Delayed

There's been a delay in posts, especially since my last little opinionated spiel "Advocating A Seeming Crude Industry". Today I'll be posting another opinionated article later on, assuming I'll have the time for it, that is. With finals coming up I don't have the free time that I used to, and I apologize in advance for all new stuff being delayed as a result.

Thanks for understanding!
Sabrina R.

Short Stories, Separate Blogs and Other New Changes

Oh I feel like a genius! I've been wanting to post any longer short stories or opinionated articles so they can stand alone, separated from this blog so that they're not condensed down and can have more room for better visibility and legibility. Apparently a beautiful aspect of blogger is that you can have more than one blog and you can sync these together, which I'm doing via my "Link List" at the bottom of my blog.

You may have noticed too, but I also made my home page a little less intimidating post-wise as now only 5 posts will show at a time instead of 7. I know it doesn't seem like knocking off two posts will do much, but I think this small action already cleaned up my page a bit. I personally think 5 is a good number, I was actually considering going down to 4, but then I thought it wouldn't look like there was even much there. And 6 didn't seem to affect the page at all. So 5 it was. Not that this is particularly exciting news to anybody except me, perhaps.

Another thing I've added that you might have noticed is a reaction bar to my post, similar to Facebook's reaction bar. This is a work in progress and the reactions may change until I feel they have been perfected, so you might see a reaction on there today that isn't there tomorrow. But use these because they're great automatic sources for me as I can get immediate feedback and see how I'm doing.

And two final and particularly cool things I've just added in the last few minutes is a search bar, which I think could come in handy. You can type something in and search my blog, or even the web. I've also added a way to highlight a post that I feel is particularly interesting or important, but may have gotten buried by a newer post. I'm currently using my "Shout Out to...'Stuck'" post as an example to see how this particular feature 'reacts' with my blog to see if it works and how it looks.

Anyways, that's my blog's news.

Don't forget: keep your eyes peeled and check back on the "Link List" occasionally to see if there're are any new short stories or articles that appear.

Scratch that. While those things will appear there, I've made a new and even more accessible area specifically for my separate short stories and articles which will appear right between the search bar and my list of other pages; it's aptly titled "Short Stories and Articles". I've added my latest story, "Inside Sophie", which I wrote last year, I think it was.

So keep your eyes peeled because I guarantee you there will be some other new stories and opinion-based articles coming up very soon. Which I'm super stoked about! And remember, don't be afraid to react and/or comment on them. Feedback is how a writer grows, whether negative, positive, or it's just neutral critique.

Thanks!
Sabrina R.

A Shout Out to My First Short Story: "Stuck"

I wrote "Stuck" last term after getting inspired by all the short stories we were reading in my English class. At first I posted it to my original blog, but I made a few changes over the last few days and even though it's not exactly brilliant work, I've still gone ahead and decided to post it again as it's still something I'm proud of. I had never written a short story before this one, and I'm going to stick with it as I thought writing this one was fun. Granted there's not a lot to it, but I just wanted a way in; to get my foot in the door, so to speak. It's going to be a new page on my blog, not a post and I encourage you to read it, critique it, and tell me what you think. You can find it under the "Pages" section on the right hand side of my blog as I didn't think it was long enough to need it's own separate thing.

Thanks for reading!
Sabrina R. 

P.s:
I need to make a correction as I've just moved "Stuck" to it's own blogging section after all; you can find it under my "Short Stories and Articles" segment.

Thanks!

Goodbye Home Blog

It's official: my original blog is no longer my home blog. Even though it's working I just said goodbye to it as I've realized I just couldn't hold onto something that was going to be down so often and thus my home blog has become the new side blog should anything ever happen to this one I'll always have that blog to go back to. Unless the site's down.

Even though my side blog will now be home to my permanent blogging account, I cannot change the domain without potentially screwing up access to this blog thus it sticks as the side blog. Which I suppose is fitting considering it was created after the original. Besides, I think it looks cute to be called "thesideblog" in the URL. Or maybe that's just me. But alas it is now time to bid my original home blog goodbye.

On this note here's "The Final Post" I put up on my first blog:

There's a lot of extraneous information that pertains only to my original blog, but there's one point I'd really like to highlight that comes from the final paragraph:

"I admit it's sad to let this one go; I've loved working on this blog so much, and I love the background! But as I've learned in my yoga class: Change is inevitable and in order to achieve greater things we have to let go and succumb to the change so that we can be happier in the long run." 

Funny thing is, I went back to the site's dashboard to try and get a better picture of this as it's a little blurry, small and a little pixelated (sorry about all that by the way; this was the best I could do. And this was the 4th rendition of it. Though it's by far the best, which is really saying something), or to at the very least copy and paste the text so I wouldn't have to squint as I typed it out. But wouldn't you know it! The site was already down again. It's a good thing I wrote and published this goodbye when I did.

The final words from my post to my original blog:

"So long, little bloggy. I will never forget you (seeing as you're in my bookmarks bar)."

My Home Blog Is Working

Enough said. I checked it when I went to the park and discovered my home blog was up and running again. Checked it just now to see if the trend was continuing and it is. Even so despite all the site's brownouts I think I might be done posting to my home blog as this is far more convenient. Now I just have to learn how to access my blogger account from my phone as it doesn't want to sign me in. But I'll figure it out: I'll just have to beat technology at its own game. Mwahaha

Written Last Term in WR 135

A Little Background:

My writing has always lacked description as showing not telling has always been something I've had trouble with. But I ready some very descriptive short stories in my English class, and now it's starting to become a little clearer to me, and a little bit easier. One major thing I learned is that the key to good description is about getting in touch with emotions and of course understanding the concepts of metaphor, personification, and hyperbole too. Currently what I write, especially in regards to my fiction, is still cliched, but I think I'm finally straying away from being overly technical and/or mechanical and finally getting a step closer to being poetic. So here's a little practice work, to make sure I'm actually succeeding in this process....

