11 Questions!

Hey again!

So I was tagged in this by @IndigoSky and she is pretty much the only one of who who comments here and who i talk to, so instead of tagging someone else I will leave it open to whoever else reads this. 

1. Thank the person who tagged you. (Thanks, IndigoSky!)
2. Answer their 11 questions.
3. Tag 11 people. (Okay so um.. like I said above)
4. Give them 11 new questions. (This is the worst bit tho...)

1. Do you like cooking?

Hell yeah! I do it a lot at home but I quite often burn it.. 

2. When's your birthday, and what would your ideal birthday be like?

28th June, and probably for all my fave actors/actresses (Jennifer Lawrence, Shailene Woodley, Emma Watson, Theo James) coming to see me and being able to take part in a film with them XD

3. Favourite color?

Either... black, white, coral, pale grey, mint green, copper or baby blue :)

4. Do you have any pets? (And if you do, can you include photos? Lol.)

Yeah, I have two chickens, which I really cba to get up and take a photo of. I used to have another chicken and 3 rabbits, but all the rabbits died and the chicken was a rooster so we took it back.

5. Got any hobbies?

Don't get me started... Okay. Dance. Drama. Singing. Baking. Photography. All sport. Reading. Writing. Daydreaming. Planning. Organizing. Drawing. Painting. Making edits and aesthetics. I could go on but I'll bore you...

6. If you could travel to any country in the world, where would you go?

Poland, for the Christmas Markets!

7. What's your favourite song?

This Is Living (by Hillsong) or This Is Me (from The Greatest Showman)

8. Do you wear braces (or have you ever worn them)?

Yeah I wore twin blocks (to bring my jaw forward) for 7 months, train track (the normal ones) for just over a year, and now I'm 2 months into wearing a retainer.

9. Are you using this tag as an excuse not to do something else you have to do? (Because that's totally not what I'm doing?!)

No...... Definitely not...... (that was sarcastic but idk if you can tell)

10. Are you on Instagram, and if your account is public, can you give me your username so I can stalk you? (If it's private I understand if you don't want to share it!)

Yes you can follow @katniss.prior.fray (my fan account) or @name.aesthetics.xx (where I do name aesthetics, surprise surprise!) But my personal ones are private, and this is an anonymous blog so that would be kinda stupid lol.

11. Do you think eleven is a ridiculously large number of questions to answer? (Or come up with??) Answer, no. Come up with... imma struggle with 2!

Okay. So my questions are...

1. Do you like pineapple on pizza?

2. Have you ever tried being/are you vegetarian/vegan/pesketarian?

3. Do you like Justin Bieber?

4. On average, how many hours of YouTube do you watch a week?

5. Do you read/write fan fiction?

6. Are you bored rn?

7. Do you like The Hunger Games?
9. Did you notice I skipped 8?
10. Are these numbers going to annoy you now?
11. Do you have a blog? If so leave a link and I'll read :)
12. Do you have pets?

Lots of love, 

Teenage Blogger x

Making Life Choices

Hey! Sorry (for the millionth time) that I've been so inactive lately.

I wanted to write, today, about making life choices (as you probably guessed from the title). Do you ever feel like we, as young people, are forced to decide their futures too early? At the moment, I have to choose my GCSE options for Y10, and the deadline is 16 days away. Two weeks and two days. It seems like quite a while, but it's such a short time to make a choice that could affect my whole life!

Well, there's two sides to it. On one hand, some people say that GCSE or whatever exams you have in your country don't make a difference. Some say they do. Some people say they define your whole life! But what is true?

Sure, it's just some exams which people won't really bother with when looking at your CVs. But whatever you choose, you have to study it at GCSE level for between 1 and 3 years, depending on your school, which is quite a lot. Say you choose Art over Drama. After the exam, you now have between 1-3 more years of Art knowledge and practice than you do Drama. And if you're sure you want to do Art in your career, then that's perfect.

But what if you don't know what you want to do for a career? Say you love both Art and Drama? What do you do then? Because school pressures you to make a decision on what you want to do for your whole life, but doesn't give you enough options to let you.

I am this person. Let me talk you through my options, and maybe you could help me.

I have to take:

• English Literature (2 lessons)
• English Language (2 lessons)
• Maths (4 lessons)
• PE (1 lesson)
• RE (1 lesson)
• History OR Geography (2 lessons)
• Triple OR double Science (7.5 OR 5 lessons)
• A language (2 lessons)

And then I have a choice between a lot of others. 

