Writing: A Soul's Way of Breathing

The World Keeps Going On and On

2012-01-24T19:25:00.003-05:00

And I keep trying to think of things to post about

And I keep thinking about how much I miss you all. So many of you.

And I keep trying to involve myself in other projects.

And I forget why I started this blog in the first place

(Why did I start this blog in the first place?)

And I met someone who keeps saying that I will be published, and I realize

How much I started to believe

That wasn't possible

And I realized

How much I don't want a back up plan

I don't want to have to create a career based on the fact that I might not succeed and I might be a failure and I might not get published and I might not be okay and I might have to work in awful retail jobs for the next ten years of my life because of the college debt I'm in

And the fact is

I don't care if I have to work in retail for the next twenty years of my life

I don't care if I have to struggle and if it's awful

Because I know I want to be an author

That's why I've been writing since I was able to hold a crayon

Why I've been telling stories since I was able to string syllables together into coherent sounds

The World keeps going around and around and I'm going to keep spinning with it but I don't want to have to have a back-up plan anymore. If I decide to go into the publishing world I want to do it because I love it, not because I need a safety net.

This college thing... Being here, in a different state away from home for really the first time. My first try at college doesn't count, since I went home on the weekends. Being in a completely different environment. I'm learning a whole lot about myself, and I've been so busy figuring out who I am, it's been hard to figure out who my characters are, and my writing life had been precarious at best, and my absence here has been out of necessity, but I don't want to stay here. I want to write more this year. Edit more. Actually be the person I'm realizing I am.

Because I miss you.

I miss the world of writing.

I miss my characters.

I even miss creeping on agents a little bit. Finding out which agents publish which books, which publishing houses publish which of my favorite authors. I miss that whole world.

I don't really know how to end this so...

Reminisces for the New Year

2011-12-31T23:59:00.000-05:00

Sometimes.

Sometimes life doesn't go quite as you thought it would.

Or quite as you planned.

I had originally planned to go to college near where I lived, graduate as an English major, maybe find a godly man along the way and get married, though that was never a necessity. Hopefully get published and live happily ever after.

This year hasn't exactly followed that plan. There's been a whole lot of... Disruptings going on.

You see, life is kind of like a Choose Your Own Adventure Book.

I wish this were a real book

I would totes read it

(laughingsquid)

All the chapters are there. All of the possibilities. So sometimes you can choose between two pages. Each page will lead you somewhere else, to a different ending, to different beginnings.

1) Instead of going to a college near my home I moved 8 hours away to a completely different state.

2) Instead of being an English major I'm currently a Classics Major, learning about Latin, amphoras, and Roman mosaics (and Italian pastiglias - which are gorgeous but torturous to write about)

3) Instead of being single I ended up in a relationship a little while ago

4) Instead of being friendless like I feared I would be, I ended up with a group of friends I love. We support each other, and encourage each other, and debate with each other. We also watch Disney movies together, which is an absolute must. Disney movies are great things to bond over, I so declare.

5) Instead of doing horrible in my classes like I feared I would, I got good grades and learned to respect different teaching styles. I ended up with wonderful professors that I am proud of to have as my teachers.

6) Instead of only ever being in one relationship like I had hoped, I ended up breaking up with someone. And I was fine. But he wasn't.

7) Instead of losing touch with my friends and family back home, I ended up closer than ever with them. Thanks not only to Skype but Facebook, and cell phones, and all kinds of wonders of technology

8) Instead of living quietly in a dorm, I ended up friends with almost my entire hall. And though my roommate and I didn't work out, the rest of my hall and I did. So. It ended up being okay.

8) Instead of getting published I learned more about the industry, and was able to go to BEA again, and I understand more about the craft, and I'm getting over my fear of failure.

9) Instead of staying with Borders, my favorite job I have ever had, I had to leave and watch the company break down. But I was part of a family of co-workers that I will treasure forever (In fact, a group of us have banded together to start up a blog about books, also something I hadn't expected)

10) Instead of only reading YA and middle grade I learned how to red non-fiction, and learned how to love non-fiction, and I discovered an increasing love for children's picture books

11) Instead of letting life happen around me, I'm starting to learn how to wake up and be a part of this magnificent world. To hold onto the relationships that will last. To try things even if it may not work out, and even if I will fail, and even if I may end up looking stupid.

12) Instead of being who I've always been, I'm discovering things about myself I never knew before. Some good, some... Not so much. But at least I understand more about who I am, and who I could possibly be some day.

So instead of starting this New Year with a shrug and a desperate need for sleep, I hope to start this New Year on a new page of my Choose My Own Adventure, with a blank page, and a ready pen in my hand. Prepared for the fact that I don't know where the pages will take me, but confident that the God I believe in, trust in, and place hope in, will bring me to a new chapter that will defy my expectations. And some of that will be good, and some not so much, but that's okay. Because I have awesome friends, and because I have an awesome family, and because I really love the taste of ravioli. And even if random parts of the South do not have round ravioli, they still have square ones, so life will be okay in the end. Because of ravioli. ;)

Mmmmm...

Have a good New Year's my lamnams. I pray your last year had it's beautiful moments that you will be able to cherish forever. And I hope you had moments to laugh, because I know I did (Corrugated sighs! <-- Don't ask)

The Seduction of a Wall

Vale. (<-- Latin for farewell. Not like an English vale)

This:

Not This:

Happy New Year!! :)

The Threads and Bubbles of Reality

2011-12-17T15:44:00.006-05:00

As a writer of fantasy I believe in the possibility of multiple realities. And because I have an insane imagination sometimes it seriously feels like a reality threaded next to this one is getting really close - like having two bubbles come up side by side, and either they will merge or pop - and it makes me wonder...

What would that be like? How would that affect us? Would it even affect us at all?

Say our bubble of reality sidles up alongside another bubble of reality:

Would it cause the bubble to pop?

Or would it cause the bubble to become just a smaller add on to our bubble world:

If our bubble of reality pops a next door neighbor bubble, what happens to that reality? Does it no longer exist? Does it pop up and exist elsewhere? What if it gets downsized and become nothing but an add on bubble, like in the above picture? Will reality just become a fragment of what it was, like a shard of glass that used to be part of a larger whole, but is now just a piece of its formal self?

Can you imagine if our choices affected the movement of our bubble of reality? That would be crazy. Unlikely, probably not true at all, but it is interesting to think about. Most of my stories concern reality and its duplicates, or the bending of reality, or the fluidity of reality, at least in some manner.

What about you? Do you think about reality? Do you think reality is just one bubble out of many, or do you think of reality more like a cinder block, solid and unmoving and singular?

Save the Kilowatts!

2011-10-24T16:03:00.008-04:00

I have a pet peeve. He is cute and purple and his name is Steve. He looks like this:

Steve is a kind and caring peeve. He is adorable and I am very sad when people upset him. You see, Steve is very concious of kilowatts. It's not his fault. He self-actualized because of something I learned from my father.

You see, I grew up with a wonderful father who has the same kind of imagination I do. Only... I beat him in the insane department. But anyway. When either I or one of my siblings left lights on unnecessarily in the house my dad would cry:
And so forth. I would look up into the flourescent light and it hurt my eyes, so I stopped and looked down at the non-flourescent tile floor instead, and imagined the light in my head. Then I would imagine the microscopic insides of a lightbulb:
I thought killowatts were like blue shining amoebas. I'm pretty sure that is not the case, sadly, but whatever. I don't have to be defined by reality. And that's not the point. The point is Steve Peeve is disstressed when people go around killing them all of the time. That's actually one of the things I like about the college I am attending. They have little signs at all the lights reminding people to turn them off when they are not being used. And it makes Steve Peeve happy. And he dances. And has a party. And drinks glasses of sparkling water through an orange straw, because Steve Peeve is just that cool. So think of Steve. Don't kill the killowatts. Have a party with sparkling water and epic orange straws instead, because that is much more awesome.

Other Writers

2011-10-12T21:40:00.000-04:00

I love, love, love meeting other writers. Whether it's online, or in "real" life, or whatever. It's fantastic. I have moved down to VA and am attending a college here. Most of my friends I have met write. The one creates worlds and languages like I do, and it's been such a joy to talk about each other's worlds. I don't know. There's just something magical about it. And my other friend is still figuring out how to write, so in the meantime she's drawing pictures of her characters and it's fantastic to listen to the ideas that will one day find their way onto paper.

And to think I was nervous about moving away from home. Sometimes I forget about the magic that exists in the writing and Geek world. It doesn't matter who you are, what you do, what you like, what you don't like, as soon as you find a fellow writer or Geek there is an instant connection, an instant bond of friendship. It's so much fun.

And it makes world building so much easier. I love writing stuff with others. There's something about the interaction that just works for me. And when I'm not writing with someone I have found it is super useful to bounce my ideas off of someone else. I have been stuck on my Haunbrinth series, just not sure where to take it. I've been unable to write anything because I haven't known the end of the series, and I have to know what the end is, what the goal is, before I can go forward.

Today I was talking with this one fellow that I met who writes. I am basing a character off of him because I like to do that (I always get permission first, of course) me. I came back to my dorm to write out a basic outline based on this new character and suddenly it all made sense to me. I know the entire arch. I know why the beginning starts the way it does. I was having issues with the beginning and now I know why.

This is why the writer community is so important to me. It's so important to have fellow writers that you can talk with. Not only to get ideas, or to get through pot tangles, but to get encouragement and to stay excited. NaNoWriMo begins in a couple of weeks and now I feel much more confident.

So thank you to writers and Geeks everywhere. You make my life beautiful.

Life = Interesting

2011-10-10T18:48:00.009-04:00

There is something I have come to realize about life. Life doesn't really make sense most of the time. For example, some girls go to college with this mindset:

And instead of finding even one boy, they end up finding a whole lot of homework and wonderful friends instead.

Then you have other people, who are more like this:

And they are the ones who end up meeting someone before classes even officially start.

And this can sometimes seem unfair. But I think it all works out. Because those who were just looking for boys end up finding themselves. Or really good friends. Or they learn how to make pottery and they become beautiful cat people who find beautiful cat men later in life.

And the one who was against boyfriends ends up learning more about who they are, and that it's okay to trust people.
So in the end, I think life works itself out. Maybe not all of the time, but I think it happens a lot more often than we realize.

While I was in LaLa Land

2011-09-01T10:46:00.003-04:00

So.... For lack of better things to post about I will explain the past two months of my life in Bullet Points! Yay!

- July - Go to Polaris and despite the alarms blaring in the middle of the night have an epically good time

-July - Come back from Polaris and find out Borders, where I have tried to work for years, is closing.

-July - Customers begin to lose all courtesy and repeatedly infringe on my space bubble

-August - Have a physical done for school

-August - Two customers poke me in the back. I nearly kill them

-August - Find out I might have something wrong with my thyroid

August - Get denied for a Student Loan

August - Get a denial for my query

August - Might not be able to go to school

August - Drama unfolds in my personal life like an origami swan

August - My dad co-signs and I can go to college!

August - My thyroid is fine! As far as I know.

August - Pat my friends on the head and tell them to get along

August - Leave Borders and cry on the way home

August - Almost crash twice

August - Make it home safely

August - Pack like a banshee

August - Move to VA

August - Leave phone charger at friend's house so I cannot call anyone

August - Go through the rigors of Orientation

August - Write this blog post

September - First day of classes

So. Yes. That was my past two months. How were yours???

A Not-So Happy Ending: Killing Off Main Characters

2011-08-03T15:59:00.005-04:00

I'm working on a novel for Camp NaNoWriMo. It is an idea I've had for a long time. It's about a Princess who gets tired of waiting for her Prince to rescue her. It's about how her story is all wrong and is not going the way it's supposed to. It's about her journey to try and figure out what is wrong with her. It's about her running from a terrible choice she made. She is a Princess and is not sure exactly what that means anymore.

Woe is me! I know not what being a Princess means!

Now, some of you may be aware: I kill characters.

CrazyPants!

There are few stories where I don't kill off someone. In fact, I want to write a story where I keep killing off the narrator. But generally I don't have terrible endings. I believe in hope. I believe in happy endings. Maybe bittersweet endings. But I don't believe in Romeo and Juliet endings.

I'm sorry... But I find their story so pathetic :(

This story I'm working on could have two possible endings. There is the bittersweet ending or there is the Romeo and Juliet ending. And you know what? I really, really want to go with the terrible, terrible, kill off the main character ending.

I told my mom this and she said, "That would be a bold choice." I know that bold can just be a synonym for suicidal, so I was curious.

What do you think of terribly sad endings? How do you feel about writers killing off the main character at the end? I mean, it's not an easy choice. This is the character you've made your reader character about. This is the person they've cheered for, cried for, cared for. Killing them off? Such an action can kill writer's and their careers.

Thus I came here, curious about what you guys think about killing characters. Should only minor characters die, or would you be okay with a main character being killed off at the end??

I May Fall Asleep Half-Way Through This...

2011-07-24T14:26:00.007-04:00

So. Yes. The liquidation process has begun at Borders and now we get to come in at 6 o'clock in the morning! Yay! Not. Really. You see, I do not normally function until 9 in the morning. That means my poor co-workers have to be around me for three hours while I stare blankly and refuse to speak with them. And then I work for 8-9 hours. By then I am sleep deprived and loopy. Yesterday I started throwing gift cards at one of my co-workers but instead of being mad he just asked if I could kill him so he didn't have to be on register anymore. Yeah. It's been a bit hard.

He should get this shirt. As long as he is merely

being metaphorical. I don't want him to really

die because he is tall and cool.

BUT. I get along with everyone I work with so we manage to keep each other afloat which is dreadfully needed. And so, I'll take advantage of these end times and post about my highlights.

1) After I'm done with every customer I shout out "I can help the next customer." but the one time I shouted "Have a Good Day!" instead. E, who was standing next to me, bent over in half she was laughing so hard.

Only she has red hair. And is a girl.

2) It is 3pm. I am supposed to be leaving. I wait for back up and am helping this lady. Her total is $15.57. She hands me a twenty and says, "I have the change so you can ring it up."

Uh. Yeah. No. I've had customers try this before. After I open the drawer they suddenly don't have the change and I have to try to figure out their change. I don't have math skills of any kind. So I say, "That's okay. I'll just wait."

She: "But why not? I have the change. It will save time." (she continues to dig in her purse for change and I try not to point out that she is actually wasting time by talking to me instead of just finding her change and moving on.)

Me: "It won't make a big difference so I'll just wait."

She: (pausing) "Why not?"

Me: (not really caring anymore) "Because I'm weird."

She: (stares) "Excuse me?"

Me: "I'm weird."

She: "Why are you weird?"

Me: "I have to do things in a specific way. Just let me do it."

Finally she hands me the change and I give her a five and she walks away clearly very confused.

this was her brain

OH. MY. GOODPOTATOES. People. Just let me be a cashier. You can be a customer. Don't tell me how to do my job. I've been a cashier for a few years now. I know what I'm doing. Just move on.

3) After the crazy change lady leaves I deal with an uber slow person who is so slow it makes my skin feel like it is burning (or maybe I feel that way since there is no air conditioning and it is close to 90 degrees up by the registers. So much fun!) but once the uber slow lady is gone I run away and grab my bag from the back. I also grab a marshmallow rice thing because it is filled with sugar.

love it!

Then I have to get a bag check so that the managers know we aren't stealing things. As my manager, JP, checks my bag a group of teens come in.

1st Teen: "I wonder if the chairs are for sale?"

Me: (in a singsong voice) "Yes, but not for you."

2nd Teen: "Uh. Okay then."

Me: (extremely embarrassed and calling after them) "I'm sorry! I've been awake since five! I'm really tired and I'm leaving."

I run out of the store as fast as I can while JP turns around and covers her face with her hands as she tries to muffle her laughter.

Yeah. This whole liquidation thing is going to be so much fun on my brain.

Have fun my peeps! I'm going to go spend the entire day doing absolutely nothing. it is going to be EPICally fun.

And Sometimes Life Isn't As Cool

2011-07-22T06:12:00.000-04:00

As most of you probably know, Borders is dying. They call it - in official terms - liquidating. It is sadness.

Awwww... :(

It's not as bad for me because I'm leaving for school in the fall (more on that later) but I know in December I'm going to come back and it's going to hit me like a brick falling out of a speeding dumpster.

I'll probably cry. Just a little bit.

I'm kinda' hoping Barnes & Nobles will put in a bookstore after we leave. There are not many bookstores in our area. The closest one is close to forty-five minutes away from me. Not cool.

Annnnnnnd... You learn that there are two kinds of people in the world.

1) The kind that are sad for you, and wish you luck. They thank you for always helping you and make you love life. They share with you the books they love and encourage you to expand your interests and learn more, even if you end up losing your job. And it is amazing. And you love people. And you want to give customers hugs, except for the scary men that stare at you through windows...

And you know that it's going to be okay. Until...

2) The people who call as soon as they find out your closing and want to know what's on sale. The people who ask if they can buy it now and return it later for the sale price. And you say no. And you wonder if they're on drugs. And there is the one customer that snickers at you because you are losing your job. Or they scream at you across the store to ask when you're closing. And you want to hit everyone and scream at them and you wonder what on earth people are thinking. Maybe they all starting sniffing glue and just aren't in their right minds.

CRAZIEST THING IN THE WORLD

(according to Google)

This is what my customers were like, apparently.

But life will go on and God will provide and we'll find our way from here. So we just have to remember to hold onto the number one customers and disregard the others. (And here I would normally say, Shas La Na, but as it is in a language that does not exist I will instead just run away and leave now.)

Polaris!!!

2011-07-20T17:57:00.005-04:00

So Rebecca - my lovely sis - and I went to Polaris. If you do not know what this means shame on you. Polaris involves Canadians and is a Sci-Fi Convention of awesomeness. And what could be better than a Canadian-infested Sci-Fi Convention? Well, other than pot pies, I just don't know.

