Category: Writing Prompts

Week 4 NaNoWriMo Update + a surprise

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Hey, y’all! My name is Q’Zion, and welcome to The Joys and Trials of a Christian Teen! Week 4 of NaNoWriMo is officially over (yay!) and that means that tomorrow is the end of National Novel Writing Month of 2022. I’m still trying to process the fact that I will have written 50,000 words in only 30 days…happy is an understatement of how I feel right now!

Here is my Week 4 NaNoWriMo update (plus a really special surprise that I wanted to share with you guys.) Let’s go!

Joys and Trials

This week has been really fun, and I feel even more anxious to get finished with draft 1 of my book. I know you all are probably curious about what today’s SURPRISE is! Drumroll please! 🥁🥁🥁

I have officially started my own writing and bookish YouTube Channel, Write it Right. Considering that NaNoWriMo has got me in the habit of writing daily (and reading and writing books is something I have a true passion for) I thought creating a channel specifically for writing and reading would be a great idea. Here is my latest YouTube video, and I would really appreciate it if you guys would check it out!

Okay, so now that I’ve made that special announcement, let’s talk about Week 4 of my NaNoWriMo. After starting my new channel and resuming school after Fall Break, the ending of this week has been pretty busy. But I’m super happy with my progress; I’m less than 3.5k words away from 50,000 words! That is so insane and exhilarating to think about!

Now that I am even closer to hitting 50k, I am pretty positive that my novel won’t be finished after I reach 50k words, tomorrow. I will likely have 2-3 more chapters plus an epiloge to finish afterwards. But now that I have been writing everyday for nearly a month, I think I’ll just continue that until I finish draft one on my novel. And after a short break, I’ll probably film a video about reading my first draft, so stayed tune for that within the next two to three weeks!

Week 4 Word Count

November 23rd: 1,812 words

November 24th: 1,376 words

November 25th: 1,682 words

November 26th: 1,047 words

November 27th: 2,158 words

November 28th: 1,748 words

Week 4 Word Count: 9,823 words

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 46,662 words

Week 4 Goals Update

– Write at least 1,667 words every day

On the 24th and 26th, I did not reach this goal. I think that was mostly due to the fact that I’ve been writing late at night, and so I make up the words early in the next morning. However, I’m okay with that because I also had some really good writing days (including two 2k word days!)

– Start chapter 27 of my novel

I’m actually in the middle of chapter 26, right now. But I’m glad about where I am in my story, just because I don’t what to drag out nor rush my plot. Even though this is the first draft, I want to make it as good as possible (for a first draft.)

– Reach 47,000 words

This goal was a little ambitious considering it’s a few hundred over where I needed to be, yesterday. So, while I haven’t done this, as of now, I will be when I write later on tonight! One thing is for sure that my Word Count is definitely moving up the ladder!

Week 4 1/2 Goals (11/29-11/30)

– Write at least 1,667 words a day

– Finish Chapter 27 of my novel

– Reach 50,000 words

These are three goals that I am ULTRA confident that I can reach by tomorrow! I’m so excited!

So, that was all for my Week 4 NaNoWriMo Update. Hopefully you guys had just as much fun reading this as I had writing it! Please let me know down below in the comments what has been your favorite part of NaNoWriMo, whether it’s from this year or past years? I would love to hear from you!

Have a beautiful and blessed day, everyone! God bless you all, and I will catch you later! Peace in!

Week 3 NaNoWriMo Update! ♡

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Hi, everyone! My name is Q’Zion, and welcome to The Joys and Trials of a Christian Teen! Week 3 of NaNoWriMo has already flown by, and I am so stoked about all my progress. This update was a pretty long wrap-up of how this week of National Novel Writing Month has went for me, so we’re just going to jump into it!

Joys and Trials

Week 3 was probably the second toughest yet, after Week 1. To be honest, I am having so much fun with seeing where my story is going. I ended up changing a few details than what I had in my original outline of my novel, but I really like how most of them are coming out.

Word Sprints have definitely been my friend for the first portion of this month when it comes to getting my word count where I needed it to be. I’ve found that I can write about 1,200 words an hour with some time in between to stop and think about what I could incorporate next, which is pretty good in my book. That gives me the ability to write 85-120 minutes a day to reach my goal, depending on how much I want to write.

