Category Archives: Announcements

Announcing My New Album Review Series!

Hello all! As mentioned earlier, I have another series in the works right now. I planned to officially announce this a little earlier, but regardless, here goes nothing:

I’m adding a new review series to this website. It’s called Consummate Professionalism, and in it, I will be reviewing albums, mixtapes, EPs, LPs, and other similar compilations of music.

I was reluctant to delve into the world of music criticism. My professional experience is almost entirely limited to literature, and I wanted to avoid getting sucked into the music industry as a whole. I made up my mind for two reasons. First, music is art; it would be a tragedy for me to allow all of that art to go undiscovered and unappreciated.

Second, the world of reviewing and criticizing music is in need of an overhaul. The current top critics live in a cultural echo chamber, with values and preferences grossly dissimilar to those of the general population. In other words, there needs to be more reviewers whose analyses align with the average music listener–a role I intend to fill as faithfully as possible.

I don’t yet have an official release date for the first installment (each one will be called a Volume. Ha, get it?). I’m extremely confident I will have it up within the next month, though, if not less. If I don’t post it immediately after it’s finished, then I’ll announce its publication date on the Likewise12 Twitter page. Follow me, and keep checking back for more updates about this and other projects!

Announcing My New Book Review Series!

Hello there! A short update from your friendly neighborhood wordsmith. After being missing in action for several months, I’m happy to announce Hayley’s Comments, a new series that I’m launching here on this website.

I’ve been meaning to do something like this for a while, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to. I knew that I wanted to support small authors like myself, and steer my blog to be more writing- and literature-focused. This new series helps with both of these issues, with other added benefits as well.

This series will be focused on rating and reviewing books from smaller and lesser-known authors. I’ll read these books cover to cover, then give an honest, in-depth, and spoiler free analysis, using a special rating system of my own creation. I’ll add a new section to the top bar with more information, and when I do, I’ll link it here.

I’m working on the first review, and though I don’t have a specific date will post it soon after it’s done. Look on my Twitter page for faster updates, and to leave me with any quick questions or comments you may have. Thank you for your support, and I’m excited to see what you all think of what I have in store!

Slate Wiped Clean.

Three years of hard work, completely erased. Hours upon hours of research, editing, typing, and formatting, completely wiped out. Decimated. Gone. Reduced to atoms.

You might notice that the last article on this site before this one was published in late 2018. But that isn’t because I haven’t posted anything since then, it’s because all of the changes on this site made after January 2019 was completely erased. After coming back from my impromptu hiatus this weekend, I log into my admin account to see my website was in the exact state I left it in over 2 years ago, before the massive overhaul that I did early 2020.

I’m not going to bore you with the details, but in short, WordPress didn’t hold onto the changes I made, since my hiatus was longer than six months. I assume this is to save space on their servers, but still, it was bad news nonetheless. I was able to recover only one article I wrote during that time, one that will be reposted in its entirety soon.

I’m still not as mad about it as I think I should be, though. I’ve seen people whose houses burned to the ground in wildfires, losing literally everything they had, and they still bounced back from it. I figure that if they could go through that, then without a doubt I can go through this.

Of course, this will involve redoing all the cool and awesome changes I made. This includes changing things that still use the old name of Likewise instead of Likewise12. If you see anything out of order, please bear with me, as things will slowly get back to the way they were over time. For now, no promises on posting schedules; I’m laser-focused on my mental health right now, and can only afford to post sporadically for the foreseeable future. Rest assured that I will try my best to bring the best content I possibly can.

An explanation, rather than an apology

78 days. That’s low long it’s been since the last time I posted here. I’m sitting here typing and thinking about how many days that is. If you started learning a language from nothing, after 78 days you’d be pretty much conversational. If you planted a field full of cucumbers, you’d be able to harvest them all 78 days later. And, more topically, if I had started working on even one of my minor projects 78 days ago, then I would probably be done by now. And I can’t get over that now.

My lack of transparency has been quite regrettable, I feel like. I’ve neglected giving a ton of updates in order to avoid having my content being too focused on me, but I feel like that’s been detrimental.

