it makes sense for us to celebrate it in early October rather than late November.  We also celebrate a bit differently. Generally, in Canada Pilgrims are not mentioned in Thanksgiving celebrations.

Thanksgiving in Canada was supposedly started by Martin Frobisher, an explorer who tried to find a northern passage to the Pacific Ocean (which was later discovered and is now called the Northwest Passage). His Thanksgiving was a formal ceremony giving thanks for his safe return home. Canadian Thanksgiving origins can also be credited to the French settlers who came to New France in the early 17th century with Samuel de Champlain. Their Thanksgiving was like modern Thanksgiving in that it celebrated a successful harvest. On January 31, 1957, the government announced “A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed – to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October.”


Thanksgiving is an opportunity to give thanks for the many things which we are so lucky to have and to share our joy and happiness with others. It is also a time to remember those who are less fortunate than us and do not have a safe place to come home to. Many foodbanks and soup kitchens also hold special dinners for Thanksgiving.

Although you may not be celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend, you should try to be thankful all year round! Some ideas to celebrate are donating to food banks, volunteering at your favourite non-profit organization and just being thankful for all you have!

What’s your favourite part about Thanksgiving? How will you be thankful? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

(This is an article I wrote for Newmoon.com.)

Writing-- Unexpected Findings

Just a little piece about finding something unexpected. I wrote this today at a writing workshop I attend. I'd LOVE if you'd let me know what you think (be honest!). Thanks for reading it!

Unexpected Findings

I curl my fingers around the rusted doorknob. The door is cracked and the off-white paint is peeling in long strips. I can see the swirly knots in the wood through the thin paint. As I open it, the door creaks like an old man getting up in the morning. Inside I find something I never thought I would ever see again. It is the old sweater my grandma had knitted for me as a starting school present. I wore it every day for 297 days (yes, I counted) until my mother ordered me to take it off. It had became so ratty that when I put it on I could never find the arm holes, as there were too many other holes which I mistakenly thought were the ones meant for my arms. I was definitely a weird kid. Other kids had stuffed animals and special ‘blankies’. I had my sweater. On the first day of kindergarten, while everyone else squeezed their mother’s fingers so hard they nearly broke them, I put on my sweater and flopped down on the couch with a book. I had loved that sweater. But what was it doing here?

I was sure my mom had thrown it away. I remember kicking and screaming and finally collapsing in hopelessness as my mother tossed it out. So how did it get here, behind the old door in the apartment building my dad runs? The responsible, adult part of me lectures me on the importance of letting go, and tells me that I should close the door and move on, but this voice was quickly defeated by the sentimental part of me. I stumble through the doorway, leaping the distance in only a few steps. I snatched the sweater up from the dusty floor and pressed it against my chest. I took a deep breath, letting the familiar scent of the sweater remind me of those happy days my 5-year-old self had enjoyed so long ago. I laugh as tears began to stream down my face. What a silly thing to be get so emotional over! I knew nobody would ever understand my attachment to this sweater. But it was a part of me, a part of me I certainly didn’t expect to find behind the old wrecked door in Dad’s apartments.

“Unexpected findings are the best.” I whisper to myself.

Things That

Hi guys!
I'm at school right now, and we were on Blogger making blogs about The Trojan War book we are starting to study. The blog is trojanwarhanna.blogspot.com, if you are so bored that you actually want to read me rambling about the book. It doesn't have anything yet, anyways.

On other blog news, I'm in the process of making a book review blog. The URL is betweenthestacksya.blogspot.com. Again, it doesn't have anything yet, just a cool header. Let me know if you have any ideas or thoughts on the blog!

Well, the bell just rang for lunch (yay!), so I gotta go.
"Blog" to ya later!

City of Bones Review

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Best book evaaaar! I finished it this morning and couldn't bear to wait until the next day to read City of Ashes so I bought the sequel right away. Cassandra is an amazing writer and I am looking forward to reading more of her fabulous writing.



If you are wondering, City of Bones is about a teenage girl named Clary Fray. She heads to Pandemonium, a club, with her best friend Simon expecting a murder-free, normal night. But this night turns out to be not normal at all. She witnesses the murder of a demon and is thrown into the world of Shadowhunters and demons. She discovers secrets whispered about behind backs, mysterious creatures and much more. Join Clary as she journeys into the dangerous Shadowhunter world.



I encourage all lovers of YA books to head to their local bookstore or library IMMEDIATELY and pick up a copy of this amazing book.








View all my reviews