The deeper I dive in to my novel–which is called The KICK Society, by the way–and the more I get to know my beloved characters and the world that I have created, the more I realize that my story may not be complete at 50,000 words. At the very least I think I’ll want to add a short epilogue if the first draft of rest of my story is done, when I reach my goal for November. But considering that I’m writing a middle grade fantasy, there are a lot of components that go into building a world and plot when compared to realistic fiction or nonfiction.

Obviously there are still some aspects of my novel that I have to work out, but I’m honestly just excited to be succeeding at my challenge. After all, the climax of my novel will be Week 4’s thing! Right now, I’m just along for the ride.

Week 3 Word Count

November 15th: 2,009 words

November 16th: 1,577 words

November 17th: 1,998 words

November 18th: 1,720 words

November 19th: 1,715 words

November 20th: 1,533 words

November 21st: 1,348 words

Week 3 Word Count: 11,900 words

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 34,644 words

Being over 3/5 complete with my word count goal is both relieving and nerve-wracking. The amount of progress that I make each week is just so insane, and every day I feel more motivated to sit down and write! Although I didn’t hit the 35,000 word goal that I could’ve reached by writing 1,667 words a day (because Goodmommy made me spend more time with her for Fall Break) I am making that up today. What I love about National Novel Writing Month is that even if you don’t write the same amount of words everyday, getting to the goal you set for yourself by the end of November and having fun reaching your goal is what matters the most! I’m loving every single second of it!

Week 3 Goals Update

– Write at least 1,500 words every day

Funny enough, I was able to do this every day but the last day of Week 3. And I was only short by 152 words (again, due to Goodmommy.) But, it’s all good. For most of the days I was able to pass 1,500 words, and I consider that a great accomplishment.

– Increase my ‘Best daily word count’ statistic; write over 2,719 words at least one day of the week’

I didn’t do this either, believe it or not. But then again, I did do over 2,000 words on November 15th, so that by itself is a win, for me.

– Reach 37,000 words

This goal was even more than where I really needed to be at this point. Even though I wasn’t able to reach 37,000 words in Week 3, I’m confident that I will get there in the next 1-2 days. And for me, that’s super exciting to think about!

Week 4 Goals (11/22-11/28)

– Write at least 1,667 words every day

– Start chapter 27 of my novel

– Reach 47,000 words

(I just realized that all of my goals have a 7 in them, lol. That’s one of God’s (and my) favorite numbers, so I’m pretty happy with that. Thank you, Lord!)

Week 3 of NaNoWriMo has been such a fun part of this month, and I’m excited to start off Week 4 even stronger. The end of this month is quickly approaching, and I hope that everyone is enjoying the experience! Please tell me, what has been your favorite part of your National Novel Writing Month experience? I would love to hear from you down below, in the comments!

Have a beautiful and blessed day, everyone! God bless you all, and I will catch you later! Peace in! ♡

Week 2 NaNoWriMo Update!

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Hello, everyone! My name is Q’Zion and welcome to The Joys and Trials of a Christian Teen! Week 2 of NaNoWriMo has already passed. And I’m sitting at my computer like, “Where did all the time go?” It seriously feels like time is flying by as I inch closer to my goal day by day. And since half of NaNoWriMo of 2022 is already gone, it’s time to review my progress over the second week of my month-long challenge! Let’s dive into it!

Week 2 Word Count

November 8th: 1,837 words

November 9th: 1,469 words

November 10th: 2,719 words

November 11th: 1,779 words

November 12th: 1,463 words

November 13th: 1,330 words

November 14th: 1601 words

Week 2 Word Count: 12,198 words

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 22,764 words

Wow! Seeing how I’m nearly halfway complete with my 50,000 word-count goal is such a blessing! I just thank God for giving me the willpower to keep writing. Some days are a little tougher than others (particularly those days that I don’t feel like writing) but I’m thankful that I was able to push through and write even more words than I did in week 1! NaNoWriMo Win, here I come!

Week 2 Goals Update

– Write at least 1,500 words every day

In three days of the seven days of Week 2, I was not able to reach this goal. Though I noticed that my word count was super close to 1,500 during every day that I didn’t reach this goal, so I’m happy with what I did!

– Write 3,500 words at least one day

Again, I did not reach this goal in Week 2. However, I was able to do over 2,700 words one day, which still remains my record for my highest daily word count. So, that itself is a huge accomplishment!

