Writing advice

Hello! I'm sorry I haven't been posting lately. Anyway, I made this video more than a week ago. Just telling people that they shouldn't get defensive over constructive writing advice. The audio isn't that great so listen to it with earphones. :)

Nanowrimo Attempt

I'll try to keep up with my other wattpad novels while I give Nanowrimo a chance. Wish me luck!

My stories

My Wattpad

Just a link to some stories I'm trying to write. I don't think I'll wanna publish these professionally. These are just for fun :)

Jo Reacts to 1D's "Live While We're Young"

So my #1 fan Cierra requested that I do a reaction to a 1D video.

A Tour of My Room

Check out my sacred mess :)

Uninvited Hatred

We all have them. Psychopathic thoughts are not peculiar, but they’re not everyday. Cruel, perverted, or grotesque thoughts sometimes find a way to pop up during the randomest times. Sadly, I’m normal; therefore, I’m not immune to psychopathic thoughts.  Today someone upset me and I tried to shrug it off, but then an innocent stranger said the wrong thing.  I ended up in a very angry mood. I wanted to punch the guy. I wanted to yell. I held in the violence, yet wore my frustration on my face. The unnecessary and uncalled for wrath toward the man turned into self-loathing.  I am so disappointed in myself for letting the petty anger grow into something regretful. Although I didn’t say or do anything harmful, I wore the anger on my face. I need to be a better person and it’s so hard to do so when these cruel things pop up in my head. I don’t have much a conclusion for this post, but just pray for me. Just some songs I listened to while writing this

"True Detective" Reaction

HBO’s True Detective is a dark, crime drama that been called “twisted” and “disturbing.” While this show thrives with being those things, it lacks at being entertaining.  The storyline(s) were too complex with too many subplots and too many characters to keep up with.  It all felt like a drag. Although True Detective was a bore, I credit it for bringing Matthew McConaughey out of the “prince charming” typecast.  They showed us that he can be far more than a southern gentleman or a cheesy rom com actor. The last time he was in something serious was in A Time to Kill and that was in the ‘90s. He really re-enforced himself as an actor and now Hollywood is taking him seriously. Overall, I give True Detective 2.5 out of 5 stars. I guess I’m not the target audience for it, but it wasn't as intense as Breaking Bad or Fargo.

15 Weird Questions Tag!

I made a movie

group 1 movie from Johanna Salinas on Vimeo.
Late post from summer school. My classmate, Athena Meno, wrote the story. Most of the lines is improv. Sorry if it's confusing at first but its pretty good for nonprofessional.  All shot on my iPad.

Yesterday at the Cafe

Jo reviews Simple Skincare Facial Scrub Part 2

Summer's Almost Over

I'm a waste of space. I'm full of words and ideas but lack ambition. My past few weeks have been just scrolling on tumblr and attempts at watching TV. TV doesn't satisfy me much. I get bored easily. I was a little sick two weeks ago and got used to just not doing nothing...again. This isn't the first time I've been a pathetic excuse of a human being. Last summer I spent unaccountable hours just looking at pointless things online. Promises of not repeating those mistakes were broken by my inability to be creative. Blaming this on my friends for not being available to spend time with me is a cop-out. I am to blame for not putting myself to my fullest potential. I almost hate myself sometimes for not being clever or fun, but that would be just more wasting time. I’ve realized that my unadventures aren’t something to be ashamed of. Acceptance is more ideal, but it’s difficult to do when seeing classmates on Facebook travelling and partying. Well, summer is almost over. So at least I’ll be seeing less of their happiness, I guess….

Songs I listened to while writing this

Me Reciting A Poem I Wrote

Made a facial scrub review video

Jo's "Potato Salad gets $30,000+ donations" reaction

My poem is featured on my friend's site

Oringally here: http://alexandramiralles.wix.com/cceen311#!untitled/cc43

Castillo

I’m full of

the bullshit

that resides in my

corridors—

these hedonists that slice

at my skin and my soul.

I’m old and tiredly awake. 

The assholes won’t let me sleep.

They bite my guts with greedy teeth.  

I become water…I become grain…

sowed by sadism and adultery.

They transfuse

into me and

I evolve into

something horribly new.

No more my artistic aura,

my classical sense—

Just a specter of gloom

and dust floating

in the structure of a self I can’t really recall.

This is my holy downfall.

I just got published again!

Although it's just on a classmate's blog, I'm still happy to have my work appreciated! 

Originally Posted Here 

I burn

Don’t worship

me.  I am

not beauty,

but a part of it.

