7 Novels That Capture the Pain and Chaos of Alcoholism
'Young Post' Summer Short Story Writing Competition 2020
Ready! Steady! Write!
The time has come for us to open our Summer Short Story Competition 2020. The top 10 stories will be published in our summer editions and made into a book along with the stories from our Winter short story competition for the greatest proof of your writing prowess ever.
The theme of this year's competitions is:
"Elf"
You can interpret this however you like. Be creative!
What you need to do:
The closing date for entries is 11.59pm on July 1, but you are welcome to submit earlier.
Term & Conditions
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Readers And Writers: Young Adult Novels That Will Hook Adults, Too
A teenage girl with a neurodivergent brain loves an octopus and struggles with a hateful teacher. Another teen wonders if she sent the wrong man to prison when she testified against her father for killing her mother. These very different and compelling young adult novels by Mankato authors will be appreciated by adults, too.
"Rules for Camouflage": by Kirstin Cronn-Mills (Little Brown Books for Young Readers, $18.99)
You might also remember that our brains are super great at blowing things out of proportion, and extra super great at enormous emotions. And that the standards society sets aren't 'normal,' they're just common. Standards can and should change. Society is not a useful measuring stick –– from "Rules for Camouflage"
Evvie Chambers and Aretha are best friends who use camouflage for different reasons. Evvie is neurodivergent and uses camouflage to blend in at her high school. Unruly brain. Weird brain. Aretha is a Pacific day octopus at the Minnesota Zoo that camouflages when she's feeling threatened.
This sixth young adult novel by Cronn-Mills is tender and filled with the author's love for kids who are seen as "different." Readers will cheer for Evvie, who narrates the story of what's going on in her life. Because of her imaginative brain she was so overwhelmed she skipped her sophomore year at Bluestem Lake Area High School, or BLAHS as the kids call it. Her worried mother signed her up to volunteer at the Minnesota Zoo where she met Aretha and fell in love with the smart cephalopod with a quirky personality. Now Evvie is a senior but continues to volunteer. She loves the feel of Aretha's suckers gently holding her arms.
"Octopuses camouflage so well because of skin cells called chromatophores," Evvie explains. "When their brain (which brain? I don't know) signals those cells, the octopus can change the color of the texture of their skin. The mimic octopus can morph itself to match the shape of other animals to fool its prey…
"Humans, on the other hand, camouflage to cover our awkwardness, our obsessions, our unusual skills, and often our deep desire to be anywhere but a place where others are looking at us. We have to become experts at blending in, at not calling attention to ourselves. Octopuses don't camouflage out of embarrassment or shame — only to find food or stay safe."
At school Evvie isn't doing so well. Her biology teacher has a personal dislike for her. When the class is assigned to do reports on vertebrates, Evvie wants to do hers on Aretha's awesomeness. Thanks to her bosses at the zoo, Evvie is allowed to do a presentation for the volunteers about Aretha that goes well. But the teacher insists she write about foxes. Then, the hateful woman tells her she is two credits short and won't graduate.
So Evvie retreats to the Lair, a secret safe place in a store room for band instruments where "weirdos" and bullied kids go when they need a time-out. Some take brief naps in storage pods, others read or cry. When one girl is in tears because the most popular guy in the school tries to pull off her hijab, Evvie decides to fight the school system that turns a blind eye to bullying and won't censure her biology teacher who saw what happened and did nothing.
Evvie is also having warm feelings for Blue, another neurodivergent zoo volunteer. Their awkward first encounters are gentle and as they begin to trust one another they reveal their medical diagnoses, although the reader isn't let in on that conversation. It's as though the author wants to give them privacy.
Cronn-Mills, who writes with authority because she is neurodivergent, teaches English at South Central College in North Mankato. Her first young adult novel, "The Sky Always Hears Me: And the Hills Don't Mind," was a 2010 Minnesota Book Award finalist. "Beautiful Music for Ugly Children," about a transgender youth, won the American Library Association's Stonewall Award and a silver medal for gay/lesbian/Bi/Trans fiction from Independent Publisher Book Awards.
Cronn-Mills will launch "Rules for Camouflage" at 6 p.M. Thursday, June 20 at the Arts Center of St. Peter, 315 S. Minnesota Ave., St. Peter, Minn.
"Dead Girls Talking": by Megan Cooley Peterson (Holiday House, $19.99)
I think more about what Eugenia said… about looking closer at the murders, including my mom's. It might not be a terrible idea. Instead of being a victim, maybe I could be the girl who stopped a killer. And I can finally prove to myself beyond all doubt, that my father is guilty of his crime. If there's really a killer loose in Wolf Ridge, then Eugenia is right. None of us is safe — from "Dead Girls Talking"
In her second young adult novel (after "The Liar's Daughter") Peterson gives us a twisty, sometimes dark story about Bettina, whose father is in prison for stabbing her mother to death and carving her mouth to look like a big smile. Bett was only 6 when it happened and she testified that she saw Trapper, her father, leaving the house the morning she found her mother's bloody body. That was 10 years before the book begins, and Bett is known by everybody in Wolf Ridge as the girl whose father killed her mother. Bett has been living with her wealthy maternal grandparents, who refuse to discuss their daughter or what happened to her. Then Bett makes friends with Eugenia, a classmate who's also unpopular because she lives in the local funeral home run by her parents. Eugenia is a no-nonsense girl who presses Bett to take a hard look at her mother's murder when three more women are killed and Bett discovers the bodies. Who is the person dubbed the Smiley Face Killer? A copycat?