– Reach 22,000 words

And look at that; I was in fact able to surpass 22,000 words! To be honest, It’s rewarding to see that even if I didn’t reach my other goals for Week 2 like I’d wanted, I was able to surpass my desired word count, in the end.

Week 3 Goals

– Write at least 1,500 words every day

– Increase my ‘Best daily word count’ statistic; write over 2,719 words at least one day of the week

– Reach 37,000 words

I hope you all liked seeing how I did in Week 2 of NaNoWriMo. Although the time has went by quickly, so far, it’s comforting and a blessing to see my hard work paying off; I can’t wait to see my novel flourish even more in the second half of this month! Please comment down below, are YOU participating in NaNoWriMo, this year? If so, what’s your current word count? And if not, have you participated in National Novel Writing Month before?

Have a beautiful and blessed day, everyone! God bless you all and I will catch you later! Peace in! ♡

NaNoWriMo Week 1 Update!

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Happy Wednesday, everyone! My name is Q’Zion, and welcome to The Joys and Trials of a Christian Teen!

Around October 21st, 2022, I made the decision to take on the challenge of NaNoWriMo (writing 50,000 words in 30 days) for the first time ever! It might seem a little reckless, but I was able to do a good amount of planning before November started. And as soon as November 1st arrived, I was off to writing. While I’ve only been participating in NaNoWriMo for 9 days now, I’ve already learned so much about myself as a writer and a person, and it’s insane to see my novel expand day by day!

Today I’ll be sharing three short tips for beginner and veteran NaNoWriMo participants, as well as an update for how I’ve been doing during the first week of the month-long challenge. Let’s get started!

Tip #1: Don’t Stress It!

If there is any advice that I could give to anyone who is doing NaNoWriMo this year, it’s don’t stress too much about trying to hit a certain amount of words everyday. Sometimes you may write 3,000 and that’s great! But on other days, you may only feel like writing about 500 words, and that’s okay, too. In my opinion, the most important part of NaNoWriMo is taking a little time to write every day. And make sure that your minimum word count goal is realistic to the time you can put into your project, this month. For most of us, that’s likely so much more than we write in our average, day to day lives. And if you ask me, that’s a huge win!

Tip #2: Use Word Sprints

One of the writing tools that are provided in the official NaNoWriMo website while your writing is a Word Sprint, which is where you set a time and a word goal that you want to hit within that time. For me, I shoot for about 100 words every 5 minutes; it’s a speed where I’m not trying to write 3,000 words in an hour, but fast enough to get words on the paper without overthinking and/or going back to edit what I’ve already written. Word Sprints are super personalized to a speed that you’re comfortable with, and I think that’s why they’ve become one of my favorite tools to use during NaNoWriMo.

Tip #3: Listen to Relaxing Music

Soft, classical music playing in my headphones has been one of my friends during my NaNoWriMo experience. It makes it a lot easier to tune out the background noise that can be distracting during the writing process, and helps you think about “what’s next’ in your project. So on those days this month when you’re stuck in a bowl of pudding (thanks to lovely writer’s block) you can refer to this playlist that I made on YouTube of instrumental music you can use while writing or reading.

Week 1 Word Count

November 1st: 1,298 words

November 2nd: 507 words

November 3rd: 1,538 words

November 4th: 2,589 words

November 5th: 2,086 words

November 6th: 1,017 words

November 7th: 1,531 words

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 10,566 words

To be honest, I consider this such a huge accomplishment for the first week of this challenge! Although I have been dabbling between about 200-1,000 words behind, there’s still plenty of time in the weekend for me to get some extra words in. And considering that a 3-day weekend is coming up this Friday (due to Labor Day) I think I’ll be getting ahead of the game very soon!

Week 2 Goals

– Write at least 1,500 words every day

– Write 3,500 words at least one day

– Reach 22,000 words

I hope you all enjoyed my Week 1 NaNoWriMo Update. Hopefully the tips and my progress were able to help and/or inspire you for your project! Please comment down below, will YOU be participating in NaNoWriMo, this year?

Have a blessed day, everyone! God bless you all and I’ll catch you next time! Peace in!