Wet Winter:

I stare out the small hole in the dull, dusty white wall, watching as rain drops cling to feather needles, weighing them down as if the burden of the dreary weather is too much to handle. Even the moss seems heavier, as it morphs into a depressing wet sponge, one that's been used too many times but has yet to be discarded.

The wind occasionally whips through the branches fast and furiously, dragging the rain down sideways, each drop lashing at the trees without their consent. It will surely be a rough walk home for many, and a blinding ride for others, but for now we're in class, blocked from the brutality of the harsh February storm. Here we can appreciate the gloom-ridden skies as they cast everything in eerie green tones so natural, yet look utterly surreal.

Once we step out the doors of this building we'll be forced to face nature; though we won't do so bravely. Instead we'll duck our heads as the wind wildly blows back our hair, the cold burning our ears and foreheads as nearly-freezing rain penetrates our eyes. Clothes will become wet and heavy, forcing us to slow to an unwanted sluggish crawl no matter how fast we'll want to seek refuge in our own homes.

We'll be too preoccupied trying to save ourselves; we won't think about those who can't get away--those who are stuck getting assaulted by the rain, stuck to live at the mercy of whatever nature may bring. We'll only know that we're desperate to seek safety in our heated homes where once inside we'll lay back and rest with relief, watching as the trees continue to hunker down, their branches flailing helplessly around. But on our couches with hot chocolate in our hands, how the storm will seem miles away....

My Shout-Out for Something I Wrote Last Term

I tried to post a little short paper I wrote last term to my home blog but due to the constant "504 Gateway Error" messages I wasn't ever able to. And then I thought I lost it. But as I was cleaning my apartment I found it, and while it's a little dated seasonally as it was written for the winter months rather than the beautiful Spring we've been having, I've decided to go ahead and post it next. I just wanted to give this little shout-out to it before I 'published' it as I'm quite excited to finally post it up on one of my blogs. Granted after I post it I'll be done for the day as I think three posts is enough to satisfy my blogging needs; though I'll be working on my blogs for the future as I can't wait to get more posts published!

It's Been Awhile

I didn't realize how busy I would be between trying to clean my apartment and get ready for Mother's Day over the weekend to studying for an upcoming test in Earth Science, and other unexpected life stuff. Unfortunately I didn't account for these time consuming factors and thus my blogging got shoved to the side. I'm sorry for that. But I'm back in blogging action ready to start buckling down so get ready for the onslaught of blogs as I can already tell I'm about to get overly post-happy. But I'll try to refrain from posting everything at once and maybe save a few posts as drafts so as not to completely overload the system. Or your systems.

Here's to happy writing!

Side Action

No, this isn't something inappropriate I'm about to write about. It's my new side blog!

Here I'll add posts when my usual site http://sabrinar.blog.com/ isn't working as it's host server is often down and thus I can't post anything, and this generally happens A LOT, and it is very VERY frustrating. Especially as I love posting, and I also don't want to lose any readers/viewers. Generally these down-periods are short lived, never more than a day or two, but it's been a month since my last post, possibly longer, and I've gotten fed up to the point where I realized I needed a new place to write just in case. This will be that place.

Because this particular blog is just starting to see some use there are several changes I feel need to be made, though I think the background is rather fitting. Even so, this side blog may go through many different stages before I feel it has been perfected, so what you see now may look different even five minutes from now. But I'm certainly excited to put these new changes into action once I'm done writing this, as I wanted to get this first post of the "new" site up before I did anything.

I happen to post almost everyday, and sometimes even three or four times a day, but because this is only what I will call a 'side blog', a supplement to what I will refer to as my 'home blog', it should be noted that if you are checking back regularly and suddenly notice there doesn't seem to be any new posts, go check out my actual blog. Granted I will try and remember to post a notice that my home blog is up and running again, but it is very possible I will forget.

Now for people who are just now finding this blog and have never heard about my home blog, welcome and let me introduce myself: I only go by my pen name Sabrina K.R. for security reasons, and I'm a long-time author, but I've never been published hence the title "The Secret Writer", even though it's no secret that I love to write. Ask anyone and they'll tell you the same thing: That I've been writing for as long as anyone has known me. I actually started at the age of 4, before I could even form letters or numbers and could only use squiggles and scribbles to get my ideas from pen to paper. 18 years later and now I have books that I'm the process of publishing, and thus I started a blog to get my name out there so that when people see my name they can associate me as being an actual someone rather than just a name on a book cover. If you want to know more, I will be adding an "About Me" page because even though this may be a side blog, I still want it to be as successful as my other one, which was getting fairly good ratings. That is, until I started losing people due to the site crashes. 

I have used my home blog to share helpful advice, tips, rules, along with outlines I've created for books, class work, and more. This side blog will be no different. And if there's anything on here you want to see or that you have questions about, or you just want to talk about how much you love writing, email me at sabrina1regan@gmail.com, and yes I check this email regularly.

I think I'll leave it there. But please, if you like this post, even though it's only the first post and there's not much to it, stick with me if you will, as I continue on my journey to become published and please share my blog if you like it. I will be forever in your debt! 

Thanks,
Sabrina S.K. Regan