My fire is

only a pimple

of the truth of

whatever holiness

it is you seek.

Golden streaks

of my orange mane,

endless and flexible

—art that fits in every

experience, yet ruins

photographs.  I

shan’t be taken for

relived visuals,

you must live me firsthand.

I am the original

creation.  He wanted

something that’d shine.

Then he wanted

souls to cherish it.

Souls to take it for granted.

The prophets weren’t wrong.

The end had come,

it’ll come again.

I’m Nostradamus’s

sticky wet

orgasm smeared

on the face

of modern society. 

Wait for the second coming.

Struggles with Creative Writing

Music I listened to while writing this
I’m taking creative writing for the third time at the University of Guam.  My previous experiences of this class really summoned my desire to be an author.  The desire has always been there since I was nine; however, it has been dimming over the years after constant battles with stress and reality.  But my first two creative writing instructors helped show me to not feel ashamed of my desire—they helped me wake up to my dream. 

It was pleasant to write about things that I actually like rather than killing myself with technical essays on dry, irrelevant topics.  Though my poetry is simple and immature, it was nice to take a break from the serious stuff.  That’s what creative writing is mainly about—escaping analyses and critical essays to write what you like.  Don’t get me wrong—it can be nice to analyze things that interest you, such as T.V. shows or movies.  What I mean to say is, I find it enjoyable to invent a plot and characters—even with a small poem, I get a strong pleasure by constructing meter and form so it can flow perfectly for my ears.  My ears.   I write for me. 

My current situation is sort of different. 

The genre this semester is short fiction.  After a six months estrangement of creative writing (essays got in the way of my poetry and my free time wanted nothing to do with writing, because I had enough writing at school) I enthusiastically signed up for the class this semester.  I tried to prepare over the break by outlining some plot ideas and characters —nothing too serious, just things to get me back into it.  I knew that most of my stuff wouldn’t be used in the class but I needed to get into creation mode.

On the first day I knew I was entering trouble when my teacher mentioned analyzing human struggles and whatnot.  This class was supposed to be my escape from reality and she immediately shoved the world right back into my face.  I know reality is unavoidable, but it’d be great to just forget about our own problems and make believe—because that’s what fiction is about, make believe.  I wasn’t planning on writing schmaltzy pieces about unrealistic beauty and profound love.  I intended to write funny pieces about things that interest me.  But my teacher wanted us to speak for the oppressed and give them a voice.  This challenge is important in literature—in all works really; however, I have no interest in this.  I get enough depressing stories in my other classes and this was supposed to be the class about me—me writing about things that I haven’t gotten the chance to write about in other classes.  Having no interest in what I’m writing makes my writing boring and that’s not creative writing. 

This creative writing’s genre is supposed to be fiction.  Yet my teacher has defined fiction as whatever is written on paper, because once an experience is on paper it is no longer the same experience—or something to that extent.   I wasn’t really paying attention; all I was hearing was red.  Her definition is pretty radical and disagreeable.  She admitted it herself.  And she still wants us to conform to her definition and this irritates me. 

But I will survive. 

She is a challenge that I know I’ll conquer.  I’ll make it through. 

This experience will make me a better writer because she is helping me do things that I would never do on my own.  And that’s what learning is about—the experience.

Although I thought I wrote for me, who I really write for is my audience.  My audience is my teacher and I’ll make her happy.

Girly Girl or Tom Boy Quiz

http://www.quizrocket.com/girl-quiz



I know this quiz was pretty childish, but it was interesting.  My results prove that there is no such thing as a pure girly girl or tom boy.  A girl can look sweet in a pink prom dress while she's driving a motorcycle to a Star Wars convention.  Far fetched example, I know. Girls can't truly be categorized into two things.  

Spring Break 2014 Art

These are just some drawing I've done over the break. They're mostly color pencil, but I used crayon in some to make it brighter.  Here's some songs I listened to while doing this.  Spring Break Playlist

first drawing after my dry spell

I made the sky orange/yellow because I already made his shirt blue.

black and white filter

cool vintage filter

 

I used to love drawing beaches, so this was a nice throwback sort of.

 

She was the hardest piece overall.  I really challenged myself with the placement of her head and the coloring.  The coloring was hard because I had to really hide the erase marks.

Nakamichi Over the Ear Headphones Review

These headphones are good.  They aren't like noise cancelling like Bose.  You have to keep turning up the volume to block out the world, but that's ok.  The quality is nice and I still prefer these over earphones.  3/5 stars.