Observing Two Sentence Stories

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Hey, everyone! This is Princess Q’Zion and welcome to The Joys and Trials of a Christian Teen. Today, I decided to get creative and do something a little different. I found an old post that I did a little over a year ago, in which I discussed a technique that I had learned in Creative Writing Club: two sentence stories. And I even listed a few that I’d written on my own during the 15-minute exercise that we did during the meeting.

If you’d like to view my first post about two sentence stories, please click here.

I had such a blast writing about them last time that I decided to do a follow-up (or shall I say, continuation) on two sentence stories and how you write them. So, without further ado, let’s begin.

What is a two sentence story?

I recall this being my first thought when I’d first discovered two sentence stories, and I’m assuming it was yours, as well. So, let me break it down for you. They’re basically short stories of pretty much any genre that are written in only two sentences. Most commonly, they are meant to have a funny, surprising, or unexpected twist in the last sentence to add a satisfying ending to the mini-novel.

They’re really awesome for anyone going through writer’s block in the sense that they make you use creativity. After all, it’s not always a simple task to write an entire story in two sentences. But with a little creativity and originality, they can be super satisfying to put together.

Tips — How to make two sentences count

Now that we all know what a two sentence story is, it’s time to dive into exactly how you can write them. Here are a few of my tips for how to make the two sentences count!

  • Make it simple – If you’re a writer like me, it can be tempting to want to stretch the story as much as possible. But don’t overthink it. It is called a two sentence story for a reason.
  • Use personal experiences as inspiration – As for what I can tell, it is so much easier to write a story in two sentences when they’re about something funny or memorable that I’ve experienced. Not only does it make them less of a struggle to write, but a lot more relatable, as well.
  • Go with the flow – When trying different writing icebreakers like two sentence stories, sometimes it’s best to just jot down whatever comes to mind. You can always go back and make edits later, but the whole point of short stories are to practice and have fun!

My original examples

Two sentence stories are such a blast to write. To help any of you who have never heard of this writing exercise until today, I decided to write a few more two-sentence stories of my own. I wrote a total of four in a few minutes of brainstorming, and I have to admit that I’m super happy with how they came out. Hopefully, you all enjoy them, as well.

Since this is my personal writing that I posted on my personal blog, it is considered my property. Therefore, please don’t claim it as your own or use my writing. This is just me sharing my writing experience with you, for reading purposes only. Thank you!

Hello Sun — I go for a jog in the sun on a cozy, summer day. It feels like God is smiling down on me.

What They Once Were — Some adults say they don’t like children. And I’ve always wondered “What were they 40 years ago?”

Phone Screen — I stare in agony as my phone slammed to the ground, it’s sparkly pink and blue case all I can see, before I pick it up and turn it around, my heart skipping a beat. Finally, I exhale: no cracks.

Words — What are words? They’re just swords tossed around.

Book — A good book is like a best friend. It’s there whenever you need it.

Okay, is it just me or does it make you feel accomplished after you’ve written a good short story? Two sentence stories are one of my favorite writing techniques to get my mind going, and hopefully you all enjoyed learning what they’re all about. Please let me know if you’ve ever heard of a two sentence story before today as well as which one of my two sentence stories you liked the most.

Have a fantabulous day, everyone! God bless you all, and don’t forget to smile! Peace in! ♡

I read my original poem to an audience for the first time… ♡

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Today I had another meeting with my Creative Writing Club. Every month we have an Open Mic Night, where we as students can submit our original works in Google Forms to read aloud to the group. In celebration of April, National Poetry Month, every presentation for today’s meeting was a poem or another short form of writing.

School is almost over, this is the last open mic night of the year, and I had never shared any of my original work with the group. Due to these factors, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to get the exposure that I needed.

I decided to use the poem that I wrote for International Women’s Day, “Words to Women” as my selection. And sure enough, when the club leader announced who would be speaking today, I saw my name as number 5 on the list.

Although I was nervous about the whole thing going into it, I became more relaxed as I heard each student read their original works. A majority of the poems were about self confidence or female empowerment, and they all seemed to connect to each other in some way, which I thought was really cool.

What I love about this club so much is that it gives me an opportunity to meet people who love to write, just like me. Not only did tonight’s meeting give me a chance to learn and gain inspiration from others’ work, but I was even able to share what I liked about each poem, and provide positive constructive criticism if the author requested it.

