Posts Tagged ‘writing’

How I Spent My Summer Break

August 21st, 2009 by Manda | 2 Comments | Filed in Life

I definitely got the quiet, relaxing summer I hoped for back in May. I think I may have gotten a little too much of this particular type of summer, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Here are some of the few things I accomplished in the last few months:

  • Failed my self-assigned summer reading
    To be fair, it was a very ambitious summer reading list, especially as I don’t read as much as I’d like to anymore. I didn’t fail it altogether, though. I did reread all seven of the Harry Potter novels, read three quarters of the complete works of Sarah Dessen, and read two of the books in Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series. I just didn’t read any of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares or A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.
  • Did lots of crafting
    Those of you that followed my blog this summer will know about my various ventures into crafting. Sewing, knitting, cross stitching… I dabbled in lots of it this summer and have a lot of finished products to show for my work. It was definitely a way to increase my summer productivity!
  • Actually began writing a novel
    Longtime readers of this blog will remember a few casual mentions of “my novel” here and there. This summer, I finally got around to actually writing it and even launching my online writing portfolio, amandaosborn.com.
  • Failed to find a job
    I talked about how it sucked to be unemployed in May, and unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a job for the summer due to the increasingly poor job market. However, being unemployed this past summer wasn’t all bad. I made conscious efforts to not spend money unless absolutely necessary, and I was able to spend time doing things I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to, like crafting and writing.
  • Experimented more with cooking
    I’ve always loved cooking, and for a portion of this summer, it was my job to do the cooking and making sure no one in my house starved to death. I had lots of successes, like my seafood paella, red velvet cake, and mac and cheese. I had one disaster where a carrot cake turned into a carrot souffle… but I’d rather not talk about that :P

Tags: , , , , ,

New Online Writing Portfolio

July 22nd, 2009 by Manda | 4 Comments | Filed in Online

I’m postponing this week’s Crafting post until next Wednesday in order to announce that I have finally finished putting together an online writing portfolio.

Those of you who are longtime readers of this blog will know that I have a fair about of posts about writing and have mentioned working on my novel here and there. With my sudden increase of free time now that I am on vacation from school, I have been writing a lot more than I have in recent years and decided to publish some of my selected works to an online portfolio. I wanted to keep my writing separate from my blog, as I have always envisioned my blog being strictly a blog, and when I saw that my name was available as a .com domain, I decided to use that as the location for my writing.

I hope you all enjoy what my portfolio has to offer! :)

Tags: ,

Four Truths and a Lie Revealed

April 10th, 2009 by Manda | 3 Comments | Filed in Life

Last week, I posted four truths and a lie about myself, asking readers to guess which one out of the five was the lie. I’m going to explain the story behind each snippet I posted and elaborate on the story behind it, if there is any!

  • I was once interviewed for a news segment that was broadcast on Iranian television.
    Guessed by: Rosier
    Truth: I did a studio tour of an international news broadcasting corporation. As I was leaving the building, I was approached by one of agency’s Iranian reporters and asked if I was willing to be interviewed for an Iranian news segment about the American youth’s opinion on engagement rings and marriage. I agreed and was interviewed by the reporter, and the segment aired in Iran a few weeks ago.
  • The one and only time I have vacationed in Singapore, I spent the entire time in my hotel room, positively sick to my stomach since I contracted a virus.
    Truth: I was about seven or eight at the time, and I had flown twenty hours from New York to Hong Kong, and then another three hours from Hong Kong to Singapore. Needless to say I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got to Singapore, and the first day I was there I contracted a bug and was thoroughly miserable during my time in Singapore. While the place itself was lovely, I am hesitant to visit there again!
  • I love writing, and I have had some of my works published.
    Guessed by: Kaylee
    Truth: While I do not have a novel published or anything, I have been published before in my high school’s newspaper (I was one of the editors) and literary journal (I was the managing deputy editor), as well as my college’s student-run magazine. A byline is a byline, you need to get your foot in the door somehow!
  • My very first pet was a hamster named Chocolate.
    Guessed by: Olga, Alice, and Roanne
    Lie: I did have a pet hamster named Chocolate, but he was not my first pet. Prior to Chocolate, I had two turtles, two hermit crabs, and a dog. Chocolate was the one and only hamster I ever had, I’m definitely not getting another one again. Chocolate was a lovely pet, but hamsters just aren’t for me.
  • I staffed the election polls during the 2008 US presidential election.
    Truth: My college organized a student volunteer program for students to volunteer at the election polls for the 2008 presidential election, so I spent election day helping to run one of the voting precincts. It was a day well spent, exhausting as it was, and is definitely a very positive memory.

Tags: , ,