If I take double Science, I have two options left.

If I take triple Science, I have one option left.

Which is fine, since I want to take double, so I have two options left.

I've been working this out for 2 years, and I finally have it narrowed down to either Art, Drama or Textiles. WHICH TWO DO I CHOOSE?? Comment below!

But I digress. The point I am trying to make is, its your life and no one is going to agree on what you do. In the end, its your decision, and you should do what you want to do.

I hope at least some of this made sense to you!

Lots of love, 

Teenage Blogger x

Question of the day: What career do you want/have?

My answer:  I don't know!!

What about you? Tell me in the comments below!

Wanting To Help But Can't...

Hey guys!

I'm wondering if any of you will relate to this post today, and I would love it if you'd let me know! I don't want to feel like the only one who feels like this, and it would be so encouraging for me and others to know that we aren't alone.

My point being: I'm frustrated. I just went onto http://www.worldometers.info (researching something for current story and got sidetracked, as per usual) and saw some horrifying stats:

So far this year (worldwide) have been... (correct as of 15th January 2018 17:29)

• 309,615 deaths of children under five years old;
• 12,472 deaths during childbirth;
• 331,413 deaths cased by cancer;
• 43,273 suicides;
• 22,401 deaths cased by hunger and undernourishment;
• Thousands and thousands more...

And it’s only the 15th January.

15.8 days.

379.2 hours.

22,752 minutes.

1,365,120 seconds. 

If you think about it, it isn’t that long at all. In those 15.8 days, 2,376,456 people have died. Not all from bad causes. But some. 

I do realise that some of these things are really hard to prevent, and there are incredible scientists working on cures for these diseases, but some things we can help - somehow. And this it the thing that frustrates me the most - whenever I express this feeling to people, I am told that I’m ‘too young’, or ‘too insignificant’ or I have ‘more important things to worry about’. You tell me. What is more important than people’s lives? Because there is always something we can do, always! I refuse to accept the belief that because I am a 13 year old girl that I can’t do anything. But I can’t find ways to help! 

Do you see my problem? I want to belp people who need it as much as I can, and I don’t want to let the dream-crushers win, but I can’t see any way to prove them wrong. I also have no money to donate to charities, and I do as much as I can. BUT IT’S NOT ENOUGH FOR ME!!!!!!

Can anyone either relate or tell me of something to do about it? I feel like such a hypocrite typing his on my computer while there are people out there dying because of dehydration or because they don’t feel loved enough and feel the need to end their time on earth. These people aren’t just numbers - for every number included in the ever growing list of deaths, there is a family and friends grieving over them and the loss of their life. Sure, eventually they’ll go back to normal life, but it will leave a lasting impact on everyone around them! Every death prevented, no matter how insignificant, prevents the people around them getting hurt! 

So I guess all i can do right now is to spread the word. If more and more people get on board with this, we stand a better chance of making a difference. One of the stats that horrifies me the most is the one about suicide - 22,401 people in 15 DAYS decided that their life wasn’t worth living anymore. That tears up my heart completely! This isn’t right! Please think about how you treat others: what you take as a joke, they might not. Trust me.

Thankyou so much for reading.

Lots of love, 

Teenage Blogger x

Question of the day: What annoys you the most?

My answer: THE ABOVE!!!!

What about you? Tell me in the comments below!

New Years Resolutions 2017-18

Hey guys!

Sorry I haven't posted in so long, I'm behind on everything. I won't give excuses but sorry lol.

I know it's the 7th of January today, but like I said, I'm behind. Let's just pretend that it's the first, because I want to believe that I'm organized even if I'm not. Gulp.

So here I will write a look back over 2017 (although since this blog is anonymous, nothing too personal!) and write some of my many, as you will know if you read my blog last year, new year resolutions for myself and for the future of this blog.

Look-back on my life

So this year, I guess, hasn't been all that dramatic for me. I became a teenager, I guess? Started year 9 at school? I did a few dance exams (in case you were wondering, I did g4 ballet (76%), g3 jazz (90%) and Intermediate foundation ballet (71%))... Ooh and I got baptised! That was good! But all in all, not much has really changed.

