I'm Back!

Tada! Fear not, for the Beaner lives! But you wouldn't know it from looking at my blogging life....


Any who, so remember how I once said I'd post reviews about books? And how I haven't for like a couple months? Well, I blame high school for taking away my time to read, but still it's about time I actually do just that. And so I will! Hurray! And the book is....

What Happened to Goodbye, by Sarah Dessen!


Another town. Another school. Another Mclean. Ever since her parents' bitter divorce, Mclean and her father have been fleeing their unhappy past. And Mclean's become a pro at reinventing herself with each move. But in Lakeview, Mclean finds herself putting down roots and making friends---in part, thanks to Dave, the most real person Mclean's ever met. Dave just may be falling in love with her, but can he see the person she really is? Does Mclean herself know?


Okay, well first off, let me just say it was a pain to find that synopsis. There was about ten different ones to choose from, and none of them were the one on the book that I had read ( as in, none of them were my favorite). But I think that one will do.


Now, back to the book. I loved it! It was one of those books that once I've finished make me walk around the rest of the day with a big goofy grin on my face (and convince my mom I've finally lost it...). It was funny, cute, touching, inspiring, and just plain awesome.


And it was sad, too. Mclean's relationship with her mom was completely destroyed by the divorce. They had once been so close, but ever since the divorce, Mclean's been trying to avoid her mom. She's annoyed with how she's always trying too hard to talk to her, and won't give her some space. Every time I thought about what they had lost, I just about wanted to cry. But it also made me a lot more grateful for the relationship I have with my mom, and the fact that she's still in my life.


Other than that though, I absolutely loved the book. Dave just about made me laugh every time he did opened his mouth, and I loved his and Mclean's sense of humor. So basically, all in all, I loved the book and would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes contemporary YA :)

************

And guess what! The fabulous F.E. Sewell has given my a blog award! Hurray! Haha, but don't worry, this one doesn't require any more random facts.

So here are the rules!

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your top 4 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog or sending them a tweet.
3. Post the award on your blog.

So here are the lucky four!

1. Kate Swenson @ http://kate-swenson.blogspot.com/

2. Angela Orlowski-Peart @ http://cheeriosandpearlsstories.blogspot.com/

3.Claire Lachance @ http://clairelachance.blogspot.com/

4. Charlotte @ http://charlotte-on-the-web.blogspot.com/

Congratulations guys! :D

You Could Say I'm Having A Good Day..... But that Would be an Understatment

Reasons Why Today is Amazing:

1. It's Saturday. Which means three things: Sleeping in, no school, and more sleeping in.

2. I actually get to use the computer (read my previous post to see what I'm talking about).

3. I was tagged (again, the previous post)

4. And finally: I've been interviewed!! Yes, I, Rachel Bean have been interviewed (!!!!). Now before I start my freak out, let me just say BIG thanks to the wonderful Michelle Merrill for helping me reach another HUGE milestone in my blogging life!!! You can read the wonderful, amazing, life- changing interview, here.

5. And look! There's actually a fifth thing too!!! I know, today's just wonderful, isn't it? And the fifth thing is: I got two more awards!!! TWO!! These things keep getting more exciting every time!!

Okay, so this time I've gotten these little bundles of pure awesomeness from Jessica Therrien at Imagination to Publication! Big thanks to Jessica! (and isn't her blog just gorgeous!!)

Oh gosh, and for The Versatile Blogger award, guess what I get to do again! More random facts!! It's getting harder and harder to find semi-interesting facts about myself, but the good thing about random facts is that...well, they can be random. So bring it on.

1. I don't like anything orange flavored.... except for oranges.

2. I like homemade sandwiches... and that's it. I don't like sandwiches from anywhere else (even Subway).

3. When ever I see a green colored candy, I get excited and think that its sour green-apple flavored, but it usually turns out to be lime (my least favorite flavor) and then I get pretty bummed o

4. I'm still wearing my pajamas ( and it's almost 2 o'clock).

5.  I used to have a really bad habit of chewing my finger nails, but then my friend helped me get out of it by painting over my nails with clear nail polish. She said that when I bit them, it would taste gross and I would stop, but I ended up just never biting them because I was afraid of how bad it would taste.

6. Ever since then, I've kinda been curious about what clear nail polish tastes like....

7. I like pretty much blueberry-anything. Blueberry pancakes, blueberry muffins, blueberry bagels, and even blueberry cream cheese.