Mmmmmm... Deliciousness.

Also on a completely random note, for some reason my google searches are all coming up in Czech. I'm sure you wanted to know that.

SO... We left early Thursday and Rebecca's car decided, air conditioning? Who needs air conditioning? And so it was a bit more warm... meaning super hot... then we really wished for it to be. But ah well. Ces le vie, or whatever. (Canadians speak French, and I think that's a butchered French phrase. We're being multi-cultural today.) We made it to Canada and passed through Vineland and I got excited about the Icelanders and Rebecca rolled her eyes at me. Then we made it to Toronto! And it was so greeeeeeen! And I have no pictures because they are on Rebecca's camera. So imagine something that combines trees and cities. It looked a little bit futuristic I do say.

Then we walked around Toronto and went to amazing libraries and found out that I really am a fascinating idiot sometimes. I brought three pairs of shoes. They were all high-heels. One should not walk around cities in high heels. I blame it entirely on one of my characters who is obsessed with high heels. Anyway. My feet didn't hurt too badly, fortunately, but still. Next year I will bring appropriate footwear.

Then came three days of amazing conventionness and Hopefully if I am not being a lazy bum I will post more because it was pretty amazing. And I was in the same building as Ben Browder (I waved in his general direction in honor of a few of my friends who love Farscape) and I got to see Jewel Staite (she is Adorable) and so much more! I am totes going next year, even if I am going to be mad poor, but whatever. Polaris is totally worth it. And you should totally come next year and that would be fun times.

And in conclusion, here is a cheesecake, because I am hungry and I'm going to go eat dinner:

Enjoy life, my friends, my dear LamNams, because life can be pretty pumpkins cool sometimes.

THREE is a Number

2011-06-07T15:54:00.002-04:00

ONE: OHMYGOODNESS I WENT TO BEA AND IT WAS AMAZING. I will be posting about it Soonish, which you all know means it could be between now and the apocalypse.

TWO: I totes sent out a query letter and am now dying. I'm keeping track in my head: well, it got sent out this day, should arrive this day, could be read any day after this one... And then I start screaming and wondering what on earth I'm doing and trying to prepare myself for what I'm calling "The Inevitable No." I love this agent, so I'm hoping it's a yes... But if this agent is not going to lurve my book, then I want this agent to say no so I can find an agent who will lurve my book, even when I'm going insane and want to hate it. You know?? I know a certain Ms. Ahiers is going through a similar process and I must say: It's nice knowing I'm not alone in my agony. Unless she is not agonified, which would be magnificent as I do not wish anyone to be agonified.

THREE: Actually there is no three. I just like having three points instead of two. Only two points is lame. So now there are three.

A Quick Note

2011-05-02T20:28:00.004-04:00

Laters this week I should have a post about Arbor Day, but until then I thought I should let you knows: I started a Spake Blog Here --> In this Secret Link <-- And I have been blogging there regularly. I don't know why, but I have ideas spilling out of my head and I just know I could blog until the wombats and alpacas come home with the cows... (So, if you see someone named Spakedom commented on your blog it's just me under a Secret Guise trying to confused the population of bloggers)

BUT over here I feel like I am floundering just the tiniest of bits. I was talking to a customer at work today and he mentioned that he was looking into self publishing and we started talking and along the way I mentioned I had a blog. He said, "Oh, what's it about?" And I kinda' gaped at him like a fish. Like this fish:

*goes to find picture of gaping fish*

*is disgusted and runs away*

Ugh. *shudders* I forgot that I am Utterly Detested of fish. Grossgrossgrossgrossgross....

You know what. Forget the gaping picture of mouths. I HATE mouths. I have just decided.

ANYWAYS...

So I thought to myself, "I don't know what it's about? Is that okay?"

And I wondered to myself: "Does it bother you?" I mean. It's all well in good to write for oneself, but if I were to write only for myself I would be writing in a journal. In a book. That you did not see. Cause that's the thing with a blog. A part of it is for me, sure, but it's also for You guys. Are you annoyed that there's no structure this way? That I come and go and wander around and dance into the fog while you're still boarded up inside? Or that I board myself up at home while you're dancing in the square?

So I suppose, if you want my Solid Responsible Consistent part of me you can visit Spakedom. If you want my Spastic Colon, Wombat Squealing, Hyper-Active Mocha-Coffee part of me you can visit me over here. Sometimes I think there is too much of me to stay in one place. Which is why I'm always accidentally sprinkling bits and pieces of me into my characters.

Maybe that's what all authors do. They have so much inside of them that they can't keep it all to themselves and they just end up spilling it out into words. Or artists do it through pictures. Or musicians through music.

It is said that creative people tend to have more connections between their different brain parts. Maybe we simply don't know what to do with all those connections. So we throw up our souls onto slips of paper and parade them around in the hopes that someone else can make sense of them. But in a good way. In a way where we're most happiest, most at peace, when we're writing, since that's what we were created to do at birth, what with our messed up brains. And stuff.

I think that makes sense. Either that or my one character, Philosophical Solomon, is just messing with my brain again.

Blogging

2011-04-13T12:55:00.007-04:00

(In Honor of the A-Z Challenge going around I'm going to attempt to Alphabetize my posts this month. Yay to all A-Zers!)

I have been blogging for over a year with 114 posts (!) and 96 lovely followers. So I thought it would be fun to take a step back and see where this has brought me and what it has taught me.

But let's take a quick look back at the beginning and see what started it all... Blooooooop.

Ah, LOST. I am a firm believer that it's never the Big Choices that change your life. It's all the little choices before that big choice that changed your life.

Deciding to watch LOST was one of those. I shouldn't have even ended up loving the show. I saw one "Before on LOST" and was so confused. I decided I should Never Ever watch the show.

The same thing happened to my sis. But then she ended up watching it anyway.

I came in during one of the many Run-Through-The-Forest-To-Creepy-Music-And-Hope-You-Don't-Die scenes. I went to bed. And was haunted. I had to watch this show! Well. Then I followed Rebecca's lead and snooped around Nikki's blog. And started a blog.

And then started a second one. And then started a Twitter. And a second Twitter for my Spakes. And then I started a Tumblr. And I made Awesome Friends. And I learned that the world of Publishing is much more Vast than I had imagined and that Writers are way cool people to hang around and that there are lovely Random people out there who are weird like me.

I also learned that unlike these strange Western Thinkers I do not live linearly.

I don't know why, but this is what I think of when

I think of the word 'Linear'

I live in circles. Which is why for a few months I'm heavy on the internet, and then for a few months I'm not, and then for a few months I almost never turn on my computer.

And maybe that's okay. To be circular.

This is Chain Mail. This is what I think of

when I think of being 'Circular'

I have learned so much here in this blog-o-sphere. I have so much support over here. It is extremely Awesome. And I am super excited to get to know more of you, to re-aquaint myself with some of you, and just have a generally good time during this Second Year of my blog.

And here are a few things I learned:

1) I am not disciplined enough to do anything regular on a blog yet. Ha. Except be Regularly Irregularly Random

2) Closing my eyes and setting my hands atop GLOM does not magically transfer Blog info up into my brain. This may be lame, but it's true.

3) Some Blog people have super cool Book Recommendations. Even if it's not something I usually read, I should read it anyway, just to see if I like it.

4) Wombats will one day save the world

5) People can get published. It is happening all of the place in this bloggy world.

6) Um...

7) #otherstuffthatiforgot

I know some other lamnams blog birthdays are coming up or recently passed. (Like Wolfie402's)

Congratulations Everybodies! :D

Age & Nightshade

2011-04-12T19:04:00.002-04:00

Recently I read Nightshade by Andrea Cramer. It was pretty good. The mythos was fascinating and not something I had read before. The characters were real and I could relate with them. And I was excited because the language was nice and clean.

However, this book did bring up something that I've noticed in YA books. If I had read this when I was actually a teen I would've been very, Very, VERY uncomfortable. There were at least three scenes that were heavy on the sensual and I had to question myself: Is this appropriate? I mean, the one bathroom scene was so disconcerting. Is this really happening in schools?? And if it is, why is this okay? When did the physical boundaries between guys and girls get chucked out the window?

Now, I understand that in the books situation the girl was preparing to get married and was being treated as an adult and all that. But still. This is not the only book that pushes the physical boundaries. My friend read the Halo books and said there was a scene in them where she was going "Holy Crow! She should not be doing that!"

I also am reminded of one of the panels I sat in on at Polaris where one of the YA authors said their agent was telling them to make their book Sexier. Omgoodness... WHY!? There is a large demographic out there that does NOT want it to be sexier, who are Tired of Sex permeating Everything, especially our used-to-be safe books. And they're pushing it younger and younger. Independent Readers/Middle Grade books are starting to get a little scary when it comes to the relationship aspects to life.

My question is: When did it become okay for teens to have sex with random people before they're married? When did it become okay for authors to TELL teens that this is okay behavior? Yes, yes. I understand that you want a world to be believable. Diana Peterfreund in her Killer Unicorn books has to deal with that temptation because if the girl's aren't virgins they ain't going to be Unicorn Hunters. But I think she does a pretty darn good job of not making it Way Too Awkward for me to read.

At first I thought one of the reasons for the Sultriness was because it seems like a whole lot of Romance novelists are writing for YA now, but that's not fair. Karen Armstrong wrote for YA and her books were very well written and tastefully done when it came to the romance. It was *gasp* Age Appropriate.

So I'm curious what you think? Are Teen books becoming Too Much Sexy? Are you okay with the sexified state of books? Also: On a slightly unrelated note, do you think it would help if a twenty-something age group of books were developed so you could have slightly sexier books without them being for teens?

Random Video Fun

2011-03-23T01:01:00.003-04:00

Oh wowsies. I can't believe I haven't posted this thing up yet. For some reason my brain has been everywhere but in bloggy land. I miss you guys. *hugs GLOM* Hopefully that hug transfers through to your computers.

WELL... In case you have yet to hear of it: I am obsessed with Spakes. They are mythologically real creatures and I talk about them pretty much incessantly.

People throw things at me.

It can be bad.

SO in order to attempt to get my Facebook friends to become fans of Spakes on Facebook (which you can totally do here if you happen to have a Facebook page. I keep meaning to make a linky-do-da but I am lame and so have not done that.) I made this video, and I thought I would share it with you, if I can get it to load. It takes a day to load to youtube, so I haven't done that yet (I now hate youtube). We'll see if this works...

Woah! I think that worked :D So exciting. Anywaydles... Hope you enjoy. I'm going to try and pop around tomorrow, unless I have to do an emergency stand-in for my sister at work. Her thumb's still a bit of an owie. Have fun! :D

And Then the World Exploded...

2011-02-24T10:54:00.001-05:00

My friend 'Rosie' and I write stories together.

It is because of her that Spakes exist and I have a series of novels based on mythologically real creatures.

ALSO... We and another friend 'Stasi' are writing a book together about Elves, and Fairies, and Pixies.

ALSO... Rosie and I are writing a story about Twins.

AND... The more we spend time together the more we realize we have REALLY WEIRD connections between our stories.

Like... My character being the mother of one of her characters.

Like... Her character being the daughter of one of my mythological creatures.

Like... The fact that our stories are becoming more and more complex and connected.

There is a part of my brain that says YOU CAN'T DO THAT because - normally - authors aren't allowed to write worlds together with a second author while still keeping both authors autonomous. BUT... Then there is another part of my brain, the rebellious part, that says I can do whatever I want as long as I write stories that other people (preferably LOTS of people because that would be totes cool) will want to read.

Do you want to be CONFUSED? I will attempt to draw a diagram...

YOU SEE... There is a reality sideways from ours and there are three worlds, Earth (also known as Jezkana), Gorsonian, and Galsha (which is Rosie's and I'm probably spelling it wrong). They look like this:

The Universe is Purple...

And They are all connected in a way that is hard to explain. It looks like this:

Underneath all of these worlds is a second world known as the Land of Faerie.

Think of it as like a parfait, with layers of worlds that go beyond space and time...

And connected to Faerie are three sub-worlds, home of Fairies, Pixies, and Elves...

There is one more thing you should know: Connected to the earth (as well as the other worlds) are hundreds of thousands of realities spreading out like a fan or like ripples in a pond...

The Spake reality is the closest one.

Not that it matters a whole lot...

And if ANY thread of reality should malfunction or get torn apart, because everything is connected, it will all circle out and destroy stinking EVERYTHING...

And that just makes my brain HURT. ALSO... It gives me an Insane number of ideas and makes me want to make giant posters to try and understand it better. Woo. So hard.

NOW... Hopefully I haven't CONFUSED YOU ENTIRELY. But I probably have. ALSO... Hopefully I haven't given too much away. BUT... I trust you guys and needed to tell SOMEONE. And you guys are someones.

SO.... Have you ever had a story idea EXPLODE and give you more story info then you really thought you needed to know?

Whoops... I Was Supposed to Blog About This Months Ago

2011-02-23T14:21:00.006-05:00

SOOOOOO... Something exciting happened to me last... November? I think it was. You see, I was at a birthday party talking to a friend when she asked if I could come and talk about Publishing at her Book Club.

I said something along the lines of: "Omgoodness... YES!" And looked something like this:

Only... I look a bit less Asian, because I am not really of that lovely ethnicity.

ANYWAY... So my friend said to bring the first chapter of the book I was telling her about (WhiteWashed) so I did. I showed up at her school and walked in to the Visitor booth thing and...

No one knew what I was talking about. What book club? What person are you talking about? We have no library? (Okay, that last one is a lie...)

AND I WAS FREAKING MY FACE OFF... Very quietly inside. Like a possum.

Possum!

But finally I was able to get where I needed to go and I answered some questions about publishing and writing and stuff and then I got to read the first bit of the first chapter of my book.

And...

It was insane. Because although some people obviously didn't care and were just like, whatever, it's some weird chick in an ugly shirt reading some boring story... BUT... There were others that were leaning forward and were listening and omgoodness... they LAUGHED at my jokes and actually thought I could be humorous. AND, some even looked disappointed when I stopped. It was crazy. The feeling was like DRUGS only worse and better and FREE and not illegal.

And I knew without a doubt that I want to do this FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.

And then, apparently, I will grow wings and become a bug.

BUT... I will be reading my stories to people who actually Like them and that is SO exciting it makes me want to go query RIGHT NOW.

Contest and Wombat!

2011-02-16T11:55:00.004-05:00

So the lovely Mia Hayson is having a contest and because I am Obsessed with Wombats (they are So Cute!) I decided to do something different to help spread the word about her contest...

WOMBAT!

I wrote on the back of a Wombat. In case you can't read it, it says to Enter Mia's Contest.

Yes. I have been sleep deprived lately, why do you ask?

An Old Love of My Life

2011-02-15T13:05:00.003-05:00

I was eight years old. I had recently written my Brave Girl Series (very lame, trust me) and I came across a picture I had drawn. (Thanks to this picture -->)

Inspiration struck (not unlike a hammer) and I started writing a story about two islands, a heroic girl, and one evil man.

Then I stopped. Probably had something to do with the fact that I moved from Virginia up to New York. Stories got boxed up and I moved on. Worked on Brave Girl Series again. Then there was the Underground (with plot inconsistencies that would take your breath away).

Later, when I was about seventeen and had recently finished the Novel of Magnitude (which needs more editing than a raw piece of chicken) I started typing again at that old story. Slashed the beginning. Expanded a scene. Added intrigue and mystery.

Then I hit a massive black wall. You see, I don't have Writer's Block. Sometimes there are pebbles or very small rocks. Sometimes there are caverns I cannot get to the back of, or canyons I cannot jump over quite yet. But this was a giant black wall that I could not climb. Having learned something about the writing process since I was eight I knew what I had to do. I set the story aside.

I even moved the story from my Serious Folder (the books I know I will finish) on my computer to my Idea folder. It felt like giving up, but I knew that one day - - One Day - - I would finish it.

Then a few days ago at dinner I finished eating my taco (so unrelated to my story. They don't have tacos in that world. They don't even have cows.) and quickly descended into Zombie Mode. I went downstairs and had to search desperately until I found it, buried within file folders (I have an obsession with file folders). I opened it up and read some to figure out where I was and I wrote, and I wrote.

The black wall was gone.

There is re-writing to be done. The Protagonist will probably have to be made younger, as it's more of a middle grade story than a young adult one (though it has some content, like people dying, that makes me uncertain). The beginning needs more work than a hurricaned beach house. My one character (Zing) desperately needs a new name. My eight year old self thought Zing was a great name, but my twenty-one year old self is not impressed.

I hope to finish at least the first draft of the story this year. I've been wanting to write a middle grade novel, and after reading a few dozen this past year I feel more confident in my ability.

It is so strangely peaceful to finally work on this book again. I have been waiting years and I cannot wait to see how it will finish out.

How 'bout you? Ever Re-Fallen in Love with a Story Idea? Ever had to take a break from a story, even if you Absolutely Loved it?

Books I Read in 2010 Part 2

2011-01-12T10:36:00.000-05:00

Here is the continuing tale of the books I read in 2010. If you missed it Here is the link to my first post. Enjoy!

Most Decidedly Definitely not a book I would normally pick up and read, because it was a little more feminist then I tend to lean. However, I saw it in the library and decided to give it a go. Very interesting stuff. I love reading about fairy tales and folklore, and this was a fascinating read that showed me some ideas that while I might not agree, it's nice now to know what people are talking about.

Why I Picked This Book: Another non-fiction book that I could actually finish. Also, another book that I read despite thinking I wouldn't like it. And I did. I learned a lot this past year that you can't judge a book by its cover, title, or possible content. Well, sometimes you can. But sometimes you can't. So sometimes you need to just give a book a chance and see what catagory it truly fits in.

I read this along with Sophocles threesome. I love Greek playwrights and historians and essayists. I have no idea why. But either way, I loved Aristophanes. Though the one play was highly inappropriate and might skip upon re-reading this: Aristophanes is hilarious.