My new years resolution list last year was very long..... so I won't bore you with them all, only the ones I posted on my blog. Here's a link to the post if you're interested: http://living-the-teen-life.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/new-year-resolutions.html

So these five were:

1. To have more self confidence
2. To try and make my friend Christian
3. To get my forward walkover
4. To get over £20 in my bank
5. To get at least 20 subscribers to this blog 

Okay. So. Number One. I suppose I have actually grown in confidence quite a lot - I've started to stand up for myself more and go for opportunities I wouldn't normally go for. So I'd say, YES!

Number Two. Make my friend Christian. That's a simple answer: no. I tried, but she wasn't interested. Oh well. We all have our preferences. So for no.2, NO!

Number Three. Another simple one, no. I haven't really practiced, to be honest, since I don't do after school gymnastics or cheerleading anymore, so I don't have the time or space to try. That's a NO!

Number Four. I think I must have, at some point, but not for very long! So that's a kinda half YES!

Number Five. Get at least 20 subscribers to this blog. Ouch. I really had high hopes, didn't I. Well, at least that one isn't TOTALLY my fault. In case you were wondering, I have one. Well thank you so very much to my amazing singular follower! I vastly appreciate it! At least I know someone enjoys my blogging.

So that's 1 and a half out of 5 resolutions completed. Eek... Let's hop I do better this year!


Look-back on my blog

So my blogging this year. I got my first follower, and I changed it up entirely: I moved web addresses (I know, something to be so proud of!) and completely re-vamped the website, which hopefully I will continue to improve over the next year. I hope I improved on my blogging - I know I definitely feel more comfortable in it now, and I hope I write better and more interesting posts! I had quite a few people comment on my blog this year, which I loved - it's nice to be able to interact with you personally, rather than just me taking at you.


Looking forward in my life

So I'll make 5 more resolutions personally.

1. To work myself hard to improve in every aspect of life;
2. To develop my friendships and only be around people who inspires and help me;
3. To choose good options for my GCSEs;
4. To save at least £30 in my bank for OVER 2 MONTHS!! (you see, upping it a bit this year :))
5. To become more organized and less forgetful!

Let's hope I do better this year than I did last year...

Looking forward in my blog

I'll make another 3 resolutions for my blog.

1. To post more regularly - maybe once a week?;
2. To do guest posts on other people's blogs;
3. To get at least 10 followers to my blog (slightly more realistic, but still ambitious)

And lastly, I know I said I'd do three, but I think the most important one of all, which is what this blog is mostly for, is to know that somehow I have helped or motivated you in some way through my writing.

Question of the day: What are your Resolutions? Were you better at keeping last years' than me?
My answer: Well, just read above ^^
What about you? Tell me in the comments below!

Lots of love, and happy (belated) new year!
Teenage Blogger x

Improving Your Stories: Part One

Hey guys!

Today I’m writing about books and stories, more specifically how to write them WELL. There are so many different aspects to this, so I’ve decided to do it in a multi-part way, although I have no clue how many parts there may be!

You must have a fairly even mix of action, thoughts, dialogue, and description. 

There are four main types of paragraph within a story: action, thoughts, dialogue and description. The key to writing a good story is getting a good balance of each, so as not to make it boring. I'll go over each one.

Action
This is basically just what happens - the main plot, all the drama etc. It is generally quite fast moving, so it doesn't matter too much if you have more of this - sometimes, if it is something really dramatic, it is best for the action not to be interrupted. However if it is just a small romantic event with your OC's significant other, it works better if you break it up with some other attributes.


Thoughts
This only really works if the story is written in 1st person. It is the narrator voicing their opinions and thoughts on what has happened / is happening / will happen. As I said in the last one, in small pieces of action, it is used to show the OC's affection or peace with the world. It is also very effective when a massive bombshell is dropped, if they find out something important, because they may not tell everyone exactly what they are thinking. In addition, it is a good way to end a story/chapter/section of the story as an alternative to a cliffhanger: ending with the narrator explaining in detail what they think of an event or situation really builds tension and makes the reader want to know more. This is shown quite frequently in The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.

Dialogue 
This is fundamentally speech, or conversations between two or more characters. Of course, it is essential to have long conversations every so often, but is it really needed to explain everything through speech? There are much more imaginative ways to tell the reader things, involving showing, not telling and reader deduction. I'm not saying not to include dialogue, it is really useful and it would be unrealistic to have a story without any speech, just don't overdo it because you will bore the readers.

