Dear Other Women, Don't Derp This Up!

So I just wrote a post on Tumblr and was kind of proud of it. So I've decided to use it as this blog. This is your intro, now go!

The most recent TT on Twitter is #GirlsShould.

I was browsing around the tweets and and amongst all the ones about how girls should “talk less and give more head”, I noticed this little beauty.

Really?!

I mean…really?!

Look at who tweeted that! A girl, probably no older than 20. If you can’t cook, you’re useless.

Well, as a nerd, who is also a girl, I tend to disagree.

You see, women were blessed with this beautiful thing called (wait for it) A BRAIN. We’re perfectly capable of using it. However, it seems that many girls, like @colorrMEbaddd seem to choose not to use it. I mean, really. She spelt “color” and “bad”, two of the most basic words in the English dictionary, completely wrong. And the emphasis on “me”? I’m pretty sure lower case letters would’ve worked just find.

But that’s not my point.

Yes, I understand that for hundreds of thousands of years, the typical stereotype of women was that they should stay at home and do the cooking. But you know what? That’s as dead as the rest of the culture from the 50’s!

Women are constantly fighting this so called “duty” of womanhood where all they should be able to to do is cook, clean, and push 10 pound lumps of flesh out of their bodies. The truth is, today’s women are capable of everything—we’ve gone to the moon, we’ve run public offices, we’re some of the best lawyers, we save lives as doctors and surgeons, we write fantastic novels (using our own names), and do whatever we want.

WHY in any world should we, with having all this knowledge, all of this drive and success, be absolutely USELESS if we don’t know how to cook?

I’m a woman. I can’t cook without setting my kitchen on fire. Does that make me less of a woman?! No. No it doesn’t.

I’m not afraid to use my brain. Not afraid to break these ridiculous social stereotypes that the world has set up for us as traps to fall into like generations before us. Women have always been strong, no matter what history tells us. But our generation is amongst the first to be able to celebrate and show off this strength.

Don’t fuck it all up for us, girls. Even if you can’t spell “color” correctly. 

-Love, Chelsea

You and Me, We're Meant to Be

Hey guys.

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Let me explain what my life has been like lately: wake up, work, home, sleep, wake up, run, work, home, sleep, wake up, work, sleep, work, sleep, run, work, sleep, work, work, work.

Needless to say, I'm exhausted. Working 34 hours a week, when you're so used to working no more than 20 is tough stuff.

So what else have I been up to?

Well, first and foremost, I signed up for my first half marathon. January 29th at Disneyland. 5:30 AM. I'm totally excited and hopefully I can train up enough in time.

Also, I completely went through and edited my latest book. After I'm done with this, I'm going to put it into the computer and get ready to send it off to some agents. :) Also, it's pretty much the first time that I read through that book in completion: I love it.

I started a new book. So far, the prologue (a staple in my writing) is all I have done but it's all planned out in my head. I'm so excited to delve into it some more.

And lastly, I've been able to read some more books. Most recently, I've inhaled Newes from the Dead, the Hunger Games trilogy, and the Fallen series.

Newes from the Dead was OK. Nothing SPECTACULAR but a cute little stand-alone book. Great historical story.

Hunger Games....OMG. AMAZING. It's probably my 3rd favorite series, ever. Which is saying something considering the amount of books I've consumed over a lifetime. Basically, it's about a bunch of kids who are thrown into an arena to kill each other. Trust me. It's awesome.

Fallen & Torment (Fallen series) One word: meh. Like, okay, it's got a sort of interesting plot line. Fallen angels and reincarnation. Cool right? Yeah! Until you factor in the "romance" that's supposed to drive the plot forward. They're destined to be together. That part makes sense. But...they have no chemistry. None. She's just attracted to him and apparently has been for the last several thousand years.

I don't feel it!!!!!

I always enjoy reading so much because I can learn the different elements in stories that I like, that work. And then I can use those very same elements in my own writing.

Remember our woman power discussion? Well that still reigns true.

But this time I need to talk romance with y'all. I mean, any book or movie or play is only about two things at the core: death or sex. Nothing else.