Why I Picked This Book: Because most people do not count Aristophanes as one of their favorite writers. I think more people should.

Oh. My Goodness. I loved this book. I consider it Snikette-esque (a category in books that I use quite often, though I'm not sure if others do). I laughed aloud time and again.

Why I Chose This Book: I had never heard of J.T. Petty until I was in The Strand in the City with my friend Rose and she laughed. The book was The Hobgobline Proxy and the said, "Look! Hobgoblins!" because a few nights before my mum made a hobgoblin face and we started calling her that (with all the love in the world, I assure you). I read the entire book and then forgot about it. Months later I remembered I had read some book with hobgoblins and amazoned it. Fortunately, there are not a lot of books with the word hobgoblin in it and I was able to find it. And then I read pretty much everything he wrote. He's a funny guy and this may sound strange, but I liked seeing him grow as a writer. His first book, Clemency Pogue Fairy Killer was not as good as Scrivener Bees. Sometimes I read an author and there first book is insanely good, and then the next one doesn't quite match up. As a writer I hope that each book will be better than the last (well, or at least close to). This was strangely encouraging for me to see in real life.

My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison, Dear Anjali by Melissa Glenn Haber, Swan Maiden by Heather Tomlinson, and all of RL LaFevers books were another group I found through agent hunting. I loved them all in so many different ways. They were all wonderfully told stories, though told in significantly different ways.

Why I Chose Them: Again, by searching agents I found some incredible stories. Once I find an agent I will probably still research them in order to find groups of really good books.

I love Lane Smith. His artwork is so fantastic. I just love looking at his artwork. These two, though not written by him, were probably two of my favorite that were illustrated by

him. He helps write a blog about inappropriate books that's pretty interesting. Feel free to check it out Here. That's where I heard about It's a Book. So good, but yes, it is slightly inappropriate.

This book was one of those books that you read at just the right time in just the right moment. I was laughing my face off the entire time, but when my sister read it she found it just a tad too weird. So if you're a fan of weird: go ahead and read it. If you're not the biggest fan of weird: you can feel free to skip this one.

Why I Chose It: This was another one of those books I hadn't seen around anywhere and want more people to hear about it. Thus I have succeeded.

This book I read because of Blam's post over here: Braids of Glory.

Why I Chose This Book: I love books that introduce me, or draw me into, another culture. Although I was already aware of some Jewish sayings and bits of their culture (as my church has held a Passover meal two years in a row... Or the Seder meal? I'm not remembering exactly), it was fun to read something set in Jewish culture so I could learn a bit more and get more of a taste for their culture. Plus, the story is simply fantastic. A strong heroine, evil beasts, and knitting. What could be better?

Well, that's about all for this year. Eventually I will touch on a couple of the other books I read this year that include discussions that will take up more room and time. Thank you for reading! :) Feel free to let me know about any books you've read this past year!

Binge Reading and Bulimia

2011-01-11T01:04:00.010-05:00

I have a question for you. Do you binge read? I know I tend to. I will go for awhile without reading anything and then suddenly Ican'tstopreadingtosavemylifeandImustkeepreadingandth

erearetoomanybooksandwordswordsstinkingwords

I also do this with writing. You know, where you haven't written since November and suddenly you lock yourself in your room and start screaming about your characters?

Okay. Ahem. Maybe screaming isn't a normal part of the writing experience, but moving on.

It got me to thinking about bulimia. And no, I'm not going to make fun of bulimic people. I know it's a serious thing and I'm not trying to take away from that. However...

I have always thought about my writing experience as this:

1) Read a Thousand Books.

b) Spend two days-two weeks in shock.

3) Write a Book.

Or in pictures:

See the clown read...

Eat Clown, Eat!

Watch the Clown Vomit.

Clown just wrote a book!

Good job, Clown.

Basically, that is what I look like when I write my first drafts.

How 'bout you? *sits at computer and waits* *grabs chips* *waits*

Books I Read in 2010 Part 1

2011-01-10T14:46:00.012-05:00

As I read 149 books this year, (including picture books) I don't think I'll be able to go in depths with every single one of them, though I would like to. Instead, I'm going to focus on the main books that meant a lot to me this year. If you are truly interested in seeing Every Book I Read you can click on the link on the side (though I'll be changing it soon for this year's books) or find it Here. I have mini-mini-reviews on every book.

To begin with:

Not only was this book well-written, but it was humorous and the characters were fun to get to know. Patricia C. Wrede is fantastic. I don't know much about the second author (Carloline Stevermer) but her character was equally enjoyable.

Why I Picked This Book: It changed my life. I now have three (and kinda' a fourth) story that I am writing in the way they did. By exchanging letters back and forth. Even if these books never get published it is a fantastic way to write. It hones your skills, gives you an insane amount of thrilling expectation, and you have an opportunity to work with authors in a fantastically fun way. Which reminds me. I need to write my turn for three of them. *headdesk*

Why I Chose This Book: This book opened my mind to the possibility of Philology and Classical Studies, something I probably wouldn't have taken as seriously if I hadn't read this book. It was encouraging to me not just in that aspect, but also because it was a well-written non-fiction book that I could actually finish. This does not happen very often. This book also made me feel smart because there was a misprint saying that Hera was the goddess of love, when everyone knows it is truly Aphrodite. ;)

With this tale every chapter was from the perspective of a different character, with only a few chapters repeating a perspective. While this sounds like it could be annoying, it was done exceedingly well.

Why I Picked It: This story was so very different. I was simply researching Candlewick Publishing (in case I wanted to intern there) and I came across a book that I will always remember. It's not necessarily happy, but it's touching. Also, it reminded me that sometimes I need to read out of my comfort zone, because there are wonderfully good books that aren't necessarily hard-core fantasy. Boy did I learn that this year.

Matisse on the Loose by Georgia Bragg, Everything is Fine by Ann Dee Ellis, The Witch's Guide to Cooking With Children by Keith McGowan, were all books I stumbled across while agent hunting. I enjoyed all three of them immensely and am so glad I found them. I never would have if I hadn't been researching agents. I will love these books forever. Oh! And I found this particular batch of books in connection with Carrie Jones Need, another lovely book. (I am currently reading the third in the series, Entice.) I totally want to meet her some day.

Ahem. Anyway. I am being professional in this post so moving on...

This book is extremely weird and I will caution you with this: If you pick up this book you probably will question yourself about why in heaven's name are you reading it? It is not until the end of the first chapter that you will (quite possibly) scream "What?!" and continue on in fervor. Or the whole time you will repeat, "This is Weird, this is Weird," but will be unable to stop reading. Or you will hate it entirely. Either way, this book was so much fun. One I would definitely read again.

Why This Book: This, among others (such as Whales on Stilts by M.T. Anderson, Poltergoose by Michael Lawrence, and Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell) reminded me that you can write a book with silly, sometimes nearly unbelievable characters, and still have a good book that people will read and love.

If you knew anything about certain books of mine, you would understand how reassuring this is for me.

I picked up Crank in the middle of the YA section in Borders and sat down, read the entire thing, and cried. So different from what I normally read. This and Speak by Laurie Halse Paulsen has inspired me to write WYC, an almost non-fantasy book dealing with issues I've always thought should be touched upon, but haven't had a book I could do it in. (This is the book that nearly drove me suicidal by empathizing too much with my character). It is not a book to be quickly forgotten, I can tell you that.

First of all: I love Shaun Tan.

Second of all: This book is genius. It's a visual text that tells a story with no words. Something that is so very difficult to do. But SHaun Tan does it masterfully. And the artwork is magnificent. I wanted to just stare at the pictures all day, they were so complex.

Third of All: This book (and Varmints by Hellen Ward and Marc Craste) were among the first that I read that use pictures in large part to tell the story. I love when this idea is used to its full affect. When art and words go hand in hand seamlessly to tell a story. I think sometimes the idea of mixing the two art-forms is poo-pooed or looked down upon. I do not think it should be at all.

I had read a review about this book on someone's blog at some point or another (don't remember who or when or what) and they said they loved it, and was gushing over it. For whatever reason I was not convinced. I don't know why, but I wasn't. I was sure I hated the book and would never read it. In order to prove myself correct of this I picked it up in Borders to read the first paragraph.

Why I Chose This Book: I did not hate it. I sat down in the back and read it all and am desperate to own it. This book blew my mind. It was so well told. The characters were real. The plot was one that I should've guessed, but didn't. I will love this story forever. It is one I am planning on reading a second time, because I know I will get more out of it the second time round, which is not a common thing.

It appears I still have about seven other books I want to talk about, so I will end this post here and continue on later.

Do any of you have books that meant a lot to you this past year? What were some of them? Why did you love them? I would love to know!

The 37 Things I Learned This Year

2010-12-31T00:00:00.000-05:00

As it is the End of December/Beginning of January I am going to become reflective and think about what I learned this year, though generally I leave reflecting to the mirrors and ponds of the world.

1) Putting things like metal into your mouth is bad for your teeth. You can supposedly chip your teeth this way. Who knew?

2) Just because a musical has puppets in it does not mean it is appropriate for children.

3) If you are on vacation you will most likely get sick.

4) When you slide on ice and tap the back of a large pick-up truck and they say "that's alright" what they really mean is "In three months I'm going to call your insurance and try to blame you for a totally unrelated incident."

5) Sometimes cautious drivers will stop at a yield sign even if no cars are coming. Especially if they are foreign and do not know the difference between a stop and yield sign.

6) When you hit the back of a car that has stopped at a yield sign even though no cars are coming, it is quite possible that awful green liquid will ooze out of your car. And you will cry.

7) No matter how much you love your Nissan Maxima, it will not magically reappear in your driveway.

8) No matter how much you love the truck you're borrowing from a friend they will not hand it over. Even i f you bake them brownies. Or write a love song to the Nissans you adore.

9) Writing a book in 8 days will turn you into a Zombie.

10) Trying to accomplish NaNo after spending 8 days writing a novel is not a good idea.

11) Just because there are exploding wardrobes in your novel does not mean that you will be able to finish said novel in 30 days. Sadly.

12) An all girl's college is very weird. And not necessarily in a bad way.

13) Never transfer from a place that will hold your transcripts hostage.

14) Be careful while writing. Do not empath too much with a suicidal character. Or a character obsessed with shoes. Bad things can happen.

15) Bloggy friends are Amazing. Never lose them for they will keep you sane.

16) Summaries aren't as hard to write as you thought they were.

17) Do not tell people your car exploded in the middle of the highway. It does not go over well.

18) Even if you work in a store clearly marked "Calendar Store" customers will still ask for things that have nothing to do with calendars. Like asking for fish food.

19) Researching agents can lead you to discover some really wonderful books that you might not have read otherwise.

20) If you go to the library multiple times a week the librarians will start knowing you by name. This is not a a bad thing.

21) The insanity of writing is cantagious. You may or may not cause others to start hearing character voices and you may or may not cause certain parents to worry for their children's sanity.

22) Do no talk to your characeters out loud while at work, even if it is late and no customers are around.

23) Age doesn't matter as much as people think it does.

24) Sometimes you have to actually study what you're learning in class. It does not magically enter your brain through some sort of Learning Portal.

25) Polaris is the most Amazing Convention Ever!

26) BEA is also up there on the E.o.M

27) Spakes are a whole lot more complex then you thought they would be.

28) Sometimes, even if you only have one chapter left a novel will not let you end it. This can be an okay thing.

29) Some bosses are better than others. Some should be avoided, some should not.

30) Catholics can be pretty cool people.

31) Some jobs are worth fighting for, some are not. Sometimes you will not be sure which truth applies to the situation.

32) If you leave coats/notebooks/Bibles lying around at some church buildings they will disappear and you will never see them again. This will very likely sadden and frustrate you.

33) Having an organ-obsessed brother can be a good thing, and can even produce some pretty darn good music.

34) Aristophanes is one funny guy, and Aeschylus has some really Spake-appropriate quotes.

35) You cannot go to college for anything cool until you do graduate work. This is unfair.

36) There are times that it is perfectly acceptable to go into the city to meet people you've met online. As long as your parents know about it and you go in pairs.

37) Sometimes you will write blog posts that are not your best work, but people will read them anyway because they care about you and it will blow your mind.

Stranger Than Fiction Blogfest!

2010-12-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

So Lindsey (aka DWAP) and Vic (aka aspiring_x) had a Stranger than Fiction Blogfest/Contest that was Super Fun! As it is the 22nd I'm posting my entry which will be found below:

Broken Things

“Hurry!” I hissed. Rose gagged on a plant she had somehow almost swallowed (that girl is talented) and stumbled over to me. We both ducked under the sign that we wouldn’t read because then we could honestly say we hadn’t read the sign. It was a tactic my younger brother had taught me. I probably shouldn’t listen to my brother, since he falls off of roofs and swallows handfuls of gummy bears whole just for fun. But my brother wasn’t what I was thinking about. I was thinking about the old abandoned building I was sneaking into.

Rose and I stop inside and stare. We had both dreamed about this day. It was a building we had written stories about, had wondered about, had done research on. There is a feeling of awe we both feel, standing there with broken glass under our feet, bits of boards stacked up nearby.

Carefully, cautiously, we walk forward, through each room. We wonder about the stories each room contains. We run our fingers along the cracked green paint and step around the peeling grey tile.

In one room there is an ugly grey desk and an old record player. There’s a sign for the missing pool table. Rose wonders aloud, “Why was the pool table taken, but not this,” and places a finger on the record player. I shake my head. “Why did they take all of the curtains except that last one?” I point to the single fluttering yellow curtain. It is a strange thing. I never know who decides what is taken, what is left behind. We go upstairs and stare at the abandoned library. Books are scattered over the floor like a thousand lost souls. I turn away and don’t know whether I’m going to cry or throw up. It is just… wrong.

Rose tilts her head and whispers, “I’m far away from home…” The others who come here have spray painted words along the halls because they don’t understand the hollowed nature of abandoned buildings. They just feel the hollowness, I guess. But that one sentence is different, holds sadness in every stroke. It’s home here in this broken place.

At one of the other staircases Rose squats down and flips through the pages of an old Bible. There are pages missing, notes and cross-references scrawled in fading grey pencil. Rose reads the notes out loud as I sit on the bottom step and drag my toe through the debris of papers and disemboweled books. I imagine that each paper is a part of someone’s life; a part that they lost and can never get back.

“Why was this left here?” Rose asks, her voice breaking, but I shake my head. I don’t know why. I don’t know why anything was abandoned here with this building. “Come on,” I whisper. “It’s time to go.”

Before we leave, though, we stop in one last room downstairs. There’s an altar to the left. Bits of marble and plaster have crumbled and fallen. Blue tiles with golden scrollwork have sighed and given up. They lie on the ground, an unfinished mosaic. I imagine rows of boys kneeling on the ground, praying, and singing and filling the room with the music of being alive. I imagine the priest up at the front holding his hands up toward the sky-painted squares of ceiling. I wonder what words were spoken. Stepping carefully Rose and I walk over to the room behind the altar. Everywhere I see words and thoughts pressed against the walls, in between the cracks of missing mortar.

“I wish the walls could talk,” Rose whispers and I wonder if we’re thinking the same thing. We do that sometimes. As if we were twins in another reality, and this reality messed that up, putting us in different families, in different times. But here, in this broken down building, age and family and differences don’t matter. There are just the echoes of a dying place that used to be a home.

We leave, making sure we’re alone first, that no one is waiting outside as they walk their dogs or make out in the square of green grass. No on is there and we run to the side, push through the broken metal wall that separates the world from this broken place. They say it’s not safe. Of course not. Broken things are never safe.

We walked back to the car then, occasionally glancing back at the building that we will always love. We’ve seen its heart, we’ve seen its soul, and now it’s time to go home.

Have a great weeks guys! And if I don't post before then, Merry Christmas!! Ohmygoodness... This year went by Way Too Fast. Have a lovely day my LamNams, and if you're interested, I believe on one of the two ladies' blog there should be a linkydink for anyone else involved in this blogfest/contest. I really have no idea because I'm writing this entry early since I will have No Time tomorrow (which is now today). Anyway! :D

2010: A Study in Cars

2010-12-16T11:02:00.010-05:00

My sis brought to my attention the other day a strange consistency when it has come to my Car Problems this year. I found it mildly disturbing and thought I would share it with you. Shall we take a gander through this past year?

1. The year began with my beautiful, beautiful, Nissan Maxima that I will love forever. I drove it from January on through April, until I hit the back of a White Suburban, which happened to be on the very last day of Finals. This is what my car looked like as I said good-bye:

All smooshed ;*(

That same month I left the Christian Bookstore and started my new job at the Playhouse.

2. As I looked around for a new car friends of our family let us borrow their beautiful, beautiful, Frontier Nissan.

This Truck will be immortalized in the Spake Stories

A week before leaving the Playhouse I was finally able to find a new car.

3. An ugly colored Chrysler Malibu... It used to look something like this:

We didn't even have time to become friends... *sniff sniff*

This is all that remains:

Tires!

I had stopped being jobless and had just gotten a job at Borders with the sis. I was driving down the highway going a little over 65 and suddenly I was going 55. And not accelerating. I made it over to the side of the road no problem. The tow truck guy came (Yay triple A) and took me to the Family Mechanic Man. Where we found out a very tiny explosion happened in the engine because of the stupid transmisison or whatever. For some reason when I say, "My car exploded!" and then show them that only the tires remain, they tend to freak out. So don't freak out. The explosion was tiny and contained in the engine. More boring but... Whatever.

4. Present Day Subaru:

The Family Mechanic Man has a man who works for him that sold me this for a Very Good Deal. I didn't think I'd be able to buy people presents at first (never buy a car in December) but because I've been working nearly 40 hours at the New Job I've been able to be alright.

Car!

