I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, friends, but this week is midterm week, and I need to focu on the good ol' study habits. With that, I will leave you with the cutest youtube video on the face of the planet... Peace. Stef.

Exercise #131 : "Cracked" Something suddenly cracked. What was it? What happened? 1,2,3 GO! Evie, sitting cross-legged on the floor, lowered her eyes to the small wooden table in front of her. A small orb of pure, white light ignited in front of her, illuminating her torso and arms and making the silver bangles around her wrists glitter in the brightness. Her pupils dilated, absorbing the light, and the ball grew and intensified, expanding to light up the entire room. The table suddenly began to rattle and shake, sending vibrations across the floor. Closing her eyes, she felt the air around her tingle with electricity, and she began to chant. "I invoke the Goddess of Earth and Love, She who sees all and does not fall. Hear me now and open thine eyes to see. Oh, moon of night, star of the sea, I invoke you! Open thine eyes to the world of the unseen. Make my senses sharp and keen. Open thine eyes to the vine. Grant thee power of sight and make it mine. Grant thee th

This week has sucked. Period. I've been busy with school and work, and things have just had this icky off vibe. I can't quite put my finger on it. Nothing went badly, per se, but like I said... icky off vibe. Imagine my surprise, however, when I log onto my blog and find... My follower count has grown, finally reaching that oh-so-elusive 100 mark!!! It totally made my day! Welcome, new followers!! I'm so glad you've decided to join me here at 52 Weeks of Wordage! I think this is a good point to have people start to introduce yourselves. 1,2,3, GO! Who are you? Do you have a blog? What is it? Where do you hail from? What are your hobbies and interests? C'mon, guys! I want to get to know you all! P.S. Even if you've been following for a while, leave a comment! I want to get to know ALL of my readers! :)

For those of you just joining us, first of all, WELCOME!!! :) If this weren't over the internet, I'd run up to you and give you a big old hug. If you've been around for a while, don't worry. There are plenty of hugs to go around, and I give of them freely and happily. As I said in yesterday's post, I have yet another writing exercise from my Third-Year Writing professor that I felt I should share with you. It's the same basic concept: Go somewhere you've never been before, do something you've never done before, and lisserve the crap out of it. If you're saying "What the heck is lisserve???" then go HERE . It should clear up all of your questions. Without further ado, here is my lisserving paper. A Lisserving Adventure Rows upon rows of glittering diamonds and gemstones twinkle from within their glass, velvet-floored encasements, and I wonder why I'm here. "Do something you've never done before," she had cried, exub

I don't know what it is lately with me and poems, but I was recently given an assignment by my Third-Year writing teacher to make up a word - yes, make up a word - and write a poem using said word. Now, I make no claim about my poem-crafting skills (in fact, I might actually say that I'm terrible), but I had fun with this one. My word is uthagination (pronounced yoo-THÆ-jih-NAY-shun). I won't define it, but I'm sure you smart cookies will figure out through context in the poem. Uthagination There is a time in a young person's life Where he or she must decide To leave a life of fancy behind And, come what may, to provide For a family he dreams of day in and day out For the house that gets much admiration But, sadly, in order to do all of that He must leave behind uthagination. "But leaving his uthagination behind!" You exclaim with exceptional fervor "He'll surely grow up, get old and then die! And that will be quite an endeavor!" You&

Exercise #130 : "Addicted to TV" The old saw in creative writing workshops is "show, don't tell." So, without mentioning the words "TV" or "addiction" -- in other words, without "telling," show with specific detail that your character is addicted to TV. GO! Ryan's eyes glazed over as another commercial appeared on the screen. Come on, he thought. Not more commercials. 1 ad, 2 ads, 3 ads... They were all the same. All they did was distract him from his shows, telling him that he should buy this or that because he would never find them this cheap ever again. One of the ads featured Billy Mays yelling at him to buy this or that laundry detergent. It's so powerful that it cleans your soul! At least, that's what they made it sound like. "Ryan?" called his mother from upstairs. "Time for dinner." "Ok," he said. He didn't even bother telling her that he wouldn't be coming up. She

I'm taking a moment to stray from my list of writing exercises to introduce you guys to a really interesting writing prompt to which my writing teacher introduced me. The idea is simple: A writer who knows himself is better than a writer who does not. So who are you? Be completely honest. Write however you want, be it poetry, prose, or screenplay style. Just get it out. GO! I am a work in progress. A child of God theologically Of a surgeon and a nurse practitioner biologically A musician first, opera singer second An actor and dancer I'm 22 - no - 23; sometimes I forget I am incredibly forgetful. I am a work in progress. A hopeless romantic "Someday my prince will come" ... maybe? Perhaps I'm a cynic A quippy, quick-witted chick who isn't afraid of hearing the truth Or telling it. I am a work in progress I am not perfect I've long since given up trying to be I must constantly remind myself that perfection is impossible in this world Otherwise I get