I DID IT!! Third post of random facts about myself!! And don't worry, I promise I'll get back to posting about regular things.... later.

Anyway, so now I get to pass on these little beauties to other people! Technically I should be passing it on to fifteen people, but I really need to go do my chemistry homework, so I'm just going with five. (Sorry, I still love you all! I just don't have time for you.... ;)

1. Avery at Creative Type ( she had one of the best Campaigner entries I've read so far!)
2. Laura Marcella at Wavy Lines
3. Lindy at Lindy Legends and Other Such Nonsense 
4. Jill Campbell at Outside the Lines
5. Peggy Eddleman at Will Write for Cookies

Congrats for the awards guys! For the Leibster, you just need to:
1. Show your appre­ci­a­tion to the blog­gers who gave you the award by link­ing back to them.
2. Reveal your five picks and let them know by leav­ing a com­ment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Bask in the cama­raderie of the most sup­port­ive peo­ple on the internet—other writ­ers.5. And best of all—have blog­gity fun and spread the love. 


And for The Versatile Blogger award, remember to:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Pass this Award to 15 recently discovered blogs and let them know about it (unlike me.... *SHAME*)

So yup, have a good day!

I'm Kinda Missing Recess...

Hey, so guess what? Good news and bad news, which do you want first?

*waiting for reply*

...Well, I'll just give the bad news first (that way the good news kinda softens the blow).

Okay, so the bad news is that out computer is broken (*GASP*, I know, tragic, isn't it!), which means I'll only be able to get onto the internet when my dad comes home and I finally manage to drag his laptop away from my brother. So yeah, the bad news :(

Good news time! Yay, happy thoughts! Smiley faces :) :)!!! Okay, so the good news is that some one tagged me!! And apparently this is a different kind of tag than what I played in school, because people actually LIKE getting tagged, so... Woohoo!!  Yay, and big thanks to Crystal Collier for giving it to me....or should I just say for tagging me?

Anyway, so guess what this means? (And yes, I know most of you probably already know this, but I'm having fun here, okay?) I get to give you ten MORE random facts! Hurray for randomness! And I warn you, they will be pretty random, because I spent pretty much all my cool facts on my recent blog awards...well, my kinda cool facts.

1. I love Mac laptops, but prefer PC desktops. Which is kinda weird, because I practically worship the Macbook Air, but when it comes to desktops (at home), I like the PC ones... mainly just cause that's what we've always had (my Dad's trying to convince us to replace our old computer [you know, the one that broke... for the fourth time] with a Mac, but I'm being a little anti-change).

2. Incase you didn't get it from my last fact, but I'm really not into change (unless it's beds, for some reason I have no problem switching those....yeah, don't ask).

3. I teach piano lessons!

4.  I used to play soccer, but even though I loved it.... I kinda sucked. (Luckily, I knew and excepted that, so I was able to avoid humiliating myself by ever trying out for the travel or school teams).

5. I have a big family, two married siblings, and so far no nieces of nephews. (A fact which I am not all that happy of...... um, I mean the nieces and nephews part... I love my family).

6. If I could travel anywhere right now, I would go to England.

7. I have and adorable white fluffy dog named Toby who loves to cuddle and play..... and bark his head off at strangers.

8. I used to prefer the pool to the beach, but now I'm not all that sure.... (probably has something to do with the fact that I'm actually big enough to go in the waves now without getting bulldozed over...).

9. Today is Saturday.

10. One of my favorite breakfasts is my mom's homemade waffles with whipped cream (not the kind in a can, the kind where you buy the cream and whip it yourself), with either fresh strawberries of peaches. Mmmmm, so good.

I did it! I actually was able to come up with ten more random facts! Woohoo! Now let's see who the five poor suckers are that will have to do it next ;)

1. Chantele Sedgwick at My Writing Bug
2. Ruth Josse at Ruth + Writing
3. Jessi Kirby at Jessi Kirby ( She has a book coming out in March!!)
4. Amanda Kurka at Truth, Justice, and Other Stuff
5. Carrie Butler at So, You're a Writer...


Well, that was pretty fun :) And now onto the questions! Do you prefer Mac or PC? Do you have a hard time with change? And last but not least, if there was anywhere you could travel, where would it be? Answer below! :)

A Post! (About Time....)