Rebecca says that now I can never quit Borders, or my car will die. Ha. Ha. I hope not. Still, I'm planning on staying at Borders as long as I can. Just in case.

And... In case you want to torture yourself here is a Very Poorly Done video of a song I wrote for my Nissan. Very low tech, trust me. You don't have to watch it. I won't be offended. I was just feeling out of touch with reality this morning and decided to upload it to YouTube.

How 'bout you, my LamNams? Did you have any odd trends this year? Did you ever have a car or large kitchen appliance die a few weeks before Christmas? Hope y'all are ready for Christmas! Woo!

Greek Mythology

2010-12-02T11:03:00.004-05:00

Now, before I say anything I want it to be clear that I like Greek Mythology. I have enjoyed it on numerous occasions. I have even read the famous D'Aulaires book. (Once when I was young and

hated it and thought it was Pure Evil, a second time when I was a little bit older and understood its historically and literary value.) I've read re-tellings of Greek Myths. For example, Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books and Emily Whitman's Radiant Darkness.

But sometimes I think Greek Myths are Way Too Popular. I've been reading this Ancient, Ancient, school book called Myths and Their Meanings, by Max J. Herzberg which was published in 1928 and is So Old I cannot find and ISBN #for it. It's an interesting enough book, but what bothers me is that the first 353 pages is all about Greek Myths. Nordic Myth is lumped in with the Celts for the rest of the book which is under 100 pages long! And there is no mention of Egyptian Mythology at all, and by this time in history people were aware of the Rosetta Stone and there were Egyptologists running about. Suffice it to say, I found it just a little bit disturbing.

Fortunately, it's been a good amount of time since 1928. There have been re-tellings of the Swan Maiden folktale, which is thought to be North-Eurasian as far as I can find. RL LaFevers has used Egyptian Mythology, and so did Rick Riordan in his newer book series the Kane Chronicles. The Nordic Myths seem to be not quite as popular, though I believe a certain blogger is trying to rectify that. (Ohmygoodness. I know she exists. I feel terrible. I have looked for her on twitter, on Google Reader, I have Googled her. I even looked on CafePress and I cannot remember what her blog is and I'm not sure of her name and I don't want to say the wrong thing. I feel so Terrible. But she does exist. I know she does.) D'Aulaires even put out a Norse Myth book as well, which is Very Exciting.

Still, there are certain Mythologies that still tend to be skipped over. Like Sumerian. There is a vast amount of myths in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean culture that is not seen as often. I'm sure there are others that I'm completely forgetting about, but you get the point.

And I do understand that Greek Mythology was adopted by the Romans who ruled the so-called World. I do know that it was considered a normal part of a high education to learn Greek so people could read Homer and the like. Even know you can go to many colleges and be able to take Greek. Not so much Ancient Egyptian. I was blessed to go to a college where I could take a semester of Akkadian, but that doesn't happen very often. Greek Myths are still more widely accessible than most other stories. (I am excluding European folk tales for now, because there is a certain distinction between Myth and Folk tale, according to some.)

I'm hoping this changes, and continues to change. I think it would be fantastic if more colleges offered special classes in Akkadian, or Egyptian, or whatever. I do think that even with the Paranormal shift in YA literature, looked over myths will start to be tapped into. Maybe even because of the shift in YA. (Can Greek and paranormal inter-mix? That would be interesting. Or even a Greek steampunk? Ahem. Anyway. Moving on.)

How about you? Any thoughts on the subject? I'd love to hear what you think. :)

Reasons I Failed at NaNo 2010

2010-12-01T19:11:00.006-05:00

Yes. I completely and totally failed.

My First Novel clocked in somewhere at 6,ooo words. Then I stopped, despite the exploding wardrobes.

My Second Novel edged in with 6,5oo words and then that sputtered and died. A bunch of you guys ended up popping up in my novel, which was fine at first. There was Mia (with unknown powers), Mercedes and Simon (these two as Vampires), Wolfie402 (as a werewolf), Laura Marcella (who is a mystery), and the list just kept on growing. But after I had Evil Blam show up with a Zombie Joan Crawford, I just couldn't take the story Seriously anymore and I had to stop before I started losing my very own sanity. I have very little sanity left. I need all the sanity I can hold onto.

This is what I look like on a good day

Thus the Third Novel was picked up. It was inspired by Ellen Hopkins and Laurie Halse Anderson. As you may imagine, it is not exactly a Fun book to write. There is a whole lot of Emotional Trauma. It deals with rape, suicide, cutting... All sorts of stuff. The one girl I found myself empathizing with... Well. I was thinking a little bit Too Much like her. When I started feeling suicidal I decided it would be healthy to take a week or so off from writing it. I started again a couple of days ago and am doing Fine now, but I seriously needed that time off.

So I didn't win this year. But I think that's okay, because I did write some stuff I probably wouldn't've otherwise.

SO...

Congratulations to everyone who Finished NaNo! And Congrats to those who tried, even if they weren't able to finish.

Here's Cake:

It's Pretty!

Have a great day me LamNams! :) Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving (for those of you here in the States) for the rest of you I hope you had a Wonderful day toooo.... YAY!

I'm Back! I... Think.

2010-11-24T12:41:00.005-05:00

So I'm pretty sure I'm over my: "Blogging is stupid" as my mindset has been lately. Even though I don't really believe that... But anyway. I do have an Exciting Story to tell at a later date, hopefully sooner rather than later, but until then I have a question to ask.

I really, Really, REALLY, want to query this agent-man. But I want my query/synopsis to be the best, Best, BEST that it can be. I was whiny this morning (because I always whine in the mornings. Mornings should not be allowed to exist. Except. That would probably mess up the tides. And for most people 12:30 is not the Morning. Anyhow.) and my sis, Rebecca, said: "Why don't you ask your LamNams for help? I'm sure someone would be willing to help you out." So this is a cry for help. If Anyone is willing to read either my query letter, or synopsis, or both, you can e-mail me at achinghope(at)gmail(dot)com. And if Any of you have a query letter and/or snyopsis or whatever, and you need help with getting someone else's perspective, let me know. I would love to help you guys. I mean, you guys have been so Awesome and supportive of me. (Sometimes, I'm not sure why.) And I know I haven't been around lately so it seems really selfish to me to ask this of you guys, but my goal was to query this agent-man before the end of the year... And it's pretty much December. So...

Anyway. That's my plea.

And for all my lovely LamNams:

COOKIES! :D

And though my smile will not be like that, because it's Creepy, I will be smiling regardless, because you guys are Amazing.

Just a Warning

2010-11-09T16:38:00.004-05:00

For whatever reason, this month I have been entirely Anti-Blogging. I have no idea. Probably because of NaNoWriMo... I'm not sure. Either way, I want to warn you guys that I won't be around for probably about a month... Even though I have a list of you guys that I want to read your blogs and stuff, but every time I try I decide to write or stare off into space, or go eat breaded cheese sticks.

Mmmmm...

Eventually I will be back though... Like I said, it's probably just being in the NaNoWriMo mindset, where nothing matters but to Write, Write Write. I hope y'all are having a good month and for those of you writing (whether for NaNo or just for yourselves) I wish you um... not luck because that's not awesome enough.

Yes. I wish you the power of Mythological Creatures. Or something like that. ANYWAY... Fare thee well, my LamNams.

NaNo Update...

2010-11-03T16:17:00.005-04:00

With the help of Twitter and my Twitter friends on there, I was able to convince my friend, H.M. Komorowski, to write my NaNo novel for me. Finally I convinced him, considering the idea included exploding wardrobes and creepy forests. I was very happy to sit back and watch him write until this morning.

As I may have mentioned before, a whole LOT of my ideas come from dreams.

I am the cat, and the ambiguous 'Z' is a story idea

Thus I woke up with a Serious Problem. I had two ideas to pursue for this month. And I like them both. And I'm having trouble writing either one. This is why I decided it is NOT a good idea to finish writing a novel the eight days before NaNoWriMo. Just NOT a good idea. *shakes head*

Now I must decide what to do... Exploding Wardrobes or an Excess of Sugary Cereals? The choice is just so difficult.

Am I the only one who finds this picture Disturbing??

Anyway. That's where I am right now. ALSO, in an hour I have to run to my new job and try not to DIE. I haven't worked for two months. It will be Weird. Definitely Daunting.

NaNo Now!... Well... Almost

2010-10-31T17:51:00.002-04:00

Like some other bloggy people I too am going to be doing NaNoWriMo this year. Unlike some other bloggy people, I still have No Idea what to write. I'm guessing I'll figure it out, just picking something randomly when the time comes. What'll be interesting is on November 1 I'm going to be taking a trip down to VA in order to visit a Secret College, so my first two writing days will be full of Driving Long Distances. Hopefully I'll be able to get home early enough on Tuesday that not too much time will be lost. Ah well. I'll have enough days to make up for it, hopefully.

BUT...

Last year I was going to do a Videcumentary because I knew some people had done such a thing before. But I didn't because I was in school, had a job, and was writing a novel. Plus other things I'm sure. Anyway. This year I will attempt to make some vlogs, and I'm warning you they will be very Boring. I'm trying to think of a way to Spice it up, so if anybody has any ideas, feel free to advise me. No idea is too stupid. Wait. I take it back. Some ideas are way beyond stupid. But. Anyway.

Right now it WILL NOT LOAD... But as soon as I can get it to load, I totally will.

And that's about all, my bloggy lamnams! Oh... By the way... Thank you for all your encouragement! I did finish WhiteWashed and am now Editing it. So Exciting! :D

Almost There

2010-10-21T17:51:00.005-04:00

It is very strange. There is a certain story I am working on called WhiteWashed. I have not told you about it yet because this is the story behind it:

One day on the way to watch fireworks at a Secret Undisclosed Place I wrote a page or two that i considered to be about Cinderella's side-kick. I thought, la de da de da. It would be fun to finish this one day.

The aforementioned one day happened when I was going through all my notebooks and typing bits and pieces into Glom (my laptop) when I came across Cinerella's Side-Kick.

20,000 words later I stopped typing and realized that it was much darker outside. It was very weird. So I saved the document after hemming and hawing over what to wall it. You see, I almost never get past 8 pages without knowing what to call it. I had gotten to like, 20, and still had No Idea. It was very disturbing. Finally I settled on WhiteWashed and had no idea how the name of the book would tie in with the actual book. That was Not Good.

A month or so later brought around the month of October. I was determined to finish one more book this year besides my NaNo one (more on that in a later Blog) because of a Decision that I made at the beginning of this year to write a novel every month. I failed after the Thanet's Curse fiasco (still haven't finished that). So last week or so I started typing away and wrote about 4,000 more words. Then I knew I was going to get a job soon and started write All Day. I hit 9,000 in one day and went to sleep with my eyes feeling Dead.

Now I'm at 58,000 words and I don't know what to do. I haven't even gotten used to the idea of Writing this story and it's already finishing up. I mean, I love that. Somehow the title of the book ties in wonderfully and there are more psychos in one book then I ever thought I'd have (well, other than the story about the Psycho Place, but that doesn't count). Oh. And she's not really Cinderella's side-kick. Cinderella ended up with a slightly different name and is not important, I am so glad. I did end up with a bunch of mythological creatures and the most popular 'The Ooze.' Who does not look like this:

I almost want to buy one of these...

The good news is that editing will be Fun because the story is still like new to me.

Does anyone else have Surprise stories that snuck up on you when you weren't looking?

A Really, Really Long Time Ago

2010-10-15T18:37:00.011-04:00

When I was younger I used to write stories and give them to my parents. Sometimes I freaked them out (Do Not write stories about parents abusing their children and then give said story to parents).

You see, we used to live in VA and we knew the Dude who was running for Governor and got all sorts of Free Paper from him that had fancy holes in the side. Perfect! And why was this perfect?Because yarn fit into these holes so easily. See?

Because of how Ridiculous this story was, I knew I had to share it with you all. I kept all of the original terrible spelling because I believe that sometimes children understand spelling better than the English language.

Here is "The Best Friends" as told by my past self. I like to call her Pasomi. Notes by my present self are in Blue, because Blue is Pretty.

Wonc apan [I know I'm trying to say once upon, but all I can think of is wonking pans] a time ther was a littel boy. He was very rood. And in thet Land far away ther was a Littel Girl [I love how she gets capitalized, but the boy doesn't]. She was very pliat [*cough* Polite is a hard word to spell] She and the boy war Prins and Prinses. Won day the dad said thet The Prinses shood have a freind but the Princ was the only one. the Parints war sad.

"We have to trie," said the dad.

"Do we have to?"

"Yes we do."

The next day they drot [meaning brought. I got d's and b's confused All the Time] the Prinses to the casil but she did not like it very much. Wen thay got ther the Prince did not Like it ether. Thay had to play together.

"Yuk," said the boy.

"Yuk indeed," [Favorite Line!] said the girl.

"Do we have to?"

"Yes you do."

"Please can I go and play somethen els?"

"No, you must play whith hir."

After a wile thay war best frainds and they married and had lots of boys and Gils [I think I meant girls, unless the girl was really a fish] and got a cat and a dog and lived hapily ever The End.

I can't help but be reminded of the Swan Princess. Prince and Princess not liking each other? Being forced to play? Weird.

And there is something seriously wrong if the Only Person in the World that she can be friends with is this boy. Where are all the other children? No wonder they had lots of babies. They're trying to re-populate their world, duh. *rolls eyes*

New Ideas and Stuff Like That

2010-10-08T13:54:00.005-04:00

SO...

My job recently ended, since it was only a summer job. Now, for most people this wouldn't be the end of the world, but when I'm not in college (which I'm not because of issues with money and stuff) and don't have a job I Shut Down. I have no idea why. It's stupidness incarcerated. Wait. Incarnate. Something like that.

You are silly, and for that crime you will be Imprisoned Forever!!

BUT... In the mean time I have had some time to look over story stuff and figure out some pretty excited Plotness...

1) For Pixie Princess:

I wrote a story about a girl who lives with Dwarves, for the purpose of writing about Dwarves. (And don't you dare steal this idea, because I love my little Dwarves. They are so crazy interesting! Ahem. Anyway. None of my LamNams are thieves as far as I know, so I'm not really worried.)

This is the face of someone who's not worried.

No.

I'm serious.

Google says so, and Google never lies.

Anyway! When the story was just getting interesting I kick the main character out of the Dwarf-Land and make her go away. That's Stupid! So I decided I shouldn't do such a ridiculous thing. Which means I have to write like, a whole bunch. I'll probably end up doubling it in size. Which is good, because it was too short. But it's a little bit sad, because I thought I was Done, and it's in my Done folder, and now it's not. Fortunately, I love the story so it's not that big of a deal. Plus, it will make the whole idea So Much Better! Which is good.

Good - Like the Good Stuff

2) My friend is editing my book and got me back notes for the first 8 pages and I added another 1200 words or so, because I needed to add in a couple more scenes with Scotch at school. Plus, I might've killed someone. (Oh, yes. I was telling someone that and said "If you have a problem, just kill someone," and realized I forgot to qualify that statement. Only kill people if they're Not Real). It was all very exciting! And I think my story is so much better now. :) Yay!

And...

I Have Banned Myself From the Library

2010-10-04T18:49:00.001-04:00

No.

Seriously.

I have decided that I will finish up the books I have now and then give them to my mum to return. I will not step foot inside that addictive place. I mean, what alcoholic would condone going into a liquor store? Well. An addicted one I suppose. So... Being addicted to books I shouldn't condone going to the library, right? Right?

Pfffffffft....

Like that would ever work.

But I should probably consider, considering my TBR pile (ha! I love how writer's have their own lingo-anagram things. wip, mc, tbr, etc.) is 66books, and that doesn't include the 12 or more that I'm reading right now, or the books that have gotten shoved around and under things because I have no room on my shelves, and I don't even know how many books of Rebecca's I have yet to read that I want to...

Thus my banning from libraries. And I'm not allowed on Amazon until I have a job. And I can only go to Borders if I'm asking for a job. Fortunately, there are no more bookstores around, so I don't have to ban myself from any other place.

So...

How 'bout you? Is your TBR pile as bad as mine? Or worse? Have you had to ban yourself from any places? Maybe we should start a Book Buyers Anonymous? I've started to have to chant to myself, "Don't buy books, don't buy books," whenever I pass them in stores.

An old pic of my books.

It's become worse. Much worse.

Winners: But Wait! There's More!

2010-09-25T12:03:00.005-04:00

So... A little while ago I had a contest, and Rebecca had a contest, and both drawings were Completely blind drawings and somehow Hannah/Palindrome won Both Contests. Which I laughed about pretty hard. But I didn't want any of you to feel Cheated, and I was having so much fun making mini-pillows (which, I thought about posting a pic, but I want the pillows to be a surprise for the winners... Like Christmas! Only, the person giving you the gift has never really met you before, and they kinda' stalk you, and it's a little bit more awkward and stuff. But like Christmas. If you have a demented family. Anyway.)

Where was I?

Oh yeah! So I decided to draw another name! and give more prizes. So one person will win...

The Infamous Be Happy Book, a pillow, a packet of Herbs, and the Spoon in the Bathroom Wall, because I really loved that story. And even if you don't like the story, Brett Helquist did the artwork for the cover, and who doesn't like Brett Helquist? Ahem. Anyhow.

So the winner, without further ado, is...

A person...

With a face...

And a hat...

And they have a dog...

And they have a name...

And their name is...

Falen/Sarah!

YAY!!! :D

And I'll have to have another contest sometime, because I did have fun making pillows. Even if they are crooked. And not really professional looking. They are cute. Um. Wait. That sounds self-absorbed. Um. Okay. I'm leaving now. Bye! :D

P.S. Dude! By the way, how is everybody doing? I feel like I haven't been around in Seventeen Years. How's your life and stuff???

And here's a picture: (because I like pictures)

Have a Wonderful Weekend!!

