Word of the day

About a week ago I saw that Thesaurus.com is having a word of the day challenge. It started at the beginning of the year (so i'm a bit late getting into it) but basically what it is is a challenge for yourself to see if you can learn 365 new words, a new word every day. I thought this sounded interesting and also very helpful. I thought it would be a very good way to boost my vocabulary, which is good for writing and a good way to make you sound smarter in every day conversations.

I decided to try out the challenge, I started writing down the words and definitions and putting them on the walls of my closet so i could look at them when I was getting dressed or something, a good way to study. That didn't last long though, my laziness shone through and now I am writing the words and definitions in my phone and saving them for a time i feel motivated to post them on the wall. The first word I learned was agnize (v); To acknowledge, recognize or own. I am proud to say that I didn't even have to look at my wall to check the definition. I definitely encourage others to try the challenge and learn a new word every day and see how much their vocabulary increases by the end of the year.

A Million Little Pieces or A Million Little Lies?

 A Million Little pieces, more like A Million Little LIES. A book that was supposedly a memoir about James Frey's stay in a rehab center turns out to be a lie! The book was in Oprah's book club in 2005 and was quickly kicked out after hearing it was a fake. Everybody thought it was a bit weird for an autobiography to be written in the style it was but nobody suspected it was a lie. Although, it wasnt all lies. James was a drug and alcohol addict, he says he just embellished and twisted the truth about the events he encountered.

 

James very much feels that his book is an acurate representation of what life was like back then, even if he drastically twisted the truth. He says his thoughts were real, everything he was thinking in the book were his real thoughts. In the book he says he was in jail for months but in real life it was only a few hours, in the book he portays himself way worse off than he actually was. I dont see how someone could fake a horrible experience like that just to sell more copies of the book. Also it probably offends a lot of people who have actually gone through something like that because he is pretending to know what it was like for them.

Locking into the magic of Legos- Krista Ramsey

Once a month at exactly 5 p.m. kids are lined up outside the Lego store at Kenwood Towne Center to build the themed object of the month. Parents are supporting the Lego habit because they see the calm focus of building as a better alternative than playing violent video games. My favorite line from the article is "Like sparklers and hugs, Legos are things a child can never have enough of." It makes the reader really understand how important Legos are in a child's life. I like this line because it is a simile and it is comparing sparklers and hugs, to Lego toys, saying the three are imperative to a child. The diction used is low/informal because there aren't any big words in the sentence.

The average sentence length in this piece was long because there were more than six words in each sentence. Although in other pieces there were shorter sentences used, like in the first article: For better vision, kids need time outdoors "Keep bothering." Her writing style is kind of serious but she adds little jokes in her pieces every now and then. Three questions I have are, have you always preferred column writing rather than fiction writing? Another question I have is when did you first get into writing? Lastly who inspires you, or has the most impact on your writing career?

About the author- Ned Vizzini

Ned Vizzini, age 32 was an author of novels mainly with themes of anxiety and depression. Author of Be More Chill, Teen Angst? Naaah, It's Kind of a Funny Story and more. Ned has struggled with depression and anxiety practically his whole life and It's Kind of a Funny Story is pretty much the story of the ime he checked himself into the hospital due to suicidal thoughts at the age of 15.


After the publication of his book Be More Chill he recieved a contract to write two more books but fell back into a depression in the process.Last December 19th 2013 Ned took his life, jumping off the roof of the building where his parents lived, leaving behind his wife and son, along with the rest of his family.

Predictions

I am just starting to book It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. Right now i am at the part where Craig checks himself into the hospital after he almost commits suicide. He gets shown around the hospital. Unfortunatley Craig checks himself in thinking he would just get some medicine and get out but what he didnt know was that his planned one day visit will quickly turn in to a 1 week stay, that is if the doctor thinks he's ready to leave at the weeks end.

On his tour with Bobby Craig runs into a girl named Noelle. I suspect that further into the book a romance will form between them because I feel like this is the type of book to have a little splash of romance. I think him having Noelle will mae it easier for him to get over his crush on his best friend's girlfriend Nia. Personally i think the book could use a good romance, it's really sad so far and could use a happy twist.