This is a teen procedural, with the girls looking for traces of the killer or killers. They set up a whiteboard in the attic of the funeral home, adding and subtracting names of possible perps that includes one of their cute male classmates. Also in the mix is Bett's aunt Ada, who has never believed Trapper was guilty of killing his wife and has a website dedicated to the case that made national headlines. And there's Natalie, Bett's former best friend, who is looking frail and unwell. Nat's mother, Lydia, was like a second mother to Bettina but now she runs a "ghost tour" of the town focusing on Bett's mother's death. As Bett and Eugenia learn more about the women who were killed, Bett begins to wonder if she remembered correctly what happened the morning of her mother's death. Was her charming father innocent? Who was the person with "blue hands" she described to the police?
Peterson keeps the suspense going as the plot becomes more involved and Bettina more confused. As the girls dig into police files from a decade earlier, some things don't add up. Why was Bett's grandfather, a lawyer, so involved?
Thee's a teen vibe to this story. Eugenia pulls Bett back from drinking too much one night, and the girls skip their prom to break into the house of someone they suspect. Who else would substitute plain black clothes for tulle and glitter on prom night?
The author has written more than 200 nonfiction books for children on topics ranging from dinosaurs and sharks to urban legends. She will launch "Dead Girls Talking" at 6 p.M. Tuesday, June 18, in conversation with Minnesota Book Award-winner Laura Zimmerman at Red Balloon Bookshop, 891 Grand Ave., St. Paul. Free; registration required. Go to redballoonbookshop.Com/events.
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10 Essential Money Tips For Young Adults
Being financially responsible can be as simple as budgeting, creating emergency funds, and ... [+] understanding taxation concepts.
gettyYoung adults should learn money management as early as possible, as the younger you start knowing how money works, the faster you can achieve financial independence and long-term financial goals.
Being financially responsible can be as simple as budgeting, creating emergency funds, and understanding taxation concepts. It's never too early or too late to start learning these skills.
Money Saving Tips For Young AdultsThis article covers the top 10 essential money-saving tips for young adults and why learning money management is necessary early on.
Learn How To BudgetThe classic first step to managing your finances is learning how to budget. Create a budgeting plan where you allocate reasonable amounts for your wants, needs, and savings, and then stick to it as much as possible.
Track all your expenditure to ensure your money goes exactly where you need it to. Remember, budgeting is only successful if you adhere to your plan.
Create An Emergency FundEven the tightest budget should allocate money to an emergency fund. An emergency fund is your fallback for unexpected life events that cause financial hardships, and it can help you avoid going deeper into debt when emergencies happen.
When creating an emergency fund, it's best to put your money in a high-interest savings account rather than the stock markets. This way, you can grow your money without the risks of other types of investments.
Use The 50/30/20 RuleOne simple money management tip for adults and teens is following the 50/30/20 rule. You should allocate 50% of your income to your needs, 30% to your wants, and 20% to your savings.
With this rule, you can secure your savings and fund your essentials while fulfilling your wants.
Learn How To Separate Needs From WantsRegarding funding your needs and wants, you must know how to distinguish one from another. You should only consider 'needs' as your day-to-day essentials that directly impact your quality of life, such as transportation and housing. All other expenses should be considered as 'wants.'
Separating these two categories allows you to adjust your spending and create more effective budgeting plans. You can cut back on your wants anytime you need to reduce your expenses without sacrificing your basic needs.
Use Cash Instead Of CreditGet into the habit of only spending money on things you can afford. Consider using debit or making cash payments, and avoid using a credit card that accrues interest when you miss paying off the balance each month.
Even if this means it may take longer to build your credit score, you'll be less likely to fall into debt due to excessive purchases, which is far more crucial than increasing your credit limit as a young adult.
Set Goals For YourselfSet short and long-term goals to measure whether your financial habits are helping or hindering your economic progress.
These goals can be as simple as saving $10,000 a year or paying off credit card debt within a year.
Customize your financial goals based on your needs and capabilities. Make sure they're realistic but not overly easy to achieve so you can still feel motivated by the challenge of enhancing your financial potential.
Money Management Tips For Both Adults And Students Educate And Invest In YourselfAn advantage you have as a young adult is the long timeframe before retirement. This allows you to grow your investments through compound interest and have time to invest in yourself.
Arm yourself with more financial tools by reading books and consuming various media related to money management.
Apart from learning, you should also invest your time in developing new skills, maintaining your health, and meeting new people, as these factors collectively contribute to your long-term success, both in terms of your finances and your overall quality of life.
Pay Off Your DebtDebt is the opposite of savings; the longer you put it off, the more expensive it'll be. So, you should prioritize paying your debt off as early as possible. Fortunately, several debt repayment strategies, like the snowball and avalanche, can help regardless of how much you owe.
Learn How Taxes WorkWhether you're financially successful or not, there's one expense category that you'll always pay for the rest of your life, and that's your taxes. You'll be spending thousands of dollars, if not millions, toward taxes, so it's essential you know how they work.
Understand your tax bracket and leverage retirement accounts to minimize your tax burden.
Set Yourself Up To Have Multiple Income StreamsThis article wouldn't be complete without mentioning one of the most crucial money tips for reducing financial stress: setting up multiple income streams.
This strategy increases your earning potential and can help you reach financial freedom faster.
If you are looking for side hustles to start, here are some to consider.
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