Spake Update

2010-09-12T16:07:00.002-04:00

As someone of you know I have a slight obsession with Spakes.

For those of you who don't know, well, now you pretty much do.

What is a Spake? You might ask. Most simply put a Spake is:

"A mythologically real creature that stalks Innocents and feeds off of their soul essence."

I've been keeping it hush, hush for a Long time, because I'm afraid of someone stealing my babies, but at this point the Spakes have exploded so much, I don't think anyone Could steal them without me pointing to all sorts of Evidence that I created them. I mean, their voices are on my head for Pete's sake. Ahem. Though, who Pete is I don't know and I'm not crazy, I swear. Or I am, but I believe that's a necessity for being a writer at least 63% of the time.

But beyond my insanity there is a reason I'm telling you all of this. I want you to know that now you can become a Fan of Spakes on Facebook --> CLICK ON THIS!

And if you don't have a Facebook ignore that and know that you can also follow Spakes on Twitter! Hey, if they're going to follow you, you might as well follow them, right? --> CLICK ON THIS!

And if you don't have either a Facebook or a Twitter don't worry. I'm working on a website thingy. It's not going to be complete real, with my own domain name or anything. It's just for fun and for me to play around with stuff.

Okay.

Fine.

It's already up, but I'm still working on it. It was so much fun to put together, and if any of you go over and look at it and have any questions, or hate it, or anything, feel free to let me know. There's an easy-peasy link over there that you can e-mail me on and everything. --> CLICK HERE!

YAY! :D There's even Explosions! Well... Kinda'...

This reminds me of Spakes *sigh*

WINNERS!

2010-09-10T14:10:00.001-04:00

The Super Sister Contest is now officially over and the winners have been drawn over at Rebecca's and over Here for the writing contest. And now I'll let you know what the winners were for the Contest here.

At first I was going to do something Spectacular! and Wonderful! and Amazing! but I started writing and didn't stop 'til three in the morning, and started up again yesterday and then got distracted and.... Suffice it to say, nothing happened. So I used the Convenient random.org

And guess what???? There are Winners now!! Yay!

Aw, isn't he cute and excited??

The Two Winners of the Chocolate Book, the Be Happy book, a packet of Herbs, and their very own mini-pillow are...

Wait for it.

Kaitlyn from Kaitlyn in Bookland

and

Hannah from Musings of a Palindrome

Woo-Hoo!!!!

This is Hairy.

He's very excited that you won.

And the Winner of a signed Karin Slaughter book and the owl key holder is...

aLmYbNeNr whose musings can be found Here

Despite being creepy, this dude is happy that you won

And that's Everything!

Thank y'all for entering!! Your packages will be mailed shortly.

Mockingjay: Nothing to Mock About

2010-09-02T20:48:00.004-04:00

WARNING!!!! If you have not read the book yet, you probably don't want to read this because it is spoilery!!! Also, I warn that I wrote this right after reading the book, so it's probably emotionally jumbled... But it's pretty much exactly how the book made me feel, so... Here you go:

In one word: Devastating.

Now, I've heard from some people that they thought Mockingjay was too dark, and too bloody and um... Did you read the first two? It's a bloody story. It's a horrific story. As I said above, it was emotionally (and in my case) physically devastating. I can't explain to you how much I want to throw up and curl up into a ball and weep and retch. Mostly, because I don't think any of you want me to explain that to you.

Now, I don't like watching documentaries of war, I don't like watching war reenactments, but I've seen them. And when Collins was describing, toward the end of the book, the rush of the Rebels, the Peacekeepers, the innocents, all tangled in a mess of shooting and death... I wasn't thinking of Panem. I saw flashes of World War II, I saw the concentration camps, I saw every war that the stupid Human race has ever gone through...

I don't watch the news, I don't read the newspapers, I don't listen to the radio. Why? I can't deal with real life stuff, because I can't stop war, I can't stop people from dying, I can't do anything from my home here. But I can read about Panem, and I can read about their rebellion and I can retch and cry over them... And I wonder why that is.

Sitting here I'm tapping on a computer, a laptop, one that I own. My sister owns two laptops, my dad has one, my brother has one, plus we have two other computers. I'm listening to my sister douse herself in water, taking a shower- while people die everywhere because they don't have clean water. It made me see my life in a way I never, ever, wanted to see it. If my world were the same as the world that Collins describes, I would not be one of the districts. I would be part of the Capitol. Sure, I feel bad about stuff, but I'm okay staying where it's safe, and cold, and boring.

And that's the thing about books, about stories, about literature. It takes our world, re-names it, re-labels it, and shoves you inside to live in it. Really live in it. And it can either unaffect you, leaves you able to go back to life unchanged. Or a story can make you think, stays on the surface of your skin, but it fades after a few days. Or a story can completely ruin you, devastate you, cause you to fall flat on your butt and really look at life and ask 'Why?'

Another thing I did not expect from this book was the fact that it made me jealous. Yeah, go figure. But you see, Katniss lives in a world where it has already happened. The Capitol already took over, District 13 already rebelled... But I'm living in a world where that could easily happen, and there's nothing I can do to stop it. As far as I know, my children could live in a world very similar to that, and there's very, very little I can do about it. It reminds me of a quote I heard from someone around the blogosphere that I am not going to quote right, but he was saying that dystopian fiction is getting big right now not because it's a future that might happen sometime, but because it's a future that could be theirs.

So instead of being completely depressed (though, I still will be emotionally wrecked tomorrow, which is wonderful since I have to go to work), shouldn't I let this Story remind me to be careful about life? I still have my sister, I still have my family. I don't have to be psychologically ruined and scarred for life. I can still find a way to live my life with Meaning.

Katniss and Peeta, though severely mangled in so many ways, were still able to have some sort of decent life. And that's the thing. This story is not completely depressing, there is that ever-present light of hope.

It reminds me of the power of words, and I can only hope that one day I can do justice to that Power.

And though some would disagree with me, looking at the world through the eyes of Mockingjay, it leaves me ever more grateful that I'm not in control of the world. 'Cause even if sometimes God confuses my brain out, I still know He's in control, and I know He can use things like this book to wake me up and get me moving again.

Yup. Those are my rambly thoughts. Thanks for listening to me rant *smiles and nods off to sleep*

Fairytales and Contests

2010-08-30T11:00:00.004-04:00

So I am doing this blogfest/contest that Miss Emily is doing over here and it is Fantasticlly so much fun. There's not much time left since it is due today, but if you have time run around and write something.

You had to take a fairytale story (one that people could recognize) and twist it and put it into a different genre. This is mine:

RoseAutumn and the Hundred Years Sleep

This pic found here

The ship shrieked silently across the void of space. Within this heap of steel and plastic a girl named RoseAutumn stumbled over to the plexi-glass stasis pod. She fumbled with the controls to close herself in, watching as the metal around her blazed into roaring flame. The gas erupted, pushing the girl’s mind to sleep so that she never felt the impact, never felt the crash or heard the grinding, shredding metal.

Meanwhile, on the planet below, a Queen watched the burning flesh of metal scream from the sky and tumble among her trees and bushes. Without hesitation she slithered a feline body through the smoldering wreck and set a taloned hand on the plexi-glass that had managed to stay intact and keep RoseAutumn safe. “You are mine,” the Queen said.

For one hundred years the Queen let her forest writhe and twine itself around the foreign ship. The Queen gave of her very own life and breath to feed the girl, though how this was accomplished none have dared to ask or seek out answer. For many more years this may have continued on to eternity had it not been for one fate-filled day.

A Prince from a neighboring region ventured near the place and heard tell of the Sleeping Girl from the birds and creatures that dwelt there. And lo, the Prince forged into the forest and made war against the Queen, hacking through vine and living bramble. The Queen stayed hidden, using her powers to move rock and tree, doing all she could to kill the Prince.

After many days and night of such fighting the Prince made his way and stood before the Queen and gazed upon her. Her lower portions resembled that of a snake; her torso was feline in nature. Her upper limbs were like that of some evil beast. The Queen’s face was as Human, though her eyes were distinct, resembling nothing. The Prince averted his own eyes and in doing so looked upon the slumbering girl. Immediately, irrevocably, he fell in love with her.

“My claim is upon her,” he spoke unto the Queen and, behold, he smote her and the stench of her death spread wide through the forest. The Prince then opened up the stasis pod and, as was the custom of his people, kissed RoseAutumn upon her ruby-red lips.

“What are you doing?” She screamed upon awakening. Immediately, irrevocably, she blasted the Prince with her ray gun.

---

Hope you enjoyed :) It was super fun to write.

Spakes and Cpntests and Other Nonsense

2010-08-26T12:12:00.006-04:00

*And apparently the inability to spell, come on Jacqueline, you should know better.

This is just a quick post: (it's a good thing too, Miss Grammar-Mistakes)

1) I believe the Super Sister Contest deadline got extended for a short while, so you still have time to enter. Yay! :D (sheesh... no link or anything? Go here for more info)

2) As some of you know my friend and I are obsessed with Spakes, so I created a Spakes page on Facebook, and if you are attached to Facebook you can feel free to become a fan, or like it, or whatever. I'm trying to spread the word about these loverly creatures, so that when the book gets published y'all will be prepared, or some such nonsense. Basically I did it just because it was late at night and I was on the computer, and one never knows what I'll do under such circumstances.

3) Have a good day!! I demand it. (*shakes head* What are you? Queen? Stop demanding people about, it's ridiculous monkeys.)

-Jacqueline Edenbry

(one of Naomi's characters)

*With notes from Amarilla, who can spell properly, you baby

Blogger Invasion Blogfest: Late, but Here

2010-08-20T18:14:00.001-04:00

So I totally forgot I signed up for my sis' blogfest so here it is, late, but here.

---

Zombies. I knew it not just by the smell, but because they were lurching, and decomposing and well… It’s just pretty obvious. I hunkered down behind the over-turned couch and looked over at the two people on my left.

“Ready?”

The first one, Palindrome, cocked her gun and nodded. “Ready.” An evil grin spread over her face and I was suddenly intensely glad I wasn’t a Zombie. “I’m just about… Shhh,” the other one, Falen, pulled at her aviator cap and shushed the little yipping dogs next to her. “Yvie!” Then she turned and pulled out a strange looking steam-powered device. “Ready.”

“Me too!” I turned to look on my other side, at Rose, a short girl with not-blond hair. She held up a Spake knife and grinned. “This should work on Zombies too.”

“And I’ll use my Karate-chop-action-skillz,” Sonshinemusic said, because despite being sunny and bubbly she also has mad skills.

“Okay, just be careful.” I held in a short breath. “Okay, on the count of three. One, two…”

“NO!” Mia shouted, rushing into the room, trailing a stream of sparkles in her wake. At first I didn't know where the sparkles were coming from, until I saw Tessa dancing behind Mia, a huge grin on her face, waving a bucket of glitter labeled 'Zombie Stuff.' The Zombies stopped, staring at the glitter like dolts. “#Zombiesaren’tevil #youshouldtotesnotkillthem.”

I stared at her, awed by the genius of hashtags. But then I shook my head. “These ones are evil! I know because they are ruled by the Zombie Queen Joan Crawford, and those zombie kittens belong to Evil Blam. They must be destroyed!”

"I think Thor agrees," Amalia said, nodding her head. "He doesn't like Zombies. They get glitter everywhere, and everyone knows glitter is my arch nemesis."

“Wait!” Laura Marcella came dancing in, holding a book above her head. “I know there’s a quote in here somewhere that will solve this problem.” Palindrome sighed noisily, probably distressed with the thought that she couldn’t shoot anything. One of Falen’s dogs went over to sniff one of the Zombie kittens, and Rose went over to poke one of the Zombies.

“Hehe… It feels funny,” Rose burbled.

“Here,” Laura Marcella pointed to something in her book, and I peered over her shoulder, curious. “In order to stop Zombies from being evil, one must give them Rubber Duckies to feed upon.”

“Weird,” said I.

“That #rockssocks!” said Sonshine.

“I have ducks!” said J.M. Neeb, appearing out of nowhere. He threw a couple of Rubber Duckies at the Zombies, who ingested them readily, and the Evilness drained straight out of them. “Hooray!” we all shouted happily, except Rose who didn’t think the story was violent enough.

“I think I’ve forgotten something,” I said, and suddenly the front door opened and all my bloggy friends came tumbling, prancing, and walking primly in. We started a whole sha-bang of a party, Zombies and all.

Yay! Hope y'all enjoyed. I'll try to get around to anyone else who did this blogfest. Oh! And if you want to write one, go ahead. It's okay if you're late or whatever. I was, so I don't think it's a huge deal. This is mostly about having fun and showing love for fellow bloggers (my lamnams!) Anywho...

Conflicted

2010-08-20T09:00:00.003-04:00

Recently I received the ARC for The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff.

Two Things:

a) I love, love, love it

2) It made me really, really upset

Why?

Love:

1) It is well written and intriguing and just gorgeously ugly sometimes. Didn't think that was possible? Well, it is.

b) It has a male protagonist. What? YA urban/paranormal fantasy with a male main character? Yes. It is SO refreshing. Plus, the love interest, Tate, is not your usual "Rescue me from the evil monster!" *cue fainting* but she's hardcore. I love it. Sure, maybe Mackie isn't the strongest character in and of himself, but he's real, he's not flat, and he has an actual personality. Isn't that fantastic?

c) Brenna adds a whole new spin on the whole Other Worldly things that made me all happy inside.

Dislike:

a) The language. Now, I know for some of you you're probably rolling your eyes around and getting ready to throw rocks at me for being a stingy, Christian, self-righteous bigot. Hold yourself together, and just listen a moment (which, as far as I know, all of you who read my blog are really good at listening and letting me explain my view on things, which I am super glad about. It's SO fantastic that we can have different views on things and none of us get all angry as beavers over it)

Anyhow...

I don't like language. Sometimes I can understand why it's used, and sometimes in the book I could give reason for it and could be okay with it, but sometimes it was unnecessary (in my mind). The problem with cursing is it's not creative, a huge part of the time. There's one thing to use it is as characterization, but another just to have it there. And my question is, when did it become okay in our society to use language like that? It used to be unprofessional, and not in younger aged books. But now teens curse, because that's what they learned from their parents, and what they expect from their bosses, and I never signed up for that kind of society.

So despite enjoying this book immensely there are some people I am not comfortable asking to read the book. And I will still tell them I loved it, but it will always be with a caveat, that there is some heavy language in it at parts.

So for those of you who are okay with language I would say go out and pre-order it because I think you'll love it.

So what about You? Does language bother you, do you only like it when it's used to make a point, or do you not even notice it? I'm curious to hear what y'all have to say.

The Super Sister Contest!!! :D

2010-08-05T11:39:00.014-04:00

In honor of our birthdays the sis (Rebecca/SonshineMusic) and I are having a...

SUPER SISTER CELEBRATION CONTEST!

It will be Amazing. It will be a two-parter. The writerly Contest will be done over on her blog, and the normal ol' simple drawing one will be done over here. So here are the rules for the Contesty stuff for this part of the contest:

2 Winners!!!!!! YESH!!!!

To enter here are the easy-shmeasy rules:

1 - be a follower of both Rebecca's and my blogs. Please be our LamNams! :D

2 - You don't have to, but you can blog/tweet/facebook/whatever - - Rebecca said that SkyWriting will get you like, an armadillo or something. You can also do smoke signals,

in which case, I will die from excitement.

c - BE EXCITED!!!! This is, after all, a Contest, and who doesn't Love Contests?? Plus, it's so Super Easy even a Spake could do it! Okay, okay. I was going to try not to mention those things, but anyway...

d - Also, please let me know

a) What your favorite herb is

b) What your fav color/pattern is (like, if your fav pattern is pine trees or flying monkeys, I need to know that. Or if your fav color is plaid. Important stuff.)

5 - This will get you Absolutely Nothing, but if you would like, let me know which you would rather have as a pet, a Moose, a Duck, or an Avocado.

Now onto the PRIZES! *does a happy dance*

WAIT. I wasn't nearly Excited enough yet, because my Face is Asleep. Like This:

Don't I have Mad Drawing SKillz??

NOW I am awake. And Excited.

Okay. HERE are the PRIZES:

2 People will win:

Crazy for Chocolate - Who doesn't love chocolate? And if you're one of those weirdos who doesn't, it could make a Lovely Mother's Day/Birthday/Arbor Day present

Be Happy That... by Melissa Heckscher, Jordan Burchette, and Pat Mellon - This book is Hilarious, and is being used in the Other Contest Part, that Rebecca is in charge of. Trust me. It's pretty Amazing.

PLUS:

Your choice of a packet of herbs, like these:

Or Tarragon, or Oregano, or Others. There are so many possibilities!!

And I'll make you your very own Mini-Pillow.

But wait! There's more:

For whoever can find the most Unique way to let others know about this Contest there is a Special Prize:

An Owl Key Hanger - What could possibly be cooler?

Broken by Karin Slaughter - I met her at BEA and guess what?...

Yuppers. It's signed.

So go on. Enter the contest with a simple comment below, find an Ingenious way to promote to Super Sister Celebration Contest, and you just might WIN! :D

It runs from Now This Very Instant until August 27th. THEN, while we figure out the winners, we'll let ya'll know.

P.S. Psst... Her birthday is the 31st, so make sure you run over and embarrass her on her birthday. ;P

P.P.S Here are some bannerly things Rebecca made for You:

P.P.P.S That's All. No. Really.

P.P.P.P.S Okay. I'm a liar. Don't forget to enter the other Half of the Contest over HERE.

Well, So Much for Keeping it a Secret

2010-08-03T15:17:00.003-04:00

Yup. It's my birthday. I was going to be all *hush hush* about it but Someoe decided to post it on her blog *shakes head at Rebecca/Sonshine* and then another someoe posted it up on Facebook *shakes head at Claire/Co-Worker* so the Cat's out of the bag as they say.