First off, if your one of the Campaigners, hello! My entry for the first challenge is below, if that's what your looking for :)

I figured I'd start using pictures now :)

Okay, so in case you are wondering, the above is a still from the movie The Young Victoria. It was a good movie. There was a love triangle, an assassin, family troubles, romance, drama, and even some nice character growth thrown in the mix.

But you wouldn't have known it from the back cover.

Basically, the back cover didn't do the movie justice. It was boring and bland, and left out all the details that made the movie good (and even ruined the love triangle, which I really hate when people do). In fact, from reading it, I probably would have skipped the movie if my mom had not had us watch it together.

Now onto another seemingly random and unrelated story! So I was looking around at the clips from a TV show at their site, and I noticed something: all the clips left you with more questions. ALL of them. Not one of them answered any of the questions I was dying to know, but instead just created more of them. Basically, it made me NEED to actually watch the show to find out how everything works out.

So what I'm getting at is that when your telling people about your book, tell them what goes WRONG. If there's a complicated love triangle that is one of the main subjects of the book, tell them! DON'T tell them that your main character "draws strength from their love" with one of the characters ( yes, I'm talking about Young Victoria again). 

If you've been following me for awhile, you'll remember how I've said that people in general like drama. No, we're not all drama queens, but yes, we do like it. So, as a writer marketing your book, give us what we want!

Tell us about the challenges and complications that your character must face (keeping in mind not to give anything away that happens later, of course), that way we start coming up with questions ( how do they solve that problem, who does she pick, how do they escape, etc.) that can only be answered by reading the book. 

Had the cover of The Young Victoria said less of how she was "resolved to establish her authority over those who rule in her stead" and  how she "draws strength from the love of Albert", but instead mentioned  more of her struggles with her controlling family, her restricting life-style, how she had to prove to a doubting (and even angry) country that she could lead them, her complicated love life, and how she brings her country to the brink of a disaster, then I would have been a lot more eager to see it.(Wow, was that a run-on sentence or what!) Know what I'm saying?

Okay, now to the daily question! So, have you ever watched a movie/ read a book that turned out to be a lot more than the cover implied? Was it better or worse than you expected? Answer below!

And Let the Campaigning Begin!

Wow, so the first campaign totally snuck up me! I almost missed it! For more info, go here, but basically I need to write a short story/ flash fiction with the beginning words " The door swung open" ( and ending with "The door swung shut" for more of a challenge), all in 200 words or less.

 Bring it on.

 The door swung open. As I walked down the court room aisle, I closed my eyes, trying to focus on my breathing, and not about how what I was going to do would change my life.


And Kyle's.


I squeezed my eyes tighter, attempting to stop the new tears from flowing down my cheeks. Barely two feet into the room and already I was crying; I needed to stop thinking about Kyle. Except how could I? How could I forget how easily he had manipulated me? How could I forget his face as he shot that innocent man?


How could I forget how much I had loved him?


It didn't matter, I reminded myself. This was something I had to do. Besides, I wasn't the first girl he had lied to and used. He deserved this... didn't he? 


I choked back a sob. Too bad knowing what's right didn't make it easier.


As I sat down, I forced my eyes open and tried looking brave. The door opened again as the judge entered. I stood up with the others, my eyes never leaving the door, knowing that when it closed, there would be no going back.


The door swung shut.




Well, there it is! Exactly 200 words even! Does it make sense? Sound good? Tell me what you think!

Also, you can vote for me here. I'm number 278. Thanks! :D

I Can Redeem Myself!!

Okay, so your probably all heard about my massive screw-up the other day, but guess what!? It apparently wasn't that big of a deal, because I just got another! In fact, TWO others ( Oh dang, these things just keep on coming!!).

Okay, so first off, BIG thanks to Kirsten Lopresti for taking pity on my failure and giving me another chance :)

And now for the awards!

Aren't they beautiful?

Now, for me to be able to accept these wonderful little things, I need to do a couple things. They are:

1) Thank and link to the person who nominates you.

2) Share seven random facts about yourself.
3) Pass the award to five more blogger friends.4) Contact and congratulate the blogs nominated.

 So, now for the random facts! (And I warn you, they are random).

1. For all my life I hated chocolate (except for brownies... do brownies even count?),  but then about a year ago I was introduced to our local fudge shop, and let's just say, my life was changed ( and so was their supply of milk chocolate....)

2. I won third place in an international youth art competition a couple years ago (but only after I entered it for five straight years).