When it was my turn to read my poem, the whole thing went by very smoothly–I knew that what I had wrote was good. I was a little shocked at the flood of positive feedback that popped up in the chat. Many of the other club members repeated a quote of the poem that identified with them or gave positive comments such as how they liked how I talked about our differences and how they make each of us beautiful.

One of the most rewarding parts of being a writer is knowing that your work was able to touch a person and remind them of themselves. Poetry can be interpreted in many different ways. And one sentence can hold a lot of power.

Overall, I shared this with you all today to remind you that it’s good to step out of your comfort zone, from time to time; it feels so good to know that you conquered a past fear or challenge of yours.

Some things can be nerve wracking to think about doing, especially when that something is sharing your original work in front of an audience. However, when we are doing something that makes us nervous, it shows that we care. Not to mention that it gives us room to grow as people.

I hope this was able to inspire you, today. Don’t forget to be thankful for every moment, because we never know which one will be our last. May God bless you all; peace in! ♡

Writing Prompt #2 – Two-Sentence Stories

Q'Zion3 Comments

Hey y’all! Today, I had another Creative Writing Club meeting, and it was so much fun! Today, we talked about how we can build suspense in our writing, as well as how to include suspense in two-sentence stories. ✨

I know. You’re probably thinking “How can you write a story with only two sentences?” I thought the same thing at first, too. When we usually think of a story, it’s composed of many different sentences that help move the plot forward. But how can two-sentences really portray a story, let alone suspense?

We did a 15 minute exercise where we were able to practice writing some two-sentence stories. I wrote 7 total, but today, I’m going to share 4 with you all. ✨

Since this is my personal writing that I posted on my personal blog, it is considered my property. Therefore, please don’t claim it as your own or use my writing. This is just me sharing my writing experience with you, for reading purposes only. Thank you! 😀

Spin – I spin in my chair, going round and round. When I stop, the whole world is still spinning.

Paint Spill – I spilt a huge can of paint all over the shaggy carpet in my room. I heard my mother as she trudged upstairs.

The Gift of the Birds – A man spoke to his wife. A bird above his head was prepared to give him something very special.

Note: I wouldn’t want to be that man, lol.

Welcome Home – A little girl has felt sad ever since her dog ran away from home a week ago. Her dad and the small chihuahua were on their way back home.

Technically, this writing prompt wasn’t about accuracy. Rather, it was to help us practice writing, something in which we were limited to, as far as how much we could write (2 sentences.) We used these sentences in order to create suspense either for us or the characters.

I hope you all enjoyed reading some of the short stories that I wrote today. Please comment down below if you’ve even heard of two-sentence stories before now. Also, please comment which one you liked best.

Have an amazing day, y’all! ✨

Writing Prompt #1

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Today, I’m going to start another series! I had a Creative Writing Club meeting today, and we had a 10 minute exercise where we were able to choose between 2 writing prompts:

  1. Write about a character that can “remember” their future, but not the past. ✨
  2. Write about a person that can’t remember their past, and doesn’t want to. ✨

I decided to go with #1, and I wanted to share what I wrote with you all!

Remember, this is my work. Please do not use any of my writing without permission. If you do, someone could look it up on the internet, so again, please don’t use my writing and claim it as your own. Thank you!

So, here it is;

✨✨✨

Only the Future by Princess Q’Zion

Although it’s like there’s a cloud of memories in my mind, I don’t understand why they’re here.

I envision myself going to my senior prom, a rose decoration around my wrist, and my arms clutched around  someone’s arm. 

I can hear myself saying goodbye to my mother as I go off to college. I hear the triumph in her raspy voice. 

I can see myself, walking down the aisle, my white wedding dress covered in pearls, draping behind my graceful steps. Tears of joy trickling down my face.

And I see that beautiful baby in my hands. Me praying in church that they will be successful in the world.

Then I see everything that they will do. The fantastic impact that they will make.

The thing is…in my room, I look in the mirror, and a 13-year-old girl is all that I can see.

I don’t remember anything that has happened before this moment. It’s as if…all the memories of the past have been pushed to the back of my mind. All I can see is the future.

…However, a sincere smile emerged onto my face. Although I don’t see the past, I know that my future will be amazing.

✨✨✨

And that’s all for today! I hope you all enjoyed it! If you have any other writing prompts that you’d like me to try, then please comment them down below!

Have a fantastic day, everyone! ✨