Huh. People say weird things.

Oh! Today I am writing with a sparkly purple pen! It's amazing.

Oh, and the aforementioned Claire bought me caffeinated sugar coffee. I haven't had caffeine in I don't know how long, so... I'm on the verge of running around the parking lot squeeling.

BUT that's not the point of this post. The point of this post is... Um... Write about things that I get to do now that I'm 21.

1. Find a good excuse not to drink liquer/alcohol. I'm trying to decide if I should lie and say I'm allergic (but lying's bad) or if I should laugh at the absurdity at the thought. I already can't walk in a straight line, I often slur my words, and speaking coherantly can cause me issues. So... Alcohol? Not a good idea. I also am thinking about staring at people and explaining to them that my grandma was an alcoholic, and I'm Terrified of that happening to me too. If I could cry on demand, this would be perfect. Any other ideas?

2. I can drive with my soon to be sixteen-years-old brother. This is very important to my brother. Because he'll be able to drive with just me in the car, and no parents. In fact, I believe he's more excited than I am. About turning 21, not the driving part. I trust him. Plus, he knows if he breaks anything he's totally paying for it from his pocket. Or from his bank. I doubt he has money in his pockets, though he probably has other, scarier, things in there. Like... dirt, fuzz, and day old french fries. ;P

3. I get to be kicked off of my parents insurance. Aw, what a thoughtful birthday present. *grins* Now I have to find a way to Never get sick Ever. I'm scared of Hospitals already anyway, so this shouldn't be hard to do.

4. I get to pay off my school debt (okay, this isn't directly correlated to turning 21, but I'm running out of things to say.)

5. I got to pay the government 80 bucks and 50 cents to get a new license. Again, awww... Just the birthday present I was lookig for. I Lurve giving the government my money.

5. Erm... I get to... be... Human? Um... Okay. I get to run out of ideas.

So that's pretty much all, my LamNams.

A Big Giant Hug and Thank You for everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday. I love you guys! I talk about you as if you're "real people" and people look at me strange. But seriously, for reals, you guys are Amazing and Encouraging and all that *hugs* Thank You for being Awesome!!

Mia's Amazing Contest!!

2010-07-29T19:37:00.005-04:00

Mia is having a contest and I meant to tell ya'll earlier because it is super cool, but the Sis and I were working on this:

Zombie Kittens!!

So... It took me a little while to get everything squared away.

But Quick! Before it's too Late! Go enter her Contest...

Wheeeeeeeeeeee...

*Update:

The Story of the Zombie Kitten

Once upon a time there was a Zombie Kitten. He looked like a regular Zombie Kitten. He had decaying, grey skin, and pale white eyes, and a little pink tongue, and sharp little teeth. However, he was not an entirely normal Zombie Kitten. This Kitten, named Zomg, liked brains like all the other Zombie Kittens, but he also liked jam. All kinds of jams. He liked blueberry jams, orange jams, strawberry jams, brain jam... He even adored a good marmalade.

Everyone made fun of Zomg. They said he wasn't really a Zombie Kitten at all, that he was just pretending. Feeling awfully sad, Zomg lyrched dejectedly away from the group of Zombie Kittens who were calling him nasty names, and he found a good willow tree to hide under. He thought it appropriate, because Willow Trees represented crying, and that was exactly what he felt like. Crying. He didn't want to be called a wuss, or an Un-Real Zombie Kitten, so he sucked in a breath, and was just about to strut proudly back out of the hanging branches of the willow tree when...

"Oh my pleasant tailfeathers, I thought you were a flying monkey."

Something fell out of the tree, landed in front of Zomg, and started talking straight at him. It was a strange looking kitten, all white, faintly sparkling, and with fang-like teeth.

Zomg tilted his head. "You don't have tailfeathers, and how in every grave did you think I was a flying monkey? I don't have wings and..." Then Zomg gasped. *GASP!* "You are a Vampire Kitten!" Zomg screamed.

"Well, of course," said the Vampire Kitten. "My name's Edwardio III, and sometimes people think I'm a frog, because I like to paint myself green late at night. What's your name?"

"Zomg," Zomg said quietly, not sure what to think of such a strange creature. But Zomg was an honest creature, so he decided to sputter out: "I like jam!" He figured that painting oneself green was much less odd than liking jam.

"I like jam too!" squealed Edwardio III. "We shall be best friends!"

And so they were. Edwardio III would paint himself green while Zomg would try a new jam, and they had the most lovely time together. The End.

(Weird. Nobody died 0_O)

The Death Scene You've Been Waiting For

2010-07-18T10:28:00.004-04:00

Today is Blogfest day!! *whistles and throws confetti in ecstasy* And in honor of the day I have this LINK to a blog post I read the other day about death, that I thought was particularly interesting. Plus there's this LINK to the list of other people doing blogfests. (At least, I hope it is. If not there will be trouble.) Just so you know, I will be in Canada over the weekend to attend Polaris, so it will take me a few days to actually get around to reading everyone else's stuff, but don't worry. I will.

Carrying on!

At first, I was going to just take a scene out of my wip's, but then I realized that all of my deaths are way too important, and would give away Huge plot moments, and I wasn't comfortable doing that. So I hemmed, and I hawed, and Cyan hopped out of the blue and attacked my face with ideas and out came this really bizarre little scene. I hope you like! (Oh, and just so you know, critical comments are welcome. As long as you're nice about it, I'm fine. I like to learn how to be better, so...) Oh! And I couldn't think of a name for the one girl, and the only one I coud think of was Tess, because of Tessa, so I named her after Tessa (sorry about the way your character... Well, you'll find out.)

“Hello.” Cyan hopped into the kitchen, waved profusely at my friend (his name don’t matter). Then she grinned. “Good-bye!” With a small twist of her wrist the knife was in his body, and then it was out. His eyes bugged wide and his mouth made a desperate attempt at talking. Didn’t last long. Soon he was on the floor, as dead as the others I had watched her kill.

She proceeded to try and check her reflection in the knife, but it’s hard to do that when a knife is still dripping with fresh blood. Cyan frowned a little bit, brushed off the knife on my (dead) friend’s already ugly shirt, and then fussed with her perfectly curly, way too blonde, hair.

“Hey, Cyan. Was that necessary?”

She gave me a quick glance, her eyes widened. “Oh, Fred, I didn’t see you.” I hate it when she calls me Fred. She knew it too. “How awful.” Way too quickly she was standing next to me, smelling faintly of lavender and peppermint, a heady mixture that I don’t like none.

“You gotta’ keep killing?”

“Of course.” She laughed, like I was some awful comedian and she was some polite person trying to make me feel better. I don’t think it helped. At all.

“Jus’ don’t touch Tess.”

“I touch who I want,” Cyan whispered, gave me a peck on the cheek while brushing her knife against the other side of my face. One cheek was left with lipstick, the other one with blood. “Don’t forget it. Buh-bye!” She waved and flounced outta’ the room. I glared at her.

Always left me to clean up her messes. It took a darn too long time to find a proper place to hide the body she had left behind. And by the time that was done, it was too late to meet Tess. I hated Cyan, but I guess that’s just repeating the obvious, isn’t it?

And I would’ve gone on hating her, and hating her, and not doing nothing about it. Until about three weeks later. Now, I can’t go into detail about what Cyan is, or even why she does what she does (mainly ‘cause I’d be killed and I ain’t a fan of me being dead) but I can tell you this. We’ve been friends a good amount of time. Sure, we don’t particularly like each other, but that don’t stop us from being on friendly terms. I left her friends alone (a’ course, she didn’t have many, but was that my fault?) and in return I expected the same favor.

I forgot. She don’t have no brain in her messed up little brain.

It had been a long day of working for the bosses (again, can’t tell or I’ll be offed) and I opened Tess’ apartment door. I was all ready to here about her day, to cuddle up next to her while we sipped at hot tea (for her) and coffee (for me). Sure, it don’t sound like something a tough guy like me would like, but shut yer trap and open yer mind. Tess did that to you. And I’m still man enough to torture your face off, so don’t breathe a word or your fingers will end up in dome garbage disposal device.

I kicked off my shoes at the door, since she liked her carpets to be clean and all. And I called out, “Hey, Tess, Rick’s here.” (My name’s Frederick, but most everyone calls me Rick, ‘cept Cyan but you already know she’s whacked out and hates me, so no need to repeat, right?)

She didn’t answer, which wasn’t like her at all. I knocked on the wall by the kitchen, ‘cause she was real particular about the kitchen, and always ragged on me about how I had to knock first, or else she’d jump from surprise and knock herself out with a pot. So I did. I knocked and then I stopped because I saw Tess, and she wasn’t knocked out from a pan, or nothing. It was worse. Much worse.

She were dead.

Blood was dried and matted around her pretty lil’ head, her face was more white than brittle ice, and her eyes were open and staring at me like little glass marbles.

I knelt to the ground, whispering her name, lookin’ like some mangy of a mutt. It don’t matter. Nothing did right then. I crawled over to her, pulled her into my lap, got blood all over my ratty jeans, and I wouldn’t stop muttering her name. She didn’t answer none. It’s hard to, when you’re dead. I blubbered like a cow, still didn’t matter none.

But then I saw how she had died. It wasn’t the head wound, that musta’ come before, ‘cause it wasn’t deep enough to have killed her. There was a hole in her stomach, the same shape as Cyan’s knife.

I was going to kill that good-for-nothing daughter of a would-be thug. But first I had to clean up Tess, wrap her up in one of her brightly patterned afghans. Then I buried her, and tried to cry over her all proper, but all my grief was gone and I only wanted one thing more.

Revenge.

Avatars Created with Dream Avatar

Loglines

2010-07-16T05:44:00.000-04:00

The other day I was thinking about loglines for my story.

Yes, yes, I know I don't even have an agent yet. What's that? I'm not even published. Pshah. Whatever. I have way too much of Amarilla's personality running through me right now to worry about that. (No, she's not another personality of mine, she's a character so shut up. See?! I tell you, she's all over the place. I would never normally tell you to shut up, but there I did. Blah.)

So instead of trying to edit my book so I can query it. (Which, by the way, I am dying to do, because I just found the most amazing literary agency ever, and I am dying to query the one dude because he is awesomesauce, and I'm hoping desperately that he'll actually like my book. No. LOVE my book, and want to publish it all over the world, but I'm not ready yet, and I'm cursing that fact. Of course, I shouldn't be blogging, so that I can fix that problem, but, ah, well.)

Oh. I wrote a fragment up there, didn't I? Sorry about that. As I was saying, instead of trying to edit I was trying to come up with loglines. Most were stupid and pathetic, like this:

If you think being stalked is a fantastical dream of floating gossamer strands, try being followed by Obadiah spake-man, and you'll change your mind faster than it takes a potato to rot on a windowsill.

Or...

Scotch is a person, not an alcohol, and she does not like being stalked by Spakes, even if she needs on particular Spakes help, and even if without that one particular Spakes help, her two best friends will surely died a horrible, horrible DEATH!

Or...

Scotch and Obadiah are not in love, you freaks! ( <-- Scotch wrote that one herself. Or at least, she would've if she was real.)

Or...

Once upon a time there was a Spake, then Scotch came along, and the world ended. (Not only is this one awful, it's a lie)

Or...

Forget about peanut butter, Scotch and Obadiah end up in situations much stickier, and much less yummilicious.

Or...

Vampires are over-rated, and Spakes have never been written about, how many people can I offend in a one sentence, run-on, fragmentary, logline that doesn't make.

Or...

(my personal fav, as well as Amarilla's)

Scotch is being stalked (creep!) by a mythologically real creature (a Spake) and she needs to learn to trust him (yeah, right) before her friends are brutally wounded.

They are so much fun! But now I feel bad, because I really need to edit. *sigh* Fine, I'll go be boring. Have loads of fun without me, okay?

*scampers off*

*scampers back*

Here's PIE!

It's Pecan Pie CAKE! :D

*is famished*

*must eat*

Before Publishing...

2010-07-14T23:17:00.001-04:00

My friend was asking me for advice the other day about looking for agents. Now, I don't really think of myself as an expert, especially with such people around as Elana Johnson and Nathan Bransford, but I have done a bit of research so the idea of being helpful just about made my day a bit more sunshiney. This, of course, would've been a whole lot better if it wasn't already a thousand degrees over here, but still. Worth it.

Thus, I have decided to share my advice with you all.

A) Don't get published yet. Yup. Pretty much the first thing I have to say. I totally agree with other Smart People that before a Writer/Author person gets published they should first Enjoy the Freedom they have. Think about it. You get to write whatever you want, whenever you want (within reason), without demands, or pressure, or having to write outlines or anything. It's like being single. Sure, married life can be just swell, but it comes with a whole lot of responsibility. And unlike with marriages nowadays, it's much harder to 'divorce' yourself from publishing a book. So party with your unpublished book and make sure you're ready for the Crazy that follows getting published. Yeah, yeah, yeah... What do I know? It's not like I'm published, and it's not like I'm following my own advice. But that doesn't mean someone out there shouldn't be listening to this sound advice. Just because I'm crazy doesn't mean you should be too.

2) Research Agents: This includes knowing their name, what Agency they work with, what books they have helped get published. I like to check such books out from the library to see if I like them. Because if I like them, then the agent and I might actually have tastes in common. This, of course, means that you cannot go around querying everyone in the universe. But wait! Don't forget to find out the agents favorite color, so that you can use that as your Query letter font color. Plus, finding ways to bribe them is always nice. Or, adding in extra tidbits in your query letter like this: "I saw you at the grocery store the other day (even though we live in different states) and think that you look fab in pink. Even if it was a frayed, disgusting, robe."

3) Get a blog. I'm serious. There is so much information out there available to you through blogs... It's insane. Although... If you're reading this you probably already have a blog. So. This is a pointless point. Moving on!

D) Become a part of every networking site possible. Goodreads, Facebook, Jacketflap, Lunch, Twitter... So many that your brain falls out from the madness! Okay, okay, I kid. Only be part of the things that you can handle. If you can handle everything on the planet, then forge ahead. If you can't, don't kill yourself.

E) Buy (or capture and tame) a strange animal. Like an armadillo, or Zombie Kittens (more on that at a later time), or platypus, or an arrdvark, or a fairy/pixie (though they'll probably kill you or curse you to always eat frogs), albatrosses, hyenas, large unfriendly dragons, invisible purple godzilla monsters, buffalo, manatees... The list goes on! (My co-worker can't stop naming them now, she's so excited...flamingoes, penguins [Mr. Popper's Penguins!], camels, alpacas, zedonk.) It will help you be more creative and make you more unique. Plus, you can mention that in your query letter, because agents love useless information.

6) Know your genre. If you think your genre is "Pizzaz" I promise you, you will not find a (legit) agent who represents the genre "Pizzaz." Also, do not say you have a 'Historical Fantasy Literary Woman's fiction, with a twist of Suspence and Horror and Thriller and definitely a Mystery in there somewhere.' Not unless you want Literary Agents to throw invisible darts at your non-existent head. And you head will be non-existent because they will have blown it up with their mind powers. And yes, agents have mind powers. That's why I'm becoming one.

*Some of this may be written seriously, while others may or may not be sarcastic. If you can't tell the difference, throw pies in my general direction. Mmm... pies.

I Think I had Sugar When I Wrote This?

2010-07-06T21:47:00.004-04:00

Oh my sugarcane! I totally forgot how to blog!

No. Seriously. I was writing stories and creating time lines, but every time I thought about blogging my brain went ZWAP! "Blogging? What is that? That sounds foreign and hard and difficult."

And then today I finally was able to read some blogs and it was like remembering how to ride a bike with another ZWAP! I remembered "Oh! That's blogging. That still sounds foreign and hard and difficult, but I will be foreign and hard and difficult, so we will match."

Okay. Maybe I didn't think that word for word, but you can pretend.

Oh! Today I heard a magical compliment!

First things first, I finished the first (short) draft of Cinnamon and Calamus: or Why You Shouldn't Trust Spakes and I sent it to some peeps. One person was my mum. And guess what she asked me???

"Did you write this, or did ElvishVampireHobbit?" (Only, she used my friend's real name, because my mum actually knows my friends' names because she is cool like that, and she's not creepy enough to know them by their blogging names)

And then I spazzed out!

You see, the main girl is named Scotch, and she is based on ElvishVampireHobbit. If ElvishVampireHobbit was scooched over into a side reality, she would be Scotch. So I wanted her to NOT sound like me at all, but like my friend. And my mum wasn't sure if I had written it, or if my friend had.

WIN! I got the voice down! Hoorah! :D

I was so worried it would sound too much like me, and my stalkerish tendencies had gone completely to waste.

You see, stalking people is good for some things. I watch people, pay attention to what words they use and stuff. Especially if I'm basing a character off of them, I get really weird. I keep their texts and analyze them, I hang out with them just so I can see what kind of faces they make, or whether or not they have weird finger twitches. YES I AM A FREAK! But it helps me write stories so pshah, it's okay. Plus, I only stalk people when I have permission. Usually. Ahem.

Enough sounding like a freak. I am going to go and pretend to be productive. Charge!

This is pretending to be productive

This is charging.

Yay!

I have no idea why this is exciting, but it is!

Loads of Excitement

2010-06-29T16:47:00.004-04:00

1) I know I already said this, but it's still exciting: I figured out (for now) what I want to do with my life, and I'm actually excited, and I actually have a plan on how to achieve it. Yay!

2) I JUST GOT ACCEPTED TO COLLEGE! Yay! It's at the same place the Sis is going to and even though my dad and mum said, "Pshhht, with your grades you'll be fine," I was still worried about getting in. And I did!! Tomorrow I get everything set up. Hopefully. The internet isn't working at home (I'm at work right now, shh) and someone forgot to do her FAFSA. AH!