(Most) humans crave a romance in a story. It drives everything forward, makes everything worth fighting for. And what can make this better if it is destined to be.

Come on, we all love fate.

What reading this series has taught me is that romance HAS to be totally believable. Legit. I think some authors have a problem with this because, in their minds, the destined romance seems totally real because they know everything about it.  But they sort of forget to share it with the rest of us.

Romances can be destined.

Philosophers can debated this for centuries. I believe that there are things I am destined to do with my life. There are places that I will have no choice but to go to, whether by plan or by chance. People in this world who I'm supposed to meet and be friends or enemies with. I believe that there is one person, somewhere in this world, that I am ultimately destined to be with. I'm not alone in this belief.

So this is my next goal.

For this next book, I'm going to destiny, fate. My main character will have everything that she loves ripped from her, in order that she should discover the person she is meant to be. Discover her fate everything on her own.

Sort of how I'm planning on discovering my own.

Funny how all of this comes from reading a simple book, huh?

Dear Canada, Who Are You?

I love blogspot.

For one, it's got a simple setup.

For two, I can follow all my favorite bloggers on one easy page.

And lastly, it shows the statistics of where your readers come from.

Most of you are from the U.S. Big surprise, haha!

But there's also some internationals out there.

Hi France and Switzerland! I know who you are and I love you.

Hi Malaysia (I think)! I believe I also know who you are.

But there's also a reader from Canada.....

This gets me confused. Obviously, most of you come from my Facebook...but I thought I only had two friends who live in Canada...and they usually prefer Twitter or other social sites. Besides, I don't think they'd be that interested in this blog.

So this got me thinking...do I have a reader from an outside source? Or are you, my dear Canadian reader, actually so far north in Washington, Maine, New York, or Minnesota that it looks like you're from Canada? This is all a mystery to me...

Dear Canada, who are you?

Also, readers, feel free to comment. There's an anonymous option if you're really that shy.

In other news, I hope you already found that nifty iPod touch over there ---->

A good friend of mine, who is also a writer and a blogger, added one to hers and, being the Copycat that I am, I had to get one for myself. (If she gives me permission, then I'll link you to her blog cuz she's got a bit more writing stuff on hers than I do. And, also, she's basically amazing.) It's some of my favorite music and I'll probably be adding more to it as time goes on.

Meanwhile, I do have an actual subject for you today.

A few days ago, I went to a cast party for a show I stage managed at my old high school last semester. It took me a while to get into the party mode, and then we headed to the pool. I know, it always seems like the greatest ideas happen in the pool.

Originally, I hadn't been planning on going swimming. I didn't bring a bathing suit cuz I'd just gotten off a 9 hour shift. But someone lended me and extra and in I went. For a while we just paddled around, blah blah blah.

There was, of course, some testosterone filled teenage boy who felt the need to push everyone into the water. And that's just what he decided to do to me. Eight feet of water is a long way down for someone who isn't a very strong swimmer. It took a while for me to surface and as soon as I did, there was that same kid in a wrestling match with another boy and they fell plop on top of me. Eight feet again.

The rest is kind of a blur, but I think that someone grabbed me and pulled me up. I just remember surfacing again and going on like nothing had happened.

But the next day, I was sitting on the couch and that's when inspiration hit.

I told you that I've been sort of mulling over my next book. This one is supposed to be dark and edgy. Well, in any book, or at least in mine, there is always the question of how the two main characters (love interests in this case) going to meet?

Somehow that experience in the pool had more impact than I had initially thought (get it? Impact... heh heh). It seemed like the perfect time for something like this to happen...at least in the context of this book.

The point I'm trying to make is that if you're writing, you have to actually listen to your fourth grade English teacher: "Write from what you know." It's so true because books are written for humans, all of whom experience similar emotions and can relate to something on a basic level. That's why we love them so much. And next time you're reading, also remember that if you feel like you understand how a character feels absolutely and completely, then the author probably went through what you're going through.

That's my way of making the world a little smaller today. :)

--Bianca