Description
It is all just as well to have your action, thoughts and dialogue, but sometimes your readers just want to know what things or people look like! Here you can kind of go crazy - pull out all your best descriptive techniques to paint the perfect picture in the reader's mind. You could leave a few gaps for the reader to fill in if you want to, but some readers prefer to have it all there for them. All I will say about this, is not to make it last too long: one paragraph is alright, possibly two, but you will soon bore your readers if you just list everything around in minute detail.

I hope this helped you to get a better grip on the content of your story! Remember if you have any stories that you want me to read, review and promote, just comment on this blog or email me at teenagebloggerette47@gmail.com .

Lots of love,
Teenage Blogger x

Question of the day: What genres do you write about most?
My answer: Fantasy, action, adventure, fanfictions.
What about you? Tell me in the comments below!

The Other SIde Of The Mirror: Chapter 3

Hey!

I won't waste time with an introduction- I just wanted to post another chapter quickly. Anyway.

Chapter Three

I have finished all my work. It's been a really quiet day for me, since my Subject is in this side of the world with me. I check my rose gold watch. 22:00. Yawning, I close my laptop and plan to go to bed. 

I leave HQ and trudge down the stairs into my bedroom, about to climb into my bed fully clothed. Trouble is, there's someone else in in it.

"Get out my bed!" I growl viciously to Brooke.

"Oh, sorry," she says innocently. I clench my fists. "It's a pull out bed - we can share!" We pull out the bed, and I pull my duvet as far away from her as I can, as if she is contagious. I know that none of this is her fault, but honestly I don't want to have to blame myself for it. I quickly fall into a restless sleep. 

In the morning, I wake up to the weekday alarm that Brooke forgot to turn off. I groan, and roll over. 

"Wake up!" she yells in my ear, fully dressed already. 

"It's a Saturday!" I moan. "On Saturdays we wake up at 11:00, not 6:30! It doesn't change now that you're in my world!" She rolls her eyes. 

"No, stupid! It's Friday! I need to get to school!" She protests. I check my phone, which confirms my worst fears.

"Dammit. Wishful thinking." I yawn. "Well there is no chance that I'm letting you go. You are staying right here today!" She looks upset, but doesn't argue. 

"What're we doing today?" She asks cheerfully. 

"YOU are going to find lessons online so you don't miss out on your education. I am going to do my work." I say firmly.

"I don't have a laptop!" She whines. 

"Ugh! I have a spare one! Now go to your room and stay there!" When she obliges, I am probably the most relieved that I have ever been in my life. 

Back in HQ, I get another email - this time from The Boss. Whatever this is, it can't be good. 

He is telling me to prepare a statement for what has happened and why it did to present to the Council next Wednesday at 09:00. I have pretty much exactly five days (it is currently 08:57). I have ages - I'll put it off until Monday. I resolve to go and find Jay R, my boyfriend, but stop by to check in on Brooke first. 

I push open the door to my bedroom, to find Jay kissing her. 

"What is going on???" I yell. They break apart instantly.

"Oh crap," Brooke mutters. Jay looks at us one by one. 

"This - wait - WHAT? Which one of you is the real Brooke, and which is the Reflection? My Reflection?"

"I'm Brooke R!" Me and Brooke say simultaneously. I shoot her an angry glare. 

"I promise, Jay! She found out, and I had to bring her through. Law of Reflection Protection, and all that..." We both smile in recognition of our inside joke. Brooke looks between us in confusion. 

"Um... haha," she says lamely. 

"Go away! I can't believe that you would kiss my boyfriend! After all I have done for you!" I scream at her, sending her away. A tear drops down my face. "I hate her, Jay, I really do..." He rises onto his tiptoes to plant a kiss on his lips. Contrarily to most relationships, I, the female, am taller. I don't mind though. 

"Um... I'd better go and see if the Potion has arrived..." I say, linking arms with Jay and leading him to the admin desk. "Hey, do you know if there's been any deliveries of the Memory Potion in yet? I need it kind of urgently..." I nod in the direction of Brooke, who is now kissing a different boy. The man at the desk checks through his files. 

"No, sorry. I'll let you know when I do though!" He replies cheerfully. Ugh! How can people be cheerful now? This is a disaster! I manage to control myself and not say anything, but it takes A LOT. 

Suddenly, Anya R comes running into HQ, looking flustered. "Brooke R!" She calls, looking for me. I wave. "Brooke! There's a problem: Anya didn't get the message that Brooke was staying the night with a friend, so she thinks that she's run away! She's called the police and everything!" Oh crap.