3) Guess what I wrote? *nods emphatically* Yes. I wrote the Difficult Scene. You see, first I called my friend (some of you know her as ElvishVampireHobbit) and talked with her, and then I went to work. Afterwards I was walking to my car and there was the moon streaming down ethereal light, and a scrub-of-a-brillo-bush, and large reed like grass nodding and hiccuping in the wind, and...

Suddenly I was talking like this:

Obadiah: "You have to trust me." (Obadiah wasn't really there, but I was talking in his voice)
Micaiah: "Trust you? What do you mean?"
Obadiah: "I mean there are some things I have to do that you can't know about, and you have to trust that I will keep the good of the Spakes in mind."
Scotch: "Cause that's not vague."

And then a car door slammed behind me and I jerked around, now fully aware that some woman had been standing behind me, and was probably jumping into her car as fast as possible since there was some kind of freak (namely me) staring into the bushes talking to herself.

BUT it was Worth it. Not only did I write that scene, I wrote Another one. And I bumped up my word count from 43,000 to 46,000. Well, almost 46,000, but it's close enough.

So thank you my Lame Namers (my LamNams?) for threatening me.

Can I have some cookies now?
And could someone unglue me from this chair?

P.S. Do YOU have anything Exciting to share?

Writerly Snacks... And Kind Threats

2010-06-24T15:28:00.003-04:00

I don't usually snack when I write, but I still thought this was cool...

Over at YA Highway they had a "What Kind of Writerly Snack Are You" and I thought it was pretty cool. I was fruit, which fits perfectly. I love me some good fruit.

If you want to take the test here's the link: This Is A Link (but it might be wrong, so it's probably best just to go over to YA Highway, since they are super cool anyway)

And that's all for now, except for:

I am almost done with m first Spake book. I just need one more scene to write. Could a couple of you start threatening me (in the most creative way you can think of without being vile or potty-mouthed) so that I actually write the stupid thing? Only if you want to. Thanks.

I'll talk to you later, my writing pals. (Seriously, one day I will think of an Epic name to call you guys, until then, I will just call you Lame Names)

How to Stop Blog Lethargy

2010-06-23T09:10:00.007-04:00

In the past four days I have had an awful hard time thinking of something to blog about. And then I'll think of something! And I'll write five words! And then I'll think it's stupid! And it pretty much stops there.

No.

Really. I have at least five posts sitting in my 'Posting' tab that I just Could Not finish.

Which got me thinking: What are the best possible ways to fight Blog Lethargy?

1. Freestyle: Just write whatever gobbley-gook that you want. It doesn't matter if it's good, as long as it doesn't make any sense, like my poetry!

Example: "Around the corner bend museum, Hark! A spotted lamb, I love your shiny shoes."

2. Word/Picture Association: Using google and a dictionary look up a random word, find a pic that matches it, that reminds you of another word, that makes you find another pic, and etc.

Example: "Simon"

"Monopoly"

"Six-Flags-Dude"

You cannot deny his creepiness

3. Take your time to angst about everything in your life. Even if you don't know what angst is, don't worry about it. It will come naturally to you.

Example: "I hate my life, my hot boyfriend isn't really my boyfriend, and I think cows are skinnier than I am."

4. Take a moment to share random pictures For No Apparent Reason.

Example: "These are some of my fav pics from when I went to the British Museum!"

A bird!

A pig... I think.

5. Document yourself doing a Most Normal Event, and make it as epic as possible.

Example: "My arm strained forward toward the kleenex box as if in slow motion. My heart thudded louder than gunshots in my ears, non-ending, perfectly spaced gunshots. My whole body was palpitating under the extreme stress. I wasn't going to make it. Fear blanched my skin, sweat oozed out of my pores as if my entire body had become one with my nose.

Aha! Victory! My fingers snatched up the kleenex just in time to catch the dripping snot that loomed out of my nose like a vicious disease-covered rope."

Anybody else have any ideas? *is hopeful*

P.S. I am mostly being serious about these, although one or two entries may have inadvertently become sarcastic.

CONTEST! :D

2010-06-18T17:41:00.001-04:00

Seven-year-old Hailey Twitch knows three things for sure: who she’s the boss of, how to throw a tantrum, and above all, how to get exactly what she wants. But all that changes when Hailey gets paired up with annoying Addie Jokobeck on the class project. No matter what Hailey does, she can’t seem to change her teacher’s mind.

At home, a cranky Hailey is feeling sorry for herself when – poof! — Maybelle, a magic sprite, comes flying out of Hailey’s dollhouse. Maybelle’s on probation with the Department of Magic, and on a special mission to get Hailey to have fun.

The only problem? The invisible Maybelle starts causing a lot of trouble, and when Hailey’s teacher wants to know who’s to blame, Hailey takes responsibility. After all, Hailey Twitch is not a snitch! Now if only Hailey can convince the Department of Magic that Maybelle has reformed…

You can buy Hailey Twitch from amazon by clicking here, and find out how to win a free book from Lauren by clicking here!

Seriously, check this out. :)

A Strange Place to Get Stuck

2010-06-15T11:59:00.007-04:00

Pic found here

This is a Strange Place

I have noticed a trend in my writing. And no, I'm not talking about these kind of trends:

Pic found HERE

Erm... This is trendy??

*shudders* Anyway. One of my trends in writing is NOT finishing the second to last chapter. I know, weird place isn't it? I can write beginnings with little to no difficulties, and endings make me happy. Sure, the middle can be a tad difficult to make sure all the pieces are in the right order. But hand me the second to last chapter...

And suddenly

I can think

Of nothing.

It's true!

Thanet's Curse, which has plagued me since February, taunting me with the fact that I don't have any desire to finish it. Forget you, thou second-to-last chapter of death! I've been running from the aforementioned novel cringing with the thought of dealing with that chapter.

Then there's Luperin, the sequel to Haunbrinth. Now, there aren't really chapters (is this legal?) but I wrote everything but the few scenes right before the end, so it's about the equivalent of the second-to-last Chapter of Doom! I keep saying I'll finish it, but I haven't. Because. I don't want to deal with it.

There's even Myzi, which you guys don't even know about. Guess what I've written? Yup. Pretty much everything but that last final chapter. (And the third to last chapter, but you get the point.)

It's a plague, I tell you, a plague.

Check Melanie's blog out here.

She has some good stuff.

Google is not cooperating today

I don't know how this is a Writer's Plague

And I don't know whether this is cool

Or so creepy I should go about screaming

I was working on Cinnamon and Calamus: of Why You Shouldn't Trust Spakes when I stopped. Anyone want to guess why? Yes, you, the one in the front moving your arm languidly back and forth like a fan? Why! You're correct. I did get stuck on the Second-to-Last Chapter of Destruction.

But I have found a way to fight it and I will be victorious! You see, this is the story I am writing that is based off of an inside joke.

Foot pic here

Eh, that's a weird looking foot

Of course, most feet look weird

Feet Are Weird

No, no, not the foot inside joke. The Spake inside joke. Anyway, so I made myself a promise. (Those pesky little promises won't leave me alone. I keep making them. *sigh*) Every time I see this Friend I have to have written at least one paragraph from the Second-Chapter-of-Dearth.

And guess what?? I have written at least half of the Horrible Chapter :D

The only down-side to my excitement? It's too short. Again. I'm only at 34,000 and That's Too Short.

I have decided that all of my books should be stamped with the label: S.A.S Books.

Short Attention Span Books. It's difficult for me to write long books (that are based solely on one character) because after 50,000 words I'm bored and done with that character. Let's move on. Plus, lately I've been having a hard time finishing long books. I think that's one of the many reasons I've been reading more and more Middle Grade books. (Though, they're not always shorter.)

So, my dearies, where do you get stuck when writing? Have you found any tricks to get past those tough parts? Do you like short books or do they annoy your face off?

(P.S. My brother, Dave, is reading my book right now, and it is much more hilarious when he reads it. Ahahaha...)

This May Involve Death...

2010-06-12T12:35:00.000-04:00

For those of you who don't know I have been generally against Blogfests (for myself, not for other people.) The only reason why is because I'm borderline schizophrenic and I'm sure the aliens can find me if I enter a blogfest.

Hey. *gets defensive twinge in eye* You never know.

But Tessa at Tessa's Blurb is having a blogfest of DEATH! Isn't that mad cool? I can't resist the chance to kill somebody. *Ahem* I mean... A chance to hone my skills as a writer. That's what I meant. Uh-huh.

So I'm entering a blogfest *swoons from shock.* I suppose that shows you that #anythingispossible. Because I never thought I would use hashtags on Twitter either, and #lookwhathappened #it'slikeadisease

I blame all of this Brain Malfunction on Mia Hayson. She does blogfests ALL the time (Read her one about the Cute Zombie Man *drool*)

*blushes* Ahem. Sorry. I will be a perfect little lady now.

PFAHHHH! Sorry, that idea totally made me laugh.

You see, my friend and I think it would be cool to insert ourselves into a Finishing School and then we could have Secret Meetings about being Rebellious and eating pickles with one's bare hands!! Ah! We would totally get kicked out and how much fun would it be to go around saying I got kicked out of a finishing school? Bwahaha...

Excuse me. I'm going to go plot some more Evil Thoughts for out Secret Meetings.

(pic from here)

Me: Look! I have dirty hands!

Prissy Lady: *squeals and faints*

Me: *laughing hysterically*

Friend: You're weird. Ooh! Look! Pickles! Let's make a smoothie.

BIG LIFE PLANS

2010-06-05T11:04:00.010-04:00

When I was on vacation I told myself, "I will write everyday! I will blog, and read people's blogs, and I will comment like a BEAST!"

Then I got strep throat. And I turned off my computer. And pretended to be a caveman.

So then on the way home I told myself, "I will write everyday! I will blog, and read people's blogs, and I will comment like a major BEAST!!"

Yup. That worked well.

So then I told myself, "I will never make a promise ever again!"

But.

Then I realized.

That's a promise too.

Let me explain what my life is like.

I make Big Life Plans, lining up my little ducks:

Aren't they adorable and orderly?

then God knocks them all down.

It would be just like God to use an eight ball too.

Here, you want to ask an eight ball what to do?

*sounds of crashing ducks*

It says to ask me.

Ahem. Anyway. So I have finally made some Big Life Plans, and I'm pretty much letting my ducks run around haphazard. Instead of holding them like this:

Ahahaha... That girl is serious about her duckies.

My Big Life Plans: To become a literary agent. My plan? Um. Yeah. Nothing really nailed down shut yet. I'm applying to a college (the same one sis is going to.) And I'm planning on losing my mind in boring classes.

Oh... Wow.

0_O

That's some class.

In the meantime I've discovered a secret about writing: Just do whatever you want.

Okay, okay. This Sounds Bad, but it's not. I've been so worried about getting things done when they need to be done blah, blah, blah, that I'm not having fun with it anymore and I'm sure as dinosaurs not enjoying it.

Which is dumb, because I gave Haunbrinth another edit (oh! By the way, I have a page for that now up at the top. If you read/already read it and think it needs work, let me know. If you so desire, anyway.) Plus I've written a couple of words for Spake 1, and I've been figuring out a lot of Spake stuff with my lovely friend who is like a twin to me.

So I'm not going to freak out and say: "I can't work on Invisible Love because it's not on the LIST!!!!!!! Auuuuuuuuuuggghhhhhhhh!!!!" because that's stupid. You know, I would definitely yell "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhk!" I never say Augh anymore.

Moving on. I will still edit my books, and I will still write new stories, and I will do whatever I want. Because one day I'll have an agent and an editor telling me what I can and cannot do, so for now I'll just shout: "Don't tell me what I can and cannot do!" while I still can.

Ooh! Look at the pretty knife! :D

Later, my blogging peeps.

OMB!

(Oh My Bananas)

Check out this link about peeps

???!?!?!?!?!

W is for Who, What, When, Where, Why, and Woh

2010-05-31T15:15:00.004-04:00

1. Who?

This is a question all writers must ask themselves when they are writing a story/sonnet/novel/ haiku. Who. And I'm not talking about who are your main characters, who is the protagonist, antagonist, blah, blah, blah. No, I'm talking about: Who are the couple standing on the ege of the roof over there? Why are they exchanging mysterious packages (without the Main Character noticing of course)? And who are they planning on giving the mysterious package to? This way when in chapter 32 when the Evil Villain of Doom pulls out a mysterious box the reader isn't left wondering where it came from. Also, make sure you go into Complete Detail about the grocer and how when he was two years old a cat scratched his leg. It will do nothing to make the plot go forward, but it will be most entertaining.

2. What?

What is your character wearing? What are they thinking about at ALL times? What is their favorite sweater? What do they do when they meet strange figures emerging out of mysterious blue smoke? What is their cholesterol level? Plus, be sure to map out their complete history, starting from birth. This will make your story/novel/sonnet/haiku ridiculously long, but remember, Readers are stupid and you must spell everything out for them.

3. When?

No, I'm not talking about when the story/novel/sonnet/lymrick happens, because that of course, will be written in LARGE BOLD LETTERS on every single page because, remember, Readers have no brains. Because, I mean, you're a writer, and you obviously don't read books because you have a brain. Only people who write have brains. No, I'm talking about when does anything interesting happen? Because you have all the backstory at the front you need a Giant Asterisk to mark where the Exciting part happens, so people can skip over the backstory part. Because Readers are so unthoughtful that way. Don't they know you took ages to write that Meaningless, Pointless, Dribble?? They should so totally read it, the jerks.

4. Where?

Again, I'm not talking about Where, as in time and place, because that will be stamped on the corner of every page, duh. What I'm talking about is Where in Reality does it take place? Most people don't know this, but there are loads of Realities out there, and they just might get confused and think your story/novel/haiku/lymrick/sonnet is in their Reality instead of a different one. Make sure you repeat yourself as many times as necessary, make sure you repeat yourself as many times as neccessary, make sure....

5. Why?

Forget about Why your character wishes to do whatever it is he/she is doing. Instead, make sure to question all of life's major questions. People don't need to take Philosophy classes, they just need to read your book. Ask questions like, Why do trees fall over? (even if your book/story/poem is set in a place without trees), Why do marmosets have days like these? Do we really exist? Why are we here? and Why do authors write so wonderfully? (make sure to have an Authors of Note, and list yourself first.) Everyone will talk about your book for days on end.

6. Woh?

In honor of Dyslexics everwhere write random words sdrawkcab and all ixmed pu. It doesn't matter if no one else can read what you're writing, those with Brain Malfunctions everywhere will sing your praise. How do you write your words backwards and all mixed up? By a mirror and a blender. Write your manuscript, stuff it in the blender. When it is thoroughly shredded take out the pieces and look at it through a mirror. You will see from every angle that by following this outrageous advice, you have created a Masterpiece worth burning.

V is for Vampires in the Bible??

2010-05-28T12:57:00.005-04:00

Yup. That's right folks. Not only does the Bible hold the secrets of the Spakes, but also includes iron-clad proof, not only for Vampires, but Zombies as well.

Let's take a look at Galatians 5:15:

"But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another."

Obviously the biting is talking about Vampires, and the consuming is talking about Zombies.

See? Iron-clad proof.

In response to this shocking news I interviewed invisible, not-really-existent-people. Rev. Pseudo states that the community as a whole needs to "know of the dangers of these creatures." He has been writing up articles and attending meetings to bring awareness about this issue.

Madam Spurious exclaimed that, "she knew it," while waving a clove of garlic in her hand. Her next-door neighbor, Edward Sham, just shook his head and refused to comment.

Meanwhile, several celebrities have come out of the closet reporting that they are indeed Vampires and Zombies. However, when studied by Scientists, they turned out to be hoaxes. This was very disturbing to a young girl, Julie Dupe, who believed that celebrities could never lie.

In order to take every precaution necessary the President, with the help of Miss Stafford, is seeking out girls named "Buffy." So far, only a valley girl with a lisp has been found, and she insists that "Vampires are, like, so totally ew."

In other news a girl from Scotland has locked herself in her room, refusing to come out. Although it is still unsure why she would do such a thing, sources tell us that she was known to be harboring Zombies. A Miss Sonshine was seen guarding her door with Cats. T.H. Mafi was alongside of her promising to attack people with pterodactyls. Meanwhile, a woman with a palindrome was getting very excited and cocking her gun menacingly. Many people ducked in response. Evil Blam, from Canada, just laughed while a mysterious figure traipsed behind him while making puns and muttering about dimples.

All in all, the world has seriously gone into chaos.

If any other news crops up, I'll let you know. In the mean time, my friend and I keep shouting at each other: "Do not bite and devour!" I think that should be my new slogan.

U is for Unbelievable... Um?

2010-05-21T17:21:00.010-04:00

Yo, thanks everybody for your well-wishers for my vacation and health. Fortunately, I'm feeling back on top of the Looney World. Yes. This is a good thing.

For awhile, it was looking pretty bad. When I woke up with this thought in my head: "Watch the flying nuns!" (for real, and no, I have no idea) my parental units got a little concerned and decided to take me to the Doctors.

Dun dun dun!

Okay, for some of you going to the doctors is as lovable as a puppy.

Awwww...

And going to the Dentist is like being trapped in an elevator with a serial killer who is holding a saw and grinning wider than the Hudson River.

I'll leave you to imagine the horrors behind those doors...

But as for myself, I could go to the dentist every day, but Doctors are TERRIFYING.

Like...

Zebras?????

So I grudgingly got into the Rumbly Truck in order to go to the doctors. We got there all fine and everything, and went in and the nurse told us to wait for the doctor. Well. Wait, we did. I had already read through all the terrible jokes in the Highlight magazines, as well as do the hidden pictures, and I was bored. I managed to get some paper and a pen from the Father, so when the doctor finally came in I was bent over a scrap of paper and there was no way i was going to look up until I finished the sentence I was writing.

Good. Grief. It is a good thing my voice was near gone, because then I couldn't say the first thing that popped into my mouth: "Oy, you're cuter than I thought you would be." *face palm*

Fortunately, though, my voice was gone and I didn't utter much. He proceeded to check my ear (they hurted alot.)

