Time Management

Obviously, time management is an essential skill to doing well in school. A lot of times, people won't take it seriously, and in the end, it only effects their grade. Most people don't even finish their assignments until the last minute. I'm not proud to say that I am one of those many students. The ones who procrastinate, waste time, and find other ways to avoid working on classwork or homework. Many times, I have tried to pursuade myself into doing all my work on time, but I always found ways to delay it. "Later, I'll do it later," is a familiar line that even I know is a sign of wasting time.

But I don't always procrastinate, sometimes I even plan out what I'm going to do in order to get done. What I usually do when I'm trying to concentrate is go to somewhere quiet, without distractions. If I ever get tired, I never let myself go near the phone, television, or the internet, I just let myself rest for a little bit. When I don't make up any excuses, I find that I have a lot of time to do homework and all the other activities.

My weaknesses are staying on task, even when I'm focused and determined. I find it difficult to not get distracted, so when I notice things that could distract me, I try to avoid them. Music isn't really something that distracts me, if anything, it helps me focus more. But usually, I get all ready to do homework, then I get distracted and say "Oh, I'll do it later," but I never do.

My strengths are being able to finish a good amount of work throughout time, if I concentrate. When I follow through on my task, I find it pretty easy to finish it.

My goals to improve my time management will be to focus more on what I need to finish first. I need to learn to tell myself that all the other things can wait, and not the other way around.

Dear Kieran Scott,

I just finished reading your book, "Brunettes Strike Back", which was a sequel to "I was a Non Blonde Cheerleader", and I enjoyed it, but not as much as the first one. I think it's just the way you wrote the first one that made it so interesting. You described everything so vividly that I could just imagine that I was there! That is a really cool technique that I wish I could perfect in writing. I love your style of writing and the way you can write about a teenager’s life as if you were one. It takes a lot to understand what really goes on in between a teenager’s brain, and you do a good job when you write it out.

I think the story is a little too predictable. Maybe if you made something happen between Annisa and Daniel that your readers wouldn’t expect, it would make the story more interesting. I always want to know what is going to happen next, and if I already know, it makes the story lessexciting. I just think that would make your book better.

Besides all that I really enjoyed the book, but a few things happen in the story that make me ponder…Why didn’t Annisa remember Phoebe’s problems with her parents? I thought that made the story kind of odd because when Phoebe started acting weird, it immediately jogged my memory. This conflict in the story, however, did make the whole book more dramatic and it was a good touch.

At the back of the book, it says that you are working on a third sequel. & I can’t wait to read it ;D

Connecting Reading to Life Experiences

I seem to read books mostly about teens and boys and silly stuff. I call them "female tales", you know, like "chick flicks"? Well I just finished reading the third Maximum Ride book :) They are really really good. Some of the similar stuff in my life are...

A) Max takes care of the flock, I take care of my little cousins.

B) Max has an attitude, I have an attitude :)

C) Nudge talks and talks, & I am quite the loquacious one :)

D) They take care of themselves, I would be able to do that.

Well, I guess it's not a whole lot, but I'm not really "saving the world" and I'm not exactly a bird-human hybrid, either. My life doesn't really merge into the story much, but there are some good similarities.

But I think it applies to a lot of other people's lives, if not mine. Here's why:

A) Max & the flock are always on the run from Whitecoats and Erasers ; People are always on the run from bullies.

B) The flock is extremely anxious to find their parents ; There are a lot of kids out there, looking for their parents.

C) The flock's kind of "abused" by the Whitecoats ; Child Abuse!!!

D) Max is all "save the world" ; Environmental Scientists wanna save the world too!

E) The flock and Erasers are "experiments" ; There probably are "experiments", but we just don't know it yet...

That's all I can come up with for now, but maybe there's more, I just need to finish reading the series ;D

Highlights & Lowlights of Reading :]

Well I think reading is excellent cuz it's like TV but in your head. Reading is fun to me because I am the one who gets to imagine how everything is happening. I like reading a variety of books, from suspense and mystery to comedy and science fiction. Reading also helps my writing skills improve because it expands the depth of my imagination. Every time I finish reading a really good book, I take a deep breath and say "Wow, that was a really good book!" Reading is my way of escaping reality but also diving into it @ the same time. I love how books can be about anything, and anything can happen in books.

Recently, I read really good books like "Elsewhere" and "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian". Although both books were about completely differerent topics, they were both fun and enjoyable to read. They were both books that I've read before, but I enjoyed reading them again. "Elsewhere" is amazing. It's one of my favorites. It talks about a girl who dies and goes to nope, not heaven---but Elsewhere. There she changes as a person and blahblahblah (don't wanna spoil the story) and it's just a really really lovely story. "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" was more of a comedy, but it's also a really good story when you read between the lines. It made me wanna crack up and cry @ the same time. It covered issues and stuff but still cracked jokes in the text, which made the book a lot more interesting.

I don't think there's a lot of lowlights to reading. Unless you're reading a really really boring book. Then, reading sucks :( People seem to really dread reading, but I think it's only boring when it's assignments or stuff like that. Basically, I don't think reading has any lowlights :)