"Don't panic. Um... Try to tell her again, or contact a Reflection of a police officer - see if you can get them to sort it. Have you tried asking Tyler R to tell Tyler? I can't get her back yet - she hasn't had the Potion and we don't have any in!" 

"Could you put her back without the Potion? It's risky, but we may have to..." 

"Not yet. Try everything else first, but that might have to be our last resort."

There we go! Comment if you like it xx

Lots of love,
Teenage Blogger x

Rape Culture And Feminism Rant

Hey guys! Whats up?

This is my second rant in a row, but I was reading an article about this this morning and it made me so, so angry.

Because of sexism and rape culture, girls can't do what we want to do without being controlled and shaped by society's "norms" and this isn't okay.

Let me give you some examples.

1. One of my best friends was assaulted last week at Scouts. She told the leader and the leader's response was "He was just messing about. Don't worry about it."

2. My friend's 8 year old sister, when she told her teacher at school that she wanted to be a firefighter, was told that "That's a man's job".

3. I can't walk round the corner to the local convenience store without constantly checking that I am being followed and change sides of the road whenever a middle aged man comes close, for fear of being mugged or raped.

I 'm sure that there are countless other examples I could give, but if I tried to list them all, we would be here for weeks. I know there are lots of rumours and made up information going around regarding womens' rights, but I'm here to give you solid info. I've looked into this a lot, and I'm pretty sure that everything I'm gonna tell you is 100% true.

Firstly, I'm going to give you another example. A girl got given 2 days exclusion in my school last week because she had her bra straps showing and told to go to the bathroom to remove it. She was given detention, and then argued with the teacher and demanded that it wasn't a problem, resulting in her getting isolation. Then she proceeded to take her bra off in front of her whole class, arguing that no one could see it anymore. Because of this, she was excluded.

Can we just talk about this for a moment? The school punished her for wearing underwear. And then told her to leave the lesson to remove it. Excuse me, but when the boys have their jeans hanging down below their butt because it's "trendy", I don't see you telling them to remove their boxers for goodness' sake! By making her leave the lesson, the school is teaching her that it is more important to not have a bra strap showing than to have an education. The same school that doesn't allow nail varnish or mirrors because it "interferes with learning" and "distracts pupils from their lessons". Just a tiny bit hypocritical, no? And the girl. So brave, to say the least, to stand up to her teacher like that (and may I just note that it was a MALE teacher!!!) but also because she isn't afraid to stand up for what she believes is right, which is a trait I think everyone should have. I saw this post on pinterest from twitter the other day:

"being taught that my clothes have a voice more powerful than my own & that even when I say no my clothes can say yes 4 me" - from @jociiii_ on twitter. I won't go into this, but I could not agree more.

Moving on. Someone told me the other day that they were a feminist, but didn't like to make a big fuss of it because they were afraid of what people would say. How wrong is that? They are too scared to stand up for their gender, which is 49.6% of people in the world. Half the world's population, not given fair rights because of their gender. And people like the person who told me that, who won't do anything about it because they don't want to be bullied. Does that not seem wrong to you? That is the whole point of feminism! That EVERYONE, regardless of gender, should be given equal rights and be able to say what they want to without fear of being cut down! This really isn't fair, and I want to do something about it.

Just to round this post off, I want to say something about abortion rights. I found another amazing, beautiful post on pinterest from tumblr the other day, and I just want to share this with you. 

"So if we have to show women what the baby looks like in the womb and tell them how the process works before having an abortion, does that mean we should teach our soldiers about the culture of the lands we're invading, and explain to them that the people we want to kill have families and feel pain, just like us?" - from @fairlylocaloddparents on tumblr.

I'll just give you that to think about. 

Finally, I need to say this. 

I am a feminist. I am proud. I will do whatever I can to raise awareness of this issue, and I will do anything in my power to make womens' and mens' rights equal. I am not afraid to stand up for what I believe is right.

Thanks for reading this guys. I get really passionate about topics like this :P Also on controversial rant posts like this, I am open to and welcome comments agreeing OR disagreeing with what I write, and feel free to have arguments with me or each other. I must say though, please don't say anything offensive or prejudiced. If you do I will have to report you. Very happy note to end on.

Lots of love, 

Teenage Blogger x

Question of the day: Do you believe in gender equality and equal rights?

My answer: HELL YEAH READ ABOVE

What about you? Tell me in the comments!