Ask Gigi:

I want to reinvent myself this year! Do you have any tips on how to stand out?
-A New Me

What’s up, A New Me?
Try to stay out of gossip as much as you can. Be nice to everyone. Sit with different people at lunch every day the first week of school. Join clubs and sports teams that interest you! Get to know a bunch of different people.
By the time you figure out who loves you for who you really are, you'll be super interesting and have a lot going on! Enjoy being the new girl! People are really excited to meet someone new.
-GiGi 

I want to change my style. How do I go about recreating my look for the fall?
-Fashion Forward

Hey Girl! Thanks for writing!
It's cool to try out some new colors and trends, but make sure you feel comfortable. Don't buy clothes you think "popular girls" should wear. Get clothes you really love. A good test is picturing yourself wearing that outfit the very next day. If you think you might feel weird, it probably isn't you. 
-GiGi

I've been best friends with this one girl for my whole life. Last year, I moved to a new school and now we barely talk. I really miss her but how can I keep this friendship going even though we’re miles apart?
-Lonely in Lawrenceville

Hi Lonely-
I have lots of friends who live miles from me, and I’ve learned that it takes a whole lot more than distance to keep us from being besties. Write letters, send care packages, and pick up the phone! You have to make an effort in order to keep the friendship going.
-GiGi

DIY: Nature Jewelry

By: Stephanie G.

This Project is quick, fun and easy! Have you ever wanted to spread your love of nature? Well, you can do that by making this craft.
You will need:

• Decorative Acorns, fruit or veggies. These items can be found in the Home section near the marbles at Wal-Mart or a craft store.
• Jewelry Wire
• Jewelry Clasp
• Scissors or small wire cutters
• A drill with assortment of sizes of drill bits.
• Adult supervisor to help you with the drill.

Directions:

•  Determine if you want a necklace or bracelet. If you want a necklace, determine the length.
• Unroll your jewelry wire.
• Lay out your decorative acorn pieces and put them along the wire until they come to the end
• Next, with your adult supervisor, determine the correct drill bit size.  It should be slighter smaller than your jewelry wire.  With safety goggles on and supervision from an adult, drill a hole through the acorn.
•  Thread the acorns on the wire.
• Attach the clasps. To make sure the wire stays on, wrap it around the clasps many times.
• With the scissors or wire cutters cut the end of the wire.
• Now, put it on and show all you friends and family you new work of art!

I have worn my acorn bracelet and even though it is rather odd, I have gotten many compliments from it! This bracelet goes with just about anything.
Have fun making your bracelet and or necklace!

Recipe - Hot Cocoa

By: Leka G.

What’s greater than a warm glass of hot cocoa on a cold day? Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup of cocoa powder
• 1 cup 2 tablespoons sugar
• ¾ cup of half-and-half cream
• 1 ½  pinches of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup of boiling water
• 5 ¼ cups of milk

Directions:
Mix the cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Add mix to boiling water and stir water mixture for about two minutes. Add milk and heat until hot but not boiling. Separate into 6 glasses and add cream to cool down. Enjoy!

Lime Green Giraffe Virtual Scavenger Hunt

Ever heard of a fun treasure hunt called letterboxing? It’s a hobby loved by millions of people all over the world.

There are many different types of letterboxes, one of them being a Virtual. Virtuals have certain clues or questions that you need to determine the answer to in order to figure out a passkey, which is used to unlock an image. So guess what? There’s a virtual letterbox about this issue of LGG! You can view it at Solve A Lime Green Giraffe, however, you have to have a letterboxing account in order to officially “solve” it…but who says you can’t figure it out on your own anyways? Good luck and have fun!!

You can also check out the puzzle from our February 2010 issue by clicking here.

How to Write a Book

By Rachel B.

Step One: Think of a Plot
You can't write a book before you have a story to write. It's impossible. Well, you can try, but a story about nothing would be incredibly boring and no one would buy it.

So the first step is asking yourself, "What do I want to write about?" Don't know? Then ask yourself "What do I want to read about?" Do you like fantasy stories with princesses and dragons? Write about that. Do you like space adventures with battleships and aliens? Write about that. Do you like both? Write about dragon aliens from space. The plot is the key component of the story. If you have a good plot, you might get readers but if you don't have a good plot, you won't get published.

Step Two: Think of Characters
Remember, the plot comes first. Characters fit into the plot. The plot should not fit into the characters. Inventing characters and an underlying message before coming up with a plot, I think, is the way to ruin.

Now that I've warned you against the dangers of making a plot fit the character instead of making the character fit the plot, we may move on to what characters should be.