DR: (pressing behind my ear) Does this hurt?

ME: No.

DR: Does this hurt?

Me: (giggling) That feels funny.

Yup. If I can get high on Ibuprofen, can you imagine me on drugs? That's why I ALWAYS say No to Drugs.

Not. That I'm usually asked to take drugs.

Ahem.

He left to go confer with a second doctor, meanwhile allowing the Lady Nurse to come in and swab the back of my throat. Did I mention I have the gag reflex of a... Okay. I have no idea what has a gag reflex like I do, but imagine that I used a really good word picture, okay?

So the Lady Nurse swabs at my throat and I try to push her hand away. But I'm too tired and don't get there fast enough. Curses! Stupid sicknesses weakening me.

Both doctors soon come in, and the second doctor is a burly man who looks like he came from West Virginia (the smart section. Okay. I'm going to shut up before I make a West Virginia joke.) He snaps on some latex gloves, grinning, and says: "Do you want to do this the fast way, or the slow way?"

Me: (gulping, not sure what he's talking about) Um... Fast?

Dr2: So you want a shot of penicillin in the butt?

Me: (bursts into tears.)

Man, those two doctors high-tailed it out of there as fast as they could. My dad (who had come into the room with me I am so thankful to God, because I think I would've jumped out the window if he wasn't. Seriously, I was on the first floor, the window was open... All I'd have to do is push out the screen and ESCAPE!)

He's escaping... Back outside??

Thus began a very interesting "conversation" between my dad and I (I so wish I could videotape my dad re-enacting this, he is way more hilarious.)

Dad: So do you want the shot?

Me: AHHHHHHHHH! (cries)

Dad: (waiting til I calm down) You'll get better faster if you have a... shot.

Me: AHHHHHHHHHHHH! (cries hysterically.)

Dad: You don't have to get the... Shot.

Me: AHHHHHHHHHH! (cries even more hysterically.)

Dad: I knew your mum was afraid of needles, but I didn't realize how much you hated... Shots.

Me: AHHHHHHHHHHH!

Yeah, okay dad. He didn't realize the last time I went to the Doctors to get shots:

A Few Years Earlier:

Lady is giving me a shot, I am crying worse than a baby (because I'm older than a baby, and really have no excuse for crying my face off). The lady starts giving me a shot and I bat her hand away. For real. I nearly puncture myself with the needles AND nearly push the needle into her own skin. She backs away with frightened expression. "You can't do that!" she screams. I cry and they give me the shot anyway, even though I was TRYING to tell them that my mum said I shouldn't get the shot because it was superfluous. Oh man, you shoulda' seen me mum after that. She nearly ripped their heads off, and then she looked up to see if we could sue them.

Back to the Present:

The doctors come back in and my dad says that we'll avoid the (whispers) shot. DR says he'll prescribe me some pills. Except, I can't swallow pills. The only time I can swallow pills is when I'm healthy (seriously, dude, if I'm sick that means my throat is swollen. I'm not swallowing nothing.)

Then they fixed up my ears and the Dr2 let me know that my adenoids were swollen and pussy, other lymph nodes were swollen, plus I had strep throat. Hooray. I never head strep throat before. *glares*

But then they gave me liquid meds and I feel much, much better now. And I didn't even need a shot.

Come on, tell me that isn't terrifying?

So, how 'bout you? Do any of you have humorous dentist/doctor stories? And if someone came at you with a giant needle the size of yourself, would you jump out a window? Also, if any of you can come up with a reason why Nuns would be flying, and why we would have need to watch them, I will love you forever.

WAIT! WAIT! Plus, T.H. Mafi is having a contest, and you need to go over and follow her because she is HILARIOUS, and then you can enter her contest too if you like.

T is for Terrific and Terrible

2010-05-11T15:52:00.012-04:00

Well, I've never liked ending on a sour note (not even in my books. Hey, stop giving me that look, sis. I might kill everyone and their mother in my books, but the ending will not be sour, I tell you.) So I'll start with the Terrible news.

I'm on vacation (no, no, that's not terrible.) I'm sick. (Yes, yes that's terrible.) There's like an infection or something on the right side of my face. My ear, down to my jaw, even that half of my TONGUE hurts like corny dialogue (like the Star Trek episode I'm watching right now. OMBananas.) Kill me now! Ahem, anyway. Some of my lymph nodes are getting puffy and my dad went so far as to threaten to take me to the hospital. *GASP!* Can you imagine??? I hate the doctors worse than corny dialogue.

But on the up side, I'm on vacation! *does dance* And so I will share pictures with you. The first of which is a bluffin my dad bought for me:

Blueberry Muffins!!

Ahem. Now back to the beginning. We stopped in Virginia at a friend's house and then continued on. My mum decided to take a detour to try and avoid traffic. Didn't really help but we got to see three tanks roll by. TANKS! And not like tank tops, but like army vehicles. It was crazy! But I didn't get no pictures because I was distracted by this:

It made me want to jump out of the car and dance across the bridge.

Me: Doesn't looking at that just make you want to tromp through the foliage and pretend to be a fairy?

Mum: *laughs then is serious* Um. No.

North Carolina!!

A Pond!

(Don't ask.)

A barn in the middle of nowhere

Look at the funky tree! :D

The house we're renting for two weeks

Love the red door :)

Sand, sand, sand

One thing about being sick is that I've gotten pretty good at making milkshakes

They taste so good on my throat

Mmmmm...

Well, I hope y'all have a good week, and I hope y'all are more healthy than I am right now. Have a milkshake or too, they're yumalicious.

S is for Spakes and Spices and Something Secret

2010-05-07T10:08:00.001-04:00

Spakes. Just exactly what are they? And why are they cropping up all over this mad-crazy person's blog? I have questioned sharing information on these creatures, because I want it to be a surprise if it should ever get published. (Which it will because I love Scotch so much.) However, I figure it won't hurt to give you some glimpses into the life of a spake. Beware: They are very vague and will probably annoy you so much that you will not be able to get away fast enough.

[But wait! Don't run away! Stick around to the end for news on an upcoming... ;) I'm not gonna' tell you yet, silly. You have to wait for Something Secret.]

1) Their existence began in ancient Egypt. Never mind, how, for right now. Just know that Egyptian scribes can be stupid when messing around with the Book of the Dead.

My lame attempt at Egyptian artwork

2) Obadiah likes to jump off of pyramids. Solomon, however, likes music. He ended up sitting by the Nile watching the hippos. Yup. He was always a little loose in the head. Still not sure why he went total mad, but my friend and I are still working on it. (Oh! By the way, said friend just started out a blog, which makes me crazy happy.)

No, I did not draw this during youthgroup

when I was supposed to be paying attention

to the message. *Gives innocent look*

3) If you ever meet a girl named Zipporah who is super happy and weird, DO NOT TRUST HER. She is most probably a spake and will probably kill you.

4) Spakes kill people. Most of the time it's not their fault, unless he's Habakkuk. Then it's just from enjoyment, because Habakkuk is a psychopath.

This is what a psycho path looks like

Because psycho paths are stickmen?

5) Sometimes spakes kill people wrong (::cough cough:: Jedediah ::cough cough::) and this causes all kinds of annoying issues for the person being eated. If you find yourself being attacked by spakes, and you have no way of escape, make sure you tell them to eat you properly. Trust me.

The main reason why I bring spakes up is because I'm trying to figure some stuff out about them. For one thing, spices are super important, but I cannot figure out why. There seems no reason for it. Thus, I will have to do more research on Herbs and Spices. If any of you know the names of some good books on Herbs and Spices, feel free to let me know.

With questions of spakes turning through my mind I went to the library and asked the question, "I'm creating a mythological creature. Do you have any book recommendations for that?" Because I've heard numerous times that librarians are good people, and they want to help. Two of the librarians (one of them knows me by name now, which is kinda' funny) went running around, and the one who knows me by name said she had a book at home I would probably like, and she would find out the name of it and get back to me later. How cool is that? I felt very pampered, and even if I still don't know anything about spices, I know more about Dwarves, which is important for Pixie Princess.

It leaves me happily doodling scenes from Scotch's perspective, and leaves me wondering aimlessly about Solomon (a spake). All in all, it can be stated that today was one happy day.

~~~

WAIT! Have you run away yet in fear? In boredom??

First, here's a Pumpkin pic that I forgot, and I asked especial permission from my friend to use it, so I would feel terrible if I didn't post it up here:

Hand made Punkin Love

Alright, moving on.

What is this Something Secret?? It's actually not really a secret, so I kinda' lied, but that's because I didn't want to have any Spoilers by putting the true name up in the title.

Enough of this rambling!

I'm here to tell you about: The Super Sister Contest!!! Yay!!

When my sis, Rebecca/Sonshine, and I each reach 108 followers we will have a slam-bang of a contest. There will be books, and cool things, and stuff, and... Basically it's so cool I don't even know what all we will have yet!! I do know that I will be making mini-pillows for the event. And for any men readers out there, pillows ARE manly.

So get excited, and feel free to get the word out on this slam-bang Super Sister Contest. Check out my sis (if you haven't already) over at:

Sonshine Thoughts

She does a weekly Retail Wednesdays that will make your sides hurt from laughing too much. Or your noise. Sometimes your noise will hurt from laughing too much. (That is, if you're drinking soda while reading her blog, which isn't a safe thing to do.)

And I think that's all! :D

Oh! Wait! Other people are having contests too...

Like, Caledonia Lass over at Writings, Musings, and Other Such Nonsense is having a sister contest with Cheri. Check it out!! It's full of awesomesauce.

And Kristin Creative is having an easy-cheesy contest. Make sure you read the comment entries, they're hilarious.

And check out the Birthday Phenomenon over at Cleverly Inked, if you haven't already. It's crazy!!

AND The Alliterative Allomorph is having a contest tooooo.

I think that's all :)

R is for Revisions, Re-wRiting, and Rediculous

2010-05-06T09:23:00.001-04:00

I need to learn how to revise. It's just a fact of life. If I don't I think a turtle will bite me.

He is happy to bite you... Mwahahaha >:)

Because if I were a turtle, and I read something that wasn't revised, I would bite that non-revising person.

But the question is, how does when go about revising? From what I've gathered there are a couple of things one can do and it boils down to these 9 various things:

1. Eat a lot of chocolate (or drink coffee, if you're psychotic like that. I can't drink coffee more than once a week or I twitch and feel like I'm on drugs.) This will make you fat and die, hence no longer needing to do revisions. Or it just makes you feel happy inside.

2. Dance in the rain, climbs mountains, and avoid doing laundry at all costs - this produces large amounts of creativity.

3. Write down the names of your characters and try to describe them in one sentence. Then draw little stick figures of your characters and write abstract things about them. Example: Solomon, likes to sit on hippos while strumming a lyre.

4. Go line by line, reading your novel out loud. Must read in a weird accent, or if that is not possible sing your novel. This will give you a different take on what you thought you were trying to say, plus it will annoy everyone within a 2.5 mile radius of you. If they ask, just say your testing the "lyrical quality" of your work.

5. Write down scenes on colorful scraps of paper with pretty colored markers. Then move scenes around, see what scenes are missing, and whether or not you really need those scenes from Admar's point of view. Then cry because your scene with creeping Ryszard has to be cut, even though you love Ryszard. Colors are helpful for keeping you from falling asleep. Also, it distracts you from the unendurable loss of those scenes you thought were necessary but are really just superfluous.

6. Eat more chocolate. Because, obviously, you have not yet up and died, and need to try again. If chocolate isn't working, try eating pancakes coated in sugar for dinner, with a side of onion rings. (Yes, I did eat this for dinner once, and no I did not die or start spazzing from too much sugar.)

7. Congratulations! You're not dead yet. Give your manuscript to some friends/relatives to critic. Most will say, "It's good. I like it." Some will say, "Eh, s'okay." Commence smacking yourself in the head with the nearest heavy book. Try a Latin dictionary, or Shakespeare's entire collection of everything he has ever written. Then, write down all the encouraging words, find some mean friends, and have them tear your work apart. Cry. Read those encouraging words. Feel better. Read critiques. Cry some more.

8. Fix what you need to fix. Don't fix what you don't need to fix. If it turns out that you absolutely need those Admar scenes, as much as you dislike Admar, keep them. Write some scenes from first person point of view to get to know him better. Still think he's a whiny doofus? Make him a lovable whiny doofus. Feel free to not agree with your friends (either mean or nice) as long as you have good reason to.

9. Stare at your computer screen/pad of paper with a blank look on your face, because you don't know if you've done this revising process properly, and you think your brain just turned to ugly pink goo, like chewed up gum. Then seek out someone who actually knows how to revise and start over a whole new process.

How do you revise? Do you revise? Can you drink coffee more than once a week? And most importantly, have you ever gotten a turtle stuck on your nose? Because if you have, I totally want to see pictures :D

Q is for Quit

2010-05-05T21:13:00.003-04:00

As some of you may recall back in February I was working on a book called Thanet's Curse. It's the sequel to my wip Blackburn's Prisoner. Well, I gave up on it. Yup. Up and quit. But then I was inspired by Falen/Sarah and decided, hey, let's try some outlining garbage first.

So I cut up pieces of paper, scribbled, and ended up with this:

Pretty colors!

Each color is for who the scene focuses on. It looks worse than it is. Hopefully.

Guess what I figured out? I have four more chapters to write. Four! SO close to the end, and I gave up. Especially because I have bits and pieces of aforementioned chapters, so it's even more ridiculously close to finish. ESPECIALLY because I can usually write a chapter a day. (Unless I'm un the midst of a week of finals. Bleh. Then I do nothing but text myself sentences here or there, or pretty much everywhere. Except when I'm driving. No texting while driving. I would hit a horse. Because I would be so off-road I would be in a state where there are lots of horses and I would hit one. And you don't want me to hit a horse do you? Didn't think so.)

Thus the moral of the story is: Don't hit horses while driving, and don't let horses drive cars.

This horse is secretly texting! *GASP!*

Wait, no, no, no. The moral is: Don't give up. Do NOT quit. Whether you want to give up on being a writer, on writing a paper, a poem, a stupid novel that will not cooperate properly, do not give up. Sometimes you just need a little time away. Sometimes you just need to do a little outlining. (Did I just say that? Me? Condoning outlining? The world has officially been turned haphazard.)

Another reason not to give up: My friends/randompeople would run at me with knives, pitchforks, and torches. I am sure of it.

So in order to not being chased by a raving mob, keep writing and don't give up. Or else.

P is for Publishers Picking Pumpkins

2010-05-04T18:28:00.001-04:00

You guessed it! It's the long awaited for post where I will convince you that a pumpkin patch is like publishing. I would like to dedicate this blog to Rebecca (my sis) because I honestly had no idea HOW publishing was like a pumpkin patch, and she helped me see the multiple possibilities.

Punkins!!

First: The Pumpkins.

Pumpkins represent us, the writers. From afar all pumpkins look the same, but we are all very different. Some of us are tall, thin pumpkins. Some of us are cute and small. Some of us have twiny things coming from the top of our heads, and we're not sure why.

Some glow when you turn the lights off??!!

Some pumpkins are better than others. Ah! Did I really just say this?! Yes. Tolkien was better than a whole lot of writers that are floating around nowadays. I won't say specifically who, because that is one step too mean. But it's true. One day you will find a writer who is better than you. You will feel jealous and mad. Get over it. You are still a pumpkin, and you are needed in the pumpkin patch of life.

Second: The Pumpkin Pickers.

Pic Owned By CeeCeeDotCa

Hm? Which pumpkin shall I pick? Mwahahah >:)

These are the agents. They have to hunt through pumpkins to find the one that is just right for them. One pumpkin picker may like giant fat pumpkins, other pumpkin pickers will be looking for quirky looking ones. Or pumkins who wear glasses and like lollipops.

Quirkalicious

This one likes gardening

Then the Pumpkin Pickers go to the market with their little Pumpkins and try to sell them.

Third: The Pumpkin Purchasers

Check HERE for an article on Punkins

The haggling commences

These are the publishers, editors, and the like. They go to the Pumpkin Pickers and look through their Pumpkins to see which ones they like best. Sometimes there's a match and SOLD! everyone's happy. A lot of the times though, nothing is sold and the Pumpkin has to sit around until the next day comes, and then the next, and then the next. Sometimes the Pumpkin Picker has to give up and give their Pumpkin to another Pumpkin Picker. And sometimes, the Pumpkin gets sent right back to the Pumpkin Patch.

Fourth: Pretending to be Pumpkin Pickers

These are the fake agents. They pretend to be Pumpkin Pickers, but really they're just trying to cut open Pumpkins, scoop out all their insides, and leave them for dead.

Punkin Guts

Do not trust these Pretenders. Learn to know who the real Pumpkin Pickers are.

Fifth: Gourds.

They don't even start with the letter "p" so you know something's up. And this is where I insult people, because I have nothing against insulting people, if it gets them to think. Plus, I don't think this applies to any of you, so calm down and lighten up.

Click HERE for the original article

They LOOK cute, but beware

There are some gourds among the pumpkins that are not pumpkins. They look like pumpkins, they smell like pumpkins, but they aren't. And sometimes these gourds get picked and sold and taken by Pumpkin Purchasers. This can make Pumpkins sad. Sometimes, a Pumpkin will go and to the baker and let himself/herself be turned into Pumpkin Pie. What most people don't know, is that there is a little cemetery behind the Baker's shop of dead Pumpkins who gave up.

Waiting to be turned into pies

Okay. That sounds more sadistic than I thought it would. But the point is as a Pumpkin we should be proud of our Pumkiny self. We are needed in the Pumpkin Patch of life. Keep yourself all shined up in case a Pumpkin Picker comes to look at you.

Be a Pumpkin. Be a darn good Pumpkin.