Once I get things straightened out, I’ll definitely be posting a more lengthy update to explain everything and the (positive!) changes that are soon to come. Until then, I’ll try to post a few things here and there that I’ve done. I just thought it’s only fair to let you know instead of just suddenly posting content again without saying a word.

Anyways, I’m perfectly fine, and things will hopefully ramp up soon! I appreciate all of the support.

What my life has been recently

Hello all! Whatever has brought you to this blog to continue reading my posts, whether it be my life, my traveling, or my writing, I greatly appreciate you being here.

As of right now, posting on here has been difficult. It’s not that I don’t want to post, it’s that I don’t have much time to do it. College admissions, schoolwork, my writing, and taking care of my mental health have been my top priorities and have thus been taking up the most of my time. Honesty is beautiful when it comes to my fans and my viewers, and honestly, life has been very stressful these past several weeks. Hence, I’ve found myself with the inability to post nearly as much as I want to.

That being said, I expect things to pick up in a few weeks, at least. Finishing high school on the 26th of this May, I’ll have a lot more time and energy to focus on my blogging and my writing career—my passion in life and the main thing I want to do with myself.

To make things clear, I’m not going on a hiatus or anything; I just think I owe you guys an explanation, and that’s what this is. I’ve made a promise to always be as open and honest as possible with my viewers, and even though I’m in the beginning stages, this is no exception. I appreciate all of the support you have given me thus far, and will continue to give me in the future!

Some technical difficulties 

Hello all, due to some issues with my phone storage, the Day 2 Quebec trip post and part of the Day 1 post will be delayed. Photo galleries will also be uploaded after the trip on separate posts, and then I will update the posts with the links. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Edit (Apr. 15, 2017 @12:26 a.m.)

I’ve thought about how I’ve been formatting these posts. Given the circumstances, I feel like it’s a lot better if I publish the posts when I arrive back in the states. A reliable Internet connection and good computer access are a necessity for making quality posts, and those are two things that I don’t have right now. Don’t worry though! I’m having a great time and I can’t wait to tell you all about it when I get back.

My Quebec Trip – Prelude

Hello all! There is a big surprise that I’ve been waiting to unveil, and I think now is the perfect time to do so. For a few days before and during spring break, I, my brother, and several other students from school will be taking a class trip to Quebec, Canada!

The group of us will be visiting many different sites and attractions all over the province. These include a tour of Quebec city, the Musée du Fort, Montmorency Falls, and a visit to the Montréal Science Centre. We will be accompanied by tour guides, chaperones, and Mr. Petit, the wonderful and extremely generous French teacher who will be running the trip! The full itinerary can be found at the bottom of this article.

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A meeting discussing the details of the trip. (Feb. 21, 2017 10:45 AM)

We will be leaving first thing in the morning on April 12, 2017—that’s Wednesday—and arriving back in the states 5 days later. I will make a post every evening detailing the events and experiences of the day. This will include pictures, vlogs, and firsthand accounts from other people attending the trip with me. I also plan to release a poem or short story here and there, just so my blog won’t be entirely focused on the trip.

I’m very excited for this trip! This will be the 4th time I’ve travelled outside of the United States, and the 2nd time I’ve been to Canada. The first time was when I was 7 years old, though, so this should be a great new experience for me, anyways. Oh and by the way, we won’t be taking a flight there; a long bus ride to and from the country awaits us. All of this is sure to bring a fresh new adventure that you all are sure to enjoy!

 

Click here to view the full itinerary

My first ever book signing! 3/11/2017

Hello all. As some of you already know, yesterday was a very eventful day; I did my first ever book signing ever!

The signing was for my teen/YA novel, The Month Of June. It took place at a local bookstore known as 2nd & Charles, often frequented by interesting and enthusiastic readers. I was set up at the front of the store, to the front right as soon as you walk in the door. I must admit that the location wasn’t ideal, but I still went with it!

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I saw several interesting people there, and sold several books. Nobody asked to take a picture to be on this blog, but I did meet a nice old man who told me a very interesting story about himself. I plan to write a short story based on it.

All in all, it was was a pretty good first experience. I really hope to do things like that again. And if you live in or around the area, there are still a few copies left at the store. Head over and buy one if you can!