Characters should be flawed. This is major. If a character has no flaws, they are not interesting or realistic. Actually, a character with no flaws can be very annoying to the reader. Such characters are known as a "Mary Sue" and a "Gary Stu". Mary Sues and Gary Stus are often extremely idealized versions of the author. This must be avoided at all costs; these characters are frowned upon in the literary world and no, minor flaws and endearing flaws do not count. There must be a major flaw in every major character. Preferably, multiple less-major flaws, and a big one that cripples the main character. A crippling fear of heights, blindness, a violent anger management problem, greed, hubris, excessive curiosity, misplaced trust, and narcissism are all major flaws. Clumsiness, oily hair, and slightly less than average intelligence are not good enough flaws.

Characters should be likable. Not all characters, but you don't really want your audience desperately hoping the main character dies.

Characters should vary. Don't let your characters be cookie cutter cut outs. Have some variety, but don't be excessive. If your main characters have nothing in common, why are they even with each other? Let the personalities and physical traits complement each other.

Characters must be driven. Each character needs a reason for being there. Why is Billy part of the group? He's in love with Sara. Why is Sara part of the group? She's searching for her lost father and the group is looking for him. Why is the group looking for him? Was he the leader of their anti-whatever association and was kidnapped by the evil queen Something-Or-Other?

Characters must be complex. Don't split the story bad guys on the right, good guys on the left. Throw in a few morally grey characters. Characters who don't fit the setting they're in, a bad guy with a heart of gold, or a good guy who'd rather kill the demon emperor's innocent daughter than take her captive.

Step Three: Research
Does your story take place in 1976? Does it involve and illness you've never contracted? How about sword fighting that you've never tried? You will want to do research if you story involves anything you have not seen, done, or experienced.

Step Four: Write an Outline
Some skip this step, but I think it's a good idea to write an outline of the story. I consider this part of the planning stage. While you write your outline, you may discover inconstancies, boring parts, or places where you are unsure how to continue. You'll want to fix all these things before actually sitting down to write. You'll ponder how the story begins, how it ends, major plot points, plot twists, et cetera as you write this outline until you have a clear idea what's happening in your story and everything is coherent.

Step Five: Write
Start writing the first draft now that you know everything that's going to happen. This first draft won't be perfect but it's a starting place. It may take a long time to write and painstaking, but once you get it written you'll have a basic book. You're not done, though; so don't start sending it off to publishers.

Step Six: Editing
Give your first draft to trusted family members and friends. Get them to critique it. Don't take their critiques personally; telling you what you need to improve on is their job. They are your audience, and if your audience thinks you could do better in an area, you should work on those areas. You MUST have someone else other than you look at it. You are bias. Once everyone's had his or her say, go over it on your own as well. Ask yourself "do I like how this is worded," "does this make sense," "How can I improve this passage?" You need to do this again, and again. Then give it back to your family and friends again and then edit some more. It is the most painstaking part of writing a book, but it is very necessary. You will be sick and tired of your story by the time it is finished, but once you look over it that last time and deem it worthy, there is no better feeling than being able to say "I'm finished."

Step Seven: Get it Published
No! You are not finished. You must now send your story out to publishers and get a thousand rejection letters until finally someone offers you a good deal. Remember to send a copy of your story to yourself in a sealed envelope first and keep it in a safe place. You wouldn't want to do all that work and then have someone steal it. Mailing your book to yourself gives you evidence that you wrote it should a plagiarism battle come up. The postage stamp on the envelope when it gets back to you will date when the contents of the envelope, your lovely story, was written. We want to avoid plagiarism battles, but it's better safe than sorry.

Step Eight: Baby Your Book
Once you have a good publisher and your book is out there, all you gotta do is sit back and relax.
You first book will need help getting off the ground. You could just cross your fingers and pray it'll become popular, or you could advertise it. Most authors go with the advertising option, you know, after a well deserved week long vacation. Blog about your story, tell all your friends, tell all your friends to tell their friends, talk to your local mom and pop book store about having a flyer in the window, vlog about it, tweet about it, use any sort of communication you can possibly think of to get the word out that the best book of the century is on shelves now! First time authors have no fan base. You have to make one.

Final thought: A word to the wise,
Writing is not easy. Do not assume it is. Some writers have a natural ability to string words together and others do not. No matter how good your natural ability is writing is still hard, which you will find out, if not during the writing process, during the editing process. Also, writers are competitive and have a tendency to be more critical than those who don't write. That's why they are the best evaluators. If you can impress a fellow writer, you've done something right. Last but not least, do not assume you are the next J.R.R. Tolkien, R.L. Stine, or J.K. Rowling!!! Do not assume your first novel is going to sell millions. Don't go out and buy a car you can't afford yet. This is a mistake a lot of writers make once they publish their first book. You could become something great, but don't risk your life's savings on that assumption and don't be disappointed if it doesn't happen. There's always next book.