3. I can't sing. For my life. ( And I really wish I could).

4. When I was little ( as in, like up to a couple years ago...) I was the biggest tom-boy you'd ever seen, and I let you know it just by looking at me. Thankfully, I have since stopped my wearing-my-brothers-hand-me-downs-days, and while I don wear girl clothes, I still don't wear pink.

5. I like wearing big comfy t-shirts on the weekends, and sweatpants when its rainy. 

6. I'm a Mormon :)

7. I like bike riding more than running. You get the wind in your face, can move a lot faster, and its not as hard ( I can run for about two minutes straight but can bike for probably more than thirty).

And now for the nominations! (that I hopefully won't screw up this time...). Okay, so here goes nothin':

1. Michelle Merrill at Perfecting the Craft  

2. Cortney Pearson at Cortney Pearson

3. Lori M. Lee at You Are the Unicorn of My Dreams ( And she draws too!!)

4. Lindsay N. Currie at Lindsay N. Currie

5. Julie at Rosewood Pencil Box 

Whoo, I did it! And now I can bask in the glory baby.... and get started on my Campaigning entry.

Well, no question today,  cus I can't think of one thats related to this topic (that I haven't used yet)...- OH WAIT! Yes I can! How about sharing two random facts about you? I'd love to get to know you all better! Comment below! :)

Copying is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery... But Don't Do It

Okay, so don't you just hate those days where your there suffering from bloggers block, and then you go online and find out that hey, your the only one! Not that other's never do get it, they just don't have it at the same time as you. In fact, they happen to be brimming with the kind of genius that makes you kick yourself for not thinking of it first. And then their ingenuity gives you a good idea, but you can't write it now because they beat you to it.

Or can you?

I have this weird little mentality that if I want to write something similar (or on the same topic) as something another blogger wrote, that I shouldn't do it. Or, at least not for a couple months. Because its copying, unoriginal, and people have already heard it before so its redundant.

But is that really true? Cus, honestly, I'm mostly just being too hard on myself. So I started thinking about it, and I decided that if I've got something to say, then gosh dang it, I'm gonna go say it. If reading another person's blog gives me an idea on the same topic, then its okay to go and write about it. If it's a new take on an old topic, then people will still want to hear it.

Now am I going to start copying everybody else's posts? No, not at all. But if I have a friend who posts about cliches, dialogue, plot, etc. and it inspires me to write something about that, then I will. But I'll add to it to make it original, and something worth reading.

(HINT: This can apply to our writing, too)

Now here's the question: How do we know when to stop? Because while sometimes we do have a great idea, other times where just following the cliches. So how do we recognize it and know when we need to make some serious changes?

Well, Christine Tyler has an answer. Here.

Dang, I couldn't have said it better myself. Seriously, avoiding cliches can be hard stuff, so this post was perfect for me. So go ahead and answer the questions, and make some changes if need be. But most of all, have fun while doing it, because if we're not enjoying our writing, then why do it?

So have you ever read another person's post and had a light-bulb moment? Ever had blogger's block really bad? What do you do to fight it? Answer below!

Haha, Well, Oops...

So , this is pretty embarrassing.. apparently the rules to the award I just got ( you know, the one I was kinda, maybe a little freaking out about?), is that the blogs you pick have to have less than 200 followers... and the blogs I picked had... more. Which just proves that I am a rookie and thus I have no clue what I am doing and should probably just stop this whole business now before I humiiate myself further.

But I won't. Why? Because I LIKE doing this, and if I got to learn along that way ( and make a few mistakes while at it), then so be it!

Ooh, lightbulb!

Haha, so when I began writing this post, I didn't really plan to even get into my little stubborn rant, and now I have an idea ( about writing, no less)! Okay, so some of you may already be on to what I'm getting at here ( mind twins!), but I'll say it anyway: This whole thing applies to writing!

While we continue writing and working towards publication, we are bound to make mistakes ( and hopefully learn from them...). But don't worry about it. Mistakes don't make you a failure, so just keeping writing and enjoying life.

Dang, I write a lot of self-confidence/morale boosting posts.... haha, don't worry though, because I do know more about writing than just how not to give up :) And I'll prove it ( as soon as my homework will let me...)

Any-who, so have you guys made any embarrassing blogging/writing mistakes? What were they ( unless of course, they're just so terrible you can't bare to share it... don't worry, we understand) Comment below!

Or don't, seriously, its fine... no pressure