ANOTHER award??? Can't. Even. Handle. It. Must. Not. Tear. Up... This one is from Guinevere over at This Is Not My Day Job . If you haven't checked her blog out yet, you should. I absolutely adore it. Now for the rules. You're supposed to list 10 things that make you happy and then choose 5 other bloggers who make you happy on a regular basis. Things That Make Stefanie a Happy Camper: Sleep . I know that sounds kind of weird, but as a college student who thrives in the late night hours, I rarely get the amount of sleep that I should. When I do, though, I sleep HARD. Epically, one might say. Blogging . It took me a while to join the blogosphere, but now that I've actually made my debut in the blogging world and actually have followers (Holy crap, do I really??? Once again... Must. Not. Cry...) it's really fun. It's a part of my day that I have complete control over - Lord knows I have no control over anything else - and it's something that I really enj

Exercise #129 : "Cliché Conversation" Using clichés is generally not a good idea, however, why not have a character who uses clichés? The exercise is this: Two characters are arguing about where to go for dinner. One spews clichés. The other...? If you need a few clichés, here's a little menu: a fine kettle of fish mad as a wet hen a marriage made in heaven beat around the bush talk in circles set your teeth on edge uphill battle go off half-cocked hell in a handbasket talk your ear off kill two birds with one stone a whole new ballgame wet blanket have your cake and eat it, too There's also a Cliché Finder that you can use to collect a longer list if you so desire. I think it's pretty neat. GO! So... so... Wait a minute. I'm supposed to allow clichés to sneak their dirty little ways into my writing? I don't know if I can do that! I mean, it goes against everything I have ever learned as a writer! Surely C.M. Mayo jests!!! But some one has to se

Woo woo woo!! I got the Sunshine Award from Jen over at unedited , and I'm super psyched. Here it is: See? Ain't it purty?? It took me a while to post this one because, well.... I'm lazy. But it's up now!!! Thanks, Jen! Now for those to whom I am going to extend this award... Robin at Zombies & Cream - Holy crap, ladies and gentlemen. If you want a laugh, go here. Not only that, but you're sure to be thouroughly entertained. Kattrina from 365 Days of Happiness - Her blog is focused on living each day happily , and it serves as a reminder that, as she so eloquently puts it, "although some days are dreary and hard to get through, other days are full of smiles. I'm trying to focus on the smiles. " Sassy from The Sassy Curmudgeon - I've only been following this blog for a little while now (found through Blogger's Blog of Note), but it's excellent. Lots of really fun stuff. Go. 'Nuff said. Dan Holloway from The Man Who Painted Ag

So I'm sick. :( There's a stomach virus going around, and it hit me this morning when I was about to leave for school. All of the sudden, a wave of nausea hit me, and I ran to the bathroom. I stayed there for the next 2 hours. Between fits of upheaval and tears, I laid in my bed pretty much all day, and while I did this, I had a really bizarre dream. I've said it before; I very rarely remember dreams if I even have them at all, but every once in a while - usually induced by delusional sickness or medicine - I get a doozy. I don't remember much about today's dream, but I do have a few odd snippets. Somehow, I ended up in a competition that was kind of a mix of American Idol and Making the Band. I was trying out for a spot in this "girl group," and one of my friends from NY was involved. Strangely enough, this was not a televised competition. At least, I thought it was strange. Anyway, the competition is set up through several challenges, and our first o

Exercise #128 : "Ten Places, Ten Sounds" For Proust, the scent of a madeleine evoked an entire novel. In this exercise, think "sounds." First, list ten places. Any places will do (i.e. your living room, the Tiki Room, whatever pops into your head). After you have listed those ten places, for each one, list the first sound that comes to mind. Once you have all ten places and sounds, circle the pair that you find most intriguing. Then start writing. GO! my bedroom - the gentle whir of the space heater (gotta love living in an old, drafty house) the bathroom - the drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet the unfinished basement - the clanging of my unbalanced washing machine my back yard - traffic from the nearby interstate the Wilson Music Building's (Belmont School of Music) downstairs hallways - dozens of pianos, voices, and other various instruments cacauphonizing (So I just made that word up. What of it?). my Grandmother's house - intense, body shaking snores

First things first, HAPPY FEBRUARY!!! I can't even handle how sweet you guys are. For real. Here I am skipping through the snow here in Nashville, and I come home to a notification sitting in my e-mail inbox telling me that I have an award over at This Is Not My Day Job from Guinevere. I can totally feel the love. :) THANK YOU SO FRIGGIN' MUCH!!! Ok. Now that the elation has (somewhat) subsided, here are my five picks for the "Superior Scribbler" award: Deb over at Ranch Girl Ramblings - This is also in commemoration of her 100th blog post (Congrats!!). Her blog is so much fun, and she always has something helpful to say. Leah from Travails of a Budding Author - A very funny, entertaining read. I always get a laugh from her posts. Roni at *Fiction Groupie* - Now, I normally like to extend awards to smaller blogs, but I've been reading Roni's blog for quite some time now, and she is one of the most deserving of this award out there in the blogosphere, s